OXFORD'S SCENERY LAUDED BY CORRY

The second of a series of articles on Oxford University, written for the Crimson by A. V. Corry '27, is printed below. Corry is a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford from Montana.

The first point of contrast between Harvard and Oxford is that afforded by the surroundings of each. At Harvard we are always reminded of the city. The subway and the traffic in the crowded streets remind us a thousand times a day that a great city is near. Pedestrianism is fast becoming impossible. If the wary walker manages to elude the traffic that girdles the Yard, he takes his life in his hands when he strolls by the Charles. Let him walk in the Fenway, in Jamaica., or to the pond near Belmont, he is always aware that the city is about him. Only a little part of Cambridge now remains unspoilt. I recall looking out of my window at Winthrop Hall one midwinter morning to find the ground under a foot or two of snow, the trees grey with frost, no pathway or roadway swept, and one small gas street-lamp the only reminder of town life. It was a momentary vision of the vanished village of Cambridge: a moment affording a rare memory these days. To escape to the country now one must travel for thirty minutes in train or motor.

Oxford Countryside Always Near

But at Oxford one is constantly reminded of the nearness of the country. From my college window I have a view unspoilt by houses: ahead of me stretches the broad green sweep of the Christ Church Meadows, broken by the tall noble trees bordering the Broad Walk, and far beyond them is the Isis. In the fields I often see horses grazing; it is a country view.

Oxford, unfortunately, has lately become the prey of commercial enterprise; the Morris-Cowley motor-car works are nearby, while suburbanizing influences have made North Oxford as ugly as Hinksey is squalid. But it is easy to escape this ugliness and squalor, if one should see it at all. Walking is a pleasant pastime, still profitable and possible in and about Oxford. Will any man forego the walk along the Isis to Ifley, and a peep at the fine Norman village church there? Who has been so listless as to neglect the upper Isis, sampling delicacies and a good tea at the Trout Inn, and pausing to think of Fair Rosamond at the Godstow Nunnery? Boars' Hill, with a view of Oxford on one side and the Berkshire Downs on the other, or Cummor Hurst, or Shotover Hill, are all within easy walking distance. Short cycle rides will open an even more extensive region to the wayfarer with three or four hours to spare. Ewelme and the Chilterns, Sinodun Camp and the Downs, Dorchester with its lovely Abbey-church, lie in one direction; in another is Minster Lovell, on the way to the Cotswolds and those charming hidden villages of the Stone Country; in another direction, past Old Marston, where Cromwell planned his campaign against Oxford, is as sweet a village as any in England. Wood Eaton, sleeping beside a little stream that winds in and out of coppices and fields; and going farther in this direction one comes to Islip, Noke, the grand sweep of Otmoor, and the leafy vale of the Thame. Going north from Oxford, one can visit Woodstock and stately Blenheim; or, if one is awed by this great place, one can turn a little to the west to the pretty villages and rich hills and vales watered by the Evenlode. Following the winding roads and hedges, now crossing streams, now going through woods, seeing here a country house, there a little village, and perhaps a hunt in progress with Master, followers, and hounds hard on the heels of a fox, one senses again the pleasures of country living, knowing that the towers of Oxford are not far away