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-i\‘c il 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- CONTIXUED ON LAST PAGE. 9-»-9—9-—9—9—9—'9-»-9-~9-*‘9‘»'9-*9—9’+9—9-»'9-»'9’»9-+9—'9-*9—-0‘»9‘»-9—-9—9‘»-t—9-»'~f—9'»-0-»‘9‘»-9-*’9‘»-9 — 9—9'»-9'—0-a'9-».0+.0*.0+.9.—0—.9—'9-»-9-».0-»-9-».9—9'*9’*’9'»-9'»'9-»'9-—9-»’9—’9'»-9—-6—-0-*-9—-9‘—9—-9-»-9-»-0’—0+-9-»'9 — 9—0-»-9 — 9'—0-r-9-* 9-—9 — 9—-9—9-»-9-»‘0 By IV. D. Hulbert * Uhe YL\r\g of the Troxxt Stream ^ Eighth of the Outdoor Series -■ a ... a-r-0• •«. • «• »...0.:0.-0.:0.:0.*0...0 ... • i—0—0—0^.0 ~-0 — 0.»0;-0., t.:9...0*~9.:0.,.0.:0.:0.-9~. | ■ • 0 • -O- • ■9 — 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 CONTINUED ON LAST PAGE.