The times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1897-1901, 1900-07-29

experience
in Poorhouses and Hospitals
NEW YORK, July 2S.-The story of the
awful tragedy of famine in India, as here
related by DR.. Louis Klopsch. editor of
the Christian Herald" who returned this
month from a tour of the stricken
district will stagger humanity and sus-
tain public interest and increase the
desire of the American people to help the
millions in distress, despite the news of
! terrible atrocities that continue to come
from farther East, in China. Because rain
is now falling in the breadless barren area,
the end of the suffering is by no means
yet in sight The Government is doing
all it can, taking care OF millions of suf-
ferers; but there are still millions who
would starve. even now, but for the help
sent by the Christian Herald" and other
! private sources, in the form OF money,
| generously contributed by sympathetic
American people.
DR.. Klopsch is writing the story of his
| tour of the land of famine, relating in
detail the numerous and heartrending
scenes he witnessed with his own eyes.
|
tion involving so many people car exist
in this Christian era, is startling, if not
| shocking.
The following is from advance sheets of
| his remarkable story:
"Desolation and death were written all
over the famine district. more dis
couraging condition could not well be
| imagined. For miles and miles not blade
| of grass! The sun relentlessly sent its
| hot soil, hardbaked, refracted the heat
| and rendered life a burden. Crowds OF
| human beings, emaciated and debilitated,
moved from place to place in vain search
for food, mutely appealing for help that
never came. Cattle, reduced to very skel-
etons feebly crept about in quest Of
fodder, and in lieu of it licked the hot
soil, as though 10 propitiate its anger.
/ Trees stripped of all their bark to the very
tips, stood out like white skeletons against
the cruel, fiery sky. Vultures perched on
leafless branches, listlessly waited for vic
Tins.
Not a breath was stirring. The silence
of Jealh had settled upon the country.
fec it Low as l write, SO much SO that the
scratching of the pen seems harsh and in
trusive There is something uncanny
about this silence. 1t enters ones very
being and benumbs ones senses 1t kills
ambition. The desire for life passes away
and an absolute indifference to fate takes
its place. We were in the great graveyard
of India. 1t covered $50, goo square miles,
equal to any eight States west of the Mis-
sissippi. Death and decay were round
about us on every hand. Possibly we might
never again get beyond its confines. Who
could tell! Awful as it was, we did not
realize it then. for that required thought,
and this ominous, deathlike silence par
alyzed thought.
But we had a mission to perform, and
strength had to be mustered for the effort.
We were bound for Godhra. Terrible
things had been reported OF its condition.
Cholera had stampeded its great camp of
1900 famine workers. Unburied dead
were reported as lying around on every
hand, and contagion spread in every direc-
ton. After a mournful experience in the
poorhouse at Baroda, concerning which !
will write in a future letter, we started
out On the Great Western Railroad, ar
irving there at o'clock in the evening.
Rev Robert Ward, a Methodist missionary,
met and took us to his home, located
about half an hours drive IN the interior.
After supper, while seated on the porch,
on TIE lookout for a stray Whit of fresh
air, Mr.. Ward showed me the photograph
OF dead child and told me a story which
saddens ne whenever / recall it. While he
caring for thousands of cholera patients
God called this, their only child, to him
self. away from the scenes Of misery and
death that surrounded il. A friend made
little coffin and they buried their darling
q few yards from the house. Then with
out waiting to mourn they continued their
work. and not until the siege was over
did they realize the extent of their terri
Bile bereavement. Then nature gave way
Gaf in had hot
Mrs. Ward was exceptionally sad and quiet
during the meal. Indeed, it was painfully
noticeable. / could not explain it, Now l
understand ii all. Mr.. Ward told me how
dreadfully they missed their little one
and what a great comfort she had been to
her mother in the wilderness of woe.
..At O'Clock in the morning | awoke,
and after a hurried breakfast, We started
out across fields TO the poorhouse. On the
way we saw numerous skeletons and skulls
of cholera victims. Three thousand had
died in four days, and many bodies had not
yet been discovered for the sick had fed
in all directions, dying on the fields, by
the roadside, in the gulches, and under the
trees. We passed the place Of burning,
| and here skulls and bones in large num-
! bers, charred, but not consumed, were
plentiful among the ashes OF the dead. Two
/ men, who had been bribed to help remove
| the bodies where they could be burned,
| themselves had fallen victims to the dread
scourge and had died near the very spot
! where the burning was proceeding, and
| then and there their own bodies
were consigned to the flames Pass
| ing on, we looked over into the
| dry bed of a stream, and there we
saw sight sickening beyond description.
| A body, partly clad, lay doubled up az
| though the victim had died in intensest
! agony. a large hole in the left side showed
where yultures had torn out the heart The
skull was almost entirely denuded of flesh.
It was CHASTITY, indeed.
AT last we arrived at the hospital How
different from what we had seen in the
morning at Baroda, 4 Christian mission
airy had lent a hand, and out of chaos
came order. Ten native Christian con-
verts acted as nurses. Everything was
clean and bright, and the patients seemed
as well cared for as if in America. 1t was
this hospital had been as horrible as that
Of Dohad described further on. The Gov
eminent gave Mr.. Ward an opportunity to
do missionary work and transformation
ensued that made the Godhra hospital the
best ] saw in India. The beds were clean
The patients were cheerful. The attendants
were kind and sympathetic. No offensive
oGor greeted us at the gate. The death
rate was normal.
Afterwards We returned to Mr. Wards
bungalow and were delighted with a
glimpse OF the great work he is doing in
other directions. Foremost among the
humanitarian aufprDrisae an