Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1889-11-10
..o..h. - srranas rnatters sistar 81. John

months to arrange matters. Sister 81. Jonn
remains there still. Who knows their
names? Have the papers ever spoken OK
their self-sacriheer Are they ever men.
imitation? I may safely say that, with the |
exception OF my own words, the names OK /
these heroines and Of the others who have !
voluntarily replaced them. have never been /
mentioned outside of this building"
The Legislature of the province was Pc |
titioned that q change might be made IN
tho management of the lazaretto by trans
ferring it TO the Sisters OF Mercy. AIser
considerable reluctance tho prayer was
granted. and Mgr. Rogers, Bishop. OK
Caiham, asked the Community OF tho Hos
pitalieres of St. Joseph of the Hotel Dieu
OF Montreal TO give some Sisters tor TINS
mission. The request was granted, ana IN
September. 1868, O band of six nuns mr.
rived III Tracadie. The inhabitants turned
out in masses to do them reverence, and
the lepers received them as angels from
Heaven. A visitor to the place, Miss Pope.
relates that on one occasion, as the Su-
perioress was opening the door for a yene-
rable dignitary OF the Church. an Old man
appeared. and paying no attention 70 tne
priest. fell on his knees at the feet OF the
nun. saving, "C'est Ia cofgtdacc gut n,'GHene
Il ro,re sdiaieisn-"It is to your holiness l
come in all confidence"
The Sisters were provided with lodging
house thirty-five feet wide. forty feet1ong,
and thirteen feet high. They took posses
sion of il, and at once set about their du-
ties. They removed the bars non tne M, NM
dows and had the prison walls pulled
down: they lot in air and light, and used
cleanliness in the nursing and the food.
The sexes were separated, anu EN-
plovment was provided for both; a
garden was laid off,. sixteen acres OF
land was bought for farming pur-
poses. and TO the women were gwen means
Of occupation. Best OF ALI Nv eou-
munication from the Duke ~ buckingham
and ChaudOs. entrance or residence ls no
longer compulsory by law. persuasion be-
iny the ONLY means used. The Sisters were
lampered By rules and regulations not
cun of broth could DO obtained without "A
written order to the cook. Now AS tnis
fuuctiouary was illlterate 10 degree, ana
some time was always lost before the ser
| vices Of an Interpreter could De secured.
the patients suffered seriously and the
ternper Of the Sisters was sorely tired.
/ In 1850 an important change was erected
when che lazerettO was transferred 10 the
/ Dominion Government and became SUD
/ iect fo the DEPARTMENT of the Minister OF
/ Agriculture, which placed IN the hahHs Oh
/ the Sisters the entire administration OF me
/ money voted for the maintenance Oh tne
J
/ retto is -, 900, $500 OF which Il lor the sup
| port of the nuns and 800 for the chaplain
/ and 800 for the physician who pays an &C.
/ caslOnal visit.
OF the Sisters who came from Montreal
only one has died in Iracadie, but Two
Acadiaa nuns died in the discharge OF ther
dutv from consumption. None OF the SIS
tiers who have tended the patients ana
none If the priests who mlnistereu 10
them have yet fallen victims 70 the disease.
but there il case on record OF doctor
| who in making an autopsy of q patient,
/ became inoculated and dleu a lepeI'
Writing of the contagiousness OK the us
ease Dr. Tache says IN his report
81 am aware of many instances OF the
disease appearing 10 be contagious IN inc
ordinary sense of that term. 1 mean IN
/ stances IN which heredlty cannot be III
! voked and IN which cOntagiOn ~ the only
cause cgpnble to reasonably account Tor the
Dropagaton. The typical character OF
leprosv. its general history, ana WIat
have ascertained in New Brunswick leave
no doubt in my mind about the contagious
ness of the disease. | firmly believe 1t ~
communicable from the diseased 70 the
healthy. / do not think that proximity, no
matter how close, nor mere touch can con-
vev the contagiOu: there must be an adc-
auate contact of some kind, mediate or IN
mediate. l hold cOntagion ~ the cause
of the propagation of the disease. ana III
so eaviup [ do not lose sight of the iact OF
occasional spontaneous production Oh L.
prosy." H..
THE total number of patients who have
died in the laZarettO since II passed under
control Of the nuns Is 76. There were ~
patients when they arrived. Since then 81
have been admitted II OF whom were Wp-
men. Eight years ago there We're - VIC
Tins: now there are only II, anu IL "ouiu
/, appear that the number IL decreasing
0raduallv. SO that it IS not impossible that
, the terrible malady may eventually De
stamped out The visiting physician Is
DIR. 4. {. Smith, of New Castle, VINO pays
a yearly visit. and with that exception me
, sisters have full charge of the manage
ment.
confined TO this institution. There Is an
oth,r uarish. IN Northern New brunswick
which furnishes its quota, increasing eacI
, wear. There are also cases in Nlgouac, a.
, busintac. PokmOuche, Caraquette, anc
gbinDeoan. Some years ago there were
cases I'M Prince Edward Island, where Al
, least two patients died Of the disease
. During this year three cases were DISCO
| vered in Nova Scotia, and III Isolated coun
try districts other cases are known u eAlst
. The greater number of lepers are French
; the Scotch come next, and the rest are
3 English and Irish.
There are few things more terrible than
: visit by night TO the lazaretto of lTacadie
l and men ere known 10 have tainted at tht
{ SIGHT. One goes along q gallery INTO ware
thirty feet long and only eight rect hish
I containing beds. benches, and stove. Il
: i used as o dormitory for some OF the men
and is besides dining-room, living, an'
i suoking-room. There the patients arr
grouped, most OF them detorhlea oue Q, ~
1 semblance TO humanity, ana the scpui
9 chral cough hannts one for weeks alter
l ward. one Of them IS a young man naine'
4 NoFl who was earning cOmlOrtaole I'VE
. lihood In the world as a wOOdman, IN
$ three great blotches, like iron mold, sho"
q ed themselves on his legs, accompanies
o by a terrible drOwsines5. lie hau inherl'e,
q the disease from his grandmother tnougi
o IL did not make It's appearance III the II
}, terS ening generation.
l One of the female patients is Mrs. Saul
; uiers. who has been q leper for hfty years
) She was born in 1913 and married NJ IN
Il ape Of nineteen. After two children wtr
D horn leprosv was noticed and three wer
horn after that time. One OF them wa
= only five weeks old when the mother wa
: forced into the old lazaretto on Sheldrak'
I Island in 1874. She appeared &c be cure
I and returned home, when two more Gnu
l
: to 20 back. In his report DIR. IacOe say
> that he followed the course OF her diseAs
u and observed "a slow but still apparen
a progress OF the morbid process III the ap
: pendages Of the eyes, pans m .he bones
) anmsthesia Fixed in her mutllated hahd
; and feet. and undergoing change OF local
: cation in other parts of the body, Within
a outbreak of occasional leprous ulcers
@ The husband was perfectly free from an
, leprous faint, and of her grandchildre
0 aud great-grandchildren only one has bee
Q the victim of the malay. Tie father an
$ mother of thewoman. as well as her ances
) tors. were all free from the disease TO theei
. death. but sistcr.in-law with whom 81
u was in intimate relation died OF lepros'
o and two Of her younger brothers also Lee
I" victims TO the malady.
= The Sisters have observed that lepros
- attacks its victims under two dihoren
:, forms. In one case the head and nmu
= swell. the hair and eyebrows drop of, tn
: eyes become covered with q thick hlm, an
- the skin cracks into divisions like that {
~ an alligator. The other symptoms. nj
~ those Of cOnsumptiye person; the fori
% wastes away, the skin becomes shiny, "a
% fnpers and toes, and even the hands an
- feet. drop OF. and hollow cough sets II
% Another symptom is a silvery appearing
'' -, g r.,tickeilxpr in the CrcaEes OF ~