Frostburg mining journal. [volume] (Frostburg, Md.) 1871-1913, 1888-01-14
LeprOSy in Louisiana.

MI. lily anu IIo plloSG lOuBou Ill bIe
house of one of the petits habitants.
In the evening, when we were alone,
the subject of leprosy came up.
1--WE hear at the North" said Mr.
Ely, vague accounts of the Terre des
epreux, which is said to DO some.
where in ouisiana. What truth is
there in them?'
"They are no doubt greatly exagger,
ated," said Father Nedaud. "a spuri-
GUS leprosy, elephantiasis, was so COM
mon among the negroes under the
Spanish domination that Governor
Miro founded hospital for lepers near
New Orleans on the Bayou st. John
1t has been gone these many years, and
Lepers' and is now built up with
pretty houses. 1t was in the suburb
IRENE"
"Ihe disease is extinct. them"
"Ihere were some cases of genuine
Asiatc leprosy near Abbeville, in this
| parish, about twenty years ago. An
old creole lady was the first. Her
father doubtless brought the terrible
faint in his blood from France. When
the white scales appeared in her face
her husband and family feel from her.
There was a young girl, daughter Of
M'sieu Dubois, who went to her and
nursed her alone during the three years
in which she fought with death. An
other of Gods servants, m'sieu! -Four
of this old woman's children, who de-
serted her, became lepers. The young
girl who had nursed her, after she died
married young Jermier, and lived
| If 10 J.; how h,,a
band ana pretty baby. But one day a
shining white spot appeared on her
forehead. That was the end"
"She died?"
"M'sieu, after four years. There is
no cure. 1t surely does not matter to
her now by what road God called her
to Him. There have been since then
no lepers in this parish except in these
tainted families. The real Terre des
Lepreux in Louisiana is now on the
lower Lafourche below Harang's Ca
nal. The bayou there is turbid and
foul; it flows through malarious swamps
lower than itself. The creole planters
there are honest and temperate folk,
but they are wretchedly poor They
ia Sc only rice, and live on it and fish
| v
doors oftheir cabins. The leprosy which
certain families among them have in
herited is developed by these condi-
tlons. Five years ago Professor Joseph
Jones, President of the State Board of
Health, went himself with his son to
explore the cypress swamps and la
| goons of the lower Lafourche. M'sieu,
it is the region of the shadow of DEATH
He found many poor lepers hiding
there. They were as dead men who
walk and talk. They could handle
burning Goals; they felt no longer cold
nor heat nor pain. Thei: bodies were
as corpses. One man lived alone in a
hut, matched with palmettoes, which
he had built for himself, eating only
the rice which he had planted. No man
nor woman had come near him for
years. The Terre DIES epreux extends
as far as Cheniere Caminada, where the
bayou empties into the Gulf"
Mr. Ely remained silent, though tor
rent of angry queries rushed to his lips.
Why was nothing done to mitigate the
horrors of such d life-iudeath? How
could this priest, man of God, so
calmly discuss thsse poor accurscd
creatures from his safe, comfortable
point 81 vantage, Jogging on his easy
| g3ing mare from one farm to another
He babe him presently rather curt
goodnight, and went to the loft where
he was to sleep. When he came down
in the morning, Pere Nedaud had
gone.
"Msieu," said his smiling host, "le
pere hat lel' you bon-matin," waving
his hand to the black figure passing
southwark far across the prairie.
"Where is his charge now?"
'M'sieu-" Gaspard paused q mo,
ment. in hell, 1 think. 1t is near
Cheniere Caminada, in la Terre des
Lepreux."
Mr.. Ely walked away from him, and
paced up and down the leyee for long
! time.
God forgive me-" he muttered to
himself.-Rebe ca Harding DaUis, IN
HdrDe,'s Maaagine.