The Republican journal. [volume] (Belfast, Me.) 1829-current, 1877-05-03
From the Galaxy lur April.
SISTER ST. LUKE.
A STORY or FLORIDA


eyes at once.
''Thrcc pairs" answered Keith, t;lsttn-
my the statement to fact and the boat to
Il rock in his calm way land one if not
two Of the pairs are Minorc;n."
The two friends crossed the broad white
beach toward the little stone house Of the
light keeper, who sat in the doorway
liaNin spent the morning Watching their
sail cross over from Pelican reef, tacl1ing
laZllN east and West-an event of more
than enough Importance in his isolated
life to have kept him there, gazing and
cuntrnted. all day. Behind the broad
shoulders OF sWarthy Pedro stood Il little
figure clothed in balcll: and Is the man
lifted himself lazily at last and came
down To meet them, ana his wife stepped
brlskly forward, they saw that the third
person was nun-a large eeNcd, fragile
little creature, promptly introduced by
MrlNy yna, the keepers wife, ;ls ''Sister ST,
Luke" For the keepers wife, in spite Of
her black eyes. was not Il Minorcan at
all: not even 4 Southerncr MelvNna
Sawyer was born in Vermont, and bV one
oi the strange chances Of this vast, MANY
raced, motley country of ours, She had
travelled south Us nurse and 4 very good,
energetic nurse too, albeit SumeW hat
sharp -Nolcrd, IL Il delicate Young WIFE,
who had died i'll the sunny land as 50
many ri them die: the sun, with all his
good will and with all his shining, not
being able to undo in three months the
work Of long Years OF the SHOWS and the
bleak east winds of New England.
The lady dead, and her poor thin frame
sent northWard again to lie in the hillside
churchyaId by the side Of the bleak Puri-
tan ancestors, MelVyna looked about her.
She hated the lazy tropical land. and had
packed her cat-slin trunk, to 60. when
Pedro GonsalVeZ surprised her by pro-
posing malrimony. At least that is what
She wrote to her Aunt C!emanthy, away
up in Vermont and although Pedro MAY
not have used the words, he at least
ncant the fact, tor they were married two
weeks later by justice of the peace
whom MciNNna's sharp eyes had I'M
ealthcd, she OF course dceminy the padre
of the little parish and one or two attend
ant priests us 50 much dust to be trampled
cnergetically under her shoes, Protestant
and number six and half double e-soled
mediums. The justice OF the peace. Il
good natured old gentleman who had for
gotten that he held the office at all. Since
there was no demand for justice and the
peace was never broken in the small lazy
village. married them us well aS he could
III a surprised sort of 4 way, and instead
OF receiving a fee gave one, which Mel
vNna, however, promptly rescued from
the bridegroom's willing hand, and re-
turned with the remark that there was
no ''call for aims pronounced us if it
rlymed with hams), and that two shil-
ling, or mebbe three, she guessed, would
be about right for the Job. This sum
she deposited on the table, and then took
leave, walking oft with quick, enter
prsng step, followed by her acquescent
and admiling bridegroom. He had rc-
manned acuulescent and admrn@ ever
since, and now. as light house keeper on
Pelican island, he admired and acuui-
csced more than ever; while MclNyna
kept the house in order, cooked his dim
ners, and tended his light, which, al
though only third class, shone and gilt
tered under her daily care in the old
square tower which was founded bv the
Spanlards, heightened by the English,
and now finished and owned by the Unit
ed States, whose light-ho board said
to each other every now and then that
really they must put a first class Frcsnal
on Pelican island and good substantial
tower instead OF that old fashioned
beacon. They did SO Il year or two later
and hideous BARRIERS pole it remains to
the present day. But when Darlington
and Keith landed there the square tower
still stood IN It's gray old age, al the very
edge Of the oceal, SO that high tides
swept the step OF the keepers house. 1t
was originally 4 lookout where the Span
ish soldier stood and fired his cuVerin
when a vessel came in sight outside the
reef; then the British occupied the land,
added a story, and placed an iron grating
on the top, where their coastyualdsman
lighted Il fire of pitch-pine knots that
i1ared up against the sky, with the It'd
lngs, "a sail a sail" Finally the Unit
ed States came into possession, ran up u
third story, and put in a revolving light
one flash for the land and two for the
sea, Il proportion unnecessarily generous
now to the land, since nothing came in
any more, and everything went by. the
little halbor being Of no Importance since
the indigo culture had failed. But ships
still sailed by on their way to the Queen
OF the Antilles, and to the far WindWard
and Lecward islands, and the old light
went on revolving, presumably for their
benefit. The tower, gray and crlmblng
and the keepers house, We're surrounded
by Il high stone wall with angels and
loophoies ii small but regularly planned
defensive fortitication built by the Span
iards; and odd enough it looked there ON
that peaceful island, where there was
nothing to defend. But it bore itself
stoutly nevertheless, this ancient little
fortress, and kept a sharp lookout still
over the ocean for the uamnabe llugllc-
not s;u of two centuries before.
The sea had cncroached greatly on Pei
lean island, and sooner or later it must
sweep the keepers house away; but now
1t was not unpleasant sensation to hear
the water wash against the step--to sit ut
the marrow little windows and watch the
sea roll up roll up, nearer and nearer,
coming all the way landless in long snrges
from the distant African coast only to
never quite get ut the foundations of that
stubborn little dwelling, which held its
own against them, and then triumphant-
~ watched them roll back, roll back, de-
parting inch by inch down the beach, un-
til, behold there was a magnificent pa
rade- ground, broad enough for a thou
sand feet to tread-a floor more fresh and
beautiful than the marble payements of
palaces There were not a thousand feet
to tread there, however; only six. For
Melvyna had more than enough to do
within the house, and Pedro never walked
save across the island to the inlet once in
two weeks or so, where he managed to
row over to the village, and return with
supplies, by taking two entire days for it,
even Melyyna having given up the point,