CLAY EATERS.
STRANGE HABITS CF
LIAR PEOPLE,
A PECU-
They Satisfy the Cravings of Hunger
by Eating a Blue-Gray Clay, Found
“in the Banks of nu Credk,
The special correspond at of the Phil-
wadelphia Press, writing from Wise C. H.,
Va., gives many interesting facts con
cerning the habits and inanners of the
clay eaters of Kentucky, Tennessee, North
Carolina and Virginia. He says
oetorious
with numberless crimes and murders, with
dated and located as victims of his bloody
vapacity, and the arrest and imprison-
ment of the almost as notorious “Doc
Taylor, the wholesale murderer of Ira
Williams and his family, some time since,
near Pond Gap, together with the fact
that ‘‘Doc”
Hall, while acting as an officer ot the
State, has made the little mountain vil
to the newspaper correspondents of the
country.
The story of the life and crimes of
the two notorious citizens above men-
tioned has been detailed in the press of
the country, and it is not my purpose to
add at this time to the terrible
but to give the readers some information
apon the customs and habits of a most
peculiar class of people who live upon the
narrow creek vallevs and mountain sides,
some miles away from the county seat.
The readers have doubtless heard of a
people called Clay Eaters, who reside in
ithe wildest parts of Kentucky, Tennes
see. South Carolina, and Virginia,
loubtless many, if not all of them (the
rreaders, I mean), believed the stories to
be nothing more or less than emanations
of the vivid imaginations of the writers.
But many of the
There are such human
are clay-eaters in the literal
the term. One day, not long since, the
writer, acct mpanied by a cuide, crossed
the Cumberland Mountains at the Gap,
near McClure Creek, and into the
depths of a wilderness over a narrow and
but partially defined trail for twenty-five
miles. At the end of our trip we found
ourselves on a narrow
wr stream which came
mountains, clear, pellucid,
For ten miles we had not
human habitation and the first one
ia iii 1 Lis
beginni sett
were true,
they
stories
and
meaning of
beings,
rode
ribbon of a creek
down out of the
and cold
seen 1 : }
+}
:
) leme a hundred
cabins, perhaps we ruck shortly after
ascent the stream
¥ person long
viay-eater,” said the
proached a low crowne
which stood in
branch.
A sallow, SLO
wr 60 stood near
rihe faces of seven
and bare-footed
3t0d8 years of a
yas as wr ADDITON i
"The guide called
“Polter,” and i
rode over here from t
SOC ROM
doesn’t believe
svants to see for himself
“Yer kin lite down an’ Kun Hank,’
calling boys, w-headed
urchinof 13 y ek o
dren, varving
e, pet red with curi
name,
‘his gentien
g
t House to
i He
$ rel
body ever eats it, and
of yon 1} cat clay
nry
"
one of the
ears, "'t
‘an bridles an’ turn them hoss
paster lot
The boy took charge of
and after unsaddling led the
short distance up the creek to a
paich of grouond fen el in with a
fend es,
After alight
enter the cabin on
much pleasanter un i
Big tree in front «
guest Peiter sent @
17, who, like
headed, bare-headed,
after a piece of the clay,
there has been much
guide and myself went
to know where and how they got the
stuff. A few yards on the bank
of the creek, the boy stopped in front of
a ledge or layer of blue-gray clay
two or three inches in thickness, The stuff,
when taken in hand, had a feeling, and
when wet directly became pliant and soft,
like putty, and had very much the same
general appearance.
animals a
small
brush
vor we politely declined to
. that it
shade of the
At our re
16 or
tow
bare footed,
which
The
with him, curious
plea wns
vr the
€r i}
brother,
and
hia
nis
was
about
80 written
below
about
into a ball and
Polter gave the clay
and then began
stuff. which he rolled
handed his father.
another light wetting
putty, until the greasy, slippery stuff be
came soft, pliable and tenacious, He
then separated the mass into big pills or
balls, from the size of a bullet to that of
an ordinary marble, and a few perhaps
twice as Jarwe. He gave the smaller chil-
dren several of the smallest pills and the
larger ones two or three of those as large
as marbles, reserving to himself two or
three of the biggest boluses in the lot,
The boys and girls, and the male and
female heads of the families, placed the
balls of clay in their mouths, where hy
constant chewing and manipulating and
Yy the aid of the secretions they soon
sonverted them into a soft mucilaginous
sass, which, with no apparent difficulty
they succeeded in swallowing.
Determining to try for myself to satisfy
myself that there had been no sleight of
Band or hocus pocus about the affair J
took a piece of the clay about as big as a
pullet and put it into my mouth. In a
very little while, and without manipula
ting or chewing, 1 found that the saliva
had dissolved the mass, There were no
gritty particles apparent: on the con-
trary, there was an oily feeling, without
semblance of taste, didn't swallow the
stuff, but could have done so easily
enough, but for the fepugnance I felt.
After the clay had been disposed of I
said ;—
“Will this sort of clay satisfy hunger?”
“Certainly ; that's what we eat is for.
A feller ken sat "nuff to las’ three ur foh
«ays, but tuis what I et’ll only last till
to-morrow.
“Pan't it make you sick? Don’t it
hurt you some way when you make what
you would consider a full meal of it?”
“Never heern uv its makin’ enybody
sick, but some claims it makes a feller
weak. Don’t know ‘bout that,”
“Do the other people living in this
neighborhood eat clay also?”
“All uv ‘em do, But we don't eat it
all uv the time. Its only when we get
short © grub an’ thar's no game, In
[summer time an’ fall thars plenty o
grub, an’ then we don’t tech it.”
A half hour later we were again
ascending the creek, and at the end of
another half hour came to a second
cabin, a prototype of the first even to
the number and appearance of the fam
ilv. All were lank, eadaverous, and
bluish looking, with dull, leaden cyes
and an appearance physically as if the
whole neighborhood had become par
tially paralyzed. They were all, so far
as I could find, mentally slow and obtuse
also. At the second eabin the
questions were. asked and the same ad-
| missions as to the habit of earth cating
made, and again the entire process pre
the first cabin was gone
{ cisely as at
through with,
found at cach one a family of earth eat-
ers and none of them appeared to think
{ anything strange of the custom.
{of them said in explanation that this
habit had been handed down, inherited
as it were, from generation to generation,
and none of them could inform us of the
origin of the clay eating custom. One
| thing peculiar I noticed about these peo.
{ ple, and that was wherever a clay eating
| family was found there were invariably
i several of them. They had either be-
come communicative by preference or
more likely had been ostracised by others
who believed the habit to be disgusting
The latter supposition is probably the
j correct one. What there is in the stuff
to support life I cannot tell, and although
I have talked with a number of well in
formed people among whom were Gov
ernment and civil officers, who knew of
these peculiar people, none of them could
give any explanation of it. 8
informed 3
tains in «on lensed
nutritive properties,
well
vera is
pe ‘sons say that the clay con
form sme highly
but they p
analysis of these alleged properties, and
all of the the suppositions and
opinions in the end amount to nothing
tangible. ‘That there is something of this
sort, however, in the peculiar clay eaten
by the carth must be true, from
the fact, which is undisputed, that these
people often » without
the banks
gUVe no
eaters
go days at a time
n
other food than that dug out of
of the crecks
Right-Handedness is Now Natural.
Fhe causes ht. handedness have
given anatomists much material for spec
ulation, and more ti Me CUrious
theory has been advanced
the fact that men habitually
hand in
have attempt d to
pre ference to t
on anatomical
y course of the
ig more direct
blood
Of means
the
not
tiv
CAKE
hanism
Globe
be
subije
should
erence for
ceptional
the accounts
h
of trave mnded ness
is as
among
to indicate that their
*
genct ul
the ivi
te nele I
stitut onal
, not only
. .
ag I Tr
y double amount
Ser Yoifs
the lef
18
formed by the right, .
of required
foot and Hmb a deg:
a contrast
Few peopl walk eve uly wad
training Is give
lency that
being seen by the
will prevent
tators
the greater strength of the right side is
in
always turning to
RIM
shan
3
tat
108% iis
the cause of persons woods
traveling in a circle,
the left. These facts, with many others
that may be cited, lead to the cond lusion
that nature is the guide in the fre.
quent use ft
: more
of the right hand, but whether
the present preference is the result of an
original condition or of hereditary train.
ing will always be an open anestion
A MARVELLOUS MEMORY.
Encyclopedic Knowledge of a Little
French Girl of Five.
i An infant phenomenon has been dis
covered at Plaisance, a suburb of Paris,
in the person of a little girl ealled Jeanne
Eugenie Moreau, aged only five, but en
dowed with a most extraordinary memory
She is a walking encyclopedia on all
matters appertaining to the history of
France, and especially of the great revo.
| lution ; is an adept also in natural history,
and at the same time answers without
hesitation or error practical questions
about cooking, gardening and household
management,
| The youthful prodigy was born in
{ Paris in Janua:y, in 1887: her father,
{ Phillippe Moreau, being a humble
| laborer, but descended from a revolu-
tionary hero whose name figures in the
annals of 1786, and who wus decorated
| by General de Lafayette after the taking
of the Bastile, Owing to the poverty of
| her progenitor, Eugenic Moreau was
i adopted by a widow-—Mme. Cally—who,
| noticing the retentive faculties of the
{ child, cultivated and developed them
with assiduity until the phenomenon had
| become capable of passing a tiff compe-
| titive examination and of putting to
| shame many a schoolboy or schoolgirl of
maturer years and more extensive educa-
tion.
The fate of Eugenie Moreau will no
doubt be that reserved for all intellect.
ual prodigies of years. She will be ex-
hibited to scientific men and reported
upon ; she will Jrobabiy receive an offer
from an enterprising showman, and in all
likelihood Eugenie, should she survive
academical testings and public examina.
tions, will eventually settle down to the
life of a schoolmistress—na calling for
which her marvelous memory will pre.
eminently fit her. [London Telegraph.
Tur dark horse is acquiring a military
as well as a political value, German
military authorities say that the smoke.
less powder makes it death to be on a
pale horse, and white teads will here.
after be excluded,
*
NOTES AND COMMENTS.
Oxe of the best and most convincing
results of the unselfish activity of women
that can be found in the whole wide
sane of woman's activity is the work
done at Hull House, Chicago. This is
an old residence that, as the city has
arown, has become surrounded by the
densest population, the greater propor
tion of whom are foreigners who have
not yet adapted themselves to American
ways--Italians, Germans, Jews, and all
the medley that dwell in the most
rowded tenements, In Hull House
gome years ago a little band of devoted
women set up their residence in order to
try to improve the condition of their
neighbors, and it has grown to be one of
the notable institutions in the
Christian world, It nurses
poor women while they have to work,
it teaches foreigners the literature of
their own tongue, it keeps relenticss
landlords from committing crucities to
poor tenants, it finds homes for deserted
children, it enters the law courts in de
fence of many an oppressed woman, it
most
has distinguished lecturers and attentive
listeners to them even on abstruse sub
that in every
ministration to the
of the
fects 80 prov tical way, |
rudimen
to stimulating
rom most
tary wants Poot
their
this
most ambitious intellectual efforts,
multifarious
There are
work is carried on.
almost innumerable
there are exhibits that would de
credit to the wealthiest portion of the |
there are sod inl i in
there
classeg
art
city: entertal nts
fact,
mental, or moral, tha
in
nme
Hull
manage way to supply
led
unt of the growth i
great
SON!
and exceedingly intercsth
HADRON
institution is published
Miss Jane Addams, one
of it, in the Foru
claims that this
‘An effort
1¢3¢
no
WOrk
toward Soci
charity work
but that
ought
philanthropic;
outgrowth of what
ural desire of all perso:
aid to the
their
{ best tendency
and
ite as much good 1s re
al
f
0 neighbors,
1
who do
Jlent serv)
nis of it
Imp
Berlin
Ww ho are
[rst il Ca
shipped to G
Postoflice [eg
munication fr
ment acknowl
mosiels
fications
the
base, 250
feet high, tapering to 18 feet at the top
Ihe frame w built of four main |
columns 15 inches sq around which
A piatiorn
the covering will De
Surround
LE
[ria od
88 feet in circumference will
the top, furnishing room for 80 people tc
stand. Another will be
provided at about midway up the tower
for those whe
altitude
electri
lookout point
3
fear to ascend to a higher
Two elevators propelled by
tmvel the vertical
path leading to the top They will have
a capacity of 253 passengers each, and
make the journey in half a minute, The
entire be brilliantly illu
3 A three-story
100 feet, suitable for
other business purposes, will
be erected at the cf the tower. The !
from the observatory will take in |
Lake Ontario, the tortuous course of the |
Niagara River, and, the |
spires of Toronto,
pDOWeEr will
structure will
minated by electricity
brick block 668 by
offices or i
brass
View
on a clear day,
Tug law of Denmark now gives to |
Danish subject, man or woman, |
the right to a pension at 60 years of age, |
except in of convicted criminals, |
of those who have fraudulently made
over their property to relatives, of those
who have brought themselves to distress
by extravagance, or who have during
the preceeding ten years seceived relief
from the parish, or who have been con-
victed of meadiecity Tha parish ex.
amines each ease and reports the amount
of relief to be granted. It may be with
held if the beneficiary becomes ineligible
every
CAtes
persion, or if he marries,
The State contributes half the expense
f the parish in distributing relief pro-
270,000 each year from "31 to "95 and
$50,000 in subsequent vears. There is
No matter how crowded a harbor may
She is better kept and
cleaner; her sparring is more graceful,
her sails are more neatly furled; her
precisely trimmed, and her whole appear-
ance is more shipshape and man-of-war-
like than that of the vessels of any other
But, all the
same, American ships are lamentably
jew.
Tur Chinese who come to this count
engage in almost every occupation whic
give them the most returns, Of course
there are many things which they can
do, but which they are not permitted to
there being enough
white residents to perform the same,
Almost every city has at least one Chi-
nese laundry, They have proven to be of
somo use out Wast in various capucities
such a2 cooks, serveats, and laborers
The latest occupation seem to
have a great tendency toward agricul
ture. and large numbers of them are en-
gaged in farming in Montans Certainly,
what w the pig-tailed
embark in?
Tue United States is «
having the best blooded
world, and there is no
country should rot always
honor, considering the careful
given by the majority of our leading
stockmen to the breeding of their ani-
mals,
of somt
¢ slestinl next
with
the
this
that
attention
redited
stock in
why
hold
reason
Tur French have developed the making
of butter to a higher point than any
duct
other
brings a bigger price than
We can raise
ood butter hers when wae set
earnestly to learning how tn do it
WaLLis Brooke, a writer in the Lon.
don Times, is of the opinion that
shall milk imported from
Australia in frozen blocks retailed
London streets, It
any
peopl 's just a
ourse] vos
Wt
SOON LA
and
can be done as
How a Trout Swims,
Wi wil
ago on the east bank of the Beaver
ol Rockland, says the American
Ancler, and watched the trout of that
coiehrated river the
high *w
an hour or more a few ever
i mt
passin dam
or Ver
feet
ith
which is neariv thre
yout a four-inch volume of
ng over ul
trout ranged In
en inche and dus
v at Jeast twenty
In many
owing, hoy more Lo an
parent want ol igment, or pg rhaps ex
perience then fron of
ability
the smaller fis As Brie
But
CLean
efor u fen
™ 1 +} v
¥ in Lhe rst
TL
A Wonderful Railroad
nis beyn
DOLED
NRT
me, bu he mystery still remaine
3 p
One day an old man who had never
been away {rom villager deter
at ‘Mother Moe
the Rus
f
wonderin.
take a |}
which
mined to srk
COW, is regarded by a
sian peasantry the n
city in the
The down « Xpress
met at Bologox half wav between St
Petersburg and Moscow and
sengers of both trains were allowed hald
an hour for preps
who alighted fre train the
old peasant recognized a friend whom
he hae, not seen for a ong tin €
They had a delightful
over their tea in the
without any
doing, the
As FOIE
work
and he Up express
fine as
Supper Among the
the othe:
ether
then,
was
restaiirnant ang
what he
bosrded his
thought of
old peasant
The talk was very mbrry {or some time
but at last the old man became grave and
At
what
over something
“Ah, Ivan,
last he broke out
a wonderful thing
Here sit in the
game car, I going to Moscow and you to
St. Petersburg Youth's Compan n
we
Columbus or Vespuecl,
Every schoolboy of course, knows that
if Columbus had never lived Americas
would have been discovered all the same,
when Pedro Alvares Cabral, the Porta
guese admiral, was carried by the trade
winds over to the coast of Brazil in 1500,
But in that case it would not have been
discovered by Spain and the whole
course of the inevitable European settle.
ment on the continent must have been
modified. When that can be said of any
particular evont there can be no question
as to its importance. There is a kind
of historical eritic, rather conspicuous in
these latter days, who finds a peculin
satisfaction in pointing out that Colum
bus discovered America without know.
ing it—which is true. That he believed
and died in the belief that he had
reached Asia is certain, It is not less
sure that Amerigo Vespucci, from whom
the continent was named, by a series of
flukes, misprints and misunderstanding
went to his grave in the same faith, “ie
thought that he had found an island of
uncertain size to the south of the equa.
tor, and that what Columbus had found
to the north was the eastern extremity
of Asin. But the world which knows
that Columbus did, as a matter of fact,
do it the service of finding America, and
is aware that without bo the voyage
from Palos would never have been under.
taken, has refused to belittle him because
he did not know beforehand what was
only found out through bis exertions, —
{Saturday Review, ;
Wn & wy
FOR THE CHILDREN,
BE JUST YOURKELY.
0 little bird of golden wing,
Go to your wild-wood nest,
And to your downy nestlings sing
The song that seemeth best
Be just yourself birdling true,
Whether the song be old or now
in the scented field,
A glorious sisterhood,
Be simple daisies as you yield
Your heritage of good,
To deck in white the meadows fais
Just showing the bright gold you wear
O daisies
(3, simple blossom by the walk,
80 very plain and small,
The flower tht grows on the high stalk,
(), envy not at all;
3ut bloom in just yous
evealing your own
pretty dress
loveliness
O). learn a lesson, little child,
From flowers you daily sec
Of singing bird in forest wild
Just vour own self to be,
And vou will better fill your place
By wearing your own pleasant face,
New York Observer,
FOR CHILDREN,
sorts for children
FLOWERS
Among the
balsas,
pinks and sweet
flowers
rent fare
nasturtiumes, portulaca, phlox
peas. These good, old
fashioned groaw easily, ast long
in bloom and
and best flow
As un 1 i
flowers please
times chilaren
parents
attention ]#Oa Dave
children posses
Annus
rarer flow
think
1O Know
in
fy
the
lier » mo
manir
bry SUL
The
but never
HEY IN A STHANGE ROLE,
3» v a rict § Pe nue
mounaaln 03
wiens had bult their
In
Yana
iu
two ti
under the eaves of an old farmhouse
the attaches
farmer's household was a whit
the tanw
they used around the piazza in
search of crumbs the ost wi
family Among
cat,
when wrens became
at] that
to hop
them, and several
an
When the farmer noticed
the cat, and
it was dangerous to
wall "1
within
birds
Kit keel
times came
4
3
aie aduit
this he
finally learned
¥
fool with the
ae catching
she
that
wrens
When the baby wrens grew larger one
and,
being too weak to ran and unable to fly,
lay helpless on the grass The cat saw
the accident and ran rapidly to seize the
bird, but, seeming to remember the lesson
taught her, when she reached the helpless
little thing she only touched it daintily
with her paw and then lay down and
watched it Presently there came a
black and vellow garden snake toward
the fluttering birding The cat
dozing and was awakened by the flutter
ing of the bird, Instantly she arose and
struck at the reptile with her paw. This
of them one das fell out of the ne wl.
was
ciate, but was hungry, so it darted for-
ward and attempted to seize the bird
Like a flash the cat seized the snake just
back of the head and Killed it with one
in the afternoon he found the eat crouch-
ten feet away was the dead snake.
This made it clear that
| Brandon
THE BODY AND ITS HEALTH,
Favs 1x Dir, Perhaps popular med
London Hospital, for the growing habit
of over-nursing organs which are quite
able to stand ordinary work. Health
articles are written by doctors, and these,
secing people only when they are ill, for
get the papers they write for--the
“Family Journals" —are rend by men
snd women, especially women, who are
perfectly well, “Avoid pastry,” writes
the doctor, Shinking of the confirmed
dyspeptic who left his consulting room
half an hour ago, and thereupon a hun
dred folks who were never a walt the
worse for their tarts avoid pastry con.
sclentionsly and take to unending sago
pwidings, whose monotony their weary
palate loathes. If we were to renounce
all that we see or hear condemned as
overstraining or misusing ou digestive
apparatus, we should probably take
but pepsin, with Jathaps a little
milk to exercise it on are times
field dieting, the most
for the green apples
of us ones
To
consideration
weak for lack of exercioe,
proper
reARGnaic
is a matter of common
make ourselves mentally
of the monks of Mount
food we eat,
but
parallels
to
all that w
selves open to the chance of indigestion
as much as if we indulged every day in
the banquets of a Luculius,
Nervous Exuavsriox, Irs
AND ov rs (
¢ should avoid, is to lay our
BYMPTOMS
SOME ARES Nervous ex
of dernpgements of a nature
means exhanstion of
life, an
less complete, It
tal or an overstrain
of some part or the whole of the nervous
a multitude
centres of exhaustion
which may be more or
marks a
ie very
Nervous exhaustion may be the
the
:
sN =n
end, or it may be the
At the same timo
yoy
at
and this
BEIYOUS 8%8
force, A buman being has,
but a certain esac of life,
{ease ix dep ndent upon the
When ordinary wear and tear
of Efe is not replaced by nutritious foods
of
Dest,
tem the
necessity, degenerate in one
degree or another
of waste and
"Tis simply a question
When
¢
porcine
exierns
that thew
wn be
repair
“wy
TY than sup
vetom beging to suf
resist
may have a
a strony eonstito
sifler in the
Ong
of pervous
line of
among which
f° SOBOBERE
ow LoOnent
hand and co
the
i
xvi in
yor restless
rate £134
and mental
aml apg
ine are ae
train, fron
and weaiher,
Boris from
menial depres.
r aad from ex.
k ly to develop in
other peri ad
Lhe
we to the ex
riod carries with
LIOng an mean
mstaners whi
in giving uiter
o hear his
t {f his brain
SCION OF
CONSCIOUSHOSE
OWN
self
motion, The ex
many men wher
weghial, and the
i men who suffes
is nots worthy Those
insufficient
there must
: condition
ions ore lispose to it e. 9g.
ous temperament, deficient
with which is associated
ertion, These may be
regarded as constitutional causes. An
predisposing is defective
The general education may
have been neglected, or the want of op
portunities of as juiring self-confidence
may have been experienced
Bashfulness is natural to youth, “Mod-
esty is the graceful. calm virtue of ma
turity ; bashfulness the charm of viva
cious youth:” and ualess a young man
takes advantage of opportunities of en
tering society, he will retain “An air of
bashfulpess which is in reality the want
of habitual intercourse with the world”
{ Waverley As long ago as 1550
Ascham wrote that “If a young gentle
man be bashful amd soon blush, they
call him a babishe and ill brought up
thyng.” Deficient social education Bb
therefore a cause of bashfulness. Habit
also predisposes to it. A mere indispo
sition to exert one’s self, if indulged for
too long a time, may cventually result in
confirmed bashfulness. This indifference
usually
bat
DNeCesSKaAry
ness,
rag
other cause
education
iD sox i
the surroundings. or may have its origin
in unalloyed selfishness for many bash
ful men are extremely selfish--or may be
The man who enjoys the
life of the taproom, because there he can
‘She Stoops te
Lastly,
excessive smoking or excessive drinking
kinds, are sometimes the cause of bash.
fulness,
——— AA
Artificial Granite,
Many costly experiments (as at Chica
go in October, 1871) having proved that
ranite is a poor stone to resist great
eat, an artificial granite is now pro.
. The natural stone is to
disintegration, thon pulverized and mixed
with the materials needed to toughen it.
After being melded to the various forms
dasired bricks, tiles, ete. the latter are
carefully dried, then placed in = kiln and
heated to 4,000 degrees
which process the parti
gether, the result being a
more durability. jt is o med, than mar
ble. It is ulso ot uniform texture, strong.
not susceptible to the action of fire
heat, may be readily cut
and caused