Litchfield enquirer., 1844-10-10
From the Southeastern Christian .ddpoeate.
A LIVING WONDER.


From the Southeastern Christian .AdUOeate.
A LIVING WONDER
Within five miles OF Huntsville, Alabama, there
lives negro boy. He was II years old last Au-
gust, and weighs over 200 lbs. But his 6Odyis not
the wonder. 1t is his mind, if it may be said he
has any.
On the sth of June, 1874, Rev. John c. Burruss,
Mr.. I. Brandon and myself, went to see him, and
were amazed From himself and Mr.. McLemore,
This mastery we learned that he has no idea of a
God. When asked, F." who made you ?" he answer
ed, nobody" He has never been but few times
half a mile from the place of his birth. He has
not mind enough do the ordinary work of slave
| eats and sleeps in the same house with the white
folks having his own table and bed. He will not
ask for any thing, touch food, however hungry,
unless it be offered him. He was never known to
| commence conversation with any one, nor con-
tinue one further than merely answering questions
| IN the fewest words. He speaks very low and tar
Oily. He has never been known to utter false
hood, or to steal, and is but little subject to anger
will not strike dog or any thing else; but when
vexed by his sister, he will take hold of her arm,
as if he would break it with his hands. He cannot
be persuaded to taste Intoxicating liquors. His
utter aversion to this bane, either the result of
his having seen its effects in his MASTER or it is in
stinctive. He has never manifested any predilec-
ton for the sex. There is nothing remarkable in
the confguration of his head or his countenance,
save that his eye is uncommonly convex and con-
tinualy rolling about with wild and glazing ex-
preston. His laugh and movements are perfectly
ldiotical. He does not know a letter or figure
Withal, in one respect, he is the most extraordna-
ry human being ever saw. Almost his only man.
Hesitation of mind, is in relation to numbers. His
power over Numbers is at once extraordinary and
incredible Take any number under 100, and ask
him its product when multiplied into itself, or any
other number, and he will state at once as read
lily as any one can give the sum of IL times 12 He
multplies thousands, adds, subtracts, and divides
with the same certainty, though with more mental
labor. He has, however, no idea of numbers above
millions s
With pencil and paper we made the following
calculations and asked him the questions, thus -
" How much is 80 times 99"' He answered imme-
diately, "9,sO1." "Well; how much is IA times
Sc 1-2" He answered, 640l. &c How many mines
in 2,OOO?" He answered, "two hundred and
| twenty-five mines, and two over" How many fif-
teens is 1862 He answered, sc 223 ffteens and II
over" How many twenty -threes is 1000? He
answered, "173 twenty -threes and 81 over" How
much is 321 times $50? He answered, after a
short pause 25,369. lfyou take 81 from IS, how
5,211 from $500, how many will be left He an
swered, 1909. How much is times g. twenty
two and Ia? He answered, 90. How many is II
times 17and 16? He said, 305. If you had to give
one dollar and half for one chicken and a half
how much would you have to give for two chickens?
He said, "$2."
Ifa stick, standing straight up, three feet long,
makes a shadow five feet long, how high would a
pole be, that has a shadow thirty feet long At
this he put his hand to his chin, drew himself up
and gave silly laugh His master said, he did
not understand such as that. We then asked lin,
how much is 1888 times 1855. In this instance,
as in some of the others, he looked serious began
to twist about in his chair, to pick his clothes, fin
ger nails, to look at his hands, put the points Of his
thumbs to his teeth his lips little, and then
seemed to think little, and then his countenance
would give indications of mental agony; and so on.
His master told him to walk about and rest himself.
He went into the yard and appeared to be alter
nately elated with rapture, and depressed with
gloom. He would run, jump up, throw his arms
into the air above his head; then stand still, and
then drag his foot over the weeds, look up and
down; in a word he took on all sorts OF crazy mo-
tons. We sat down to dine, and when we arose we
found him on the piazza sitting down perfectly
composed. On being told he had done it, / said,
how much is it lie answered, "eighteen mill
ions, five hundred and fourteen thousand, eight
hundred and fifteen" What? said /. He replied,
"1s, 14,s15."
We could get no clue to the mental process by
which he ascertained such results. When asked
how he did it, his unvarying answer was"I studies
it up" But what do you do first and what next
He merely drawled out, 81 studies it." He did
not count on his fingers, nor anything external, nor
indeed did he seem to count at all; and yet ne
combined thousands and millions, and played with
their combinations, just as others would do with
units. All the instruction he ever received, was
from his master, who learned him to count one
hundred; and would ask him how many twenties
in hundred, and how many fives, &C.
On the following Monday, saw him again. and
asked him what was that hard sum gave him last
Saturday. He replied, "3,333 times $685." On
Saturday we told him that there were 1865 days IN
year, and "a times that would give the hours,
which he said was $3.50; sixty times that. the
minutes, and he said, 525,60o; and sixty times
that, the seconds, and he said 3l,536,0oO. On
Monday, asked Kim how many seconds in year,
and he recollected the number. Being then asked
how much is "a 1-2 times 4S 1-2; he answered, l.
1888. How much is Is times Al and 7S and Z? He
said 100. How many thirty threes in TT! lie
said 60 90 thirty tbrees and 1s over" His recolec-
ton of numbers is almost wonderful as his pow
er 10 combine them. submit these facts. to the
consideration and reasonings Of mental philoso-
piers; for whoever has carefully read this paper,
knows about as much as know Of this lining aC0''-
der. JOHN w. HAMMER.
Huntsville, Ala. June 18th, 1874.
THE YANKEE AND HIS DOG.
We should like to hear Dan Marble tell the sto-
ny about the Yankee who lost his yellow dog: APP