Telegram-herald., 1890-02-12

,.-f - proachcd. II
II ri'ii '''' ''A-' ''-''si the Greek feet
was detained by calm, Chalchas. the
soothsayer. told him that he must keep
his promise When lphigenia was brought
10 the altar she disappeared, having been
carried of by the goddess 10 Iauris,
where she became priestess.
Such j. the legend that has been for
centuries perpetuated in song and story,
on canvas and IN marble, TIL the whole
world is familiar with the name lphi-
genia. Yet how much more Is there in
the case Of Sister Rose Gertrude TO stir
the emotions. The Trojan girl was sent
10 the altar by her father in obedience 10
a VOW. The English girl goes Of her
own free will TO spend what time may
be granted between her arrival al Ha-
wall and her death from the disease
which, unless she is carried of earlier
by other means, is sure 10 follOw-among
stricken beings kept in pen 10 prevent
their communicating the rest Of the
world.
The woman who thus offers herself is
the daughter of an English clergyman
in the Episcopal church. Some seven
years ago, when she was about twenty.
she entered the Roman communion
Very soon after she listened to a sermon
in which the speaker gave an account Of
the leper colony at Kalawao ard Father
Damien's labors there An inspiration
came TO her that she should devote her
self 10 this same work. She wished TO
20 at once, but her friends begged her to
at least wait till she should be older and
should know something of the terrible
disease. She acceded to their wishes for
q postponement, but did not abandon
her purpose. Five years passed, and
then she began her preparations. Going
to Paris, she was trained under the cele-
brated Pasteur and in the hospitals there.
in order that she might gain a scientific
knowledge of leprosv. With this train
ing she may at once care for the iepers
and study the disease which afflicts them
The body in which dwells this heroism
is very small, weighing scarcely a hun
dred pounds. The face is oval. the eyes
blush gray, the hair dark. The sister
is as modest and retiring as she is heroic.
Her father and mother and two sisters
are living in England and her brother is
a farmer in Manitoba. She was educated
at the Ladies college, in Bath, England.
and brought up by her father in the
Church of England, but, when she be-
came n woman. began to doubt if she
was in the right fold, and after six
months study joined the Roman church.
She has always loved TO care for the sick
and began to be a nurse at the Pryor
Park mission, in London, following up
her training in a London hospital.
At Kalawao Sister Rose will have
charge Of the leprosy hospital containing
sixty lepers Before leaving England she
was presented with a complete set Of in
struments for the study and cultivation
/ Of the leper bacilli as is done at Paris in
Pasteur's institute. She will study mi-
/ crobes with a view to discovering how
/ they develop under different degrees of
/ temperature. and as she attains results
viii forward them 70 the Leprosy so
ciety in London.
The case OF this little nun is one OF
/ those singular instances where the great
! est heroism is contained in the smallest
and frailest human compass. And how
important the work She may be destined
70 achieve