San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1891-03-20

When he sang Of lOuc.
Tradition has dealt somewhat roughly
| with the reputation Of the Barnegat folk
Of half century ago; but that is hardly
| to be wondered at. 1t is quite as much
as live man can do nowadays, even by
| giving q good deal Of attention to it, to
protect his good name, so what SHOW
can the necessarily silent dead be ex-
pected to have? The fact is that the
''wreckers of Barnegat" were not by any
means so black as they have been paint
ed. That modest claim in their behalf
scarcely seems sufficient, for the same
thing is proverbially said of the devil. so
we may in strict justice so farther and
affirm that among them were not few
very excellent men and women who
never lighted false beacon fires or swung
a ships lantern from u cows horns.
Unhappily there were then many
wrecks on that dangerous coast, for
warning lights were not so numerous rs
they now are, and the loss OF life in
those disasters was great, since there was
no such we'll organized and admirably
equipped life saving corps as we at pres
ent have. When the wrecks occurred
the jewellers on Barnegat beach assumed
that all rights CT foC8am and jetsam
We're theirs, and perhaps piously viewed
the casting ashore of rich cargo as a
special providence in their behalf. But
the cruel treachery of Turing vessel TO
| destruction by means of false lights was
an iifrequent crime-whatever sensa-
tional legend makers may say to the con-
trary-and there were numbers of brave
| strong men there who many time
heroically TiSked their lives to save ship
| wrecked persons from the terrible waves
| that in stormy weather Numbered upon
| those SANDS.
David King and his stalwart sons
Donald and Andrew. were among the
| foremost Of those who habitually so dis
tinguished themselves. 10 one was
| more daring and indefatiga5le in Captur
ing vaiuables from a wreck than were
the Kings, but they would at any mo-
ment abandon the most tempting piece
of salvage to save u drowning sailor,
and that could not be trutAfully said of
| who averred that this eccentriCity
| brought the family good luck. and this
imagining had not little good effect III
encouraging others to emulate their hu-
name example, so that in time it came
| to be noted that wrecks were much less
| fatal in their neigEbOrhood than upon
| other PARIS Of the leach.
7 s.. e n,
vid, had almost as much strength and
deScerity with the oars rs had either of
| her brothers, and was quite their equal
in courage. which is equivalent to
saying that in al the qualifications
demanded for existence on BaTlcsat
| in those days She had no superiors in
| the community. And Il consensus Of the
opinions OF the young men in the vicin-
ity 1VcU'j have unGualifedly sustained
| the affirmation that in point of good
locks she had no equals. OF course other
Young women saw teGucS8 il her style Of
| beauty. They alirned that he: eyes
| We're too big and black, her way raven
black hair altogether too long &ai heavy,
| the yOluptuous rouudin~s Of hor finely
| developed form quite too pronounced.
| But that was to be expected. The girls
| of parnegat were not radically different
from other girls. Janet was not simply
pretty or good looking" but actually
beautiful to a degree that awad the
young fellows about her. caused them TO
feel awkward in hcr presence and made
them shy Of attempting advances to her,
however wistfully they looked rrOa her
from q respectful distance.
Bat one day there came 4 big, blue
eyed, hazen haired young hunter from
| the distant city of New York VINO was
not so easily abashed, but rather inspired
by beauty, and who very promptly made
his admiration for her quite apparent
Selden Rangely was, he said, his
| name. He had been duck shooting up
about the mouth Of Forled river until
success became monotonous, and leaving
his boat in the bay he had wandered
along the coast aimlesSly until he reach
ed the hamlet where the Kings were
leading citizens and found shelter in
their house. There was in his mind q
half formed purpose of strOlling on as
far as Mays landing, or perhaps even
fuTtI l..7,t il WIS guicllv rhan1pnn5