Evening Republican, Volume 20, Number 271, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 11 November 1916 — The Devil Baby. [ARTICLE]

The Devil Baby.

The knowledge of the existence of the devil baby burst upon the residents of Hull house one day when three Italian women, with an excited rush through the door, demanded that he be shown to them. No amount of denial convinced them that he was not there, for they knew exactly what he was like, with his cloven hoofs, his pointed ears and diminutive tail; moreover, the devil baby had been ablo to speak as soon as he was born and was most shockingly profane. His mother, they declared, was a pious Italian girl married to an atheist Her husband tore a holy picture from the bedroom wall, saying that he would quite as (Soon have a devil In the house as that; whereupon the devil incarnated himself in her coming child. As soon* as the devil baby was born, he ran about the table shaking his fingers in deep reproach at his father, who finally caught him in fear and trembling brought him to Hull house. When the residents there, in spite of the baby’s shocking appearance, wishing to save his soul, took him to church for baptism, they found that the shawl was empty and the devil baby, fleeing from the holy waiter, ran lightly over the backs of the pews.—Jane Addams in Atlantic.