Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1897-06-19
AT MAT ARTS LIGHT
BY JOHN ARTHUR BARRY.
Copyright. 1891. by John Arthur Barry)

Copyright, 1891. by John Arthur BarryD
Written for The Evening Star
My friend Harding was head keeper Of
one of the finest light houses in the world,
and / was free of it at all hours. But 1t
was O. nights that loved best to join the
old man on his watch, and sit on the bal
cony and gaze out at the great ocean
illuinined at minute intervals by the flood
of white radiance that seemed to pour
forth a greeting to the silent ships as they
passed and repassed, or came straight for
the harbor mouth.
Harding was a square-built gray-haired
man, with strong. determined face. all
brown and wrinkled by sun and storm,
and eyes that burned like live Goals under
shaggy white brows.
At odd times, athwart the concentrated
beams that seemed to hit the far horizon.
would sail ships. glorified momentarily as
they passed through, with every spar and
sail and rope sharply outlined by the sud-
den brilliaDce: but more often they slid
along between light and water, ilI-defned
phantaSmal blobs of smudge, out of which,
when the fancy took them to make their
numbers, would spout forth many colored
fires. all incomprehensible to the untutored
eye as the dim fabrics they proceeded
from
But Harding and his assistant signal
men read off ships and numbers as easily,
apparently. If ii was broad daylight:
Large square-rigged ship. with painted
ports, steering E. by N. Made her number
23.1l5 Or n might be. Steamer; black
funnel. with white band brig-rigged. deep,
bound south, showed no number" But
nothing large or small ever escaped the
eagle lookout kept from that eyrie on the
great cliff. where the only sounds that
broke the long night silences were the
wash of the waves on the rugged, kelp-
grown rocks. 400 sheer feet beneath, and
the subdued hum of the big dynamo in the
basement
This. you will see. was no isolated light
stuck forlornly hundreds of miles from
anywhere. 1t was an establishment over
which Harding presided-quite little set
Element of government offices connected
with the important department of harbors.
rivers and trade His salary was high; so
was the efficiency of the service he headed.
And he was not averse to little judicious
praise now and again. On one of these
occasions i had said something respecting
the speedy identification of a foreign
cruiser, and the prompt wiring of details
to the capital whilst yet the warShip crept
In as If DESTROYS of escaping attention, and
little guessing that long ere she reached
the port a score of nine-inch guns. to say
nothing of submarine mines and Brennan
torpedoes, would have blown her to atoms
had she disregarded the challenge of the
warned guardship at Inner Point Well, 1
had complinented him on the ceaseIess
vigilance maintained, and he chuckled,
we'll pleased. and hemmed and remarked,
Now. that reminds me-!
Usually a taciturn man, and one en-
crossed in his business. he was difficult to
draw Often enough he had said as
much before with no result: often matters
had followed well worth the hearing. In
any case, i knew silence was best
1t a mild night, with a 'southerly"
blowing great guns. keeping the sea Hat
tened into vast miIky-white eXpanse of
foam. that kept up a long drawn. con-
tinuouS roar at the foot of the cliffs III
fitting accompaniment to the shrieking
blasts that wrestled and tore around the
great tower. as if striving to shake 1t from
its foundation deep down in the solid
rock.
Come along to my room." said Harding
al last, after good look around, land
well have a pipe and a glass of grog
whilst 1 tell you about another light house
1 ran, and another man-o'war that l
watched some twenty-five years ago now"
Descending into his private snuggery be-
side Il bright fire. 1 took one of the big
arm chairs. whist Harding operated with
hot water. case bottle. lemons and sugar
and. after fixing matters to his satisfac
ton, filled his pipe and said:
'Ay, it must be about fve-and-twenty
Years now since the day i sat on the steps
OF the sailors home in Singapore stone
broke. I'd been first mate of ship called
the Star Of Africa. that the skipper man
aged TO run slap on to a rock in the straits
OF Sunda- 1t wasn't my fault, nor did /
lose my ticket. like the captain. All the
same. l found it precious hard to get an
other ship.
p Owners as well as masters have fads
and PI-iId!ces in this respect-not perhaps
as rtscIls a first time But this happened
to be my second wreck running. So my
luck. you see, was dead out. Actually,
only for bananas | might have starved.
Bananas and water fill up and satisfy right
enough, only it takes you all your time to
keep the supply going. Presently. as / sat
there, dlgeStns my second or third break
fast, out came the master intendant and
81 h. al T1s Sfl har..
moon turns blue you'll never get a ship
But b:Het's turned up that perhaps is
better than nothing. The Dutch, he went
On, have built light house somewhere
ucwn yO.liaF OF the Bcrnean coast and a
stcCnl kgeLsr Is vented. wages 50 gulders
month and rations. It's the merest fuke
that j happened TO hear OF ii. VIII you
take it,
= 'Woal1 a duck swim?'
g." All right then. come along to Van
Neldt & Co.'S office. they'll take YOU on
my rec9nl,len.lati ton The Dutch agents
Gid 81 's-tl64t Question. More. they bald
me a months wages in advance and sent
l1@ in ore of their steamers round to Ba-
t2Vla, where ] was to get fresh orders Ar
rived tnere ! was KEPT waiting a month.
ltut as ! had good quarters and plenty 20
eat an! drink. 1 didn't mind a bit spending
my dead horse in this way. One day
however. ! was told 10 get nv belongings
on board Il little fCre-and-aft schooner
whirh had been loading stores for the new
ly built light house.
We We're ten days on the passage, and
when We brought up al our destination
ard saw what I'd come TO, I'd have taken
ten days en- bananas and water TO get
away again.
From thiciIly wooded point a reef
ran nearly three-quarters of a mile out
INTO the Macass2r straits. AT the extreme
end of Ma Arls-a.s the point was called
cod the light house. You'd ha' laughed
Imagine scr; of shed, shaped like one
of those oTai-topDei meat safes bt,iIt on a
platform resting piles forty feet high
That was all. From the shed there ran a
corduroy bridge with a hand rail. some
tftirty feet back shorcward. to another and