The Virginia enterprise. [volume] (Virginia, St. Louis County, Minn.) 1893-19??, 1896-01-10
Maid of the Reef.

! Atlanta Constitution. =
| Maid OF the Reef. $3.50 =
Out in the waters of the bay half way
between the Statue of Liberty and the
Staten island shore is lighthouse. 1t
is familiar sight to the 100000 of
people in and around New York. Ask
anyone Of the 100000 about it and the
answer will probablye be:
THAT! Why, that's Robbins reef, the
! lighthouse, you know
| Try for any more information and the
chances are a hundred to one that it
won't be forthcoming. The people of
| New York and all the surrounding cities
know that it is Robbins reef and that
is all. They don't even know whether
anyone lives there, whether the light is
operated in some mysterious fashion
| from the New York shore or the Staten
| island or Jersey sides. None of the
| regular vessels or ferries of the harbor
pass nearer than half mile to it. Craft
of deep draught naturally keep clear of
| it; only venturesome little catboats 90
| within hailing distance, and some of
these have suffered because of the te-
merity Of the shippers. The tide and
edd!es run with strange force near the
!
its bottom ripped off by being dashed on
the sharp-pointed ledge.
If anyone takes the trouble and is a
skillful mariner visit to the lighthouse
will reveal an interesting story. 1t holds
4 little family, who are shut off as much
them as castaways on n South Pacific
island. These people living in the center
of bustling activity know nothing or
what is going on about them. If the
President of the United States were as,
sasinated at the Astor house they
later, They get the newspapers i'll large
bundles. and some of them are three
weeks old.
| This family is small one. 1t is com.
posed of Il mother, a 1O-year-oid daugh-
ter and an old grandfather. The tower
is fifty feet high and from a short dis
lance away does not seem to be much
thicker than stout white pole, but it
has four floors and furnishes very
| pleasant home for the Walker family,
the lighthouse-keepers.
The little girl, Mamie Walker, is by
| far the most interesting member of the
| family. She is 10 years old now and was
! ashore until she was I years old; and
today New York city is as much a mys-
! terry to her as to the little girls living on
the Western plains.
! Seventeen years ago her father was
appointed lighthouse keeper on Robbins
reef and he did his work we'll. After
| eleven years of service he died suddenly,
| and around his death the river boatmen
| have woven neat little tale, with Mamie
! Walker as the heroine. This is the way
| the story runs:
| At the time of his death there was
not a soul living in the lighthouse ex-
cepting his wife and little daughter Ma
ME- then but years old.
Night had already come on and with it
a rising tide and cloudy sky: Having
never paid any attention to the various
machinery for running. the light and the
other appurtenances, Mrs. Walker was
| almost distracted, for the sea had be-
come high, a heavy fog had settled down
and it was impossible to seek assistance
from shore, a mile away.
In this crisis 4-year-old Mamie came
| to her aid, and with the self-possession
that betokened a. thorough knowledge,
gained by being constantly in the COM
| pany of her father on his rounds through
! the building. she started the machinery.
| going to signal to mariners by light and
| buoy.
| Up in the turret with it's great globe of
curiously -carved magnifying glasses, Ma
mie hurried, and, Furnishing the lamp in
side, FASTENED to the basement and started
the engine, which gives the light slow,
the engine, driven BY explosion of kero-
sene, which blows the whistling buoy, or
siren, as it is technically termed. she
started it going, and closed her rounds
by going to the fourth story and throw
ing on the huge ratchet, wound up the
| buoy.
After the death of the father a grown
son gave up his work in the city and re-
turned to the lighthouse to manage af-
fairs there. Mrs. Walker and Mamie
soon became so expert at the work, how
ever, that he was enabled after few
months to return to the city, and since
then the mother and daughter have at
tended to the intricate machinery of the
lighthouse and at the regular official in
spections the government officers have
had nothing but praise to give for the
way the work is done.
If anything happens to the bell buoy,
some distance away and operated by
automatic machinery in the lighthouse,
Mrs. Walker and Mamie make the neces-
sary repairs, or if the shrill siren does
not shrek out it's warming notes with ac-
customed vigor, they know just what to
do to make it right.
They are both expert in managing the
stout Whitehall boat, which is part of
the lighthouse equipment. The seas in
the bay seldom run very high, but in
severe storms they are strong and big
enough to crush rowboat or small
sailboat. In winter particularly it is no
easy task to row about in the tumbling
waves in a small open boat. with the
icy spray coming in from all quarters.
1t takes stout pair of arms and no lit
tie skill to keep the boat head on to the
waves, but Mamie Walker has both
and it is one of her few boasts that she
has never been capsized, although she
has been out in all kinds Of weather.
The average little girl would find some
difficulty in sleeping in the little light
house. In winter time the wind roars
and shrieks like a cyclone and the spray
is driven with terrific force against the
little windows. The siren adds to the
uproar and the bell buoy contributes it's
mite. But the wild clash of sound is
music to the little girl. She has never
been away from it and it lulls her to
sleep. the same as it did her babyhood.
self second Grace Darling. Men and
boys. who have ventured out during
rough weather in small boats and have
been capsized, have been pulled out of
danger by the inmates of the lighthouse
Ten lives were saved during 1894 and
The mother and daughter do not see
any heroism in this work: they regard
it simply as part of their duty as light
house-keepers. Mrs. Walker is Il woman
gifted with stock of hard common
sense and after she has dragged some
luckless man or boy from the top of an
upturned boat and warmed him up she
gives him sound lecture on his general
foolishness. -
The pay is $55 month in addition to
fuel. light and other necessaries, and
much of this is saved. 1t is the moth
er's ambition to send the little light
haired girl, with the Drowned face. to
some fine school, where she will be we'll
educated. When the time comes for
Mamie to leave the reef the parting will
surely he a sad one.
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