The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1897-11-07
STORIES OF WILD CHILDREN.
"A FEW OF THE MOST AUTHENTIC
GASES ON RECORD.


weight to the Romulus and Remus
Legend-WiId Girls Have Been
sometimes Found-AII Efforts to
uecIaim These Wild Children
HAVE Proved FruitIess-WeI Au-
thenticatcd Cases.
From the London Standard.
Among the remarkable stories which
travellers have from time to time narrated
10 groups of admiring and faithful listen
ers. those connected with the finding of
so.called wild children are perhaps not the
least fascinating. The human being
stripped of his thin veneer of civilization,
and ranging at large without clothes,
language, or morality demonstrates how
much one owes to early education, and
how nearly we are allied to our poor rela-
tons with tails, from which science darkly
hints we sprang in the past Byron declar-
ed that men became wolves on very slight
occasions; and Capt. Nicholets story
anent the child, who, like Romulus and
Remus, was reared upon VOLTS milk, and
nursed through large portion of his in
fancy by this unsociable animal, gives
certain weight to the poets remark.
The captain tells US that, WIlGl LS was
with his regiment in India, he happened
one dav to be out shooting, and saw wolf
bring her cubs down to the river to drink.
Among them he spied a human child, which
he eventually succeeded In capturing and
carrying home to his quarters. 1t trans
pired that this child was the son OF Hindu
parents but in an unlucky hour had been
captured by the she-wolf and carried OH
TO the woods. We are not told how TINS
particular Hindu child was ear-marked,
nor is any suggestion offered as to why
the wolf did not devour him on the spot,
rather than adopt him and bring him up
with her cubs. However this may De,
Can't. Nicholet brought this child once
more under the influence of man, and set
about civilizine him at once. His favorite
diet, as one would expect, was raw meat
and bones. upon which he fed with great
avidity. tearing the flesh with his teeth,
crunching up the bones much after the
fashion of an ordinary dog.
He appears to have entertained great
objection to the society of man, but his
partiality to all kinds of animals was
marked, and he struck up so fast friend
shin with puppy that he even allowed
/. 10 eat out of the same basin with nm
self. On the captain discovering that
the wild child was no match for the dog
at the dinner table. but stood 1alr
chance of being starved through the greed
fness of his four-footed mess-nlate, he
shot the dog in the boys presence. rms
seemed to have no outward erect on the
wild young Hidu, who at once returned
to his dish, perhaps not altogether sorry
that his canine friends was no longer
present to share the repast. To the con-
ventional garments of civilization he is
said to have shown a marked aversion.
If he was dressed in a suit to dittos, and,
then left by himself, even for few min
utes, he Invariably tore them off, and on
the return of his benefactors they found
the clothes scattered in all parts OF the
room, and the child sitting among the
fragments in puris naturalibus. He was,
according to the captains account, never
known to speak, save once, and that was
shortly before his death, which occurred
a few months after his capture. A few
days before he died, great change came
over him; he allowed his friends to dress
him, behaving the while with all docility,
and startled his attendant by complains
ing, presumably in Hindustani, of Sc
we're pain which he felt in his head.
Among the inmates of Count Van
Reckless asylum was the idiot child of a
farmer, who not unfittingly may be placed
in the list of wild children. This child,
who appears to have been shamefully neg
1ected by his parents, had been habitualiy
lodged in a pigstye with a sow and her
litter. Like the puppy and Capt. Mich
olet's wild boy, the sow and the idiot at
once became friends. Together with the
little pigs this child was daily seen shar-
ing the maternal milk; while, like his por-
cine playmates, he adopted the plan of
walking on all four Moreover, he fed out
of the same trough with the SOW, and, in
fact became so like his foster mother that
If by any chance he were annoyed he
would instantly start grunting. Wild girls
as well as wild boys have occasionally
been met with. In 1871 two female chill
dren, of abouS the ages of 10 and IL re-
spectively, were found near pond at
Chalons Their clothes consisted of skins,
which they had somehow pieced together.
OF these two wild girls, one managed to
escape, but the other was captured and
conveyed to the house of Viscomte
d'Epinay Though unable to speak, she
made up for this by necessarily scream
ing, while she exhibited such agility and
strength that it took several men to hold
her So swift of foot was she that, in
race which she subsequently ran with the
Queen of Polands horse, she outdistanced
1t with ease. In mental capacity she was
not altogether wanting, and would in all
probability learned how to speak, but she
died within six months of her capture.
Similar to the above case is that of the
girl who was found near Frauenmark
early in the last century. One winters
morning, so runs the account, party OF
Hungarians, who were out shooting came
across some footprints in the snow Fol-
lowing the track. they arrived at a cave
In which they found girl naked and
unashamed" AS she only survived her
capture two or three days, but little is
known about her, save that she was un-
able to speak, and was probably IA years
old.
Probably the most authentic account Of a
Wlld child is that vouched for by M. Il
ara. This child was found in Avignon in
!1S b. some sportsmen, and was brought
70 M. Yards asylum in Paris. When
round, he was without clothes, and though
the thermometer registered several de-
erees of frost he was rolling in the snow,
ana apparently enjoying the pastime. His
ooay was covered with scratches and bites,
ana It was presumed that he had lately
Deen engaged in other than an amicable
discussion with some other denizen of the
forest. Unable to speak, he was to all
tulents and purposes an animal, but how
ae came into this deplorable condition it
- impossible to say. On his arrival in
1aris, NJ lizard. the superintendent of a
oeaI and dumb asylum, took him in hand
uitu endeavored to teach him language.
whenever any one entered the room in
wIlcn ne was, the child made toward them