The Hawaiian gazette. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1865-1918, 1901-11-15

their hosoms, and clued their lips to
those Of their loved ones. Scores pros
trptcd themselves on the earth In the
first mad abandon of the greeting. And
all the while they kept up that most aw-
full of native walls: "Auwe, Auwc!'
When the hundred who had come with
us had Joined the thousand of the dis
Ell sed. they FASTENED hand in hand to
their homes, all over the settlement
They spent the day until we took ship
again for Honolulu. in kissing. embrac-
ing, eating, drinking. and in stories of
their kin. There was no restraint. For
the last time perhaps In the history of
the world they We're to mix. clean and
unclean Il gether.
Hawaii had been taken by the United
States and sterner laws Were to govern
them. Now those who visit the lepcr
colony have no contact with the afflicted.
Massive screens keep them yards apart
from one another. In contact there may
be death
But when I spent my day on Moolai,
all L!d as they pleased. | accepted the
loan of a l"por's horse, mounted the sad
die and rraspcd the bride he had hand
led for years. True, ! wore gloves, but
when, the heat of the noon urging, ] for
got precaution and dotted them, and re-
storing the horse to its owner the leper
extended his hand in token of brotherly
feeling, clasped II, to feel no fingers
meeting mine. Only the mangled stump
was there. If l had believed the danger
of infection greater, l would not have
withdrawn my hand. There was cour-
tcsy and simple grace in the manner of
that leper which made me hide the hor-
ror | trembed with.
I passed the hours IN studying the col
ony. 1t would take long to describe it
all l knet at the grave of Father Da
MEN, and after a long talk with Brother
Dutton, who has taken his place.
brought away with me one of the last
autographs signed by the martyr.
| saw in one room. under the care Of
this other Vincent de Paul, four lepers
whose sight and senses gone, sat all day
in darkness, never moving, never speak
ing, inviting the grayc-digger to rest
them. Their faces and forms were like
the fragments of statues found in an
Cient places; features gone, or mere SEM
blnnccs of the human: limbs withered
and worn away. They waited for what
Damien told them he went to-the glory
OF n God that chastens but rewards.
At dusk, the whistles of the steamer
blew, and we put off in the boats to her.
The parting was heartrendng, Many
had To be torn from the arms of their
doomed friends. The shrieking was so
terrible that ! could but think Of the hell
pictured by the prophets, Here and
there the angelic form of II Catholic nun
was seen. soothing the saddencd souls
of their charges
J When, in the last boat, ] left the beach
of kalaupapa, my ears were filled with
the Indebtedness, my spirit cast down
by the utter hopeessness of the physical
and mental agony.
bof IoniG Steven
son, who knew these people, wrote:
ITO see the infinite pity of this place.
| The mangled limbs the devastated face,
| The Innocent sufferer smiling at the rod
A fool We're tempted to deny his God,
He sees, he shrinks. But II he gaze
| again,
Lo, beauty springing from the breast OF
pain!
! He marks the Sisters on the mournful
shores;
| And even a fool Is silent and adores."
Cathedral Chronicle.