The Universalist. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1884-1897, 1888-06-09
THE BUILDERS OF THE EDDY.
STONE.

For many a century, certain Jagged
reef OF rocks, which lies about twelve
miles off the English coast, in the raging
English Channel, was terror to all the
seamen who approached it. Many
ooodly craft had struck upon its jutting
craos. and had in an instant broken up
and plunged to the bottom. Often hid
den amid dense fogs, the ships OF the
olden time could never make out just
where it lay; and each year it devoured
and DESTROYED it's victims, sometimes by
the hundred, so that those near and dear
to them never knew what had been their
fate.
The ocean, dashing in ceaseless break
ers upon this hideous mass OF rocks,
breaks in circling eddies and whirlpools
around them; and, from this circum-
stance. the reef, ages ago, received the
now famous name of Eddystone.
IT. was upon this terrible reef OF the
Eddystone that the first lighthouse that
was ever built upon rock at a distance
from the mainland was erected; ana IL Is
our;ous that the idea Of putting light
bouse there was conceived, not by sail
or or an engineer, not by man OF SCI
ence or by the government, but by
quiet, eccentric English country gentle
man. About two centuries ago, this gen
tlsman. whose name was Henry Wmstan-
lev. was living at his ease in his ancient
manor house in Eastern England. VIM
stanley was very queer, whimsical man.
He was quite rich, and used his wealth
in a very singular way. His neighbors,
though they liked him for his good nat
ured and easy-going ways, thought that
he was perhaps little Cracked" Win
stanley, among other odd traits, was fond
of playing practical jokes. Indeed, ne
spent a great deal of his time and money
in giving people sudden shocks and sur
prises. He filled his house and grounds
for instance, with all sorts of strange de-
vices for this purpose.
Yet it was this very man OF strange
whims and terrifying jokes. Henry VIM
stanley, who undertook the unheard OF
feat of erecting lighthouse on the tenn
pest.riyen reef OF the Ed6ystone In
spired by the noble idea of saving so
many lives and SO much property from
the jaws of the great deep, Winstaniey
abandoned his idle life, and went to
work with will. He himself aided and
superintendent his workmen, giving up
all his time and energies to his great
work. For six years he toiled ceaseless
ly to finish it. He constantly braved the
storms that ever swept around the dread
full reef. More than once, bound to the
rock, he came near starving; and, at last,
when the light house had been reared
and was all but completed, he fell VIC
tim to his noble design.
One evening at dusk, Winstanley with
party of his workmen put off in a boat
from Plymouth, to put some finishing
touches to the lighthouse. just as he
was starting, friend, pointing to the
gathering clouds, warned him that q
storm was coming up, and begged him
not to go, but Winstanley, in his reckless
way, replied, 81 only wish 1 could be at
the lighthouse in the greatest storm that
ever blew under the face Of the heavens"
His wish was to be fulfilled sooner than
he thought. As night closed in, the
tower Of the lighthouse could be dimly
seen from the shore rising proudly above
the angry surge; but before the next
morning dawned, it had disappeared
forever from human sight. The crags OF
the Eddystone rose grim, bleak and bare
from the swelling bosom of the sea. The
brave Winstanley and all his men, and
every stone and buttress and cable and
nail of his lighthouse, = everything ex-
cepting only a single chain, which re-
manned riveted in the crevice OF the rock
had been swept away; for all had gone
down under the most terrific gale which
had ragged in the English channel for
many years.
But the sad fate of Winstanley did not
prevent other intrepid spirits from max
ing fresh attempts to convert the Eddy
stone from an awful peril into beacon
of safety. Four years after Winstanley
was destroyed, a plain, sensible man,
John Rudyerd, whose trade was to deal
in silk goods, went to work and erected a
wooden lighthouse, which was shaped
like pine cone, on the bleak and barren
reef, but, as the waters and winds had
proved the destruction of Winstanley's
tower, so fire afterward consumed that of
Rudyerd.
Rudyerd's tower stood the brunt Of
wave and storm for forty-six years. Then
early one cold December morning, some
fishermen who were getting ready their
nets on the beach, saw clouds of smoke
issuing from the lighthouse. Three
men were known to be in the lighthouse
One OF them, the keeper, was ninety-four
years old. AS soon as these men discov-
cred the fire, they began to work franti-
eally with their buckets, but their water
was soon exhausted. They became wild
with fright, and the terrible heat soon