BACK-YARD TRAVELS

It is a relief to find that in the frantic rush to Europe and the wonders of the Old World, our own wonders have not been entirely forgotten. The organization of a group of Harvard students, graduates, and faculty members to visit our National Parks is a novelty in "University extension". President Lowell, in approving a committee to organize the hour, has recognized the educational fusibilities of the enterprise and if it proves a success there is every possibility that it will become an institution.

The specific purpose of the excursion is to "increase the familiarity with the interests and beauty of the American National Parks". That it should be necessary thus to advertise and to create interest in one's own country is unfortunate, especially when there exist nineteen national parks offering unequalled scenic and scientific displays. But the unpleasant fact will not down, that almost all who are able to go to Europe take the first boat and see America in the pages of magazines.

Of course America has no pyramids or Swiss Chalets; but the villages of prehistoric cliff dwellings in the Mesa Verde National Park have been found quite as interesting, while the great ranges about Mount Rainer are thought to compare favorably with the Swiss Alps. As for the animal life in the Yellowstone, the majestic pageant of the Grand Canyon, the giant groves in the Sequoia, Europe can nowhere offer parallels. The Harvard trip, in touring this western country, will not only give its explorers a suggestion of the extent and resources of their country but prove to them that Americans can go abroad in their own backyard.