The Forest Republican. [volume] (Tionesta, Pa.) 1869-1952, 1889-08-14
CLAY AS A STEADY DIET.
STRANGE PEOPLE WHO LIVE IN
/ NORTH ALABAMA,
They Eat White Clay From Infancy
! and Like It, and Believe i'm All
Sorts of Omens and Signs.


part of Alabama, says a letter from
Birmingham to the New York Times, and
is the most sparsely populated and poor
est county in the State. Until a few
years ago the entire county paid into the
State Treasury less than $1,000 per year
in taxes. Until three years ago it was
thirty-two miles from the nearest rail-
road, and the County Court House was
sixty miles from a railroad station.
Churches and schoolhouses were few and
far between, and the time was, not very
long ago, when there were only four
postotfices in the entire county.
The writer spent several days in the
county recently and visited the homes of a
number of poor people who eat clay as
part of their daily food. They live in
Small log cabins of the rudest kind and
exc out miserable existence by farming,
hunting and fishing. Their farms, or
patches, as they call them, are small
clearings around their cabins and are
never more than few acres in extent.
Their crops consist of corn, peas and
potatoes, and few who are fortunate
enough to own horse attempt to raise a
little cotton. The land is very poor, and
as the crops receive little work the yield
is always very poor. A few hogs are
raised, but the majority depend on the
country stores for the few pounds of meat
they eat during the year. In almost
every cave and on every little brook
among the hills is "moonshine still, %"
and the little crop of corn gathered by
the clay-eater is sold to the owner Of the
still or converted into "mountain dew" on
shares They are too far from a market
to sell their corn for money, but they can
carry keg of corn whisky to some of the
larger settlements few miles away and
obtain few dollars in money, some to-
bacco, and coffee for it. Men, women,
and children are slaves to the tobacco
habit. The women chew and smoke and
most of them also use snuff when they
can obtain it.
The interior of the cabin of a clay
cater is rude in the extreme. The cabin is
usually built of small pine logs from which
the bark is sometimes removed. There
are no windows and usually only one
door. In winter the cracks between the
logs are filed with clay or rags and some
times boards are nailed over them on the
outside. In summer these cracks are
opened in order to allow plenty of fresh
air to enter. There are no pictures on
the walls, no ornaments of any kind, and
often no furniture worthy of the name.
If there are bedsteads they are Of the
crudest kind, made by the head of the
family with no other tools than saw
and axe. Usually the cabin is too small
for beadsteads if the family is large, and
they sleep on quilts and mattresses spread
on the floor. The entire family, often
ten or more persons, eat and sleep in one
small room. The cooking is done in one
fireplace, the utensils consisting of fry
ing pan, kettle, an oven, and possibly
few pots. Cooking stoves, sewing ma
chimes and all modern conveniences are
unknown. Many of these people will not
believe that such things really exist. Afew
circus posters may adorn the walls and
you may find a patent medicine almanac,
but books and newspapers are unknown.
None of the family can read. Their parents
before them could not read; their chill
dren are growing up equally ignorant,
and the majority of them do not believe
in book learning. If the head of the
family belongs to the church he probably
keeps a cheap Bible in the house, but
they never hear it read except when some
travelling minister comes along and stops
for dinrer or perhaps stays all night.
The clay eaten by these people is found
along the banks of the small mountain
streams in inexhaustible quantities. 1t is
of a dirty white color usually; sometimes
pale yellow. 1t has peculiarly oily ap-
pearance, and this oil keeps it from stick
ing to the hands or mouth. When dry it
does not crumble and a few drops Of
water will easily soften it until it can be
rolled into any shape desired. 1t is al
most without taste, but must possess
some nourishment, as these people declare
they can subsist upon it for days. They
place a small piece in the mouth and hold
it there until it gradually dissolves and is
swallowed in small quantities at a time
The quantity eaten at one time varies
from lump as large as pea for the child
or beginner to a lump as large as hens
egg for those who have eaten it for years
The only bad effect of clay eating
seems to be the peculiar appearance it
- gives the skin of those who become ad-
dicted to the habit. The skin turns pale,
so pale, in fact, as to give the face the
pallor of death, and then later on it turns
peculiar pale yellow, a color closely re-
sembling some of the clay eaten. Children
who addicted to the habit grow old, at
least in appearance, prematurely, and
their faces lose forever the bright glow of
youth and health There is little sickness
among the clay eaters, and they live as
long as the average of mankind, so it is
conclusive that the habit is not fatal in its
effects.
1t may or may not be the result of clay
eating, but these people are as supersti-
tious as the followers of a Voodoo. They
have signs for everything, and almost
worship the moon. Corn is planted when
the moon is full, and potatoes are planted
on the dark of the moon. They will not
start on a journey or begin a job unless
the moon is right, and they foretell storms
and all kinds of disasters by the appear
ance of the moon. If one end of anew
moon is lower than the other it will rain
before the moon changes again, say the
clay cater, but if the new moon is level
there will be no rain until another change