Connecticut western news., 1878-01-24
WATCHING POOR JACK.
An Interesting Account of the lIifs-savinR stations of the United States--HOw Ship- wrecked Vessel Is Treated.

stations of the United states--How n Ship
 wrecked Vessel Is Treated.
 During the year ending June 1877, the total number of vessels driven ashore In the United States, says an interesting article onpthe subject in Harpers Mag- azine, was one hundred and thirty-four, having one thousand five hundred per sons on board, thirty-nine, or about two and half per cent, of whom were lost. The total amount of property saved was over one million seven hundred thousand | dollars, and the total amount of that lost, over one million five hundred thousand dollars Since 1871 four hundred wrecks occurred, imperilllng over eleven million one hundred thousand dollars worth of property nearly seven millions worth of this was saved, and of four thousand seven hundred and thirty lives imperilled only eighty were lost. Two thousand eight hundred and sixty-seven days of shelter were afforded at the stations to nine hundred and fifty-nine persons. During l871-72 the operations of the service were confined to the coasts of Long Island and New Jersey in 1972-74 they were extended to Cape God and Rhode Island, and in the next year they
 were further extended to the limits of the present districts. r.
 The stations are nearly all alike simple wooden houses, with steep gable
 roofs, the only projection about them be-
 ing the lightning and the only or
 nament coat of rod brown paint. From
 May until November they are unoccu-
 pied, though all the apparatus is ready | for use; and the rest of the year each
 becomes the home of keeper and six
 surf-men, who are paid forty dollars a I month, and are chosen for their experi-
 ence on the beach. Their duties are
 concisely stated in the instructions of
 the Treasury Department, to which
 bra anch of the government the Life-sav-
 ing Service belongs. "During the win.
 ter months the beach will be pstrolled
 by the surf-men every night. The patrol
 will consist of two men from each station
 one following the beach toward the next
 station to the right, and the other pro
 ceeding toward the next station to tht
 left, and each continuing his walk unti the patrol from the adjacent station Ii met. Each patrolman will carry beacl
 lantern, also & red Coston hand-light
 and when an inlet separates the stations he will exchange signals with patrolmal on the opposite shore. On those part of the coast where the two adjacent house can not be seen from each other, tn
 beach will be patrolled sufficiently t. bring them in sight three times between
 sunrise aud sunset. On the discover of 0 wreck or 0 vessel in distress, tn
 patrolman will immediately burn his re- , Coston hand-ight both to alarm the sta tions and give notice to the wreck tha
 succor is near, then returning to tn 2 station and assisting in the preparatio D of the apparatus. Boats, etc., will b , prepared for immediate service" Tn g discovery of wreck is matter worth 2 detailed description, however.
 Suppose it is December night; it
 sure to be cold from the last of tn :, equinoctials until the westward -boun steamers from England begin to mal good voyages again, there is no warmt . to speak of along the Jersey shore. Lt d us suppose, too, that it is dark an t clustering, so that we may feel with flu
 poignancy what surf-man's experience ! sometimes are. A big fire is blazing !, the iving-room of the station, and fol ,f of the men, with the keeper, are takir . their ease around it, or lying in the
 banks, while the two others are putin ! ] on their coats and mufflers, and lookin 1; longingly toward the hearth. The latt, ,, are going out on patrol, aud as they al :. human, they delay as much as possibl a re-adjusting their dress, pressing the h pilot caps over their heads, pulling the
 gloves farther on and giving the = neck cloths final twitch. The duty ,t memorable, and with a last regretf ~ ~ glance at the fire, they shivering
 plunge into the outer light.
 What a sharp transition it is TT
 wind is full of needle-points, and GU .a them like a knife, and the darkne m .a blinds them for few moments. and e
 tends in every direction, except aroul 7 .. their feet, over which their lanterns ca l., ,~ ring of white light, and in the windc :. of the house, which glows with warmt ~. Above the moaning of the air is the To,
 beat of the sea, as the waves break c the shore and recede with sibilant sounc ,. and the spray is lifted and driven t., shore by the wind in feathering streak st The two patrolmen say goodnight te and separate; one looks back to see t lv lantern of the other swinging to and f ,S on the sands, and decreasing in brillian ;s until it is altogether lost behind pl n, jecting bluff, and he then feels abs to lutely alone amid an unreal silence tn :. would not be as awful were the way ru and wind completely still. The stars a S remote and merciless in their crystalli s+ splendor, seeming to be fixed in tn E. black Armament only to show how d >, tant thing heaven is and the sea- o3 is invisible; where the waves rush os the beach and leave glazed surface ,.t the sand, 8 few diamond points rehe of the stars, and beyond these an impen tv trable wall is built upward there is
 v sea at all; but, watching more closet
 the patrolman discovers vibrant co
 of white, rythmical in motion, like ta of string that is depressed near the midd as and suddenly released, and that cord
 knows to be, though he cannot see, t 1o euotl;,,o. o,.osA oe 4bo .rooo,.:,,, .