The Evening statesman. [volume] (Walla Walla, Wash.) 1903-1910, 1909-05-04
LOSES LIFE FOR
HER LEPER LOVER

malady, the dread of the whole human
race
When he reached Honolulu, before
entering upon his appalling mission, he
was invited to the home of Mr.. James
planters on the islands. Kiamesha, his
place was called. 1t was a~lordly
house, built upon the coral rocks over
, looking the tropical sea. Here Mr..
and Mrs. Castle held a sort of island
court, entertaining in Oriental mag
nificence distinguished travellers from
all parts Of the world,
At the same time Mrs Castles sister,
Miss Nellie Mandara White, of Win
chendon, Mass, happened to be there
on visit, too. Miss White met DIR.
BrinckerhOff as one of her sisters
guests. The nature of mis- mission at
first aWed her. 1t seemed like counting
a thousand Deaths
Yet this young scientist talked of his
proposed work in the most enthusiasts
tic way He showed his plans for
building a model eper hospital. He
spoke of the laboratories he was going
to equip for the study of the germs of
the awful disease, and of the treat
ment he proposed to Try on the poor,
hopeless, dying lepers.
Miss White had mingled much with
the world. AS a niece of eX-Secretary
of the Navy John D. Long, she had as
ISOLATED with the diplomatic set at
Washington during the latter part of
NJoL inln VIC n mi;
early part of Roosevelt's. She had
passed several seasons at Newport and
had been a prominent figure in the
American colony at Paris. But in all
her travels she had never met a man
like DR.. Brinckerhoff, who thought so
little of himself, and was so absorbed
in doing something for humanity. He
was so different from the selfish
trifiing type of men of the world who
frequent courts and social centers
They repealed rather than attracted the
soft hearted New England girl
AS she listened to the young enthu-
siast tell in his glowing words of all
his high hopes and aspirations, she
hung on his words like Desdemona on
OthellO's. Under the palms and the
lazulite skies of the Pacific, as he more
and more unfolded his plans each day,
the young woman felt somehow touch
ed as she had never been before His
glow of exaltation and loving kindness
for the desldsed and rejected of men,
these poor Iforsaken fellow sufferers
whom Fate had made Ishmaels on the
face of the .earth and whom he would
sustain and uplift, was reflected in her
own soul. and then-he loved her
For he told her so simply one evening
under the palms and the gold moon in
the gardens, Jas he looked off just there,
over yonder-Where in this same para
disc of sky and sea lay these piteous,
hideous pariahS from all human touch
and sight. And so it was that this very
mission-dreary enough as it might
seem to almost any mortal-of a sud-
den. stook on an aspect something like
perfect rapture. for she said she would
go, too. His unselfish zeal and pure
altruism mad completely won her love
and admiration. ~ =.
In casting her lot with his she said
that death would be but a small and
insignificant sacrifice if by even that
she! would add one jot to the service
of science, and to humanity.
From this time on the whole thought
and plans of her life were dedicated to
this noble dream. as she regarded it,
To live her life among iepers with the
man she loved became her sole aspira-
ton
Greater love hath no man than this"
he said graveiy.
The life that lay spread before the
high-hearted bride of DR. Brinckerhofr
would appall the stanchest soul. 1t was
the bleakest, blacklist aspect-witnout
any high light except the love of each
other that lay within their hearts
Hear what Father Damein, VINO spent
nineteen. years; among the Molokai lep-
ers, and finally died leper himself, had
to say of leprosy.
"Discolored patches appear on the
skin, especially on the cheeks, and the
parts affected lose their feeling. After
time this discoloration covers the
whole body. Then ulcers begin to oDen.
chiefly. at~the~ extremities The flesh
Is eaten away and gives out a fetid
odor. Even the breath of the leper be-
comes so foul that the air around is
poisoned with it."
Mrs. Alice Hayes, the brave English
woman physician who worked for years