Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1854-07-17
For the Grant County Herald.
The ssI.igE.t House.

Mr.. Editor: / told you at the close OF
nv last communication that this one wo'd
oe mainly devoted to a few "reminiscences
IF the celebrated Light House. of this
town: so [ mean it to be. / said its glo-
~ had departed, and its light had gone
out forever; which, / grieve to say, Is, to
an interesting portion Of our active popu-
Iation, most melancholy fact. | said its
life had been an eventful one;--literally
true, every word of it. The associations
which cluster around this antiquated tenn
pie of Bacchus, this spirit idol, at whose
feet in days "Lang Syne," hundreds have
bowed in great humility, and offered up
their choicest gifts to propitiate its presi-
ding divinity, are various, profound, fanei-
full aud funny by turns.
At one time it was the victim Of the in
cendiary's destructive torch. 1t was IN
ttine stiffness of the night, when the deni-
zens of Scrabble, from the prncely lord OF
wealth in his palatial residence, to the
luckless digger in his solitary cabin OF re-
stricted dimensions harmonious combl-
nation of mud, wood and stone, were
wrapped in the Sethean embraces OF peace
full slumber, which as Sancho Panza says
is blessed, because ''it covereth one all over
like blanket" that this diabolical crea-
ture, not having 'sthe fear of God" nor the
Indignation of the insulted populace Of
Hard Scrabble ''before his eyes," but "mo-
we'd and instigated by the devil" the ia
Their of all mischief, applied the lighted
brand to this consecrated temple. Soon
the devouring flames ran up the side, at
tackled the roof, leaped to the opposite
wall, burst forth furiously from windows
and doors-ran along the rafters, climbed
to its topmost peak, and soon had the
whole enveloped in sea Of fire. Madly
it roared far above the winds moaning, and
shot its spiral columns of angry flame high
up in the heavens, casting a lurid glare
upon the pitchy sky. Men, wild with ex-
gathered around the burning
mass with vengeance plainly stamped up
on every lineament Of their faces painting
to get their hands upon the author of 50
fendish an act
Soon the consuming element accomplish
ed its work, and the proud hall of wine
and song, with fair proportions and all its
mundane splendor, bites the dust, and like
the meanest thing Of earth, is leveled to
the ground,-
"And none are left, SO poor, to do her rever-
ence;"
giving us another Of those melancholy
lessons constantly passing before our eyes,
that the high and the mighty shall be
and the exalted brought low.
Ph@nix-like, it speedily arose from its
ashes, assumed the form and comliness of
a human habitation, with its borders en-
larged, and its fair proportions greatly ex-
tended. Once more it proudly reared its
head on the flower-bedecked prairie to
guide the thirsty and thirsting miner to
its grateful portals where he could drown
his vexatious care and cruel disappoint-
ments in,not hopping down upon ''bully''
ead, but in copious draughts of inspiring
tot-gut, and arouse within him most plea
SAINT sensations, by friendly hand at ''po-
kerr with small ante just to make the
game interesting.
Its time-honored walls, when the knights
Of the pick and CAD would congregate with
in them, have been made to resound to
the sallies Of wit--the quick repartee-the
sarcastic reply-the coarse jest-the pun
gent saying-the smart retort-the mud
dy speech-the prosy story and ribald
song.
At its shrine many have wendell their
way as quiet and as tame as the sucking
pig, and left brim full Of courage and the
"cratter." Others have wendell their way
there with a respectable stake, and gone
home entirely CLEANED out" Some have
gone with their pocket-full, and returned
with it empty, and "a brick in their hat;''
while others, like punctual business men,
would coast up their accounts" and give a
full discharge to liquor scores. Some have
darkened its doors who were satisfied that
they were cup to snuff" and knew as much
as the next man, in all that pertains to the
art and mystery Of sporting, and soon found
themselves on their way home with "a flea
in their ear" looking for all the world as
if they knew nothing scarcely Some Of
our ochre-colored lords have gone in there
with reason in their look and judgment
seated on their brow, who in few brief
hours became so oblivious to winding paths
and treacherous sucker-holes, and so social
withal as to require brace Of their fellows
to accompany them to "home, sweet home.
This was in days gone by. Latterly it has
behaved itself with all due decorum and
gravity; content, like the veteran soldier Of
a hundred pitched battles, to rest with the
laurels already so gloriously won The
old Houses history is so instructive that
justice cannot be done to it in a single pa
per, and hence I must defer its conclusion.
In future, | shall give you what | shall
call ''Sketches in and about the LIGHT
House, or Chapters in the Life Of mi
ner.' MARK.
Hazel Green, July 10, 1854.
ESCAPE AND RE-CAPTURE OF STERLING.
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