The silver messenger. (Challis, Idaho) 1890-1912, 1902-04-22
SAND SWALLOWERS.
Community In St. Louis That Have
a New Cult.
sevenfy-Five Men and Women Who
Daily Delight Their sfomachs
with "a MouthfuI of Spec
ciRI soiI.

A community of rs men and women
in st, Louis, whose Moses is William
Windsor, eat dirt. The dirt eaters
each take every day a t~easpoonful OF
dirt. Their leader, says a report from
that city, believes that grit is neces-
sarv to every animal, and that because
mankind will have no dirt in his food
he is subject to many stomach ronbles
that no other animal has. So the dirt
eater goes every day to his little sack
OF soil. He plunges a teaspoon in and
brings it forth heaped with good old
earth. He washes it down with a glass
of water, smacking his lips and blink
ing his eyes as If no morsel eyer uckied
the palate of man so deliciously as dirt.
The dirt eater is particular what sort
of dirt he eats. He would be no true
epicurean If he were not. This article
of singular diet is technically a sand.
1t comes from the river bottom and is
made up of many little particles OF
granite, marble, quartz, and flint wei
rounded with age. The chief dirt eat
er has the sand collected and steril-
ized and he distributes it among his
followers. at 25 cents a sack. h sack
IS small, but it holds a good deal OF
sand. So that daily dirt eating after
the st. Louis fashion costs about ten
cents a week. Dirt eating in St. Louis
it six months old and fiourishes like a
green bay tree. The chief dirt eater
looks happy and prosperous. The less
err dirt eaters have every day a keen
hunger for their diet, and they bring in
their friends.
The dirt eaters have pretentious
quarters. They are at Eighteenth and
Olive streets in what was until recent
Nv the home of the Merchants League
club. Here the chief apostle of dirt
eating, Mr.. Windsor, has offices and q
lecture hall. He receives visitors dur
ing the day and every night he lectures
to his class. He has now rs men and
women who attend his lectures and eat
dirt. This is an amusing sect, and II
amuses no one more thar its founder
He said the other night:
"I am not a doctor. / am not a the
Logan. l am simply an advocate o.
what I consider the best means to thu
art or proper uVlHR. 4 nave coHlo4hSs
all I teach into a single word. vitos
ophy, meaning >the science of life
I come from Wisconsin, and was edu
Gated for the law. / was for years il
the office of William F. Villas.
"Dirt eating, or more properly SAM
eating is something I took up fou
years ago. l wondered why men wer
not as healthy as animals. becam
satisfied that ii was because they di,
not observe natural laws. / obserye'
that almost every man had stomacI
trouble, and that the wild animals haI
good stomachs. watched the animals
and became convinced that their goo
health was due to the fact that the,
took grit into their stomachs wit
their food. In other words they wer
dirt eaters. Dirt was necessary I
them.
ut occurred to me that men ate n
dirt. Consequently they had no gri
in their stomachs. I determined
try it. / got a quantity of fine san
and began taking a small q~uantit
every day. The experiment was al
tended by such success hat ! bega
teaching dirt eating"