The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1894-09-01

fidelity Of Rev. S. Waiwaicle, who died
two years ago in the lepcr settlement Of
tie Sandwich Islands, nor Of the Gcv.
~ PaEio, who, hiullolf struck wirl
-ieprosy, goes right on with his evaugcl-
ical labors, except when especial fever of
bis disease prostrates him, and will con
tinue his work Of love until no has
neither foot to walk nor tongue to speak
because of the dreadful disintegration.
But once in 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 Il
whether he had better do so, accepted
the appointment as missionary to Mo
lokai, the isle of lepers, for 1G 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 | expected.
am willing to die for those | came to
save" The king knighted him, and a
memorial slab designates his resting
place, but Professionalism has joined
Catholicism in the beatification of this
self sacrificing ecclesiastic.
Tribute to Damien.
That moral hero completely trans
formed the isle of lepors. 1t was before
his work began q pen of denominations.
No law. No deCency. All the tigers of
passion were let loose. Drunkenness
and blasphemy and libertinism and
cruelty dominated. The moral disease
eclipsed the physical. But Damien
dawned upon the darkness. He helped
them build cottages. He medicated
their physical distresses The plague
which he could not arrest he alleviatcd
He settled the controversies of the pcu-
pie. He prepared the dead for burial
and digged for them Christian graves
and pronounced upon them bonedic-
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 of
eternal health, where the inhabitant
never says, ~ am sick, and the swol-
len faces took on the look of hope, and
the CLASSY eyes saw coming relief, and
the footless, and the limbless, and the
fingerless looked forward to n place
whore they might walk with the King
robod in white and everlasting songs
upon their leads. "
Good and Christlike. Joseph Damicn
Let all religions honor his memory. Let
poetry and canvas and sculpture tell the
story Of this man who lived and died
for others and from century to century
keep him in bright remembrance long
after the last lCpCr Of all the g rth shall
have felt through all bis covering and
rcvitalized nature the voice of the Son
Of God saying; ~ wilt Be thou clean. &"
The Regime of Moioi.ui.
The eternal pathos Of Molol,ai has at.
tracted the attention of all nations be-
cause it is lcper colony. Itis small
island, but it contains a continent OF
woe. 1t was established in mercy. Lcp-
rosy was so rapidly advancing in the
Sandwich Islands that the entire popu-
lation was imperilCd. To control and
extirpate the ghastly evil it was neces-
snry to put it ly itself on an island not
easily accessible. But those banished
there are made rs comfortable as posi-
Lle. In one year this lcper settlement
cost the Hawaiian government 500, 600.
Every week each patient is allowed foul
pounds Of salmon, nine pounds of rice,
ono pound of sugar, or, If preferred,
from five to six pounds of beef, and 2
rounds Of ''paiai, which is a near ap
Iroach to bread Leprosy reigns there
Tho victims buua hands nf ,npci, III
the players lopers. They have churches,
all the worshipers lepers. They bave
carriages, all the drivers and occupants
lepers. They have hospitals, all the
nurses and patients lepers. They have
Crama, 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 scarification and inflammation and
gangrene 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.
stumonts and come down to the gov.
errment 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
throne! Segregation Of the victims will
complete the overthrow of the foul
plague, and i'll these islands lepor will
be as rare rs in America, where most of
the people never saw leper.
Cheerful, Though Doomed.
What most strikes visitor at Molo-
kai is the placidity and cheerfulness Of
the yictimized. One would think they
could never smile, never sing, never get
out from under a sense of despair. Bat
whatsoever agonies may ill the hearts
of these lepcrs they appear 10 the be-
| holder as III resignation that amounts
10 good cheer. They seem among the
happiest people on earth, Many of them
| on horseback come galloping down tho
road Songs roll over the fated village
by day and night. Hawaiian nature adj.
| lusts itself to circumstances. We have
often seen people who through pulmo-
nary or Br ght's disease were certain Of
early demise, and yet mirth bubbipg
and resonant The fact is we must all
die, and yet we manage to keep cheer,
tul, and why not those struck by leprous
fatality have sunshine IN th1ir com
tenance and talk?
The mercy of the Hawaiians ha4 made
this colony of doomed inhabitant, more
tolerable than in most lands. have
seen in the suburbs of Jerusalem and
Damascus scores of those cast out for this
disease and inhabiting caverns aud
tombs--heateu of the elements, living
on the coin which passershy may fling
to them, while day by day they are rot,
ting alive. Let us thank God that those
smitten with incurable sores in the