The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1896-11-15

ence whether n man votes for silver or gold so
long ns he attends to his 6Tsi vi ss NJ, TINT must
seem strange to an outsider. A light Keeper
must be a real fire worahipncr' ms lnntSrn
family or Iii, v lie, Nothing excuses a
keeper for dcscrtng his post wine ihe light :,
house stands. II had II VIE anu chllurel, w
the Alligator lighthouse md there came, such, -
storm that, t was morally, CeF'atn tnnt tno
tower would be destroyed within q rev minutes
could not take my family ashore without los
ing my place. | must stand by me lsht III pref
ersIce To- eyerythiHg. 10 psr, ,aar f" mSen
the light Is In danger. In the first clubhouse on
Mlnop5 Ledge the keeper saw ma inc Iower
Killed. That is what the Department expects OF
US. When there Is danger OF me nroprroy seimg
destroyed we must abandon our own etects anu
LOOK after the Governments. al.
do you remember the Shorp's Island light
nEof The building was lifted M, thrown over
on its side. and carried gway by the ice Aslt
c T@s 81 to T i, Gt It ', SriiG'as 2 tr s ssH s%9 h TSgRsf Il
grounded at midnight on al. island, and the
keepers got ashore with the lens, us pc9cstal,
the OIL, the library, and even the empty OIL cans.
IN the same storm the kccpcrs of "A netghboring
light got frightened aud went ashore with their
their light while the bay was ;ull OF ice; but
that did them nogood; They were Immediately
dismissed. and. the Keepers of the wrecked
Sharp's Island light were put into their places.
Twenty Thousand dollars? No, the Ali
s s2Sa"r I'SSh' 60 " IEnGn, Z in Hl tbis not county IUiF t or any
other cost that much. The public,s idea on that
subject is somewhat eXaEgerGted. Our struc-
cost more, but $40. 600 is above the average for
the actual lighting apparatus. The finest light
ing apparatus ever. seen in this country, the
most expensive. and probably the best that has
ever been made, is what we call tho hyper
radiant lens. II is made in Paris. and when SGT
down in this country it cost n little over $4,000
without the lamps and other requisites. This Is u
fixed white HIGHT made by u constani- evel
lamp. burning seven wicks. The lens is twelve
feet three inches high. and the pedestal, in
creases its height to about twenty feet. It is
fN#Rl NA in I " A. 4 mud air nhnlt
24,00O pounds. The lamp used alone has the
lighting power of l,0s0 candles, but the lens in.
candle power. The luminous range is over
twenty-seyen miles, and the annua! consump-
ton OF oil Is 900 gallons, or about the same rs
wi do we import these lenses2 suppose
o ost@sSe t any snls SS hs GG epT wa eo Snly ,%aEe s NJ Il
a lens in this country | am not able to say; at
any rate we don't make them. some of our APP
paratus seems very intricate when you read II
description of 1t, because n lot of scientific
terms have to he used in describing it. but 1t is
all extremely simple in operation. The simpler
the apparatus the better 1t stands the test.
We pretend to have the entire Atlantic coast
lighted that is, II vessel sailing along the coast
Is supposed to have at least one light always in
sight; the last one is not sunk before the next
not absolutely. IL is "a fact with the entire New
England coast, where the Cape God region is
snco psSi ii i,Em ho1se eV I,stri ws hTTESS s rn inf Ma Is IA so omf
along Long Island and down past New Jersey
and Delaware, But there is = little strip OF
of Chincoteagus Pay. where no light is
visible. There is another dark strip of less than
five miles u little further down the Maryland
coast, and another of about the same size in
North Carolina. between IlaT Dor Island Bar
ana Cape Lookout. This is because vessels
must stand SO far out to clear Cape Hntteras
that lights there would be useless. Between
l%latteras and Cape Florida there are several
dark stretches. agEregating perhaps fifty miles.
With these few exceptions a mariner sailing
along the coast from Quoady Head to Key
West Is never without a light.
Sorry to be going back 2 What. when I
think OF those fellows up nj Moose Peak and
Petit Manan and Mount Desert buried in ice all
Hardly"