Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1877-06-20

1 think L have Just seen one OF the
most melancholy sights in the world.
have been to Lovochuri, or the viii
lage OF lepers--a fearful and terrible
place. Tie village is composed of a
few miserable huts placed at the brow
OF Il breezy mountain. As we drew
near to 1t could hardly persuade my
self that it was the intended object of
our morning walk. | had heard fear
full accounts of the bodily and mental
lntirmlties Of the lepers, and | was
now to witness how true they were.
Three fine, strong men, however,
who were the first persons we met.
seemed to have little unenviab!e about
them, TIL looking closer at them we
perceived that they had no eyebrows.
The few struggling hairs on their heads
had limp, strange look, as if they
were dead. The features of the men
also had singular indistinctness of
outline. The right hand of one was
contracted and the first joint of a fore
finger destroyed. We asked how his
hand had been so manned. He an
Swered cheertully that it had been ac-
cidenta'ly burnt away one day while
he was sleeping too near the fire; a
striking lesson enough on the uses of
pain, showing how God chastises even
in mercy. The lepers are almost de-
void of any sense of bodily suffering,
and the result was before us.
The next person we met was fine,
upright young man Of nineteen. He
had, as yet, lost only his eyebrows, but
the village doctor of Plumari, who ac-
companied me, sad casually that the
very worst cases of leprosy tegan
merely in this way. The young man
had already been five years cut off
from the world, and in all human
probabilities he would never be suf-
fered to return to it. Then came a
girl with huge swelled ankle, one Of
the most distressing forms of ele.
phantiasis SO common in AlgierS and
the Barbary States. She had nothing
else, apparently, the matter with her,
but the faint OF leprosy was known to
be in her constitution. She also had
been lost to the world five yearS-ln
the first budding of womanlOod, in
the pride and springtime of life. 1t
was like Il thorn at ones heart to see
her and to know how hopelessly she
was smitten.
Going further into the village the
doctor and | stepped thoughtlessly on
in spite of the shuddering remon-
STRANGE of our companions. We soon
came upon fearful group, talking III
| the sunshine. They were nearly un-
| ineligible from the imperfection in
their organs of speech, which belongs
to the worst forms of the malady IN
its advanced state. The group before
us was CHASTITY sight. The poor crea-
lures who composed it looked each
like an obscene bundle of rags, and
some were blind and some were deaf
and dumb, and others were stricken
with impotence of limb. But the most
fearful form of the disease is that of
the lion face. The palate gives way,
the bridge of the nose is consumed in
wardly, the lips stretch out and swell
and the liv;d cheeks hang down in
flaps. God have mercy on those he
has afflicted thus. And let us bow
down in revereNt awe to the inscruta-
bic wisdom Of the Most High, doubt
ing nothing, hoping all.
The lepers are said to be remarkable
for their melriment and high spirits.
Their love Of pleasure degenerates into
RIGHTEOUSNESS. They seem to be mer-
cifully endowed with an obtus"neSs of
intellect which prevents the sense of
their fearful isolation from pressing
on them too heavily. Ie. they are
quite sane. The disease is supposed
to be hereditary; sometimes other
wise. There is no escape for those
born loprouS; yet the children of lep-
rous people are sometimes born
healthy. When this is the case they
are immediately separated from their
parents, and are subjected to such
treatment as experience seems to war
rant. Science and medical research
have done nothing for leprosy. They
have slept at their post, and they have
forgotten their mission, and been deaf
to the call of this stupendous evil.
\ fish diet, the long fasts of the
Greek Church, sQualid and long-con-
: tinued poverty, too much oil or salt III
the food, and living in damp places,
are alleged to he some of the primitive
causes of leprosy. \ licentiouS life is
undoubtedly another; but its effects
are generally visible in this way only
in the second generation. As | have
said. however. science is dumb, or only
speaks in heSitating whispers on this
momentoUs question nope to see an
improvement on the subject.
The ltpeiS donot want for anything.
The charity of friends and relatives
provides amply for these poor aliens
from the great family of mankind, and
when the community is joined by any
new member, be he rich or needy for
the terrible mandate of exile strikes