ON BEING A SPECTATOR.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 413, 23 January 1909, Page 6

ON BEING A SPECTATOR.

A VISIT TO BENGA. ; THE ISLAND .OF SIGHTLESS EYES.' (Br " Mere Onlooker.") - Flames abolished the residence of:a leper in Masterton la'tely, and thiß has set me thinking, of a oolony of- lepers among whom I once passed a day.' It was in. the island of Benga—beautiful'blue-Benga, which dots the edge of the KoroSea.. '.'.;, ,'■'

topic to hurl at ; happy,,citizeris in glad midsummer, is it? .Not at all. Saint Beuve, as'yon may-recall, considered.that he had achieved a very-fine view-point when he came to look on all life (including _ deathits last accident) as merely a-book in which we are to study for a few years before'we go hence, and it seemed' all' one to him whether you. shouldy/read in.Chapter xxxix, which is the,differential calculus, or.in Chapter xxiv, which is hearing the .band play in the gardens.; _\, '•;'■ - Besides, there is not much about -lepers in this: story, after ;all, 'Indeed, these-an-tagonists do not appear till some way : down the page. And then only'for a'purpose. The inhabitants of/Benga : are' people who drag on towards the Last Accident; with the blinds of. the soul down.'■ If one looks.at them just a little he may, the more readily perceive how fine a thing it'is to live with the blinds always up-yhow; joyous it is to be : : a good spectator. .'. '~ ..•'.-,.'; ■■'-.■'■ ... It .has been, accepted. as an axiom that the spectators see.most of the'game.; It is so in,'the Game of Life: with-this fact noted—that,.in .the big '''field.'''"the keenest, specators. are often 'the. keenest players.; 'NV man' really begins'to enjoy his'life, and make !the. best : of. it,'until he''learns how.'good and,how charming.a: thing it is occasionally to stand by and''look: oh. - And sometimes a really clever spectator, t will .succeed, .in transmitting to you (by .writing' chiefly) ■ a little of-the beauty which he : has seen.-. :To this ; class belong Spinoza, Heme,-/Erasmus, Nietzsche, Shakespeare,; Thoreau, Montaigne, and Stevenson.: All these, men were splendid spectators/ ; '' ■'.'"'■' ■'"."'.'•■'■"•'.'-.'•. : .'lt; is ,a' game abundantly .worth; watching, this -Game of. Life. ' It is: as- complex:as :chess, and.as furious as'.bull-fighting., Jt;is exquisite and forbidding, genial and.sad.7 Who sees, it clearest plays -it best; and to play it well you.must-shed all outer encumbrance iof your prejudices;- which is to say (since :''prejudice" is: a word often misused) that one. does 1 not want to 'look ,at ;the'' game through stained-glass or peer at 'it through thickets.: Better. :.to.-. get close,;, and to ;use one's own eyesi": to hear theythirnder of .the captains : ,and -the*shouting! . It. is- pleasant, you see, .to hear -the laughter: of. .the .boys and: the girls Quay; rand'.it'.. is pleasant, upon occasion, to watch some: daring fellow hurl 1 , a. javelin or drive-a- spear.;. : I .':.There,'.are varieties of spectators/ ; Some are. quiet;: masterly, .intense .appreciators, of. the ; game;' and some- are merely ,"b'ar'r>ckers'i" '• The 'noisiest : 'spectators .'■ seems-to.miss the most. . I have'.;always'''fouhd that'sb-;in regard .to football.'.' Keen judges of : the game neither., howl" nor ; chatter while thepiay'is in progress; but' the clatter of .the.: shop--boys is dismal to : be heard.- Fighting ,'nien, as most;have-noticed,: don't ; talk':fight... -You need never fear the man. who goes.round town .threatening .to. do : : you ,an; injury ;;',but it 'will-parypu- :npt,.' to; annoy 'the: retiring fellow with" the,' po6l,';'grey eyes,'who j says. ' ; hbthing. ; : When -you'..have _be come a..:fairly proficient;, spectator jyou.- begin 'to -notice-that the'"dangerous;things in lif 6.'heyer. threaten, they' arrive ion' due,'date,. the calendar is -hidden;by, tho.same Hand -which holds,up ;tue ;| starsi; : -■;;,;:; :/'./ ;.■.- •".-,..;' -:;'■•-'// r,.-; ; ..

'^'dne.of.Hhe.chief- joys. of .-.a :life.,iri-,.cities is • observation .of men ; ,and women..',.'. Such a, lot of them cannot .seer-you tome, across moles, everywhere.:, *I/heard-'a -woman' say; last week (that: H;. 6.;-:;Wells's...great .-novel,..','ln ..the •Days of. the.. Comet,"./, was ./.-awfully, nweary stuff;";jjut', -as. 'she,.herself:.ownedTiwith"no small pride, she "just doted", oh Marie Cor-, elli. •;. Doted.on ;poor',,.ill-informed : :;Mariel ;Oh Mafie,;whoseVsmall ;philosophy-: is- everywhere; fundamentally ■& lie,, and ,:'who..d6es -,not: know that-a.-writer's.craft raust;hVve to, do .with. :truth 0r..-it can never.ibecoine. art.'. -Andthen there- are.assertive little fellows;to whom, the.whole/wisdom of..the: universe seems only about- as; big ,asy;a ;pea", -.and ; ,who\.scorn''experiences which..are-not'4heir- own! . I "daresay we all go through this' stage of.blihdness: I, remember that:,when. : l.' was-'about: 19.. it was my chief; pastime ,to ; throw .at older menthe cheap persiflage,of youth./ "Don't come .that hoary .legend- .on/.;me,",.l,used to say;"Don't fell me that you are an older man. Why'' don't .you- find .something-, original?. .That!s;a's,;',old'.as|;the hi115..".].;,1n those;days also ;I;/WaS/Saguely^.conscious-' of ,a -feeling ithat • the conquest. pf ; .thelworld • would .'not take me" very long:if-once. I buckled'to,it, and, altogether, I was; beginning, to be a very.terrible fellow as"far,as.l-could make out.

- Speaking of youthful, outlooks! reminds,.one that youth, whiqh is,for.'ever applauding"origiriality,. is; itself,-the, most unoriginal period in : life. It;:is the-time"of-blind';imitation—-!the time:when one is-nnophsciously-the passive helot, of-other, inep's valuations;, And .some never; emerge-from this .period;., Not being ■■ keen,; spectators, •'■ they;, accept, other men's valuations tb-.the last. .:. ■■ -■■ .'■ ,'-'■■";"■ .1 was.reading .in. The DoinircoN the.otherday how'somd good officials 'in a Wairafapa town had'zealously .burned a, house-that- a leper, had occupied.:: : Terrible: waste of ' a iousel. Jiist another,: instance'of the fallacy of, the:,'ayerage valuation..., Leprosy,vin point of. fact, 'as not "communicable! by '.brick,--; or wooden;.walls and. timbered: floors. Some things oonoerning.leprosy have still; to be learned; but .so much is .'definitely, admitted by the.expert.. It would be- as sensible to, bum a house'in which a man.had experienced neuralgia... Leprosy is one of those; diseases, regarding which our fear (begotten of valuations not our own),has harqenedirito a superstition.',' The. less we .know, of it,-the, more we are afraid.,, There are maladies' much more pairifuland deadly—general'paralysis-for instance—;but, we do not fear : them because we know them' better:'. In leprosy there' is only one strange,*; sad,' terrible element'—-he who, has.it inevitably becomes so.self-centrcd and blindly intrdspeotive'.that.'he ceases-tp'watch the lives. of others.'' And; when one "ceases -to be a/spectator-the game'-is:very-far.'played indeed. ';' •. ;";' : ;; ■..-.'..•• ■':■-•■:,' ••:■ '■'.; : ::' -..

■' "We are "bringing: them j all fin- ..here '--to Benga," said a doctor to"me when I was havingl, a fine holiday inirare'.-places, '."perhaps you'd like; to; see'.;them.,'.'; : .We;drove out one peerless, mornirig. . Set : about..with,thegor.geou's greenery. 1 of the.:tropics : ;the'; white road f uncurled itself before us like a satin-ribbon 1 In'all'the air there was that pervasive frag:rance—less an odour, than the suggestion:.of an odour—that is always inseparable ifrom the memory of. those languorous-islands. A'day, to 101 l and eat thelotus it was.and it seemed a thing iricongruous that we should'be-on our way to a leper settlement.;'. But. life, as the good, spectator, knows.well, is mostly, made.up of; these very .incongruities. ..You will remember.Omar's,reference .to. the rose and buried; Caesar. ',; - . <?No need tb_ dope,",, said Medicine. "The pain of it is chiefly in'the idea. One doesn't catch,it, ; you know. It is not communicable -rnot ordinarily.. Father Damien-not merely lived among lepers: he lived, with-them. He ministered to them,. and wasn't scared of any contact. But he never became 1 a leper—you can tell that.to the public of.New Zealand in print .if you like., I'm, inclined to the belief that the transmission is almost always hereditary. Not necessarily from father to soil, .you know. Heredity will'often skip a.branch or two. ' The trouble : about; this; disease is that the books tell you next to nothing, and you can't get anything out of the patients to assist.:. They.won't talk—-not-much,>any-way. There's no'reckoning with it. No two cases are alike; related symptoms kink and twist amazingly.'_ It kills hope arid hope is always the last jewel'at the'bottom of Pandora's box. It is the. champion pestilence, and ought to get the prize at, the show.A leper can look you straight.in the eye and never see' you. He's a non-spectator." We reached, the settlement., A ragged, mean, cowering' village' it seemed, and (he doctor called "Baskhali I"—seven or eight times. They ; were all Asiatics, and I judged he wanted this Baskh Ali very particularly, but no answer came. The stillness of the place and the carelessness of .it hit one like a hammer. .- The ;doctor'.threw out a hint that I looked hot, and told me not to drink the wafer, in. the stream, that was'running through tko'aotUomont 'And it was a crystal

stream, too—just the'water, to drink on a tropical day. Only one leper (I; shall not describe him) stood and talked/to its. A fly hopped straight off.bim.;and,.made for my face/ 'which was beautifully mosquito-bitten and ready for invasion. Fear^sent me jumping ■into ■. the .'air. The -doctor-,-laughed.. -'"Don't, worry," he said,'"you-can't get it that,way'or we should,all ; .be lepers."; The le'rier took no notice. He. was '-indifferent 1 , to everything. And soon I saw. exactly, what a leper is.' He is indifferent to everybody. Ho is for ever afraid of something. .He's never quite sure what; but that is the only thing that, concerns him. He carries -his;,, fear in his breast all day; he sleeps.and wakes with it; it; enters every moment of:; His., broken life.: Of course, he is:not conscious of the thing, at least not conscious- in. j ..any,., poignant sense., 'His consciousness is. .nearly gorie; for as the drench of the. trouble runs over the soul it, dims- both- personality arid outlook. Physically, I■ do not.think :it-.osm ',-be very painful,'.but it;is the wpistxif all-'maladies. Its,terrors are 1 spiritual..;..,,;.:;..'..'■ >;<:',' :. Baskh AH; when-he made;-a.casual, appearance an hour later, had the most frozen soul of the lot., The doctor examined him for a long timej.'an'd then, turning to. me, said: ■ ; ; "Good gracious! They have filled this one 'by bringing:him here!" :i ,';. •' •i "How's that?" I asked ~..:,: . ,.: - ■.'.- 1 : "Why, he isn't a leper at all, but he believes he is, and it's all thejsame;. 'thing. He's.just a mild, case —a -very,, irriild •Bell's.;paralysis., .That's. why ; \.the;;bottom':of, his eye.juts out like_ ; <•,■•■". "Then, good gracious, doctor, why dpn't ,you tell him?" '[.;.;■•",..': ''....- "No good,'.' said'.Medicine;.. "you_can try if-you like..' I've seen-, top, many-like him. He's self-centred' on death; now,, iand' really he wonloi't be.sa'tisfiedif anything.else came along." \'< ■'~-'.';--'; ' ,'.-"'"': . : , ''-::^v',-: ; ', . •■•'■,;' ' I turned up, my little Fijian and Hindustani

dictionary, and ..tried to Jbreak. the ; fine, news to him in three languages'at once,.." I shook him by the shoulder and... almost-screamed: "Baskh -Ali,-- you silly "old 'man!—you're all, right—right.'.as;.rain,: old. boyi,,'Not. ruka-.vnka,-not. kohil" . .' ; -,'V-.■■'; "".^V ; > ;- ;.:'• ; Tien-I-called upan "■ interpreter ahd.said: ','O, Ram Rakha, you.understahd-better.what to,.say.,'Not : kohi! ;Not vukaTVuka!',-Tell him.". .And'Bam"Rakha told;him.. _' _; But;Baskh Ali gave'no.sign;'he continued ,to,.stare-straight..in front of : :him. ,;..-; ..':;. .'The. last-maladv of all: was 'oyer jam. , The 'blinds of the'soul were puUea\':down.' Helh'a'd ceased to be- a. spectator. The" light was out. •■' All' this by. way •of introduction to - what !l set:Out'to say—that -the "faces :of ; sbme are like windows with the blinds^down;,and in: some the blind is only raised an inch or two, as;though', furtively. : Only:''ar'.rafe'.'minority of rheh't]iTow : the windowß.ppen to the sun. Most m6h. are. only stirred 1 .by.: thef unusual." Ton shall often:;see'a countryman; on "whom :a,,.thousand- sunsets.ihave''been•■-wasted, who. never: responded to the gay "loveliness of-the .springing corn,■ rioting''hungrily.'.(or thirstily, mo're : often) in ' the .jays';- of'^6w*ri..';' ; , Aid,; in-:the:c"6untry;i-you' will find city';)men delighting in rusticity,'.though].they."are forever; untouched by the marvellous lights'.ahd shadows of: the crowd that; fflls.Maimers' .Street oh- «i Saturday, evening.'-: ■■;:-;;-;>' '-v^j'tv:'■'■.■ ''~'. : ' : -