The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1908-03-21
LIVING OUTDOORS

took n i0o-mile walk in 1905, going
up the valley to Eureka, Cal, and
walking part OF the way back. on
days, thirty-four performances of q
little play at local theatres, played
twelve baseball games. and incidental1
" Melted $1,000 for the clubs fund,
The custom of walking tours for school
boys and teachers has spread here
from German and Switzerland. al.
though in modified form that reg
qaires q central camp. in some forest
or at the seaside. and the tours ara
made from this as home To which,
they return at night. There are camp
schools for girls as well as FOR boys
and no longer the night shadows and
the wood noises are frightening.
outdoor theatricals were ALREADY well
under way before the Ben Greet play4
ers with their exquisite accent and
faultless reproduction OF EIizabethaa
drama came TO give an added impetut
TO the movement. Vassar. Wellesley,
Smith and Bryn Mawr girls have had
their tree planting and daisy chain
Gays, and outdoor plays for quartet
OF a century n natural amphitheatrs
on the University OF California grounds
at Berkeley suggested the building OF
an outdoor theatre, and to-day the
iniscent Of ancient Athens or syracuse
arc another evidence of our general
outdoor trend. Every Sunday after.
noon throughout the summer. open
SCI iNCS are NEII on the NatlpnH,
Cathedral grounds In Washington d
y, the congregation sitting on the
sloping hillside overlooking the cits
below, while the music from the Ala.
boys drift softly through the trees n,
rise, unhildered by roof or eildeI
dome. TO the blue of the sky abnve
sumner schools and Chautauquas lr
Almost every state hold outdoor. meet.
ings throughout the summer.
The Bohemian Club. OF San Fran
cisco, Is the pioneer outdoor theatri.
cal club Of the nation. For twenty.
aud professional men who compose II
nave been holding their "tnidsummet
inks on their own forest stage In
a grove Of redwoods fifty miles norti,
canyon. where the trees are alwavs
Sreen, because the mountain sides arG
stiil forested and hold their water
s 81, rI,iia,. me Bohemians pitch thel,
sGnitilef camp. Ferns and brake ara
,in1uer1oot, the seats are cut from rianf
rsdWoods, and the stage is a natural
platform with the hills for a sound
= board and the trees for wings,
riS,e every August play Is given q
aoik-flte That is as dear to its peopls
as Is the Passion Play to the peopls
OF osoerammersau II is masque OF
Der of the club. Only two things nnw.
e err It's writing and production, and
tEese are that the enactors must hs
p m9efif fnr, folk FOL =, and that the thems
fellowship through the death of care,
Back yards of the cities are hios1
somins' with flowers. where once dis.
order reisned; for the garden habi,
Yards in Washington. and twice as
many more in New York Were transt
formed in one season. Baron ID
iiirsch's fund establishing the Wood|
pine Colony in New Jersey, was only
forerunner of other benevolent
rious churches and philanthropic or.
sanlzations are maintaining, and thd
tendency is to establish more every
year. Homes for the poor and ina
insane were first put out in the coun-
try because of the cheapness. Now
they are there because of the health.
giving. care-killing life.
1T is not only when the Red God.
springtime that the rlverward, forest.
ward. shoreward migration begins. III
Is for al. the year, a party of young
girls getting their health back az
they live on small houseboat on a
florida river, multi-millionalres travel
ing in motor cars that are equipped
with beds and stoves, a collection oil
tent colchists that make up one fifth
OF the population Of Phoenix, Arizonai
q New Yorker and his Wife camping
all winter in a hy-tent in the Jersey
woods, or some cityweary folk living
II temporary quarters In an abandoned
New England farmhouse. the idea Is
one and the same; it means that the
people are looking toward health and
rest once. more through means Of tlld
Simple life.
To- Observation-Disclosures and Sforpc