Free trader-journal and Ottawa fair dealer. (Ottawa, Ill.) 1920-1927, 1921-01-07
LIVES WITH BIRDS.
AS ONLY FRIENDS.
ON LONELY ISLAND
HUNDREDS SEEK JOB THAT
LEAVES THEM STRANDED FAR
FROM klTh AND KIN AND
WHERE THERE ARE NO OTHER
HUMAN INHABITANTS.

WANTED--A man to i've alone on an
island dnland lake. eight miles from
shore; Transportation food. clothing, shei-
ter, boat, etc, furnished; no work no
compensation, Summertime, COO Tribune
Building, New York,
Every Easter Sunday for the last
fifteen years this advertisement has
appeared In Help Wanted" columns.
Every year hundreds of men, and oc-
casionaily a woman, have made appi-
cation for the job.
Many OF those who have answered
and received no reply have formed the
opinion that the whole thing is Il prac-
teal joke, played by an individual
who Is collecting data Of the different
kinds Of people who react to the same
impulse~-or something like that IL
Nestigation, however, has proved that
there is in truth man who offers
precisely the sort of position de-
scribed and that it has been filed sat
1sfactorily each summer for Is years.
The man is the director of a large
well-known dry goods house in New
York He has a home in the AdirOn-
dacks near a lake with four little is
lands Ia the center. Every year a col
ory of arctic or burgomaster scagulls
elights on these islands and stays
there throughout the summer. In or
der TO protect the eggs and the young
man is hired to live on one of the
islands.
He has no duty other than the pa
trolling Of the shore and the bird
haunts. He goes early in May when
The birds begin to arrive and leaves
after hey do. In no case is it neces-
sary for him to stay longer than Oc-
tODer l.
There is a humorous angle to the
situation an angle that gives truth
to the trite saying that distance lends
enchantmeut. When the ACCESSIBILITY
Of getting a man to look after these
birds first formulated itself in the
mind of the man who has made him.
~a'G their friend, he decided he could
ifa ere Of the men in the neighkor-
suH a@.uft Cir tho TASK.
E!a aaa.l ID, oa... r. some of
#aea ma "1eaa u4 $50 uouth
,..9 foa l4 >H,aar a~ aa~ r.wI in
he mtse -'mag tH~y aa.aGs
haoGo a-t tHn ".u q good deal
nagv tNW 81 does to-day Neyerthe-
~> UeeWsl iu.a nobody to whom the
tarn nf HH.ag a solitary life on
Bake H~..ud @y'. a> appeal
>ga"uE Hm#u #tme Intimately
& Wro. hundreds Of men ana won.
ea. ecaed "a insert an advertise
tHru. IN city papers, tell briefly what
Ht& expected and make no offer Of
compensation other than food cloth
jas, and shelter. The response was
stupendous Immediately letters be-
gan pouring IN by the score from men
IN every walk Of life asking that they
be allowed to 20 off into the soltudes
The BoWery bum applied and said
that he wanted nothing hut 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 rung Of the lad
der of literary success was certain that
the advertisement had been inserted
as a godsend from heaven.
Out Of the hundreds that applied,
one was finally choSen. Among the
fifteen who have worked there are
Well-knoWn naturalist Gil attorney gem
eral Of neighboring state, and Il
man named Daniel Boone, who Is
direct descendant Of the pioneer who
bore that name.
In almost every case the men asked
to be allowed to return the following
year, but the rules laid down by the
man who has Interested himself in this
work are against this. He does not
want the keeper Of the birds to grow
acquainted with the people in the
neighboring community as he might
If he returned to the same place year
after year
1t Is not the men that interest him
It is the preservation Of this species
of seagulls, which are, he states, the
largest Of their kind, having a spread
of wings of five feet Their contri-
button TO humanity is the scavenger
duty they perform. 1t is estimated
that they eat two pounds of ohal a
day.