Elmore bulletin. [volume] (Rocky Bar, Idaho) 1889-1906, 1893-10-07
LIFE IN 4 LIGHTHOUSE.
CONFINEMENT ON A LITTLE ISLAND
OFF THE MAINE COAST.

A Rather ForbiddIng Place Where
Handful Of Peopi. work Every Day and
Night aud Are HaPPy-A Community
That Has Few Ssig hbors aud Visitors
| Straight out Of the sea that washes the
roast OF Maine, of the mouth OF the Men
I bebec river, rises a small island when Is
/ mass Of rock, tree fringed, but black IooA-
I Ing. From 10, top for over century mas
/ cleaned ] 1ht for coasting vessels ana
ships, making for the hennebec river. Inc
tower where the bright eye shines from
twilight til sunrise u 200 feet above the
face OF the ocean when II Is calm, and lts
streaming path Of yellow lsams Is seen Tor
miles by those who sail under the stars
while the rest Of the werld sleeps.
/ There j. no more rugged, dangerous
coast along the seabonrd Of Maine than
/ here. aud when sout heast gale RACES the
waves pound on the cliffs and reefs with a
roar that goes rnmbling up the quiet Ken.
uebec ar breaks family among the pine
| forests inland.
| In summer the sen j. dazzling IN It's
CLASSY smoothnesS until II rolls IN whese a
4 broad beach stretches below Fort PophHW
and curying, breaks in "A shower Of foam.
! flashing with salt drops under the hot sun
rays. Then the coast Is pcturesquely
beautiful and quiet. Summer cottages
showing on the slopes and heights, or
/ nearer down where the beach runs away TO
shelye through the foam frosted breakers
/ into the sparkling blue, are pleasingly
peaceful. aud the veranda and shade look
attractive To those who are skirting along
without on the heat rejecting water
I H. FFuf tVttr
the elf, among trees and fern grown
rocks, or the ample foliage OF shrubs or
bushes, the gay colors Of women'- summer
gowns At the base Of the cliff, on drip
/ ping. black faced rocks more OF them are
walking. where the water comes up 10
their feet. There is not a great deal Of
| life Just enough u show the stranger that
/ there are people who enjoy life Of this sort,
and who are content to get away from the
busy rush OF cities or the feverish heat Of
/ fashions fayorite summer places.
THE LIGHTHOUSE IN WINTER.
| But when fall il turning into bleak win.
| ter il is all very different. storms tear up
the shining beach and strip the clH Of It's
| folisge They send the ocean straight up
like a gray wall, laundering against the
grim heights. They batter down project.
| ing rocks and send ayalanches OF white
whirling foam and deep colored water with
a sweeping rush over the black topped reefs
aud the rock points. The fair weather
| visitors have fled weeks before from the
nuforbilding place. but just as in summer,
when the ocean was placid aud the shore
was brilliant Ia color, the bright light over
on Seguin stern rock shines steadily every
night, only through "a blacker night aud
across high swelling water.
II don't tiud II So lonely here in winter
as you might think, said the keeper to
the writer one summer. you see have
my wife and family here aud the two ms
sistant keepers, and one Of them is mar.
ried. We make good working communi-
| ~ aud get along very nicely together.
| You see how comfortable am. We have
pleasant home IL isn't palace, but
there is one thing about tits founda
tons are solid II won't blow away IL a
little breeze should spring up, and we do
have breezrs once ia awhile" he added
with quiet smile.
"Of course it is pretty hard TO get to
shore in winter The winds are terrific and
the seas run high. and when heavy storm
sets in getting across ., outof the question
But In those times we are kept pretty busy
You see its big job to keep the light
clean. There's all that glass and then
| there are the lights themselves. We have
to watch them carefully, Il wouldn't do
to have anything happen to the light, he
said seriously. Vessels would 20 ...tray
for miles around aud no one knows what
would happen.
LIFE On An ISLAND.
"Nhcn we have storm with fog aud
sleet there IL more to do than To look after
the light. We get up steam and the old
fog horn howls all night and all day. II
makes an awful noise, but we like it, We
have two boilers te make steam aud two
horns, in case Of accident
Lighthouses are expensive Lots of oil
and miles OF wick are used, but they save
millions Of dollars every year Then il
gets chilly up here" he added, with n
twinkle in his eye at takes "A good deal
OF coal to keep warm. II you are in need
OF exercise when the weather il unusually
nasty You can get IL climbing these stairs
up into the tower when YOU are attending
10 the light. LIS nice job up and down.
aud you can take il rs often as you like.
Some nights mp here, when a gale is
bowling, something happens which makes
your hcart come up ia your throat, no
matter how used you are 70 H. You will
hear sudden thud on the glass where the
gale has swept gull Of shore bird
through the air, until, seeing the light, il
struggles 70 turn its course and i thrown
M against the glass. Yes, IL Kills them.
Sometimes they fiuttcr weakly against il
and then slip down and arc killed in the
fall. IL makes one sorry for them, but YOU
can't save them. They are on the outside
and you are in.
We live very well here; have good
little farm on this rock. You see It's hard
~ more than rock, but we have the sur
face OF II under cultivation. There's our
garden, and we raise corn, good Potatoes
and vegetables Il gives us pleasant work
In the summer and good store OF luxuries
10 draw Ola Ia winter.
Accidents Well last winter | Skinned
on the ice and went of that cliff there. Ii
was long fall, aud the only thing that
saved me was that landed among the ice
and snow covered branches Of the trees
over LOO feet below They stuck holes into
me until ! was sieve, aud when they
found me bad half dozen ribs broken.
but you see I'm all right now. New York
Tribune.
Big Pan-s af Glass.
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