Montpelier examiner. [volume] (Montpelier, Idaho) 1895-1937, 1915-01-22

tor Georges, one Of the boarI Of health
physicians whom had already met al
Kalihi. The lepers we're a woebegone
lot But here and there noticed fair
" good-l0oking persons, with no ap-
parent signs Of the fell disease upon
them. One, / noticed, q little white
girl, not more than twelve, with blue
eyes and golden hair. One cheek,
however, showed the sign. On my re-
marking upon the sadness OF her alien
situation among the brown-slxlnned
AFFLICTED ones. Doctor Georges replied:
Oh, don't know. It's happy day
in her life She cones from Kauai.
Her father Is a brute. And now that
she has developed the disease, she Is
going to join her mother at the settle
ment. Her mother was sent down
there three years ago-a very bad
case"
You can't always tell from appear
ances," Mr.. Mcyeigh explained. THAT
man there, that big chap, who looks
the pink Of condition with nothing the
matter with him, I happen to know,
has mark on his foot and another on
his shoulder blade. Then there are
others-there. see that girls hand. the
one who is smoking the cigarette.
See her twisted fingers. That's the
anesthetic form. It attacks the
nerves. You could cut her fingers of
with a dull knife, or rub them of on a
nutmeg crater and she would not ex-
perience the slightest sensation"
Yes, but that fine-looking woman,
there" / persisted; surely, there
can't be anything the matter with her.
She is too glorious and gorgeous al
together"
"A sad case" Mr.. Mcveigh an
swered over his shoulder, already
turning away to walk down the wharf
with Kersdale.
She was beautiful woman. and she
was pure Polynesian. From my mea-
ger knowledge of the race and its
types / could not but conclude that
she had descended from old chief
stock. She could not have been more
than twenty-three or twenty-four. Her
lines and proportions were magnifi-
cent, and she was just beginning to
| oAASW SHc NAphtuuS VI tuc WOmoA Vi
her race.
1T was blow to all of u.s." Doctor
Georges volunteered. "She gave her
self up voluntarily, too. No one sus-
pected. But somehow she had CON
tracted the disease. II broke us all
up, l assure you. We've kept It out Of
the papers, though. Nobody but our
selves and her family knows what has
become Of her. In fact, II you were
to ask any man in Honolulu, he'd tell
you it was his impression that she was
somewhere in Europe. It was at her
request that we've been 80 quiet about
it."
"But who is she?" / asked "Gertain-
ly, from the way you talk about her,
she must be somebody"
did you ever hear OF Lucy Moku-
nui?"
Lucy Mokunui?" repeated, haunt
ed by some familiar association. !
shook my head. 1T seems to me I've
heard the name, but I've forgotten it,
Never heard of Lucy MokunuiI The
Hawaiian nightingale / beg pardon.
OF course you are a malahini new
comerl and could not be expected to
know. Well, Lucy Mokunui was the
best beloved of Honolulu-of all Ha.
wall, for that matter"
you say was" | interrupted.
And / mean 1t. She is finished =
He shrugged his shoulders pityingly.
"A dozen haoles-I beg your pardon,
white men-have lost their hearts to
her at one time or another And I'm
not counting in the ruck. The dozen
refer to were haoles of position and
prominence.
"She could have married the son of
the chief justice IL she'd wanted to-.
.. You think she's beautiful, Ell? But
you should hear her sing. Finest ma
tive woman singer In Hawaii Mel. Her
throat is pure silver and melted sun.
shine. We adored her. She toured
America first with the Royal Hawaiian
band After that she made two more
trips on her own account-concert
work"
"oh!" cried. a remember now.
! heard her two years ago at the Bos-
ton Symphony So that is she. rec
ognize her now"
was oppressed by heavy sadness.
Life was a futile thing at best. A
! short two years and this magnificent
creature at the summit of her magnifi-
cent success was one of the leper
squad awaiting deportation to Molokai.
/ recoiled from my own future. II
this awful fate fell to Lucy Mokunui
what might not my lot be-or any.
body's lot? / was thoroughly aware
that In life we are in the midst of
} death-but to be In the midst Of a
living death, to die and not be dead
to be one of that draft of creatures
that once were men, aye. and women,
J like Lucy Molsunui, the epitome of all
Polynesian charms, an artist as we'll,
and we'll beloved of men
/ am afraid / must have betrayed
my perturbation. for DIR. Georges has.
. tened to assure me that they were
very happy down In the settlement.
: It was all too inconceiyably mon.
strous. / could not bear to look al
her. A short distance away. behind q
, stretched rope guarded by a police
, man. were the lepers' relatives AID
! friends. They were not allowed to
; come near. There were no last en-
: braces. no kisses of farewell. They
called back and forth to one another