05 Among The Lepers

Chapter 5 AMONG THE LEPERS

" Chandag Heights, the beautiful, in the Himalaya Mountains," is the address from which Miss Reed dates a letter lying before me as I write. It is surely one of the many compensations she is so ready to recognize in her lot, that it is not cast in the sultry slums of an Eastern city, but amidst scenes of natural beauty which are, to her appreciative nature, a source of constant enjoyment. But she shall describe the prospect in her own words :

" Away to the north, seemingly only two or three days’ journey, are the eternal snows whose grandeur and sublimity are indescribable ; they are so pure and bright and peace-suggestive ! At sunset and sunrise it is easy to imagine them visible foundations of the Eternal City, they are lighted up with such a halo of glory. But it is of the mountains among which I live that I want to tell you. They enclose a lovely valley called Shor, like a massive and exquisitely beautiful frame around a magnificent picture. My home is on the crest of the range which forms the western boundary of the valley, or the left side of the picture frame. And the picture ! A rich and beautiful valley, containing about six square miles, lies more than one thousand feet below my lofty and lovely "retreat," and is dotted with numerous villages which are surrounded by clumps of trees and terraced green fields of rice, wheat, and other grains. Through this valley a little river and its tributaries wind in and out, and a ridge of low hills divides it, while almost in its centre, situated on prominent eminences, are the Mission buildings of our Methodist Episcopal Church."

If the feelings awakened among the lepers by the advent of Miss Reed could be recorded, the account would be full of pathetic interest. We know that these sorrowful people were profoundly touched when they understood why and how this new helper had been given to them. Having walked up from Pithora — which was her temporary home pending the preparation of her own bungalow at Chandag — to hold a short service with the lepers, she told them how she had been set apart by God to minister among them. This announcement deeply affected them, and tears coursed down many cheeks as they realized the suffering and self-sacrifice of their new friend. On this occasion, as on others since, they seemed to forget their own affliction in their loving sympathy for hers. Her own little residence stands on the crest of the hill, some 6,400 feet above the sea level. Eastward it commands a charming view of the valley in which Pithoragarh is situated, while to the West another valley affords a lovely prospect. The gifts of many friends have contributed to make the interior of her home refined, comfortable, and even artistic, and she greatly prizes her ’’ picture gallery," as she terms the extensive collection of photographs with which her rooms are adorned. Music is a joy to her, and an organ, presented by a sympathizing friend, is a source of constant pleasure to one to whom praise is a daily delight.

One of her earliest European visitors, the Rev. G. M. Bulloch (of the London Missionary Society, Almora) affords us an interesting glimpse of Miss Reed in the fulfillment of her ministry of mercy." We reached Chandag Heights," he writes, "early on Friday morning, and found dear Miss Reed busy in the hospital, tending three patients in a much advanced stage of leprosy. She was binding up, with her own hands, the terrible wounds, and speaking soothing words of comfort to these poor distressed ones. It has always been a trial to her to witness suffering in others, yet she is most devoted in her attentions, and so gentle and kind. We were very much surprised and pleased to find her so active and cheerful, and looking so well. She told us she had never felt better in health, more cheerful in spirits, nor happier in service than she does now." . . . (This is) " not the result of any medical treatment she has adopted, as she gave up all treatment of that sort under a strong sense that God only required of her faith in Him and in His healing power."

Lest any reader should be tempted to regard this as fanaticism or unpractical sentiment, let it be remembered that Miss Reed gladly uses, for her flock, whatever remedies she considers likely to alleviate their sufferings. Her faith is for herself rather than for others in this respect. Moreover, it is doing her the merest justice to say that she is eminently gifted with sound judgment and business ability. The work she has been able to accomplish in less than eight years would not be readily paralleled in the records of missionaries working in the enjoyment of perfect health. Single-handed, or at most with a limited supply of native assistance, she has developed the institution under her charge from a mere collection of huts and stables, in which some thirty-seven lepers were housed, to an establishment with an average of eighty-five or ninety inmates, sheltered in substantial houses specially erected for them. This has involved the acquisition of at least two considerable additions of land, the surmounting of legal and other difficulties, the arranging of various building contracts, the supervision of native workmen, and the control of the finances as well as the food requirements of her large and growing family. When to these are added the spiritual, moral, and medical supervision of the hopeless and oft times helpless beings around her, we have here surely a tale of work and a load of responsibility to tax the strongest. And yet it has been successfully accomplished by Divine help in answer to daily prayer as she herself would be the first to testify.

It is therefore from no feeling of unpractical fanaticism that remedies are dispensed with in her own case, but rather from the deep conviction that even this affliction is in the line of the Divine will for her. As from God’s hand she received it, so in God’s hand she leaves it. About this time Miss Reed herself wrote :

"The disease made most decided progress for six months after my arrival at this mountain retreat, and I suffered intense pain most of the time. But I found His grace sufficient. The everlasting arms are underneath, upholding and keeping me trustful, and I find the love of Jesus adequate consolation, soothing and cheering my heart."

" There are briers besetting every path, Which call for patient care ;

There is a cross in every lot, And an earnest need for prayer ; But a lowly heart that leans on Thee, Is happy anywhere."

" Oh, Master, dear ! the tiniest work for Thee, Finds recompense beyond our highest thought. And feeble hands that worked but tremblingly. The richest colors in Thy fabric wrought ! "

" I am sure His love, His wisdom, and His power are at work. Words are empty to tell of a love like His, He has enabled me to say, not with a sigh but with a song "Thy will be done. As God will. The end may come, and that to-morrow, when He has wrought His will in me."

Quoting from Ruskin, she continues: ’’In our whole life-melody the music is broken off here and there by ’rests,’ and we foolishly think we have come to the end of the tune. God sends a time of forced leisure, a time of sickness and disappointed plans, and makes a sudden pause in the choral hymn of our lives, and we lament that our voices must be silent and our part missing in the music which ever goes up to the ear of the Creator. . . . Not without design does God write the music of our lives. Be it ours to learn the tune and not be dismayed at the ’ rests.’ If we look up, God will beat the time for us."