Morning journal and courier., 1888-01-02
AN ACCOM- pLIsHED EMPLOYE.


 How the Government is Faithfully
 Served by Captain oliver Brooks. the
 Lighthouse Keeper on Faulkner,s
 Island.
 Speaking of lighthouse keepers, there is not one of them in the service who receives higher salary than $1 1000 year, and there are some who get not more than $10O. There are at least one thousand keepers in the em- ploy of the government, and under recent act of Congress their pay averages $500 a year. That makes 5000, 900 the government pays in wages for warning sailors off of dan- gerous ground. and the maintenance of the Lighthouses comes to hundreds of thousands besides. In no branch of the public service IS strlcter discipline and greater attention to duty insisted on than in lighthouse keeping The service is controlled by a Lighthouse board, and the best men obtainable are selected as keepers. Preference is given to men who have spent years of service in the army or navy, as they know what discipline IS, and kRow by experience that orders are to be obeyed to the letter and without question. There are many retired ship-masters and mates who are to-day doing duty on solitary and isolated beacon rocks, where they hear no sound but the moan and roar of the ocean, except their own voices and those of their families, if they have any, for months at time.
 One of the most accomplished and cul- tured men that ever was in the employ of any government was for more than thirty years in charge of one of the United States lighthouses. That man was Captain Oliver Brooks. The New York Sun of yesterday says: He kept the great light going on Faulk ner's Island, five miles off the Connecticut coast on Long Island Sound He had been sea captain for many years before entering the lighthouse service, and his example and methods as lighthouse keeper so improved the capability of all other keepers that he should have met with more substantial rec ognition from the government on his retire. ment than the expression of it's regret and reluctance at parting with him, genuine and sincere as it must have been. Faulk- ner's Island light first flashed out up- on the sea to warn vessels away from that dangerous locality one night eighty-seven years ago, and it has never failed to lift aloft it's welcome beacon single night since. That light is one of the most important on our coasts. Faulkner's leland lies directly in the track of all vessels pas sing either in or out of the Sound, ana if on any night it's light should fail to catch the eye of the sailor on such vessels the conse- quences might be fearful to- relate. The lighthouse is nearly 100 feet high and it's signal beams out on each of its eight sides, operated by the most perfect clockwork ma chinery, contrived by Captain Brooks, re- voiving about the towers summit with un- varying regularity. The sailor on watch knows whether his ships bearings are right when he sees that light, no matter in what direction the vessel may be going or coming. It is like no other beacon in the range of the sailors vision, and Faulkner is his guide and hope as long as it can be seen.
 Capt. Brooks raised large family of boys and girls in his snug quarters in that lighthouse, and their record of life-saving in n6rlIOuS wealth of silver and gold plate, rare bric-a- brac and other valuable testimonials from shipwrecked mariners the captain and his daughters and sons have saved from many wrecks, for even tho great light has not pre- vented score of disasters in the treacherous water surrounding it. Not only sailors, but drowning men, women and children have been time and again rescued by Capt. Brooks and his courageous children. The family's home in the lighthouse was glad surprise to the stranger visiting it. One daughter was an accomplished ornithologist, and the walls were covered with artistically mount ed specimens of the birds of that To- cality, from the enormous bald eagle to the diminutive wren. Each specimen had been shot by this daughter on the island, and was stuffed and mounted by herself. Another daughter was an authority in marine botany, and her collection was complete exhibit of the botanical possibilities of that island and others in the vicinity. This daughter spent long time at Yale under the private tuition of Prof. Whitney in the study of her favorite science. She was also an accomplished water color artist, and there are in the houses of some of New York's wealthiest and most cul- tivated families albums of her botanical col lections that were arranged te order by her, and are probably the most unique and valua ble works of art of their kind ever executed. The books alone cost $20 each in New York at wholesale"