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Louisiana’s Benign Leper Colony, for the
^ ^ ^ Pitiful “Living-Dead”
• eo
New C< ttages, Now Occupied by Women
By A. LEACOCK.
Written for O'ft* Sunny South
ITHIN the last decade or
two, the attention of the
civilized world has been
called to the fact that lep
rosy, the most terrible 111
that flesh Is heir to, is on
the Increase—alarmingly
The generality of people
are apt to think of this
disease as belonging ex
clusively to the past, or
obtaining only among un
civilized peoples. We read
of leprosy in the Bible, and learn that
the Hebrews contracted it during their
Egyptian servitude. One historian tells
us that the disease had_ its birth in tiie
land of the Nile. Miriam, the beatitiful
sister of Moses, was punished with the
leprous taint for complaining of the
prophet’s marriage to an Ethiopian
woman. Job's disease was suspected of
being leprosy. Xaamau was a leper. The
story of the rich man and "a certain
beggar named Lazarus, who lay at bis
gate full of sores,” is one of the most
impressive in the Bible. How exquisite
ly written are the chapters in Ben Hur
that tell of the lepers.
The imagination easily pictures these
poor, unfortunates living outside of
walled cities in ancient times; or In
abandoned toombs. There is another
picture, equally as pitiable, of the leper
victims that refugeed in the forests, and
fed upon roots and berries, who were
compelled to robe themselves in sheets,
and ring a bell at the sound of foot
steps.
LEPROSY IN EUROPE.
Lep- >sy was epidemic in Europe during
the middle ages, the crusaders being ac
credited with having introduced the dis
ease. • In time, lazarettos became plenti
ful throughout the continent, every town
supporting one. It became the fashion,
to use the words of another, ‘the crown
ing act of piety,” to be kind to the lepers.
Kings and queens vied in doing for them.
' Henry III of England, who was sup
posed to have contracted the malady,
washed the feet of many lepers on rev-
.etaL Christmas occasion?. St. Elizabeth
of Hungary, was a true friend of the
lepers, and the artist Holbein lias per
petuated her charity to them in a paint
ing to be seen at Munich, which repre
sents her as feeding, with bread and
wine, a group of lepers, who are most
horribly deformed with the disease.
I am reminded of a legend I read once
of an Aslan empress. Gemelyo, the spouse
of the Emperor Shomer. She was ac
credited with having washed the sores
of a thousand lepers. The last one be
ing in the terminal stage o'f the disease,
was offensive to a degree. But Gemelyo
hesitated not. When the disagraable Job
was over, behold the leper she had wash
ed was surrounded with a glorious light,
and she found that it was Buddha unto
whom she had ministered.
Mournful indeed was the fate of the lep
ers in some of the centuries past. As
soon as it was discovered that a person
had the malady, he was compelled to
leave home and family, and make his
abode with those similarly afflicted. He
was looked upon as one without lights;
in truth, as one dead to the world. A
burial service was read over his living
body, upon which earth was cast with
symbolical meaning, after which his wife
might marry again. He bade farewell to
his family like at the departing for the
spirit land, although it might happen that
he wiould outlive them all. Perhaps in
the leper world to which he was going lie
would contract another marriage.
A noble order Inaugurated for the bene
fit of lepers was the Knights of St. Laza-
rus. Its headquarters was at Jerusalem
and only a leprous knlgnt couid be its
grandmaster.
In course of time leprosy was apparent
ly stamped out and became to a certain
degree forgotten. It was not a pleasant
thing to remember. But the modern world
is learning that leprosy is on the revival.
Medical authorities are telling us that
there is reai cause for alarm, unless pre
cautions are taken to segregate ail lepers.
Fortunately we are living in an age when
to take the bull by the horns, so to speak,
is the thing. There is something ap
palling in the assertion that the world
contains three millions of lepers, one in
every five hundred persons.
LEPROSY IN AMERICA.
I think I have read somewhere that the
estimated number of lepers in the t’nited
States is five thousand, which does not
include, of course, the thousands to be
found in the new possessions.
In India there are thousands upon
The Old Plantation House, Now the Home of the Sisters in Charge of Leper Home.
thousands of victims of leprosy. China Is
a principal seau Two millions are ac
credited to this empire, and twenty thou
sand to Japan. Norway leads in having
the greatest number among European
countries. Germany, Russia. Iceland, Por-
‘ tpgal, Italy, England, have large quotos.
.i rwegian lepers introduced the iis^ase
into tiie northwest, where, it is said, in
Minnesota alone there are one hundred
thousand people of leprous descent. Cali
fornia gets it from Chinese emigrants.
Seaport towns are more open to the
disease, through sailors from leprous
lands. New York. New Orleans, San
Francisco, Key West and other coast
towns have had the problem to consider.
In Eouisana, which is the seat of leprosy
in the United locates, the disease ‘is now
well under control.
Speaking of the ways in which the mal
ady may be communicated, I am tempted
to quote from a little book compiled by
the Rev. I.. W. Mulhane. which says:
“We are in great danger from foods and
merchandise exported to this country
from localities where leprous bacilli have
practically taken possession of communi
ties favorable to its spread, through the
lack of proper hygienic conditions and
substances more suited to barbaric than
civilized peoples. Sugar, bananas and the
like that have been handled by leprous
West Indian negroes, we cannot protect
ourselves against, unless our consular
representatives ifeep a strict watch on the
localities from which they are sent and
warn the federal government of the dan-
,rj»e i' t“me. Tea and ginger from, China,
< oafish ifrom New Bi -nswick, ar.d rags
from the countries bordering on the east
ern'part of the. Mediterranean are regard
ed by some de/matologists of the most
dangerous of all the ways in which lep
rosy may be communicated through the
length and breadth of this country.”
I heard recently a story of two young
men, sons of wealthy parents living in a
seaport town, who developed leprosy. It
was not known how they contracted the
disease; but the mother remembered that
in their infancy they were nursed by a
West Indian woman who was often seen
bandaging an eruption on her body that
refused to be healed. Knowing nothing of
leprosy the mother was unsuspicious.
The largest hospital for lepers in the
World is at Molokai, in the Sandwich is
lands, a place made classic by the foot
steps ot Father Damien. It is said that
this is a regular organized community,
with leper officials and a court presided
over by a leprous judge. Tiie school
teacher and the store keeper are lepers,
and many of the nurses.
The spot, meaning land of precipices,
is one of the most beautiful in the world,
overlooking the blue waters of the Pa
cific ocean.
‘‘Lana, like an emerald, gleaming,
Twixt dee^> blue wave and pale blue igky.
A lOjtus isle for midday ? dreami ng.”
writes one of it. At Kalaupapa, with
in sight of vessels as they pass on their
way is a monument to Father Damien.
The first donation was from the Prince
of Wales.
Leprosy was unknown on the Sandwich
islands pryor to 1850. It was brought into
the islands by the Chlmse, and is called
by the natives “the Chinese sickness.”
Lepers of this colony are allowed to
marry. Their children are not necessarily
victims of the dtseose. A story is told of
a man who had successively two leprous
wives, yet did not contract the disease;
nor were his children sufferers of the
malady. The Southern Churchman, of
June 25. tells of the noble work of
twenty-five young Britishers in Rich
mond. Va., who are supporting me un
tainted child of leper parents. Other not
ed asylums for lepers are on the is-
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By IV. D. Hulbert *
Uhe YL\r\g of the Troxxt Stream ^
Eighth of the Outdoor Series
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NE day. late in winter,
when the woods were just
beginning to think about
spring, the muscles in one
particular egg tugged with
all their little might, the
backbone straightened
witli a great effort, tiie
shell was ripped open,
and tiie tail of a brand-
new’ brook trout thrust
itself out into the water
and wiggled pathetically.
With a most vigorous
squirm he backed clear of the shell in
which he had lain for so many weeks
and months, and, weak and weary from
his exertions, lay down on a stone.
He had to lie on liis side, for attached
to his breast was a large, round, trans
parent sac which looked very muich
like the egg out of w’hich he had just
come. In fact. It really was the egg,
or at least a portion of it, for It held a
large part of what had been the yolk.
If you eould have examined him with a
microscope you would have seen a most
strange ar.d beautiful thing. His little
body was so delicate and transparent
that one could see the arteries pulsing
and throbbing in time with the heating
of his heart, and some of those arteries
found their way into the food sae, where
they kept brandling and dividing and
glowing smaller and more numerous And
lit the very smallest of the tiny tubes a
wonderful process was going on—as won
derful as tiie way in which the oxygen
fed the embryos through the shell. Some
how, by life's marvelous alchemy, the
blood was laying hold of the material of
tiie yolk, turning it into more blood,
and carrying it away to be used in build
ing up bore and muscle everywhere, from
the tip of his nose to the end of his
tail.
With a full haversack to be drawn upon
in such a convenient manner the troutlet
was not obliged to take »ooa tarough
his mouth or to think about hustling
around in search of a living. This was
very fortunate, for the stream was full
of hungry beasts of prey who would be
very likely to gobble him up quick the
first time he went abroad, and. beside,
his frail little body was still so weak
and delicate that he could not bear the
light of day. So, instead of swimming
away to seek his fortune he simply dived
down deeper into the gravel, and stayed
there.
He stayed In the gravel nearly a month,
but his yolk sac was gradually shrinking,
and after a time It drew itself up into
a little cleft in his breast and almost
disappeared. There was nothing left of
it but a little-amber-colored bead, and it
could no longer supply food enough for
his grow-lng body. There were times when
he felt decidedly hungry. And other
changes had come while he lay and
waited in the gravel. The embryonic tin
which had made his tail so like a paddle
was gone, the true dorsal and caudal and
anal fins had taken their proper shape,
and he looked a little less like a tadpole
•and a little more like a fish. He was
stronger than he had been at first, and
he was losing his dread of the sunlight,
so at last he left the gravel bed, to seek
his rightful place in the world of mov
ing, murmuring waters.
1 doubt if more than one fish out of
each thousand eggs ever lived to grow
up. It is not difficult to guess where
they went. Our trout had hardly emeig-
ed from his hiding place In the gravel
v hen a queer, ugly big-headed little lisa
darteu at him from under a stone, with
his jaws open and an awful cavity yawn
ing behind them. The troutlet dodged be.
tween a couple of pebbles and escaped,
but another youngster just beyond him
was caught and swallowed alive. That
was his first meeting with the star
gazer. who kills more babies than ever
Herod did. Then there were winnows
and herrings and lizards and frogs and
weasles and water snakes and other
butchers of all sorts and sizes, too nu
merous to mention. And perhaps the
worst of all were the older trout, who
never Beemed to have the least compunc- #
tion about eating their small relations,
and who were so nimble and lively that
It wtis almost impossible to keep out of
their way. Our friend spent most of his
time in the shallow water near the banks,
where larger fishes were not so likely io
follow him, but even there he had many
narrow escapes and was obliged to keep
himself hidden as much as possible un
der chips and dead leaves, and behind
stones.
His first taste of food was a great ex
perience, and gave him some entirely
new ideas of life. One day he was lying
with his head upstream, as was Ills usual
habit, when ft. particularly fat. plump lit
tle larva, torn from his home by the re
morseless river, came drifting down witn
the current. He looked very tempting,
and out friend sallied out from under a
stick and caught him op the fly, just
as he had seen the star-gazer eaten his
own brother. The funny little creature
wriggled deliciously on .his tongue, and
he held him between his jaws for a
moment in a kind of ecstacy; but he
couldn't quite make up his mind to swal
low him, and presently he spat him out
again and went back to the shadow of
his stick to rest and think about it.
it was the first time in his life that he
had ever done such a thing, and he feil
rather overwhelmed, but an hour or two
later he tried it again, and this time the
living morsel did not stop in his mouth,
but went straight on down.
It must admitted, however, that he
did not look riiuch lie a mature trout,
even now. He was less than three-
quarters of an Inch long, and his big
head, bulging eyes, and capacious moutu
were out. of all proportion to his small
and feeble body. But time and food were
all that was needed to set these matters
right; and now that he had learned how,
he set to work and did his level best.
1 should be afraid to guess how many
tiny water creatures. Insects and larvae
and crustaceae found their way down his
throat, but R. is pretty safe to say that he
often ate more than his own weight in a
siDgle day. And. so he grew in size and
strength and symmetry, and from being
a quiet, languid baby, always hiding
In dark corsers, and attending strictly
to his own affairs, he became one of the
liveliest and most inquisitive little fishes
In all the stream. To a certain extent
h£ developed a fondness for traveling,
and in company with other troutlets of
his own age and size he often journeyed
from place to place in search of new sur
roundings and new things to eat. In fly
time he found a bountiful food supply
in the mosquitoes and black flies that
swarmed over the stream, and it was fun
to see him leap from the water, catch
one of thatn. in his mouth and drop baca
with a. triumphant little splash.
It would take too long to tell of all his
youthful doings during the next year, and
of all his narrow escapes, and the many
tight places that he got into and out of.
Once a kingfisher dived for him. missed
him by a hair’s breadth, and flew back,
scolding and chattering, to his perch on the
old stub that leaned far out over the wa
ter. And once he had a horrible vision
of an immense loom close behind him
with long neck stretched out and huge
bill just ready to make the fatal grab.
He dodged and got away, but it frightened
him about as badly as anything can
frighten a creature with no more nerves
than a fish. . And many other such rfd-
ventures 'he had—too many to enumerate.
However, I don’t think they ever trou
bled him very much except for the mo
ment. He grew more wary, no doubt,
but he didn’t do much worrying. Some
how’ or other he always escaped by the
skin of his teeth, and the next spring he
was swallowing 1'iihe new crop of young
fry with as little concern as his older
relations had shown in trying to swallow
him.
When he was about a year and a half
old he noticed that all the larger trout in
the stream were gathering in places
w’here the water was shallow, the bottom
pebbly, and the_ current rapid, and that
they acted as though they had very im
portant business on hand. He wanted to
do as the others did, and so it happened
that he went back again to the gravelly
shallow where the air bubbles had first
found him. By this time he was about
as large as your finger, or possibly a
trifle larger, and he had all the bump
tiousness of youth and was somewhat
given to pushing himself in where he
wasn’t wanted.
The male trout were the first to arrive,
and they promptly set to work to prepare
nests for their mates, who were expected
a little later. It was a simple process. All
they did was to shove tT.# gravel aside
with their noses and fins and tails, and
then fan the sediments away until they
had made nice, clean little hollows in the
bed of the stream; but there was a good
deal of excitement and jealousy over It.
and every little while they had to stop and
have a scrap. The biggest and strongest
always wanted the best places, and if
they happened to take a fancy for a lo
cation occupied by a smaller and weaker
fish they drove him out without ceremony
and took possession by right of the con
queror. For the most part their fighting
seemed rather tame, for they did little
more than butt each other in the ribs
with their noses, but once In a while
they £bt their dander up and bit quite
savagely. And when the lady trout came
to inspect the nests that had been pre
pared for them, then times *or TJveiier
than ever and tiie jealousy and rivalry
ran very high iniT'ed.
Of course, our trout was too young to
bear a very prominent part in these pro
ceedings. hut he and some companions
of about his own age skirmished around
the edges of the nesting grounds, and
seemed to take a wicked delight in teas
ing the old males and running away just
In time to escape punishment. And when
the nests began to be put to practical
use. the yearlings were very much in
evidence. Strictly fresh eggs are as
good eating down under the water as
they are on land, and. partly on this ac
count, and partly because direct sun
shine is considered very injurious to
them, the mothers always covered them
with gravel as quickly as possible. But
in spite of the best of care the current
was constantly catching some of them
and sweeping them away, and our young
friend would creep up as near as ne
darJd, and whenever one of the yellow-
brown balls came his way he would
gobble it down with as little remorse as
he felt for his first larva. Now and
then an irate father would turn upon
him fiercely and chase him off, but in a
few minutes he would he back again,
watching for eggs as eagerly as ever.
Once, indeed, he had a rather close call,
for the biggest old male in all the stream
came after him with mouth open as if
he would swallow him whole, as he could
very easily have done. Our friend was
almost caught when the big fellow liap-
poned to glance back and saw another
trout coming to visit his wife, and
promptly abandoned the chase and went
home to see about it.
A year Ia.ter our trout went again to
tiie gravelly shallow, and this time, being
6 inches long and about 30 months old.
he decided to make a nest of his own.
He did so and had just induced a most
beautiful young fish of the other sex to
come and examine it. with a view to
matrimony, when that same big bully ap
peared on the scene, promptly turned him
out of house and home and'began court
ing the beautiful young creature him
self. It was very exasperating, not to
say humiliating, but It was the sort or
thing that one must expect when one
is only a 2-year-old.
The next year he had better luck. As
another summer passed away and tn-
cooler weather came on he arrayed him
self in his wadding finery, and it almost
seemed as if he had stolen some of the
colors of the swamp maples, in their
gray fall dress, and was using them to
deck himself out and make a brave dis
play. In later years he was larger and
heavier, but I don't tnink he was ever
much handsomer than he was in that
fourth autumn of his life.
His back was a dark, dusky, olive green
with mottiings that were still darker and
duskier. His sides were lighter—in some
places almost golden yellow; and scatter
ed irregularly over them were the small
bright carmine spots that gave him one
of his aliases, the "Speckied Trout." Be
neath he was usually of a pale cream col
or, but now that he had put on his best
clothes his vest was bright orange and
some of his fins were variagated with red
and white, while others were a fiery yel
low. He was covered all over with a suit
of armour made of thousands and thou
sands of tiny scales, so small and fine
that the eye eould hardly separate them,
and from the bony shoulder girdle just
behind his gills a raised line, dark and
slightly waving, ran back to his tail like
the sheer line of a ship. There were oth
er fishes that were more slender and
more finely modeled than he, and possibly
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