Morning journal and courier., 1880-02-20
LOCAL NEWS.
EFOr other Local News See seccndsPsEs, ell
The Story of a Lighthouse.

For other Local News See Seconds Pss e,l
 The Story of a Lighthouse.
 The Sheffield Scientific School Course
 Lecture by Prof. Du BOfs-ChivaIric
 Devotion. selE-SacriHIce and Noble
 Ach1evement-The EddystOna Light
 The Engineering Field.
 The fifth in the Sheffield Scientific School annual course of lectures to mechanics took place last evening at North Sheffield Hall, given by Prof. A. Jay Du Bois. There was a large attendance and lively interest. The topic was 'fThe Story of Lighthouse" The lecturer opened with brilliant reference to the power and influence of great deeds and achievements, especially when humanity is benefited. Proceeding he said:
 The story have to tell possesses indeed an interest almost dramatic in its character, a drama in which the actors are strong, skilled, determined men on the one.side, and the trs- mendous forces of Nature upon the other. About IA miles s. s. W. of Plymouth harbor, lies reef which needs no Lorelei to add to it's fatal efficiency. Lying low down in the sea- 1t slants it's glistening spine to the rolling waves and lifts them high into the air, dark green and capped with foam, solid, massive and terrible while in and around its treach- erous neighborhood, the water boils and ed dies, and surges to and fro, as in a mighty cauldron. However calm it may be else where, here there is constant turmoil and ceaseless roar, and in these raging seas hun dreds of vessels have been dashed to pieces, almost within sight of land and safety.
 Such is the reef called the 'FEddystone," :" and while seeking to avoid it's fatal neighbor hood, many a luckless mariner has gone from Gou1lo f0 6horvhdi0 and Tna fhA fate ha feared among the islands of Jersey, Guernsey and Alderney, and upon the coast of France. Every storm the terrible reef made good it's fatal reputation, and strewed the shores of Plymouth Sound with wrecks and corpses. Like the fabled monster of old, it crouched beyond the city walls, and every year it levied upon the panic stricken inhabitants, it's fear ful tax of blood and treasure.
 Then, as in the fable, Perseus came. Our modern Perseus had neither polished shield, nor magic sword, nor winged sandals. No gifts from the gods were his, save his clever hands, resolute will, honest heart and ready brains No youthful hero with ambrosial curls but rather bald somewhat portly, plain, middle-aged, well-to- do country gen. tleman and mercer, or merchant tailor, of Littlebury, county of Essex-very unassum ing, and probably not even good looking. Rather prosaio stuff for hero, this! But this modern hero stood upon Plymouth Hoe n:s day, perhaps upon the very spot where Drake once stood when the Spanish Armada was first deserted making for the English coast, and looked out to sea like Drake, but with a very different object. In the rain and the sleet and the wind, his cooked hat slouched over his eyes, the rather voluminous, not to say baggy clothing of those days Tapping in the gale, with one eye shut and glass at the other, and his legs astraddle, looking nothing like the conventional hero of poet and drama behold the modern Perseus! Smile at the description if you will, but such, in all proba bility, was the entrance of veritable hero and genius upon drama which was to close only with his life, and in which his manly part was to hand down his name to admiring genera tions No carpet knight this; no soft handed, softer headed young ladies' beau ideal! No poetic and romantic figure, with flush of youth and bravery of trappings and celestial backing to see him through without . scratch! But resolute, determined man, alone in the wind and the storm, terribly in earnest, and animated by as pure spirit, of sslf-secrifce, as high an ambition and as noble desire for the good of fellow creatures, as any of the more brilliant creations of minstrel and poet His story possesses, moreover, an interest which theirs too often lacks-'it's true! '" Beneath that plain exterior lay stout hsart and as stout will, and as he calmly levelsd his glass and squinted out to sea, he was re- solving like Ulysses of old, great things within his mind"
 ne lOOk6u out LOWAIuS Eu1S lubALlAL6 HUI ster, which had robbed him of two fine ships, and saw it dashing the waves in it's savage glee high into the air from it's dripping back, and heard that terrible roar which had been the death knell to so many gallant souls and in the midst of the din and uproar of the clements which seemed to laugh and mock at human weakness, he stood and looked over the dismal IA miles of rainy sea, and quietly resolved to devote what remained to him of fortune and of strength in the unequal battle, and if 1t might be, to demolish the tyranny of this "rock of destiny" Was ever greater conceit? Alone, unfriended, the little man in the cooked hat had entered the lists against the most destructive power known to man. No man had ever dared to tread that way bs- fore him. He knew no similar examples from whence to draw encouragement or warming. The monster Shrieked defiance and derision and foamed with rage and scorn but Winstanley of Littlebury calmly and quietly went to work. The mouse versus the lion, the spider against the bear, the man against the rock. He asked and got no aid from . churlish gov ernment, although engaged in the most une- qual warfare ever waged by man for the com mon veal Still he worked on. Men laugh ed and jesred at the fanatic, the enthusiast, the man who presumed to fight the Almighty. Still he worked on. He needed their mocke- ry as little as that of the winds and waves, and quietly went his way. And now began the battle of the rock and man, of wind and water, of brute force and brains; and into the her culean contest Winstanley threw all his prop erty, his dauntless energy, and ere the close, his life itself.
 The speaker here enjoined the valuable lesson that achievement is the result of pa- tient work and paid tribute to the native gift for his profession which Winstanley had. He was born mechanic and had passion for this field of labor, and the speaker referred to evidences of this bent of his min d oUA6I in InUAnfInnc PpnaoadIner hn uoi6 al.
 Four years the contest lasted. How shall I do justice to that terrible fight? How tell of the sufferings and privations, of the forti- tude and endurance, of cold and hunger and danger and death, of long sickening delays and sinkings of heart, of alternate hope and despair, as with varying fortune, jsersd at by his very workmen, the battle went? Heed less of mockery, foremost in dapgsr, undis- mayed by failure, here is battle and 8 hsro worthy the poets pen. Now the man would gain slight advantage, and now the remorse- less winds and waves would tear down with malicious Rlse and frenzisd shrieks. In one hour, the patient toll of months. Often caged on that lonely rock, shut of from all human aid, dispirited by hunger and cold, the daunt- less man looked death full in the face, and yet, in his own brave words, "trustinR in Gods assistance for a blessing on this under taking, being for 8 general good, and receiv ing most inexpressible dSliversnces, pro- ceeded."
 The result of that wholo first year-12 rainy months of perilous labor, uncheersd by sym pathy and marked by disaster-was simply 12 holes bored in the solid rock. Twelve small holes of inches diameter and that was all That was all, but that was enoughl The mon- ster was then vulnerable. His hide was pierced. A foothold on that terrible rock WAS at last secured. It is the first step which costs. The rock at last had met it's master.
 In these days of universal travel, when all good Americans go to Paris before they die, wherever they may go after, probably eight out of every dozen within reach of ,pny voice tonight owe their lives, or the lives of those near and dear to them, to those 12 small holes and to the noble man whose determined courage sank them. Thanks to them and him. wrecks no longer strew the shores of Plymouth Sound the British Chan nel Is now lit up along it's whole extent and is as safe in the darkest night as in the brightest sunshine; homeward bound ships from far of ports no longer avoid the dread ed rock, but eagerly run for its light as the harbinger of safety; and many @ heart has leapt with gladness at the cry of the 'Eddy- stone in sight!"
 The work now went bravely forward. En- couragement and stsrdy sympathy began to como. The man was no longer Q lunatic. There were even not wanting those who knew ,II oJ0Doy ruoc Gtaasv arnuoh Thav aluovs