Not feeling quite easy at leaving on the day I might expect a new bag, I decided upon going without my son Henry, who might stay over Sunday and join us next week, after getting the Despatches. By this arrangement I started at ten o’clock in company with Mrs Adams and the children Mary and Brooks, on a trip to Scotland. In this month of August of each year I have allowed myself a short period of relaxation after the fatigue and anxiety of the Parliamentary season. This year the burdens of society and the critical condition of the war, with my son’s exposure in it had combined to harass both my wife and myself that I felt we stood in need of the change more than ever. It was likewise a consideration that as my term approaches its natural end, it may be that if I do not seize the opportunity visit Scotland, I never shall. So I determined to devote the month to it. This day was spent in travelling on the Great Northern Railway without incident to York, and thence to Scarboro, on the eastern coast. This is a fashionable watering place situated on a high bluff forming a semi circle around a pretty bay. The wind was east, and it was so cool as not to appear very inviting. We found ourselves in comfortable apartments at the Crown Hotel. As the Railway trip had been slow and dusty, I went with Brooks to try for a salt water bath. We found nothing practicable except a warm bath, a thing which I took, faute de mieux. In order to accomplish this we were obliged to take a walk that embraced a good deal of the town. But it was so cold in the evening we did not venture on the public parade.424