I think even you will admit that I have already been frank in my
description of the man I am defending; but before I take you up upon this
head, I will be franker still, and tell you that perhaps nowhere in the
world can a man taste a more pleasurable sense of contrast than when he
passes from Damien's "Chinatown" at Kalawao to the beautiful Bishop-Home
at Kalaupapa. At this point, in my desire to make all fair for you, I
will break my rule and adduce Catholic testimony. Here is a passage from
my diary about my visit to the Chinatown, from which you will see how it
is (even now) regarded by its own officials: "We went round all the
dormitories, refectories, etc.--dark and dingy enough, with a superficial
cleanliness, which he" [Mr. Dutton, the lay-brother] "did not seek to
defend. 'It is almost decent,' said he; 'the sisters will make that all
right when we get them here.'" And yet I gathered it was already better
since Damien was dead, and far better than when he was there alone and
had his own (not always excellent) way. I have now come far enough to
meet you on a common ground of fact; and I tell you that, to a mind not
prejudiced by jealousy, all the reforms of the lazaretto, and even those
which he most vigorously opposed, are properly the work of Damien. They
are the evidence of his success; they are what his heroism provoked from
the reluctant and the careless. Many were before him in the field; Mr.
Meyer, for instance, of whose faithful work we hear too little: there
have been many since; and some had more worldly wisdom, though none had
more devotion, than our saint. Before his day, even you will confess,
they had effected little. It was his part, by one striking act of
martyrdom, to direct all men's eyes on that distressful country. At a
blow, and with the price of his life, he made the place illustrious and
public. And that, if you will consider largely, was the one reform
needful; pregnant of all that should succeed. It brought money; it
brought (best individual addition of them all) the sisters; it brought
supervision, for public opinion and public interest landed with the man
at Kalawao. If ever any man brought reforms, and died to bring them, it
was he. There is not a clean cup or towel in the Bishop-Home, but dirty
Damien washed it.