The Birmingham age-herald., 1923-09-30

SndLLlnB lnIOImaIly aDOuL her trip abroad, Mrs. J. A. Rountree, who, with her husband and son, Mac, have spent the summer In Europe, re- marked:
 ITO us the most interesting part of the trip was our study of living and business conditions in the vari- ous countries we visited. Things are very much better than we had antici- pated. The deterioration in the value
 of foreign monies has little or no effect upon the cost of travel or the purchase of merchandise, unless 1t is to raise the price for tourists, for in every country of Europe the Ameri- can dollar is the real standard basis of trade. .-....
 "As fast as the value of the franc, the lire, or the mark goes down, the sale price is raised accordingly often very much out of proportion to the drop. Even the smallest dealers keeps in daily touch with the fluctua- tions of the money market.
 "Of course we visited the usual places of historic interest and did the usual thing expected of tourists, but we also went into all sorts of out-of- the-way places and saw things that many traders miss
 we had a way of getting up very early and going to market. In this way we mixed with the real life of community and made a study of conditions. Every imaginable thing is to be had at 8 European market and all classes are there to pur- chase. SO we had good opportunities to judge of the supply and demand.
 Naturally we had. many amusing experienced, bartering with the trades people-aH or us jabbering and gesticulating at one and the same time-but everybody good na- tured and anxious to understand and be understood.
 English is being taught in most European schools so that one has Ht- tie trouble finding willing, eager in-
 i've found food very much more plentiful than we had anticipated and it was only in France that our real synpthy was aroused.
 After travelling three hundred miles on the battlefield area, and seeing the tragic desolatiop of that vast region one can but marvel at i the intrepid courage of the French } peasants, trying to patch up their lt- I tie homes once more and get order out of chaos It all looks so hope less to 8 sightseer. Whole villages [ that look like disoFderly rock Quarries-not one house standing ! and in the midst of all that ruin yne } old men and old women and pinched- l faced little children picking up the | stones that once formed their homes
 
 put them back together again. It is { there that one gets real heartaches, for people, even the children, look so old. and poorly clothed and neeo~ ] fui It doesn't Nke much of stay i in that region to make people under stand why France says Germany i must pay The destruction is far be- i yond the power of imagination, ano ] no one who has been there will ever be able to forget.
 q can but feel that time will wipe away the petty jealousies and misun- derstandings and separate interests that now seem to exist between some of the nations that fought so valiant ly and Loyalty together for world freedom and right against might in the World war, Surely some kind of a permanent bond will hold us to- gether for all time, for the sake of what we endured together.
 switzerland was so clean and cool and beautiful, with its green sided snow capped mountains, its red-tiled- roofed cottages and blue lakes that It seemed, always, like an exquisite painting. Travel there was luxury for all their trains are electri- fied-no smoke, no dust, no cinders through the endless miles of tunnels.
 'Italy was romantically attractive. There was so much to see, and so many places to go Each city and town had so many quaint, interest ing old places. The markets were always in the queerest old sections morrow, dark, alley,like streets. where all sorts of odd shops were to be found. We could never guess just what we were going to en- counter but the American dollar Is 6 safe password any place.
 "In Rome we became deeply in- terested in tho Methodist college for boys-a splendid institution, situated mid beautiful grounds on the top of the Eighth Hill,' directly overlook ing the vatican. We found, by the registry book, that pr. and Mrs. George Stuart had been there a few
 SYes, we saw the Pope. a hand some, kindly-faced man, with iron grey hair. We had @ special audi ence arranged by the American em- bassy. He patted our son. Mao, on the head, with a word of blessing, and shook hands most cordially with MT. Rountree. Much of the pomp land formality that one hears so much wore our ordinary travelling suits; and were treated in e most cordial |'At Naples we did the usual things of crossing the bay to Capri, visit ing PompeH and climbing to the rim fairly reveled in its many wonder 1 places. At Milan the cathedral is [ truly deserving of its, reputation as being the most beautiful of all ! Europe and at Genoa we had a guide 4 so exactly a counterpart of the one who conducted Mark Twain around, that we felt like he must have 1n- herited his serious ability.
 "But of all Italy think we loved Venice best. We had a full moon 1, and clear skies. and soft music and , all the things that build for TO- ] nance. It was so restful and peace ! ful-no auto horns, no traffic cops aand the most adorably attractive { chops.
 ! ~So much of real interest to see, { the bead factories and lace factories, the glass blowers, the Doges palace, with it's dark dungeons of historic kfame, and art galleries of master Z. r,ieces, and always the singing, J shouting gondolier. guiding his shiny F black gondola along the canal. { cFrom Venice we went into Ger { many, crossing a corner of Austria, Land there we had many surprises the first being the amazing amount Of food to be found everywhere In Ger 7 many. We had heard so many con { flicting rumors about conditions that