The professional world. (Columbia, Mo.) 1901-192?, 1902-10-17
AN ANCIENT LIGHTHOUSE.
It Was Built Two Hundred Years
Ago on the Scilly Islands.

Leisure Hours: Nowhere can the
story of the lighthouse-its value, its
principles, its history. it's romance
be more ftly studied or illustrated than
in the so-called English archipelago,
that storm-swept group of rocks 40
miles off the Cornish coast, that we
name the Scilly Isles. Very fair and
very treacherous are these lonely,
beautiful islets. Here in the genial,
temperate climate engendered by the
encircling blossoms open a full month
ere yet the mainland has rid itself of
it's winter ice and snow. Here the
healthful breezes blow pure and un-
tainted off the Atlantic, the sky is clear
and the water is Of the rarest shades Of
green and blue as 1t laps around the
fantastic carved cliffs and rocks. New
ertheless, each of these rocks is but as
a grim monument to a graveyard
spread around it. Beneath the waters
the sunken wrecks lie strewn as no.
where else about our coasts. Hidden
reefs, raging seas, powerful currents,
dense fogs, n and all have had their
share In destruction, and a tale of death
and disaster hangs on every rock and
ledge.
The first lighthouse on the Scilly
Isles was erected in the year 1851.
There had been an agitation for this
much-needed beacon for some time pre-
viously, though. to tell the truth, this
had not emanated from the islanders
themselves. Nor is this altogether to
be wondered at Remote from the
mainland, rarely visited, badly govern
| ed, the S%cillonians were hard put to 1t
at times to make a bare living from
the scanty produce Of their rocky isles;
nor can we marvel that they regarded
the wreck of some rich1y-laden vessel
upon their shores in the light of an I'M
/, mixed blessing. and prayed to their pa
tron saint. St. Warna, that many anoth-
| er such might be delivered into their
hands. Wreckers they certainly some
of them were, and the evil reputation
long chung to them; and 1t was right in
the hotbed of this %iniquity, st. Agnes,
fourth of the inhabited islands, that
the lighthouse was established. The
erection Of this b~uilding-220 years ago
was the most important work that
the corporation Of Trinity House-that
ancient and august body that controls
our coastwise lights-had yet attempt
ed, and they were assisted by the gov
l GIDIlCIll W IlC I VI bSAAI6 Gil q
yacht and given the right to purchase
their materials Qncluding plenty Of
"best English heart-oak") from the ma.
val stores at Plymouth. 1t is this self
same venerable structure (subject only
to modern improvements) that stands
to this day upon st. Agnes, where It's
sturdy white bulk forms as striking 6
beacon by day as it's half-minutt
white flashes do by night. Under Its
shelter are grouped the few stone
houses that contain the hundred or Sc
of population that the qauint LITTLE
islet boasts. The tower itself is 70 fee
high, large and roomy within. will
%antiquated wooden staircase climbing
up past little windows set in a wall sew
: eral feet thick.
Arrived at the top we enter the Ian
tern, but before we examine the inter
esting mechanism of the light it con
tains, we will pause to notice a wild,
circle painted upon the stone floor
This marks the position Of the Ceres
set" that originally and for very man,
!; wears was the sole iluminant. Tn
Identical cresset itself can still be see,
in the gardens of the neighboring is
land Of Tresco, where the scarlet geran
, full imitation of the flames 1t once con
, tanned. It is a large iron receptacle
with open bars at the top, and 1t wa
burned a coal fire. which simple meth
cd of illumination-or the yet NOR
primitive one of a circle of tallow can
dies ranged ON a hoop-was the onl,
century. In most cases where the ores