The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1898-02-10
The Keeper Of Loon Light,
From the New York Evening Post.
-Four Parts)

-Four Parts)
PART l.
The mackerel feet, whose white sail
had broken the blue of sky and SCI
| through the long days of summer, Ia,
hauled to the north and the keeper o
Loon Island light was preparing TO e
into winter quarters. The lighthouse
| tender, that made her rounds once in TIVE
or three months, had Just left the supply
Of oil and provisions. and was. hull down
! on her way TO the next light, far be
yOnd. she had also left the mail, anC
Capt. Sam Jocelyn, the keeper, and hi>
sister We're sitting in the little room o.
the lighthouse, opening the delayed week
| " papers, over q month old. and letters
from friends and relatives who remem
| bered them in their isolation.
| Capt. Sam was puzzling over square
| letter, written IN u large angular hand
while his sister, Nancy, shipped the wrap
| pers from the papers. smoothed them out
! carefully, and filed them in a paper rack
Nancy" said the Captain, withou;
| looking up, how would you like a board
| err"
| a boarder, here?" replied his sister in
| a tone of Amusement
''Why, yes" said the Captain. Here s
A letter from a young woman-at least, ]
guess her to be young-who says she's
| heard OF the light and wants to come and
board here while for the sake Of the
| local color
For the local color" repeated his sis
ter
That's what she says" returned the
Captain, holding up the letter, from which
came delicate and just perceptible per-
fume; FOR the sake Of the local color.
And she says" he added. she will pay
the regular rates Of board"
WIN, there's no difference between the
color here and ashore" said Nancy; its
the same sky blue everywhere; the rocks
are red and gray just as they are on
the main-land; and there's the self-same
sunsets. What she wants to come out
here for, to see the color on this desert
rock, I can't imagine"
Perhaps she thinks it's different out
here at sea. suppose she's a painter, -
suggested the Captain, who apparently IA
vored the proposition, but did not dare
to advocate it too earnestly for fear of
opposition.
In that case,'' said his sister who was
of a controversial turn, 'it wouldn't be
right TO let her come, thinkin she was
soin' to see different colOrs from what
she'd find all along shore"
NO. it wouldn't" confessed the Cap
tain, feeling that he was getting. meta
phoricaIIy, into very deep water.
Where does she live?' asked Nancy.
"The letters dated Nagasak," respon-
ded the Captain, examining It critically;
perhaps she's a summer visitor there. I
think you're wrong about our local color,
Nancy" he continued, after pause, fold
ing up the letter. Where viii you see
such master sight as that?" pointing to
the stream Of red sunlight that poured
in at the door and flooded the little room.
'They don't have such sunsets on the
mainland. Look at that pile of clouds
how they're deepenin'; how the red is
changin' every minute, and the sun
DRAWN water up from the purple hills.
Why the very rocks here, black and
kelp-lined as they are, catch the color,
and as I watch the sunsets and look down
from the light the rocks reflect the tints.
And then the water. Inshore it's green
and gray where the sea churns up the
mud and sands; but here, not twenty foot
from the rock, there's blue that might
have been stolen from the sky Itself
Nancy, and sometimes, when I'm iookin
off, I can't tell one from the other"
You'd see something beautiful in any
thin" replied Nancy. "All 1 want is not
to get a stranger out to rock that every
body else thinks is desolation itself,
under false expectations"
Shed be company for you," urged the
Captain.
''she might and then she mightn't," re-
torted his sister; then after a few mo-
ments' silence she continued. rehectively,
IF the light was only painted; but things
lock so washed out here, Sam. You may
see colors. but to me it's plain black and
dirty white
"Why, Nancy, I forgot to tell you" said
her brother. but the Captain of the ten
der told me that they were goin' to send
men to paint the light house and bots.
The lights gOin' to he white, with a
black windin streak from top to bottom;
the rail and top. red. You remember how
fine it looked when they painted it be-
fore"
THAT alters the CASE said Nancy,
deeply interested in this important bit of
news.
What shall we ask her for board?'
she continued in a Modified tone.
Five dollars a week?" suggested the
Captain. she says she's willin' to pay
the regular rate; but there isn't any reg
ular rate, so we've got to establish a
he added, insensibly plagia-
rizing from the report of the Secretary
Of the Interior, which was the authority
IN the light.
"Ain't five dollars too much?" asked
charge people for looking at sunsets and
ocean coIOrs that the Lord has given US
free"
well, there's the lighthouse color" |
said the Captain, doggedly.
THAT belongs to the government" re-
Piled the conscientious woman.
Well" said Captain Sam in despera- |
ion, suppose we write her that she can |
'ome for four dollars a week, but that |
she mustn't depend much on the local |
'olor. as it's about the same as any light /
las along shore"
You might just mention that you guess /
he ught'u he painted by the time she |
,ets here. Perhaps she's never. seen a /
reshly painted light" said Nancy.
So it was finally sttled that they should /
axe the boarder and in the course of /
ime a letter to that effect was despatch
q by Nancy.
Public Ovens.