The daily critic., 1890-10-27


west side Of the harbor is long,
stauchly built wharf, says a recent
writer in the Ladies Home Journal.
Were you to find your way to its end,
YOU would ere long see from the light
house beyond woman appear and
glance in your direction. Presently
with agile step, she runs down the mar
row ladder fastened 10 the stone wall,
jumps nimbly into boat, untles g
from its moorings, takes the neavy oars,
and, with a beauty of stroke all her
own, pulls with long and a strong pull
that sends her flying toward the steps Of
the pier on which you wait. Her back
is as rect as that Of a young girl. her
powerful strength manifest in the great
strides the rowboat makes, and yet.
when she deity turns % around and
YOU get good look ut her face, 10 can
De seen that 10 belongs to a woman IN
middle life, but upon whom time has
left few tell tale marks She puts out a
welcoming hand with a beautiful white
wrist, adding a cherry smile and word
Of greeting as she makes ready TO take
you over to Lime Rock az her guest
You have cause for self conrratulation
In being thus favored by the heroine,
Ida Lewis.
Life on a lighthouse, situated as is
Lime Rock light is not the gruesome
thing generally imagined. With a six.
rOomed house there are cares that ill
the day, and, like any other guide
wife" Miss Lewis has her pots, kettles
and pans TO attend to, rooms to sweep,
beds 10 make, papers and magazines TO
read, letters to write, and all the vari-
Gus ct Ceteras TO manage, which ill the
time Of a busy woman A devoted
church woman, she spends Sunday on
shore, whenever her brother Is at
home.
AS the only woman light house
keeper in our country, and the last one
that will be given a light-for such Is
the verdict of the powers that be-NIiss
Lewis has other duties that are uuiuue.
Exactly at sundown she must light her
lamp, and precisely at midnight an.
other must be substituted. All through
the night IL must be watched, and Miss
Lewis likens this constant care TO that
demanded by an infant The wick
might flare or burn low, the chimney
smoke or crack, or any Of the hundred.
and, one accidents happen that are ever
taking place with the use Of kerosene
OIL She can but catch cat maps; hence
the nearness of her sleeping room to
the light. AT sunrise the law requires
her lamp, like the foolish virgins, to
have gone out, and from this fact she
Is an early riser. The responsibility Is
no small one, for the slightest neglect
Of duty OF accident TO her light or
lenses would bring report from the
first seaman who suffered by Il.
Lives hang on her vigilance, but 10 her
credit no light on all the coast Is as
regularly or perfectly attended 10. nor
does any other gain from the Govern.
ment Inspector so high a report Miss
Lewis keeps daily expense book,
noting Just the amount Of wick and
oil burnt, and the time 10 q second OF
the lighting and putting out Of the
lamp. In addition, q record Of the
weather must be entered daily. As
Lime Rock light Is a first class light,
no rations are allowed the yearly sal.
AIRY being $3.50 and two tons OF coal.
-
The history Of the conquest Of the
wilderness contains no more pathetic
story than that of how the kind old
priest, Father Lacombe, warned the
Blackfoot Indians against the coming
Of the pale faces. writes Julian Ralph
In HdrpSr's Weekly lie went 10 the
reservation and assembled the leaders
before him In council. He told them
that the white men were building a
great railroad, and Ia a month their
WoTkmen would be In that virgin coun.
try. He told the wondering red men
that among these laborers would be
found many bad men seeking 20 sell
whisky, Offering money for the ruin OF
the squaWs. Reaching the greatest elO,
quence possible for him. because he
loved the Indians and doubted their
strength, he assured them that contact
with these white men would result in
death. In the destruction of the Indians
ard by the most horrible processes of
disease and misery. He Numbered and
he pleaded. The Indians smoked and
reflected. Then they spoke through old
CTowfOOt:
I'VE have listened. We will keep
upon Our reservation We will not go
10 see the railroad
But Father LacOmbe doubted still, and
yet more profoundly was he convinced
of the ruin Of the tribe should the
children "-as he sagely calls all In-
dians-disobey him. SO once again he
went TO the reserve, and gathered the
chief and the head men, and warned
them OF the sOulless. diabolical, selfish
instincts Of the white men. Again the
grave warriors promised to obey him.
The railroad lsbOTers came With
camps and money and liquors aud
numbers, and the prairie Numbered
the echoes of their sledge hammer
strokes. And one morning the old
priest looked out Of the window of his
bare bedroom and saw curling Wisps OF
gray smoke ascending from a score Of
tepees on the hill beside Calgary.
Angry, amazed. be went 10 his door
way and opened H. and there upon the
ground sat some OF the head men and
the old men, with bowed heads
ashamed Fancy the priests wrath
and his questions : Not how wisely be
chose the name of children for them,
when l tell you that their spokesman at
last answered with the excuse that the
buffaloes were gone and food was hard
10 get, and the white men brought
money which the squaWs could get
Aud what is the end There are
always tepees on the hills now beside
every settlement near the BlackfOOl
Reservation. Aud one old missionary
lifted his trembling foTehnger toward
the sky when / was there ant said
MAX me. In fifteen years there will
not be q fun blOoded Indian alive on
the Canadian prairie-noi one
Through All that revolutionary rail
road building and the rush Of new