Fort Mill times. [volume] (Fort Mill, S.C.) 1892-current, 1920-07-22
WOLF CHILDREN OF INDIA.

and mystery of India, but nothing,
| think, ever brought these home to
me SC closely as the discovery i'm tn.
flesh of those enigmatical beings
called wolf lf-children. writes w. How
in tho Manchester Guardian.
he'd read OF them before. but alway-
With n certain detachment. not -'''.
incredulity Cfor l have seen too many
NondcIs in - he incredul-
Gus OF anything). and held them NOR
il the light of those semi mythical
creatures with which every r~''H~'~
brain is filled. - perhaps. I mus'
y turr suffer some of that sccpti~
cism with which | might have r.
'ardcd them years ago. Yet | hope
! can prove that. apart from tho fac'
tat I have seen them with my own
eyes. there is every good ground 70"
their existence.
For countless ages from the remote
dawn OF history the wolf has been
closely associated with mankind. II
figures alike in the fables of East and
West. Sometimes II is the fox that
tak"s its place. hut always il is ono
OF the great canine breed. If It does
hot live in the houses of men il Is
fond of close association with them.
And IL is to be remembered of ~
Indian wolf that it Is a solitary Great
rrC. never going i'm packs like the
wolves OF Russia and North America
II has no need. for the Indian c,i~,nt~
never goes to that extreme of cold to
rcnder II desperate with hunger
Nevertheless. at the time she has
young in hcr lair the female wolf get
hard pressed. Pcrchance her lord
aid master has been trapped or sho.
fnrnV inf
tiousnc"F by the knowledge of all
those hungry waiting mouths n.
homo. So II comes about that mother
wolf must adopt the role OF food find
or as well as nurse, and must fare
forth alone. leaving hcr precious cub
to chance, to pick up whatever she
can.
so much is hypothcs What ac-
tually, happens is this. In some grca
fCld OF crops. tall as II man am
spreading hcdgclCss and undivided 70
miles the men and women are a.
work with their rcaping hooks. A wo
man has laid her baby under tn,
shade of some tree or bush on tho
outskirts CT the mown crop The cy
't tn" hungry mother wolf falls or
the morsel of humanity. and instantl,
her cruel eyes glcam. she snakes her
self on 10 the ground and stalks rounG
l"hinh the uncut wheat. The grou'
cf rCapcrs is far out in tho center o.
tho field. There is n feeble wailinp
cry. n mothers terrified shrick anT
the long gray form is dashng away
ocro@s the plain at n pace that make
II ropclcss To pursue.
Hundreds of children are taken IL
India every year in this manner
nh Lodi t., q,
cases the child is quickly dcvoured
l'ut II may happen that mother vol
ha" lost cub. and some accident q
"uddcn material compassion st'rs he
hCart for tho helpless little waif sh~
hH" torn from homo Dogs nurse kit
t"nT, and cats puppies. and due,
Cf'"N will lC"d brood Of youn
chicks proudly 10 thc waters cdgo
In short. most animals ScCm Capabl
Ci transferring their maternal affcC
tions to tho Noung Of other sr""ie
~ defect Cf a~y of their own on whic'
To lavish them, so that there i3 ~
rCason why n wolf should not lear
Ia su"klc n human child.
IiC that as IL may. however, I vii
proceed to rclat" so much as I know
nj tho two 'wolf boys whom il wa
my fortune TO meet. In 1911 I wa"
S''i't'ii't i' NtTl, ANA among my uh
ties was that OF monthly visit or to tho
n"ylum. llcrcin ! found tn" first o.
these unfortunate beings. He was -
truly miserable object. not nt all tho
MowCli OF tho Jungle Book" and
had no more resemblance to a Crock
goa than an ornith0rhynchus has to
swan. He was nearly blind and dc
void or human expression or intclli-
Ecncc. IF he was not prevented he
dronpcd on his kncCS and elbows to
run. and these joints were covered
with calloSitiCS in consequence. Whcr
upright and hcing led by his keeper
fc showed what physicians call
"fCStirant" gait. running forward
IT he were about to fall and were
trying to catch himself No articu.
late sounds came from his lips: III
could only utter n sort OF goo, goo!"
He had been there more than II scor,
Of years and his history of having
! ~ caught in II VOLTS den was well
:n hcnticatcd. one OF the points thai
s'ruck me was that the native keepers
did not seem to consider his case aS
i'm any way rCmarkablc.
This familiar attitude of tho native
towards wolf children was enforced
on me more strikingly in the second
c0:c. | was then superintendent of
tho Jail ut BarCilly. one day one of
my clerks. an old MohammCdan. came
To me and begged that I would give
him some assistance.
why. yes" said I: what is 1t. Ma
homcd?"
sir" said he. IL have lost my wolf
boy"
You may imagine | was consider
ably surprised. hut none OF the other
clerks who were I'm the Office showed
much Interest. Feeling rather puZ-
zlcd. asked the chief clerk to eX-
plain. and he told me the whole story.
II seems that some 90 years before
old Mahomcd had hccn darogha of q