Norwich Bulletin Newspaper, May 6, 1914, Page 10

N the rolls of the lighthouse service of the United States appear the names of twenty- seven woman keepers, all of them of beacons that wam seafaring men of dangerous rocks add reefs, shoals and bars, upon Which the bones of good ships would bleach wers the gulding lights or the deep-toned fog- bells untended for a night. Some day a writer will arise who will tell to the world, in fitting words, the story of these women. Day after day, night after night, #n sunshine and in blinding fos, they do the work of strong men, for the merest plttance of a man’s wage. On All Our Coasts. ‘And when the tale s written the world will know that the race of Grace Dar- lings is not vet extinct—that on our own eoasts, beside the’ reefs of our. own shores, along the stretches of our: great lakes and up and down the waters of our mighty rivers, our own Grace Dar- lings live today, humble, modest, “pa- tient, tolling women, whose duty it is to guard the sailor from the hidden, luriing dangers thai beset his pat, and ‘Who count the saving of half a score of human lives only as a part of the day’s work. It was in 1638 that the—world wi thrilled by the story of how Grade Dai ling, the twenty-three-year-old daughter of the keeper of a lighthouse on one of the lonely Farne islands, off the soast of England, had rescued nine persons from the wreck of the steamer Forfarshire. She had been left alone at the lght- house while her father, too ill to attend the light, was helpless to go to the ald of those on board the fli-fated steamer. In 2 boat Which she rowed herself, Grace Darling pulled out to the wreck and, with only the assistance of cool membars of the Forfarshire’s crew, too . off the nifie persons and carried them safely to shore: Prototypes Live Today. - ¥ For this action Grace Darling was pwfl: l" & popular heroine in England. A popu- lar subscription was taken up, ang.”u sum of more than $3,500 was rAised, which was presented to the young woman who had unhesitatingly ventured her life in the effort to save others. Grace Darling died October 20, 1842, being then only twenty-seven years old. Her deed, that wild day when the For- farshire, one of the oldest types of steam vessels, broke to pieces on the rocks of | the Farne island, has been made the sub- Ject of song :ad story, and great artists have found inspiration for masterpleces | in the daring of this simple English -girl. Thouch the original Grace Darling has long been dead, her prototypes live to- @ay, and more than one of thein is & the service of the Unif “burean s of nited States bureau Along the New England seaboard, where “The breaking waves On'n sern 35d Fock-bound Soast.” Blaze the lights that are te nded b Zoman keepers of Uncle Sam's Tescons, Where the ‘treacherous recfs and spits Be Jn wait to trap the navigators of Shetapcake bay you mey fnd the Gracs y. Down among the pal- metio-clad keys of the Florida oast thoy wl1w e lamps that burn in the tall white tomers, ar oM Callfornia’s southern: _to the far nor ‘!hl:,gyetwu:u:d,htheir.llghu and vfi':'n;ffigs atch show the marin ger bares its fangs of black rock moori by the writhing. white spume ang. & foaming breakers. el You may. find foan u nd woman Lsnders of lights along the Ohio ang the issippl, and some of thi SHons slooe the Ao e loneliest sta- are tended by them. - OF B¢ §3eat lakes eroism these simple, ‘What tales of 14 tell i they would! modest women coul Of standing for a d; were hidden by fog. Of eryL0e Teefs that drowning men, not on. s more than a dozen times, by srlce bui end unaided daring, that eer pluck Congress unqualified praj, Wrung from als—trumpery Bits of brongeile Med- prized more highly than at were the adequate wage a p"“uld have been | ment ever denied. Of dags g4, overn- a enough to daunt strong men. ¢400r Stern ts of ceaseless, unwearied wild winds roared about gy b Wil ou they could tell, thoce oil: What tales these w, would! But the stories are. i’@iu‘f,,,{&fi,’ locked within the bosom: Bave lived them, and only hitrog® e the formal reports that contain e hise m"iun e government's lighthouse Her Dreadful Vigil, Today there are twenty-seven of these women on the pay roll of the service. Were brave and loval Ida Lewis alive today the roll would number twenty- eight. Of all the woman keepers of the lights she was the most conspicuous, and her death, which occcirred a lttle more than a year ago, removed from the serv- ice a woman whose claim to the title “heroine” was established by her record of thirteen lives saved—thirteen men res- cued from drowning at sea. Ida Lewis tended a light near Newport, R, L, and @t the time of her death, when she was in her sixty-ninth year, she was the pos- @essor of several congressional medals which at one time and another were Vot- ed to her in recognition of her brave deeds. . At the other side of the contiment is another heroine of the lighthouse service who is still living and who still tends her beacon in San Francisco bay.” The An~ Island light station is in the direct Jeh of the larger pact of the navization .in the bay, and its tender is Mrs. Juliet B. Nichols, widow of Henry X. Nichols, U. 8. N., inspector of lighthouses. the top of the tower Mrs. Nfchols at ml fog signal—a big, deep-toned bell, during foggy weather 1§ struck Besides taking care of the lantern “:'t“ Cape Mendocino, in a surf boat with TMARE. TSLAND, LIGHT JTATION.CALIFORNIA. double blow by a hammer operated by machinery. During_two heavy fogs in July, 1906, Mrs. Nicholy spent twenty hours and thirty-five minutes out of the twenty-four hours striking this bell by hand because the machinery had goue rong and would not Worlk. §he began at 8:30 o'clock one jnorning, ceasely swinging the hammer and sound- ing the double pote of the bell, stoppig not a moment for rest or for sleep nor even for food until about 5 o'clock the following morning. One whole day and night doing the work that the rebellious machinery refused to do! The second day after this Mrs. Nichols stood beside the bell from darkness until daylight striking the sgnal with a hand hammer. But her report to the lighthouse service does not tell of her weary hours, sleepless, un- resting, famished, during which the sig- nals were sounded. A Modest Report. It was all in the day's work, and the files of the service show only this: “I have the honor to report that the machinery of the fog signal, Gamewell No. 3, was disabled July 2, 1906, at $:20 a.m. Telegrams were sent immediately to the lighthouse inspector and the light- house engineer for assistance. Mr. Burt came July 3, at 10 o'clock a.m., and made slight repairs. Meanwhile I had struck the .bell by hand for twenty hours and thirty-five minutes, until the fog lift-d. “On the night of July 3, 1906, the ma- chinery worked badly, striking frregu- larly. On the Fourth of July the machin- ery went to pieces, the great tension bar broke in-two, and I could not disconnect the hammer to strike by hand’ 1 stood all_night on the platform outside and struck the bell with a nail hammer with ali my might. The fog was dense, with ‘heavy mist, almost rain. The machinist trom the office or the lighthouse engineer has- just replaced the tension bar. Re- spectfully, . “JULIA E. NICHOLS, Keeper." In California is another woman keeper of one of these beacons of the sea, whose mother preceded her, she, in turn, taking the place vacated by her husband on his death,, This is Mrs. Caroline Morse, keep. er of the Santa Barbara light station, Her father, Horace F. Willams, was keeper of the light from 1836 to 1865. Then her | Mother, Mrs. Julia F. Willlams, was ap. pointed, and -in- the forty years during Shich she tended the light she left tny lighthouse only twice, according to the records of the service. Mrs. Willlams lived in the Santa Bar- bara Mghthouse forty-nine years—nine | years with her husband and forty years | With only her children. And every night steps leading up the inside of the tower to fhe greats lantern, 178 feet above the ground, and lighted and tended the lamp. Every one of those nights the lamp was trimmed, at midnight, or changed with her own hands for a fresh one, and every, morning, as the sun gilded the mountain tops 'to the east, her hands extinguished the light and drew the cur- tain over the lens. Only One Wreck. ed once, not even for an hour, and in ail point guarded by the glant eye in the lighthouse tower. That was on a beauti- ful moonlight night in summer, when a careless ‘skipper allowed his vessel, the Pride of the Sea, to drift upon the rocks and reefs near the shore. When Mrs. Williams died, ‘in 1905, her daughte: Mrs. Caroline Morse, a widow, was ap- pointed to succeed her. ¥ That the life stories of these heroines of/ Uncle Sam’s beacon lights are not unmixed with pathos is shown by the fact that almost all of the woman light- house keepers have succeeded husbands who either lost their lives in the light- house service or who died while ecupy- ing the post of keeper of some lighthouse. An instance: Commander Charles J. McDougal, 8. N., in charge of the California Hgh house’ district, left the lighthouse tender Manzanita, anchored off the light station eight members of his crew, for the pur- pose of inspecting the station and pa: ing off the keepers. IKeepers of light- ot those forty years she climbed the iron | In all those vears the light never fail-| that time but one wreck occurred at the | houses are paid only every three months, and always in gold, and Commander Mc- Dougal had with him in a money belt buckled about his waist the money with which to pay off a number of keepers, the sum being_approximately $7,000. As the boat approached the shore it was struck by a huge breaker and over- turned, The eight members of the boat's crew saved themselves, and Commander McDougal might havp beén rescued had he been willing ‘to .unbuckle from his waist the belt containing the govern- ment’s gold that was to pay the wages of the lighthouse keepers. But he refused 0 lose the gold. When within sixty feet of the,shore he was dragged beneath the surface, never to rise. This -occurred March 28, 1881, and soon thereafter his widowy was appointed to take charge of the light station at Mare Island, Cal., a post which she still hold: Mrs. McDougal has charge of a light sta- tion and fog bell which is run every ten seconds, by machinery, during foggy weather, and her salary is $S00 a year. She is one of the best paid of all the wom- an keepers of lighthouses, and her salary is as large as any and much larger than that of most. These woman guardians of the lights are not paid princely wages. The pay of some is as little as $06 a year, and none draws more than $800 per annum, to which, in most caces, is added the govern- ment per diem of 30 cents for subsistence or rations. This 30 cents is paid to the keepers either in cash or in rations, the cost of which is deducted from the 30 cents a day. The pay of the actual keep- A “Great” Editor. John E. Wilkle, for yegrs chiet of the secret service, and now chief of the division of special agents of the Treasury De- partment, says that once there was an obscure subeditonof the M an e hester Guardien, in Eng- land. It was a long§ time ago, and the Guardian was scarcely kmewn | outside of its own city. | The subeditor had a habit of drinking ale until he was so drowsy that he could not lift his head from his desk. On one occasion the composing room was yelling for “copy,” as the editorial page was ab- solutely vacant. The subeditor had been asleep on his desk for hours, and his pen had been idle, The foreman of the composing room finally succeeded in_arousing the man, anad yelled in his ear that something must be done for copy. Whereupon the sleepy one grabbed a pair of shears and clipped one whole column from the editorial page of the Lopdon Times. At the top he wrote in crabbed hand: “What does the London Times mean by the following?” It was printed, column and all. That single quizzical introduction made the Manchester Guardian famous. People be- | zan to ask what the Times did mean by the editorial, which was on a rather rev- olutionary subject. The subeditor slept for several more hours, but John E. Wil- kie says, Its greatness began from that moment. Not Verbatim. Gen. Frank Me- Intyre, chief of the bureau of insular affairs, has recent- Iy returned from Santo Domingo, schare e was gent to bring peace “out of chaos, belng chosen . for the, work because of his reputation as a pacifier. An inci- dent that occurred in the bureau of which he is now chief when it was presided over by Gen. Clarence R. Edwards, with Gen. McIn- tyre, then major, as assistant, would in- dicate that the title of pucifier was de- served. - + Gen, ‘Edwards was o in th it of an interview when the telephone rang and was dnswered by Maj). Mchit¥re. 'That official placed hif hand over: the. mouthpiece and reportéd tiat so- was again asking about sith-a- 3 “Tell the blankety-biaik idiot to go. to Gen. Edwards. blankety-blank!” roared *'I have no time to spend on such drivel. ing foolishness!{ Maj. McIntyre turned to the phone, .and said In the most unruffled tones: “‘Gen. Edwards says that he greatly - grets that circymstances prevent his tak- ing-up the matter just as present.’t Poor Singing, Perhaps. of Texas delivered hfs farewell speech ‘in the Senate chamber a young woman who tries her best to keep up with things was talking to. a man in the SSnate press gallery. = = *Now 'do tell she asked, “what is- the joke? 1 was downstairs a minute ago and Senator Lea of Ten- nessee toid me that I must be on hand to hear Senator Bailey sing -his swan sons; and I said that 1 would surely be there because I perfectly loved music. Now won't you tell me why he laughed so bard? I don’t see the jokel Handing It Back, " "Representative John Lamp of Vir- ginla_was a full- fledged captain in| the army] of the -Contederacy, served under the well loved Gen. Robert E. Lee. He Is, of course, en- girely reconetruct- ed, but he always wears a tiny Con- tedegate badsge, and has all a southerner’s innate lpve; for “‘the lost cause. He was sitting idly on one of the bBenches in the Capitol Park the other day when ,a pompous-looking little man bustled past, noted the little badge of the lost cause on Lamb's goat lapel, and stopped. “Johnny Rebel, eh?” ne¥remarked. “Yes,” said Lamb. “I helped lick -you.” said .the other, boastfliily. “See this?” And he pointed to_the lapel of his'own oat, where there #eied a tiny bpomze cross of the Army of the Potomac. “Ah yes,” sdid Lamb, gently. “Very interesting. Extremely interesting. I'know and 8l BbBut the Army of the Potomaé—and t the cross: Times have changed— yes, fhey've changed. Why, my old mother used to take down her big Bible and read to me about them hanging the thief on the cross—and now I see they b the cross on the thief!” On the Job! Harvey W. formerly the government’s pure food expert, has other things to recommend him to fame besides his exploits in the land of benzoates and acids. He 1s one of the few lliv- ing men who tac- kled a congression- Dr. Wiley, al committee for money and came away with every <ent he asked for. It happened when he was head of the bureau of chemistry, In the Agricultural Department. He wanted $100,000 more than his bureau had been getting, and so, armed with a bag full of evidence of his needs, he marched resolutely to the Capi- tol, where the agricultural committee was in session. He was granted an audience and forth- with launched into a begging speech that is still spoken of as a masterpiece. He about the work outside your bureau?”’ he chemistry, but before he finished he had broadened out and was discussing the needs of the entire department. Representative John Lamb of Virginia interrupted him. “Pardon me, but what do you kzow about the work outside your bureau,” he asked. “You're a chemist, aren't you: You're mot a farmer—at least, I never heard of you as such.” “l am not. exactly a farmer,” replied Wiley, *but I am a scientific agricul- turist. “And what, if T may ask. is that?" in- quired Lamb. “A farmer can raise crops. What can a ‘scientific agricultur- ist’ ralse?" Dr. Wiley grinned “Well,” said he, “'a scientific agricultur- ist can make two dollars grow on an ap- propriation bush where only one grew be- Fofhe retort broke up the hearing—and Wiley got his money! “Et Tu, Brute?” Two days after the last election, when the republican party had swallowed the fact that Utah and Vermont were the only states which President Taft carried, Uncle Joe Cannon called at the White House to see the President. In the ante- room sat Senator Reed Smoot, with a batch of papers. As Uncle Joe went into tl President’s office he remarked: T just saw that eat Mormon sena- tor from Utal out there with -half your electoral vote in his pocket™ ‘What Could He Do! R epr e sentative Philip Campbell of Kansas, he who had such a merry verbal set-to with Col. Roosevelt eur- Ing the recent cam- paign, 1s a younsg glant in stature, standing well over six feet two inches, and boas‘ing the shoulders of a var- sity fullback. His head is large, and of the type called leonine. His face is strong, but the girls would never call it handsome. And this pleases Camp- bell. He is proud of the fact fact that he is “not pretty”’—as he puts it. But for all that, his vanity was recently handed a considerable jolt—and at the hands of a bootblack. It so happened that Campbell was standing in front of the House office bullding one day, waiting for a car, when a bootblack, aged about ten, approached him and asked to be allowed to get busy with a shine. Now Campbell has a dry sense of humor which frequently leads him into all sorts of funny situations. On this particular occasion it pleased him to pretend he was deaf and dumb. He made motions to the boy accordingly. The boy was not feazed. Promptly he came back with some motions of his own which, while entirely original, showed plainly that he desired to shine Camp- bell's shoes, and that he would charge 5 cents for the job. . Solemnly the two mo- tioned back and forth, until finally Camp- bell nodded his head, and the boy got busy. } Another bootblack, tiny and black n\ charcoal, had eyed the whole procedu; from a point a few feet distant. Now he approached, looked on silently for a mo- ment, and then spoke. “He’s deef an' dumb, ain't he?" he asked. “Yep,” said the other. The first speaker looked Campbell over thoroughly, the inspection going from head to feet. Then he spoke again. “Well,” sald he. “he certainly is a great, big, ugly lookin' devil, ain‘t he?” Starting Early. Representative Fitzgerald of New York, chalrman of ‘the great appropriations committee of the House, and one of the most powerful men ifi the national gov- ernment, can control many things. But he cannot control his young son's imordi- nate passion for having himself oto- graphed. Itinerant photographers in ‘Washington know this and make a tidy sum_on Jester Fitsgerald, who looks 80 bright in a photograph that his father cannot resist digging into his pocket for a half a dollar for the photograph.. One of the latest portraits gained in this way now sitting on Representative Fits- gerald’s desk in the same silver frame which originally held a fine picture of Mayor Gaynor of New York. j { ¥ WEST LIGHT JTATION. ORIHA ers of lighthouses ranges from $510 ta per annum; assistant keepers are paid from $480 to $600 per annum: labor- ers in charge draw from $96 to $214, and laborers are pald from $1S0 to $250 per year. The average salary Is $540 per year, there being nineteen Wwho receive 8552 'and upward, The ones who draw the smallest salari for the care of HEghts are persons livin near the lights who have other means of support. Many of these tend the post lights that mark, the channels in the Ohia and Mississippi rivers, which are tended nightly by ‘laboreérs” in skiffs and row- boats. Matly of these are women, who have charge of the hundreds of little lights that dot the waters of the Mis- sissippt river and its tributaries. and the various rivers of “he Atlantic and Paclfie coasts. Their pay averages about $S & month. One of the woman keepers has served since 1867; another has cared for hef lght nightly since 1S Two have ocs cupied the posts they hold since 1851: oné since 1883; three since 1800; one sined 1896; one since 1902: three since 19083 three since 1804; two since 1905; one sincd 1806; ome since 1909. Thesc woman keepers are stationed i thirteen states, California having t largest number of any.one state—five. The other states,with the number of wome an lighthouse keepers stationed withis thelr corders, are: Louisiana, four; New York, Maryland and Flor‘da, three each§ Connecticut and _Michigan. two eachy Maine, Vermont, New Jersey, Mississippl, Wisconsin and Oregon. one each. In the entire list there are but three unmarried woman keepers of lights. These are Miss Anna T. Garraty, who tends the Presque Isiand harbor ran Mght, and draws $46 per month. Mis: Josephine Freeman is keeper of thé Blakistone Isiand light station. in Marys land, at an annual salary of $560. Misd Laura J. P. Hecox has kept the light stas tion at Santa Cruz, Cal., for twentyreight years, her salary being $750 per year. The other woman keepers of lights along, the shore are stationed from the Gulf of Mexico to Puget sound, and from the roék-bound shores of Maine to Call- fornia’s sémi-tropic waters. Mrs. Maria Younghaus, keeper of the light station at Biloxi, Miss. was ap- pointed to-succeed her husband Novem- ber 24. 1867. She earns $600 per anpum. Mrs.” Eliza MacCashin, in March. 1881, was appointed assistant keeper to her husband.. who was the keeer of the Passaic and Elbow beacon lights in New Jersey. She was given $200 ver annum in place of a male assistant keeper who received $400. She was promoted to keep- er November 1, 1908. She now gets $600 & year. Succeeded Her Mother. Mrs. Georgla S. Brumfleld, the keepe# of the Turkey point light station, Md., was appointed eed her mothes prior to the date keepers were taken into the civil service. She earns $560 pee annurmr. x Mrs. Mary E. Bethel succeeded her hus« band as keeper of the Key West light station and Key West main ship chan< nel lights in Florida, and has served more than twenty years. Her son is as< sistant keeper. She receives $720 D ane num. Mrs. Daniel Willlams is the keeper of the light station at Little Traverse, Mich., and dates her appointment from 1872. Her annual pay is 500. Mrs. Flora McNeil receives $46 a month as keeper of Bridgeport breakwater light, Conn., to which she was appointed February 19, 1965, succeeding her husband. Mrs. Emma D. Tabberah receives $42.50 per month as keeper of the Cumberland Head light station. N. Y. Her appointment to sucoeed her husband in 1904 was made by executive order. Mrs. Kate Walker succeeded her huse band as keeper of the Robbins Reef light station, N. Y., and her son is assistant keeper. ‘She is paid $52 a month. Mrs. Minnie B. Coteron was appointed under civil service rules May 81, 1906, in place of - her mother, as keeper of Bayou ‘St. Johns light station, La., at an annual salary ‘of $600. Mrs. Caroline Riddis keeps the New Canal light station, in Louisiama! * She the eivil, service classification of lght- “was appointed prior to -