"Snapshots"

Name of traveller

Edith Milton (b. 1932)

Reason for travel

• German Jewish refugee from Third Reich

Date of travel

summer 1939

Mr. Jones is very fond of us all. Mr. Jones has never had such a fine summer of guests, helping and paying, and finishing the twenty jars of peach jam made by his wife last autumn. Only one thing darkens the sky of Mr. Jones's summer happiness with his paying guests. Their nostalgia for the simple life on his stone farm does not extend to a tolerance of its plumbing. (Milton 135)

Content

• agriculture:
  • description of farm life in Snowdonia
  • learns how to milk cows and horseback riding
• industry: similarity of mining towns in south Wales
• language: the owner of the farm speaks almost no English
• people: author forms a friendship with Mr Jones, the farmer, despite their communication barrier
• politics:
  • settling into new life in Britain after escaping from Germany in the Kindertransport
  • bombing of Swansea
• recreation:
  • paying guests staying at the farm in Snowdonia during summer and helping with the work
  • going to the cinema in Merthyr Tydfil, watches her first film ever
• territory:
  • farm romantically situated in the mountains of north Wales
  • bleakness and ugliness of south Wales landscapes owing to industrial industry and waste
• transport: travels via train between towns in south Wales
• compare with a later version of this account

Nationality of traveller

German

Language of publication

English

Gender of traveller

Male

Type of publication

autobiography; travelogue

Citation

Milton, Edith. "Snapshots." Prairie Schooner 50.2 (Summer 1976): 133-45. Print.