The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-08-16

A Birmingham man who is given to de- voting his late summer afternoon to quietly dreaming in his large chair upon his Verandah was asked recently of what he was thinking T was just thinking of the Birmingham friends who have had the opportunity of traveling abroad this summer for the first time and wondering 2 whether they feel themselves fortunate or unlucky 10 encounter the conditions in Europe OUT people have met with over < there this summer. l would feel myself s5extremely fortunate, because il is some thing very much out of the ordinary away from the conventional tour most people make when they go abroad. If I should ever have the pleasure of trip I would not travel like most of our peo- ple do anyway. l would want to see people study them and their surround ings. The scenery is, of course, always interesting but the people and their en- Nironments are more so l wouldn't care two straws about seeing the eathedrals, the ruins and many of the things the professional chaperon or the professional guide would insist upon my seeing. I would rather go to some little city in Switzerland or up in Denmark and stay there for a while and study them than run my legs off, and my eyes out trying to do the whole of Europe as adver- tised by the tourist guide book in a given time. just about one-third in which one should see it.'
 This did give food for thought. Has It ever occurred to the average person that there is a vast difference in the travel CT" and the "tourist?" An enchange of a recent date says, "Traveling is some- thing more than using up a steamship and railway ticket" Traveling really is an art, and if names fit things, we should not apply the word to the great mass of people going to and fro in the world. Most persons do not travel; they merely tour.
 There is really more of what we term touring" than appears in personally conducted parties. In travel, it is just as 1t is in almost every phase of society life; individuals do not dare stray away from conventions, and those who are Independent enough to plan their own .itenerary are as completely the victims of tourist fever as those who with har- rassed faces and bulging eyeballs try to take in the words of their guide about the latest sight or "the thing all vis- 1tors to this section want to see.''
 How many of us are self reliant enough to leave the path pointed out by some one who has gone before and seek bfavely some point of real interest; re- main there long enough to get pleasure and profit. and let the others wait for a later visit Could you go pack home and a hapa ie l, fapfa one famous picture one cathedral in the country traversed that yon did not see Are you governed more by the expecta- tions of your friends or by your own in- cinations? You would perhaps prefer to spend the weekend tucked away in some little city in France, but that would mean that you would only have a little glimpse of Paris, and then have to confess to your friends that there were many things you did not see in Paris; so with a sigh you would trample be- heath your feet your desire to see some- thing not laid down in your conventional guide book, and to Paris you'd go.
 Occasionally one hears of a bold spirit who has dared to do the unconventional. Having limited amount of time at his disposal, he has planned to see certain places, but has made up his mind not to Stry to see everything in them that some friend has seen, or that has been talked of at his club or his dinner table slie is not going to have the agonizine fatigue caused from cramming two Zweeks' sightseeing into two days. His seclSlessness almost takes your breath away and you shudder to think what his --ariends at home will say when they hear of his alteration What on earth are ruins for, and what is the use of having mountains and museums and cathedrals and paintings and pyramids, if people are - going to exercise any choice as to what : they shall see? All or none, is the un- written law of touring
 Nevertheless, in travelling as in other things, mingled with our fears and our despair is envy of person who can for get that things have been standardized and can go travelling quietly forgetting That there are such things as tours and trips" Some one has said if would be refreshing to come across an Individual who would be eccentric nough to think that guide books were made for travellers rather than that {. travellers were made for guide books"
 Even the drives around the little city oi Blrminsham loose much of their charm If one only goes the beaten path" which is traversed by every other motorist II one starts out for drive, the one every one takes, and at an uncertain point in the road takes the wrong turn, the chances are that they will be rewarded by vista that no one else has ever seen and for the afternoon you have cea sed < to be conventional motorist, but have Jhad the undescribable delight of being a
 "traveler"
 Let us hope that our many Birming.
 ham people who have spent the summe, abroad have been "traveling.o rathe, than 'touristing." l.. M