The evening times., 1898-03-24
WATCHING THE
SHIPS SILL BY
A Pretty Girl Scanning the
Sea from Highland Light.
The Youngest Marine Observer in
Government Employ VIII Watch
for Spanish Invaders.

The youngest marine observer in the
employ Of the government is a woman.
Miss Lillian NJ. Small. stationed at the
Highland Light, Cape Cod. near North
Truro. Mass.
Miss Small is only 70 years old, yet she
has occupied her present important posi-
ton for two years. She is a well educa-
ted. dark-haiIed. dark-eyed and decidedly
pretty young girl who. for all she is so
far out OF the world. dresses well. drives
/ horses, enjoys riding a wheel, and can
! shoot a rifle as well as man.
Miss SmalTs home is on the outer edge
! OF the peninsula of Cape Cod. 100 miles
from the mainland. The PRETTY little
cottage in which she resides stands on a
/ great clay promontory overlooking the
/ broad Atlantic, and only about three hun
dred feet from a nearly perpendicular
cliff. which rises 10 feet above old Nep-
tune. All the ships bound to and from
the ports across the sea and all coastwiSa
shipping navigating between Baltimore
Philadelphia. New York. and, in fact, the
. entire coast line. with Boston and the
. northern ports of New England. passs
within a plain sight OF Miss Small's sta
tion.
when this station was first established
Miss Smalrs father was placed in charge
as the observer and reporter His duties
were from sunrise to sunset, every day in
the year. to watch the sea for outgoing
and incoming ships. scanning the wide
! expanse Of sea frequently with the tele-
scope. Every vessel was noticed, their
I names or signals made out and the infor-
! nation Immediately telcgraphed TO the
! chamber at Boston.
''Our radius Of observation" said this
Young lady to a recent visitor, covers a
distance of % miles from southeast to
west. The great blue sea stretches be-
fore us everywhere, and ships and steam
| ers are constantly passing. With our
telescope we can distinguish in fair
weather a ships signals 10 miles away.
Ours is the only station of the kind on
this coast. and bears the same relation
to Boston that Fire Island does to New
York. OF course. we feel somewhat iso-
lated i'm the Winter away out here. by
( the sad sea waves but the Summers are
/ delightful; the cool. invigOrating sea air
comes in from the ocean, and many Sum-
mer tourists come here TO enjoy the beau
tiful view and charming natural sur
roundings.
Upon leaving school became my faith
er's assistant, and for two years have
handled all the work during his absence.
/ have learned much of the details of the
work a child, but did not enter into
the active performance of it until two
years ago.
1T is n fascinating occupation. and [
enjoy il. Seldom is IT mOuotonOus. as the
sea and its moving ships are never two
days alike. while the Summer is simply
delightful here. We witness many bad
shipwTecks in the fierce storms of Win
ter.
zone of our duties is to display the
storm warning signals of the Weather
Bureau Of the Government We are 100
miles from Boston by rail and the mails
come to us every day. and though so far
from the center of gravity, so to speak.
We are right in touch with the outer
world. as we have a string, in the form
Of a telegraph wire, tied to the rest of the
world.
when the United States begins that
war with SDain, if the SDaniards don't
hit our station with their big shells. we
will telegraph their approach, and some
big Yankee ships will come our way and
try a little argument with the invading
fleet. We viii wire the papers an account
of that also. and il won't be many min
utes after ii happens before they can
have an extra out. I'll promise