The Republican journal., 1869-05-27
A HOME IN THE OCEAN.

atVery low tide. II rises in Boston bay, about
twenty miles from Boston, and one mile and
half from Cohasset Into it are fitted and
bolted down the stones of the tower, which
are dovetailed and bolted into each other in
such a fashion that no stone can be moved
without lifting tower and ledge with it. The
tower, light and all, is / IL feet in height; vet
over it, clean to the very top, the waves are
dashing. Does not their thunder make your
| very heart tremble? But these keepers tell
you there is no danger For forty feet the
towers are built up solid, except the well.
which is in the center, thirty chit feet deep.
1t holds supply Of water for one year. The
water keeps good and pure. The we'll holds
1000 gallons. 1t is rather warm in the sum-
mer, and in the winter becomes as one of the
keepers says, "a kind of porridge ice' We
will suppose we enter the tower from boat.
To do so we should either climb a ladder
i forty feet long, fixed into the side of the tow
err, or be swung up in a chair. At the top OF
the ladder are two sets of oaken doors, against
which are now beating the hungry waves.
! Between the other doors and the inner is an
entry about three feet long. Entering this
room (Which is the cellar), from the doors
are seen on the right hand the coal and the
wood There stands also a flour barrel, and
over these, suspended on hooks, hang buckets
OF various sizes, containing, doubtless, many
good things for food On the left is the oil
pump for pumping oil into the tank in the oil
room. Here are chests, ropes, brooms, tubs,
pork barrels, and little of everything need
ed for lightkeeping and housekeeping. 1t is
dark and chilly here, and we had better as
cend. Ah! how good it smells here, in the
room next above the cellar Kitchen and dim
ing room and everything cosy, comfortable
and neat. A table well set-hot cakes and
! hnt ,Nil lnI kshf
And down we sit, not waiting a second inyi-
tation. Well, is not this singular situation :
1t seems like dining in a whales belly. Storm
ed about and dashed about and poured about
| by the remorseleSs sea, and eating 4 relishtu]
meal quite at our ease. 1t is certainly one
'ncW thing under the sun" to some of us.
Each of the four keepers is off one week and
on three. Communication with the land is
often dangerous and impossible. In the Win
ter they cannot get home as often as once in
three or four weeks. They all have families
on shore and here they sit during storms that
shake to its foundations their lonely tower
and envelope its crystal summit in foam and
they think of wives and little ones who NAV
be sick OF dying without the possibility OF
sending word to their beloved watchmen on
the sea.
''Do you not take pleasure in the sights you
must behold during all these isolated DAYS and
weeks?" asked one.
Oh, yes! We have a very extended pros
pect and one which is never twice the same
Both sea and sky are forever changing, and
everything that is on the sea comes and goes
| There is nothing stationary but our tower
/ We see all the vessels that 90 in and out OF
Boston harbor and in the summer we are
visited by pleasure parties in sailing vessels
f. | and StnonlprS tbp latter of which ti,,a
bring out bands of music, which play to Us
They approach close to us, and give three
cheers for Minot Ledge light. When visitors
come into the Light we sometimes find a
much amusement as they do. We have al
sorts of visitors, as YOU may suppose They
come from China, California, and from al
parts of the world. We have many famous
and some infamous names upon our visitors
book. Ii may seem strange that so far as W,
are from shore we should be visited by birds
insects, millers and butterflies from The land
The butterflies are of huge dimensions
have in the morning swept of the walk tha
surrounds the lantern, thirty, forty, and Gift,
of these little shore birds, which, allurcd b1
the bright light, have flown hiher over tn,
waters to their death.
''And here is q bit Of the glass from one 0
the squares of the lantern broken last weel
~,
did not see the gentleman. This is the frs
accident Of the kind since the light was erect
ed. -
''How long was this tower in bulding9"
'Fiye years and four months"
''What do you mpil find to employ YOU
minds and hands with, and keep time from
hanging too heavily upon you?"
"Oh we manage to keep busy. We max
almost everything, from an extension table t
a clothes pin. Then for sport and to suppl
our table we fish. We don't have to 90
fishing We are already there All we hav
to do is to heave a line from the door, and il
a minute we have our dinner by the nose
Then we have reading and writing and sew
ing to do.n
BY this time dinner is finished, and up W,
60. The next room is a bedroom. We no
tice that the rooms are all Of one size, twelv,
feet in diameter and six or seven in height
Overhead in this first bedroom is a long piec,
of ioist, which can be put out of the window
and used for raising up heavy objects. Herr
IS an iron bedstead, and chair that is also
bedstead, table on which lies a register fo
the names Of visitors, a wardrobe, a marbl,
wash bowl, and a water-closct Up again
and we come to the oil room. About the wal
are ranged oil tanks, copper-colored oil cans
trays, DC, show that we are nearing the ligh
room. There is one water tank in this room
also work bench and q box of glass for tn,
lantern. There are here an oil measure,
tool chest, and 4 spare lamp. Another of tho
steep, narrow stailways brings US to the
Watch-room-sitting room ofthe tower. Hero
is a table, an arm chair stove, books pa
pers, few pictures and the machine for ring
ing the 1ogbel. From this room we ma,
now, since the storm has ceased to send the
waves so high, pass out on the balcony thai
surround it. Well for us that the iron railing
is 50. strong. There! now you've no choice
but to 60 home bareheaded. Why did yor
not cling to your hat and wig? This wind is
enough to take hair out by the roots even i
it leaves the head itself. What scene! what
a noise! We cannot describe it, nor endure
it. Let us 90 in. One more flight and we
are in the light room. Here is the object fol
whose elevation and continuance all this ma.
sonry was made-all this skill and labor call
ed forth. ''And the light is the life of men, :
Thus we render it. AT sunset the lamp is lit
and till sunrise it shines on in the darkness
a beacon and a warning to all who sail or
that dangerous sea. The lamp has three con-
centric wicks, and is in the centre of !; lens
four feet in diameter and ten feet high Stel
within and look at your friends through these
prisms-how do you like the looks Of faces
three feet long9 This magnifes the power