The Roanoke times. [volume] (Roanoke, Va.) 1890-1895, 1890-09-25
A DREADFUL CHILD.
Asleep It's All Right, but Awake
It Becomes @ Kitten.
a Strange Talo Reported from Columbia
County. n. Y.--It May 10 True, but
1t Roads Very Much Like u
Bnse Fabrication.

An eldritch tale, worthy of tho dark
est and palmicst days of the middle
ages, comes from tho little hamlet of
Pompoonik, up in Columbia County,
where child is said to have been born
of late which dcfies competition, al
though, fortunately, it docs not bafIlo
description, says tho New York Times.
While asleep or at rost it appears to
differ in no respect from the ordinary
fortnight-o Id baby of commerce. AS it
slumbcrs peacefully in it's cradle
with It's breast rising and fall
ing rs gently and regularly as
possible, any feeling woman would
bless its little heart and look upon it
with delight and that Tutoring scnti-
mcnt, not unaliin to awe, with which
the entire female world regard sany new
ly-arrived traveller from tho other world
providing OF course, the traveller be not
ghost, and, therefore, does not como
from the wrong side of life a baby is
ono thing and ghost is another, al
though doubtless both arc equally mys-
ferrous, and it is quito certain that both
invariably dress all in white. Tho
tones of their voices and their general
manner of expressing themselves, tho
Nptihel VI viz viz w WOlh WHO the
other seems able only to kick and wrig-
gle, easily mark the essential distinc,
ton between them. There arc donht.
less other pcculiaritics which. Xiii on.
able almost any woman/to toll 1T y
glance whether - q S: a.t.ticular object is a
enost or totiby, although those pcculi-
ss9.!H1s might not readily find accurate
definition even at the hands of woman
of most unusual disccrnmcnt and pro-
found saGacity.
AS has already been remarked, tho
Columbia County child, when asleep or
ut rest, seems, oven to the female oyo
and heart, to be nothing bat Il baby
Its complexion, perhaps is not all that
could bc desired; there is q slight sus-
picion of incongruity-a certain despair
ity Of proportions-bc between the mold
ing of its nose and that of it's upper lip,
and there is Il paucity of hair, or rather
of fuzz, on its head, and these things
can hardly fail to produce painful i'm
preston upon the mind of any unprcju-
diced observer. just as they do in all
cases in which very young infants arc
involved. At all events, every woman
who secs it sleeping and who is not ac-
quaintcd with tho littlo pcculiaritics it
exhibits in it's waking moments de-
clarcs that it is simply Il lovely, little,
precious darlinS-which it isn't by any
means.
For when, rousing from its slumbcrs,
it opens its bright eyes upon the world,
it neither lies still nor begins to wall
like an ordinary baby of it's age. Rather
does it assume at once tho character Of
little kitten, climbs over tho sido of
the cradle in jifly, and, if left in un-
disturbed possession of itself, sets about
to have lively frolic, in which one of
its legs does for it duties similar to
those which kittens tail sometimes
does for tho kitten. While engaged in
this sort OF exercise il will tumble heels
over head and roll about on tho floor
like any ball, and doing itself no more
harm than If it were gutta-pcrcha
child. If spool or some small object
of tic kind be thrown to it, this uncan-
ny babe will toss it about, boxing it now
with ono tiny hand and now with tho
other, picking it up with its toes and
throwing il over its head, ana scampcr-
ing about, as fully acquainted with the
relations OF the minor things of this
world as :; cat OF its ego would bc. Its
arms are very strong, and its hands
have so good q grip that it can
pull itself up ropo and Chamber
to the top OF q bcdpost, where it
will sit for some time calmly surveying
the spectators with an air of sagacity
appalling to behold in ono SO young.
1t is, of course, impossible to give any
satisfactory explanation of the singular
conduct of this interesting babe, al
though, undoubtedly, mere pcrversity
and natures love for freaks has some
thing to do with the matter.
TLEIp IT1tc iOur