New Ulm weekly review. [volume] (New Ulm, Minn.) 1878-1892, 1879-05-28

On forehead, and mouth and chin
And wherever find dimple,
I'll smugRle the kisses in.
Harry d. Brine, In Y0uth's COmD0nioa
LIGHTHOUSES FOGS- SIGNALS.
As WE sit around the comfortable
fires these cold winter nights and hear
the winds bowling about our houses,
rafting the shutters and shaking the
very roofs over our heads, how often
have we thought about those at sea
the poor sailors climbing icy rope-lad-
ders, or holding on for dear life as the
blasts sweep them into danger! Some
of US have said, no doubt, "How the
wind blows! I hope the ships are near
the harbors, and not upon the ocean
where the big waves are.'' But that
isn't such charitable wish as you may
suppose, for the ships near shore are
those in danger, while those on the
open sea are comparatively safe.
Lighthouses answer two purposes;
they show the sailors where safe har-.
bors are if they want to come in, or
they show where danger is if they want
to keep out. So, in any case, light
houses are the sailor friends. Let us,
then, find out something about them.
The first light-bearing tower of which
we know anything was built by Ptol-
envy Philadelphus, B. G. 800. The
light used upon ancient towers came
from huge piles of burning wood.
It is an easy task to build tower on
shore, but when there is hidden rock
for q foundation, there is trouble.
You've heard of tho famous Minot's
Ledge Lighthouse. The rock lies at
the entrance of Boston Harbor. What
a time they had building that light
house! Why at high tide there isn't
rock to be seen, and at low tide sur
face about three and half feet high
and twenty-five feet in diameter only is
above water. In 1847 they began to
build, and the work was SO difficult
that the drilling of the holes in the
rock took almost the whole of two sea-
sons. The lighthouse frame was an
octagon of twenty-five feet diameter at
the base. The house was supported IN
mid-air by nine wrought-iron shafts
each eight inches at the base. where
they were set into the rock, and about
six inches at the top, sixty feet above
the rock. These shafts were fastened
together and braced with iron rods,
and yet, on Wednesday, the 18th of
April, 1851, the lighthouse was carried
away. Such a gale as blew that week
was never known before. Higher and
higher rose the sea, creeping up the
great iron rods toward the wood
en- structure where the light-keepcr
was living. At midnight the light
house bell was heard on shore, but
when morning came the structure had
disappeared. The waves had actually
risen sixty feet and beaten against the
lighthouse building till it fell. If you
are ever in Cohasset, Hull, or any of
the cities in the neighborhood, you can
find plenty of people to tell you about
that terrible stOrm-when the tide
swept up over the beaches and banks to
the houses where the people lived. Go,
too, to the new lighthouse on the
Hinots. You will not find the lamp on
iron legs sixty feet long, but at the
top of solid stone column. It took
three years just to prepare the rock to
receive the foundation stones. The
structure cost $500. 900.
When engineers want to build a
lighthouse on soft ground or sand,
they generally use what is called q
s'screW-pile. This is q bar of iron
having . broad plate at the end, which
is turned or screwed into the sand.
This will stand q great strain of pres
sure. Where lighthouses cannot be
well constructed, light-ships are used.
These friendly vessels are securely an
chored, and where they are placed they
stay, through storm and sunshine.
Candles with redectors were first
tried in the original Eddystone light
house in the English Channel. This
was thought to be an advance from the
burning Of wood, but the sailors pre-
ferred the latter because they could not
see the candle-light very far. Invent
0rs tried successive methods until Ami
Argand, Of Geneva, brought out his
celebrated burner. (SOme people say
that Teulere invented it.
This was applied to lighthouses with
the best results. Nowadays they have
all kinds Of lights, flashing, dipping,
electric and colored.
You must go into . lighthouse the
first chance You getand that chance
should be pretty good, too, because
there are over six hundred of them in
the United States.
There have been great many I'M
stances Of self-sacrifice and bravery in
these isolated places.
There is no need Of describing fogs
to YOU, for even though you NAV have