The Troy herald., 1876-11-15
The Lighthouse Keeper.
ny SHERLOCK BREWER.


gny OF heart. She had not long lost
hcr mother, but she was Of the age at
which q mother is missed merely like
~ broken doll or mysteriously van.
ished sweetmcat-mourned with an
agony of sObs which, while 1t Ia SITS,
few sorrows Of after years can surpass
III Intensity, and then ~ q few min-
u,cs, at the outside hours, forgotten.
Her widOwer.fathcr, for her own
sake and her dead mothers, pettcd
her more than ever, and his turn hav.
lug como around again for service IN
the isolated lighthouse to which he
was attached, had locked up the door
of the little whitewashcd cottage
which death had lett unto him desol.
ate, and taken his little daughter with
him to the cluster Of wave. washed
rocks, on the highest of which the
lighthouse was planted.
Young though she was, jessie knew
that the other light.kcepers left their
children at homo when their turms
for the lighthouse came round, and,
ihcrcfore--spccialty Of circumstance,
even when not favorable, always
making the specially circuinst anccd
icel, IL some way or another, supe.
riOr to the ruck Of folk Of jog.trot for.
tumes--litllc Jessie looked down upon
her whilom playmatcs ut home with
their moihers. Grown.up people, as
! have hintcd-such are the incrciful
compensation alto rdcd by our queer.
ly.cOnstituted natures, find IN the
very fact that they arc worse OF than
their fellows, o comforting proof that
they ought to be far better or than
such igmobIy lucky poor creatures ;
but Jessie had no ability or need Tor
solf.fattcry 80 Iar.fetched. The
inothcrless little girl felt thoroughly
Jolly" Ii there lie q heaven from
which fond, sclf.sacriti cling mothers
can look down upon the little ones
whom it racked their hearts to leave
--evcn though longing ror rest from
earthly sorrow, pain aud care, that
heavens brightness mus, be nomcn-
iarily dimmed when they see how
.oon they arc forgotten by the wee
pets who were dearcr to them than
the apples OF their eyes.
Little Jessie was as blithc as a lark.
Steve and Alick, who had hailed her
father AS "Jack, matc," made almost
as much OF her as he did. For other
rlaymatcs she had the lighthouse dog
"Coxswain"-sO called from tho dig.
nifty with which he planted himself
in the s.ern-shects Of the boat that
went to aud fro between the light.
house and the shore; the lighthouse
goat, "Numnikin," which gave good
milk, but still retained, in spite of the
Gooped confinement to which weather
often condemned her. the iriskincss
at kidhood; the lighthouse cock aud
hens aud chickens, aud her own LlacE
kitten, which tho lighthouse men had
christened "Niggcr Pars0n," because
it had o splash Of white under The
chin.
Jessie had come t. her island prison
over q sea, generally very rough
which seemed to have been made fol
her special convenience, rs smooth a
ii halcyons were brooding omit. Th'
lofty lighthouse, with its many stor
les. up aud down which she had beer
carried by her father and his mater
over aud over again, appeared to hcl
no gaol, but most spacious aud cur
iously convenient mansion, after thu
commonplace little cottage to whicl
she had been accustomed.
The halcyOn calm continued. Th'
sky was blue and very nearly cloud
less. 1t was sbb tide, aud the no
sun had almost dried the l,ghthousc'
archipelago Of rocks and rockets
down to their margins, ever freshly
iNoistcncd BY the lazily tapping wa
ter. Steve and Alick were fishing II
ono Of the miniature 6ords, whicl
ran up like fanshapcd fingers into th'
liuhthnusc rnrE lack sal on ono a