The log cabin Democrat., 1912-08-08
The Lighthouse
 Keeper

iage on the Island of Pelworm. He | was dressed in a black Prince Albert coat, white vest and stovepipe hat | when he walked along the Quays, but when he disappeared he took up his vocation of attending the lighthouse on Bishops rock.
 Why he had entered this branch of the government service l have never been able to find out. Now, at the age of forty nine, he was filled with hor- TOT of the sea, and the Prince Albert coat. which he wore during his week of, he put on as protest against his work Nothing gave him more pleas ure than to be taken for drummer. Ziegler was his name. "The sea is as smooth as polished floor" he said to me one day wien we were sitting together on the shore looking westward to where the light house was dimly visible against the sky, "but the sea is treacherous.
 Around Bishops rock there are un- dertows, currents and eddies which nobody knows. Fortunately l have only one more winter to spend there though it would be just like my luck if the old tower should blow down this winter in a storm from northwest" He voiced the general opinion of the isla~der The former lighthouse had been swept away by the waves. and. although the new one had been stand ing for several years, every ore kreW that a fog-horn situated sixty feet above the rock had been carried away by the foaming waves during a stormy night.
 Ziegler trembled and stood up.
 Thank the Lord l have only one more winter to spend out there," he | said.
 And then?" l queried.
 "Then I am to be transferred to the North Foreland lighthouse and will he able to live ashore with my wife and boy. By the way, wanted to speak | to you about Leopold. He will soon finish school and what are We to do with him then? Come along home with me and have a chat with my wife | and the boy"
 Frau Ziegler was red-cheeked, buxom matron, whom no one would suspect of morbid ideas, but she. nev- ertheless, shared her husbands horror | of the sea.
 1 "It seems a miracle that it has not l blown down." she said, flor it looks 1 to me like a challenge to God"
 Then we talked about the boy and ] his prospects.
 "I hope to meet you next year" said when I left. "I shall call on you in your new home. Ziegler."
 'lf the lighthouse does not topple over this winter" he replied.
 The lighthouse did not topple over that winter, but Ziegler was not transferred to North Foreland light. Two years passed before I returned. | But one day in spring l once more wis ited the island. and my first walk took me through the little cemetery. A l new tablet in the wall caught ny eye. I read the inscription. It said that Ziegler had died the year bcfcro cn Christmas night Of his death the ia' scription gave no informatic1.
 I walked slowly toward the little fishing village and involuntarily turn ed my steps toward the sigcal hou2e | on the cliff. I was so filed with thoughts of Ziegler that l was rot at l all surprised to find his vie there staring toward the lighthouse as c. old
 q had heard nothing about it," said as I shook her hand.
 Then she told me how her husband disappeared.
 On Christmas eve the light was to have been lit at four o'clock, but the minutes passed and at half past the Bishops rock was still dark On the island people realized that something had happened and the cutter was made clear.
 Of the three men in the lighthouse only two were found. They said that Ziegler had taken the day watch while the other slept He was to call them little before four, but when they woke up it was dark and Ziegler was net about.
 When they lit the light they saw | that he had made an entry Tn tne journal at $40 that schooner was in sight. They looked everywhere, final ly descending the spiral stairway. The | lower door was open. From this narrow iron ladder led down to the | little landing.
 There was only one explanation. Zieeler must have gone out on the iron ladder, then stumbled and fallen into the sea.
 This is what Frau Ziegler told me and I wondered why she should want to go on living here.
 She shaded her eyes with her hand and stared across the sea.
 "There is the cutter from the light ! house." she said. Come down to the harbor with me and shake hands with Leopold He is third man on the | RichOn now"