“To His compassionate Excellency,
One Ram Buksh who is ready to die—
He in the light, and I in the dark,
He full sun and I but a spark—
Prayeth.  I once like a wild goat ran,
Tigers right to their lair would trace,
Met the elephant face to face,
Smote the leopard, and slew the buck,
Strangled the cobra before he struck;
Pride of the village, beloved of my wife,
Now am I stricken and weary of life;
Under the whole community’s ban,
A lonely, loathsome, leprous man.

“I, the hunter, so strong, so fleet,
Now the hunted, scarce crawl on my feet,
No whole part of my body sound,
One huge festering, fearful wound.
Though my soul weep sore, no tear on my cheek,
Lidless eyes that shrink from the glare,
Ears decayed, where was hair, no hair,
Nose shrunk inwards so none can trace
The look of a man in my knotted face.
Toes! they have withered off one by one,
There falls my last forefinger’s bone!
So wizened my windpipe, lungs so weak,
Though my heart cry loud my lips scarce speak.

“Weary of being: Hear my cry!
I, Ram Buksh, for I fain would die.
My life is a plague-spot here on earth,
I am loathed by the mother that gave me birth:
The Pariah dogs when they scent me near
Growl and slink to their offal heap,
I am weary of waking, I fain would sleep
It is known to all, if a leper consent
To be buried alive, the gods are content:
And never afflict his village again
With the leper’s curse and the leper’s pain.
I am willing to die: yea, I have no fear;
Cherisher of the afflicted, hear!

“The sun is sweet in the heaven still,
May it shine for you! but the high gods’ will,
And the wish of the village I full well know,
Is that I, the leper, to death should go;
Dust in my mouth till my mouth cease breath,
For so the gods will alone give ease,
And save the village from sore disease:
So will this plague of my body’s rot
Pass from the people and be forgot;
So never more will the leper crawl
A carrion corpse in the shade of the wall!
Oh compassionate! hear what he saith,
Ram Buksh, the leper, and grant him death.

“Hear the prayer of a leper! Forgive
The wish of the living not to live;
For the will of my heart that still must beat
Is to lie beneath the dust of the street,
Out of sight of mine own wife’s eyes,
Out of sound of the hunter’s rout
When they bring the tiger home with a shout,
Where the heavy curse I shall no more hear,
The earth is a lighter load to bear!
But the law is good—you are law to the land—
Wherefore I beg this boon of your hand,
To lie beneath where no torment lies,
For the people’s sake and for Paradise.”

…………

Thus, that his brothers escape the ban,
Prayed Ram Buksh, the leper man.

……………

On Monday, January 13th, 1890, H.R.H. the Prince of Wales presided at a subscription dinner at the Hôtel Métropole, in aid of the National Leprosy Fund.  Father Damien’s brother was of the company.  Speaking of the lepers in India, the Prince stated that there were considerably over 200,000 of them, and that not more than one per cent. were in hospitals or asylums in 1887.

The vast majority of these roamed over the country as beggars—shunned, friendless, and uncared for, until they dropped down and died, or perhaps drowned themselves in some public well.  Let me—continued the Prince—read to you one of the saddest and most pathetic petitions I have ever heard of, which was presented by a leper to the late Lord Lawrence when he was Viceroy.—

“Hail, Cherisher of the Afflicted,—Be it known to your enlightened mind that your devoted servant has been a leper for many years.  My limbs have fallen off piece by piece; my whole body has become a mass of corruption.  I am weary of life.  I wish to die.  My life is a plague and a disgust to the whole village, and my death is earnestly longed for.  It is well known to all that for a leper to consent to die, to permit himself to be buried alive, is approved of by the gods, who will never afflict another individual of the same village with a similar malady.  Therefore, I solicit your permission to be buried alive.  The whole village wishes it, and I am happy and content to die.  You are the ruler of the land, and without your leave it would be criminal.  I hope that I may obtain my prayer.  I pray that the sun of prosperity may shine on you.—(Signed) RAM BUKSH, Leper.”

This petition, it is hardly necessary to say, Lord Lawrence did not grant, but the unfortunate leper was nevertheless buried alive a day or two afterwards.

(Poems, Ballads, and Bucolics, p. 168)

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If the Honister Pass steam-dragon has been baffled, other objectionable threats of invasion of Northern England’s recreation- and thinking-grounds are being made.  Other projects are already astir.  Our only chance of keeping Lakeland inviolate is to be on the watch with a powerful national, one might dare to say international, committee—for the Americans are as indignant as we are at the attempt on Borrodale—and the Scotch lakes and hills are in equal jeopardy—with a backing of Members of Parliament to help us at Westminster, and a considerable sum of money behind us for expenses if need be.  This can, it is thought, best be done by forming a PERMANENT LAKE DISTRICT DEFENCE SOCIETY, which, in league with the Commons Preservation Society, and such associations with such kindred aims, as the Kyrle and Ruskin Societies are, shall have a Guarantee Fund of not less than £5000 ready for use. (pp. 54-55)

The Executive of the Borrodale and Derwentwater Defence Committee have issued circulars, of which I append a copy, and the Guarantee Fund already is in process of formation. (p. 55)

Some time hence, who knows, a wise Government may enable the Lake District to have a special Act to protect it from railroad outrage for the people, as has been done in the Yosemite Valley of America (though there the State not only provided an Act, but first bought it up for the people’s use). (p. 55)

Meanwhile it is suggested, that as many members of the Wordsworth Society have already shown their zeal in the cause, it would be a gracious act to the memory of the great poet if, as a body, they elected to co-operate with the Lake District Defence Society. (p. 55)….

Professor E. Dowden of Dublin, in a letter of protest against the steam-dragon of Honister, wrote:—"As one century generally discovers the sins of its predecessors, and is hard on them, I have some hopes that the twentieth century, so close at hand, may grow indignant with the nineteenth for its destruction of so much that forms part of the true wealth of life, and resolve to act more wisely.”  Let us, as a Wordsworth Society, determine, so far as pertains to Westmorland and Cumberland, to help the nineteenth century to a timely repentance.  England is beginning to become a nation that believes in education.  There is hope that as the next generation will be much more busy to need the pleasure-grounds of Lakeland undestroyed, so it will be more capable of appreciating their peace and beauty undisturbed. (pp. 56-57)

(Transactions of the Wordsworth Society, 5 (1883), 45-58)

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We have in this Lake Country of ours very few sites connected with the royal family.  It is true that Queen Catherine Parr spent her girlhood’s days on the green hill, whose castle ruin still stands above the town of Kendal, it is also true that in memory of King Edward VII., the President of our National Trust, the Princess Louise, purchased the top of Grange Fell, and that the summit of this beautiful Borrodale hill is now called King’s Howe, but the only Queen we know to have visited our Lake Country is Queen Adelaide, who in the summer of 1840 spent a few days on Windermere. (p. 228)

Her name since that time has remained to us a possession by reason of a memorable visit by water to the grassy hill that stands between the main road and the Lake, immediately south of Miller Ground.  When a dweller at Wray on the shores of Windermere thirty-five years ago, Miller Ground was my nearest landing place for Windermere station, and the beauty of the scene from Adelaide Hill made me often trespass for the sake of the fine view. (pp. 228-229)

As I rested there, how often did I desire to be the owner of this beautiful knoll that the public might share its delight with me.  Little did I think then, for the National Trust was not in existence, that some day I should be permitted to help many public-spirited friends in the neighbourhood of Windermere to purchase this viewpoint for the enjoyment of the nation.  In those days there was fair freedom for landing on many portions of the lake shore; since then this possibility has ceased.  Owing to private purchases in the past few years, the public now have really no rights of wandering but on parts of the shore between Bowness and Waterhead. (p. 229)

Indeed, until this purchase was effected, though the public could freely land at Miller Ground and make their way thence to the main road and station beyond, there was no guarantee that some future owner would not close this same path, and only admit access of the public to the Lake on his own terms. (p. 229)

When I was collecting money for Manesty and Borrodale, a friendly challenge was sent to me to say that if ever the National Trust would attempt to obtain a portion of the foreshore on Windermere, £100 should be at my disposal.  Remembering this and still having a great longing that Adelaide Hill and its foreshore should one day be open to the public, I wrote to my friend, Gordon Somervell, and begged him to ascertain privately if this beautiful view-point was at all likely to be obtainable.  He threw himself heart and soul into the project, made inquiries with a negative result, though this much was learned that at a price the land was in the market.  Later, a private meeting of local friends was held, when it was determined that if it could be obtained at a certain price the scheme might be commended to Westmoreland and Lancashire north of the sands, as a county memorial of the late king. (p. 230)

Difficulties arose; a year passed by and the matter had apparently dropped, when another friend wrote to say that he had the offer of £1000 from a very generous contributor who had heard of the project, if only the matter could go forward.  This roused us to renewed negotiations.  We had in the owner of the Rayrigg property a very sympathetic ally.  The land was in trust and neither the owner nor the trustees could sell the land below its fair market price.  But a meeting was arranged with him and his co-trustee with the result that an option at a reduced sum was agreed upon for the twenty acres, including Miller Ground, and a definite undertaking was given at the same time that the right of way to and from the Lake should be part of the bargain. (pp. 230-231)

It then only remained to elect a committee representing the principal inhabitants of the neighbourhood, and to appeal privately for local subscriptions before issuing a public appeal.  The National Trust was sounded at the same time and was willing to co-operate.  At this juncture further delay was caused by the fact that a committee at Ambleside were engaged in collecting funds for ‘Borrans camp,’ and there was a great wish not to hamper them by issuing a rival appeal. (p. 231)

The sum which was to be raised for this priceless possession of Adelaide Hill was £5000, and though it was a large sum, landowners and others in the neighbourhood knew so well what prices were being paid for land adjacent to the Lake, that not a single one of those privately appealed to objected to giving help on the score of price, and as a matter of fact £2800 was subscribed before any appeal went abroad to the public. (pp. 231-232)

(Chapters at the English Lakes, pp. 228-249)

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Sir,—The Government must be credited with the wish to do all they can to succour the most pitiable of His Majesty’s subjects from slow starvation and death by cold and cruel usage.  But the winter is close upon them, and when we hear of military orders from the Chief of the German War Staff to intern French prisoners—as soon as captured—in the open air, and keep them with as little food as possible for 24 hrs as a kind of foretaste of their captivity, we shudder to think what may possibly be the lot of our own unhappy men who in this critical time fall into the enemy’s hands.  Have the Churches done, or are they doing, all that might be done to strengthen the hands of the Government?

(Times, 11 October 1918, p. 11)

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