p. 731 | LEPERS IN JAPAN

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Sep 24, 1894

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 20, No. 46.

LEPERS IN JAPAN.

At Gotambra, Japan, is a leper hospital established by a Catholic missionary about five years ago. A recent account says there are eighty-six patients. The establishment and its support are the result of appeals to the charity of foreigners. The missionary who has the oversight of the place says of the afflicted people that "for the most part they are rejected by their own families, to which they are a shame. The lepers are obliged to beg on all the roads, and in places frequented by miserable beggars, such as the approaches to the temple of cemeteries. Generally they inspire horror as well as pity. Their hands and feet are eaten away; their bodies covered with sores; their features tumefied and reddish; their eyes bloodshot and their eyelids lacerated; in short, every part of them is horrible to view. Therefore, shunned by everyone, they can but with difficulty find a little rice to satisfy their hunger, and a shelter from the night."

Continuing his report, the missionary says: "Quite lately ten lepers presented themselves at our establishment, begging to be admitted. They are all heart-rending stories to tell. There is one family of which nearly all the members are stricken with the horrible disease, and unable, in consequence, to work to earn their living. There is another family who used up their resources to effect the cure of one person, whom they were obliged to abandon, at last, on account of want of funds. I know of a young man who went to take the warm baths at Kusatsu, in the hope of recovering thereby. One day he received a letter from his mother as follows:—

"'I have nothing more, and I can send you nothing hereafter; find therefore a way to put an end to your existence, and do not trouble me any longer.'"

"Another young man received from his family a similar letter. It was as follows: 'If you cannot find a means of earning your living, die, if it is necessary. It is useless for you to write; your letters will not be received.'"

Those who have health and all their faculties are too often regardless of the sufferings of the afflicted. The Spirit of Christ feels sympathy for the lowest and most degraded, and his true disciples have that spirit.