The Delta independent., 1894-06-20


marks radical change in the soil
and vegetation from that Of the low
country. The clay gives up its red
hue and takes on loamy whiteness,
interspersed with deep. drifting
sand beds, the sand OF which is as
fine, soft aud white almost as sifted
-four. The stately. long-leaf pine
begins to appear and the vegetation
also changes. But what is most re-
markable. the people also change.
Instead of the red-faced sturdy
farmer, buoyant with strength and
health and tolera bly, well-to-do from
the product OF his farm among the
red hills OF North Georgia, or the
lean. long. sallow-faced. snuff-eating
cracker Of the pine barrens OF the
lower country. there comes a class
of people with faces so haggard that
it would send a shudder through
the very soul of stranger to look
at them.
lnauire among the neighborhood
and you will be put into possession
Of some curious facts, and your
former shudder of pity will increase
to an ague of alarm when you learn
that this is the section where are to
be found clay eaters, real and genuine.
For the sake of information it
might be well to state that native
clay-eater is a native "cracker" of
the state that eats clay instead OF
snuff This definition, however
simple, carries weight with it when
it is taken into consideration that
these people make regular practice
of eating at all times, dainty NOR
sells OF kaolin. Chew it? Certainly.
They chew it with as much relish as
a tobacco chewer does his quid. but
they swallow it with as much relish
as small boy does a green apple.
Whole families are afflicted with
the habit from the grandfather to
the father. aown to the skinny little
tot who cries for his share. They
all eat clay regularly and most
eagerly.
This curious depraved taste fixes
upon them in early childhood, and as
they grow older the habit grows
stronger and stronger. until it is an
utter impossibiity to break OF. 1t
seems to be more powerful and
deadly than the whisky, opium. NOR
phine or any other habit yet known.
OF course heredity has much to do
with it, and the people dwelling in
that particular section transmit the
habit from generation to generation
with singular precision.
There is no mlstaking the clay
eating cracker" Like the snuff
consuming variety their counten-
ances have a distinctly original, and
most unearthly cast, resem bling
more a deaths head with bone in
its mouth" than anything else. The
children have large eyes set deep
into the face. accentuated by high
skinny cheek bones These eyes
lack lustre and glare with lead
en- stupidity, from the cadaverous
hollows Then the men and women!
Compared with theirs the counten-
ance Of Egyptian mummies would
look youthful and handsome.
The milky whiteness OF the skin
they have in early childhood has
changed into parched brown, which
falls in loose folds about the face and
neck. Deep wrinkles, radiating from
their mouths. spread in every con-
ceivable direction. You can easily
trace them, for they serve as con-
verient alueducts for tobacco juice.
This clay which they devour is not,
as is commonly supposed, the red va
riety of Georgia, but a snow-white
variety. with soft and greasy feel,
which crops ont in certain localities.
and in these spots live the clay-eat
ing crackers of the state. This va
riety is said to contain arsenic in
quite large proportions, thus ac-
counting for the force of the habit
and its effects upon the system.
These people are not without a
social instinct, for they hold festi-
vals, and upon the menu clay fig
ures as a prominent dainty. When
q family decides to celebrate an event
the neighbors are invited. and after
several reels are "trotted" Jumps OF
the tempting glebe are handed around
for the necessary refrcshment Corn
liquor, of course, is necessary ad
junct A clay eater makes no pre-
tense at regular work. They exc
out an existence in the winter by the
sale of light wood knots in the town.
and during the summer the more en-
ergetic pick and sell black and huck-
leberries, which grow in profusion
in the waste places and untitled
fields Some of them own a species S
OF dwarf. stunted mule, and these,
tackled to u nondescript two-wheeled
vehicle. are familiar sights along the
highway leading to Milledgeville.
At different times efforts have
been made to better tho condition of
the clay-eaters. Preachers of every
denomination have tried their haud
at turning them from the error OF
their ways and have failed. They
are clay -eators still. and they die as
they have lived, in the deepest
saualor and misery. With all the
Injuries and enlightenment of the
NJ Mt fhair