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[[ newspaper article pasted, two columns]]
Special to The Knickerbocker Press.
PITTSFIELD,  June 6. -- As Berkshire county contains acre upon acre of woods which the hand of man has never violated, or, at least, has not disturbed for years and years, it has seemed perfectly feasible to the youngest and without doubt the most original of the sportsmen's organizations in the county, to announce a contest which for daring and hardiness is unique.
The recently organized Sportsmen's club at Lenox Dale, the little village on the line of the Berkshire street railway and the New Haven railroad between Lenox station and Lee, whose name was changed by the New Haven to Niagara but which remains Lenox Dale still, has conceived and fostered a plan to awaken an interest in the "back to nature" movement that bids fair to outrival anything before tried by an organization.
In brief the club announces a contest among its members, or those who wish to become bona fide members in the next few weeks, which shall consist in a call for volunteers to enter the forests and subsist by the use of their muscles and wits for a period of from one to two months, the winners to be those who shall remain the longest away from civilization and return the best equipped.
The last week in July has been selected for the rounding up of candidates and either that week or the first week in August the neophytes who have responded and have passed a rigid physical examination, will be taken into the woods by a selected committee of men of central Berkshire, unclothed, deprived of every article which has anything to do with the life of civilized man, and sent into the forests.
To Become Primitive Men.
The plan of the club is to send out three or more pairs of men, starting them out in different directions, one pair north, another south, another west, and if there are more than three pairs, perhaps to turn the surplus ones loose in the wilds north of the state line, in Vermont.
The contest is to determine whether or not it is possible for a man to live in primitive surroundings, clad only in his assurance and strength, for several weeks, and come out of the primitive into civilization wearing clothing which shall not only cover his nakedness but provide him with warmth and comfort.
Those familiar with the touted exploits of the Boston artist who was sent into the Maine woods with much acclaim, stripped of clothing and utensils and left to make his own way bare-handed and bareheaded, will realize at once what this project means.
To make assuranc of no faking the contestants will not be allowed to go out alone but will be paired off and those making up each pair will be set and expected to watch and report on his companion.  Rivalry will render it easy for [[the?]] contestants to strive honestly and [[?]]
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[[cut off photograph showing figure clothed in coat, vest and trousers]]
name because, he said, he feared [[she?]] might, in modesty, refuse to enter [[the?]] contest. He believes she is of a [[naturally?]] modest disposition, but has spirit of daring and bravery which [[has?]] led her to wish to enter the "[[primitive?]] life contest."
He said she described herself [[as?]]twenty years old, five feet seven [[inches?]] in height, weighing 134 pounds, modest good-looking, and with an [[exceptional?]] knowledge of woodcraft.  Her mother
who passed her life with her father in the Maine woods, was killed by a savage bull moose, when she was in a canoe with her husband on a far northern Maine lake.  The guide and his wife, with their daughter, then a child were paddling across the lake when [[the?]] moose entered the water.  The [[guide?]] shot and wounded him and he charged the canoe, upsetting it and impaling her mother on his antlers.  The guide managed to escape with his daughter and they passed years in that vicinity, camping and mourning the death of her mother.  The life in the woods has fitted her for any ordeal, she believes, and she is anxious to try.  Ever since she heard of the exploits of Joseph Knowles and the subsequent doubt with which his story was received, she has been anxious to prove that a woman is able to do the very same things that this man was said to have done.
Seeks for Companion.
"The Sage" has accepted her offer for the club and is corresponding with her in regard to the details of the contest.  He will accept with pleasure an offer from any other young woman who would like to become the companion of the Maine girl in the "primitive life contest."
Mr. Tyer says this contest is in no way to be considered a freak affair inasmuch as it is directly in line with the whole spirit and tenor of the Lenox Dale Sportsmen's club.  The Lenox Dale club has, for its rules, features which are unique as well as concomitant with the very purpose of all organizations which believe, a contradiction to the ideas and No banquet halls for the Lenox Dale Sportsmen's club! Such things are, they believe, a contradiction to the ideals and ideals of the club itself.  Theirs the [[open?]] air, the towering trees, the blue [[sky?]] sun, the wind [[the?]]
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