The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1900-03-25

ed They viii see it die with never
change in their smiling countenances
What are you TO do with such people?
The state of things in the poor house.
is worse than in the works The poor
houses are simply large open yards with
waffle huts built against the wall Her,
swarm the more helpless sufferers. YoJ
Sc children whose bodies have long ceased
| TO look human; they resemble ants or bee
| ties All fat has been consumed; the mus
cular tissues have followed; there is moth.
ing left but the Dry harsh skin, which is
| cold TO the touch, and the shrunken veins
| arteries and sinews beneath. The skele-
ton is revealed in all its details.
| Owing to the absence Of muscles these
| creatures cannot walk. They totter along
unable Ia lift the leg or rise on the toe
and their arms bangle helplessly al their
sides. But in addition TO the ravages Of
| starvation most OF them are also suffer
ing from some Of the diseases above men
toned Upon their misery and filth, re-
vealing them in all their hideous details,
beats down continually the awful sun OF
India. The children stand motionless in
the courts or lie under the foul sheds
waiting for death. Most Of them are or
plans Native women are appointed to
care for them. These care takers are
thieves and merciIess, like other Indians
The condition Of the men patients IS
similar. Many were at one time men OF
substance, comparatively speaking. Their
tools. clothes. and buuocks were their
own. Everything was swept away. 4
fourth of them were blind.
They supplicate you with hands raised
before their faces-hands calloused with
lifelong labor. but bloodless and strength
less now. They topple down at your feet,
with their bony foreheads in the dust
They totter stifiy after you as you walk
about. pursuing you with their dull eyes,
or with the sockets in which eyes once
were. They utter unintelHgibIe means
Meanwhile the subtle and plausible over
seers hustle about, explaining extenuat-
ing, promising, cracking jokes, and when
your back is turned giving a savage twist
to a skeleton arm or squeeze 10 the neck
to admonish the wretches TO keep quiet
The women's poor house is the most ap-
palIing Of all. II is not so crowded as
the mems, because the women die easier.
The most beautiful female types in the
world are TO be found IN India-grace,
symmetry. flowing lines, exquisite dis
tinction Of feature, and a winning mod
esty.
Such they normally are. But what shall
be said Of these starved women, in whom
even that virtue Of modesty has been de- |
stroyed? 1t is impossible for man who |
has had mother, wife and sisters to de- |
scribe them. ne's eyes shrink from look |
ng on them as they cover there, naked. |
withered, frightfully disfgured, crippled. |
bIighted by Ioathsome disease,
goblin Nightmares of all that is tender, |
sacred and lovely in human nature. And
somehow they contrive to express more
# comprehension OF their misery than cd
my of the others. They are sensible to
he last of their hopelessness, their desc
alton. their outrages
Why not buy grain in large quantities
nd distribute it to the needy? The Brit
sh tried that in the famine of 1878. II
urned out TO be worse than doing moth
lg. The grain was collected and for sale
I price much lower than that charged
y the bunniahs. The latter withdrew
heir grain supplies altogether. The Brit
n supplies were utterly insufficient to
ED the population. The famine became
Immediately ten-fold worse than ever.
hus admonished. the British withdrew,
nd gradually the bunniahs released their
rain.
The expedient Of dispensing with native
lbordinates would answer well were it
racticable. To make it so you would |
ave 10 multiply the white servants in
ldia by one hundred. England cannot | .
apply any more. The service IS ardu-
Us, and the officials, superannuated at
5ty-two or fifty-three, survive after re-
lrning to England only two years on the
Terage. Native subordinates must be
nployed. They will be thieves and ty-
lnts. but they are preferable to nothing J
Here must stop. 7 have told little :
II if that IS not enough 10 stir you to
Ike some action it would be useless to
II any more.
1 had meant to say a word about the
ague which seems to be worse than
-er. but 1t is a matter or less importance
though many die, yet the numbers are ]
latively small.