The daily morning journal and courier., 1898-12-05
PETIT MANAN LIGHT.
A Strange Story About the Keeper of Lighthouse Off the Coast of Maine.
 IIC.n,,A


 a Lighthouse Off the Coast of Maine.
 (F'rom the Chicago Record.)
 Petit Manan lighthouse, or "Tit
 Man." as the natives call it, is one ! of those spidery- looking affairs which
 rise from the water among some dan | serous shoals off Winter Harbor, Me. and Is supported by four iron tubes se- curely fastened into holes drilled into the solid rock. About thirty feet
 apove high tide, but not entirely out
 Of reach of the waves when a gale is l blowing is a house built of corrugat- { ed iron. The lower story is for stor- age purposes. Here three months provisions and a stock of fresh water
 are always kept in case the lightkeep-
 CT should be cut off from shore, and a stock of oil sufficient to keep the lamp
 burning all winter. There is the little | machine shop, too, where necessary
 repairs can be made when needed
 Above this are the living apartments two rooms about 20 feet by 14 in size One of them is drawing room sitting
 room, library and chamber combined ; | the other is kitchen, dining room, etc. | Outside, on all four sides of the build-- ing, is gallery, or piazza, where the lightkeeper can sit in his leisure hours
 and enjoy the changing scenery of the sea or drop hook over the railing and
 catch fish for dinner or breakfast
 Above is the tower with an enormous lamp whose rays can be seen for many miles
 A lonesome place is "'Tit' Nan lighthouse, miles from shore, and the
 only means of communication Is a row. boat. There are no neighbors any nearer and no visitors disturb the SOL itude of the lightkeeper except once or
 twice year. when the inspector comes
 around or curious people from a pleas | ure yacht climb the iron ladder for cu- | riosity.
 Amos Rice has kept crit Nan" light for more than quarter of cen l tury, and his wife lived there with him all this time Their children were
 grown and married off or engaged in employment elsewhere, so that they had nothing to trouble them and were able to put by the greater part of the | salary of $65 a month which the gov l ernment has paid Amos for protecting commerce against disaster upon the 1 shoals
 A few weeks ago Mrs. Rice peaceful 1 ly terminated a long and lonesome life
 and went to join the choir invisible. Amos had to keep her body four days
 before he could fulfil his promise to bury her with her folks" at Winter | Harbor, for the sea was high. It is , no easy job for a man unaided to re-
 move body from a tower like that in | to a rowboat that is tossing furiously upon the waves, but Amos finally did | it. The first quiet morning he left i his bereaved home the very minute it was lawful to put his light out, rowed i over a rough sea, and upon his arrival at Winter Harbor called up the sexton and minister and what friends could ' be summoned, and after a brief and | impressive service the body of Mrs, l Rice was committed to the dust and her soul to God, who gave 1t.
 After they came from the cemetery l one of the neighbors asked Amos and | the friends to have a little refresh | ment. Of course they all accepted | and among others a "likely'' widow, whose husband had been dead two years and who was "boardin' 'round' among her relatives for want of a | home and income. Amos grief was not greater than his sense of loneli- ness, and, finding a sympa thetic chord | in the heart of the widow, he proposed | to her in the presence of the whole company, and, the parson being pres ent, they were immediately married. | The bride hurried over to her sisters to put up her things" while Amos continued to receive mingled condo
 fences and congratulations.
 It was 4 o'clock in the afternoon when he started back to his watery ey-
 rie with his bride, with miles of row ing before him. If any ships were
 out that night they must have won
 dered why, for the first time in quar-
 ter of a century the gleams of "'Tit | Nan light were not visible for more than two hours after sunset. Amos reached home at last, after perform ing what he considers a good days | work for a man who is more than 60.
 He rowed many miles in dory, bur- | jed one wife and married another, and, as in the case of the king of Denmark, | the funeral baked meats set forth the | wedding dinner
 !