De Voto Hits "Oregon Trail" As Superficial

Lamenting the book that the "Oregon Trail" might have been, if author Francis Parkman, 1884, "hadn't been a Harvard man," Bernard De Vote '18, editor of the "Easy Chair" of Harpers Magazine, opened the series of Freshman American Civilization Group meetings yesterday, with an informal talk on the American westward movement.

Parkman, De Voto explained, was "Hasty Pudding man," one of Boston's best. He was offended by the rough talk and dress of the pioneers, and stressed these and other picturesque but relatively inconsequential details, but didn't sense the real significance of the tremendous westward migration.

De Voto further explained that if Parkman had employed the same historical acumen in the "Oregon Trail" that he later showed in his studies of pre-Revolutionary Canada, that book would have been invaluable history as well as fiction.

Following the extemporaneous talk, the meeting was thrown open to the floor for questions. About 30 Freshmen were present, and all others interested are invited to attend the meeting next week.