Jeffersonian Republican. [volume] (Stroudsburg, Pa.) 1840-1853, 1852-12-09
The Lepers i'm Jerusalem.

sed on several occasions through the quar-
ter of the Lepers. Apart from the inter
est attached to this unfortunate class Of
beings, (arising from the frequent illusions
made to them in the Scriptures,) there is
much in their appearce and mode of life
to attract attention and enlist the sympa-
thy of the stranger. Dirt and disease 20
revoltingly together here; guant famine
stalks through the streets; constant
moan of suffering swells upon the air, and
sin broods darkly over the ruin it has
wrought in that gloomy and ill-fated spot.
Wasted forms sits in the doorways; faces
covered with white scales and sightless
eyes are turned upward; skeleton arms,
distorted and foetid, with the ravages of
leprosy, are outstretched from the foul,
moving mass; and low howl is heard,
the howl Of the stricken for aims; no stran-
ger, 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 shuned
by your fellow man as a thing unclean
and accursed; you who deem yourself un-
blest with all the blessings that God has
given you upon earth; look upon it and
and learn that there is misery beyond all
that you have conceived in your gloomiest
hours-a misery that can still be endured;
learn that even the Leper, with death
gnawing at his vitals and unceasing tor
lures in Ills blood, cast out from the soci-
ETY. of his fellow man, forbidden to touch
in friendship or affection, the hand of the
untainted, still struggles forlife, and deems
each hour precious that keeps him from
the grave.
The quarters of the Lepers is a sad
and impressive place. By the laws of the
land, which have existed from scriptural
times, they are isolated from all actual
contact with their fellow men; yet there
seems to be 10 prohibition to their going
out beyond the walls of Jerusalem, and
begging by the roadside. Near the
gate OF Zion, on the way to Bethlehem, l
saw many of them sitting on the rocks,
their hideous faces uncovered, thrusting
forth their scaly hands for aims Their
huts are rudely y 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 propagate, whole
families together, without distinction of
sex; and their dreadful malady is perpet-
uated from 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 contemplation of the sad condition
and probable destiny of these ill-fated be-
ings.
Among so many, there must be some
in whose breasts the power of true love is
love for woman in its purest
sense, for offspring, for all the endear-
ments Of domestic life which the untaint-
ed are capable of feeding; yet doomed
never to exercise the affections without
perpetuating the curse; some, too, in whom
there are hidden powers of mind unknown,
save to themselves; ambition that corrodes
unavailing aspirations, a thirst for action
that burns within increasingly, yet never
can be assuaged all the ruling passions
that are implanted in man for great and
noble purposes, never, never, never to
give one moments pleasure unmixed with
the perpetual gloom of that curse which
dwells 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 etface--
l passed when the rays of the sun were
cold and the light was dim; and there
came out of the reeking novels leprous
men, gaunt with famine, and they barred
their hideous bodies and howled like
beasts and women held out their loath-
some and accursed babes, and tore away
the rags that covered them and pointing
to the shapeless mass shrieked for aims
All was disease, and sorrow wherever l
went; as | passed on, unable to relieve
thousand part of misery, means of despair
and bowling curses followed me and lep-
ers crawled back into their novels to rot
in their filth, and die when God willed.
For. Cor Nat. LateL