The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1895-11-24
NAKEDNESS HIS RELIGION.


New York Evening Sun.
All, If you only knew how I long for the
time when man shall be delivered from his
captivity" So signs Heinrich Scham in his
latest pamphlet, entitled. "Geschlechts-
Iiebe.'
Here is a man who has discovered the
root Of all evil, and moreover has found a
remedy, and a very simple one. After long
observation and due reflection he has ar
rived at the conclusion that the one great
origin of all the troubles Of mankind in this
wicked world is the pernicious habit Of
wearing clothes. In saying this, he does
not really mean that Ii is the origin OF the
ills that befall the flesh, and recommend
nakedness as a cure for all bodily sickness,
as his distinguished countryman. Kne;pe,
recommends cold water, but he clearly
points out that in our clothing may be
found the direct cause of the moral de-
generacy of the human race. Therefore,
he says: go naked! Naked. 1 am al
ways speaking of 'nakedness,'" he writes.
This is, OF course, nonsense, for surely
man is not fiayed. The skin-the hide-this
is his clothing"
Herr Heinrich Scham is a man Of ad-
vanced ideas. He is a Yahoo, perhaps; but
he is a yahoo who has visited Houyhnhnms
land and has returned TO our world, with
his eyes opened, too, and with a fixed de-
termination to mend our manners.
The more attentively one studies his
works the more convinced does one become
that such is the case. Though he does not
directly tell us that he has visited the
Houyhnhnms. everything in his last pamph-
let points to that conclusion. That he be-
came more intimate with them, and there
fore had an opportunity to enter more
deeply into the groundwork of their
philosophy than CULVER, Is highly probable,
for that immortal traveller tells us that
their language approaches nearest to the
high Dutch or German of any 1 know in
Europe"
Every reader of his works must see that
Herr Scham's views are precisely the same
on many points as those of the Houy-
huhums- For instance, one of that noble race
of horses expressed Scham'S opinion to
the letter when he protested to Gulliver,
who explained to him the nature of clothing,
that The could not understand why nature
should teach us to conceal what nature had
given"
Again. Herr Scham says: Eat apples.
my children. eat apples. Apples keep the
body clear, the head cool and the heart
warm" In this maxim he evidently hints
at his dislike OF flesh, which was only in
dulged in by yahoos.
There is much other evidence. but it Is I'M
necessary TO recount it here. IT may. how
ever, be observed that in one place in his
pamphlet Herr Scham brings up the horse
as an example to men, speaking OF IL as
1.-The horse. that noblest of animals"
Herr Scham is not "a mere theorist. He
has been frequently arrested Tor going
forth upon the streets with no other cloth
ing than a towel and a waist girdle. This.
however, he treats with the utmost indif-
ference. regarding IL simply as one or those
inevitable inconvenience to which every
reformer is compelled to submit. SO con-
sistent Is he in his horror OF clothing that
he sent back his doctors hood to the Uni
versity OF Heidelberg.
human evils and laid them bare he is him.
self firmly convinced. yet il is to be feared
that the service which he has done to
mankind will not speedily meet with uni
versal recognition. for the average man.
and even the new woman, are not yet
sufficiently advanced TO venture appearing
before the world in the same condition as
they entered ii.
This is incomprehensible TO Scham. Man
does not come clothed into the world he
SAYS. And again: Before clothing and
the fall OF man was paradise and naked
ness" From which he reasons that the
shortest way to regain paradise is TO re-
turn to nakedness. whenever 1 put on
my clothes again. SAYS he. 1T Is as
though 1 were again driven out from par
"Nakedness il simply q claim Of nature.
" / am quite In m with your
opinion hat nakedness appears .hideous to
US to-day But II - not from lack OF cloth
Ing. but from lack OF hair. In nature
there Il only hide. Hairless skin - z nom
entity or-degeneration. Were II otherwise