The Evening statesman. [volume] (Walla Walla, Wash.) 1903-1910, 1908-10-08


wreck of body was crying for the sun.
He stripped off, his clothes and bathed
in the sunshine H felt better. 1t had
done him good-the first relief in weary
months of pain
AS he grew better he sat up and be-
gan to notice. All about him were the
birds fluttering and chirping. the squir-
rels chattering and playing. He envied
them their health and spirits, their
happy, carefree existence. That he
should contrast their condition with his
was inevitable; and that he should
question why they were splendidly Wig
Orous while he was a feebly, dying
| wrath Of a man was likewise inevita-
| BILE His conclusion was the very OBJ
vious one-namely, that they lived
naturally, while he lived most unnatur-
ally: therefore, if he intended to live,
he must return to Nature.
Along, there in the brush, he worked
out his problem and began to apply it,
He stripped off his clothing and leap
| ed and gambOled about, running on all
tours, climbing trees, in short doing
physical stunts-and all the time soak
| ing in the sunshine. He initiated the
animals He built a nest of dry leaves
! and grasses in which to sleep at night,
covering it over with bark as pro-
| lection against the early fall rains.
Here is a beautiful exercise" he told
| me once, Tapping his arms nightly
against his sides. Il learned it from
| watching the ROSTERS crow" Another
time / remarked the loud, sucking in
II n
milk He explained that he had no
ticed the COWS drinking that way. and
concluded there must be something in
it, He tried it and found it good, and
therefore he drank only in that fash
| ion.
He noted that the squirrels lived on
fruits and nuts. He started on fruit
and-nut diet, helped out by bread, and
he grew stronger and put on weight.
For three months he continued his
primordial existence in the brush, and
! then the heavy Oregon rains drove him
| back to the habitations of men. Not in
three months could a 80 pound survl-
vor Of two attacks of pneumonia de-
velop sufficient ruggedness to live
through an Oregon winter in the open.
He had accomplished much, but he
had been driven in. There was no
place to go but back to his fathers
house, and there, living in close rooms
with lungs that painted for all the air
of the open sky, he was brought down
by a third attack of pneumonia He
grew weaker even than before. In that
tottering tabernacle of flesh his brain
collapsed. He lay like a corpse, too
weak to stand the fatigue of speaking,
too irritated and tired in his miserable
brain to care to listen to the speech
of others The only act of will of
which he was capable was to stick his
fingers in his ears and resolutely to
refuse to hear single word that was
spoken to him. They sent for the in
sanity experts. He was adjudged in
sane, and also the verdict was given
that he would not live month.
By one such mental expert he was
carted off to a sanatorium on Mount
Tabor. Here. when they learned that
he was harmless, they gave him MS
own way. They no longer dictated as
to the food he ate, so he resumed his
fruits and nuts-olive oil, peanut but
ter and bananas were the chief article
of his diet. AS he regained his
strength he made up his mind to live
thenceforth his own life. If he lived
like others, according to social conven-
tions, he would surely die. And he did
not want to die. The fear of death was
one of the strongest factors in the
genesis of the Nature Man. To live he
must have natural diet. the open air
and the blessed sunshine.
Now. an Oregon winter has no in
ducements for those who wish to re-
turn to Nature, so Darling started out
in search of a climate. He mounted
bicycle and headed south for the sun
lands Stanford University claimed
claimed him for "a year. Here he studl-
ed and worked his way, attending lee
lures in as scant garb as the authorities
would allow and applying as much as
possible the principles of living that he
had learned in squirrel town. His ia
vo~ite method Of study was to go Off In
the hills back of the university, and
there to strip off his clothes and lie
on the grass, soaking in sunshine and
health at the same time that he soaked
In knowledge.
But central California has her win
ters and the quest for Nature mans
climate drew him on. He tried Los
Angeles and southern California, being
arrested a few times and brought be-
fore the insanity commissions, because,
fo~sooth, his mode of life was not mod
eled after the mode of life of his fei-
low-men. He tried Hawaii, where un-
able to prove him insane, the author
tiles deported him. 1t was not exactly
a deportation He could have remained
by serving year in prison. They gave
him his choice. Now prison is death to
the Nature Man. who thrlves only In
the open air and in Gods sunshine. The
authorities of Hawaii are not to be
blamed. Darling was an undesirable
citizen. Any man in undesirable VINO
disagrees with one. And that any man
should disagree to the extent Darling
did in his philosophy Of the simple lime
is ample vindication of the Hawaiian
authorities verdict of his undesirable
ness.
So Darling went thence in search
of a climate which would not only be
desirable but wherein he would not