KEEPS LONELY VIGIL.
LIGHTHOUSE MAN HAS WORRY
AND RESPONSIBILITY.
Works Amid Deep Solitude and Must
Endure All Sorts of Weather—Place
un Appointive One uud Free from
Wilea of Politicians.
The keeper of a marine lighthouse
has not a job, but an office. He Is a
Presidential appointee and holds a
commission which when read out
sounds as Important as that of the col
lector of customs or the postmaster.
He holds an office of large trust and
high responsibility. He is to keep his
lamp trimmed and burning from the
dusk of evening till the next daylight.
His post is advanced to the edge of the
deep and often raging waters—It Is a
lonely situation and through nights of
all weathers he must stay and be vigi
lant at his post. Should he fall once in
the performance of duty what disaster
to vessels and crews might not come!
The navigator knows and testifies to
his worth in.the position where he has
been placed by the government, but it
Is certain that he Is not much regarded
by the general public.
AT THE FARMHOUSE.
November trees art» brow» and bare
And brief and chill November days,
But on (lie farm all are astir
Ami cheerfully the mother says—
“The (lay to ail New England dear
Thanksgiving Bay, will soon be here.
“So, father, choose the turkey now
And I will make some pumpkin pies.
And we will have a pudding nice
And It shall be of largest size;
There aie walnuts in the garret
And there Is corn that pops like snow,
There are apples In the cellar
Which all the children love, I know.
“And we will have our sons come home,
Our daughters and grandchildren, too,
Mary Ann and Jim and Joseph,
*
Maggie, Nellie and baby Prue/’
So father gels the turkey fine
And mother makes the pumpkin pies
And home Thanksgiving morning br.ngs
Beloved ones of every size.
The old house rings with their glad laugh,
The fireplace glows with ruddy light,
And when at table all have met
That kitchen I m a pleasant sight.
The father offers sincere thangs,
The little ones Impatient wait.
And then the turkey plump he carves
And from the bounty tills each plate.
Then grandma’s plum tilled pudding comes
With mince and pumpkin pies galore,
While nuts and apples, raisins sweet,
And fun and feasting crown the hour.
And here the poor remembered are
And not in kindly word alone,
With well tilled hands the children speed
To neighbors’ homos where want is known.
The
The
And
The
pleasant hours most
com Is popped and
happy children rest
glad November day
swiftly fly,
stilled the fun,
In bed,
is done.
But by the fire grandmother sits
And In her hand she holds a curl,—
A soft brown curl, that Rhone long since
Around the face of her first girl -
“Dear child,” she cries, “forgotten never,
A mother’s love remembers ever.’’
-Emily Pearson Bailey.
••««*•»•**•*»••••««**«»*•*
• A RURAL PEACEMAKER. •
I
:
•
BV J. I . HARBOUR.
*
z— t AHEY did not pity much attention
to Thanksgiving in the country
school district in which I taught in
the Went u good many year» ago. Christ
mas was the chief holiday of the winter,
and it was celebrated without any special
demonstration, for most of tile people
were poor ami there was not much senti
ment in their general make-up. Ohl Han
nah Dorton, with whom I boarded, was
of New England birth, and she had not
come to the West until some years after
her marriage. She was a woman of a
good deal of force of character, and no
one in the neighborhood hail a nimbler
tongue. One evening nlsmt two weeks
before Thanksgiving I said to her!
"Do the people observe Thanksgiving
very generally in this neighborhood?”
"No. they do not," replied tile old lady
with considerable emphasis. "And it han
always been a good deal of a trial to me
that so little attention was paid to a day
that we made so much of back there in
dear old New England. It wan the great
est holiday of the year to ua, and how
we did enjoy it!”
"Why do they pay so little attention to
it here?"
"Well. I guess it is just because they
have never got ill the way of paying any
attention to it. They never celebrated
the Fourth of July as it ought to be cele
brated until my husband got them started
to doing it ten years before he died, and
now we have a big celebration every
year.”
"Home one ought to start them to cele
brating Thanksgiving.”
"So lhey ought But who is to do It?”
T reflected for a tew momenta, and then
1 said:
"Suppose we start them off in that di
rection.”
"How?” asked the old lady, dropping
her knitting into her lap and manifesting
eager interest.
"Suppose we get up a Thanksgiving
dinner in the school house. Invite all
the folks in the district Io come and bring
their dinner with them. There does not
seeiu to be any social life in the neigh
borhood unless one can call occasional
spelling matches and singing schools in
the school house social diversions. The
people never eat and drink together in a
merry-making of any kind. Don’t you
think that the idea of a Thanksgiving
dinner in the school house would take?”
The old lady reflected for a moment
and then said:
“Yes, I think it would. It would be a
novelty to every one, and I think the
folks would turn out big, only—only
”
“Only what?” I asked.
“Well, the fact is, there are so ninny
folks in this neighborhood that don't
speak to each other. 1 never saw any
thing like it. There Is old Squire Bent,
who won't speak to his daughter because
she married John Watters against the
squire's wishes.
There was nothing
against John, excepting that he was
poor, and he had a brother that had been
in jail, but John couldn't help that, and
he has done splendidly ever since he mar
ried, and it is my opinion that the squire
would like to make up with John and
Nellie, only he is too proud to make any
advances, and they won't either. Then
there is Kate Whiting and her sister,
Lucy Patch, who had a falling out years
ago. and ain't spoke to each other since,
and before that one was the very shudder
of the other. Reuben Hoopes and his
brother Silas and their families fell out
over the property after old man Hoopes
died, and they ain't ever spoke since.
Then the Anderson and Robey families
had a falling out tire years ago. and they
don't speak, and before that they were
ns thick as flies around a molasses bar’I.
Then there are other families in the dis
trict that ain't as friendly as they ought
to be, so your Thanksgiving dinner might
end in a riot if all these people come to
gether 111 the school house.”
“Not with a woman of your tact at the
head of it,” I said.
“Well, you go ahead and get it up. and
I will aid aud abet you all 1 can. l't will
be a break in the monotony of things
here even If there is a tight.”
I spent nil of my time before and after
school during the next ten days in call
ing at all of the homes in the neighbor
hood, and inviting the people to come to
the school house on Thanksgiving day
with well-tilled baskets.
The school
“we will xow stxo.”
house was unusually large, and there
would be room for all if we took out a
part of the seats. Three days before
Thanksgiving old Mrs. Dorton said:
“I guess you'll have the house full
Thanksgiving. Nancy Ross was in here
to-day, and she says that the whole dis
trict is coming, and Nancy knows if any
one does, for she spends most of her time
trotting about picking up gossip and re
tailing it out aagin. She is as good as
the local columns of a newspaper for giv
ing news about what folks are saying
and doing, and she says that the idea of
the Thanksgiving dinner in the school
house was (Slight like wildfire. Nancy
says she wouldn't miss it for a party.”
The larger boys and girls of the school
met me at the school house the evening
before Thanksgiving, and we decorated
ths room beautifully with evergreens end
several flags we had been able to borrow.
Provision had been made for two long
tables to run almost the entire length of
the room with some smaller tables in the
corners.
"I suppose that we will have to be
careful how we seat the people at the ta
bles,” I said to Mrs. Dorton.
“You just leave that mostly to me.”
said the old lady. “I know the people
better than you do, and I won't be so apt
to make awkward blunders. I’ll set 'em
down all right.”
Nancy Ross was right when she said
that the whole district would be present
at the dinner. The dinner was to be at
1 o’clock, and by noon the house was till
ed by a merry, happy crowd, including al
most every family in the district.
There were baskets and boxes and
even tubfuls of turkeys and chickens and
doughnuts and pies and cakes.
There
were baskets of big red apples, and Hi
ram Hawkins brought half a barrel of
sweet cider. Some one brought a bas
ket of popcorn balls for the children, and
there was an infinite variety of jellies
and jams and preserves and pickles
brought forth from boxes and baskets.
“There's enough stuff here to feed an
army.” said Hannah Dorton, as she bus
tled about from table to table, the happi
est and most active person in the house.
A few minutes before 1 o’clock I heard
her saying to Mrs. Kate Whiting, “Come,
now, Kate; you and your busband and
two children are to set nt this table over
in this corner. Come right along." And
when they were seated the old lady bus
tled up to Mrs. Patch and said:
"Now, Lucy, you and your husband
and the children are to sit here at this
table.”
"And if she didn’t plump them right
down with the Whitings that they hadn't
spoken to for years." said the voluble
Nancy Ross afterward. indeed Nancy
was so fond of telling about that
Thanksgiving dinner afterward that I
think I will let her tell about it now.
“Then," she said, “if that Hanner Dor
ton didn't set old Squire Bent down at
the head of one table with his daughter
Nellie at his right hand and his son-in-
law, John Watters, at his left, an' their
baby in a high chair at its gran'pa’s side,
an’ it wa'n't three minutes before the old
Squire had that baby in his arms and
he et his whole dinner with the little
thing in his lap. 1 heard his daughter
say to him, 'Shan't I take the baby,
father, so that you can eat your dinner
in greater comfort?' But ho held right
on to it, and there he sat talkin' to Nellie
and John same as if there'd never been
any trouble at all. And he had that baby
in his arms the whole afternoon, an’
went around as proud, sayin’ to folks,
‘See my grandson. Ain't he a mighty
fine boy?' It was the first time he had
ever seen the child, an' the next week he
made Nellie and John come and live with
him. Then what did that Hanner Dor
ton do but put Reuben Hoopes an' his
brother Silas and their families at a table
by themselves, an' I heard her say to
'em. ‘Come. now. you folks want to t>e
sociable an’ have a good visit together
same as own brothers ought to on
Thanksgivin' day.’ Their wives have al
ways wanted to make up. an' 1 tell you
they found their tongues mighty soon,
an' 'fore that meal was over they was
talkin' away as if there had never been
any row over property or anything else.
An' before they knew it the Anderson
and Robey families found themselves at
the same table with Hanner sayin' to
'em. ‘Now it don't make no diff'rence
about the past. This is Thanksgivin’
day. an' a good time to forget that there
has ever been anything but a happy past
between you folks.'
"Then if she didn't up an' set old Ruth
Norse an' old Betty Underwood down
side by side, an* they hadn't spoke to
each other for years, an' before they
knowed it them two old bodies was chaf
fin' away together as if they had never
had a failin' out In the world.
Then
when she had got ail the people that were
enemies set down aide by aide she seated
every one else, and then she said,
"'We will now sing.’
* "Blest be the tie that binds." *
Ing light. Then he added prismatic
rings. The result was the system that
still goes by bis name and has long
since changed the mode of lighthouse
illumination throughout the world. It
is now used exclusively by the United
States.
Chicago people are accustomed to see
ing the Fresnel light in the several
lighthouses in the harbor, but probably
few have ever inquired Into the mech
anism of the apparatus by which the
flashes are produced. Take the one on
the north pier as typical. Within it Is
an arrangement of lenses, supplement
ed by prisms, which revolve around a
sperm oil-burning lamp. When one of
the lenses comes opposite the observer
the eye receives a bright flash preceded
and followed by a brief eclipse. There
are six orders of lenses, arranged ac
cording to size. The first three and
largest are used in seacoast lights, and
the last three in harbor and river lights.
The lamp differs from other lamps in
the provision of wicks. Carcel invented
a lamp which is named for him, in
which oil is fed to the wlca by means
of a pump, operated by clockwork,
sometimes used in lighthouses and as a
domestic lamp. Fresnel adopted the
Carcel lamp, but improved it so that it
pumps up to the burner four times as
much oil as Is consumed, which, by
keeping the burners cool, prevents them
little distance off is the oil tank inclosed
neatly. The house in which the light
house keeper dwells Is supplied with
the modern conveniences aud is hand
some enough to be called a villa. A
large quantity of stores is required to
be kept constantly In the district, and
these are substantially housed in a gov
ernment building in St. Joseph. Mich.
The official headquarters of the ninth
district is in Chicago. It Is iu charge of
Commander F. M. Symonds, United
States navy.
Commander Symonds
says that the Chicago lighthouses are
reckoned among the best on the laaes.
HOT
'
«-c*
RACE WITH A GRIZZLY.
A
Lively Experience of a Colorado Pont*
master with a Bear.
W. H. Person, local manager of a
typewriter company, received a letter
this morning from Tom Hamilton, post
master at Hamilton! Routt County, de
scribing a thrilling race with a bear
which he enjoyed this week.
The bear was a big grizzly. The griz
zly when he sees a human form is
bound to do one of two things. He will
either run at or away from the
stranger, and if he does the former it is
generally a case of doughnuts to pret
zels that it is all off with the stranger.
In this case the bear that runs at a
man yearned for a closer acquaintance
with the postmaster aud would prob
ably have interfered seriously with the
future delivery of the United States
mail but for the fact that Hamilton is
something of a rough rider aud had a
horse under him.
Postmaster Hamilton had for the
time being left the affairs of state in
the hands of a subordinate while he
went out to round up some straying
cattle. He went about three miles from
home and was standing beside his horse
wondering which way to turn next
when there was a stir in some brush
ahead of him. It looked too small a
disturbance for a cow. but he thought
it might be a calf and went forward
to investigate. lie was within a few
feet of the brush when a big grizzly
stood on its bind legs aud threw him a
kiss.
Hamilton didn’t stop to catch th«
kiss, but made a bolt for his horse. The
steed had seen Mr. Bear and started
away almost as eagerly as did his mas
ter, and It was nip and tuck for the
saddle between bruin and the postmas
ter. After a run of 100 yards Hamil
ton caught the pommel of the saddle
and threw himself aboard just as the
bear made a bound for him. A pair ol
spurs went into the horse's hide and the
animal leaped forward with a bound
which made the bear feel that his tnea.
of man was apt to escape. But he
doubled himself up into a ball of furj
and started red-hot after his intended
victim. The chase kept up until the
door of the postmaster’s cabin wai
reached, when bruin turned about and
made for the woods. He was allowed
to escape.—Denver Times.
(
—«/►
--------------------------------
J
Risked His Life tn a Canoe.
LONELY WATCH OF THE LIGHTKEEPER.
The first lighthouse iu the Chicago
harbor, says the Chronicle, if it could be
so denominated, when the smallest ves
sels made their way with peril into the
shallow mouth of the unimproved river,
was erected in 1831. Reckoning from
that date, which, in fact, was six years
earlier than the city's birth as a cor
poration, the vast commece now car
ried on here had its beginning only
sixty-nine years ago. There is nothing
like this commercial wonder in the
world now. nor ever was. All this since
an immense number of men still living
and not yet accounted old were born!
When it first was in agitation to erect
a lighthouse here of the old pattern,
with a stationary light of no great
power, there was a man in France deep
in studies and busy with experiments
tojtroduce a marine light on a new prin
ciple that should take the place of every
other the world round. Fresnel was
that man. Indeed, he began with his
experiments ten years earlier. Over
tn France was Fresnel at work on a
marine light that was destined to send
its apprising flashes from six several
towers in the Chicago harbor over the
waters to the horizon. The Frenchman
lived to perfect his light: he was ap
pointed secretary to the lighthouse
board of France In 1825 and while he
was in that position he replaced reflect
ors with lenses and invented the revolv-
A young Frenchman named Felix
Cliauchois, a Parisian student, about 21
years of age, was given an enthusiastic
reception on the sands at Calais upon
his reaching shore after an adventurous
voyage across the channel from Dovet
in a small canoe.
M. Chauchols. who had been staying
at Dover, left the English shore on Sun
day morning at 8 o'clock in a canoe be
longing to the Dover Rowing Club, ot
which he was a temporary member. It
is an exceedingly frail craft, measuring
about 14 feet in length and 2 feet wide,
covered at both ends. The well in
which the canoeist sat is 3 feet long by
about 20 Inches wide. She was In the
same condition when he started as
when used for ordinary pleasure pur
lioses, the only protection he had tc
keep the water out being the ordinary
weather boards.
There was a light northwesterly wind
as he started from Dover, but later in
the day the wind veered to southwest
and freshened, and there was quite an
unpleasant ripple on the water. Chan
chois was at first carried away on th«
flood tide a good deal to the eastward,
but he had the advantage of having hii
course for Calais given him by Captain
Delahaye of the cross-channel mail
packet Le Nord. It appears, however,
that he drifted many miles out of his
course, as the tide turned westward,
aud it was not until 10:30 on Monday
that he reached Calais. He was unac
companied throughout the passage.—
London Chronicle.
from melting and also the wicks from
burning up. Sometimes a wick will
burn a whole night without requiring
snuffing. This, notwithstanding the fact
that the intensity of tlie Fresnel light
is about equal to that of about twenty-
five ordinary Careel burners. The above
description applies to the first order of
lenses, which are used in the great
lights on the seacoast. For the second
order of lenses, such as used In the
lights in the Chicago harbor, a lamp
with three concentric wicks was adopt
ed. Tlie annual consumption of oil by
the lenses of the first order is 694 gal
lons and of the second order 461 gal
lons. The lenses cost but little more
than the old reflectors and the saving
of oil is great. The ratio of effect of
the lens light Is to that of the reflector
light as 4 to 1—that is, one gallon of oil
burned in a lens throws as much light
to the horizon as four gallons burned
in a reflector light
During the last twenty-five years
there has been a great increase iu ma
rine lighting in the ninth lighthouse
district which Includes Minnesota,
Michigan. Indiana. Wisconsin and Illi
nois. The number of lighthouses In
this district is 127, and every light is a
Fresnel. A new lighthouse built at
Whenever a girl takes It Into bet
Manitou Island is tine, costing the gov
ernment a good sum of money. Beside head to wave a broom at the head of a
it is the fog signal contrivance and a mob. she is called a Joan of Arc.
ALL
ONE
CONTINENT.
This map shows the formation of the
land which scientists now affirm connect
ed Australia. Africa and America, mak
ing of the three one great antarctic con
tinent. For proof of this the fact is
pointed out that the ancient sea beaches
of Patagonia, which are now far inland,
have imbedded iu them fossil shells
which are exactly like those found in parts of Australia. It is probably more thau 1,600,000 yean ago that the continu
ous coastline of both continents became divided.
The fauna of the three countries are beyond doubt descendants from the same ancestors, for it is sbsnrd to assume
that there could at one time hare been a land bridge across the great expanses of ocean; or that there can ever have
been migration by means of drifting wood.
The ostrich is cited as another proof. It is found both In Anstralia and Africa, bnt is, nevertheless, a non-flying bird.
But it is more particularly among extinct animals, whose remains are from time to time unearthed, that investigators
hare been able to establish their theory beyond doubt.
Now. the discovery of an antarctic continent is looked forward tn with more importance by scientists than tie <tu.
envery of the no. "th pole.
*■