Morning journal and courier., 1888-09-20
THE ISLE OF LEPERs.


IFrom the Tablet
Father Conrardy, who recently went out
from America to join Father Damien In his
work among the lepers of Hawai- stationed in.
the Island of Molaksi, gives a terrible ac-
count of his surroundings. He says:
'sThe portion of Molakai the 1epers occupy
is about three miles long and half or three
quarters of mile wide; a perfect place of
seclusien, for if the poor lepers thought of
escaping very few of them could do 80, as
very high cliffs separate US from the other
part of the island-so high that clouds most
of the time cover their tese. As for leproey,
I don't think 1t can be avoided If it In eonta.
gious by contact or by inhalation, for anyone
who lives among tAem comes in contact with
them in thousand ways. I believe there Is
no more possibility of remaining uncontami
mated than for man to live in fire with
out being burned. We have now some eigh-
ty boys. I am most of the time with them,
and besides live in the same house with Fa-
ther Damien, who, as you know, is affected
with the disease. The disease has peculiar
smell, very offensive. In the beginning the
sight of poor Father Damien, whose ears,
face, neck and hands are quite bad, was
enough to take my appetite away, and was
troubled with continual headache, but now
feel am used to those little inconvenien-
ces. Everything here is done and handled
by lepers; cattle are killed, meat cut and
distributed and brought by lepers; bread
baked by them; but eggs are clean-yes, only
the hens eat rotten flesh thrown to them by
lepers. Poor Father Damien sometimes will
speak to me in confidential way, approach
ing very near. Many things that he and
other lepers handle have also to be handled
by me, but it seems to me that the smell is
more injurious than the simple contact.
How to live in the midst of them and not
become one day leper myself don't see;
leave that to God, happen what may"
Since Father Conrardy's arrival about
ninety lepers had died on the island. The
week before he wrote as many as eleven died
in one day.
tSome very bad cases are among them.
Some are without lips and noses, having but
a portion of their hands and feet, and the
balance of their .wretched bodies in a very
bad condition. Il is sad to see young boys
with crippled and mangled hands, some IN.
trying to mend them. heard some of them
saying at the sight of 80 many deaths, "We
will die if We stay here; were We home we
would not die;" not thinking they had been
brought to Molakai to die, and that they viii
never see their home again nor any of those
once dear to thena--fsther, mother, brothers
and sisters! But, by divine and merciful
providence, we, Father Damien, Brother
Dutton (s convert from Episcopalianism),
and last of all myself, have been chosen to
replace them here below till the day of their
reunion in the next world comes. Leprosy
does not work or appear on all in the same
way In each of its victims one part is par
ticularly affected; generally the ears, nose,
lips, eyes, cheeks, neck, throat, hands and
feet are affected, but in different ways.
Some are blind because their eyes rot away,
or because they double--the sockets of the
eyes come out as If they had their eyes out
side. Father Damiens ears are badly swol-
len, and his face, neck and hands are covered
with boils and sWellngs; one knee Is psrtic-
ularly affected, but in spite of all that he ts
very active, always working at something.
Besides providing for the whole household,
about one hundred strong food and some
clothing, also matches and soap, are fur
nished by the government}, and attending to
the dying, he 10 now busy putting an addi-
tion to our little chapel (twenty by forty
feet, the work being done by lepers. A new
dormitory (thirty by sixty feet is also in the
course of construction, for which lumber is
furnished and other expenses paid by the
government, but the work Is done by some
lepers.n
The Board of Health (Father Conrardy
continues) is very anxious to procure the
services of men and women as nurses for the
lepers, and the entlemen of the board are
fully convinced that it is entirely useless to
look for them in any other religion than in
the Catholic one.
ST heard myself, one of them, a member
of the committee appointed by the 1egisla-
ture to visit the leper settlement, say
Questions of religion apart, it is useless to
look for nurses outside the Catholic church :
but he added, Il pity those who are comi ag
to live in such place and with such people.
Already the services of Sisters of St. Fran
els, of Syracuse, New York, have been Sc
L. H. IT, .snv,
sisters are actually in charge of the branch
hospital near Honolulu, where Iepers are
previously kept before being sent to Molaksi
for life. Tbs good sisters have decided TO
cast their lot for life with the poor lepers of
| Molakai, TO soften and alleviate their euffer-
ings; as for cure, there is none. am also
| informed that the Hawaiian government,
willing to do all that is in its power for the
| poor wretched creatures, is on the point Of
l securing the services of an eminent govern,
ment physician. In addition to the above
1 the government of the Sandwich Islands i
| able to get lay brothers as nurses for the
| male Iepers, and some steps have already
been taken toward it. Then Molakai, ol
Ieper settlement, will be like an earthly par
adise to the poor lepers, for all that skill and
1 devotion can accomplish for their relief will
have been done. The 1epers were telling al
honorable member of the legislature tha
they need not only care and nursing, bu
| also good examples; for as you know, by thl
present system family ties are broken,
mother, father, a son, a daughter are taker
from their families and sent here, where they
are perfect strangers. This state of affair
could be remedied by allowing husband, i
willing, to follow his wife to Molakaf, or viet
versa. Young girls without protector vii
be taken in charge by the Sisters, as is nov
done for boys by Father Damien"
A New Surgical operation.
IFrom the London HospitelI
Among the matters of interest which wer'
| hronoht before the British Medical aasocia