The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1897-01-21
THE JUNIOR
LAMP-LIGHTER
AS TOLD BY THE STICK.
A Mid-Winter Story For Boys and
Girls.

A very hot-headed little stick. long
and slender, that is 1. This applies to
the evening only, however, for all day
! long 1 am as cool as can of kerosene.
And I've very. good reason to be hot
/ in the head when the sun is set, for 1
am the fellow who pokes his way in
side the glass apartments of the city
lamp-post, night after night, 10 give the
! spark to the gas.
Perhaps you've seen me, or one of
the family. We are carried on high,
very proudly. And let me say that a
very trim and snug little lamp of spec
ial construction is just beneath my
| cap of tin over the end of the stick,
and a lot of holes are cut in the cap
through which l can wink with my
flame
l stand in the corner of nice little
house of two fine rooms, that is way
/ out somewhere on the western side of
great New York above umpty umph
| street, was never good at three fine
/ figures in procession. OF course the
house isn't new; and it's all along on
! lot; and the sidewalks all around are
raised way uD, as high as the roof,
! which leaves down in hole, so to
! speak; but we've not got splendid
Vine-just a trife dry at present, l ad
mit-with some very heroic gourds
| hanging hard and ready to swing in the
wind at the moment.
There are four in the family. myself,
Papa Morgan, lamplighter No. Al, Myr-
tie, who is L, or perhaps H. and Wal
! ter. who is just my size. Walter and 1
I are chumS. i used to go with Mr..
/ Morgan entirely, but later, when his
! health began to fail, ne let me go with
| Walter now and then. When the COLDER
! days came and he had to go TO bed,
J was sorry; he was very nice, but not so
! cheerful as l might have liked, and he
/ never talked. Now Walter was a talker;
/ he and L have the most confidential OF
| chats. and l warm up amazingly as
soon as he strikes a subject mean an
! object, for a match is an object, of
course.
Well, as 1 was suffering; in the
summer, or rather in the autumn, we
had fine old times, Walter and l. He
was full of vigor and full of converse
ton, so we moved along briskly and
the cool delicious wind came in to make
me bright-and l always like 40 be as
bright as possible when Walter lights
the lamps.
''Yo no, my bonny wand he used TO
say-and wand is pretty as a name
there's another fraction of d cent to
our circuit, DIS the JET udIGQ up anu We
FASTENED away to the next of the
lamps. Now, the company pays its
lighters "a cents a month for every
lamp-lighIing in the evening and turn
ing out in the morning, and a lighter
has, on an average, $50 lamps on his
route. These must be all lighted at
$50, when the days are short, and must
all be out in the morning at 40.
Walter was as prompt as the cock.
l.
we reached a certain corner, and then
he'd whistle and skip along to a lone
some row of posts that stood by a
road where houses were nearly as
scarce as flies in my hot tin cap. Faith
er's not so well again. he used to say
to me, and now that he has given up
the carpenter job, it's hard old pinch.
But never we'll mind while the honny
wand can save us from actual WANT
| would nod at this and blush a rosy
red and tip the rest of the jets with
light most merrily.
IN THE STORM.
Then the winter came on, and out
we'd go, we chums, and jump around
faster than ever. One day II got so
dark in my corner that l feared we
were late. Down l came with bang,
as a warning: but Myrtle put me back
again. to wait for an hour. 1t was
when we left. Whew! what night!
The snow had piled six inches deep
and was drifting like sand a furious
wind blew il hard in our faces, till
had to catch my breath TO keep my
light from jumping out through hole.
Walter didn't care; he held his hand
around me close and plodded sturdlly
ahead.
At the best we could do it was 4:30
when we came to the street where the
route commenced. Rough old walk
ing" said Walter, as he forced his way.
The lamps were hard to light, for the
wind would toss the gas about in the
frames. and my own little flame was
afraid of the snow. When the lamps
did finally get to business. they COM
planned in purring tones and fiickered
down to tiny pencils of blue, which
were nearly drowned in the darkness
that seemed to fly in flakes with the
snow and a good deal thicker
Such a long, long time before we got
to the end of the 20. Why, all of the
route should have been ablaze for half
an hour for, bless me, it was by the
bell in the steeple. But l happen to
know that Walter was fighting for
every single inch against dreadful
wind and kicking his way through the
snow and the drifts. that swirled and
tried to trip his feet, with as brave
and manly a pair of legs as ever l saw.
Now we plunged ahead, through
darkness that was blacker than the
end of my wick. Stay hot little
wand said Walter, with all the pos
sibIe cheer in his voice, ''Only 40 of
'em left and he puckered his lips TO
try for a whistle, though he was all
in a tremble from his efforts and the
taxing of his muscles. / fear | sputv
tered but a faint encouragement.
He f1oundered down repeatedly; the
wind drove so hard as to hold him
blocked: the blast of snow made him
turn his back to save US both, and he
sometimes missed the lamp, and had to
go back in the darkness, but he
cheered us both with his words of
valor as he struggled on to lamp after
lamp At times he would lean against
the cold, chilling iron. Il feel as if /
couldn't go on to another blessed one"
he would say, but I must, for some
body else may be out in the storm and
the blackness.
THE GROWLER.
Seven o'clock had doomed from the
bell some time before and 10 lamps on
the road back home were still to be
lighted Suddenly a smothered sound
came out of the darkness and a pair
of horses, tangled in a tree beside the
road, appeared as the gas fared up at
our touch.
What do you mean" called a voice,
gruff and scolding, "by leaving these
lamps until nearly s o'clock?" Then,
as he saw that Walter wasn't large,
What are you doing here anyway?
What do the gas people mean by in