Evening star., 1926-09-17

Back from tour lasting two and
q half months through eight Eu-
ropean countries, Miss Myrtle POsey,
pretty Eastern High School graduate
who finished second in the National
Oratorical Contest here last Spring,
believes Europe is an "enchantinS
place to spend n vacation, but it Is
not to he considered as a plact to
live when compared with the United
States. She is home here today, ana
glad to he back.
1--WE had a splendid time. really
thrilling experiences" Miss Posey said,
referring to her five orator com
panions on the tour, "but | should
hate to think of living abroad per.
manently. America is so blG anu
broad and beautiful. while Europe is
well. lust different, that's all. 1t
is pretty. beautiful. too, in places.
But it is too crowded.
Miss Posey landed at Montreal
Tuesday. With her were Herbert
Wenig of Los Angeles. winner of the
oratorical contest; Thomas p. Cieary
of Phila delphia. Helen Bylund of New
York CITY, Ann Hardin of LoulSvllle
and Guita Bearman OF MlnneapoliS.
In the party also were MISS May +:
Bradshaw, assistant superintendent ol
BUSINESS High School, chaperone, ana
Randolph Leigh. director OF the Ma
tional Oratorical Contest.
Guests of Newspapers.
The six Young orators were the
fnalists in the contest last Spring.
and met here in the Washington
Auditorium to determine when was
to be the national champion. 1heE
were sent on a tour OF Europe as
the guests of the newspapers that
snonsored their oratorical efforts, MISS
Posey having been sponsored by Inc
Star. Upon returning, they separa leu
in New York and went TO theH
homes. ,o,,,
was met by Jose Munoz-Cota, .,,:n yUuen,
ful Mexican champion; Wllilam
Neades Newton of Liverpool. repre-
senting England, and Herbert Moran
of Toronto. the Canadian champion.
,rbese three. together with Wenig, left
New York for a tour of Mexico as the
four national champions. and upon
their return will decide international
honors here in October.
Miss Posev found Europe still mag
card" from the war. She was paftlcu-
Iarlv impressed with the military dls,
nlav that is to be seen on every manu-
in both France and Italy. Ihe ar
itself. she said, seems to be charged
with the estrangement of these two
rn,,ntrias and to the stranger travel
ing within their borders the prepara'
tions look like little less than del1oer-
ate mobilization for war.
Laughed at i'm Paris.
..Incidantally. France and Italy were
the only countries that treated us IN
considerably" the young traVeler
continued. In Paris, for instance
crowds gathered around us frequent
". and laughed most rudely at us;
other American tourists were stoned
while we were there, but we dld hol
suffer such an attack. l can say very
honestly. however. that we neither diu
nor said anything to deserve Su'"
discOurteSy as we received.
TT was in France that we came
nearest to meeting one of the reign
ing government heads. We had an
angaeement to meet the premier OF
FRA ranca-I have forgotten which one
be xas-but that morning we re-
ceived word that he and MS Wnoie
cabinet had resigned. So our uale
was broken. Later we learned tndt
the franc had dropped again, ana
eunnose that was the reason.
..In Italv we just seemed 10 leel
tho nresence of Mussollnl. couiu
not help thinking that he was runne
with a hand of iron and 1mpressihs
his will on every one " hne we
we're there they posted sllhouetteS OF
the premier on every wall IN rtofne'
These showed him as fierce ana de-
termined as possible. as thousn 10
e,ive the people to understand tnat
he would crush those VINO opposeu
him.
italy Under Tension.
Although the Italians did not
,,,+ba,. around and make fun of 'us
thav were not very cordial. Perhaps
that was because of the tension the
>.nnntrv was under. Everywhere
,ha,.a we're soldiers. Why. soldiers
sven had charge Of the trains and
r,-or,s. and the same thing was true
tn E1.ance. 1t was a big contrast To
Germany. There everybody was
almost ragged but working nara, 100
hard. I thought, judging from the
hooks of some, trying to come hack
"The Germans were very courteous
to us. We loved Berlin. 1t was SO
much like New York. and SO beautiful
much more beautiful than New
York. as far as that goes. We could
not help being impressed with the
threadbare appearance of the people
we saw there. There were those who
looked an though they ware really eul-
tured, but their clothes were poor and