ords of the Society and containing the largest, most complete and most reliable collection of works upon American history, and archæology that money can purchase.

"This building should also contain an art gallery for the benefit of American artists. Artistic talent of a high order is developing in this country, where as yet exists no gallery worthy of our place among the nations. It would be a triumph to our womanhood could this hiatus be filled through our instrumentality. There can be no limitations of time or place thrown around genius, and yet, in the atmosphere of this home of the women of America, and with the stimulus of their enthusiasm, the delicate and subtle soul of the artist might and would be moved to seek subjects for his pencil and his brush in the unrivalled splendors of the scenery of our continent. and the homely grandeur of our historic situation. The suggestion may be premature, but it appears probable that the Government of the United States would transfer from its crowded buildings and receptacles all Revolutionary

relics and records to the guardianship of our order, once securely established in a home of its own."

Thirty-two years ago, this enthusiastic and foresighted woman thus outlined the policies of the then infant organization. How well the policies have been carried out and expanded is evidenced by our beautiful Memorial Continental Hall which truly is "the finest building ever owned by women," and with but very few exceptions it embodies all the features so ably outlined.

Another evidence is the ever-increasing extent of our efforts in behalf of immigrants and foreigners-those thousands "not yet prepared to understand a liberty as wise as it is wide, as submissive to law as it is intolerant of tyranny."

There has never been a time when the need was greater to "grasp and envelop these dangerous elements that they become assimilated too rapidly to do us harm."

May this message from the past stimulate the present active workers to even greater effort, that the future may be able to take care of itself.

T

Creator was first tracing out this earthly habitation of ours, He nestled a choice garden high up amid the protecting peaks of the beautiful Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia. Unscarred by man ever since, it is now to be preserved forever as one of America's great natural sanctuaries and become the beacon that will guide the nation back to the old scenes where some of the bravest chapters of its history were made by patriots.

Surrounded by famous battle fields, crossed by trails that martyrs blazed, and rich in the memories of early America, the proposed Shenandoah National Park lies in the very heart of the country where history was made. Should Congress set it aside as the East's first great out-door playground and museum, it would open to the people of the entire country entrancing chapters of colonial America that still live on.

It is strange that so beautiful a spot should have remained unknown and unmarred through all of these years, and yet have rested less than a day's journey from the greatest centers of population in the country. Forty million city-bound citizens can leave their homes after breakfast any day and be within the suggested confines of the park itself in time for supper, and on a clear day the slender finger of the Washington Monument, in the National Capital, may be observed from its highest peaks with the aid of ordinary field glasses.

To definitely bound the park is somewhat difficult. Its western border is the historic Shenandoah Valley itself, northward it touches famous Front Royal, to the south its shadows almost reach Monti

the University of Virginia, while on the east it pitches abruptly down upon the Atlantic slope. Only 90 miles away lie Washington, Mt. Vernon, and peaceful Arlington.

George Washington is closely associated with the earliest known history of the Shenandoah National Park, and with that revered name are combined those of Abraham Lincoln, Robert E. Lee, Braddock, Patrick Henry, Daniel Boone, Matthew Fontaine Maury, Spottswood, and hosts of others who made history in America. Through the centuries it has peacefully watched the evolution of a great nation, knowing no favorites then, and eager now to give back to that nation its heritage in treasures of health and reborn patriotism.

It is not unlikely that Washington, as the young surveyor, actually surveyed part of the proposed area, which covers approximately 700 square miles of mountains. Although no positive proof of that fact can be obtained, the Shenandoah Valley was surveyed by Washington, and only a few miles from the park that same youthful engineer held back the Indians. and the French after Braddock's defeat. Landmarks of that fight survive to this day in old Winchester, where Washington had his headquarters.

Just across the Shenandoah Valley from the park site rise the famous Massanutten Mountains, a range that is one of the world's geologic wonders in itself. In the midst of those lofty sentinels, however, is a strange little valley. No person passing below would ever dream it was there, and hidden in its heart is an ancient fort. Mountain tradition has it

that Washington ordered that fort built. Remembering the natural defenses of the place from his earlier journeys, tradition has it, General Washington planned the place as a last retreat had they met reverses in the War for Independence.

Three hours' easy motor ride over the Valley Pike "Stonewall Jackson's Way" -lies Harpers Ferry, scene of John Brown's famous debacle. En route the tourist passes the very courthouse, in Charles Town, West Virginia, wherein the notorious guerilla was tried and sentenced to be hanged. Twenty miles beyond is Frederick, Maryland, where Barbara Frietchie is said to have uttered her plucky defiance to the Southern troops on their march northward.

Thirty miles by a beautiful and historically important road, now perfectly improved for motor traffic, is Gettysburg, the high water-mark of the Confederacy. Tourists from the north and west would

pass through these famous sites either going to or from the park, many of them spots that the average American would read about but seldom visit. Southeastward from the park, and even a shorter distance away than Gettysburg, lies Appomattox, where General Lee surrendered to U. S. Grant.

The Lee Highway has just been completed between Luray and Washington. Luray is one of the main points of entrance to the park and the highway, a newly improved thoroughfare, brings the Nation's Capital, with its treasure of history, to within a three-hours' automobile drive of the proposed reservation. Just outside of Washington lie Mount Vernon and Arlington, once the Custis estate and now America's greatest national cemetery.

There, on the peaceful slopes of Arlington, sleep the country's heroic dead. The Unknown Soldier, Peary, the discoverer of the North Pole; Dewey, victor

of Manila, L'Enfant, old friend of George Washington and planner of the City of Washington; the victims of the U. S. S. Maine, and scores upon scores of others who wrote their names among the immortals are sleeping out the ages there.

Mount Vernon is almost the heart of America, and not far distant is Wakefield, ancestral home of the Washington family. And it would not be a very arduous journey for the tourist to continue on to Yorktown, scene of the Colonies' final triumph over crowned aggression, and Jamestown, site of the lost colony of old Virginia. The furthest of

Right. A FALLEN GIANT
NOW A NATURAL
BRIDGE

Below.-ONE OF THE
SCORE OF CASCADES
THAT THUNDER DOWN
WHITE OAK CANYON

the eastern border of the Shenandoah National Park.

But the sightseer need go no further from its confines than Mount Vernon to take in the betterknown spots of historic interest. Indeed, he would find it quite impossible to see anything like all of those that virtually border the park unless he expected to spend a month or more hurriedly driving from one place to another. John W. Wayland, in his book, "Historic Landmarks of the Shenandoah Valley," describes the situation perfectly when he says: