Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1894-08-13
fatality have sunshine III their coun-
tenance and t&lk?

U0uduC0 anu tftiA.
The mercy of the Hsswaiians has made
this colony of doomed inhabitants 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 and
tombs-beaten Of the elements, living
on the coin which passersby 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
Sandwich Islands have homes and
schools and churches and food and
nurses and alterations and parterres Of
sweetest flowers under arches of bluest
skies.
The Story of William RagsdaIe, Leper.
No respecter of persons is this phys
ical calamity. William Ragsdale, pop
ular lawyer, was sent there. He was eio-
qpent, both in Hawaiian and English,
and could make his audiences weep and
laugh and shiver and resolve. He had
the satire Of q Junius and the impas-
stoned abandon Of an O'Connen No
one suspected he was leper before the
day when he sent letter to the au-
thoritieS surrendering himself and say
ing that on the morrow he would go
aboard the steamer for MOlokai He
spent the morning of the day of his de-
parture in riding around to say goodby
to his friends and just before the hour
Of sailing came down to the boat, his
neck adorned with gardenia, and turned
aYound and made q farewell address,
closing with the words, ''Aloha, may
God bless you, my brothersi'' Hundreds
Of the people and glee club accom-
panied him to the boat, and they rent
the air with lamentations as the boat
swung off from its moorings. He took
Bible and some lawboolzs with him
into his dreadful exile, and the prayers
Of churches were offered that he might
have courage and peace in the remain
ing days OF his earthly tarrying. Queen
E4ma's cousin, Hon. Mr. Kaco, Wa SO
sent to Molokai, and there was 10 pow
er III his royal connection to keep him
outside of that island. Mrs. Napela,
Of high social circle, had her cottage of
enforced exile Oh that island of sepul-
cheers. A legislator Of the Hawaiian Is
lands is there closing his life. He was
probably q good legislator in the day
Of his health, but I cannot help think
ing what good thing it would be if all
the leprOus Legislators of the earth could
be put in some island by themselves.
Such Punishment would be D mighty
thinning out at Albany, Harrisburg and
Washington Legislatures, state and ma
tiCnal
The United States government could
afford to provide such Il Moiokai, and
the moral lepers sent there could have
their Legislature and congress and board
of aldermen and army and navy all Of
the same blotch. But while the Hawai-
ian legislator could be found out and
sent to the SO called isle of precipices'
the moral leper is not SO easily desig-
mated, because he has the blotch not SO
much Oh his forehead as on his heart.
What every state and nation now needs
is Molokai, or isle of lepers.
Leprosy Diagnosed.
Conversation about leprosy with
former member Of the board Of health
for the Hawaiian Islands revealed to me
the following facts:
Question-In what part of the system
does leprosy begin it's work?
AnsWer-It attacks the nervo centers.
Q-I thought it was disease Of tho
blood?
A.-No. 1t begins with the nerves,
and just Us the girdling of the trunk of
q tree first shows its whitening results
III the tip end of the long branch of the
tree so leprosy is first apt to show itself
in tho paralysis or doubling up of the
little finger, or in the toe, or III the lobe
Of the ear. Sometimes there appears up
no cI, 10,
unimpressible. Prick it with pin, and
there is no sting. All the rest of the
patients body may be i'll perspiration,
but that spot remains dry. Sometimes
all the signs of physical disorder disap-
pear, and the disease seems gone. Then
there will come leprous fever, and that
will throw out a blush or ef1Orescence
that more emphatically announces the
progress of the disease Then all signs
Of skin disturbance disappear, but after
the following leprous fever the case is
worse than before. So each retreat of
the disease is followed by more de-
cided advance.
els it painful?
A-No That is one of the mercies.
From the first assault of the plague to
the hour Of death there is an absence Of
physical suffering.
Q.-But is there no mental depres-
sion?
A.-Oh, yes! At the first acquaint-
ance Of the fact that the disease is on
him a hor1id gloom settles upon the
patient, but after awhile slight hope
of recovery is born, and the incipient
leper tries all forms of cure, and no
form is SO absurd that will not recon-
mend itself as worthy of experiment..
And then all the time the patient thinks
it is something besides leprosy.
Q.-When victim Of the disease is