The Holly chieftain., 1913-07-04


cation OF the disease. Fifty are ex.
treme cases, people in the last stages
of leprosy. but they are confined In q
hospital in secluded nook. where
they are never seen by any one save
their nurses and the priests. They
have attendants. physicians. Japanese
nurses, books, music and everything
that will help to cheer along the drag
ging days until death may come.
welcome visitor. to release their sui.
fering spirits from useless and mu-
tilated body. Fifty more are superin-
tendents. nurses. physicians. priests
and directors, all irr perfect health-all
devoted to the work Of making Molo.
kai place Of love.
Children Of Lepers.
If man is sent to Molokai. no mat
ter what his station in life may have
been. he Is given one acre of good
ground. farm implements, clothing.
food. a two-room cottage picturesquely
built and whitewashed, a COW and
sometimes horse.
II he chooses to stay on the farm
he gets all he raises. and receives all
he needs from the government stores.
All Of them have pienty~of meat. rice.
imported foodstuffs and sufncient
clothing. They spade the ground by
hand and cultivate by hand. for the
reason that 1t takes up more time.
Time is the least valuable thing In the
world at Molokai. The only dificulty
tN An ~ -
faster SO that it may not hang heavily
upon the heads of the lepers. giving
them opportunity to think OF their
DOOM
Perhaps the most interesting organ.
ization In the island is the Amateur
Dramatic society which puts before Its
intelligent audiences plays by Shake.
speare, Sudermann, Clyde Fitch. Ibsen
and Shaw. Mr.. Arroll says that these
plays are presented with skill and an
artistic Interpretation which are really
wonderful.
| Few persons realize the fact that a
child born Of leprous parents bears abb
solutely no hereditary taint Because
OF this the lepers are allowed to marry
if they wish, and IL child is born to
them 1t is taken Immediately upon It's
arrival in the world. placed in the care
of Japanese nurses and brought up
without ever coming into contact with
lepers. The child SO born is never per.
mitted to see or to know its parents,
but after remaining in the settlement
| until 1t has attained the age OF five or
more years it is carefully examined
and then sent to live with its relatives
on the mainland. Strange and impos.
sible as 1t may seem. for the finest sci.
entists have wondered at 1t and failed
| to find reason, never has there case
been known where such a child has
developed any trace of leprosy. Some
| of the finest men In the various walks
of life in Hawai-! and in other parts Of
/! the world are children one or both OF
whose parents had leprosy at the time
Of their birth.
| Since the discovery that leprosy Is
no more contagious than blood poison.
| ing, 1t has not been SO hard task to
| get doctors, nurses. priests. superin.
I tendents and storekeepers to go to the
settlement, especially since they are at
liberty to return to their own people
at any time upon submitting to rigid
physical examination.
Lepers-outcasts. Yes, the terms arc
synonymous in the sense that these at
fieted people may not ever return to
what Is called civilization. that they
are forever separated from their
homes and friends-but outcasts
never. In the sense that they are neg.
lected In the tiniest detail OF their
lives. or that they suffer for lack Of
sympathy or tender compassion.