The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1899-05-07
THE STRONGEST BOY.
LEWIS JACKSON, WHEN 8 YEARS
OLD, AS STRONG AS A PAIR
OF CATTLE.

He Could Clear the StOniest Field In
New England in Day-Then
Hitch Himself and PIOw 1t Before
sunset-He Was a Great Saving to
His Father, Who Raised Lewis on
Green Apples That When Analyz-
ed Showed 90 Per Cent. Iron to
10 Per Cent. Apple.
BY Charles Battell LOOMS.
Lewis Jackson was just eight years old,
and to look at him you would not nave
suspected that he was anything more than
happy. hearty, ordinary country boy.
As a matter of fact, however he was the
strongest boy in the world, and all on
account of the Iron Greetings" You
see Mr.. Jackson, Lewis father. had a
large apple orchard and right in the mid
die of it was a tree of greetings and the
day that Lewis was born the old man
buried a lot of rusty irons and iron bar
rel hoops and the scraps of cast iron
stove at the foot of the tree because it
had never borne an apple, and he thought
the strength of the iron rust might do
Il good That was in December. and early
i'm May that tree was so covered with ap-
pie blossoms that il looked as if an i'm
mense flock of butterflies had descended
on it and were resting preparatory to fly
ing somewhere else. That summer the
tree was loaded with greetings, and Lew
is brother a harum-scarum child of 6,
gave the seven months old baby one of
the apples to eat-not only that, but cut
it up for him. and instead of dying in
commissions the infant who had been sick
ly before, tErived upon 1t. The village
physician was called in to look at the
child, and he Immediately said that he
was what is called pudenza amachyrtis
that Is, one to whom apples are neces-
sary He advised them to throw away
all their milk and to let the child eat all
the apples he could-but only from the
one tree. HE is likely to absorb so much
iron that he will be the strongest child
in the world" He analysed one of the
apples when he got home and found that
it was 80 per cent. iron, and only 10 per
cent. apple, So of course, any child who
ate nothing else would absorb so much
iron that his muscles would be hard as
anvils.
Mr.. jackson was one of those men who
always think they have the best of every
thing. His cattle were the heaviest in the
county, his fruit was the finest, his wife
made the best cheese, his dog was the best
sheep dog his Sunday hat was the cheap
est that any man had ever worn TO church.
so you may imagine that lthe chance of
having the strongest son in the world ap-
pealed to him, and he told his wife TO
make enough apple butter from those
greetings to supply the baby, when the
apples themselves were all eaten or until
more apples were ripe.
AS a consequence, when little Lewis was
eight years old he was just as strong as a
pair of cattle, and he liked nothing better
than 10 show his strength. If he hadn't
been good natured I'm sure 1 don't know
what might have happened, because he
could have pulled the schoolhouse to pieces
and could uproot saplings of several years
growth.
OF course it was a great saving to his
father such a strong man. He'd clear a
field of rocks in a single day, wrenching
them out of the earth and tossing them
over the fence as if they had been peb-
bles instead of powders. Then, too he
did all the p!ouShing. He'd start out in
the morning with some apples in his pock-
ct and plough at mis- heels and by noon
| he'd have done the work of a pair of cattle
| and would have thought it fun, too. But
if for any reason he was unable to eat
for few hours his strength left him and
! he was just like other boys. He used TO
carry a supply of apples in his pockets.
| but one day when ne was pulling Toad Of
| feed up from the village he found he'd
eaten his last apple and his strength left
him and he had TO leave the wagon by the
side of the road and run home for an an
pie. Then when he returned he picked IN
the shafts and skipped up the hills like a
colt in "a meadow on a frosty morning.
There is a high noun ain near the-Jack-
son place called Mt Nomadnettuck. IT
is twenty miles high and is considered bv
some geographers TO be-the highest noun
tain in New England. although whetbsr
T-pg1and ayfpudc 70 {nt.
as that is thing, that rather doubt, 20 the
mountain may not be In New England
after all Anyway the view from the ton
is fine. and on a clear day you can see The
sun from its apex. One summer Mr.
jackson had a houseful of boarders ana
| they were all crazy to go to the top Of this