The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1908-01-04


the press all over the United States
and was the cause of many Indignant
and protesting editorials. Well, / lived
and slept for FIVE days in Mr.. Nc
Weigh 8 grass hut (which was a com.
Portable wooden cottage, by the way
and there isn't grass house in tbs
whole Settlement), and l heard the lep-
ers wailing for food-only the waiting
was peculiarly harmonious and rhyth
mic, and it was accompanied by the
| music of stringed instruments, violins
guitars, ukuieles and banjos. Also, the
wall was of various sorts. The lepel
| brass band walled, ard two singing So
eieties walled, and lastly quintet OF
| excellent voices walled. So much for q
klie that should never have been printed
The wailing was the serenade which
the glee clubs always give Mr.. Nc
| Weigh whenever he returns from a trip
to Honolulu.
Leprosy is not so contagious as is
imagined. l went for a week IS visit to
| the Settlement, and [ took my wife
along-all of which would have not
happened had we had any apprehen-
sion of contracting the disease. Nor
did we wear long, gauntleted gloves
and keep apart from the lepers. On the
| contrary we mingled freely with them,
| and before we left knew scores of them
| by sight and name. The precautions of
| simple cleanliness seem to be all that
| is necessary. On returning to their
! own houses. after having been among
and handling lepers, the non-lepers,
such as the physicians and the superin-
tendent, merely wash their faces and
hands with mildly antiseptic soap and
change their coats.
I That a leper is unelean, however,
should be insisted upon; and the segre-
CATION of lepers, from what little is
known of the disease, should be rigidly
maintained. On the other hand. the
awful horror with which the leper has
been regarded in the past, and the
frightful treatment he has received,
have been unnecessary and cruel. In
order TO dispel some of the popular mis-
apprehensions of leprosy, want to tell
something of the relations between the
lepers and non-lepers as I observed
them at Molokai. On the morning after
our arrival, Mrs. London and I attend
ed shoot of the kaulapapa Rife Club,
and caught our first glimpse of the
democracy of attiletion and alienation
that obtains. The Club was Just be-
ginning prize shoot for a cup put up
by Mr. McVeigh, who is also member
of the club, as also are Doctor Goodhue
and Doctor HOLMAN, the resident ply
sicians (who, by the way, live in the
Settlement with their wivesl. All about
US, in the shooting booth, were the lep-l
ers. LeperS and non-lepers were using
the same guns, and all were rubbing
shoulders in the confined space. The
majority of the lepers were Hawaiians.
Sitting beside me on a bench was a
Norwegian. Directly in front of me,
in the stand, was an American, veter-
an of the Civil War. who had fought on
the Confederate side. He was sixty
five years of age, but that did not pre-
vent him from running up a good score.
Swapping Hawaiian policemen, lepers,
khaki clad, were also shooting, as were
Portuguese, Chinese and kokuas. The
latter are native helpers in the Set
Element, who are non-lepers. And on
the afternoon that Mrs. London and
climbed the two-thousand-foot pail and
looked our last upon the Settlement, the
uperintendent, the doctors, and the
mixture of nationalities and of diseased
and non-diseased were all engaged in
an exciting baseball game.
Not so was the leper and his greatly
misunderstood and feared disease treat
ed during the Middle Ages in Europe. |
st that time the leper was considered
legally. and politically dead. He was
placed In a funeral procession, and led
to the church, where the burial service |
was read over him by the officiating
clergyman. Then a spadeful of earth |
was dropped upon his chest and he was
dead-living dead. While this rigorous |
treatment was largely unnecessary,
nevertheless one thing was learned by |
1t. Leprosy was unknown in Europe |
until it was introduced by the returning |
Crusaders, whereupon it spread slowly, |
until it had seized upon large numbers |
of the people, Obviously, it was dis
ease that could be contracted by con-
tact. 1t was eontagion and it was
equally obvious that it could be Grad
icated by segregation. Terrible and
monstrous as was the treatment of the
leper in those days, the great lesson
of segregation was learned. By its
means leprosy was stamped out.
And by the same means leprosy is
even now decreasing In the Hawaiian
Islands. But the segregation of the
lepers on Molokai is not the horrible
nightmare that has been so often ex-
plotted by yellow writers. In the first
place, the leper is not torn ruthlessly
from his family When a suspect Is
he is invited by the Board
of Health to come TO the kalihi Receiv
ing Station at Honolulu His fare and
all his expenses are paid for him. He
is first passed upon, by microseopleal
examination. by the bacteriol0gist of
the Board of Health If the bacili
leprae are found. the patient is exam
med by the Board of Examining PhysI-
clans, five in number. If found by
them TO be a leper, he is so declared,
which finding is later officially confirm
ed by the Board of Health, and the
leper is ordered sent to Molokai. Fur
thermore, during the thorough trial that
is given his ease, the patient has the
right TO be represented by physician,
whom he can select and employ for
himself. Nor, after having been de-
clared leper, Is the patient immediate
y rushed off to Molokai- He Is given
ample time-weeks, and even months
sometimes-during which he stays at
halihi and winds up or arranges all has
business affairs. At MolOkal, in turn,