The Cook County herald. [volume] (Grand Marais, Minn.) 1893-1909, 1896-03-07
and say Doctor, won't you cut my ears

Z 81 = Z 4
off; they. are getting in my way
There is a house set apart for visitors
which no leper is permitted to epter
1 We went to this house to wait for the
! horses which were to carry us across
!, the island to the Boys Home. The
flepers, to the number of several hundred
came to the fence and gazed at. us SO
longingly, SO fondly as to almost melt
one to tears. To them we were superior
beings, loved friends, from whom they
were forever separted. &.
Senator Waterhouse, who possesses a
world Of moral courage and heart as
tender as a Woman's, was everywhere
among Them, not hesitating to grasp the
fngerless hand and speak words OF en-
couragement. &.
."How are you old boy? How are
you to-day, my friend? Come, cheer up
and be happy. You are happier here
than you can be anywhere else," he
said hundred times that day.
10 which the natives (for most Of the
lepers are natives) usually answered:
"Pilaki, pilaki" with sad shake of
the head. l.,
''Pllaki" means grief sorrow, and all
that goes to weigh down the heart. I
heard the awful word a thousand times
that day heard itsso much that it still
rings in my ears, while the. sadly disfg-
ured faces I met will, I rear never fade
from my memory. They have haunted
me 10 nay dreams ever since I left Molo-
kai. Some Of their faces were so horribly
disfgured as to have no resemblance to
humanity. No hideous mask has ever
been made to equal what leprosy has
| done for the human face. I observed
hoy about ten years of age whose eye
lashes and eyebrows had quite fallen out.
Ills eyellds were so paralyzed that he
could raise them only the fractional part
of an inch, and he had to hold his head
back in order to see. Mr.. Hutchings, the
assistant and sheriff of the settlement, is
one on whom the disease seems to have
exhausted itself by the destruction Of his
fingers. These are gone and his hands
healed, but his under, lip is paralyzed so
that when he speaks, it falls, down, and
when he has finished sentence he
pushes it back with his fngerless hand
and holds it in place with his upper lip.
| At last horses were brought for our
party to cross over to the Baldwin Home.
Then came momentary hitch in the ar
rangement caused by Miss Kate Field,
who was unaccustomed to the Hawiian
style of riding. But ebe had to yield to
see the Baldwin Home; it was too far 10
walk and there was not side saddle on
the entire island; SO, by the kindness of
Miss Reynolds, she was soon attired in
divided skirts, and by the combined
efforts Of Senator Watherhouse and 1ay-
self safely mounted on sad-eyed, dappel-
gray horse,sinto whose good graces she
soon began to ingratiate herself by pat
ting his neck aud appealing to his honor
not to go faster than a walk. ~
The Baldwin Home for boys, which is
under Catholic management, contains a
score OF houses, play room, school rooms,
hospitals, and living houses, all neatly
and cleanly furnished. Here we met
Brother Joseph Dutton, as he is known,
man who for fifteen years has devoted
his life to the care of the lepers. He is
plain, unassumlng Christian man, who,
In his brave, humble way, is more nearly
following in the footsteps of his Master
than any other person it has been my lot
to meet. To one visiting his plain little
room, devoid of even the smallest luxury,
uncarpeted, and implanted, and realizing
that he is constantly in greater danger
than if facing cannon, it seems as tho he
we're IN tie presence Of superior being.
He took us to the different apartments
OF the lepers, all clean, neat, white
washed, plain, and comfortable. Ali the
while he was explaining to us that such
ward was where the cases were not SO
and weaker, here the unfortunate beings
were able to crawl out on the porch, and
sit and gaze on the sea, sky, and earth
once more.
"Here is where they are brought when
in the last stages he explained, as we
entered a house which, despite it's clean.
Illness and bare white-washed walls gave
forth a sickening odor. siThese poor
people won't last long"
-Four. /. or: five toeless and fngerless
wretehes whose horribly disfgured fea-
lures made them frig htful to behold, we're
on the front porch ~: H.. y. :. $3.50
"These" said Brother j oseph. aare
still able to come out" Then as we en-
tered the hospital he added: t.These can't
live long. Those there are dying, this
one is almost gone" Pointing to a
vacant cot he added: zone died last
night; We just took him out and we
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