Wichita eagle., 1888-12-27
MOUNTAIN CLAY EATERS.
People in North Carolina Who Sometimes
Live on Earth.

People in North Carolina Who Sometimes
Live on Earth.
"Jinn, here's a stranger from the north,
reckon, who says he doesn't b'lieve folks kin
eet clay.n
Hoo" said the leaden visaged specimen.
''Them fellers moth think they no bout
everythink, but they don't. Eet clayl
Course we do when we kin git muffin better,
an that's most NV the time in these mount
ings Come in, stronger; you're welkim. Jist
trot into my shakedown an see the ole woman
an the children. They're all Nv 'em clay
eeturs. OF course, the young uns can't eet
clay an nuthin' else; they've got to git used
to it like us ole folks, fust."
The ''shakedown," as Jim called his house,
was primitive log cabin, through the chinks
of which the rays of the sun in the summer
and the cold winds Of winter entered and
played about at will. In the farthest corner
stood two beds built upon crotched sticks,
while upon the wall hung the skins of coons,
'possums, muskrats and other fur bearing
animals. In the other end was fireplace in
a chimney built of sticks and lined with
mud. A thin, worn woman in faded cot
ton gown sat by the side of the fire. smoking
a pipe, while by her side stood three tow
headed children of perhaps 8, II and Is years
of age The children were clad in nothing
more than slip Of dirty cotton goods, bare
headed and barefooted
''How de, strengerl" said the woman, TAX
ing her pipe out Of her mouth temporarily.
The children were too backward, having per-
haps never before seen stranger from the
'no'th," to make any reply to my saluta-
ton
''Poll, this here stranger is from the moth,
an he I'm don't b'lieve we uns kin eet clay.
Hoo! them fellows hain't learned it all yet,
hev they, Pollr'
Poll signifed her dissent by momentarily
taking her strong smelling pipe from her
mouth, and laconically a.-ing, MARY"
wal, Jim, hev ye any eetin' clay in the
shanty4" asked the landlord
"Hevn't eny her jes now" said Jim. "But
we kin git some nifty quick. Here, Jacki"
to the il-yearold boy, you jes go to the
bank an get sum eetin' clay"
Jack started for the "bank," and The Post
Dispatch correspondent followed close be-
hind. About 100 yards from the "shake-
down" Jack called halt on the bank of q
small stream, where, stopping close to the
edge Of the water, be drew out with his hands
a handful Of blush clay. The Post-Dispatch
correspondent took some and examined it. 1t
was fatty clay, having an oily feeling, and
was, probably, a substance the chemical COM
pound of which was water, silica and alumni
ma, firm and compact, slightly tinged with
the color OF iron. 1t was iaodorous and
rather insipid TO the taste.
Jack returned to the house with the clay,
which Jim took in his hands. After wetting
it sufficiently to make it pliable, he proceeded
to roll, break and manipulate it until he had
worked it into the consistency of soft putty,
when he separated it into boluses Of various
sizes. Three of the smaller ones, about the
size Of q common marble, he handed to Jack
and told him TO swallow it I'M show the
stronger it's good to eet."
With little or no effort Jack gulped down
the boluSes, while Jim rolled out and swal.
lowed three other bouses about twice the
size of those swallowed by the boy.
''Ye see, stranger, we only eat the eetin'
clay when we uns is hungry. just now we
uns hev plenty. That's a big 'possum a
hangin' on the wall outside yet, an only las
night we ct whole coon. Games plenty
jess now an we've no call to eat clay. When
game gifts scarce an there's ma corn to git,
then we uns jis' come down 70 clay"
How much clay does it take to satisfy
hungry manr'
"Wal, stranger, 1 gently eat piece big
as hen egg, and that Lasts me a couple OF
days.
Doesn't it make you sick to eat ell that
earthr'
Nary. Wy, stranger. my dad afore me
ct clay, an I've been usen to it all my life
an I've never been SICK yet. st Louis Post
DiSpatch