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360 HONDA THE SAMURAI.
open sores, and foully dressed limbs. These showed
the effect of long years of sin, of crime, of neglect,
of ignorance, of pain, of agony, of hunger, of want,
and of all that makes life miserable. Such foul skineruptions,
such hideousness of nameless diseases that
eat up the membranes and cartilages and bones, such
ravages of small-pox and leprosy Mothers, with
!
pink-capped babies whose eyes had been corroded
by the infectious plague, looked with pitiable gaze
into the good man's face for a word of hope. The
blind, the halt, the foul, came for salve, powder,
cleansing, surgery. It was a chamber of horrors
into which the young Japanese had entered, and
though brave as a lion he sickened and almost
fainted at the repulsive spectacle.
He watched the doctor. He keenly scrutinized
every motion of physician, patient, and assistants, to
see what gifts were made or received. After a few
minutes' talk about God, the heavenly Father, and
of Christ the Saviour, and of our need of repentance,
faith, salvation, and right living, Doctor Bunner
proceeded with his work, giving along with his advice,
medicine, directions, or judgment, kindly and
sympathetic words that were like balm. Five or six
native young men who were preparing to be Rangaku,
or " physicians in the Holland style," assisted
Doctor Bunner, or were taught by him in this way
as well as by books. These were active and helpful ;
but not a coin was dropped, or a gift
made by the
patients, or a zni collected from them. Honda was
amazed to find that these skilled services and the