St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1874-01-23

lHlS klllu Ill All Interesting dItlClt OH
The Lepers of Molokai.' in Il late
number OF the Overland Monthly. He
says =
Here was Il young native. who was
perhaps 20 Years of age, Splrndidly
developed. and with very attractive
manners. If he had chosen. he might
have passed Il life of unrestrained sen
suality. for ii Is next to impossible fnr
such fellows tohc decent but he had
seen woman with a face like a cobra
Il hideous. 1.-the creature. possessing
the charms of Mcdus,-there was
something fascinating i'll the very tlut
ter of L"I garments, as though she were
not wholly human "a woman. who, i'll
her best days. had belonged to the late
kings household. and who Yet pre-
served an air of royalty, but who had
been baniShrd To Mulukai with the
shadow of the plague upon her. SoOncI
or later. that Youth expected to sacri
iice his body To the plague. At any
rate. never again could he hope to quit
that Villagc-whcre. indeed. hc was
quite contcntcd, and in uowiSc regret
fHl OF the temptations of his island
world. He seemed to be under some
singular spell for ne WAS familiar with
the horrors of the place. associated
with lrperS of high and low degree. and
at the same time preserved Il light heart
and Il cheerful spirit that h"l'icr"d on
friv0lity.
LcprOSy in its various forms, is as old
IL history itself. The Jews brought it
into Palestine with them on their
exodus from Egypt, and how terribly
Il l. -, I. ,,In
from the strict regulations of the Mosaic
laws for its suppression. Indeed, the
Orient seems To be the natural h"m" at
the disease. and every eastern town of
any size has had without its walls from
time immrmorial its colony OF lcpcT>.
But the West has not been exempt from
the plague hy any means. Europe IN
the middle ages suffered extensively. 80
that. every country within its limits
ahomndcd with thousands of hospitals
for lcpcrs. and the disease was the sub
icct of much legislation. The return
ing swarm- of crusaders AT that period
were the prolific >omcc "f liz spread.
and through their agency il was carried
into the IcmOteSt nook of every king
dom Neither WAS Its dread visitation
confined to the lower classes. 1t WAS
no rcSpcct"r of persons the peasant
and the noble suffered alike. ami Kin"
Robert the Bruce of scotland died with
lrprosv. while several of the English
king, had il or died with it. At one
time there was an order of knighlhoud
founded with the appropriate title of
the knights hospltalcrs of st. Lazarus.
the grand master of which had To he Il
lrpcr. and whose mini>tratiou> We're
confined to the care of this unfortunate
class But with the dawn of the Later
civilization and the comforts and clean
illness which il disseminated. Europe
shook of this hnrrid nightmare ot
disease. that had been gnaWing at lis
/ Nital> for So many Years. and now. save
in PORTIONS "t Norway and lower Italy e.
il is entirely cYtcrminatcd from the
4 continent.
. Lcpru~v has ALWAYS been considered
b incurahlr. I" a certain extent it i
/ hereditary, and long exp Iicmcc seems
/ I" prove that ii j. contagious. though
/ only upon the most persistent inter
mimgling and actual contact Withlrprou>
/ persons. The general treatment "t
7 lcpcI> has even been the same. out
casts they have always been and de
i barred from all civil and social pIINI-
/ lcgcS. In the oldcn time. when the
plague infested Europe, this o>trari~m
. was accompanied 10y tn" r,Icm"niLl for
the huIial of the dead. Masses we've
said over the p"or diseased Victim. bat
Ia make the illusion still more vivid a
>huNcltul of earth WAS tmnWu upon the
body. Although the disease has hatlicd
all remedies down through the ages /"
the pr>ent. still medical >rirnrc does
not despair. Indeed. the Pail Mall
Gazette has information from India.
lately. ot the discovery 10y the surgeon
in charge Of the pcual settlement nj
. P"lt Blair of what is said L" hc an in
F tIllIhlr cure This i the oil of th,
guliun tree. which grows in that cnu,-
( Try. Every lrpcr at Port Blair i rc-
ported To have been cured 10y il ; and
the >augrriuc doctor is waiting Ia c>tah
. li>h The rcrmaucucc of the results he
tnIr pr"rlaiming physical salvation IL
the thousands of leprnu> humanity that
abound IN eastern countries and the
islands of the South Pacific.