The San Francisco call., 1897-12-06

every step.
You've a cold, Joe," said the steward
kindly. Come round and Pll give you
some cough medicine"
"All right; after awhile"
"How did you take cold p l asked.
"House pretty cold, he answered, turn
ing his dark eyes with those unnatu.ailv
dilated pupils upon me. mo fire here.
Seef In winter, when the rain comes,
have to move beds out OF the way"
San Francisco mas just placed a charming
figure above the dome OF the City Hall
She has no more :unus lett to see that the
lepers quarters are dry and snug in winter.
Joe mas Deen cook. " said the steward.
Yes, cook twenty years. Joe said. ,
Twenty years! And year and a half
ago he came 10 tle Pesthouse. How long
before mad that insidious slow breeding
disease fastened upon him? And in whose
house was he employed at the time ?
hose children were exposed to con a
gion?
In the next room there were half doze n
Chinese. But these men were not like
poor Zoe. He was siend r and straight.
There was nothing but those staring
pupil ed eyes to betray the leprous taint
IN him. But these Cinnamon, congregated
IN their sitting-room, where they play
cards and dominos and cook bit in the
Celestial style, are variously deformed and
twisted by the strang!Ing tentaces OF this
devllfish of diseases.
On the other side of The corner three
men-white men-sat together. They
were teaching a dog TO 7it up on his hiad
legs while a hat rested on his shaggy
wuite head. One of the men came to
show me the clever machine he had con-
structed in the corner, whose wheels and
connecting smaller wheels only needed
the pulley and the lower to spin busily
and effectively. But l could not see be-
hfc u g., .kf-
Il JUST did it for pastime," " he said.
On, how The day must draql And yet
l be.ieve that in addition 10 the horri bic
lack OF physical sensation, there is a mer-
cit1l mental numbness.
They cling % life as much as you dc, ="
said the steward, walking on down the
narrow, draughty hail that divides this
arm into TWO equal y comforties3 Sec
tions. ''hnd they're healthy people, leav-
ing apart the lep; Osy. We We had out one
death here i'll nine years-a leper VIII o
died two months ago. We have school.
Frank Bindt is teacher. Lena, the white
girl, couldn't read or write when she came
here, but she's learning
We stepped into Frank Bindt's room
A little boo6case was fastened 10 the in
side wall, ana it's lower shelf was filed
with uniformly bound small volumes.
I'D. ckens," said the porter in answer to
nv ques :ioninE look.
And as he put out his hand | saw why
poor Frank Blndt had kept his arms be.
mind him or hi1 hands thrust deep into
his pockets VII lie he and | talked at the
outer gate OF this inferno.
But the young man had forgotten now
to be sensitive. He wasn't thinking of
himself. He was talking of Insersol,
the man who's the bet writer in the
worl - Frank Bindt says.
II l had to choose, [ think I'd rather be
Lena, the white girl leper out at the Pest
housr, than 10 b. Frank Biudt. For Lena
lacking mentally. She doesn'. know
what she IS. She hardly realizes tha the
dry rot has fastened upon her. But tn s
poor lad who ad mires Iugersoll, who has
an eye for he beaut full and who has an
innate sense OF courtesy that is as refresh
ing as the waters of a mountain stream,
he knows-he realizes.
When Lena came out into the rather
dark corridor | gav2 her my violets, and
she gave utterance TO an almost inartic-
ulate Thanks" Then she turned and
opened The door of her room that l Nigh I
see the ROW of tin cans IN which she had
planted geraaiums-stunted and leprous
they IooKed, tco-on her window sill. The
light from her window revealed her face
to me. and ] could have cried out at the
si2hi. No wonder tnat clearly enunci-
ated words do not come from that mutt
lated face!
WAIT a minute" called Annie, the
Chinese woman, when Mr.. Keaiing
knocked at her door.
Then she came out and stood for m o..
ment in the corridor, talking in a friendly
way and showlnE unusual Inte ligence.
She couldn't 90 out much, she said, for
the sun hur! her eyes. And l was CRATE
ful to The dim hallway that 1 needn't see
he face that is almost as frightful as
Lenas.
The sun had set when, following the
trall, l had crossed the hill ami stood on
the high road opposite. The fumes from
The Potrero smokestucks, the odors from
the tan1erles and he stencil from the
small dirty Tanc es ming ed with the
dam pness rising rom the marsh. The Pest
house and the eucalyptus trees surround
ing IT were lost in this cod, wet, evil
smelling, smoky fog.
But the blot is there. That old, old
sickness hat is Ike cold, white blight
rem the grave OF forgotten people, stlll
claims its victims, in the nineteenth
century 100 and in nealtby young city
of the West.
San Francisco is not proud of her leper
colony. For that reasun, pernaps she
heglects II, hoping that others too will
forget Its existence. She erects lofty
churches, business buildings whose beauty
IS stone poem. She provides ior parks,
for fountains; she bestows the bes sing of
DOOhS NpOh llCl pcOllc 1eT SklEkS grow
NOR vo luminous yearly, 50 that oon the
overdreSsed dame will fiennl her wealth,
her greatness over ali the lovely hills that
fringe the cay. But she ignores that
shameful rotten spot out on the hIlI, leav-
ing The epers 10 live out their oathsome
lives without the decent comfort OF a
Weather-tlght roof above their head. San
ancisco will beauty her cemeteries.
She wll!-if she is compelled token her
slreets clean; but for The Ieper who lacks
all the JOY of living AMI the pace O. deaf h.
she will do nothing. H will continue 10
live out his days victim of nineteenth
century was parsimony and cupiliIy as he
OF mediayei cruelty and ignorance.
am too poor" saws San Francisco to
the leper, ito house you deceatly, to pro-
vide for the occup ton of such faculties
as your terrible affiictlon have spared to
you. am 100 poor to continue to pro-
vide the medicine which, though ii can
not cure you, alleviates your distress and
relieves you of tie terror of white-and-