Morning journal and courier., 1891-06-29
LIFE AMONG THE LRPERs.


Sister Rose Gertrude, who was the OBJ
ject of interest and sympathy in New
York two years ago, gives in the June La
dies Home Journal pathetic picture of
the leper settlement of Hawaii:
On the soft balmy evenings when the
hard work of the hospital was over, we
often used to sit under the trees, and in
social gathering try to while away a few
hours of the day. Under the pale light
of the clustering stars and gentle moon,
the sad. sweet strains of the violin and
guitar, mingled with the chorus of boys
voices, would often rise above the mur-
murs of the night breeze from the noun
tains, and the distant boom of the surf
breakers on the reef Then would the
listeners be enthralled by a stirring nara
tive of Fiji Islander, or negro from
South America; again, we compared the
manners, customs, laws, etc., of our re-
spective countries, but oftener the conver-
sation ran on the curse which overhung
us and the nation.
Glow could / have become leper!'
said white man to me once God knows
/ led the quietest life. l never ate raw
fish or poi. l never mixed with the ma
tives. Ny wife and her sister lived to-
gether, and We kept apart even from our
nsighbors. But we never knew that my
wife's sister was a leper until she WAS
taken by the policeman. And. almost as
soon as she was gone l was brought here,
too-though had been suffering dreadful
pain in my feet, and had had numerous
water blisters, which left sores for long
time before-almost as soon as my sister
in-law came to stay with me-"
There was, too, among us young girl
of nineteen. She was pretty blonde,
with large blue eyes and a wealth of mag
ni6cent golden hair, with the slightest
trace of native blood in her veins. my
mother never allowed us to mix with the
natives" she said to me, land l had SO
much to do at home with the little ones
that hardly ever had chance of going
even to visit the white people 1 knew in
Honolulu We used to eat raw fish and
poi Just like the natives (as my mothers
mother was half white), but we always
prepared it ourselves. l do not know but
some of my grsndmother's family may
have been lepers, or some of the girls at
school may have had the disease, without
our being aware of it"
Chow did the disease first present itself
to youl" asked of her.
'For about year had an uncomforta-
BILE feeling in my feet, as if they were
heavy; then they sometimes swelled and
sometimes panied me very much. Four
months ago l went out for the day to
picnic by the sea. We took off our shoes
and stockings and bathed and walked on
the sands until we were tired out. To my
horror found I could not get my shoes
ON again, my feet had SO swelled and were
so painful. My legs swelled, too; spots
came on my back and chest. In month
my face darkened and my eyebrows fell
off. Our family doctor called in DIR. Lutz
to consult him about me, and he advised
me to give myself up so as not to endan-
ger my little brothers and sisters"
A very common symptom, and almost
the only one in cases of the nervous form
of leprosy, is a paresis of the extensor
muscles of the fingers or hands, which are
then curved like a birds claw. A total
loss of the sense of feeling generally ac
companies this paresis; the skin of the af-
fected parts does not perspire. and the
hair falls out. But, although it be most
inconvenient to partially lose the of a
hand OF several fingers, this, l think, is far
preferable to the tubercular form, which
usually attacks the face first of all. This
form may begin by brown patch, or dark
red flush on the face; then nodulcs the
size of pea or small walnut appear.
These are more or less an9sthetic. Sec
tions of these nodules, microscopically e1-
amined, are found to contain the bacillus
lepre in infinite numbers. Sometimes the
entire countenance Is covered with these
tubercles, which may ultimately ulcerate.
have seen one case in which the entire
left cheek of a woman was one ulcer.
The eyes become injected and blesred,
when the nerve branch that supplies the
circular muscle that closes the eye is
closing his eyes, even when sleeping.
The nose is intiltrated and swells; the
ear lobes become long, hard and PEN
dent; alterations take place in the inside
of the nose and in the throat, the dis
charges of which are both offensive and
dangerous as a source of contagion from
the number of bacilli contained in them,
and give rise to troubles of deglutition
and speech. Finally affections of vital
organs may ensue, causing symptoms sim
uls. ing those of tuberculosis of the bow
els and lungs. and welcome is the angel
of death when he comes to bear away
the soul from the corrupt body.
The Hawaiians will never give as a rea-
son for their having contracted the disease
contact with other lepers. Hard drink
ing, over-fatigue, sleeping out of doors at
night. too frequent sea bathing-these are
given as the reasons if you question them
as to the probable source of harm to
them. 1t is almost incredible that, after
SO many sad and fatal experiences, they
will still harbor lepers in an advanced
stage of the disease, for such unselfish-
ness is not uncommon.
Only once have seen a native who was
afraid of contracting the disease, and he
also became leper. He was an old man,
and his grown up daughter first showed
signs of the disease. He is a well educa-
ted man, and had read and heard much of
contagion, and resolved to set her apart
from the rest of his family. AT the same
time she was his most dearly loved daugh-
ter, and not for the whole world would he
have given her up to the authorities to be
sent to Molokai. So he built her q little
cottage on the hillside, far away from all
human habitation, and every day a mem
Der of the family carried up to her food
and other necessaries of life, but all were
strictly forbidden to touch her or to kiss
her She did not live very long, and soon
after her death the father himself present
AI