Evening star., 1933-05-16
THIS AND THAT
BY CHARLES Z. TRACEWELL.

these nudists 70 about their daily AZ
fairs in . sane spirit, but certainly the
pictures of them which one sees, as Q
general thing, show them rather other
wise.
It Is not so much the nakedness,
perhaps, which the staid individual
would dislike. Is the COLLECTIVELY Of It.
the Joy Of being perfectly unincum-
bered In the sunshine. the Joy Of free
dom-these do appeal.
Even the person who growls the most
at the idea Of nudiym may have . sup
pressed envy or jealousy Of the appar-
emily happy, care-free persons he sees
in the photoeraphs:
4 \ 4
Most good, honest folk have never
seen such pictures, and would gasp
with horror, II they did especially
when other persons were present.. but
these photographs, mostly out Of Ger
many. seem to be perfectly legal now.
Only a year or SO they were banned.
opinion or two seem to have made q
great deal Of difference, so that no
governmental agency feels that they
will corrupt public morals.
Just how much "indecency" Ii there
in indecency, after all, and where Is
it located? A friend of the writer's
about a year or 80 ago received some
Of the German nudist magazines. now,
as we understand. perfectly legal In
this country. but then quite banned.
A letter from the customs inspector
apprised him Of his crime. He went
to see about 1t, protesting that. in all
honesty. he could see nothing vulgar
or indecent In the photos In the maga-
zines.
what is wrong with them?" he
blushing finger on certain well known
portions OF the human anatomy. why,
they show the focal points" he said.
Focal points. indeed! A focus for
the eye, as directed by the mind. So
the fault, If 1t were a fault, lay in
the trusty old human brain, eh!
Well, this is q question which has
been much discussed over some thou
sands OF years, and 1t does not appear
that talk about 1t and about" has
ever got any place particularly.
Every one has his ideas Of what Is
right and wrong and what Is decent
and what indecent. There Is not much
chance OF changing them. Maybe II
we lived two or three lifetimes. in
SUcdQ OI JubL VIC, tt1S t1Ani6 A1AShs VIC
done.
About the best chance the average
Anglo Saxon, perhaps, has Of being a
"nudist" Is in his "bawth" and In Sum-
mer sleeping. There is q big oppor-
tunity in this latter activity for whole
some changes looking toward bigger
and better skin breathing.
The epidermis Is sort Of breathing
agent. The person who suffers severe
burns, ma jor burns, as they are called,
dies as much from suf1ocation as from
anything else.
The extreme Puritan modesty under
which most of us labor follows one
even in sleep. demanding some sort OF
covering on the hottest Summer nights.
Sleeping ''in the raw" as some wag
called It, is . natural solution OF .
seasonal difnculty.
The cooling capacity Of the bare
back, for instance, Is enormous. ano
must be tried to be appreciated. 1t
is amazing. and . little bit pathetic,
to think Of all the millions Of human
beings who smother all dressed up IN
the dark There Is no need Tor IT.
Nudism, to this extent, at least. ID
sensible and wholesome, and 10 com
ing to be more and more practiced IN
the United States. approved by health
authorities, even II not by the customs
inspectors.