LETTERS: BRANSON TRIP BRINGS THOUGHTS OF TRAVEL

To the editor:

"Travel is a fool's paradise." That's Emerson, on the page just below where he wrote, "The best part of church is the silence before the service begins." The same collection of memorable quotes would list Thoreau: "I have traveled a great deal in Concord." And the surly comment: "All that travel reveals is the indifference of places."I believe it is more difficult to recall splendid comments which praise the glories to be gained by travel. But perhaps here, as often is true, the argument is so heavy on the one side that it is necessary to defend it. I read that Apostle Paul might well have read a travel brochure published by the Athens Chamber of Commerce. As the Russian comedian said in Branson: "I bet you never thought of that." I wonder if it were in color. Almost certainly it would have been computer-generated.

I am not troubled by Emerson's limited wisdom and enjoy sauntering about almost any paradise, fool's or sage's. It is true that coming back home requires an adjustment. It's OK in my book to borrow money to buy a farm, but I do not wish to borrow to take a trip to Branson.

My terra cognita in Morgan County is as flat as the table which supports my computer. There seems to be no flat area in Branson. Don't get out of the car, because it will roll away. And if you do venture outside, you will fall when you try to stand erect. Does this explain why no great entertainment empire has developed in Morgan County.

If I have been a reluctant apostle of Branson, perhaps my position arises from my affection for my state and my impatience with those ignorant outsiders who claim we are all hillbillies. So what? I'd rather be a hillbilly than a chauvinist. And I don't have to be either, for that matter. There was never a time when I asked waitresses for phone numbers, but in Branson I asked several if they knew where their grandparents had been born. Everyone said North Carolina.

Some of the shows were wonderfully done. I kept remembering how my parents enjoyed the Lawrence Welk show. They have been dead for years, and so has Lawrence Welk. But the orchestra survives, and the Lennon sisters, grown into matronly grandmas, can still sing and remind me of those years. I did not mind putting aside any sophistication to sit beside my parents for an hour or two. And I remembered how excited I was the first time I heard the Tchaikovsky "Waltz of the Flowers." Hearing it again in the Welk show brought it back.

And as we pressed into the crowd as were leaving, someone clapped me on the shoulder: Kenny Coffman. I had not seen him since high school, but he remembered me. At that moment I was glad we had gone to Branson. And I was happy that Branson, hills and all, was in Missouri.

PETER HILTY

Cape Girardeau