When the people saw us every one of them arose and commenced begging. Arms with flesh eaten off and hands which were fingerless were held up to excite our sympathy. Oh, how horrible! for in some cases the flesh had been eaten away from the elbow to the wrist; the feet were without toes, and the faces in a distressing condition. The disease had gone to the lungs of some, for they coughed hard. The sight was touching, and our hearts ached for them. Small wooden pails were used to carry the money which was thrown them by benevolent people. This money was used in buying the necessaries of life for the whole company, for they lived together as one family among the ruins of old houses outside of the city, as they are not allowed to come inside of any city. There are many leprous persons spoken of in the Bible, and I shall mention a few of them. First, then, was Miriam, the sister of Aaron and Moses. One day she and Aaron spoke against Moses, which fact displeased the Lord; and as a punishment to Miriam she “became leprous, white as snow.” The brothers felt dreadfully bad to know of their sister’s affliction. “And Moses cried unto the Lord saying, Heal her now, O God, I beseech thee.” After having seen people with leprosy once you may not expect soon to be rid of the sickening sight, for it will surely remain in your mind. And now, while writing this to you, the sight of those poor creatures comes to me, and I do not wonder that Moses pleaded for the healing of Miriam. Naaman, you remember, was a great man; but he had the leprosy. Now this man’s wife had a little captive maiden working for her, who seemed greatly interested in the leprous man; so one time the maiden said to her mistress, “Would God my lord were with the prophet that is in Samaria; for he would recover him of the leprosy.” Some one told the great man what the little maiden had said; so the king of Syria sent a letter to the king of Israel, and with it sent many pieces of silver and ever so many pieces of gold, and also several changes of raiment. When the king of Israel received and read the letter, he could not understand why it had been sent to him, and concluded that the king of Syria wanted to quarrel with him. He was therefore very much displeased. Elisha, the man of God, heard of the letter and knew what it meant; so he sent to the king, saying, “Wherefore hast thou rent thy clothes? Let him come to me, and he shall know that there is a prophet in Israel. So Naaman came with his horses and chariots and stood at the door of the house of Elisha.” Well, Elisha told Naaman what he should do to be made whole; but the great man grew very angry and went away in a rage. Naaman’s servant said, “My father, if the prophet had bid thee do some great thing, wouldst thou not have done it? How much rather then, when he saith to thee, Wash and be clean?”