Waterbury evening Democrat., 1893-04-13
CHAPTER III.

Out at Sea-al by itSelf-Somewhere about thirty miles from a certain good sized island in a certain ocean there lies another little island-an eyot-a mile long and half O mile broad It fs coral islet; the coral reef stretches out all round it except in one or two places where the rocks shelve, suddenly malS- ing it possible for a ship to anchor there. The islet is flat, but all round it runs a kind of natural sea wall about two feet high and as many broad; be hind it, on the side which the wall pro- tects from the wind, Is a little grove of low-stunted trees, the name of which the successive tenants of the island were never curious to ascertain. The area protected by the sea wall, as low as the sea level, was covered all over with low, rank grass. At the north end of the islet a curious round rock exactly like martello tower, but rather higher, rose out of the water, separated from the sea wall by twenty or thirty feet of deep water, dark blue, transparent, sometimes rolling and rushing and | tearing at the sides of the rock, some- times gently lifting the seaweed that chung to the sides. Round the top of the rock flew, screaming, all the year
 
 horizon like a little cloud, one could see land; it was the larger island to which this place belonged. At the south end was lighthouse, built just like all lighthouses with low, white buildings at it's foot and flagstaff and an inclosure which was feeble at tempt at a flower garden. Half a mile from the lighthouse where the sea wall ,roadened into a wide level space there was n wooden house of four rooms l dining-room, salon and two bedrooms It was n low house provided with a veranda on either side; the windows had no glass in them but thick shutters in case of hurricanes. There were doors | to the rooms, but they were never shut | Nothing was shut or locked up or pro- tected. On the land side there was a garden In which roSeS-a small rcd rose grew In quantities and a few English | flowers; the elephant creeper with its immense leaves clambered up the veran- l da poles and over the roof; there was small plot of ground planted with pineapples, and Q solitary banana tree stood under the protection of the house, its leaves blown to shreds, its head bowed down.
 Beyond the garden was a collection of three or four huts where lived the Indian servants and their families
 The residents of this retreat-this se- cluded earthly paradise-weret their serv- ants withtheir wives and children; the three lighthouse men, who messed to- gether, and the captain, governor or commander in chief. who lived in the house all by himself because he had no wife or family.
 Now, the remarkable thing about this island is that, although it is so far away from any other inhabited place, and although it is so small, the human occupants number many thousands. With the exception of the people above named, these thousands want nothing, neither food nor drink. They lie side by side under the rank grass, without headstones or even graves to mark their place; without a register or record of their departure; without coffins- There they lie, sailors, soldiers, coolies, negroes, forgotten and lost, as much as if they had never been born. And if their work lives after them nobody knows what that work is
 They belong, to the vast army of the anonymous. Poor anonymousl They do all the work; they grow our corn and breed our sheep; they make and mend for us; they build up our lives for
 us; we never know them, nor thank them, nor think of themi al over the
 world they work for their far-off
 brethren, and when one dies we know
 not because another takes his place.
 And at the last n mound of green grass or even nothing but m undistinguished slip of ground.
 } Here lay side by side. the Anonymous
 thousands of them Did I say they