The Emporia news. [volume] (Emporia, Kan.) 1859-1881, 1880-05-14
THE LEPER,s HOME.
Men and Women Waiting for the DIR,
Rot 20 End Their Lives.

Men and Women Waiting for the Dry
Rot 10 End Their Lives.
Havana Correspondence OF the Phil. Times
A matter which, for its peculiar hor-
ror, / am not likely readily to forget,
was visit made to the Hospital de San
LaZaro, at Havana, the home of the
lepers. This ancient and terrible dis
ease finds many victims among the low
er-cast Cubans and the poverty-stricken
Chinese, though it reaches Its gaunt fin
gers into better society sometimes Lep-
rosy is either inherited or induced by
poor food. and especially by eating stale
fish. Il seems To be a fisherman's dis
ease, in fact, seldom prevailing at any
great distance from the sea. Leprosy, as
seen in the West Indies, is simply a
dry rot. The soul of man is impris-
oned in his body long after he is, 10 all
intents and purposes, dead, and, with all
his mental faculties intact. he must en-
dure the gradual falling apart of his ten
einent, awaiting with what philosophy
he may the hour when the generous
agent shall touch a vital point. This
may not occur for many years; it may
happen tomorrow The traditions of the
hospital do not point to any individual
case of cure whereby the patient may
gain ever so faint hope 1t might well
be inscribed over the portal: Let those
who enter here leave all behind"
There were five of us in the party
which drove out through the hot streets
toward the forbidding suburb facing
the sea-Dr Burgess, an American resi-
dent physician and United States sani
tary officer; an invalid doctor from
Hartford, and three Journalists. Sar
Lazaro is located just where, in more
modern city we might look for more
| hofal II loolxS mt across
few low houses upon the fair prospec
of the harbor's mouth, and the sea sends
its unfettered waves straight in from th'
northwaId, dashlng up the spray almos
to IFS walls. The place was founded b.
philanthropic Spaniard within trlti'
of 200 years ago, and was restored IL
1873. 4 liberal bequest of neighborinl
property has always afforded an ampl
revenue for its support, but within ;
short time the government has cOnvertct
portion Of its property, and. as one o
the officials of the institution remarked
matters were mot so good" In form
the hospital is large quadrangle, cen
tering upon a chapel. A high wall d
vides the wards of the men and til
women. We entered the male de
partment first The leading pecu
iarity of the first patients met lOitel
ing in the corridors was a clay-like al
pearance of the skin and depression @
caving in of the nasal portion of the fact
The noStrils and lobeS of the ear WEI
Slobular and boles were formed over tn
, eyebrows The voices of the men WEI
nearly all changed, sounding indistinC
and painful. Patients were hidden l
} approach, who hobbled up to us upo
A the stumps of limbs long since robbed
by the process of disease, of feet an
ankles, and they held out for our Inspe
a ton miserable remains of arms, shri
= eled, warped and decayed, and yet thes
arms found cunning enough to gras
and remove hats from matted heads
! hair when we rendered a few bits I
n Spanish currency.
We saw In these lower corridors pc
haps forty men. Some were new cor
ers, upon whom the disease had put b
/. few marks as yet. Others were almo
ready to go 10 the hopeless ward abov
where We presently climbed. Here, upG
d beds in double row, were the vestig
II of what had once been men-corps
:, which breathed in speechless agoI
through the long week, and which y
chung to life as though even under the
conditions it was sweet to exist. Iatt'
:, ed drapings hung from these hreathil
u skeletons, whose very pose was the at
u tuQe oil ulSpalf. NO picture Ot DOTc
Illustrative of the Inferno could overdrt
a scene like this 1t was with the great'
relief that we walked across the pleasa
IN garden, planted with bananas and ii!
ID and entered the women's ward, undert
guidance of fat but devoted mother (:
perier All respect to her and her st
s. of nuns, who labor here among the hol
ne lees, pointing their fainting steps l
Of ward and shaving through the heat
years to alleviate the sutferings of thu
with whom they are appointed to Ii
al The scenes among the women were
M a repetition of those across the Tectang
N A few were telling their beads, so
at sewed, and all were neat in person a
surroundings to the last degree. A lii
boy ran toward us with an orange
's either hand He was the pet of the b
Ter pital. His mother was an inmate
IL gone with the disease. He was not
enough to know the fate that awaits hi
What pity this bright little chap is
ly, taken as a subject Of scientific exp
T a ment Can 1t not be that there ex
n some means of driving ont the ven
and building up the system of the
oi happy progeny of 1cpers with heal
tissues?