The citizen., 1901-10-04
The Keeper of
The Bishop.
He Hated His Work and Wanted to
Leave 1t, but Died In the
Service.

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For fortnight out of every six weeks
the little white faced man walked the
Garrison on st. Mary's island in broad
cloth frock coat. a low waistcoat and a
black ribbon of tie fastened in a bow,
and it gave him great pleasure to be mis-
taken for a commercial traveller. But
during the other four weeks he was head
keeper of the lighthouse on the Bishop
rock, with 80 years of exemplary service
to his credit. BY what circumstances he
had been brought to enlist under the
Trinity flag never knew But now. at
the age of 4S. he was entirely occupied
with a great horror of the sea and its
hunger for the bodies of men. The frock
coat which he wore during his spells on
shore was protest against the sea. and
he hated not only the sea. but all things
that We're in the sea, especially rock
lighthouses. and of all rock lighthouses
especially the Bishop.
The Atlautic's as smooth as a ball
room floor" said he. 1t was Il clear. stin
day and we We're sitting among the gorSe
On the top of the Garrison. looking down
the sea toward the west Five miles
from the Settles the thin column of the
Bishop showed like cord strung taut in
the sky. But out there all around the
lighthouse there are cddjcs twisting and
twisting without any noise, and extraor-
dinariiy quick, and every other second,
now here. now there. you'll notice the sea
dimplc. and you'll hear a sound, like a
man hiccoughng, and all at once there's
a wicked black whirlpool The tide runs
seven miles an hour past the Bishop. But
in another year | have done with her."
John Garstin nodded across from st.
Mary's to that gray finger post Of the
Atlantic. "One more winter. Well. very
likely during this one more winter the
Bishop will go-on some night when
storm blows from west or west-nor'- west
and the Irish coast takes none of its
strength"
He was only utterng the current be-
lief of the islands. The first Bishop
lighthouse had been swept away before
its building was finished, and. though
the second stood, n fog bell, weighing M
less than a ton and fixed 30 feet above
the water, had been lifted from its tit
tings by a single wave and tossed like
tennis ball into the sea. | asked Gar
stin whether he had been stationed on
the rock at the time
people talk Of lghtships plungins
and tugging at their cables" he return
ed. We'll, I've tried lightshps. and
what | say is ships are built to plunge
and tug at their cables. That's their
business. But it isn't the business of
120 upright feet of granite to quiver and
tremble like n steel spring. No; | wasn't
on the Bishop when the bell went. but |
was there when wave climbed up from
the base Of the rocl, and smashed in the
glass wall Of the lantern and put the
light out. That was last spring. at 1
O'Clock in the morning. The day was
breaking very cold and wild. and one
could just see the waves below. a lash
ing tumble of gray and white water rs
far as the eye could stretch | was in
the lantern. reading It's Never Too Late
to Mend had come to where the chap
lain knocks down the wardcr, and | was
thinking how I'd like to have go at
that warder myself, when all the guns
in the world went off together in my
ears and there was |, dripping wet and
fairly sliced with spintcrs Of glass, and
the WIND blowing salt in my face, and
the lamp out. and bitter gray light Of
morning. as though there never, never
had heeh any sun, and all the dead men
IN the sea shouting out for me hundred
rect neloW' ANA GarStin smvered and
rose TO ms rect. We'll have only one
more WINTER oi IT,
an nha t4eh | asked
ihen get the North Foreland, and
IHv ulpPerS come on from Margate, and
NV on Slore WIN my "lle' And by
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