Show Through the Years With i Ernie Pyle Leper island Shocks Pyle During Visit KALAUPAPA Island of Molokai Hawaii Hawaii Early Early in the morning I must leave Kalaupapa and pass on to other things My stay here has been one of the most powerful adventures in my life There Is something I need to say before I go It is something about an emotional experience But even before beginning I can feel myself fumbling and reach reach- ing ng I lack the artistry to portray portray portray por por- tray it wholly I But it Is a feeling something like this this that that out of the de defilement defilement defilement de- de and abuse that nature has heaped upon these people Inthe in inthe inthe the leper colony there has arisen over Kalaupapa an an- atmosphere that is surely spiritual almost heavenly It is a strange atmosphere atmosphere at at- of calm a calm that is invitational almost irresistible Settlement officials say there are no martyrs serving here here here- that a martyr would be worse than useless I am sure th that t is true And yet I dont don't see how they keep martyrs from poundIng pounding pounding pound pound- ing down the gates to get in For I myself wandered into the foothills of martyrdom Roaming Kalaupapa I felt a kind of unrighteousness at beIng being being be be- ing whole and clean I experienced experienced ex ex- an acute feeling of I spiritual need to be no better off than the leper It wasn't a romantic feeling it wasn't drama drama it It was something something something some some- thing akin to that sorcery that lures people standing on high places to leap downward My feeling will likely impress you as ridiculous fiction But ButI I did experience it The emotion emotion emotion emo emo- tion itself was an adventure in desire and I am glad I know that in real life I am a sprint martyr the long steady pull is not for me I tire of too much goodness and wish to dart off and chase a rabbit Things are beautiful only for a I I little while As I have said before I have not been shock shocked d by what Ive I've seen In Kalaupapa But I am shocked at one thing It is this That leprous patients even those scourged to the very doors of death death are are permitted to reproduce reproduce reproduce re re- re- re produce themselves The officials officials daIs can do nothing It is the law Patients marry and remarry and dont don't marry at all and babies keep on coming I I I True Indications are that 4 children do not inherit leprosy that that they are born Yet some 76 per cent do develop develop devel devel- op leprosy later and an overwhelming overwhelming over over- whelming percentage of them f. f are born feeble What is the use use What is the gain There can be no parental affection for the babies are taken away at the very moment of birth and the parents usually never see th them ni m. 1 again And even though they may avoid leprosy the children j jare are doomed either to imbecility or unnatural loneliness They are taken to the Kapiolani Kapiolani Kapio- Kapio lani home in Honolulu and kept there as wards of the territory Those who do come out fairly natural are placed out in lam lam- flies meso C CAnd And now before the pack- pack donkey and the- the saddle horse come to take me up that appalling appalling appalling ap ap- palling foot 2000 cliff cUff out into the other world again there is ij just one more thing No man dare say that he has advanced through the curriculum lum of all emotions until he has sung to him the beautiful Aloha Oe Hawaii's song of greeting and farewell by the leper singers of Kalaupapa There were ten of them aUmen all aU allmen men some with flower leis around their hats They sang sangin in a harmony of high pitches yet infinitely soulful and soft They sang in Hawaiian which is the only way the song can be really sung They sang slowly and love love for for a Hawaiian no matter where he is loves everything The ten voices intermingled and swept in harmonies to a It blend that was perfection There were modulations and graceful of tones that I had never dreamed existed Inthis in inthis inthis this or any other song The sound fell at times almost to a sweet whisper it never rose ros above the level of graciousness The night was dark and even the nervous palm fronds were still I st stood od while they sang Oe Farewell to Thee farewell to thee for ever And any man going away who can stand and hear the last fragile notes fade from the throats of the leper singers of Kalaupapa without tears in his j jeyes eyes well eyes well he would be better j joff off dead |