New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1889-08-01
NEW PUBLICATIONS.
THE LIFE OF A CHRISTIAN.


Iemo pp I7o Macmillan Co.
This slight sketch of the life Of poor Belgian
or,.s. is q testimony to the truth of the belief
that one noble deed in its effect upon the world Is
,yorth n thousand beautiful theories. Talk Is
cbeao: but when man expends all himself IN the
service of men without thought of reward ne
docs thing that inspires generation, ana owaris
the gabble Of the average "reformer' into the
windy buzzing of a gnat
When Damien de Veuster took up the great
Fork OF his life in the eper settlements at Moio-
Ia, no vas.a vigorous and robust young man, full
~ energy and enthusiasm. Before his arrival
pxis,ence had been little else than torture TO the
u,retched lepcrs banished by the Hawaiian Gov
eminent 70 the island. They were practically
without shelter clothing, or attendance OF any
kind. and the rate Of mortality was fearfuly high
There was no law whatever on the island, ana the
lepers were nearly as wretched and soiled morally
as they were physically. Sixteen years OF the nobly
unselfish hbors Of Father Damien have brought
srder. comfort and spiritual wcll-being to place
that might we'll have been called the entrance 10
bell-but brought them at the price Of an heroic
life. Let the philanthropists of all sects re-
member that this man ministered to the
body before he touched the soul ;-and
minis,ered not as superior being, but
a
Suild many of the small houses in which the
jepers are now sheltered: he dressed their loath-
some sores and washed their horrible bodies ne
watched over their deathbeds, and even dug their
graves. Into this home of despair, where SUI
ferers had often been cast out to die by the road
side. he brought new life and cheer; and as the
nhvsica mseries of the lepers mended, they opened
their hearts to his moral teaching. He found them
living in soualid filth, for they were obliged 10
hiring fresh water on their shoulders from
distance and so painful was this labor IN thelr
condition of crippled corruption that they avoldeo
IL ms much as possible. Searching the island,
Damien found an inexhaustble reservoir of always
fresh and cool water and never rested until pipes
were laid and the villages supplied with all they
could use As he brought this pure element TO their
stricken bodies, so did he bring spiritual cleansing
to the souls within them. Never did bis en-
thusiasm and his CHEEKY tenderness fail; ana meht
and day he worked with the settled expectation
IN his mind that sooner or later he was to become
\ leper himself The word christian is too
lightly used, but here was man who followed the
rreat Exemplar in deed and in truth, and with
I single-minded devotion which the cheap Paines
md Voltaircs of the day have never emulated
Last April Father Damien, still cheerful and
rmiling met death bravey as he had worked
In life. Unlike many others. he suf-
fered intensely, the disease having con-
centrated itself in his mouth and throat;
but his patience and kindness left him only with
his last breath. He was lovingly cared for, and
he left behind him litte group of men and
women who inspired by his example. will carry
on his work.
The author records that it was no part of
Father Damen's belief that Protestants must
No lost Ne he
last letter 10 this Protestant friend have to walk
carefully so as 10 meet together at the home of
our common and eternal Father He was man
too spiritual of nature for the vulgar hates and
bigotries tina speak of earth. He was withal
perfectly practical; entirely unsentimental; of a
beautiful modesty and humility; and lover of
wholesome fun. lie a man whom all man
kind, and not church alone, will canonize; and
his work lives after him
Mr. Clifford observed during his visit TO Molokai
that as a rule lepers do not suffer severe pain.
Tho average length of life there is four years. at
The end Of that time some vital organ yields 10
the disease. Oddly enough, women are less liable
20 it than men, and the author mentions per
fectly healthy woman who was living on the
island with her fourth leper husband Mr.. Cliff
ford obtained from the Hawaiian Board of Health
permission TO take with him TO the island a case
tor eprosy. 1t is produced from fI-tree grow
ing in the ALBANIAN Islands, and the Governor OF
the islands, Sir Donald Stuart, assured the author
that every case in that place was cured by it.
after some months treatment The lepcrs were
lconvcte and could therefore be forced TO observe
The condition of the cure, the rubbing OF the
ointment into the skin for four hours
daily. In some of the cases. says MIR. Clifford,
the disease was of many years standing, and
The state TO which it had reduced Its victims
was indescrbably dreadful; yet after eight months
the sufferers were able TO run and TO use "a
heavy pickaxe, and every symptom of leprosy had
disappeared The real difficulty in the cure
lies in the fact that lepers are, as rule, too
inactive and too callOus to take the eXertlon OF
sufficient rubbing in of the OIL and IL is difficult
both in Hawaii and in India 10 force them TO do
so.n For Father Damien this cure. If indeed 1T be
a cure came too late for lasting benefit, but it
gave him temporary relief After fortnights
trial his Sleep which had been very bad, became
very good, and voice, face and hands all lm-
proved The three Franciscan Sisters who are IN
charge of the leper girls at Molokai are now sys-
tematieally using the oil their patients, and Mr.
Clifford notes that he has this summer received
satisfactory accounts of the state of the lepers
ta whom il has been apiShed.