Dodgeville chronicle. [volume] (Dodgeville, Wis.) 1862-current, 1870-07-08
ROBBIE MALCOLM.
na-s4I@ 49,
BIZ LULU GRAY NOBLE.

padding through the wafer WIN ms IOI
he was very live boy, who ran on two
sturdy little feet over all the land he could
find to run on,-which was not much, to
be sure
The house that Robbie lived in, Of all
houses in the world, was light house.
There itsstood on narrow island, which
was mere heap of rocks and clay, that
old Ocean beat at day and night as if he
were bound to grind it to powder, and
have things all his own way. For his
way was very fierce and destroying one;
and the tallwhite tower of bricks and iron
which had been built on the island, and
lighted with great lamps every night to
keep watch over his doings, prevented q
world of the mischief he had been up to
in the old days, when he tossed the poor
ships aboutain storm and darkness, so that
alas many of them never saw harbor
more. - tA4A@Ae@ 'sf@
However, thunder and rage as he might
he could not sweep away the staunch little
island which, small as it rose above the
water, hail firm foundationlof rocks that
seemed to reach down to the very heart
of the world, expressly to hold up that
shining white tower, where every night
Robbie's father lighted the lamps, and
kept them burning till the great sun came
up again out of the sea.
A curious life Robbie lived compared tc
that of boys on shore: he could not go tC
see other boys at all the lighthouse peo
pie could not make even call without q
voyage, SO they dispensed with that cere.
-mony of fashionable life altogether.
Robbie was not without companions,
however, There were the sea gulls, that
built their nests in holes in the clay
bank Robbie often peeped over and
dropped crumbs into the mouths OF
the little ones, but he was manly
enough MOTTO pull the helpless things out
of their nests, and modest enough to know
that he could be only very humble
assistant in their bringing up,-that the
chief charge. must be left to their black
and-white ftathered mammas that GER
tainly understood their business thor
oughly, and in a very short time had
every callow fedgling Of them darting
over the waves, soaring and whirllng on
the wild ocean winds as if there were no
such joyin life as being sea,gull, and
having agood hurricane to ride on. :, I.
Then tllerewas the stormy petrol, which
before a.tempest might be seen dashing
along the surface of the waves like light
ming and the piping plover, that ran so
fast on the beach, stopping every now and
then to make such a sweet, sorrowful cry,
that it seemed as if even a bird knew
things were sometimes very sad in this
strange world
was jolly little fellow; dare say Rob-
bic knew his name, but know only that
this favorite of his was reckless little
La IoEn ~ -
very foam-crest of the waves; and when
he saw monster breaker coming in, he
would just take to his wings at the very
him then with firt and a tilt he would
60 over on the next wave, morsel
as he was, secure in his quick wit and
wings against all the Atlantic Ocean. q ~
i suspect that this fitting on the waves
was not'all for frolic, and that it had some
thing to do with bugs for breakfast; for
breakfast, whether of bugs or something
else, is at the bottom of great many
snowy exercises in this world. At all
events, break fast couldn't have been tax en-
more gracefully. ..., .r,s.
All these wild creatures of the air
seemed al. last to regard the solitary little
lighthouse boy as if he were one of them:
they would sweep close to his curly head,
and then shoot with their bold cry far UP
into the clouds, sometimes darling quick
ly back again with shrill, scolding note,
as if he-swere q backward fledgling they
were teaching to fly, and whom they found
too stupid to learn. a -
Robbie would watch his feathered COM
panions for hours together, or gaze at the
great ocean itself. Close to his feet, where
II ht.nIyn IN, fho so1or,d xyo,, could ,,nxor
say what theswaves would bring up next,
fragments of beautiful sea plants, grow
ing nobody knew how far away, or
broken spars and bits of old iron. Robbie
used to wonder what kind of ships these
had belonged to, and whether she had
gone to pieces because there was no light
house to warn her then he would think
that keeping lighthouse was the most
beautiful thing in the world,
The hundreds of ships, too, that some
times came in sight in day, cleaning for
moment away off on the horison, or
sailing so near that Robbie could count
the men on the decks,-homeward- bound
ships, laden deep in. the water with rich
cargoes from wonderful lands on the other
side of the globc,-outward going vessels,
steering for the same distant ports all
these were saskird of society to Robbie,
and told him strange things across the
bright dashing water,
Small as the island was, it was large
enoughSto hold a few pets for Robbie
he had rabbits that never ran away, be-
cause they. had nowhere to run but plump
into the sea; and he had a dog that swan
OFT famously for sticks in the water and
hens and chickens-bless met such time
the latter had before they learned to walk
against the wild ocean winds their wings
would beEblOwn over their heads, ard
they would tumble about in the most
ridiculous manner but they soon adapted
themselves to their breezy home, and, like
Robbie himself made the best of circum-
So my little hero lived in the sea, and
was happy and contented there until the
sorrows .befell of which am going to tell
you. &
l ought to have remarked, perhaps, that
Robbie's parents were not originally of
the seafaring class that usually take such
PLACES the lighthouse-keeper was a
stranger from far away, who had suffered
some great wrong or misfortune that
made him glad to fly from the haunts of
men, and live out in this wild ocean home
@one with his wife and little boy amid
Che vast sights and sounds which seemed
10 breathe, with the large, calm spirit of
eternity, over the troubles of time.
I There was a mystery about the light
se.keeper's history which 1 do not
fully know, only that his wife so chung
TO him inshis dark hours, and so sacrificed
herself for his sake, that he thought her
scarce mortal woman.
One day when she felt weak and i'll he
sent to the mainland in great haste and
fear the servant boy, who lived at the