The new dominion. [volume] (Morgantown, W. Va.) 1876-1904, 1883-02-03


man 10 chant mss. - We crossed rus.f-
foot bridge near The l1.Uc:io We heard the
plSintive notes OF 4 violin. The N lody was
sad AMI sweet. q blend ng OF TIE ~ laaliau
Boat Scnz" aud Annie Laurie Tae masi-
IAN was a leper. willing away the weary
hours. Sister St John, matroi of the lazl-
retto is q pleasant faced woman. abou' thirty
six years old -Four cen years among the
lepers have fsmHiarized her with their man
Gers, customs and feelings. She has be n
the r cipientof many story She has charge
OF the cabinet Of drugs aud has far knowl-
edge OF medical Jurisprudence. She knows
the families tainted with the disease and
traces accurately the relationship between the
afflicted
The same strain of blood appears to flow Ia
the veins OF ALL A majority Of the lePers were
BON In Traoadie. They all come from within
a circle of seventy miles. Under Sister st.
Johns supervision an accurate rec nd OF the
inmates has been kept Since ls6s the Sisters
record shows that hfly eight out OF ninety
have died. There are now twentysix in the
nstitu ion. This number is larger than st
any time within fourteen years. The average
OF life after the appearance of the disease is
from ten TO fifteen years. Some die within
three or four wears, and there is now a woman
in the institution who has been suffering over
fifty years. She was an inmate OF the laza-
retto on Shelldrake Island forty years ago.
While there the disease disappeared, and IL
was supposed that she had been cure J. She
returned TO h home in Trscadie, married and
had children. Twenty years afterward the
tell-tale spots again appeared, and she was
remanded to the lazaretto. She is still living,
handless aud almost sightless. daughter,
twenty -four years old, whose fingers are drawn
up like the claws OF dead bird, has Inherited
The scourge from the mother, and is now in the
institution. Singala as it may seem, the lepers
are subject to attacks from ordinary diseases.
There have been deaths from jaundiee and
.httn "a Ia ftNn 81 Il IEX
aud clean, and in others it is covered with
ulcers. Those afflicted with ulcers live the
longest. Damp weather has damaging effect.
The patients are feverish. aud complain of
rheum tic pains. They have fits of drowsiness,
and sleep for hours daily, In winter and sum
mer they invariably improve. They are peeu-
liarly sensitive. We were warned againstusi ng
the word eprosy within their hearing. They
speak OF 1t as the disease Each patient
apparently has an impression that there NAV
be some mistake in his case and that he is
suffering from some othef complaint At times
medicine is given to relieve them from pain.
ANY unusual deeoetion seems to affect them.
Cases have occurred where those afflicted with
leprosy left the country before they were sent
to the asylum. Two or three years ago the
spots appeared upon two girls belonging to
well-known families. Determined to avoid
the lazaretto the girls went to Shadidc, and
were employed as houshold servants. Hearing
OF their flight, Fir. Babineau wrote to Shadiac.
Hehad observed III iicat' ons OF lepr isy on them
before their disappearance. The girls were
alarmed and fed to Providence, X. /. One
died in that city in private family, where she
had been engaged as chamher-mad. Fr
Babineau learned the whereabouts of tbs sur
vivor, and went to Providence. After long
talk he convinced her that Il was her duty to
return to Tracadie and enter the lazaretto
She did so, and died within a year.
DISTRESSING CASES
The good father relates the particulars of a
case OF leprosy in man two years married
There were the usual f,rerunners of the dis.
ease. The father visited the mans residence
and talked Wi his wife about it. The hus-
band insisted that it was no. leprosy. Ills
wife conceded with him, but expressed a
different OPTION TO the priest in private
Satisfied, however, that the husband was
tainted, the wife LEFT him. He remained in
the house alone. Not long afterward, seeing
the priest approaching, he took to the woods
FIR. Babineau overlook him and demonstrated
with him. The man was obstinate. lie was
thfea ened with the rigor of the law. The
C nversation lasted two or three hours and
the husband was finally induced to enter the
lazaretto. Not long ago the disease broke
out on the body Of fisherman who for twenty
years had lived alone in a hut on the Bay OF
Tracadie. When the priest asked him to enter
the lazaretto his only objection was fear
that he might become lonesome. lie is now
in the hospital, pining for the companionship
two months ago The death spots appeared
on the mother of four little children. The
priest repeatedly talked with her and she
was finally induced to part with her husband
and enter the living tomb. Her parting with
the children was very affecting, and to this
day the fathers ears hear cries of Mamma,
mammal The family is isolated, the chill
dren have no playmates and the neighbors
shun the place as though 1t was the nest of
pestilence.
is THE DISEASE CONTAGIOUS
The disease is said to be contagious, but we
could learn Of no we'll authen lea ed instance
of contagion. None of the Sisters have shown
the least symptoms of leprosy, although two
have waited upon the patients for fourteen
years. They take he greatest precauton
againstit. There is only one case on record of
husband and wife who were confined in he
institution al the same time. They were C us
ms. Wives who have hRd children by leprous
husbands have married ON the death of their
husbands. Some of the children by the first
husband were infected, and those by The second
escaped. In recent case the disease did not
appear until the third generation Then H.
broke out on the body OF man OF hercuIean
strength. The native families OF French de
scent seem to he satisfied that it IS contagious
The victims Of The disease are first visited by
their near relatives, but as the seasons roll on
the visits are less frequent, and at last cease
altogether. Husbands forget their wives
mothers forget their children, and vice versa
Not long ago poor boy OF nineteen broke ont
of the lazaretto at night, and walked twenty
five miles to see hts mother He remained
home few hours, and returned with less
aching heart. The lepers all express a willing
ness to work, but many of them are unable 10
do so. The sters are allowed only pittance
to feed them. They have meat on Monday
Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday, and fish on
Friday. Seldom, if ever, do they see fresh
beef. They abhor mutton and veal. Fresh
pork is the meat mostly eaten. Thee of the
lepers play the violin, and each appears to be
ambitious to excel the others.
HORRIBLE PECULIARITIEs OF THE DISEASE.
The lungs become affected. The hair falls
from the eyebrows. The voice is husky. In
some cases there is loss of feeling in the
hands and arms A girl rested her wrist on a
red-hot stove and was seriously burned, with
out the least sensation. Cuts with the knife
bleed, but give no pain. At times the skin
seems to be filled with steel filings. Then it
cracks open to the bone and gradually shrives
away. When tie liver and The lungs become
seriously affected, the patient wastes away
with all the symptoms OF consumption. lie
dies by suffocation As we entered the male
ward ten OF the unfortnnates were arising
fl, m dinner. 1t was plain board table, des-
titute of cloi and napkins and furnished
with Tin plates, cups and spoons. On al iron
cot within ten feet of the table sat pitiful
object. His flesh looked like fakes OF sulphur
nodded into the shape of man. He had been
in bed over year. Although but fifteen years
old he looked like man of seventy. Nothing
in the wards on Blackwefs Island equals this
scene vet the Sisters said that the patient was
much bet er than he had been. AS we entered
the apartment heavy black bearded man,
clad in blue wooden shirt, turned his face
from US, picked up black clay pipe and
moved in the sunlight, through The open
door. Poor fellow his inisfortunes were his
own, and bo sought no sympathy from the