Evening star., 1946-07-28
Thomas Jefferson's S
Role of Traveller
THOMAS JEFFERSON,
AMERICAN TOURIST

t4NlEh1ShIN 1oOn1o1
By EdUard DumbaulG. (Uni-
persity of Oklahoma Press
s3.)
Digging into the mountains of
extant Jeffersoniana, Edward Dunn
bauld, assistant to the Attorney
General of the United States and
Washington resident, has brought
forth volume of informa tion treat
ing of Jefferson in his role as
traveller. While 1t contains little
new material, it presents an inter-
esting picture.
Jefferson's great characteristic
was an Unsuitable interest In what
ever was new and ingenious in his
surroundings. Travel. therefore,
found him at his best. He did
not, as Mr.. Dumbauld brings out,
travel for the sake of travelling; he
travelled always for the sake of busi-
ness. But on his journeys he used
an investigative and eager eye and
made a point Of learning as much
about new lands and people as was
possible. He kept notes and was. of
course, a voluminous letter writer
Piecing together his narrative from
these sources, Mr.. Dumbauld gives
us lively sidelight on the working
Of his mind.
Journeys at Home.
Interestingly enough, the book re-
minds us that the great American
travelled more widely In Europe than
at home. AS Minister to France he
visited England and Holland, made
trip into Germany and Italy, came
back along the Riviera and jour-
neyed by canal through France to
Paris. In America his travels con-
sisted mainly of trips between his
various Virginia homes and the seats
of Congress, although he did make
two tours into New England. BY
his own word he was never SO miles
west of Monticello and seemingly
he went no farther south than
Richmond.
The points which interested him
most wherever he went-interested
him so deeply indeed that he in
corporated them into the well known
travellers decalogue which he COM
posed for two young friends, Thomas
Lee Shippen and John Rutledge,
jr,-were, in the order Of their i'm
portance. agriculture, mechanical
arts. lighter mechanical arts, gar
dens, architecture, painting, poll
tics, courts. He was frank in say
ing, moreover, that his choice Of
these subjects was based on his
patriotism-the first-named OF them
represented to him aspects of life
which in America needed improve
ment
Thus he says Of architecture that
1t is desirable 10 introduce taste
into an art which shows SO much"
while he disposes of painting and
statuary as too expensive for the
state OF wealth among US" Foreign
courts he thought could be seen
as one sees menagerie. "A slight
acquaintance with them will suffice
to show you that under the most
exterior they are the weak
est and worst part Of mankind"
OF his travels in his own country
Mr.. Dumbauld gives mainly the
routes taken and the methods of
transportation used. He describes
in some detail the various homes
which jefferson occupied and lists
the furniture and domestic equip
ment which he brought back with
him from France. He gives pages
from the Jeffersonian expense book
The material on the whole is rele-
want to An appreciation of Jeffer-
sons mind but it is not so happily
arranged as to constitute a book
which one would read for it's own
merits. 1t places petty detail side
by side with broad observation and
one is at loss to find any con-
sistency in the treatment. But 1t is
a compilation of quite useful Jeffer-
soniana for any one wanting to
investigate the President in the
Tourist role