Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1886-05-20


ing that if his feet once touched this spot,
there was no turning back for him any
more this side of leper's grave. Yet he
calmly, bravely, went to work. Oh, there
are true and good men who can give them
selves for others in this world!
The third and last man / shall mention
before going on with my narrative, is DIR.
Emerson. He is man of great culture and
capacity, and graduate of one of our first
medical institutions. This brave man is
giving up his life to an undertaking that
seems impossible of achievement. His
mighty task is no less than an attempt to
entirely cure leprosy. When we consider
that leprosy has been considered incurable
in all the ages past, we may conceive some
thing of the utterly forlorn hope that must
sometimes keep company with this brave
man.
The separation of families here is some
times heartrending indeed. The islanders
are an affectionate people and it is more
than ordinarily hard for them to give up
those they love. Mothers try to conceal
their little ones, who are diseased, in their
homes, up in the rocks, or out in the cattle
fields by the cool running water. But,
sooner or later they must give them up and
see them sail away forever to the dreaded
island. There is no possibility of escaping
detection sooner or later.
A little way back from the sea above
Honolulu, lived two families in one house.
They had little banana plantation not far
away, kept some COWS and pigs, and were
apparently the happiest people in the world.
There were six children, four girls and two
boys. The two youngest were cousins,
though the whole half-dozen were like
brothers and sisters. They were fond OF
dancing and often gave little parties in their
little thatched house under the trees, by the
dusty roadside. 1t was at one of these par
ties that I first came to know the beautiful
little girl, the pet of the house.
Not knowing how, or rather not caring to
learn to dance their monotonous yet graceful
evolutions, sat back against the wall and
looked on.
By-and-by this girl came with her broth
er, a few years older than herself, and stood
near where sat looking at the dancers.
1 soon had them both between my knees.
She was quiet and said but little; now and
then stealing a glance at me from out her
great lustrous eyes.
She had one of her hands in sling, and the
boy proceeded to tell me that she had fallen
from horse and brokenher wrist. The girl
said nothing, but only lifted her sad eyes
to mine and smiled and stole away.
I asked the brother if he and his sister
were fond of horses. He answered that
they were very fond of riding, and that
they had several ponies, besides two won
derful big black dogs that were very fond
of the water.
The boy soon disappeared also, and saw
neither of them for some months. They
had left the neighborhood of Honolulu, and
were living in seclusion with their father,
who seemed to be man of some means, in
a remote part of the island, when by acci-
dent ran across him.
He came to our camp where | was stop
ping with some American friends. But he
seemed to have forgotten his former hospi-
tality, and did not invite me to visit him.
One day I met my two little friends rid
ing down on the beach in the shadow of a
steep mountain. How beautiful the little
girl was now! l was certain l had never
seen anything so lovely before, and threw
out my hands to her with delight.
The same sweet, sad smile, the sigh, and
the far-away look. She slowly lifted her
hand that was half-hidden in the thick
manc of the pony, and 1 saw that it was
bandaged; and knew my little friend was
doomed.
Her father and brother were hiding away
with her here, hoping to keep her little
while yet to themselves, even at the risk
of their own lives.
1t had been whispered at Honolulu that
this child was leper, and the authorities
were soon made aware of the fact. y leper
connot long remain concealed. The child's
Punishment was only a question of time,
and her heart-broken father comprehended
this very well.
After time, some fishermen putting in
at this remote part of the island saw the
fugitiyes, and on returning home told where
the missing party could be found.
1t is complimentary to these honest pco-
pie, and to human nature, too, to chronicle
the fact that the health officers merely
dropped the father note, and that he,
sadly though promptly, obeyed it, as if it
had been summons from the king, and
returned to town with his fated and beauti-
full children.
next saw her at church. The little girl
was pale and thin, but, think, if possible,
more beautiful than ever. Her father and
brother were still with her. They sat close
on either side of her. Her hands were in
her lap underneath her apron.
am sure the Government officers SEEM
ed 10th to take this child. She was so re-
signed, so pitiful, so strangely beautiful.
1t was, perhaps, Il month after they return
ed to Honolulu, before they finally came to
take her away from all she loved on earth
forever.
I had come to love her so and pity her so,
that often went up to the house from town
to talk with her through the picket fence
that ran along the dusty road, under the
trees before the door. She had never gone
to church after her return but this once:
And now she did not 60 out ofthe door-yard.
No friends visited the family now. And,
in fact, hardly saw any of the family any
more, except the father and brother. They,
particularly the brother, were with her all
the time. They seemed to take no interest
in anything or any one but her. The father
seemed utterly unconscious that he had any
other child than this one little girl.
She was cheerful enough always when
1 went up there. But over all hung the