The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1907-11-22
Going BACK TO NATURE
Colony Of Health Seekers
Live Simply in
Switzerland.
SMALL COST OF LIVING
Easy Work, Equality, Few
Clothes and Moderate
Eating.
SMALL COST OF LIVING

HlSiCu anu GcAludH papers dTH
commenting upon the presence, in the
heighborhood of Locarno, in Switzer-
land, on the borders of I,ago Maggiore
OF colony Of "naturistes" They are
described as "a kind OF religious sect
the adherents of which walk about
naked on the mountains, go to the
markets In bizarre accoutrements to
buy vegetarian foods, and live in such
a peculiar fashion that the police have
heen uneasy about them. Some Of
these legends have been destroyed by
q representation of "LIllustration, .
who recently visited Monte Verita, the
home Of the "naturistes." They do go
about naked, 1t seems, but their COM
munity is not such as to call for police
interference, and they are not animal
ed by religious motives They are not
even followers of Tolstoy or Of Rous-
seau, They are simply artists, business
men and writer's, who have gone to IFS
ten in this sylvan retreat to the voice,
Of the silence" and to live under spe-
cial hyglenic conditions. Yet they are
different, it seems, from the people
one meets in ordinary life, and there
| is about them something Of the gen
tleness and mysticism that one finds in
converts.
The director and proprietor of the
colony is Dutchman, Henry Oeden-
kove, and in spite of his white tunic
and long curled hair, held in place BY
a ribbon, there is nothing mystical or
priestly about him. Son of leading
merchant Of the Low Countries, he is
now "a years old. Until he was 20 he
lived as other people do, but under adj
verse conditions, for he was an invalid
prey to doctors and to remedies. The
doctors sent him to the vegetarian san
atorium OF DR.. Kuhn at Leipzig, and
here In few months he was cured
simply by living naturally and taking
no medicine. Not only was his body
cured, but his manner of looking at
life underwent a revolution. Every In
dividual the "naturistes' say, who has
been initiated into the mysteries Of
vegetarianism and hygienic living ex-
periences a similar change. Having
seen the falseness and ihjuriousness OF
civilized customs, they cannot bring
themselves to take UP again the inn
beetle burden. Just as others look up
on the "naturistes" as cranks, SO they
regard with profound commiseration
that portion OF humanity calling Itself
civilized which wears ridiculous clothes
and absorbs poisonous nourishment,
which lives in vitiated atmospheres
and is addicted to the use Of all those
stimulants one of which calls for an
other, as the simple cigar leads to the
terrible morphine,
Thus was accomplished what M.
Oedenkove calls his conversion, and
under its influence he took refuge in
the solitude of Monte Verita He pur-
chased this isolated mountain, afar
from the haunts of men, where the
three necessary and sufficient ele-
lments, air, water and sun, were found
in abundance, and there he construct
ed primitive dwelling house of wood
and waited. Soon other disciples of ma
ture came to visit him and installed
themselves near him. Wooden cottages
multiplied, and it was found necessary
to erect a sort of central pavilion and
arrangements for sun baths, until an
extensive plant has been created.
In this colony are now found repre-
sentatives of all nationalities and all