ARCHDEACON MICHELL--DISPOSAL OF OUR FUND--THE LEPER CAT--THE IDIOT BOY.
As our stay in Calcutta was drawing to a close, and as I was loth to
leave my leper friends without first having succeeded in interesting
some influential lady or gentleman in them and their sad state, I
wrote to Archdeacon Michell, and gave him a full account of my work,
and asked him if he would take over my fund money, and do his best
for the lepers after my departure. He sent me a kind letter in reply,
promising to comply with my request, and asking me to appoint a day
when he would visit with me the Leper Asylum, and also Kate Reilly. On
the following Tuesday the Archdeacon and I, accompanied by Mrs. Grant,
my husband and Brother John, visited the lepers in the asylum, and
Kate Reilly, who were all delighted on seeing so many friendly faces.
Kate Reilly thanked us again and again for coming, and gave Mrs. Grant
a few small commissions. She also asked for a little underclothing,
and endeavoured to impress upon Archdeacon Michell her immediate want
of a Christian female attendant. She told me that she had heard of a
native Christian woman who was at that time living with a man, who was
going away, when she could come as attendant to Kate. On remarking that
this did not appear to be quite the sort of person to choose, poor
Kate said that there was no such thing as choice in the matter, that
only the most degraded outcasts would care to attend to lepers, and
that no one would consent to take up such work if they were able to
obtain a livelihood in any other way. The Reverend Mr. Michell seemed
much impressed by what he had seen, and promised to go and visit Kate
Reilly and the other lepers on future occasions. We arranged that he
should take over what money I had left in my leper fund, and keep
the books, and that Brother John would continue to visit the lepers
every week as usual, taking with him anything they might require, and
giving to each European and Eurasian leper a rupee, as I had been in
the habit of doing. He would hand in the account of all money expended
in this way, to Mr. Michell. Before leaving Calcutta I spent about
£20 of the fund money in the purchase of cotton chemises, wrappers,
nightgowns, and handkerchiefs for the women, and shirts for the men
in the Leper Asylum; as it is necessary during the intense heat of
Calcutta to change one’s underlinen frequently. When I first saw the
lepers, they were complaining bitterly of the want of clean linen,
and were delighted when I was able to procure a good stock of it for
them. Healthy persons, even among the natives who can afford to do so,
change their linen frequently during the hot weather. Those who possess
no change of clothing can be seen washing their single suit, while
performing their ablutions at one of the numerous tanks or bathing
places in the city. If the intense heat makes bathing and a change of
clothes so imperative among all persons, rich and poor, my readers will
at once recognise the necessity of providing those afflicted with a
loathsome evil-smelling disease like leprosy with a liberal quantity of
clean linen; at least, during the hottest months of the year. I used
to pity poor Daisy and Bella very much in the terrible heat. Bridget
had no sores, nor did she seem affected at all like those poor girls;
for there was never any bad odour discernible in her little room. I
may mention that one of the peculiarities of leprosy is that those
suffering from it can bear heat very badly. Hence, lepers, as a rule,
like to sit in the shade and to keep out of the direct rays of the sun.
I have often heard them complain that their blood seemed to be on fire.
The skin of the Jewess had changed to a strange blue colour, possibly
by reason of the medicines she had taken, but she was not disfigured
with loathsome sores like Daisy and Bella; though she used to complain
of a very unpleasant smell from her skin. Everything, even the texts
on the walls in the room where Daisy was, seemed to reek of leprosy.
Anyone, even with the most blunted feelings, would shudder on coming
in contact with this awful smell, and could hardly fail to suggest
the necessity of disinfectants for subduing it. Bridget, who was fond
of animals, though I do not know how she managed to feed them, had
a cat given her by Mrs. Grant. In due course, this pussy became a
mother, and greatly to Bridget’s delight, presented her with a fine
family of tortoise-shell kittens. Mrs. Puss has, I believe, contracted
leprosy; for her face is much disfigured; her eye-sight has almost
gone, and water was running down from her eyes, just as I have noticed
in the case of certain lepers. Brother John drew my attention to this
strange cat, and both of us agreed that we had never seen anything
like it before. I read, some months after, that the doctors engaged on
the Leprosy Commission in Simla had inoculated some rabbits with the
bacillus of leprosy, and that on being killed a short time afterwards
leprous tubercles or nodules had been found in their bodies. After
reading that rabbits can become inoculated with leprosy, I have no
doubt that Bridget’s cat is afflicted with the disease, and, probably,
her kittens also. In India it is not safe to stroke cats or dogs, or to
allow them to sleep in beds with children; for it is possible for them
to transmit disease from place to place. Sorry as I would be to deprive
poor Bridget of any small pleasure, I must say that I do not think
a cat should be kept in a leper Asylum; for it is almost impossible
to keep one shut up or control her movements at all times, and there
is nothing to prevent her, after having been stroked by lepers, and
licking their sores, from going to a healthy person and being kissed
and fondled by young children.
I drew the attention of the public, through the medium of our paper,
to a native idiot boy, who, though not a leper, had been an inmate of
the Calcutta Leper Asylum for a long time. It appears, from what Mr.
McGuire told me, that some years ago, a native child who was deformed
in such a manner as to render walking or standing impossible, and who
used to move along the ground in a sitting position, was found outside
the leper Asylum. The lepers had fed him and he, although not a leper,
had been allowed to live with them in the Asylum. When I remarked on
the danger of allowing him to live entirely with lepers, and to eat and
sleep with them, and suggested his removal, Mr. McGuire informed me
that there was no place where he, a deformed harmless lunatic, could
be put, and that he had lived with the lepers for many years, being
doubtless perfectly happy. This boy is in the Calcutta Leper Asylum at
the time of writing, and, so far, has not developed any indications
of having contracted the disease. Another native, a very bad leper,
was turned out of the Asylum into the streets for misbehaviour. Here
we have a leper covered with sores expelled from the Asylum by Mr.
McGuire, and with, I presume, full sanction of the Commissioner of
police, for refusing to maintain order within its walls. In the Bombay
Asylum there are cells for refractory subjects; but in Calcutta they
are sent out with their disease and misery into the streets to mix with
healthy persons, and to prove a source of danger to all those with whom
they come in contact. They are not again entitled to even the wretched
shelter and protection afforded at the Calcutta Leper Asylum. It is
high time that such scandals as these were made known, and that prompt
action be taken by Government for the segregation of very bad lepers
like the man of whom I speak; for when he called on me at my house to
tell his story, his running sores were without bandages, and my little
boy was playing quite close to where he was squatting. Besides, in the
crowded Bazaars of Calcutta, he would come into close contact with a
number of healthy native children, who go about quite naked, and who
might become inoculated with this disease.