The free press. (Poplarville, Miss.) 1890-19??, 1897-07-15
A LIGHTHOUSE KEEPER.
REGULATIONS OF THE MONOTONOUS
LIFE HE is COMPELLED TO LEAD.

Methods of appointment and Different
Grades in the Service-Paid According to
aStation's Importance What Is Done for
aKeeper's Comfort Causes for Dismissal
A lighthouse keeper is appointed by
The secretary of the treasury on the
recommendation of the lighthouse
| board, and at first receives only an act
| ing appointment. At the end of three
months, if he passes an examination
by the naval officer who is the in
| spector of the district, he receives
full appointment; if he does not pass,
he is dropped from the service. A
keeper must be able to read and write,
keep accounts, sail and pull boat, and
have enough mechanical ability to
make the necessary minor repairs
about the station and keep it in order.
There is only one grade of keeper rec
ognized by law, but the custom of the
service has divided the keepers into
different grades, with different pay
and duties, and with promotion from
one grade to another A man may be
appointed to the service and assigned
to a particular station, but he may be
moved at any time if promoted, or If
the interests of the service demand it.
At stations requiring but one keeper,
q retired seafaring man, with family,
is usually selected, and, in general,
men of the seafaring class are most
wanted. At stations where there is a
fog signal one of the assistants is
man who has an engineers license and
is something of machinist.
Keepers are paid on an average
about $500 year, but the individual
sums paid vary from 500 to $1,000 a
year, according to the Importance of
the station and the amount of service
rendered The principal keeper at
Minot's Ledge Light, just outside Of
Boston, receives $1,000 year for his
services, and this furnishes the only
instance where the pay of @ keeper is
specified by law.
The keepers who live at isolated
lighthouses and on the off-shore light
ships lead very monotonous life,
broken only by the sight of passing
vessels and the quarterly visit of the
lighthouse supply boat. These keep
ers get considerable leave, about two
weeks in three months, during which
time they visit their families on full
pay. A lighthouse on an outlying
reef, for instance, is on the same sta
tus as lightship, except that it can
not be blown away, and the keepers
cannot leave it except when they are
relieved, as a stem might come up
and prevent their return.
Much is done by the lighthouse
board to further the comfort of all its
employees, but most is done for those
who endure the solitary life at the iso-
lated lights and on the lightships.
Libraries are furnished the keepers
and their families; each contains about
forty volumes of works of history,
science, and poetry, with fair supply
of good novels. This complete libra
ry is left at station for three months,
and is then transferred to another sta
ton by an inspector on his quarterly
visit. There are nearly 1000 of these
libraries in circulation, each in its lit
tie portable case, and, by their judi
cious interchange, the keepers of sta
tions where they are furnished see
about 200 volumes year.
Keepers are forbidden to engage in
any business which will prevent their
presence at their stations or interfere
with the proper performance OF their
duties. Many have useful and profit
able occupations which they carry on
at the stations, while some fill pulpits,
are justices of the peace, OF teach
school, All keepers are furnished with
quarters for themselves, and in some
cases for their families. In some eases
they are furnished with food and ra-
tions. Other stations have barns fur
nished for cattle and horses, and boats
are furnished all stations inaccessible
by land.
The discipline of the service has
been always rigid, as befitting a SER
vice where negligence or inefficiency
may mean the loss of many lives and
much valuable property.
Dismissal instantly follows in two
cases-where keeper is found intoxi-
Gated, and where he allows his light
to go out. Keepers are trained to
consider the care of the light and the
lighthouse property above any and all
personal considerations, and tits rare,
indeed, when they fail to realize this
high ideal. There have been num-
ber of instances illustrating the esprit
de corps of the service; how the keep
ers of the Minot's Ledge Light first
built went down with the light and
died at their posts; how one keeper
saved his lens and let his family look
out for themselves, and instances
where they have saved blicproperty
and lost their own.
Fortunately, the service is not ham
pered by any question of politics, and
this fact, coupled with the excellent
discipline maintained, accounts for the
fine class of men now in the service
| ,,a,, x,,hn D.. ~, bnpast pri1a in thalr