Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1920-04-29
THE LURE Of LONELINESS
Solitude the Charm of Job for
Which Scores Apply
Colonel Edward Hatch's Advertisement
for Man to Protect Gulls ON -Four
Brother Islands Makes AM
nunl Appearance


Hatch. we'll known in Burlington. ana
the -Four Brother ISLANDS in Lake Cham
plain. opposite this city:
wANTED--A man to live alone on
an island (inland lake), eight
miles from shore: transportation
food, clothing, shelter. boat. ETC.
furnished; work. no compen-
sation. Summertime, 600 IT'D
bune Building, New York.
Every Easter Sunday for :hc last Ia
years this advertisement has appeared
in Help Wanted columns. Every year
hundreds of men, and occasionally "o-
man, have made application for the Joo.
Many Of those who have answered ana
received no reply have formed the opin-
ion that the whole thing is practical
joke, played by an Individual who Is col
lecting data of the different kinds or
people who react in the same manner 10
tho same impulse--or something like that.
Investigation, however. proved that there
was in truth a man who offered precisely
the sort o. position he described and that
it has been file. satisfactorily during the
summer months for 10 years. The man 10
the director of q large, well-known dry
goods house in New York. He as
with four little islands in the center of
It. Every year a colony of arctic or
burgomaster seagulls alghts on these
islands and stays there during the sum-
mer months. In order to protect the
eggs and the young. a man is annually
hired to live on one Of the islands. He
has no duty other than the patrolling OF
the shore and the bird haunts. He goes
early in May when the birds begin to
arrive and leaves after they do. In no
case It is necessary for him to stay long
err than October I.
There is a humorous angle to the sit
uation. an angle that gives truth to the
trite saying that distance lends enchant-
ment. When the advisability of getting
man to look after these birds first for
mulated itself in the mind of the man
who has made himself their friend. he
decided he could hire one of the men In
the neighboring community for the task.
He preached the subject to some of them
and offered to pay $50 a month, with food
and shelter as described in the advertise
ment. Thirty dollars a month at that
time meant good deal more than it does
, to-day. Nevertheless, he could find no.
body to whom the idea of living soli-
tary life on n lake island made any APP
peal.
LONGING OF THE CITY-BRED
Knowing human nature intmately-he
employs hundreds of men and women
! he decided to insert an advertisement
in the New York papers, tell briefly
| what was expected and make no offer
of compensation other than food, cloth
Ing and shelter The response was stu
pendous. Immediately letters began pour
IN,
walk OF life asking that they be allowed
70 60 off into the solitudes. The Bowery
bum applied and said that he wanted
nothing but the woods and the waters
the youth whose love had been unrequited
made a similar request: the man whose
aim was to arrive at the topmost runs
Of the ladder of literary success was GER
tain that the advertisement had been in
serted as a godsend from heaven.
Out of the hundreds that applied. one
| was finally chosen. Among the Is who
have worked there in the summer month:
are a well-knOwn naturalist. an attorney
general of a neighborng State. and mar
named Daniel Boone. who is direc
descendant of the pioneer who bore tina
name. In almost every case the mel
asked to be allowed to return the follow
Ing year, but the rules laid down by thu
man who has Interested himself In THU
work are against this, He does not wan
the keeper Of the birds to grow acauaint
ed with the people in the neighborin!
community. as he might if he returned
to the same place year after year. 1t Il
not the men that interest him; 1t is tn
preservation of this species OF seagule
which are, he states. the largest of thei
kind. having a spread of wings of fv
Thofr ri n htiy nj
the scavenger duty they perform. 1t i
estimated that they eat two pounds of of
fal a day.
Human nature does not change. TIL
letters that are coming in This year ar
pretty much the same as those tina
have come In during the last fourtee
years. Chief among the types of me
who apply and would-be writer's All O
them are certain that the isolation wi
help their style. One OF them writes:
ITO one so fond of unusual PROPOSE
lions as !. yours appealed to me as de
lightfully enticing, and having been sub
jected to spasms of solitude. do nc
= consider your idea fallacous,
UNLESS you can offer me somethin
distinctly out Of the ordinary l see nc
how you can interest me. I should nc
be tempted, for instance. to become
Waterman unless the compensation lure
! me. But l fear little to be subject G
q psychological observation or sociologics
experimentation.
Il am primarily an adventure hunter
and while you may opine that your pre-
scribed existence OF absolute isolatio
| would be void of much action, ! am In
| clined to entertain contentious to tn
contrary. However, / usually manag
to make my experiments pay me an
your plan would lose all it's charm if
were to be entirely without some none
tary remuneration. So you have in m
a person eager to dare the strange. pre-
viding efforts will be appropriately ar
preciated, and one willing to grant
personal interview to both further ea
o plain and learn particulars"
), ESCAPING THE LANDLORD
A less adventurous wight with a kind
sense or humor asks nothing OF the Il
land but place to escape his landlor
and boarding house mistress
since my school days" he writes.
d have been tailor. poet. bank clerk. so
der. wanderer and common drudge wit
the same lack of success. fatter m!
self that l am pursuing a literary caree
sim neither the good fortune nor meal
have ever been mine to devote my Ell
tire time to writing. and long for sue
an opportunity. | am not in search
adventure. and romance Is surely menta
what crave Is place to live in peace
to forget for a time the oyeranxious Liant
l pr-nr no, linn