Page 1 of 2

Re: Sister Rose Gertrude (Amy C. Fowler) To Die For The Lepe

PostPosted: Sat Jun 02, 2018 8:29 am
by admin
Sister Rose Gertrude and the Lepers of Molokai
by Liverpool Catholic Times
New Zealand Tablet, Volume XVII, Issue 47, 14 March 1890, Page 15

NOTICE: THIS WORK MAY BE PROTECTED BY COPYRIGHT

YOU ARE REQUIRED TO READ THE COPYRIGHT NOTICE AT THIS LINK BEFORE YOU READ THE FOLLOWING WORK, THAT IS AVAILABLE SOLELY FOR PRIVATE STUDY, SCHOLARSHIP OR RESEARCH PURSUANT TO 17 U.S.C. SECTION 107 AND 108. IN THE EVENT THAT THE LIBRARY DETERMINES THAT UNLAWFUL COPYING OF THIS WORK HAS OCCURRED, THE LIBRARY HAS THE RIGHT TO BLOCK THE I.P. ADDRESS AT WHICH THE UNLAWFUL COPYING APPEARED TO HAVE OCCURRED. THANK YOU FOR RESPECTING THE RIGHTS OF COPYRIGHT OWNERS.


SISTER ROSE GERTRUDE, a member of the Third Order of St. Dominic, took her departure from the Mersey for New York on Saturday in the Cunard steamer Bothnia, with the intention of proceeding to the leper settlement at Kalawao, under the auspices of the Hawaiian Government, who have paid her passage out, and attached to her position an annual salary, which at first she did not wish to take, but was persuaded to accept as it gives her a certain official status. She expresses her intention of devoting the money to the benefit of the hospital and the patients.

Sister Rose Gertrude (in the world Miss Amy C. Fowler) is the daughter of the Rev. F. Fowler, a well-known Anglican clergyman, chaplain to the Infirmary at Bath, where she was born 27 years ago, and where she received her education. She had it in her mind for many years -- long before Father Damien's illness and death drew special attention to the Molokai lepers -- to devote her attention to this particular branch of sick-nursing.

Eight years ago, when she became a Catholic, she wished to go, but was too young then. She studied medicine for several years in Paris, not to take a medical degree, but to become an efficient sick-nurse, and holds several certificates. She has also been at the Pasteur Institute, where she says she learned much that she hopes will be of great use to her. She is quite ready to die when her work, to which she looks forward with intense interest, is done.

Some Hawaiian friends, and another friend who lives in Paris, put her in communication with the Government at Honolulu, who accepted her at once and unconditionally.

She has seen lepers in the Paris hospitals, not in a very advanced stage of the disease, but enough to give her an idea of what she shall have to face. Cardinal Manning, when he gave her his blessing before she left London, said: -- "My child, you have had a very special call; a great task has been given you to do; and I would not, could not, prevent you from following the Voice which calls you."

From the hour when she will step ashore on the leper island in the South Seas, she will become Sister Superior of the leper's hospital at Kalawao. A few days ago the Prince of Wales, in his speech at the banquet at the Hotel Metropole, London, Publicly announced that this young lady was going out to nurse the lepers among whom Father Damien had worked and suffered and died a martyr's death.

She is described as a young, fresh, beautiful girl, with large eyes of deepest blue, and a fair, rosy complexion. In every movement of her little figure activity and energy are expressed.

Father Damien's hospital contains from thirty to sixty men and women, and she will reside in a small cottage erected in close proximity to the institution.

By her express desire, the least possible publicity was given to her departure. Having bade farewell to her parents at home (Combe Down, some miles from Bath), she travelled alone to Liverpool. The Rev. Mr. Chapman, of Camberwell, the Secretary of the Father Damien Fund, travelled to Liverpool to bid her farewell. He writes: -- "I have been requested by Sister Rose Gertrude, who sailed on Saturday for Molokai, to express her humble and deep gratitude for the many proofs of kindness received in answer to the appeal on her behalf. The money given amounted to 120 pounds, and five cases of various articles have been despatched to the leper island. A society will shortly be formed for the regular supply of extra comforts which may be required, embracing also other leper communities conspicuous for similar sadness and similar heroism. Sister Rose begged me, as a last favour, to ask that her secular name might not be mentioned, and expressed her intense regret that she had fallen an unwilling victim to a most distasteful publicity. I need only say that her heroism is not more remarkable than her humility. God grant that her example may do much to shame us men out of our selfishness by the sight of what a woman can do when she truly loves. She left this country absolutely alone, and without a sixpence of her own."

Re: Sister Rose Gertrude (Amy C. Fowler) To Die For The Lepe

PostPosted: Sat Jun 02, 2018 8:29 am
by admin
Hawaii, Kingdom. Legislature, Select Committee on Rose Gertrude
Legislature of 1890. [rule] Select Committee on Complaint of Rose Gertrude in regard to Kalihi Hospital, Honolulu, H.I.:, Robert Grieve, Steam Book and Job Printer, 25 and 27 Merchant Street, 1890.

Hawaiian National Bibliography, 1780-1900: 1881-1900
by David W. Forbes

NOTICE: THIS WORK MAY BE PROTECTED BY COPYRIGHT

YOU ARE REQUIRED TO READ THE COPYRIGHT NOTICE AT THIS LINK BEFORE YOU READ THE FOLLOWING WORK, THAT IS AVAILABLE SOLELY FOR PRIVATE STUDY, SCHOLARSHIP OR RESEARCH PURSUANT TO 17 U.S.C. SECTION 107 AND 108. IN THE EVENT THAT THE LIBRARY DETERMINES THAT UNLAWFUL COPYING OF THIS WORK HAS OCCURRED, THE LIBRARY HAS THE RIGHT TO BLOCK THE I.P. ADDRESS AT WHICH THE UNLAWFUL COPYING APPEARED TO HAVE OCCURRED. THANK YOU FOR RESPECTING THE RIGHTS OF COPYRIGHT OWNERS.


8VO. 20.5 x 13 cm (BPBM). Cover title, [1] + 2-39 complaint and testimony, 40-42 majority report, 43 minority report, [44] blank pp.

Following the death of Father Damien, Miss Amy Fowler, a Roman Catholic convert and daughter of an English clergyman, announced to the world that, as Father Damien had done, she would travel to the Hawaiian Islands and devote the rest of her life to the service of the lepers. She received a great deal of publicity. When as Sister Rose Gertrude she arrived at Honolulu, she was "attired in the dress of the order of St. Dominic" (Pacific Commercial Advertiser, March 1-, 1890). The President of the Board of Health writes in his 1890 report to the legislature (pp. 10-11):

Sister Rose Gertrude, whose mission to this country to devote her life to the care of the lepers was heralded by the press of the whole civilized world, arrived here early in March, and, although she expected to be assigned to duty at Molokai, it was the opinion of the Board that she could be more usefully employed, for the present, at the Receiving Station, where the services of a trained nurse were very much needed, and she has therefore been installed as its matron. Her field of labor, though limited, is an important one. She is in charge of the "Suspect" side of the establishment and has her residence in a detached cottage in the grounds. She has already entered upon her work with a zeal and judgment that bid fair to be of great benefit to those who are placed under her care.

Sister Rose Gertrude, however, soon found herself at cross-purposes with one Charles Kahalehili, who acted as a sort of luna (overseer) at the Kalihi establishment. He had on numerous occasions counseled fellow patients not to take prescribed medicines, and Sister Rose reported that whereas she, acting under the orders of Dr. Lutz, had prescribed rest for the patients, Kahalehili was forcing ill patients to work in various capacities, threatening to send them to Molokai if they did not perform. Recreational outings by the doctor and Sister Rose "into the surrounding country, amusing themselves by amateur photography on the way," reported in the Pacific Commercial Advertiser (Sept. 30, 1890,) had also become the source of town gossip. Sister Rose first demanded that the Board of Health dismiss Kahalehili, and, while this was under consideration, she also managed to get the legislature involved in the investigation.

In its report the committee states that it had investigated matters at the hospital and interviewed the patients and had come to the conclusion that the conduct of Charles Kahalehili had been improper, and that W.F. Reynolds of the Board of Health had also acted in an unsatisfactory manner; it recommends the removal of both from office. The majority report is signed by John W. Kalua (Chairman), A.P. Paehaole, H.G. Crabbe, and Wm. H. Halstead. The minority report is signed by T.R. Lucas.

Following this report Sister Rose Gertrude resigned, and, as Miss Fowler, was subsequently employed as a children's governess for the John Ena family.

Re: Sister Rose Gertrude (Amy C. Fowler) To Die For The Lepe

PostPosted: Sat Jun 02, 2018 8:30 am
by admin
Medical Notes Re Amy Fowler, aka Sister Rose Gertrude
The Boston Medical and Surgical Journal, Volume 122
January 30, 1890

NOTICE: THIS WORK MAY BE PROTECTED BY COPYRIGHT

YOU ARE REQUIRED TO READ THE COPYRIGHT NOTICE AT THIS LINK BEFORE YOU READ THE FOLLOWING WORK, THAT IS AVAILABLE SOLELY FOR PRIVATE STUDY, SCHOLARSHIP OR RESEARCH PURSUANT TO 17 U.S.C. SECTION 107 AND 108. IN THE EVENT THAT THE LIBRARY DETERMINES THAT UNLAWFUL COPYING OF THIS WORK HAS OCCURRED, THE LIBRARY HAS THE RIGHT TO BLOCK THE I.P. ADDRESS AT WHICH THE UNLAWFUL COPYING APPEARED TO HAVE OCCURRED. THANK YOU FOR RESPECTING THE RIGHTS OF COPYRIGHT OWNERS.


The announcement is made that a London lady has taken up the labors of Fr. Damien, and will go to Molokai to work among the lepers. She is Amy Fowler, daughter of Chaplain Fowler of the Bath workhouse, London. Miss Fowler studied medicine under Pasteur in Paris. She is twenty-seven years old, and goes to the lepers under the name of Sister Rose Gertrude.

Re: Sister Rose Gertrude (Amy C. Fowler) To Die For The Lepe

PostPosted: Sat Jun 02, 2018 8:30 am
by admin
Calendar Re Amy C. Fowler Marriage to Dr. Lutz
by University of Notre Dame
April 14, 1891

NOTICE: THIS WORK MAY BE PROTECTED BY COPYRIGHT

YOU ARE REQUIRED TO READ THE COPYRIGHT NOTICE AT THIS LINK BEFORE YOU READ THE FOLLOWING WORK, THAT IS AVAILABLE SOLELY FOR PRIVATE STUDY, SCHOLARSHIP OR RESEARCH PURSUANT TO 17 U.S.C. SECTION 107 AND 108. IN THE EVENT THAT THE LIBRARY DETERMINES THAT UNLAWFUL COPYING OF THIS WORK HAS OCCURRED, THE LIBRARY HAS THE RIGHT TO BLOCK THE I.P. ADDRESS AT WHICH THE UNLAWFUL COPYING APPEARED TO HAVE OCCURRED. THANK YOU FOR RESPECTING THE RIGHTS OF COPYRIGHT OWNERS.


Amy C. Fowler, formerly known as Sister Rose Gertrude is to be married to Dr. Lutz at the home of H.W. Schmidt.

Re: Sister Rose Gertrude (Amy C. Fowler) To Die For The Lepe

PostPosted: Sat Jun 02, 2018 8:31 am
by admin
Sister Rose Gertrude Seeks Solace for her Sorrows in Matrimony
by Otago Daily Times
Issue 9105, May 2, 1891

NOTICE: THIS WORK MAY BE PROTECTED BY COPYRIGHT

YOU ARE REQUIRED TO READ THE COPYRIGHT NOTICE AT THIS LINK BEFORE YOU READ THE FOLLOWING WORK, THAT IS AVAILABLE SOLELY FOR PRIVATE STUDY, SCHOLARSHIP OR RESEARCH PURSUANT TO 17 U.S.C. SECTION 107 AND 108. IN THE EVENT THAT THE LIBRARY DETERMINES THAT UNLAWFUL COPYING OF THIS WORK HAS OCCURRED, THE LIBRARY HAS THE RIGHT TO BLOCK THE I.P. ADDRESS AT WHICH THE UNLAWFUL COPYING APPEARED TO HAVE OCCURRED. THANK YOU FOR RESPECTING THE RIGHTS OF COPYRIGHT OWNERS.


A Honolulu correspondent of the Auckland Herald, under date April 10, writes: --

The Honolulu Daily Bulletin, issued shortly after the steamer Monowai sailed for San Francisco today, announced that Dr. Lutz and Miss Amy Fowler (Sister Rose Gertrude) are to be married tomorrow.

Dr. Lutz was brought from Germany by the Reform Ministry as a specialist who would try to cure leprosy. Sister Rose Gertrude is known throughout the world as the lady who heroically volunteered to come to Hawaii to nurse lepers. When she arrived, instead of being sent to the leper settlement on Molokai, where Father Damien dwelt and died, she was retained at Honolulu to minister to the comfort of the sick people at the branch leper hospital and examining station near the city.

This change in her location from the original intention was made by the Board of Health because there were Sisters of Mercy enough on Molokai, and Sister Rose belonged to a different order from them, and a nurse at the branch hospital was regarded as desirable
. Everything went well enough with Rose, so far as the public knew, until a serious complaint on her behalf was suddenly made in the Legislature. She complained that a native overseer, a man who was on probation himself as to whether he should be consigned to Molokai, was interfering with the treatment of Dr. Lutz as hospital physician and with her regimen as matron. Further, she complained that the agent of the Board of Health, C.B. Reynolds, who had the superintendence of the hospital, was supporting the overseer in his recalcitrant conduct. Also, that she had formerly complained to the Board of Health, but had received no redress from that body.

A select committee of the Legislature, which was composed chiefly of native members, spent several afternoons at the hospital taking evidence. At first it looked as if the committee was going to sustain Rose Gertrud's charges unanimously, but the one white member dissented from the majority in its recommendation to dismiss the agent and the overseer.

The evidence was printed in an official document. It showed some breaches of discipline on the part of the simple-minded native overseer -- or "luna" as the native word for "boss" is. On the other hand, it was made clear that up to a few days before the Sister's grievance was aired in the House, she had been on the most cordial terms with both the overseer and the agent. It was shown that the first and almost the only real cause of offence to her was the gossiping of the overseer with the native men and women inmates regarding the intimacy observable between the doctor and the nurse.

They used to go out riding and driving together, also taking long excursions into the surrounding country with a photographic camera, and, on their return, going into the "dark room" together to develop the negatives. These facts became very obvious not only to the inmates of the hospital, but to the whole community. Early in the unpleasantness the priests in the Roman Catholic Mission, in answer to inquiries, declined to acknowledge Sister Rose as a genuine member of any known Sisterhood, saying at the same time that conduct like hers would not be tolerated in any Catholic country in the world.


You are probably familiar with Miss Fowler's agitation of her quarrel with the Board of Health through the American and British press. It is only necessary to add that the theory once treated here as a little spiteful to the comely maiden -- viz., that the whole trouble arose from the doctor and the nurse's having fallen in love with each other at almost first sight -- has now been verified by the public notice of their marriage. The marriage ceremony and wedding reception will both take place at the house of Mr. H. W. Schmidt, consul for Norway and Sweden, tomorrow evening.

As there has been a change in part of the personnel of the Board of Health since Queen Liliuokaiani's accession, it is possible that Dr. Lutz may be asked to assume again the position of hospital physician, which he resigned some time ago on account of the troubles before mentioned. In such a case everything ought to be lovely with all concerned, since the heroic English girl has become more than a sister to the German specialist.

Re: Sister Rose Gertrude (Amy C. Fowler) To Die For The Lepe

PostPosted: Sat Jun 02, 2018 8:32 am
by admin
Notes on New Books: "Little Dick's Christmas Carol", by Amy Fowler
by The Irish Monthly
Volume 18, April, 1890

NOTICE: THIS WORK MAY BE PROTECTED BY COPYRIGHT

YOU ARE REQUIRED TO READ THE COPYRIGHT NOTICE AT THIS LINK BEFORE YOU READ THE FOLLOWING WORK, THAT IS AVAILABLE SOLELY FOR PRIVATE STUDY, SCHOLARSHIP OR RESEARCH PURSUANT TO 17 U.S.C. SECTION 107 AND 108. IN THE EVENT THAT THE LIBRARY DETERMINES THAT UNLAWFUL COPYING OF THIS WORK HAS OCCURRED, THE LIBRARY HAS THE RIGHT TO BLOCK THE I.P. ADDRESS AT WHICH THE UNLAWFUL COPYING APPEARED TO HAVE OCCURRED. THANK YOU FOR RESPECTING THE RIGHTS OF COPYRIGHT OWNERS.


Mr. Gladstone's review of Ellen Middleton, disinterred after forty years, has probably relieved Burns and Oates's shelves of many copies of their reprint of Lady Georgiana Fullerton's earliest novel. We trust that the same effect may be produced with regard to a pretty book of stories published by Mr. R. Washbourne, 18 Paternoster Row, when the author is recognised as Miss Amy Fowler, the convert daughter of an Anglican clergyman, who is now making Molokai her home. As a Dominican nun, her name is Rose Gertrude, and as such she is thus addressed by another Anglican clergyman, the Rev. H.D. Rawnsley, in The Pall Mall Gazette:--

"Sister Rose Gertrude! when the angels came
And fired your soul and filled your girlish eyes
With that fierce splendour of self-sacrifice,
Whose passionate glory death can never tame,
Did tropic lands with flowers and fruit out-flame?
Bright shores from hyacinthine seas arise?
Or heard you Pain in some far Paradise,
Cry for a Saviour in the Saviour's name?

Nay rather, then, the paradisal flower
Of Love, heaven-planted in your heart of earth,
Turned to the light to find its being whole,
And o'er dark seas you went with pity's power
To share true Life's communicable birth,
And realise the God within your soul."

It is pleasant to be able to add that Amy Fowler tells her pretty stories so prettily that they do not need the extraneous recommendation of having been written by Sister Rose Gertrude. "Little Dick's Christmas Carol" contains five tales, beside the one that gives its name to the book. The three first are in reality one story. Every one of the half dozen is interesting, edifying (and not too edifying), and very charmingly written, worthy of warm praise for its own sake, even if the writer had not given up home and friends to become a Catholic, and had not now gone across the world to nurse the poor lepers of Molokai.

Re: Sister Rose Gertrude (Amy C. Fowler) To Die For The Lepe

PostPosted: Sat Jun 02, 2018 8:32 am
by admin
In The Land of Lepers. Gossip and Truth About Sister Rose Gertrude
by The New York Times
-- © The New York Times, September 25, 1890

NOTICE: THIS WORK MAY BE PROTECTED BY COPYRIGHT

YOU ARE REQUIRED TO READ THE COPYRIGHT NOTICE AT THIS LINK BEFORE YOU READ THE FOLLOWING WORK, THAT IS AVAILABLE SOLELY FOR PRIVATE STUDY, SCHOLARSHIP OR RESEARCH PURSUANT TO 17 U.S.C. SECTION 107 AND 108. IN THE EVENT THAT THE LIBRARY DETERMINES THAT UNLAWFUL COPYING OF THIS WORK HAS OCCURRED, THE LIBRARY HAS THE RIGHT TO BLOCK THE I.P. ADDRESS AT WHICH THE UNLAWFUL COPYING APPEARED TO HAVE OCCURRED. THANK YOU FOR RESPECTING THE RIGHTS OF COPYRIGHT OWNERS.


A great many good people of this city found vent for their philanthropic tendencies last Winter by interesting themselves in the mission of Sister Rose Gertrude, (Amy Fowler), a young Englishwoman who stopped in New York on her way to Honolulu, where she intended to devote her life to the care of the lepers. Her enthusiasm for her future work was the cause of an American Leprosy Fund Society being organized, with Richard F. Downing as its President, and Feb. 28, when Sister Rose Gertrude left this city for San Francisco, she carried with her $335 in cash and gifts valued at $2,200, to be used for her own and others' comfort in her new field of labor.

Since that time all sorts of stories have come from Honolulu regarding Sister Rose Gertrude. She has intended to go direct to Molokai, the leper settlement, but her journey ended at Kahili, the receiving station for the lepers. Rumor has had it that she was not allowed to go on to Molokai, that in fact her efforts were not received by the local Board of Health in the cordial spirit which letters previously received from that board had led her to expect that they would be. In short, it was reported that Sister Rose Gertrude's efforts were meeting with anything except success. These rumors were rather substantiated by a statement made in a letter from her received by a Brooklyn friend last week in which she said: "In this country the missionary societies are very strong and spiteful. Instead of practicing the gospel of poverty that they preach, they have grown rich by smuggling and by mortgaging the property of the simple natives."

The latest rumor from Honolulu regarding Sister Rose Gertrude is that she is about to marry Dr. Lutz, a young German physician who for two years has been in charge of the receiving station where Sister Rose Gertrude is now head nurse. For some time it has been stated that a very warm friendship had grown up between the fair young English girl and the young German doctor. It was said that their sympathies were mutual, owing to the fact that the ideas of both conflicted with the ideas of the missionary societies, and it was said that because of that conflict both were laboring under unexpected difficulties in pursuing their work. The announcement of their marriage engagement is the latest development.

Richard F. Downing, the President of the American Leprosy Fund Society, says that the society has no reason to believe, or disbelieve, that Sister Rose Gertrude is going to be married. She writes to some member of the society nearly every three weeks, and has not mentioned Dr. Lutz in any way except as a friend. Mr. Downing furthermore thought that the marriage story was "ridiculous," though, when asked to say why he so characterized it he only said: "Well, it is not like Sister Rose Gertrude at all." However, he did not care particularly. He saw no reason why Sister Rose Gertrude and Dr. Lutz could not carry on their noble work as man and wife quite as well as if single.

"An immense amount of nonsense has been printed concerning Sister Rose Gertrude," he said. "Any insinuation that she is not carrying out the noble work to which she dedicated her life is unjust. She left America expecting to go direct to the leper settlement at Molokai. That was in accordance with her instructions from the Board of Health there. A better field of work for her, however, was found at the Kalihi receiving station, and there she has since labored. The differences she has had with the representatives of the missionary societies there have not in any way interfered with the work which she undertook."

Re: Sister Rose Gertrude (Amy C. Fowler) To Die For The Lepe

PostPosted: Sat Jun 02, 2018 8:32 am
by admin
Sister Rose Gertrude's Case
From the London Daily News
© The New York Times
January 5, 1891

NOTICE: THIS WORK MAY BE PROTECTED BY COPYRIGHT

YOU ARE REQUIRED TO READ THE COPYRIGHT NOTICE AT THIS LINK BEFORE YOU READ THE FOLLOWING WORK, THAT IS AVAILABLE SOLELY FOR PRIVATE STUDY, SCHOLARSHIP OR RESEARCH PURSUANT TO 17 U.S.C. SECTION 107 AND 108. IN THE EVENT THAT THE LIBRARY DETERMINES THAT UNLAWFUL COPYING OF THIS WORK HAS OCCURRED, THE LIBRARY HAS THE RIGHT TO BLOCK THE I.P. ADDRESS AT WHICH THE UNLAWFUL COPYING APPEARED TO HAVE OCCURRED. THANK YOU FOR RESPECTING THE RIGHTS OF COPYRIGHT OWNERS.


There having been so many false and sensational reports regarding Miss Amy Fowler (Sister Rose Gertrude) and the cause of her change of plans, her friend, the Rev. Hugh B. Chapman, vicar of St. Luke's, Camberwell, asks to be allowed to make a statement. "On Monday," he says, "I received a detailed and private letter from the lady herself, setting forth her reasons for abandoning the charge of the leper-suspect hospital at Kalibi, though she requests that they should not be made public. Suffice it to say they are perfectly satisfactory to me, though none can regret more than myself the prevalence of red tape and the factor of local animosities which have prevented the execution of a noble resolve. It is satisfactory to note that the base allegations against the late Father Damien were entirely due to religious bigotry though I never believed them for a moment, and should have equally admired his self-sacrifice if they had been true. Miss Fowler is now earning her living as a teacher in Honolulu. As for the leper fund which I have in hand, (350 pounds,) please allow me to inform the subscribers that it will be expended in warm clothing and extra comforts for the lepers of Molokai (numbering 1,200), who are suffering intensely from the cold, in addition to their exceptional misfortune."

Re: Sister Rose Gertrude (Amy C. Fowler) To Die For The Lepe

PostPosted: Sat Jun 02, 2018 8:33 am
by admin
Untitled Article Re Amy Fowler, aka Sister Rose Gertrude
by The Friend
Volume 49, Number 4, 1 April 1891 Edition 01

NOTICE: THIS WORK MAY BE PROTECTED BY COPYRIGHT

YOU ARE REQUIRED TO READ THE COPYRIGHT NOTICE AT THIS LINK BEFORE YOU READ THE FOLLOWING WORK, THAT IS AVAILABLE SOLELY FOR PRIVATE STUDY, SCHOLARSHIP OR RESEARCH PURSUANT TO 17 U.S.C. SECTION 107 AND 108. IN THE EVENT THAT THE LIBRARY DETERMINES THAT UNLAWFUL COPYING OF THIS WORK HAS OCCURRED, THE LIBRARY HAS THE RIGHT TO BLOCK THE I.P. ADDRESS AT WHICH THE UNLAWFUL COPYING APPEARED TO HAVE OCCURRED. THANK YOU FOR RESPECTING THE RIGHTS OF COPYRIGHT OWNERS.


Sister Rose Gertrude, otherwise Miss Amy Fowler, formerly connected with the Kalihi Receiving Hospital for Lepers, has published letters in the New York World, and in the Ladies' Home Journal, making severe accusations against the Board of Health, who declined to grant certain demands of herself and Dr. Lutz, and accepted their resignations. We do not feel called to defend the Board, who are able to take care of themselves; but will merely say to our readers abroad that, to the best of our knowledge, the prevailing opinion here, among people of all parties, sustains the action of the Board. Many of the statements made in the letters, as we are well certified, do not accord with the actual facts, and our American friends may well avoid confiding in them. People here do not need the caution.

Re: Sister Rose Gertrude (Amy C. Fowler) To Die For The Lepe

PostPosted: Sat Jun 02, 2018 8:33 am
by admin
Among the Lepers
by a Cincinnati Physician (Dr. Leonard Freeman)
London Tablet
May 6, 1893.

NOTICE: THIS WORK MAY BE PROTECTED BY COPYRIGHT

YOU ARE REQUIRED TO READ THE COPYRIGHT NOTICE AT THIS LINK BEFORE YOU READ THE FOLLOWING WORK, THAT IS AVAILABLE SOLELY FOR PRIVATE STUDY, SCHOLARSHIP OR RESEARCH PURSUANT TO 17 U.S.C. SECTION 107 AND 108. IN THE EVENT THAT THE LIBRARY DETERMINES THAT UNLAWFUL COPYING OF THIS WORK HAS OCCURRED, THE LIBRARY HAS THE RIGHT TO BLOCK THE I.P. ADDRESS AT WHICH THE UNLAWFUL COPYING APPEARED TO HAVE OCCURRED. THANK YOU FOR RESPECTING THE RIGHTS OF COPYRIGHT OWNERS.


Dr. Leonard Freeman, a prominent physician of Cincinnati, says The Catholic Telegraph, of Cincinnati, O., has just returned from a town on the Sandwich Islands, where, after much trouble, he secured the privilege of visiting the celebrated leper colony on the island of Molokai. Of the island he says that it contains about 5,000 acres. It is surrounded on three sides by the Pacific Ocean, and guarded on the fourth by a tremendous precipice, which cuts it off from the rest of the world like a gloomy wall. There are about 1,100 lepers in the colony, and it is true of this spot, if it is of any other, that 'ye who enter here leave hope behind.' Even the ground itself looks as if it had leprosy, with its volcanic debris sticking through the thin soil.

We went at once to the little Methodist church, made of boards and painted white, where the Rev. Mr. Emerson whom I had met on the steamer, was to deliver a sermon. The church was as plain as a church could be, with wooden benches and some pitifully small panes of stained glass inserted above the windows, in order to impart a religious air to at least a portion of the light which entered. Just outside the open door I could see the white surf pounding against the black rocks with a roar that sometimes threatened to drown the voice of the preacher.

This was one of the strangest congregations of the whole world -- some without fingers, some with their stumps of hands and feet done up in rags, some with their faces deformed by dozens of fleshy nodules as large as English walnuts, until they looked like caricatures of humanity, and others with their large and nodular ears hanging down on their shoulders like mutton chops. One man, the native preacher, had a nose like a warty cucumber; another was covered with ulcers. There was not one who did not in some way show the stamp of the loathsome malady.

They were all dark-skinned natives, except one white man, who sat in a front seat, the picture of hopeless dejection. Mr. Emerson spoke earnestly in the Kanaka language, and his audience listened intently. After he had finished he requested me to address the congregation, and I preached my first and perhaps last sermon. One of the lepers, with an obvious paucity of fingers, arose and thanked me. Among other things, he said he hoped I would live long and "never have leprosy," as though leprosy to him involved every evil in the world, and if I escaped it I could not fail to be happy.

After the sermon we got some horses and rode about the settlements. The lepers live in white frame houses about the size of an ordinary room, and divided into several apartments. They do not require much furniture because they prefer squatting on a floor to sitting in a chair. They have horses, cats, dogs, and other domestic animals, and some of them cultivate small gardens. When a Kanaka gets leprosy he regards it as a dispensation of Providence, buries his hopes and ambitions and goes to Molokai to die. To be sure the disease is only feebly contagious, but contagious it is, and the slovenly, unhealthy lives led by man natives are conducive to its spread. Huddled together in small damp huts, existing on insufficient and improper food, eating with their dirty fingers from a single dism, smoking the same pipe, it is no wonder that the Huroniians have been decimated by leprosy and afflicted with other terrible diseases. One may live with lepers for many years, however, without contracting leprosy. It is said that a native woman of Honolulu sent three husbands to Molokai with the disease before she developed it herself. There are several other churches in the colony beside the Methodist, including a Catholic church and a Mormon church; but the Catholics seem to be doing most of the real work -- the others take it out largely in talk. There are nine Sisters of Charity and two Fathers, all from Syracuse, New York. The buildings in which they live are neat and clean and are surrounded by gardens and banana trees. These noble women are sacrificing their lives to a great and loving work under the most discouraging circumstances. How sweet, good and gentle they were to the lepers! Some have been in the colony five or six years without having once left it. But Sisters of Charity are sometimes peculiar, like the rest of us. Sister Rose Gertrude was one of the peculiar kind. It was heralded with a flourish of trumpets that she had decided to consecrate her life to the lepers of Molokai. Donations poured in freely, including considerable money and a piano. When Sister Rose Gertrude reached Honolulu she pocketed the money, sold the piano, married a doctor, and returned to the United States as rapidly as possible without having, it is said, so much as seen a leper. (We will here correct the writer. Miss Amy C. Fowler, who assumed the name of Sister Rose Gertrude, was never either a Sister of Charity or a professed nun of any order.)

I met on the island a gentleman named Dutton, who had been an officer in the United States Army, and lived for a time in Cincinnati. He was formerly wealthy and stood high in the social world. Five or six years ago he was converted to the Catholic Faith, disposed of his fortune, gave up his social position and went to Molokai to devote the remainder of his life to the lepers. I found him a good-looking and extremely intelligent man, about 45 years of age, with black hair and beard and a pleasing address. He lived in a one-storied, three roomed cottage, surrounded by a high stone wall. The little rooms contained many religious emblems, pictures of Christ and the Virgin Mary, and were very neat and clean for a bachelor's apartments. A century plant grew in the yard, emblematical, perhaps, of the slow monotonous life around it.

Every morning this good Samaritan puts on an old blue blouse and a pair of overalls and goes down to what he calls his "workshop," a small frame house with a veranda, around which are arranged a number of benches and some dishpans, filled with warm water. Miserable, decrepit lepers come hobbling in until the benches are filled and standing room is at a premium. Mr. Dutton, with true religious courage and sympathy, bathes the leprotic sores in the pans of water, and applies fresh salve and bandages. A Cincinnati lady has presented him with a large music box, and while he is attending to these poor people with great ulcers on the soles of their feet, and without toes, or even without much of any feet at all, this music box plays waltzes by strains -- a genuine piece of sarcasm. Mr. Dutton is nobly carrying out the work inaugurated by Father Damien, who lived some 16 years among the lepers, and finally died a martyr to the disease the horror of which he had endeavoured so long to mitigate.

I remained in the leper colony two nights and nearly two days, and was just as glad to get away from the place as I was to get into it. I never before realized how dreary a landscape could be in spite of beautiful scenery and perfect climate if suffering humanity formed the background. Although, strictly speaking, the people do not suffer much, a characteristic of the disease is the early destruction of sensation, so that a finger, or even a leg, might be hacked off without much discomfort. They never commit suicide. It would be easy to climb the precipice that guards their prison and jump off, but they do not do it. The truth is, they seem comparatively resigned and happy. There are so many of them that they do not lack society, and the worst cases appear to mingle freely with those in the earlier stages. They have meat, bread, pie, plenty of clothes and bedding, churches, a reading room, and good enough homes. They have organized a band of musicians among them, and some are quite good performers. The Catholics have erected several plain pavilions, like hospital wards, with kitchen and diningroom attached. The Sisters try to induce the leper girls to occupy these quarters, designed for their comfort, and they are comfortable. But as a usual thing, the girls would rather enjoy the perfect freedom of the separate private cottages than to be under the rules and restriction of the Church. The Sisters were just opening some Christmas boxes, filled with large coloured rubber balls, dolls, and presents of various kinds; and I thought to myself, if the people in the great outside world knew how much things were needed in cheerless Molokai, there would be not only a few pitiful little boxes to open, but whole steamer loads of them.

It was with a feeling of relief that I took my mackintosh under my arm, bade farewell to the kind-hearted doctor and climbed the winding trail up the hill. I stood on the top and took a last view of the leper colony. There was the same little tongue of land far below, green with moist grass, and fringed with lines of snowy breakers, rolling against black, volcanic rocks. There was the same multitude of cottages, shining while in the sunlight; the same blue sky and fleecy clouds. But the beauty of the spot, its watering place appearance was gone. I knew what a dreary, festering ulcer of a hole it really was; and I felt a deep love and sympathy for the Sisters of Charity and the Fathers, and for Mr. Dutton and the good doctor, who were devoting their lives and energies to the lepers, in order that their living deaths might be a little less hard to bear.

Considering the difficulties of the question, the prejudices of the nations, and the vacillatory character of the Government, one must admit that Hawaii has done well by her lepers, and we must give her credit for thoughtfulness and humanity.