That A Leper Is Unclean, However, Should Be Insisted Upon; And The
Segregation Of Lepers, From What Little Is Known Of The Disease,
Should Be Rigidly Maintained.
On the other hand, the awful horror
with which the leper has been regarded in the past, and the
frightful treatment he has received, have been unnecessary and
cruel.
In order to dispel some of the popular misapprehensions of
leprosy, I want to tell something of the relations between the
lepers and non-lepers as I observed them at Molokai. On the morning
after our arrival Charmian and I attended a shoot of the Kalaupapa
Rifle Club, and caught our first glimpse of the democracy of
affliction and alleviation that obtains. The club was just
beginning a prize shoot for a cup put up by Mr. McVeigh, who is also
a member of the club, as also are Dr. Goodhue and Dr. Hollmann, the
resident physicians (who, by the way, live in the Settlement with
their wives). All about us, in the shooting booth, were the lepers.
Lepers and non-lepers were using the same guns, and all were rubbing
shoulders in the confined space. The majority of the lepers were
Hawaiians. Sitting beside me on a bench was a Norwegian. Directly
in front of me, in the stand, was an American, a veteran of the
Civil War, who had fought on the Confederate side. He was sixty-
five years of age, but that did not prevent him from running up a
good score. Strapping Hawaiian policemen, lepers, khaki-clad, were
also shooting, as were Portuguese, Chinese, and kokuas - the latter
are native helpers in the Settlement who are non-lepers. And on the
afternoon that Charmian and I climbed the two-thousand-foot pali and
looked our last upon the Settlement, the superintendent, the
doctors, and the mixture of nationalities and of diseased and non-
diseased were all engaged in an exciting baseball game.
Not so was the leper and his greatly misunderstood and feared
disease treated during the middle ages in Europe. At that time the
leper was considered legally and politically dead. He was placed in
a funeral procession and led to the church, where the burial service
was read over him by the officiating clergyman. Then a spadeful of
earth was dropped upon his chest and he was dead-living dead. While
this rigorous treatment was largely unnecessary, nevertheless, one
thing was learned by it. Leprosy was unknown in Europe until it was
introduced by the returning Crusaders, whereupon it spread slowly
until it had seized upon large numbers of the people. Obviously, it
was a disease that could be contracted by contact. It was a
contagion, and it was equally obvious that it could be eradicated by
segregation. Terrible and monstrous as was the treatment of the
leper in those days, the great lesson of segregation was learned.
By its means leprosy was stamped out.
And by the same means leprosy is even now decreasing in the Hawaiian
Islands. But the segregation of the lepers on Molokai is not the
horrible nightmare that has been so often exploited by YELLOW
writers. In the first place, the leper is not torn ruthlessly from
his family. When a suspect is discovered, he is invited by the
Board of Health to come to the Kalihi receiving station at Honolulu.
His fare and all expenses are paid for him. He is first passed upon
by microscopical examination by the bacteriologist of the Board of
Health. If the bacillus leprae is found, the patient is examined by
the Board of Examining Physicians, five in number. If found by them
to be a leper, he is so declared, which finding is later officially
confirmed by the Board of Health, and the leper is ordered straight
to Molokai. Furthermore, during the thorough trial that is given
his case, the patient has the right to be represented by a physician
whom he can select and employ for himself. Nor, after having been
declared a leper, is the patient immediately rushed off to Molokai.
He is given ample time, weeks, and even months, sometimes, during
which he stays at Kalihi and winds up or arranges all his business
affairs. At Molokai, in turn, he may be visited by his relatives,
business agents, etc., though they are not permitted to eat and
sleep in his house. Visitors' houses, kept "clean," are maintained
for this purpose.
I saw an illustration of the thorough trial given the suspect, when
I visited Kalihi with Mr. Pinkham, president of the Board of Health.
The suspect was an Hawaiian, seventy years of age, who for thirty-
four years had worked in Honolulu as a pressman in a printing
office. The bacteriologist had decided that he was a leper, the
Examining Board had been unable to make up its mind, and that day
all had come out to Kalihi to make another examination.
When at Molokai, the declared leper has the privilege of re-
examination, and patients are continually coming back to Honolulu
for that purpose. The steamer that took me to Molokai had on board
two returning lepers, both young women, one of whom had come to
Honolulu to settle up some property she owned, and the other had
come to Honolulu to see her sick mother. Both had remained at
Kalihi for a month.
The Settlement of Molokai enjoys a far more delightful climate than
even Honolulu, being situated on the windward side of the island in
the path of the fresh north-east trades. The scenery is
magnificent; on one side is the blue sea, on the other the wonderful
wall of the pali, receding here and there into beautiful mountain
valleys. Everywhere are grassy pastures over which roam the
hundreds of horses which are owned by the lepers. Some of them have
their own carts, rigs, and traps. In the little harbour of
Kalaupapa lie fishing boats and a steam launch, all of which are
privately owned and operated by lepers.
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