34 AROUND THE WORLD VIA INDIA. 



tainty of to-morrow must, no doubt, cause bitter grief 

 to a sinful soul, but for us, Christians or religious, who 

 look on ourselves as exiles here below, and who long 

 only for dissolution of our body that we may enter 

 our true country, there is, it appears to me, only joy 

 and blessedness in the thought that each moment we 

 get nearer to the last hours of our life." His splendid 

 health, his love for an abstemious life, and especially his 

 burning desire to serve his Lord and his church where 

 he could accomplish the most, awakened in him dur- 

 ing his early novitiate clays an ardent desire to conse- 

 crate himself to missionary work in the islands of the 

 Pacific. I have no doubt but that this desire was often 

 included in his daily prayers. The prayer was an- 

 swered sooner than he possibly could expect. Mgr. Mai- 

 gret. vicar-apostolic of the Hawaiian Islands, made a 

 request for sisters and brothers to assist him in his 

 missionary work. His brother, Pamphile, was selected, 

 but took typhoid fever, and Damien begged to take his 

 place. He was then only in minor orders, but the re- 

 quest was granted. What a source of pleasure it must 

 have been for young Damien to learn that he was per- 

 mitted to enter on work in one of the roughest of the 

 Lord's vinevards so earlv in life ! He made the long 

 journey in a sailing vessel from Bremen to Honolulu 

 around Cape Horn, and was ordained priest on his 

 arrival, at the age of 24. On foot and horseback, 

 across mountains and valleys, from place to place, he 

 brought to the natives the glad tidings of the gospel, 

 and by his great modesty, genial manners and a will- 

 ingness to assist them in their worldly affairs, soon 

 won their confidence, respect and love. The name 

 Kamiano, the Hawaiian for Damien, soon became a 

 household word throughout the islands. His first sta- 

 tion as priest was in Hawaii Island, but it was destined 

 that his life should be sacrificed in the spiritual and 

 worldly betterment °f the unfortunate inhabitants of 

 the leper settlement. Before Father Damien came to 



