The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1918-07-23


class of Junkers There were schools II
plenty to teach the trades and train boys
into artisans, but there were no schools
designed to take the boy destined to in
herit tie control Of big business and man
featuring enterprises and teach him how
to become q ruler Of workmen.
DR.. Rumely conceived school that
would take these boys from eight years
lold upward and by a combination OF
scholastic and manual education fit them
to understand the fundamentals of indus
try and agriculture while at the same time
preparing for entrance to tSe university.
These are the boys who will be the
rulers Of America in the next genera
tion," he said to me the first time Wis.
tied his school. Tho future welfare Of
America depends upon their fitness to
rule and direct the destinies Of the ma
ton"
The school was started in 1907 at La.
|porte. An able young educator, Patrick
H. Riordan, was employed as DR.
Rumely's chief assistant and the institu.
ton grew and flourished. Many wealthy
men enrolled their sons as students and
the boys liked the school and its methods.
1t was not long before it became neces-
sary for the institution to move into
larger quarters and the doctor purchased
tract of several hundred acres Of farm
and wood land surrounding a beautiful
little lake near the village of Rolling
Prairie, few miles east Of Laporte.
Here the construction of school buildings
on a huge scale BY the boys themselves
was undertaken. Trees were cut down
in the forests surrounding the lake and
great school buildings, dormitorics and
other structures built In rustic fashion
out of the rough logs.
Names SCHOOL "InterIaken."
To the school thus built DR.. Rumely
gave the German name of "Interlaken."
| Very early in the history Of the Inter
laken School marked differences of opin-
ion and point of view developed between
DR.. Rumely and Mr.. Riordan. resulting
eventually in the latter's withdrawal and
the esta blishment of school Of his own
/ in New York State. With Mr. Riordan' s
departure DR.. Rumely found no further
opposition to the execution of the educa-
tional ideas and methods he had brought
from Germany and those which he had de-
veloped.
| Great attention was paid to the phys
ical development of the boys. The lake
furnished an ideal swimming pool, and
the boys were taught and encouraged to
swim, to row and fish, and in winter to
skate. I sat on the bank Of the lake one
| "a r. -
watching a group Of his pupils swim
ming and diving and running along the
shore, while the doctor commented on the
grace and beauty Of their naked bodies
glistenng in the sunshine.
Extolrcd German PhysicaI Ideals.
Zone of the most hopeful things about
Germany" he said, SIS the way the
young men Of wealth and family arc
going in for physical development. They
are not doing this as the English do
merely for the sake of sport or to make
themselves pleasing and attractive to
women, but in the spirit of the ancient
Greeks, realizing that the rulers of the
perfect state must be themselves per
fectly developed"
The boys at Interlaken did all of the
| work of the school. They not only built
their own houses and school buildings,
but took care Of them. Each boy was
required to make his own bed, clean his
own room or his part of the dormitory,
even wash his own clothes. The gen
eral policing and cleaning up Of build.
mo Scir 70 he
boys, each boy being in turn placed in
command of other boys to perform spec
flied parts Of this work.
Except for the Chinese cooks and one
fireman in the central heating plant
and power house, all the labor Of the
school proper was performed by the
boys. They also did the bulk of the
agricultural labor on the two hundred
acre farm under the direction of farm
manager.
One Of the educational ideas which
DR.. Rumey brought from Germany and
put into effect at Interlaken was that
Of taking groups Of boys out on long
tramps over the countryside. Some.
times these pilgrimages would cover only
a couple of days, sometimes longer peri
DDS. With DR.. Rumely and about forty
boys from Interlaken school went on
one of these walking trips.
Took a Fifteen Vile Tramp.
We tramped from 1nterlaken one Satur-
day afternoon to a point on the eastern
shore of Lake Michigan, about fifteen
miles distant. where we camped for the
night amid the sand dunes, and the next
day. after a plunge in the lake, tramped
back to the school As we marched
along the dusty roadside DR.. Rumely
talked enthusiastically about his tramps
around Germany with parties Of German
school boys. On this. and other occasions |
too, he told me of his dream of the de-
velopment in America of class of great
landed proprietors who would DO the
leaders and rulers Of America. |
These boys, or most of them" he said, |
will inherit fortunes and the control of
great enterprises. If they are early given
training in the fundamentals of agricult-
ure and the habit of outdoor life, are
taught to work with their hands and SO be
able later to direct intelligently the work
Of others who labor with their hands,
many of them will buy large tracts of