Imágenes de páginas
PDF
EPUB

"Humble as a little child

Weaned from the mother's breast;
By no subtleties beguiled,

On Thy faithful word I rest.

"Israel! now and evermore

In the Lord Jehovah trust;
Him, in all His ways, adore-
Wise, and wonderful, and just."

"God hath now sent his living oracle Into the world to teach His final will."

-Milton.

MOLOKAI AND FATHER DAMIEN.

"Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your Father which is in heaven."

MOLOKAI, Molokai! how shall I write of thee,

loveliest prison, hospital, and tomb-the dreaded and shunned home of the Leper! Is Molokai like the other islands of the chain? As like to them as one brother is to another, where they come of the same parents. There are slight differences in the features and complexion of the different islands, but not enough for any confusion as to what family they belong. Molokai is said to be one of the very most beautiful of the group.

And while the lepers can have the perfect freedom of all-out-o'-doors, the sunshine and the air, they are as much in prison and as securely as if behind granite walls and iron bars! Oh, yes! And this is "wise and merciful and just." Is there a leper in Honolulu or elsewhere, he must go out under cover of the night; and even then he is more than liable to arrest. If it be known that any are in hiding far up in the valleys or elsewhere, detectives are sent to search them out. And this is" wise and merciful and just." Great care is taken to provide for these afflicted ones—men,

women and children-yes, often very "little ones," mere babies-when the destroyer marks them for his own! They are Hawaii's wards- these poor sick children and well and nobly does she look out for them; nor are they ever forgotten or neglected. Their rations are plentiful and good; there is no stint of food or clothing. Water is laid on all over the place, and nursing and medicine, and prayers and priest are theirs. They are never overlooked at Christmas or Thanksgiving-time, and even Fourth of July brings for them as well as for others a noisy joy!

By most savants the disease is not thought to be contagious, in the ordinary sense of that term-as measles or whooping-cough; but if a "Sister" or a "Brother," or a priest goes to Molokai for life, to "lose his life that he may find it," he or she must expect, in time, to become a victim, too, to this appalling disease. And should they escape, it would be in the same unaccountable manner that one escapes when in the midst of cholera or yellow-fever, and comes out unharmed.

And Father Damien, what shall I say of thee, thou saint in Paradise!

It was foolhardy, unwise and reckless, a tempting of Providence, a playing with edge-tools, if, as has been said of thee, thou didst take a cup from a leper's hand to drink-the pipe from a leper's mouth to smoke! But thou wast "wise unto salvation"—loving, brotherly and Christ-like, wherein thou didst through the long, lonely years of thy banishment from home

and country, and kith and kin, nurse and help and pray for thy children, ministering to them in their supreme hours of agony-and even shrouding them often for the grave!

On the coast of France, near Calais, is a lighthouse. Some one said to the keeper in charge, "What if your light should go out?"

"It never shall, sir; it never shall! Oh, when I look out at night, and see the ships from India, from Australia, from America, and from other places, I feel as if the eyes of the whole world were upon my light. Oh, it shall never go out!"

"And they came to the gate within the wall, where Peter holds the keys.

Stand up, stand up now, Tomlinson, and answer loud and high The good that ye did for the sake of men or ever ye came to dieThe good that ye did for the sake of men in little earth so lone!' And the naked soul of Tomlinson grew white as a rain-washed bone.

"This I have read in a book,' he said, 'and that was told to me, And this I have thought that another man thought of a Prince in Muscovy'—

And Peter twirled the jangling keys in weariness and wrath. 'Ye have read, ye have heard, ye have thought,' he said, ‘and the tale is yet to run:

By the worth of the body that once ye had, give answer-what ha' ye done?'"

"ST

BISHOP OF PANOPOLIS.

T. MARY'S CATHEDRAL, on Van Ness avenue, was crowded to the doors yesterday morning, the occasion being the consecration of Rev. Father Gulstan P. Ropert as Bishop of the Hawaiian Islands.

"Among the immense congregation were several natives of Hawaii, who had come here to be present at the ceremony.

"It was a spectacle of great pomp and magnifi

cence.

"The beautiful interior of the sacred edifice, the brilliant lights and colors around the altar, and the clergy, with their scarlet and white vestments and the insignia of their higher offices, formed a picture of rare grandeur and impressiveness.

"There were about forty clergy within the altarrails, including, besides the celebrants, Bishop Nichols, of the Greco-Russian Church, and several visiting priests.

"The consecration ceremony was commenced by the celebration of pontifical high mass, in which Bishop Scanlan, of Salt Lake City, and Bishop Mora, of Los Angeles, assisted.

« AnteriorContinuar »