Iron County record. [volume] (Cedar City, Utah) 1893-1982, 1920-08-13
CHAPTER ..
The Nlaht Of the Reaeons.

The Night OF the Beacons.
1t is strange to me. Jack Calder o
West Inch, to feel that though now
In the very center of the nineteenth
century, l am but five-and-fifty year
of age, and though IL is only once
week, perhaps, that my wife ca
pluck out little gray bristle from
over my ear, yet have lived In a tim,
when the thoughts and the ways o.
men were as different as though 1
were another planet from this. Fol
when walk In my fields can see
down Berwick way, the little fluffs o
white smoke which tell me of thl
strange, new, hundred-legged beas
with Goals for food and n thousan,
men In Its belly, forever crawling owe
the border. On shiny day I can sc,
the CLINT OF the brass work as Il take!
the curve near Corrlemulr And then
ms l look out to sea, there Is the sam,
beast again, or dozen of them, may
be, leaving a trail of black In the all
and OF white in the water, and swim
ming In the face of the wind as cas-
lily rs salmon up the Tweed. Such
a sight as that would have struck my
good old father speechless with wrath
as well as surprise, for he was so
stricken with the fear of offending the
Creator that he was chary of contra.
dieting Nature, and always held the
new thing to be nearly akin to the
blasphemous. AS long as God made
the horse, and man, down Blrming-
ham way, the engine, my good old dad
would have stuck by the saddle and
the spurs.
When he died we had been fighting
with scarce break, save for two short
years, for very nearly a quarter Of n
century. Babies who were born In the
war grew to be bearded men with ba-
bies of their own, and still the war
continued. Those who had served and
fought In their stalwart prime grew
stiff and bent, and yet the ships and
the armies were struggling. During
that long time we fought the Dutch,
We fought the Danes, we fought the
Spanish, we fought the Turks, we
fought the Americans. we fought the
Montevideans, until 1t seemed that in
this universal struggle no race was
too near of kin or too far away to he
drawn into the quarrel. But most of
all II was the French whom we fought,
and the man whom OF all others we
loathed and feared and admired was
the great captain who ruled them.
1t was very well to draw pictures OF
him, and sing songs about him, and
make as though he were an lmpostor,
but l can tell you that the fear of that
man hung like n black shadow over
all Europe, and that there was time
when the CLINT OF u fire at night upon
the coast would set every woman
upon her knees and every man grip
ping for his musket. He had always
won. That was the terror OF Il. The
fates seemed to be behind him. And
now we know that he lay upon the
northern coast with hundred and
fifty thousand veterans, and the boats
FOR their passage. But II is an old
story how third of the grown folk
of our country took up arms, and how
our little oneeyed, one-armed man
crushed their feet. There was still
to be n land Of free thinking and free
speaking In Europe.
There was great beacon ready on
the hill by Tweedmouth, built up of
logs and tar barrels, and can well
remember how night after night I
strained my eyes to see IL II were
ablaze. ! was only eight ut the time,
but II is an age when one takes a
grief to heart, and l felt as though
the fate of the country hung in some
upon me and my vigilance.
And then one night as looked sud
denly saw little flicker on the bea-
con hill-a single red tongue OF fame
In the darkness. And then the flame
shot higher, and saw the red, Qulv-
erlng line upon the water beyond, and
dashed into the kitchen, screechlng
10 my father that the French had
and the Tweedmouth light was
lflame. can see him now as he
knocked his pipe out at the side of the
Ire, and looked at me from over the
Op OF his horn spectacles.
"Are you sure, Jock?" says he.
"Sure as DEATH" 1 gasped.
He reached out his hand for the
Bible upon the table and opened 1t
pon his knee as though he meant to
cad to us, but he shut II again In
Hence and hurried out. We went
own to the gate which opens out
pom the highway. From there we
ould see the red light of the big bea-
on, and the glimmer of smaller one
0 the north of us at AytOn. The old
Dad had more folk on It than ever
assed along 1t ut night before, for
lany Of the yeomen up our way had (
nrOlled themselves and were riding
ow as fast as hoOf could carry them
)r the muster. Some had a stlrrup cup
r two before parting, and ! cannot |
orget one who tore past on huge
'hlte horse, brandlshing great rusty
word In the moonlight They shouted