THE STORY OF FATHER DAMIEN.

Temuka Leader, Issue 1920, 23 July 1889, Page 4

THE STORY OF FATHER DAMIEN.

In the May number of ‘ Longman’s Magazine - ’ is reported the present results of the heroic Father Damien’s work in his self-imposed exile among the Sandwich Island lepers of Molokai. All persons afflicted with leprosy in the Hawaiian Islands are deported, under most strict and vigilant supervision of the Government, to Molokai, one of the smallest of the group, where formerly their condition, physical, moral, and , spiritual, was simply horrible. But in 1873 a young Belgian Eoman Catholic priest, who had been a missionary in Hawaii, resolved to devote himself to the service of these wretched people, This was Father Damien —the Eev. J. Damien de Veuster—of whom one is inclined to say, in ancient phrase, “the world was not worthy.” He was then but thirty-three years old, in robust health, a man of education and refinement, and with every prospect of advancement in his profession. All these “ groat possessions” he gave up, accepting for himself in their stead banishment among frightful scenes, and certainty of the leper’s awful sufferings and death. He worked for eleven years in health, but in 1884 there were forebodings, and in 1885 he showed unmistakeable signs of leprosy. Since then Father Damien’s disease has made great advances, but still he lives and works. The result of his labours has been to effect a revolution in the stricken society. He has been their “ doctor, nurse, carpenter, schoolmaster, magistrate, painter, gardener, cook, sometimes even their undertaker and grave, i(ro-er.” When he reached Molokai “ °he miserable condition of the settlement gave it the name of a living graveyard,” la their miserable grass huts “ were, living pell-mell, without distinction of ages or sex, old or new cases, ail more or Jess strangers to one ano'her, these unfortunate outcasts ol society. They passed their time in palying cards, huia (native dances), prinking fermented ki-rout beer, home-

made alcohol, and with the sequels of all this.” His first discovery was that the temporal wants of his people were as great as their spiritual needs, and that if he was to do any good to their souls, he must first of all do what he could for their bodies. The reforms of temporal conditions, which involved Government intervention, was secured only through great delays, difficulties, and vexations; but Father Damien’s patience and diligence overcame all obstacles. Mr Ballantyne says: — What a wonderful change this devoted man has worked everywhere in this abandoned islet! When he first reached it, the lepers were in a state of the most terrible degradation. “In this place there is no law,” was the current saying among them, Though the other Hawaiian islands had abolished idolatry and adopted Christianity, Molokai where there was no missionary, no priest—the old paganism and all its horrible consequences reigned supreme. To make baa worse, the people had a root which, when cooked and distilled in a very crude way, produced an intoxicating liquor of the most frightful kind, making those that drank it more like beasts than men. But Damien came, a priest and a teacher, among these abandoned, dying wretches. At first, as he says himself, his labors seemed to be almost in vain. But his kindness, his charity, his sympathy, and his religious zeal had not long to wait before their influence was felt Before he reached Molokai, the leper settlement was squalid, hideous, almost hellish; now it is a peaceable, lawabiding community, presenting an attractive and even on some sides a cheerful appearance. It is a colony of neat, whitewashed wooden cottages, some bf them standing in the pasturelands, some among fields of sweet potatoes, some even having their verandas and gardens of bananas and sugar-canes.