Connecticut western news., 1883-02-14
Life in a Lighthouse.

There are horrible stories told of for-
 ner days, when 8 couple of men being on duty on some isolated rock; one of them happened to die suddenly in rough weather when the survivor, fearing of being charged with the crime, remained shut up in the closest proximity to the corpse of his eonarade til the lull of the storm brought relief and the opportunity of explanation. This very week we hear of case which might we'll seem incredi- ble were it not amply authenticated. The watchmen on the Wolf Rock, oppo- site the Cornish coast, were cut off from all communication with their kind through the two dreariest months of the winter and it was nearly the middle of January when relief reached them at last. Nowadays, however, the light warders in similar circumstances invari- ably consist of three at the least and both on the light-towers and in the lightships, the men are surrounded by all manner of material comforts. They have rooms as snug as the limited struc- tural arrangements will admit; they have ample rations of excellent food, nor are the needs of their minds by any means neglected. Still, it must be an unnatural life at the best. and one that is perilously fitted to nourish sombre fancies. We may conceive that in the men who take most kindly to the occupation, the inag- ination is seldom strongly developed; but nevertheless, they must be quick and intelligent. Generally speaking, some moderate amount of exercise IS be- ieved to be indispensable to preserving the balance of the bodily and mental powers and in the dullest routine of or dinary drudgery there are usually occa- sional changes of scene and company.
 But in many lighthouse the occu- pants are held fast by the legs, for exer- else becomes something more than ef- fort when it is reduced to practicing the treadmill upon the steps of corkscrew staircase, or to taking half a dozen steps upon shiny rock at low water. The crews of the lighthouse are somewhat more favorably circumstanced in this re- spect, since they can do their walking on 8 more or less roomy deck, and they en- joy, besides, greater variety of com pany But the life in both cases must be intolerably monotonous; and to 8 landsman there would be little to choose between the terrors of the one and the other, when the sea is wrapped in im- penetrable fogs or is being lashed into fury by bowling tempests. In storm, the lighthouse is in reality the safer resi- dence of the two, for, thanks to the skill of our modern engineers, it is most un- likely that another Eddystone will be swept away. Yet the waves rush up the sides of the tower, and toss their tons of seething green water against the lower courses of masonry, seeming to shake the massive structure from the light-room to the foundation, it must need nerve and long habit to resist the belief that the violence of the elements may bring about catastrophe. As for the lightships, being moored in shallower water, they may be less exposed to the extreme fury of the storms, though there is always chance of their being torn from their anchorage. But, on the other hand, in even moder- ately bad weather they must always be emi- nently disagreeable places of abode. The peculiar jerking motion, when the natural heaving of the ship is being perpetually checked by the straining cables, is saic to be trying to the most seasoned ot mariners, and to be one of those incon veniences to which no custom can re-
 concile one.-Sdta1rc10y RevieaO.