Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1902-09-11

patients confined within that leprous
| hospital had contracted the disease of
leprosy within radius Of seventy
miles from the point where the first
case of Canadian leprosy was discov-
ercd Convinced Of ito infectious char
acter, DR.. Emerson, who was for many
years in the employ Of the Hawaiian
government, gave as his testimony that
Il is utterly useless to fight the leprous
disease in any other way than by iso-
lation.
The Terrops of Leprosy.
To isolate the lepers of the Hawaiian
Islands. Mookai, the leper reservation
for the islands of the Pacific, was es-
tablished. In the Holy Land the Jews
and gentiles alike drive their own lep-
rous kith and kin from their sides into
isolation. They exclude them from The
cities and the towns. As you travel
through the east those lepers. some
with their arms and teeth gone, some
on crutches, some sightless, some with
cracked and bleeding lips, come down
the mountain side and in hoarse, pip
Ing voices beg for food and money. 1t
seems to be a very heartless method
thus to isolate the lepers, but the orr
entails say, Better that few men and
women starve and die, better that
few infectious lepers be exiled from
civilization, than that whole commu-
nifty sicken and be destroyed"
The poet has we'll described the iso-
lation of the infectious lepers in the
east lest the rest of the community
might be stricken
Room for the leper. room" and as he
came
The cry passed on, Room for the leper,
room"
And he went forth alone, not one Of all
The many whom he loved nor she whose
name
Was woven in the f,bers Of his heart to
come and speak
Comfort unto him. Yea. he went forth
his way
Sick and heartbroken and alone to die.
For God had cursed the leper.
AS the disease of leprosy is fatally
infectious, so are the leprous germs OF
sin. The evil which is within us Is
very apt to become the evil which
shall dwell within others. The wrongs
we do against our own selves are
truly apt to become the sins which
OlUcTS SHdll uO uuto tDtluStlNcb dioO,
and as this infection implies that to
scatter the germs of sin we must come
in contact with others is it not a star
Ting reflection that the people whom
we are most liable to destroy by our
sins are those who may be nearest and
dearest to us? 1t will be the mother,
herself stricken with the leprosy of
sin, who will destroy her own daugh
ter; the father his own son, the broth
or his own brother the wife her sis
ter Kindred ties and companionship
will only serve to facilitate the trans
mission of the deadly infection There
fore should we not feel as did Robert
Z. Lee when he was one winter morn
ing walking over the SHOWS of Airing
ton? AS he looked back he saw his
ten-year-old boy trying to stretch his
legs to step in his fathers tracks
Then said the greatest man the south
has produced for many year, IF my
boy is going to try to walk in the path
am walking in, l must be very care
full that 1 always walk in the path of
purity and truth and honor and right"
If our dear ones, those closest to us in
life, are those most in danger Of infec
ton from our spiritual leprosy. there
is another reason why, for their sakes
If not for our own, we should seek the
divine germicide, to have the cleansing
which Naaman, the leper, received
when, at Gods command, he dipped
seven times In the river Jordan and
his flesh became like unto that of a
little child.
The Infection of Sin.
May none of us ever experience the
remorse a broken hearted father felt
many years ago. He was bending over
the bleeding body of his only son, who
had just been brought home in a dying
condition from q drunken carousal.
"Oh, my child!' he cried. "Why did
you do this? Why have you broken
your mothers and fathers heartsY'
The dying boy cruelty looked up into
.he face Of his weeping parent and
answered: "Why, father. what are you
: crying for? am dying as the result of
your sins as well as mine. You first
taught me to drink at your own table
, You are as much to blame as l." Yes
the infectious results of our own lep
rous sins are evidenced in the temporal
! and eternal destruction of those who
! ought to be nearest and dearest to ouI
affectionate hearts.
Leprosy is to be found in the homes
n of the rich and the poor alike; in the
C palace and in the howell; at the kings
8 banquet table, as well as in the beg
u CARS gutter. For many years the world
G supposed that leprosy was able t.
u thrive only in the pestlential alleys ant
$ filthy dens Of the east That supposi
o ton was totally wrong Leprosy ma!
originally start among the low socia
e outcasts, but the leprous germs cal
|. live and thrive under the dazzling
4 lights of brilliant ballroom as wei
q as in the sitting air of the dark hove
of criminals retreat. BY handling thu
h coin which is publicly used in India {
f traveller may become infected with lep
q rosy, some leper having handled thu
q same coin. BY simply touching a rOcl
q at the foot of which leprous begga
,. had crouched a prince, arrayed In al
v the brilliant robes Of royalty, may be
a come a leper.
n A few years ago the most Influential
10 man of the kings court in the Sand
d witch Islands was supposed to be al
eccentric individual because he Away