The Pascagoula democrat-star. (Pascagoula, Miss.) 1878-1920, 1891-01-23
Z he Memorraf-S Star
PREFERS RAGS 10 PIE.
Extraordinary appetite Possessed by a
Chicago Woman.

CtIldIH lduN IdGS we DdS
il OF The sweetest meal in her epl.
curcan philosophy.
She D.. breakfasts on clippings,
lunches of waste, eats an old
apron oriwo for dinner, and loves
10 wad the whole business down
with a sheet or so of cotton baling
at supper.
She does not indulge in such
diet for need of fame or glory.
She just eats rags because she
likes them. d0tes, over, gloats up
on and revels in them. Her world
Iy calling is the profession of dress
making; by lleaven.born vocation,
she is an epicure in rags
Mrs. Perano is by birth an Amer
lean, but Spanish by descent. Her
Christian name is Maraquita, pO-
etc in itself, but corrupted by The
Illinoisian dialect into simple, and
~unromantic. sounding Maggie. She
lives at No. $50 South Greene
street, near Van BuIen, and there
with her sister and baby, pursues
The dun but honorable career OF
a miliiner.
About four years ago, however,
the Unborn talent for rag.eatiug be.
gan 20 demonstrate Itself, and IRON
that day to This she has evinced all
the SYMPTOMS of an inveterate vic.
lin OF the habit.
She was sitting at work with her
sisters when a Journal representa-
tive called upon her, and did not
look a bit like a rag eater from
casual evidence, though a more sa-
gaclOuS observer might have no.
ticed that half a dozen strands OF
thread were dangling from be.
tween her lips. She has pretty
lack eyes that twinkle in a charm.
ing sor of way when she gets in
tereSied in anything, and they just
sparkled when he worked around
The conversation 10 the topic of
rags.
"Ol, | Ju.t like them," she said.
sand that's all !; for | can't tell you
why from Adam"
Leave that down, will you ?"
broke in her sister at this juncture.
rs the smiling Maraquita picked
up a roll OF silk ribbon and began
10 quietly absorb it between her
lips, Heres a lot of teasing that
will do you just as we'll" And she
handed the ~rag-eater ii great bun
die of those shreds OF thread and
stuff that unravel themselves of
linen and cotton sheetIngs.
'She is happy now" continued
the sister, "ior teasingS are The
things she loves to be eating when
she is talking with any one. | have
10 keep a lot ready for her, be.
cause you see, she ale all my new
apron yesterday because she could
not fluid anything else"
Maraquita took up the handful
it looked like a big ball of waste
that they used to clean machinery
with-and began feeding away.
my goodness; you're not swal.
lowing it 7" calculated the report, !
er.
"Why not ?" said she, as she !
raised her black eyebrows so that
the laughing eyes had a broader {
range for twinklIng. why not ? .
lis ever so nice and seems to agree !
with me-" /
Observing the doubt she stood |
up ard turned her face to the q
light while she crowded q fresh !
handful into her mouth. Stand i
ing up close she opened her lips a |
bit. There could be no mistake
whatever. 1t vas a genuine case r
of swallow. She was eating the o
of waste.
The conversation merely rippled ?
and all The time she was cut. 7
ting scraps Of clippings. There
was certainly a gOnd quarter of a n
pound Of clippings passed down '
her throat inside OF an hour, aud a
quarter Of Il pound OF clippings is
mea! that would seem 10 tax the
wrouchtirOn stomach of an,Ostrich.
Nevertheless the pretty Mara
quita seemed to revel in the re-
past, and said so, at the conclu.
sion Of it all she ran up stairs to r
get a few skeins of knitting yarn
which she said was just the Thing
or dessert.
"And is she often taken that
way I" was asked when she had .
eft the room. ="
"Onen!' repeated her sister,
With just a touch OF establishment.
'Oh, no; often isn't the word al
III. Every day is the word every -,
hour, | might say in fact, to put N
t in a nutshell, always"