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 ALONE iN THE UGHTHOUSL 
 
 LONDON : DEAN & SON, 
 11, Ludgate Hill. 
 
 37 
 
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ALONE IN THE LIGHTHOUSE. 
 
 A LONG, narrow point of land, washed by 
 the waves of the Atlantic, stretched for 
 some distance into the sea ; ^nd but for 
 liglit which burned brightly from the 
 lighthouse on the point, many a vessel 
 would have gone to pieces on its treacher- 
 ous shoals. This httle strip of land was 
 called "The Neck," and except the stone 
 cottage attached, and fishermen's huts, 
 there was no habitation for many miles. 
 
ALONE IN THE LIGHTHOUSE. 3 
 
 Two old people had for years been the 
 tenants of the little cottage ; and every 
 night they each took their turn in mount- 
 ing the steep iron ladder of the tower, to 
 trim the lamp, and keep its light from 
 going out. Besides this old couple, there 
 dwelt in the cottage a child of some eight 
 or nine years. Six years before,, a ship 
 had gone to pieces on the coast, and of aU 
 those who floated ashore, only this child 
 was living ; she was clasped in the arms 
 of a dead woman, of whom only a lock of 
 her long fair hair was preserved, in case 
 she should ever be inquired for. She was 
 taken to the hghthouse, and the inmates 
 adopted her as their own. The old man 
 called her '* Waif," because there was no 
 one to claim her. 
 
 There were many ways in which she 
 helped the old people ; she loved to wander 
 along the sea-shore, gathering bright 
 pebbles and beautiful shells. In the after- 
 noon, she would sit with the fishermen's 
 wives, helping them to mend their hus- 
 bands' nets, and listen to their wild stories 
 of shipwrecks and superstitious fictions 
 with attentive ears. 
 
4 ALONE IN THE LIGHTHOUSE, 
 
 The light that shone from the tall tower 
 was a wonderful thing to her, and when 
 she came to understand the danger that it 
 warded off, she looked at its rays with 
 
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 awe. It was a sacred trust to her, when 
 she was first permitted to clean and trim 
 the lamp ; she was even more careful 
 than the old people. The keepers would 
 never allow her to sit up at night ; but it 
 BO happened that the responsibility of 
 
ALONE IN THE LIGHTHOUSE. 5 
 
 guarding the light fell upon her herself. 
 The light-keeper and his wife were one 
 day obliged to go to a neighbouring town ; 
 and fearing lest they should detain them 
 till next day, the old man sent for his 
 brother, who promised he would be at the 
 Neck by five o'clock; and trusting to 
 this, they left the cottage early, leaving 
 Waif in company with two fishermen's 
 wives. As the evening approached, gusts 
 of wind and rain began to beat against 
 the house ; and her companions, uneasy 
 about their husbands, left her, to go to 
 their homes, saying uncle Rollin would 
 surely be with her. She spread the table, 
 and put fresh wood on the fire; but six 
 came, without Uncle Rollin. When the 
 clock pointed to seven. Waif's heart 
 trembled with anxiety. She had lighted 
 the lamp, but every moment the storm 
 w^as growing fiercer ; and, after another 
 hour, barred the doors, and went up in 
 the lonely lighthouse, to watch the lamp. 
 She was naturally courageous ; but 
 when she found herself alone in the soh- 
 tary place, with the wind whistling around 
 
6 ALONE IN THE LIGHTHOUSE. 
 
 her, and the waters surging madly below 
 her, the terrible responsibility almost over- 
 came her. The little hands shook, as 
 they poured fresh oil in the lamps. She 
 looked out, but the sight appalled ber ; 
 the bright light threw a glare on the 
 water, but she could only see the white 
 foam- caps leaping up below her, and hear 
 the sea dashing against the stone-walls of 
 the tower. At this awful moment, the 
 words of a hymn came into her mind : 
 
 " In thy need call to the Lord, 
 And gracious aid will He aflord." 
 
 Yielding to the impulse, she asked God 
 not to forsake her. All of a sudden, there 
 came a tremendous sea, which swept the 
 lighthouse, shattering the thick panes of 
 glass, and pouring in a stream of water. 
 She trenribled, for she felt that now or 
 never she must be faithful to her lamp. 
 And now the leaping spray came rushing 
 in, and she trembled anew as she heard 
 the boom of a gun, a signal from some 
 vessel in distress. She peeped through 
 the window, yet could see nothing but the 
 
ALONE IN THE LIGHTHOUSE. 7 
 
 black night. For weary hours she watched 
 the lamp, never suffering its light to dim, 
 while her form shivered with the cold, 
 and her garments drenched with spray. 
 
 At length the gray morning dawned ; 
 when, lifting up her tired head, she caught 
 a glimpse of a large ship riding at anchor 
 not far from the shore, and with one 
 cry, she sank exhausted to the floor. 
 
 A little later, a boat was cutting through 
 the waves. The captain of the ship came 
 to tell the people of the light-house that 
 his passengers were indebted to their 
 faithful care of the light for their deliver- 
 ance from shipwreck. At first he could 
 gain no admission, but the captain effected 
 an entrance through the window, and still 
 seeing no one, he crept up in the tower, 
 where he found the little girl lying on the 
 wet floor among the broken glass. She 
 was fast asleep, but he Ufted her up, and 
 called his companions to look at their pre- 
 server. Every heart was touched, and a 
 strange and sudden yearning took posses- 
 sion of one of their number, when he 
 heard the fair-haired child murmur the 
 
8 ALONE IN THE LIGHTHOUSE. 
 
 words, '' In thy need, call upon the Lord.'* 
 His companions wondered at his emotion, 
 which he explained by telling them that 
 his lost wife used to sing that verse, long 
 ago, when she rocked her infant to sleep. 
 The old people soon returned, and they 
 too wept, when they heard the story of the 
 night in the watch-tower. The stranger 
 asked if she was their grandchild, and the 
 light-keeper told him her story, and 
 showed him the little muslin dress. 
 When he saw this, he cried, *' She is mine, 
 my own darling child, Winifred, whom I 
 thought was lost!" 
 
 When Winifred awoke, and was told 
 that her courage had saved her own fa- 
 ther, she clung to her newly-found parent 
 with eager caressing fondness, while tears 
 of joy and grief rolled down the cheeks 
 of the aged pair, who had loved her so 
 dearly. Her father would not separate her 
 from the old people ; together they crossed 
 the broad ocean, to live in a beautiful 
 home, where Winifred still remained the 
 light of the old people, and the crownmg 
 joy of her father's heart. 
 
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