The unique experience of Mr. and Mrs. Dwight H. Woolf, the champion Long Distance Walkers, has awakened general interest throughout the United States.
In 1909, Mr. Woolf's doctor informed him that he would have to get out in the open and stay there, or he would die. He weighed only 107 pounds, including clothes, and was growing weaker daily. Yet he hesitated about giving up his business as a music publisher - his life work; and it seemed a little short of madness to forego all the luxuries - the so-called "comforts" - of civilization
But Mrs. Woolf, who was a brave, sensible woman, thoroughly devoted to her husband's interests, agreed with the physician and suggested a walk to the Ozark Mountains.
That was the beginning of a most remarkable series of trips through Missouri, Kansas, Texas, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, and up through the north Atlantic States to New York and Boston, then home to Kansas City - in the aggregate, a journey of about 10,300 miles.
Yet, wherever the couple went there was really but one destination - health.
Mr. Woolf gained strength and, not long after starting, was able to make twenty-five or thirty miles in a day.