Washington telegraph., 1852-12-15
The Lepers in Jerusalem.

In my rambleS about Jerusalem l passed,
on several occasions, through the quarter of
the Lepers. Apart from the interest attach
ed to this unfortunate class of beings (aris-
ing from the frequent allusion made to them
in the Scriptures,) there is much in the ap-
pearance and mode of life to attract atten-
ton and enlist the sympathy of the stranger.
Dirt and disease go revoltingly together
here; gaunt famine stalks through the streets;
constant moan suffering swells upon the
dead air. and sin broods darkly over the
ruin it has wrought in that gloomy and i'll
fated spot Wasted forms sit in the Goor-
ways; faces covered with white scales and
sightless eyes are turned upward; skeleton
arms, distorted and feted with the ravages
ofleprosy,are outstretched from the foul NOV
ing mass; and low howl is heard, the howl
of the stricken for aims, oh stranger, for the
love of God. aims to feed the inexorable
destroyer. aims to prolong this dreary and
hopeless misery! Look upon it, stranger,
you who walk forth in all your pride and
strength and breathe the fresh air of heaven;
YOU who have never known what it is to be
stunned by your felow-man as a thing un-
cltdu tiiiU yOu WuO uctIu SOufSCH
unblest with all the blessings that God has
given you upon earth; look upon it and learn
that there is a misery upon all that you have
conceived in your gloomiest hours-a mise
rv that can still be endured; learn that even
the Leper, with death gnawing at his vitals
and unceasng tortures in his blood, cast ont
from the society OF his fellow man, forbidden
{. Ill, IF, Al,
of the untanted, still struggles for life and
deems each hour precious. that keeps him
from the grave.
The quarter Of the Lepers is sad and
impressive place BY the laws of the land,
which have existed from scriptural times.
thev are isolated from all actual contact with
their fellow men; yet there seems to be no
prohibition to their going out beyond the
walls of Jerusalem, and begging by the road
side. Near the gates of Zion, on the way to
Bethlehem [ saw many of them sitting on
the rocks, their hdeous faces uncovered.
thrusting forth their scaly hands for aims
Their huts are rudely constructed of earth
and stones, seldom with more than one apart
ment, and this so filthy and loathsome, that
it seemed unfit to be occupied by swine
Here they live and propag gate, whole families
together, without distinction of sex; and their
dreadful malady is perpetuated from genera
ton to generation, and the groans of the aged
and the dying are mingled with the feeble
wall of the young that are brought forth
branded for life Of misery. Strange and
mournful thoughts arise, in the contempla-
ton of the sad condition and probable desti-
ny of these ill-fated beings Among so
many, there must be some in whose breasts
the power of true love is implanted; love for
woman in its purest sense, for offspring, for
all the endearments Of domestic life which the
untain;ed are capable of feeling; yet doomed
never to exercise the affections without per-
petuating the curse: some, too, in whom there
are hidden powers of mind, unknown, save
to themselves; ambition, that corrodes with
unavailing aspirations; thirst for action that
burns within increasingly, yet never can be
assuaged; all the ruling passions that are i'm
planted in man for great and noble purposes,
never never to give one moments pleasure
unmixed with the perpetual gloom of that
curse which dweils in their blood.
As [ plodded my way for the last time
through this den of sickening sights, vision
of human misery was impressed upon my
mind that time cannot eface l passed
when the rays of the sun were cold and the
light was dim; and there came out from the
reeklng novels leprous men, gaunt with fam
ine and they barred their hideous bodies, and
howled like beasts; and women held out their
loathsome and accursed babes, and tore away
the rags that covered them, and pointing to
the shapeless mass shrieked for aims All
was disease and sin and sorrow wherever I
went and as | passed on, unable to relieve
thousandth part Of the misery, means of de-
sspalr and bowling curses followed me, and
Lepers crawled back into their novels to rot
In their filth and die when God willed.
Cor. Of the Nat Intel.