Waterbury evening Democrat., 1889-07-19
CLAY AS A STEADY DIET
STRANGE PEOPLE WHO LYyH IN
 NORTHERN ALABlMA.

They Eat White Clay From Thcir
 Infancy and Like 1t, aad They
 Believe in all sorls of siily sixns
 How They Livs and What They Are
 Like.
 ..ThOse people are clay eaters."
 The people referred to were a group of men and women of various ages who had gathered at a country store in Winston county, Ala, to barter few eggs and chickens for coffee and tobacco. They were poorly clad, men and women were barefooted, and three children in the party were also bareheaded. Their faces were pale and haggard and in their eyes was dull, hopeless look, showing that they were not only densely ignorant, but were without ambition to better their condition in any way.
 Winston county is in the northwestern part of Alabama and is the most sparsely populated and poorest county in the state. Until few years ago the entire county paid into the state treasury less than S1 900 per year in taxes. Until three years years ago 1t was thirty-two miles from the nearest railroad, and the county court house was sixty miles from 8 railroad station. Churches and school houses were few and far between, and the time was, not very long ago, when there were only four postoffices in the en- tire county.
 The writer spent several days in the county recently and visited the homes of . number of those poor people who eat clay as part of their daily food. They live in small log cabins of the rudest kind and eke out Q 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 a few acres in ex- tent. Their crops consist of corn, peas and potatoes, and few who are for tunate enough to own horse attempt to raise little cotton. The land is very poor, and as the crops receive little work the yield 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 dur ing the year. 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 ob- tain 1t.
 The interior of the cabin oi Q clay eater 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 filled with clay or rags and sometimes 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. 1fthere are bedsteads they are of the crudest kind made by the head of the family with no other tools than 8 saw and ax. Usually the cabin is too small for hedsteads 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 the one fireplace, the utensils consisting of a frying pan, O kettle. an oven, and possibly few pots. Cooking stoves, sewing ma- chimes and all modern convenicnces are unknown. Many of these people will not believe that such things really exist. A few circus posters may adorn the walls and you may find patent medicine almanac, but books and newspapers are unknown. None of the family can read. Their parents before them could not read i; their children are growing up equally ig- norant, and the majority of them do not | believe in book learning. If the head of the family belongs to the church he prob ably keeps cheap bible in the house, but they never hear 1t read except when some travelling minister comes along and stops 1 for dinner or perhaps stays all night. The clay eaten by these people Is found along the banks of the small mountain streams in inexhaustible quantities. It | Is of a dirty white color usually; some times pale yellow. It has 6 peculiarly oily appearance, and this oil keeps it from sticking to the hands or mouth. When dry 1t does not crumble and few drops of water will easily soften it until 1t can be rolled into any shape desired. It is almost without taste, but must possess some nourishment, as these peo- pie declare they can subsist upon it for days. They place small piece in the mouth and hold 1t there until 1t grad ually dissolves and Is swallowed in small quantities at time. The quantity eaten at one time varies from a lump as large as 8 pea for the child or beginner to a lump as large as a hens egg for those who have eaten 1t for years.