The times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1897-1901, 1899-07-16
ROSES AND DESPAIR.
They Go Together in the Trinidad
Lcpcr HOspitnl.

Leper Hospital.
One of the most interesting and wonder
fully conducted institutions in the world is
the great leper hospital of the Island Of
Trinidad, where lepers from all the Wind
ward Islands come for treatment. l went
to this institution in company with the
surgeon general OF the colony. and it is
mainly from him these facts are derived.
He had studied leprosy in India and in
half a dozen English colonies.
The hospital consists OF some half dozen
detached, one-story. succeed buildings set
I in the form of a square about several acres
of grass covered, tree-shaded lawn. One
building is reserved entirely for the sis
tiers of charity, who form the nursing corps
of the hospital. and this backed by a gar
den, which they work themselves, and
which is famous for its roses and blossom
ing vines
The roses more especially are noted for
their size perfume and loneliness even in
the tropics. where splendid orchids grow.
The flowers are IS Big as pecnlos and either
pure white or blush color, and the bushes
| bloom so profusely and continuously that
it is necessary now and then to take them
roots and all out of the ground to prevent
cOmplee exhaustion of their powers.
This garden and their musical instru-
ments are their refuge and relaxation,
| for the sights they daily witness are SO
distressing. so wearing to the nerves, that
| the superior frequently requires them to
abandon their work for a few days and
give themselves up to music and garden
| ing until they recover their tone Every
few years they are sent away to some
other duty for several months for the
same reason. Many of the nurses have
been more than ten years at work in the
hospital, and there never has been the
slightest sign of contagion in one of them.
They observe the usual exquisite clean
| illness demanded by their religious vows.
! and the superior takes care that their
| physical condition is carefully watched,
| but no other precautions are observed
| and they do not seclude themselves from
! the world.
AT the time of my visit there were but
| two white men in the hospital, all the
others being negroes, Hindus and Chinese.
The woman's pavilion was far from full,
one patient being victim to that hor-
rible grotesque form of the complaint
known as elephantiasis, which made her
| like some nightmare, or delusion of fever
| yet she seemed perfectly cheerful and
happy and talked quite gaily to the sis
| ter, who was apparently great favorite
| in all the wards.
| Some leper children were In the same
affected that a casual observer would not
| see evidences of the disease till pointed
| out. but they were languid, solemn little
creatures as if the shade of their dreaded
| inheritance had already blotted out all the
sunshine from their morning. The wo-
men who were least affected helped with
the washing for all the wards, and this
occupation seemed an eagerly sought
pleasure, the worst of the disease being
| nj hnl mi inQ Y
entails.
half-breed Hindu in one of the wards
whose disease had disfgured him less
| than most had evolved in his long leisure
most ingenious tower some five feet
high, built OF cid cigar boxes, half-used
pencils cast off bits of wire, nails. etc, a
| thousand odds and ends, including a
broken clock case. some of which he mad
begged from visitors, more of which he
! had rescued from the refuse tins. This
contained some thirty little rooms and a
| winding stair, and was inhabited by a
I pet grey rat, who at signal from his
master would mount the stairs and visit
! every room, ringing a bell in one, turning
wheel in another, pulling a string which
| loosened tiny shower of water in third,
| and displaying all the triumphs of ten
years patience and skill, to the infinite
pride and delight of his afflicted owner.
Most of the patients had no such re-
source, and sat in brooding Indifference
and silence, the hopeless prisoners of de-
spair. The most terrible sight of all was
| the ward of the dying. Here, after years
OF slow disintegration, were brought the
wrecks of time; their bodies the filthy
rags of flesh once new and fair and clean.
Faces here were indistingushable blurs;
features were RACED away as by fire, bodies
! bent and distorted. bones gnawed away.
| Their misfortunes were so overwhelming
| that there seemed no place for ordinary
sorrow or rebellion against their black des-
tiny. but the patience and pity OF the beau
| tiful young woman in a white cap (who
had given up wealth and youth and high
| place to soothe these so unhappy who
| bent over them was like the infinite gen.
tleness OF an angle bending over the in
finite horror OF hell.