Evening star., 1898-02-19
The Curious Habit to Which Some
People Are Addicted.
DOWN IN ALABAMA AND GEORGIA
Theirs is a Wretched Life and
Darkened by Superstition.
KERS OF MOONSHINE
Special Correspondence Of The Evening Star.

special Sorrespondence cf The Evening Star.
MOBILE, Alabama, February -. 1895.
| Clay as an article Of daily food would not
be relished by most people. but there are
| residents of Winston county. in the north
| western part of Alabama who say they
| could not live without IL.
| The clay eaten by these people is found
| along the banks of the small mountain
! streams and is in inexhaustible quantities
| III Is of dirty white color usually, but
| sometimes of a pale yellow, and has a pc
| culiarly oily appearance. The clay eaters
| claim that the oil keeps 1t from sticking to
| the hands or mouth and prevents it from
| crumbling when dry. a few drops of water
| being required to soften it, when IL car He
| rolled into any shape desired. The clay is
| almost without taste. but must possess
| some nourishment, as these people who eat
| 1t declare they can subsist upon il for days
| they place a small piece in the mouth and
| hold II there nutil il gradually dissolves
| and Is swallowed in small quantities at
| time. The quantity eaten at one time
varies from lump as large as a pea to
| one as large as a turkeys egg, the size
| neins governed according TO the age Of the
| person, or. rather. the length of time h.
mas been accustomed to eating it.
| Effects of the Habit
To the writer the only bad effect clay eat
Ing seemed to produce is the peculiar ap-
pearance 1t gives to the skin of those ad-
dicted to the habit. The skin turns pale
| SO pale. in fact, to give the face the
| palior OF death and then later on it turns
a peculiar Dale yeliow-a color closely re-
| sembling some of the clay eaten Children
| VINO are addicted to the habit grow old at
! ieast In appearance. prema turely and their
| races lose forever the bright glow of youth
ana health. There is little sickness among
| tne clay eaters, and they live as long as
| the average OF mankind
mat the habit is not fatal in its effects
| bht while there is little sickness these
people appear to have lost the usual
amount of energy possessed by the average
Aiabamian, and are lazy and shiftless ap-
pearing not to care so long as they can eke
| out an existence. This fact is also true of
| the clay eaters of North Carolina there
! peihg colonies CT them in that state.
| Rude Community.
Winston county, Ala. is the poorest conn
| ty in the state. and is sparseIv settled
there being but few school houses and
| churches. The clay caters live In rude los,
cabins built of small pine logs. from which
the bark is sometimes removed As a gem
eral thing the cabin contains no windows
| ana but one door In winter the cracks
between the logs are filed with CLAW or
| iasH' ana sometimes boards are nail.d over
them on the outside. In summe. these
cracks are opened in order to ell.,y nIentv
| OF fresh air to enter. The interior Of ne
cahin Is rude in the extreme there being
no pictures on the wall, no ornaments of
any had, and often no furniture worthy
Oh tiie name IL there are bedsteads they
are or the crudest kind made by the head
OF the family with no other tools than
saw ana hatchet. Usually the cabin is 200
small for bedsteads, If the family is large
and they sleep on quilts and straw beds
spread on the floor. The entire family
often ten or more persons, eat and sleep in
one small room. The cooking is done In
one nreDlace. the utensils Of
trying pan. skillet. oven Kettle and pot and
the tableware is even more scant Cook
ing stoves sewing machines and all mod
| ern convenlences are almost unknown and
some OF these people will not believe that
| such articles really exist. In some of the
CABINS a circus poster may occasionally be
round, but books and newspapers are un-
Known, sometimes whole families being
FOUND who cannot read A majority of
them do not believe in book larnin' If a
church-going family is found a cheap Bible
can be seen i'm the cabin, but il is never
read save when the circuit rider Days "a
Visit story is told that one day a
preacher was reading some portion of the
scripture in which it saws that Jesrs
Christ died 10 save sinners. The pood ola
motherly woman to whom he was reading
exclaimed: rs that so? l allus told
Samuel that we'd die in ig'runce eff we
didn't take the paper"
\ Miserable Existence.
These poor but apparently contented peo-
PIE exc out miserable existence by farm
ing. fishing and hunting, and sometimes by
making white mule whisky Their farms
| or patches, they call them. are small
clearihgs around their cabins and are
rever more than a few acres in extent
The crops consist of corn peas and pota-
toes. and a few who are fortunate enough
to OWL horses attempt to raise a little
cotton. AS the land is very poor the yield
is small and the "craps''-that is the way
vi oil
tiNated by the women. the men devoting
their time to fishing and hunting A few
hces are raised, but the larger portion
of the people depend on the country stores
for the few pounds of meat they eat during
the year.
In almost every cave and on every little
brook among the hills is a "moonshne"
still, and the little crop of corn gathered
by the ciay-eater is sold to the owner of
the still and converted into mountain
dew On shares. Nearly all of them men,
women and children. drink. and they are
too far from market to market their corn
for money, they find it more convenient
to carry it in liquid form to some of the
larger settlements. where the fluid is easily
disposed of at good prices, either for cash,
tobacco. snuff "caliker." Men, women
and children are slaves to the tobacco
habit, and the women's Sunday dresses
are seldom made of more costly material
than calico.
Very Superstftious.
1t may or may lot be the result of clay
eating. but these people are as superstitious
as the followers of voodoo. They have
signs for almost everything. and almost
worship the moon. Corn is planted when
the moon is full. and potatoes are planted
on the dark of the moon. They will not
start on journey or begin job of work
unless the moon is right. and they fore
tell storms and all kinds of disasters by
the appearance of the moon. If one end
of a new moon is lower than the other it
will rain before the moon changes again,