Chapter XV

THE PRAYER OF THE LIVING DEAD

BUT while these glorious things were shining forth in the broad wide world, down upon the Philippine Islands thick darkness had settled. Harrison had come. Filipinization, sweeping through every branch of public work, was rapidly destroying all that America's science and service had accomplished. And the defenceless victims in Culion must share the doom of the rest. The simple truth of this may be sufficiently illustrated by the case of the Culion children.

It is established, then, that children born of leprous parents not only are born clean, but also grow up clean, if removed from the parents and protected from exposure. In Honolulu, during the entire thirty years of American control, not one child of leprous parentage has developed the dis

ease.

In Culion, as in Honolulu, our practice was to isolate all children so born. And in Culion as in Honolulu, of those so protected not a single child contracted the malady.

Then came Mr. Harrison's régime, general Filipinization, Dr. Heiser's departure and, in Culion as elsewhere, the consequent disregarding or discarding of modern standards. During this period over three hundred children born in Culion fell victim to the curse.

All scientific work, whether pathological or alleviative, died down or out, and the legislature that voted "money to burn" into the Philippine National Bank—and freely burned it there -had little indeed to spare to the prisoners of death. In 1918, when Dr. Denny, last American superintendent, gave up his hopeless struggle and left, two physicians constituted

:

Culion's medical corps, charged with the study and care of nearly 4,000 sick.

Then, March 5, 1921, came the disappearance of Harrison. Two months later the Wood-Forbes Commission, landing in Manila, turned its searchlight on the Islands. And its rays swept the chill of fear into the souls of the caciques, seven fat years care-free. So they actually appropriated $50,000 for Culion, and sent four of their doctors down to administer the

cure.

But service that serves is wont to spring from roots other than fear.

Now, if you stop to look over the main elements in the matter, you get something like this:

Leprosy, from the day that Moses commanded the stricken to cry out "unclean!" has been the loathing and the terror of the world.

Leprosy, for reasons as yet undetermined, spreads more rapidly in some places than in others, and spreads in the Philippines with extreme speed; so that the Filipinos, as has already been stated, suffer more generally from its ravages than do many other recorded people.

Leprosy, so science holds, is transmitted only by contact, and can be utterly stamped out by segregation of the afflicted. Leprosy can lie dormant and hidden for fifteen years or more after the infection, and, during all that period, can be carried about and transmitted to others by the infected person. America, at home, receives Filipinos into her schools and colleges, into her domestic service, into many close contactsreceives them freely, and desires so to do. Filipinos and Filipino goods travel freely in all countries by all conveniences. The Philippines are visited by the ships of the world. And the American Government, as holding supreme authority in the Philippines, is responsible to its own American people and to all mankind for safety in these personal contacts and business dealings for due observance of laws of common weal.

Finally, to American science and devotion, brilliantly aided

by British and by German skill, is due the honour of finding a leprosy cure.

Having then, the authority, the responsibility and the cure, had America a choice but to spring to her task?

Governor-General Wood thought not. When he took office, in the autumn of 1921, fresh pictures lived in his memory, close knowledge in his mind, that forbade a day's delay in going to the rescue of these most friendless of earth's lost. The journeys of the Wood-Forbes Commission had laid bare before him a world of secret pities and of secret threats. So, he threw himself into the rescue.

Things, then, began to happen fast. By the end of 1921 ethyl esters were being administered to 1,000 Culion patients. Then a Legislature as yet on good behaviour increased the appropriation. In addition the Governor-General levied on the emergency fund. In 1922 Culion's staff rose to eighteen physicians, twenty-one trained nurses besides the always devoted nuns, and several minor members, with over 4,000 cases under the new treatment.

Once a month, at least, the Apo carried the GovernorGeneral himself to Culion-a night's journey by sea. There his scientific knowledge, as physician bred, enabled him to give the most intelligent stimulus and support to the pathological and medical work, and his active sympathy with the patients themselves produced a bettering of conditions such as surpassed their experience in a lifetime.

For the first time in years, so they themselves affirm, they slept warm at night, had sufficient clothing to wear, had food enough to keep their hunger down, had real nurses and doctors to look to their pains. For the first time after years during which, they say, they "were forgotten by God and

Interesting things-too intimate or too involving, for the most part, to be set down in print-are to be learned of all these matters by conversation with Culion's folk. It was one of the rare saints of the earth-one of those who find happi

ness in close continuous service of a sort that only divine love could endure, who added this:

"You hear it said that lepers' minds are dulled-that they neither suffer nor are grateful and glad like other people. It is not true. You have only to see their touching greetings to the Governor-General to realize that. They exhaust their powers of expression before him when he comes. They go out to meet him with banners. Again and again they have come to me begging: 'Show us what we can do to make sure that he really knows how much we love and pray him never to go away.'"

And when, in November, 1922, a rumour reached Culion that General Wood was really about to leave the Islands to become head of the University of Pennsylvania, they hurried together their knowledge of English in a long petition of which the following is a part:

We, the undersigned, unfortunate inmates of the Culion Leper Colony, desire to express our endless gratitude for the many helps you have already bestowed upon us, both in your personal and official capacity. . . .

We humbly beg and petition your Excellency not to abandon us without the assurance that the great and noble work you have undertaken for the despised lepers shall be continued. .. Not a ray of hope shone across our dark and gloomy pathway until you became interested in our terrible misfortune. With your coming, a new star shone above our narrow horizon-The Star of Hope. For the first time in our desolate lives an active interest has been taken in our welfare. .. Hope has become the very essence of our lives. Through your vivid interest, the new treatment has been extended to us, and if same is continued we hope and look forward to the day when we shall be able to depart from this prison . . . to take up once more the . . . life we left behind us when this terrible malady marked us as its victims, and thus be able to contribute our grain of sand and do our bit for the prosperity and welfare of our dear County. A new trail, thanks to your interest in our behalf, has been blazed for us across the vale of despondency and despair, leading to a new and wonderful existence.

The world can never deny that before you came our newly risen Star of Hope was not known then, the world cared very little

for our sufferings and miserable existence; and we were left only to eke out our misfortune, the gaping jaws of an open grave claiming us as its prey.

However conditions have now changed considerably, thanks to the timely arrival of your Excellency, the acclaimed Saviour of we Lepers. When you leave our shores, please be assured that you shall carry with you the everlasting gratitude and fond memories of unfortunates who have found in your Excellency the angel and conductor of their alleviation and hope for better days to come.

This document bore the signatures of well over thirteen hundred of Culion's sick.

The Governor-General early named an able American scientist, Dr. H. Windsor Wade, to be chief pathologist of the Colony, and requested him to act as chief physician until some well-trained specialist could be found for the job.

This specialist, unfortunately, was not forthcoming, a fact resulting in the deflection of the chief pathologist's labour, to a considerable extent, from the most important feature of the work. For even above the succour of the individual must rank the search for the keys to the safety of the world.

Nevertheless, splendid progress was made-although figures on actual accomplishment are only by degrees available. For the malady is slow-slow in developing, slow in killing, slow in improvement under treatment.

Meantime the reports of betterment, of probable cures, spread through the Islands like dawn after night. Hundreds of lepers who had still remained in hiding came forward and begged to be taken to the Island. Rarely, if ever, was it necessary to invoke police power to bring in any victim, however ignorant or timorous-the good news itself was enough. And every possible step was taken by the Governor-General to spread that news and to aid and popularize the movement.

In spite of again increased appropriations, however, the money available did not suffice to carry on the work in the best way. Only about one-third of the sum total could be spared to the curative treatment, the rest being necessary for the bare maintenance, shelter and clothing of the sick. And