Evening star., 1923-07-29

T was probably owing to the fact
that my place of lodgment in
New York overlooked the wav-
Il ing trees of Central Park that
I was consumed. all summer through.
with a great longing for the woods
To me. as lover of nature, the wav-
Ing of tree conveys thoughts which
are never conveyed to me except by
seeing a tree wave.
This longing grew upon me. l
became restless with it. In the day
time I dreamed over my work. At
night my sleep was broken and rest
less. At times I would even wander
forth at night into the park, and
there, deep in the night shadow of
the trees, imagine myself alone in
the recesses of the dark woods re-
mote from the toll and fret of our
distracted civilization.
The thought came to me suddenly
one night. l woke from my sleep
with plan fully matured in my
mind. It was this: I would. for one
month, cast off all the travail and
cares of civilized life and become
again the wild man of the woods
that nature made me. My plan was
to go to the edge of the great woods,
somewhere in New England, divest
myself of my clothes-except only
my union suit-crawl into the
woods, stay there a month and then
crawl out again.
To trained woodsman and
cra~ler like myself the thing was
simplicity itself For food I knew
that I could rely on berries, roots,
oh
bungi-in fact, the whole of ma
lures ample storehouse: for my
drink, the running brook and the
quiet pool; and for my companions
the twittering chipmunk, the chick
adee, the chocktaw. the choo-choo.
the chow-chow and the hundred
and one inhabitants of the forgotten
glade and the tangled thicket.
Although trained in the craft Of
the woods, could not conceal from
myself the danger that ! incurred.
Yet the danger was almost forgotten
In the extraordinary and novel inter-
est that attached to the experiment.
Would it prove possible for a man.
unaided by our civilized arts and in
dustries, to maintain himself without
clothes Except for his union suiO
in the heart of the woods? Could he
do it, or could he not? And if he
couldn't, what then?
But this last thought l put from me.
Time alone could answer the question.
i X x *
A in duty bound, went first to the
"A place of business where l a!p en-
ployed. to shake hands ana say
goodbye to my employer.
"I am going" I said, ito spend a
month right down to nature alone in the
woods"
He looked up from his deok with
genial kindliness.
That's right he said, get a good
rest"
My plan is" 1 added, Ito live on
berries and funguses."
Fine" he answered We'll. have a
good time. old man-good-bye."
Then I dropped in casually upon one
of my friends. WELL" / said, I'm off
to New England to spend month with
out clothes
Nantucket" he said, cor Newport? %
NO" answered, speaking as lightly as
I could. I'm going into the woods and
stay there in my union suit for a
month"
"Oh, yes," he said. 81 see. Well.
goodbye, old chap-tsee you when you
get back"
After that called upon two or three
other men to say brief word of fare
well. could not help feeling slightly
nettied, must confess, at the very cas-
ual way in which they seemed to take
my announcement. ooh, yes" they said.
naked in the woods. eh? Well, ta-ta till
you get back"
Here was a man about to risk his
life-for there was no denying the fact
rim great sociological experiment,