November 1914 William to Gwendoline Bragg

Written on the train to Chicago, Bragg continues to describe his tour around North America to his wife. He has visited the American Academy and given a talk at the General Electrical Company in Schenectady. He talks about his attempts to present his son’s work along with his own, about the great hospitality he has experienced and his experience of attending a Thanksgiving Dinner in Buffalo.

My dearest Gwen,

I am starting to write some more in hopes that it may catch the Saturday boat from New York. I am on the Michigan Central Railway about 60 miles from Chicago: I have just seen a glimpse of Lake Erie: we are running close to it on the south side. Of course it looks like a great sea from here. Now we are stopping at Michigan City and again I can see the lake, with good sized waves on it. It is a glorious sunny morning just about freezing; but the cars are pretty stuffy. It seems funny to see piers and lighthouses, waves breaking over stone breakwaters & after all it is only a lake. There are big sand dunes along the sure.

I have just got the paper: I see Kitchener’s very encouraging report, which after all is the main thing but it is sad about the Bulwark. I often wonder what Asquith meant when he said that we were perhaps not lot as long as some people think.

I must tell you a little more of my doings. I have written twice since I last heard from you: which is to be expected.

I had the most extraordinary successful time as the American Academy. This is the nearest thing to the Royal Society which they have in America. A lot of well-known scientific people had come to hear the lecture: some from considerable distances. Of course the subject is a delightful one to talk about & by now I have had quite a lot of experience and know where the difficulties and the telling points are. They all looked so interested and pleased all the time and appreciated the models too. Of course I always tell them where Bill’s work came in, this time I was particularly (train is so joggly) keen that they should understand Bill’s achievements so at the end I asked to be allowed to say another word or two and I described his position again. One old boy who had come in from Worcester[?] got up & said that I did not at all diminish their debt to the lecturer because ‘Quid facit per filum facit per se’ ‘what a man does through his son he does himself’, a slight perversion of a very well known saying, ‘what a man does through an agent he does himself’. They all cheered and laughed uproariously. I assure you it was a triumph for the crystal work. Maclaurin rescued me quite late from all the people who wanted to talk about it, and I had a good sleep next morning. Then I went out to Harvard once more to see a Professor Richards, a man who works on the same lines as Barlow & Pope. Maclaurin saw me off: he had got all my tickets, my seat on the train, booked my baggage and so on. He & Mrs Maclaurin are the dearest things: they were so seriously in earnest in hoping you & I could come another time: he had plans of other lecture arrangements to help with the expense!

The manager of the research laboratory of the General Electric co was in the same train, in fact he stopped the night in Boston in order to travel down with me. He insisted on paying my fare from Boston to Schenectady & again on to Buffalo — in return he said for my giving them a talk at the G.E.C’s works. That was a very pretty ride that afternoon, all the country white with snow.

We got to Schenectady at 6.30 & had dinner at the club there, quite a smart place. Then we drove out in the car to this small but beautifully equipped hosue right in the woods. Next morning we came back over the snow piled roads and I was taken over the works. It was awfully good: at 11 o’clock all work was stopped and the 100 people employed in the laboratories were collected to hear about the crystals. This work touchest them very nearly, because they make a new and very powerful sort of x-ray bulb: and again I had a deeply interested and most appreciative audience. I think they are going to make some special bulbs for the crystal work and send them over.

At the end of the lecture I had twenty minutes to get all models packed & get them to the train but many willing hands did the trick, and I was sent off to Buffalo with my ticket paid for, baggage checked & all complete.

I got to Buffalo at 7 o’clock & took a taxi out to Mrs Bartow’s: she is a sister of Mrs Barus: I told you I had a long day yesterday. The falls were gorgeous of course: the Bartow’s had made such preparation in hope I would stay till the late night train that I had to do it & to wire Millikan in Chicago accordingly.

You see Nov 26 is the great festival in America, Thanksgiving Day. It commemorates the arrival of the relief ship for the early settlers. They always eat Turkey & cranberry sauce & mince pies. They make parties for the dinner, & clearly they counted[?] in my joining in: it was at a friend’s house. There were fourteen guests. Their dinners are not nearly so long as ours: which is rather nice. Last night it was supposed to be quite exceptional. But we all had oysters, soup, turkey & mince-pies: no fruit [?]. They were all most friendly: pro British as usual. They all think we don’t use nearly strong enough language about Germany’s action. I tell them England has to put all her energies into the war.

They took me down to the station at 11.30 & I got to bed & slept fairly well: did not get up till nine. Then I dressed & had breakfast & have been trying to write to you. Give my dear love to the boys, they have seen my letters to you! I have written them both one letter, that is all I am afraid: it is very difficult to get a chance, but I expect they have seen my letters to you, No we are close in to Chicago & I will try to get this off at once. It may catch tomorrow’s boat at New York.

Will.

Photographs courtesy of the Royal Institution. RI MS WLB/95f/3

Notes and General Information

This is the longest letter we have from Bragg’s trip to North America and the most descriptive. He concentrates on his experiences in the universities and the landscape he has travelled through rather than dwelling on news from home.

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