The Canton mail. [volume] (Canton, Miss.) 18??-1882, 1875-11-27
A Lighthouse Story,

| WAS one SOME SEVEN years
age-not amy breezier than this one,
not half so breezy as this will be an
hour from now, when it turns mid
night. who. in thunder says my
predecessor (who tells me the story,
should come along side this here light
all the way from Buffalo nigh on to
ten o'clock when the wind was rising,
but a young man from the city over
there, and his lady-love. Good God,
says 1, as her bonnet come up about
the hatchway, into the light of my
lantern, if it amt female! l was
never more astonished in my life, says
he, for she was a beauty, and a lady
from her feather down to her shoes,
And the young man what was with
her, he appeared to be good chap,
too, and they was both in the best of
spirits, laughing and going on at a
great rate. OF course the young lady
wanted to know all about the light;
and of course l took her up and
showed it to her, explaining how it
had to be wound up every four hours,
and how the wick had to be trimmed,
and how the flame had to be kept at
certain hight, and how everything
about the lantern and lenses had to be
tested and proved once in not very
long whites. And it was mighty
pretty says my predecessor, 'to look
into the young lady's eyes while l was
telling her all this, for it seemed as if
she kind O made up to an old weather
brace that didn't get his natural sleep,
and looked what she called lonesome
We'll, says my predecessor, that went
on till time GENE to go back; and by
that time it was a breezing. 1t was
black enough to chop coats out of, and
the letting of that young lady down
the ladder want no good job, with the
waves a-pitching and the boat having
to be kept off for fear of its smashing
its side against the wall. Her young
man Q'll say this for him, that he was
a game one :! he went down just below
her-both of 'em with their hindsides
turned outward and hanging on the
ladder like grim death-rather to catch
her if she slipped. So they got down
to pretty near the boat, with me
a-holding the lantern over the rail, and
the men yelling and the wind
a-whistling, and the white-caps kerr
snorting. Are you ready? says one of
the boatmen as they got down to the
water. Yes says the young man.
Then, says the boatman. put one of
your arms around your lady's waist,
and when 1 say the word, Ready! do
you give me your other hand, which
I'll grab, and then she must let go the
ladder and do you step back with her
into the boat. I'll steady you. All
right, says the young man, cheerily
and darling, will you do as the boatman
says? he said. Yes, dear, 1 heard her
answer with little tremble in her
voice. Then, in half a minute, the
boatman shouted, Ready! and then
the young man cried our, Trust to me,
love! and then heard tumble in the
boat, and thought 1 heard splash.
And then there was a shrek from the
young man. o, God, l have let her
fall! Where is she? he cried. Over
board, by Cd! yelled one of the
boatmen and the next minute, they
said, the young man had torn off his
coat and was overheard, too. / heard,
says my predecessor, the oars a-rust-
ling in the boat for half minute, and |
then thought could see it scoot away
down the stream. They say the man
rowed five miles down the worst cur
rent in the country, hunting for those
two drowned lovers. But they didn't |
find 'em; and | really never was sure
whether they was ever found. '"-Ne,c
York World