Capital journal. (Salem, Or.) 1893-1895, 1894-08-14

Who Supplemented Father Damien's No
BILE Work There.
copyright, Louis Klopsch, 1s94l
MIDocEAN, Near Tasmania, June 23.
The most of the worlds heroes and
heroines die unrecognized. They will
have to wait until the roll is called on
the other side of the Dead sea- have
seen no celebration of the courage and
fidelity of Rev. S. Waiwaiole, who died
two years ago in the leper settlement Of
the Sandwich Islands, nor of the Rev.
M. Pablo, who, himself struck with
leprosy, goes right ON with his evangel-
ical labors, except when especial fever Of
his disease prostrates him, and will con
tinue his work of love until he has
neither foot to walk nor tongue to speak
because of the dreadful disintegration.
But once i'll awhile there are circum-
stances which thrill the world with the
same story like that of the brilliant
Belgian Catholic priest, Joseph Damien,
who, after weeks consideration of
whether he had better do so, accepted
the appointment as missionary to Mo-
lolxai, the isle of lepers, for 16 years
administering to the leprous and then
dying of the leprosy. When told by his
physician that he had the fell taint up
ON him, he showed no alarm nor even
agitation, but said: "As l expected
am willing to die for those l came to
save" The king knighted him, and a
memorial slab designates his resting
place, bnt Professionalism has joined
Catholicism III the beatification of this
self sacrificing ecclesiastic.
Tribute to Damien.
That moral hero completely trans.
formed the isle of lepers. 1t was before
his work began pen Of denominations.
No law. No decency. All the tigers OF
passion We're let loose. Drunkenness
and blasphemy and ibertinism and
cruelty dominated. The moral disease
eclipsed the physical. But Daimler
davned upon the darkness. He helped
chem build cottages. He medicatet
their physical distresses. The plagu,
which he could not arrest he alleviated
He settled the controversies of the peo
pie He prepared the dead for burial
and digged for them Christian graves
and pronounced upon them a benedic
tion. He launched Christian civiliza-
tion upon the wretchedness. He gave
them the gospel of good cheer. He told
the poor victims concerning the land O.
eternal health, where the inhabitan
never says, 81 am sick, and the swol
len faces took on the look of hope, anC
the CLASSY eyes saw coming relief, ant
the footless, and the limbless, and the
fingerless looked forward to place
where they might walk with the Kins
robed invwhite and Everlasting song;
upon their heads" "
Good and Christlike Joseph Damien
Let all religions honor his memory. Let
poetry and canvas and sculpture tell tn;
story of this man who lived and dice
for others and from century to centur!
keep him i'll bright remembrance loDf
after the last leper of all the earth shal
have felt through all his recovering ant
revitalized nature the voice of the Sol
of God saying: 81 will Be thou clean. D
The Regime of Mololsai.
The eternal pathos of Molokai has at
tracted the attention of all nations be-
cause it is leper colony. 1t is a small
island, but it contains a continent o.
woe 1t was established in mercy. Lep.
rosy was so rapidly advancing in the
Sandwich Islands that the entire popu
lation was imperiled. To control an6
extilpate the ghastly evil it was neces-
sary to put it by itself ON an island not
easily accessible. But those banisheG
there are made as comfortable as posi-
Bile. In one year this leper settlement
cost the Hawaiian government $50, 900.
Every week each patient is allowed foul
pounds Of salmon, nine pounds of rice,
one pound of sugar, or, if preferred,
from five to six pounds Of beef, and 81
pounds of "paiai, :" which is near ap-
preach to bread. Leprosy reigns there.
The victims have bands of music, all
the players lepers. They have churches,
all the worshipers lepers They have
carriages, all the drivers and occupants
lepers. They have hospitals, all the
nurses and patients lepers. They have
drama, and all the actors lepers They
have schools, all the teachers and schol-
ars lepers. Marriages are performed
and the contracting parties are lepers
Children are born there, and they are
mostly lepers. Everything that pustule
and scarifcation and inflammation and
gangene and disfguration can do is
done here. Science, which has success
fully fought back most of the worlds
disorders, has here closed its pharmacy,
put back into the case its surgical in
slFuments and come down to the gov
ornment boat and retreated from this
island of death. Thank God, this do
minion of death is being broken, and he
will have to dismount this sepulchral
fhfone Segregation of the victims will
eomplete the overthrow of the foul
plague, and in these islands leper will
bo as rare as in America, where most OF
the people never saw a leper.
Cheerful, Though Doomed.
What most strikes visitor at Molo-
kat is the placidity and oheerfulness of