Vincent van Gogh's Letters

Ramsgate, 17 April 1876

Dear Theo,
I arrived here safely yesterday, at about one in the afternoon. The first thing that struck me was that the windows of this not so very big school look out onto the sea. It is a boarding school, and there are twenty- four boys from ten to fourteen years old. Mr. Stokes is on a trip for a few days, and so I haven't seen him yet. They expect him this evening. There is another assistant teacher seventeen years old. Last night and this morning, we all went for a walk along the seashore. Enclosed is a spray of seaweed. On the waterfront, most of the houses are built of yellow brick in the style of those in Nassaulaan in The Hague, but they are higher and have gardens full of cedars and evergreen trees of a somber green. Dikes of stone, upon which you can walk, protect the harbour, where all sorts of ships are tied up. Yesterday everything was grey.
By and by I shall go and unpack my trunks, which have just been delivered, and I am going to hang some prints in my room.
The holidays are not yet over, so I have not had to give any lessons so far. I am anxious to see Mr. Stokes. I must go for a walk with the boys.
Adieu, always
Your loving brother, Vincent