The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1896-04-25
WOLF CHILDREN.

called Shaporcooundle, in Bengal, it was
my fortune to meet an old Anglo-lndian
gentleman who had been in the Indian
civil service for upward of thirty years and
had travelled about during most OF that
time, and from him learned all | wanted
to know of wolf children, for he not only
knew of several cases. but had actually
seen and examined near Agra child which
had been recovered from the wolves The
story of Romulus and Remus, which all
schoolboys and the vast majority of grown
up people regard as myth, appears in a
different light when one studies the quest
ion of wolf children and ascertains how it
comes to pass that boys are found living on
the very best terms with such tleacherous
and rapacious animals as wolves, sleeping
with them in their dens. sharing the raw
flesh of deer and kids, which the she wolf
provides, and. in fact, leading in all
essentials the actual life OF a wolf.
\ young she wolf has a litter of cubs.
and after time her instinct tells her that
they will require flesh food. She steals
out at night in quest of prey. Soon she
espies a weak place in the fence generally
constructed of matching grass and BAN
boos) which encoses the compound or
''uuguah' of a poor villager. She enters,
doubtless in the hope of securing a kid;
and while plowliug about inside looks
into a hut where woman and infant are
soundly sleeping. In moment she has
pounced on the child, and is out of reach
before its cries can attract the villagers.
she drops the little one among her cubs.
At this critical time the fate of the child
hangs in the balance. Either it will he
Immediately torn to pieces and devoured,
or i'll a most wonderful way remain in the
cave unframed. In event Of escape the
fact may he accounted for in several ways
Perhaps the cubs are already gorged when
the child is thrown before them, or arc be
ing supplied with solid food before their
carnivorous instinct is awakened so they
amuse themselves by simply licking the
smooth, oily body Hindoo mothers daily
rub their boy babies with some native
vegetable oil of the infant, and thus it
lies in the nest, by degrees getting the
odor of the wolf cubs, after which the
mother wolf will not modest it. In il little
time the infant begins to feel the pangs of
hunger, and, hearing the cubs sucking,
soon follows their example. Now the
adoption is complete, all fear Of harm to
the child from wolves has gone, and the
foster mother will guard and protect it as
though it were OF her own flesh and
blood
Their mode of progression is on all tours
hot, as a rule, and the hands and feet
but on the knees and elbows. The reason
that the knees are used is to be accounted
for by the fact that, owing to the great
length of the human ley and thigh, in pro.
portion to the length of the arm. the knee
would naturally be brought to the ground
and the instep and top OF the toes would
be used, instead of the sole and heel of
the almost inteXible foot Why the elbow
should be employed instead of the hand
is less easy to understand, but probably it
is better suited to give support to the head
and fore part of the body.
An interesting case of wolf child was
reported many years ago in Chambers
Journal In Etwah district, near the
banks Of the river Jumma, a boy was
captured from the wolves. This child was
after a time restored to his parents, who
however, found him very difficult to man
some--in fact, Just a Gagged wild beast.
Often during the night for hours together
he would give vent to most unearthly yells
and means, destroying the rest and irritat-
ing the tempers of his neighbors, and
generally making night hideous. On one
occasion his people chained him by the
waist to tree on the outskirts of the
village Then rather curious incident
occurred. 1t was a bright moonlight night
and two wolf cubs undoubtedly those in
whose companionship he had been captur-
ed attracted by his cries while on the
prowl. came to him. and were distinctly
seen to gambol round him with as much
familiarity aud affection as if they con
sideied him quite one one of themselves.
They only left him, on the approach Of
morning, when movement and stir again
arose in the village This boy did not
survive long. He never spoke, nor did
a single lay of human intelligence ever
shed its refining light over its debased
features
Some Of these poor waits have been re
covered after spending ten Or more years in
the fellowship Of wolves, and, though wild
and savage at first, have in time become
tractabe in some degree. They are rarely
seen to stand upright, unless to look
around, and they gnaw bones in the man
her Of dog, holding one end between the
foyealms and hands, while snarlng, and
swapping at everybody who approaches too
neal The wolf child has little except its
outward form to show that it is human