The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1893-06-07
Ehe ailY Eage aedmesdaY 7lornlne annc Z 1888

doom to IepcrTs ward a young aa,.
| who stood upon the threshold of a
bright career
They listened with respectful atten-
| ton to his remarks, but their convic-
ton was not to be shaken; the mighty
board had declared against me. / was
condemned, isolated. The fire Of youth
was in my veins. but heavy eclipse
would darken all my days. The ply
sicians solemnly filed past Some
| shrank by with everted looks; some
gazed at me compass;onately; another
quickly brushed e tear away, but
seemed apart from it all, as though
had suddenly slipped out of life.
The doctor who pleaded my cause
came mp to where / stood. statue of
despair, and mutely shook my hand.
II did my best" was all he said, and
hastily passed on to hide the tears
which came into his eyes. l made no
response; words struggled to my lips,
but were choked in my throat. All had
now left me. wondered vaguely if
should awaken from the trance which
chained me to the spot, and endeavored
| to think calmly, connectedly. but res-
son fell back appalled,.
Through the mist which encompassed
me saw q woman approaching with
an expression of pity upon her tender
countenance, an expression such as the
woman who mourned 81 the feet of
| Christ must have worn. Suddenly, like
the hooking cry of a demon borne up
on me by an imagination maddened by
suffering was the word leper-leper!
It burnt upon ny brain, it swan before
my eyes; the air was heavy with signs
of the unfortunate outcasts, and voice
whispered close at my ear: do not
allow that pure woman to touch you:
you are une can! Unclean! Accused
of God!''
She came to me. and through a rain
of tears drew my head down and rev.
erently kissed my brow. The haze
which enveloped my thoughts vanished,
tbs frozen apathy which held me in
wise was dispelled, and with hoarse
cry OF anguish 1 fell prone upon the
floor.
After while some one reused me-
and l was taken back 70 that dread
abode the leper ward. My doom was
sealed, my hopes laid low, but, unlike
my wretched companions, could not
accept my fate with stoical Indifference.
chafed inwardly at the restraints inn
posed upon me by law, and dreaded
the confinement and the association Of
lepers. How long would it last? How
long would Ehave strength to face this
death in life?
The hero of this naFrative-William
Horn, Of Honolulu-who for time was
supposed to be unjustly detained in the
leper ward at the San Francisco pest
house. and whose case excited the sym
patty Of the entire community, even
tualiy proved to be leper. Young,
handsome, well connected, and upon,
the dawn of bright career, he was the
most .rebellious subject that ever en-
tered the doors of that institution. In
spite of the verdict of the board of
health he chung to the belief that he
was free from the faint of leprosy. The
maiady grew SLOWLY upon him and he
appeared as sound as anyone, but after
the lapse of q: few. months pustules
broke out upon the arm which had SO
long been insensible to feeling. j
Carrie Chevalier, a young and comely
widow who had been sent to the pest
house as anurse. was frequently thrown!
in contact with young Horn and
warm friendship sprangs up between
them which ripened into love. She was
the one whose kiss had comforted him.
When forsaken by all she read the story
Of depressed anguish in those sad eyes,
and with rare sympathy sought by
every device to divert his mind from
the scourge of which he was the victim.
He at first struggled to overcome this
growing and, as he fancied, hopeless
attachment, but day by day the charm
of her championship, her sweet woman
illness won upon him, cheering and sus-
tanning him as he had never hoped to
be sustained or comforted again. The
image Of little JESS" his first love.
who belonged to that other part of his
existence-dead beyond recall-gradu-
ally came to him only es a half-remem-
bered dream. Every throb of his heart
was for his ministering angel, whom he
adored as deyotee nlight the image of
some saint When she became aware
of this alteration she resolved to re-
nounce the world for him. He remon-
stra,ed with her upon the rashness of
Joining her fateswith thSta ieper. but
as her resolution was not to be shaken
theydetermined to escape from the pest
house.
In order to carry out this plan he
wrote to his father, well-to-do mer-
chant of Honolulu, and as soon as he
secured the necessary funds, with his
heroic nurse he escaped at night from
the hospital They have never been
seen or heard from since. Lee Bascom,
in Detroit Free Press
HE GOT EVEN.
r.