Wausau pilot. [volume] (Wausau, Wis.) 1896-1940, 1900-02-13
MINISTERING TO LEPERS.
A WONDERFUL AND INTEREST
ING INSTITUTION.
Sisters of Charity Have Been Nurses For
Over Ten Years and Show no
Signs of the Dreaded
Disease.

One of the most interesting and
wonderfully conducted institutions in
the world is the great leper hospital
Of the Island of Trinidad, where lepers
from all the Windward islands come
for treatment. l went to this institu-
ton in company with the surgeon-ger-
eral 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 build
ingS set in the form of a square about
several acres of graSs-covered, tree
shaded lawn. One building is re-
served entirely for the sisters of char
ity, who form the nursing corps of the
hospital, and this is backed by gar
den which they work themselves and
which is famous for its roses and bios
soming vines. The roses, more espe-
cially, are noted for their size, per-
fume, and loneliness even in the trop-
les, where splendid orchids grow. The
flowers are as big as peonies, and eth
bushes bloom so profusely and contin-
uously that it is necessary now and
then to take them, roots and all, out Of
the ground to prevent complete ex-
haustion of their powers.
This garden and their musical in
struments are their refuge and relax
alton, 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 gardening until they
recover their tone Every few years
they are sent away to some other duty
for several months for the same rea-
son. Many of the nurses have been
more than 10 years at work in the hos
pital, and there has never been the
slightest sign of contagion in one Of
them. They observe the usual eXquis-
lite cleanliness demanded by their re-
ligious vows, and the superior. takes
care that their physical condition is
carefully watched, but no other pre-
cautions 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, Hindoos, and
Chinese.
a half-breed Hindoo in one of the
wards had evolved in his long leisure
a most ingenious tower some five feet
| high, built of old 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
had begged from visitors, more of
which he had rescued from the refuse
| tins. This contained some 80 little
rooms and winding stair, and was in
habited by a pet gray rat, who, at a
signal from his master, would mount
the stairs and visit every room, ring
ing bell in one, turning a wheel in
another, pulling string which loosen
ed a 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 own
er.
Most Of the patients had no such re-
source and sat in~brooding indifference
and silence, the hopeless prisoners of
despair But the patience and pity of
the beautiful young woman in a white
cap, who had given up wealth and
youth and high place to soothe those
so unhappy, who bent over them, was
like the infinite gentleness of an angel
bending over the infinite horror of hell.
Washington Post.