Evening star., 1903-12-26
YOUR NEXT SUMMERS TOUR.
Course Of Reading to Be Followed if
You Plan to Go Abroad

From the Philadelphia Public Ledger.
Many Americans cross the big pond
each summer, not as sightseers, but merely
for recreation and rest. The large majority
of tourists, however, travel for the pleasant
sort of ir struction that comes from the
observation of beautiful things, and for the
added enlightenment that is found amid
buildir gs whose very stones are part of the
history of the world.
A careful preparation of the mind before
starting for Europe will be richly repaid
by the additional enjoyment resulting from
such study after reaching there. Nothing
is more true than the saying that a man
can only carry away from Rome what he
takes there. The greatest masterpiece is of
no value to the untrained eye. which can
see only it's form and not its meaning.
Sufficient technical knowledge to enable
woman to form an appreciative opinion
upon the beauties of old world art and
architecture must be acquired in advance.
There is no time to educate the judgment
while travelling. Only people making pro-
longed stay can afford time for such de-
lightful schooling. The average tourist is
fortunate if he or she can carefully read
guide book.
The long evenings of this winter may
be usefully spent IN gaining this ad-
summer is contemplated. Such reading
should not be devoted to the facts and
statistics that will be found set down in the
pages of Baedeker. Such knowledge as
this would be forgotten before the need for
1t arises. But it will not be either lost or
wasted effort to read carefully on such
subjects as the different styles of archi-
lecture. the schools of painting and their
meanings, the events (and their causeS)
that have immOrtaiZed the historic places
of Europe.
No one will be able to appreciate the
| beauties of building unless they know
something of the development Of architec-
ture as an art-unless they understand
where one master differs from another in
glory. The tourist Should also know the
| underlying reasons for such divergence.
A tourist could spend hours in the fam
Gus galleries of Europe without any knowl-
edge of painting resulting from the time
thus employed Tourists are often heard to
say: Il never could see any beauty in the
pictures by the old masters. What is the
pleasure in walking past miles and miles
OF painted Madonnas? 1 like a picture 1
can understand" Those who utter such
opinions do not appreciate that the value
of canvases which are the treasures of a
mighty nation perhaps rests in that very
something which they cannot understand.
1t Is be tier to strive for knowledge of
the undying value of such pictures than to
cOEtentedly rejoice in the shallow pretti-
ness of those that need no explaining. An
understanding of the elements of painting
will go far toward helping the tourist to
enjoy the art galleries Of Europe; without
It, even the riches of the Louvre are apt to
be fiat, stale and Improbable" and more
wearying to the flesh than wedding
garden. The history of art, its different
schools, the great exponents of the latter,
the beauties of hue, of form, Of conception,
of color-all these must be understood, If
pictures are to differ from each other save
in the subject treated.
Most of the histories of the countries of
Europe should be read. This is a long
task, but again it will repay the labor
spent upon it. This, of course, is not so
necessary to the young to tourists of the
older growth sadly rusty. Most Of the
guides speak English in parrot fashion,
but they neither can nor will stop to lee
ture on history as they point out objects
of interest. Any short history of medieval
Europe will serve to refresh the memory
on the most important happenings of the
last 800 years.