The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1882-12-29
Wolf-Ohildren.

An English magazine has lately re-
vived several interesting and aged sto-
ries concerning wolf-children. remarks
the New York Times. A wolf-child is
human being whom wolves have kid
mapped at a very early age. Reared
exclusively in the society Of wolves. the
wOlf-child learns all their habits. includ-
ing that Of going ON a!l-fours. and loses
all knowledge Of any language except
the particular wolf dialect of his COM
panions. Several Of these wOlf-children
have been captured from time to time,
chiefly in India. They have remained
entirely untamable. and have died after
a few weeks of captivity. There can be
no doubt Of tho truth OF these stories.
since they have been repeatedly printed
In newspapers and magazines, and we
must admit that wolves do kidnap and
adopt human children. aud by careful
educational training fill their minds ex-
clnsively with woltish ideas.
The forcible adoption of children by
animals may seem grossly Improbable
to unlearned and prejudiced people, but.
even aside from what has been said of
the kidnapping habits Of wolves, there
Is nothing improbable in it. According
to the newspapers Of the day. the prin-
ciPal business of enterprising cats is the
adoption of squirrels. rats, chickens.
and all sorts Of animals. Why may not
other. animals initiate this PECULIARLY of
the benevolent cat, and include human
infants among the miscellaneous crea-
lures adopted by them? In point of
fact, the stories of wolf-children do not
stand alone, and in our own country
there have been repeated instances Of
the adoption of children by eccentric
animals.
For example. there is the story of the
calf-boy of Arizona. Twenty years ago
baby sixteen months old, belonging to
family residing in Arizona, was car
ried off by COW belonging to one of the
herds Of wild cattle that roam over the
plains of Arizona. or at all events ought
to roam over them In the interests of
poetry and the leather business. The
cow having ventured near the house
when the infant was playing on the
doorstep, snatched him up in her mouth
and made her escape to the forest be-
fore the alarm could be given. Seven
years did the weeping father of that in
FAINT hunt the wicked COW in vain. but
at the beginning of the eighth year Of
his bereavement he captured her and
his missing offspring. The latter had
become morally calf. This calf-child
walked on all-fours. spoke the cattle Ian
guage with great perfection, and lived
on grass and hay. He was taken home,
taught to speak English. and partially
reclaimed from bovinsm; but to The day
of his death, which occurred in his
eighteenth year, he retained his fond
ness for hay, and his skin preserved its
made pair of boots of it which no one
could distinguish from the very best of
calf-skin boots.
Then there was the bear-child of nli-
nois. In 1873 party of hunters discov-
cred q bears den in the outskirts of
Chicago. They killed the two very fine
large bears and a litter of middling-sized
bears, but spared a tiny small bear that
was to all appearance q human child Of
about three years of age. This child
hear readily threw off most of his bear
ish habits. and in short time became q
fairly-civilized citizen of Chicago. The
only traces of his early bear education
which he retained were an inordinate
growth of hair on the face and a won-
derful power of squeezing anything
around which he could put his arms.
He was immensely popular with the
young ladies of Chicago, and had he not
died within two years after his recap
ture from his ursine kidnappers he would
probably have become the most popular
man in the State, il not in the whole
West.
Still more remarkable Is the case of
the pig-boy of Ohio. Thirty years ago,
a pig belonging to one of the herds of
wild pigs which at that time infested the
State Of Ohio. carried of an infant son
OF Il leading citizen. The pig, holding
the child in her mouth, and leaping over
rail fences, and rushing through swamps
and forests, was hotly pursued. but final
ly escaped with her prey. Ten years
later the missing infant was found. He
had become complete pig. except In q
few unimportant details. lie could speak
no language except q few so-called
words, that were said by some people to
be German words, and by others to be
simply the ordinary language of pigs.-
AAO uPoh oftiouSs ~ollOWCo III
mud, ate nothing but swill and acorns.
and rooted with his nose and chin.
1t was found to be quite impossible to
rid him of his piggish proclivities. Al
though he was washed and clothed and
taught to speak English, he never lost
the porcine instincts of his pouth. The
first time he entered railway Car he
turned over seat, and with the help of
feet and a small paper parcel contrived
to monopolize four seats, although half
a-dozen ladies were standing in the aisle.
Whenever he entered public convey
ance of any kind he always ate peanuts
and scattered the shells around him,
and when attending concert or lecture
he trod on his neighbours feet and chew
ed tobacco with the usual results. After
reaching his majority he, like other Ohio
citizens, was sent to Europe as q Con-
sui, where he never lost an opportunity
of illustrating the greatness Of the Re-
public by exhibiting his contempt for
every thing foreign.