Litchfield enquirer., 1834-04-10
From sss Asserican Anaais ef Education. YOUTH WITHOUT CHILDHOOD.
 CASPAR HAUsER.

CASEAH HAUSGNe An account of an indisidual kept in a dungeon,
 separafed from all communicatiOn with the
 world, from early childhood 10 the age ot
 seventeen. Drawn up from legal doca-
 rnents, by Anslem VO0 Feuesback. Press-
 dent of one of the BavaFian Courts of Ap-
 neal. Szc. Translated from the German.
 Second edition. Boston; Allen and Tick
 nor, 1888. lsmo. Pp. iSs.
 X h passing through Germany. in the year sqe. we heard of an extraordinary being who ind inst come j1tO the world, ! as he subse- n,,ently expressed it, at lte age Ofseventeen- !, youth in form, and yet as ignorant of Ian eIage. and of the use of his limbs, and even of the Inast common external objects, as the in- fani of a few months. He was observed on. the evenins of the 2eth of May, 1928. near one of the gates of Nuremberg, in the pos tnre Of one intoxicated, who was equally una bie to stand of to move. "A letter which he held oiat, addressed to the Captain Of a squad ron of cavalry, gave no information except that he was born in i8i2, and had never been s,fcress to lease the house, and that all ingn- ries eoucerning his origin and fesidence would be in ysin. h reply to all the q,leaticnsa ad- dressed to llin by individualg and the police, he pttered . few unmeanipg words and point. s.d with marks of exhaustion, Co hiy bllsterec feet. Meat, which Mas offered to restore him, he rejected with visible horror; but eagerly swallowed some bread and water; apd on be- inr conducted t0 the stable. stretched himself l,r,on the straw and fell into sleep so pro- found. that he could scarcely be awakened.- His feet were as soft as the palms Of his hands: his gait was that Ofa child just begin ning 10 step; and it was only with intense ahlferine that he could walk. His senses seem af 10 bc locked up in torppF and n wooden horse, brought to him by a soldier, in conse- queilce of his frequent repetition of the Ger aiSan word for horse, 'ross ross! 7 was the .lifst and only object which seemed to excite inseresi. He seated himself by il, ..sith a coi,ilkenance smiling sweetly through his feiFs, and passed hours and days. in moving and leeding, aud ornawenting il, as # it were fhs only being which called forth his social feelings.
 It will be easily believed that such an. app pearalsce w01id excite intense curiosity. It was case which set at detiance all the fOrm- al intesrogalions and arrangements of Ger man goycrnmsnt. and it waa difficult to decide whether hs belonged tO the asylum for idi0- eyg oF the AImshouss, or io tho police office and the brisons AfSer yaia efEorts teS elieif something from him as to ohieFesidenee or com necsions, .tv which he replied only in The neme .uiteOns n1Oans and unintelligibie phrases, he Was committed t0 Il tower 0ssr one ofths gates under the ,eafa of n hnnans. iailor, and ap. pears to have Gnjoyed alt the comforts Of which his case admitted. COmmOn sense soon relaxed the severity of tho law, and he was received into the family of the jailor. .ss a deseftad, helpless child, and under tho sin- atraction of his children, began to learn tO stalk N " VI ,a.s 4s I .s [; ~ IHsssss yisi.Sd by ssowdss wh6 ssxsd their ingenuiiy in examiDing the poors youth. and weafieff him almost f0 torture, hy their in. quisilOriaI eiEDrts to discover something. But they could only ascertain that hs wac an in- yfanf 0fadnlt age; in shs expressiys language ef n Londan Reviewer. m exatnple If youth without childhood,' He attempted. like m infapt. to seize every glittering object which <. r;l r;f +. fnshidden: and him, he tried tO grasp the beantiiisI flhrSe.. In the midsl tof this seeming infsncy. howeSer, his guardians were astOnishrd. on putting Ia pencil into his hand, to find that he could form letters distinctly. He filled sheet with cle- mentary characters and syllabless and closed " coyssins page with the 0ame-. kaspar Hauser.'
 This discovery of his name, usually so i'm. postaDt in the records of police office, fur nishad Do clue to the mystery which enyelop- ed this singular being. Destitute of the con ception, as well as thAnames If the most com. mon objects, and averse to m the common customs md c0nvenicnces and necesssrics of life, there scanned no aleernative. jn shs. Ian. guaga ofhis biogsapher. but c fegavd him as the inhabitant If some distant planet, or as one buriedfrom his birth. and now iast csnerg- cd into the world. Imagination was tortured t0 devise somc mode of accounting for his character and appearance. Somc drea med of m experiment made by modern theorists. tp ascertain Inc state ofa mind, len to ad- vance to maturisy in utter isnorance of inc world, and thus realizing the fancy pictufo of Gegnan. story. Others suppOsed him inc heir Of some estate or tiadcun, of which KS Was unlawfuliy deprived. Others still con iectured, that this difficult apd dangerous. l,h,n afbuFying alive, had been adopted tc conceal the cfiules attending his birth.
 Sueh were the e0nieetusea ffaasiar. ,.,,. thA public mind in reference to this singular htinr. when wa left Germany, unable to yafy us,r route 90 far as to visit Nuermbere. E was not until subsequent education had cnahleyl CaspaT 10 cIoihe his own ideas in words. thal any llghi was thrown upon his early history s and ihe following aceounis derived from ths WpFk wlsose title U al the head Of his article comprises all his recollections of childhood and ygnlh
 Ills nsishes knows who ne is, nor wher. his home is. Ifwas only as Nurcnburg thai iie eaFle into the world. Here he ilrst learnt that. besides himseIf aud sthe isan with whom he had elRays been,' there exislad other men