The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1897-12-19
ABOUT WILD CHILDREN
MORE OR LESS AUTHENTIC TALES OF
CHILDREN REARED AS ANIMALS.
One Instance Suggests Kipling's Fa-
nous History of MOwgIi-The
Waits Become IdiOtic.
London Standard.

those connected with the finding of so-called
wild children are, perhaps not the least fas-
chatting The human being stripped of his
thin veneer of civilization, and ranging at
large without clothes. language, or moral
ity" demonstrates how much one owes to
early education, and how nearly we are al
lied to our poor relations with tails, from
which science darkly hints we sprang in the
past Byron declared that men became
wolves on very slight occasions; and Capt.
Nicholet's story anent the child who, like
Romulus and Remus, was reared upon
VOLTS milk, and nursed through large
portion of his infancy by this unsociable an
fmaI gives a certain weight to the poets
remark.
The captain tells us that, when he was
with his regiment in India, he happened one
day to be out shooting, and saw wolf
bring her cubs down to the river to drink.
Among them ne 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 off
to the woods. We are not told how this
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 be, Captain Nicholet
brought this child once more under the IN
fuence of man. and set about civilizing him
at once. His favorite diet as one would eX-
pect was raw meat and bones, upon which
he fed with great avidity, tearing the flesh
with his teeth, crunehing up the bones 1,as much
after the fashion of any ordinary dog.
HE LIKED DOGS.
He appears to have entertained great
objection to the society of man, but his par
TALLY to all kinds of animals was marked,
and he struck up so fast a friendship with
a puppy that he even allowed it to eat out
of the same basin with himself. On the
captain discovering that the wild child was
no match for the dog at the dinner table,
but stood fair chance of being starved
through the greediness of his four-footed
mess mate he shot the dog in the boy s
presence. This seemed to have no outward
effect the wild young Hindu, VINO at
once returned to his dish, perhaps not alto
gether sorry that his canine friend was no
longer present to share the repast. To the
conventional garments of civilization he is
said to have shown a marked aversion. 1T
he was dressed in a suit OF dittos,. and then
left by himself, for few minutes, 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 cap
tain's account never known to speak, save
once and that was shortly before his death
which occurred a few months after his CAP
ture. 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 complaining, presumably in Hindustani,
of a severe pain which he felt in his head
Among the inmates of Count Van Reckless
asylum was the idiot child of a farmer
list of wild children. This child, who APP
pears to. have been shamefully neglected
by his parents had been habitually lodged
in pig frye with SOW and her litter Like
the puppy and Captain Nichoet's wild boy,
the sow and the idiot at once became
friends. Together with the little pigs this
child was daily seen sharing the maternal
milk; while like his porcine playmates he
adopted the plan of walking on all tours.
with the sow, and, in fact became so like
his foster-mother that if by any chance he
were annoyed he would instantly start
WILD GIRLS, ALSO.
Wild girls as well as wild boys have oc-
caslonally been met with In 1871 two female
children, of about the ages of ten and
twelve, respectively, were, found near
pond at Chalons. Their clothes consisted of
skins, which they had somehow pieced to-
gether. OF these two wild girls, one man.
aged to escape, but the other was cap
tured and conveyed to the house of Wis
comte d'Epinay. Though unable to speak,
she made up for this by necessarily scream
ing, while she exhibited such agility and
strength that 1t took several men to hold
her. So swift of foot was she, that in a
Queen of Poiand's fieetest horse. She OUT
diStanced 1t with ease. In mental capacity
she was not altogether wanting, and would
speak, but she died within six months of
her capture Similar to the above case is
Frauenmark early in the last century. one
winters morning, so runs the account,
party Of Hungarans who were out shooting
came across some footprints in the snow.
Following the track, they arrived at cave
in which they found a girl naked and I'M
ashamed" AS she only survived her cap
ture two or three days, but little is known
about her, save that she was unable to
speak and was probably fourteen years old.
PROBABLY the most authentic account of
Wild child is that vouched for by M. lizard.
This child was found in Avignon in 1918 by
SOME sportSmen, ana was Drought 70 M
lzard's asylum in Paris. When found he
was without clothes. and though the Their
mometer registered several degrees of frost,
enjoying the pastime. His body was COW
cred with scratches and bites and il was
presumed that he had lately been engaged
in other than an amcable discussion with
some other denizen of the forest. Unable
TO speak. he was to all intents and purposes
an animal, but how he came into this de-
plorable condition it is impossible TO say.
COULD LEARN NOTHING.
On his arrival in Paris, M. lizard, the
superintendent of deaf and dumb asylum,
took him in hand and endeavored to teach
him language. Whenever any one entered
the room in which he was the child made
towards them on all tours and shifted at
their legs like dog. Like the prodigal he
fed upon acorns and husks, and appears to
have taken to this diet in preference to
others. Once. on being given a live bird,
he promptly killed it, tore it limb from limb,
smelt il, and finally threw it away. Nj.
lizards attempts to teach him TO speak al
ways had the effect of throwing him into
violent passion, in which state he would
tear up his clothes and everything else upon
which he could lay hands, becoming alto
gether unmanageable. NJ. lizard. however,
had observed that whenever the boy looked
down from a height he became at once
frightened and submissive. and so on one
occasion, when he had run amuck. the
superintendent seized him. held him out of
a window on the third story. and made out
that he would throw him down. Cruel as
this proceeding appears, ii had the desired
effect, and from that day the boy became
tempt to tear up his clothes. By degrees
he was persuaded to put on clothes, but the
attempt to teach him the alphabet on the
Seaf and dumb system proved s fruitless
ess his essays at speech.
For some time M lizard perSeVefed with
his strange pupil but with no result; and
although he was treated with all humanity
the attempt TO civilize this unfortunate wild
child ended In his death. As to the case of
Peter the Wild Boy. which became the chief
topic Of conversation in most drawing rooms
whether he has really any right to take His
stand among wild children. This child Lad
evidently been abandoned by his parents.
hut that he had known civilization can be