The daily morning journal and courier., 1896-02-25

and can be shifted from one point to another with few hours labor.
 There are three hundred and sixty of these lights in the one thousand miles of river between Cairo and New Or leans, and they are under the care 1f the government lighthouse tender that has it's headquarters in Memphis. The tender is type of the famous Missis- sippi river boats, having twin black smokestacks, an open deck, exposed machinery, shallow draught, and long gangplank at the bow hung upon derrick so that landing can be made at any point along the shore She makes her rounds to every light In the district once every six months, the trip consuming about five weeks. Dur ing these tours the keepers of the lights are supplied with oil, wicks and outfits for their work, and the lights are ire quently shifted, and the underbrush and timber surrounding them cleared away, to leave their range unobstruct- ed.
 The principles underlying the use of the lights by navigators are almost identical to those governing the Dela-
 
 boats are steered around dangerous curves and clear of bars by the helms man keeping the beacon directly over his bow, or stern, or by holding it certain number of points on either side. As before, mentioned, every flood brings with it q shifting of bars and altering of courses, or, perhaps, under mines the bank so as to endanger the safety of the light itself, and in such cases notice is sent to the lighthouse headquarters in Memphis. and the ten der is often required to make 6 long journey to reform a single light.
 The labor attaching to such work can hardly be appreciated at first A light sometimes has to be moved fifty feet or more inland away from some under mined bank, or to command another range in the course, and in either case the intervening wilderness must be cleared of timber and underbrush. The tender employees frequently fell one thousand trees and clear eight or nine acres of undergrowth in single trip to bring the lights into an unob- scured range with the channel.
 But while these semi-annual trips of ten mean weeks of hardship and labor to the tender employees, an endless fund of amusement and diversion is found in the keepers of the lights themselves. The national government has probably nowhere so interesting a class of en- ployes as these three hundred and fif- ty-five keepers, The country border ing upon the river is much of it a semi- rI 1nn rfc 6n 1n ra. quire the attention of an expert, their attendants are generally primitive, but thoroughly typical of Dixie land. Most of them are women, many negroes, some fishermen and a few poor aristo- crats, who piece out their meagre in- comes with the salary of the position, but leave the care of the light to some faithful family ''nigger." The pay rolls of the district have among the ne gro contingent a Thomas Jefferson. a James Madison and a George Wash ington, the latter most sagacious old ''coon." These backwoods keepers are a source of constant bother to the heads of the department, who fre- quently have to deal with emergencies such as that suggested by the following sample letter:
 Deer boss, that man thet keaps the Lite heer killed a man las weak an run I way, wat shall we do."
 1 Some time ago Philadelphia busi- 1 ness house dealing in regalia and mili- l tary supplies applied to the lighthouse 1 officials of the district for list of the names and addresses of the keepers | employed under them. The list was duly furnished and few weeks later 1 the firm sent to each keeper" a clrcu- i lar making a bid to furnish their uni l forms at most reasonable figure l The keepers, including the old ''coons, l the "nigger mammies," fishermen, wo- men and poor whites" were thrown 1 into great state of trepidation, and sent to headquarters to know if they were to wear uniforms, how much the
 'clos'" would cost, and where the 1 money was coming from. It was some 1 time before the excitement subsided l and even then the women clung to g l strongly expressed desire to wear gol6 l braid and brass buttons.
 l The incident was made still more lu. dicrous by the fact that the pay o1 these keepers ranges from eight to if.
 teen dollars a month, although this i: l worth as much to them as double ol triple such an amount in big city
 Every keeper is supplied with an outf of wicks, etc, and twenty gallons of oi upon each visit of the tender, the oi
 being calculated to last six months
 and the keeper being charged with an!
 excess consumption. The most i'm proved light is handsome brass Ian tern, similar to those used by railroad
 employees, but about three times larger
 and even this is discarded in many
 places for a small kerosene lamp in
 closed in cuhical tin case, with side!
 and front of window glass, and meas
 ,,ring a foot in each direction, as thi
 primitive contrivance is found to resis
 high wind more easily than the nor,
 elaborate light. A small shelf at tn
 apex of tie post and two hooks are al
 that is necessary to hold the light i,
 position.
 The care of the lights is usually
 simple matter of filling them with oil
 lighting them at dusk, and extinguish
 ing them at daybreak. But in time O
 floods this duty becomes matter 0
 difficulty and expertness in navigation
 for the Iowlands are inundated oftei
 for weeks together as far as the ey,
 can reach, and the lights stand sur
 rounded with 8, rushing stream of mud
 h. T-, ,,oI, Bel,