Evening journal., 1903-06-06
Bill Parsons
Column
PUBLISHED Now AND
THEN

nau tnelr camps on the banks Of the
stream, and took much of their food
from it. Among these piles of shells
many relics of the primitive race have
been found, and / was delighted to
discover some fragments Of pottery
that was apparently Of the same work.
manship of specimens / had found on
Blennerhassett Island in the Ohio.
Walking along on the great bank my
friend finally told me about the phe-
nomenon of snow in August. He said
that in winter the snow drifts lust as
the sand does. When it falls the winds
sweep it across the bank until it drops
INTO the woods beyond, and the sand
drifting along covers it up many feet
deep, and there it lies without the possi-
bility of evaporation.
must admit that was skepticaI. not
because did not believe my friend. but
because it is difficult for one to credit
what he has not seen. Consequently
during the next day casually asked at
least half dozen persons if they had
ever seen snow in August, and they all
informed that they had dug il out of
the sand bank many a time when the
thermometer registered nearly a hun
dred degrees! So believe it, since there
is nothing else to do.
Three miles we trudged along the
bank, and then we came to a bluff that
dipped suddenly down and met the
waters of the ocean. Before us was the
sea restless and stretching away on
either side and behind us was an ocean
of sand; it, too, breaking into bIllows.
its waves moving by centuries instead
of seconds. And what wild place it
seems-sand on one side and water on
the other. Not a blade of grass, not a
shrub. The sand has whitfield about
the house and piled itself in the porch.
why don't you clear it out?" we ask
1T would be back in half hour" was
the answer. We noticed sand "a the
rain pipes, and were told that it blew on
the roof, and that a rain washed it
down.
How long has this house been
bult2" we asked Captain Joseph
We'll" said he, this house was built
some time in the seventies, but don't
know when the old house was built.
II was of stone. and lies just back there
entirely covered up by the sand" Some
day the bank will pass clear OF that
old house, and then maybe somebody
will think he has discovered a pIehis-
bhric ruin.
The keeper invites us inside, and in
looking around we find in dingy
frames document in this out-of- the way
place what the keeper doubtless regards
as priceless. 1t is a piece of parchment
on which we read that Dagworthy d.
Joseph was made major by brevet for
gallant action at the battle of Five
Forks, Virginia. II is signed by An
drew Johnson, and Edwin NJ. Stanton,
and then we know that a brave and
tried man is keeping the light.
The tower is of stone and brick the
walls six feet thick, but no man knows
the builder or when it's first stone was
laid. The first mention of it reveals
that it was standing there ten years
prior to the Revolution, but how much
longer there is no record to Indicate
The iron superstructure was erected
some years before the civil war, and
George G. Meade. then a government
engineer, but afterwards the hero of
Gettysburg, superintended its construc-
ton.
In a room about the size of a large
centre table sits the keeper through
his watch. winter and summer, hear
ing the ocean eternally pounding on
its sands, sending the great shaft of
light twenty-five miles out to sea. Per-
haps he loves it's music. and perhaps
it conveys a message which his ears
are quick to understand. But Lewes
is far away; night will soon be upon
us, and we say goodbye to the brave
warm hearted old keeper, take a last
look at the ocean and retrace our steps
over the sandbank, thinking not of the
leaves that once rustled in the forest
that now lies buried beneath.
Bill Parsons.