454 



LIGHTHOUSE ESTABLISHMENT, THE UNITED STATES. 



comes actually vacant, the claims of Jarcd Hand may 

 be considered with those of other competitors. 



THOMAS JEFFERSON. 



As their number increased, the nominations 

 of keepers were made by collectors of customs 

 who were the local superintendents of lights ; 

 but the appointments were made by the Secre- 

 tary of the Treasury. That usage crystallized 

 into law, and still obtains; but the nomination 

 of the collector is forwarded to the Lighthouse 

 Board, where it receives an endorsement which 

 procures for it favorable or adverse action. The 

 appointment, however, is but temporary, and 

 continues only until the candidate has been ex- 

 amined, after which, if he passes, a full ap- 

 pointment is given him ; otherwise he is dropped 

 from the service. 



The appointment of light-keepers is restricted 

 to persons between the ages of eighteen and 

 fifty, who can read, write, and keep accounts, 

 are able to do the requisite manual labor, to pull 

 and sail a boat, and have enough mechanical 

 ability to make the necessary minor repairs about 

 the premises and keep them painted, white- 

 washed, and in order. 



Although but one grade of keeper is recog- 

 nized by law, usage has divided keepers into 

 several, with different pay as well as different 

 duties, and with promotion running through 

 the various grades. At one lighthouse there 

 may be but one keeper; at another, a prin- 

 cipal keeper and an assistant ; and there is a 

 station where there is a principal keeper with 

 four assistants, the fourth having the lowest 

 grade and the lowest pay, and the others hav- 

 ing been appointed at that grade, and promoted 

 as merit was shown and vacancies occurred ; or 

 they may have been transferred and promoted 

 from another station. Although persons are 

 appointed to the service and assigned to a given 

 station, they are frequently transferred from 

 one station to another, as the interests of the 

 service may demand, and, while it is usual to 

 consult a keeper's wishes in his assignment, 

 there is nothing in the regulations to prevent 

 the transfer of a man appointed in Maine to a 

 station in Georgia; and occasionally keepers 

 are with their own consent transferred from 

 one district to another at a great distance. 

 Young men who have seen some sea-service are 

 preferred as assistants at the larger stations; 

 and at stations requiring but one keeper, re- 

 tired sea-captains or mates who have families 

 are frequently selected. At those stations 

 where there are fog-signals, it is customary, 

 however, to have one assistant who is able to 

 operate its machinery and keep it in repair ; 

 and he is usually one who is something of a 

 machinist. Such persons are graded and paid 

 at a higher rate on their original entry into the 

 service than others. 



While there are numerous light-stations lo- 

 cated on submarine sites, the greater number 

 of lights have connected with them a little 

 land which the keepers are encouraged to cul- 

 tivate. Hence small farms or gardens are often 



connected with stations which are cultivated 

 by the keepers 1 families. 



Keepers are forbidden to engage in any bus- 

 iness which can interfere with their presence 

 at their stations, or with the proper and timely 

 performance of their lighthouse duties; but it 

 is no unusual thing to find a keeper working at 

 his station as a shoemaker, tailor, or in some 

 similar capacity, and there are light-keepers 

 who fill neighboring pulpits, who hold com- 

 missions as justices of the peace, and there are 

 still others who do duty as school-teachers, 

 without neglecting their lighthouses. As the 

 dwellings ot the light-keepers are often tasteful- 

 ly planned, well built, and located on picturesque 

 sites, people in search of summer quarters have 

 so besought keepers for accommodation that 

 the board has been compelled to prohibit them 

 from taking boarders under any circumstances. 

 The board has done much to make keepers 

 comfortable. They are furnished with quarters 

 for themselves, and in certain cases for their 

 families, and, when so far distant from market 

 as to make its carriage equal or exceed its cost, 

 with fuel and rations ; suitable boats are fur- 

 nished stations inaccessible by land; and at 

 those stations on shore, distant from markets, 

 barns are built for their cattle and horses. 

 Something also has been done for the intellec- 

 tual needs of the keepers and their families by 

 supplying them with libraries. These are ar- 

 ranged in cases so constructed that they make 

 rather a neat appearance when set upright on 

 a table, and they only need be closed and locked 

 to be ready for transportation. They contain 

 on an average about fifty volumes each, of a 

 proper admixture of history, science, poetry, 

 and romance, together with a Bible and a 

 prayer-book. One of these libraries is left at 

 a station for some three months, when it is ex- 

 changed, and the first is passed on to another 

 station. This is usually done when the inspect- 

 or makes his quarterly inspection ; so each of 

 the stations to which libraries are furnished sees 

 some two hundred different books each year. 

 There are now nearly three hundred of these 

 libraries in circulation through this establish- 

 ment, and more are being prepared. In their 

 distribution preference is given to those stations 

 most distant from towns or villages. 



The board does not, as yet, uniform its em- 

 ployees, or pension those who become maimed 

 or worn out in its service. Keepers are under the 

 law paid an average sum of $600 a year ; but the 

 rates range in individual cases from $100 to 

 $1,000 a year. In March, 1881, Congress ap- 

 propriated $585,000 for the payment of its 1,015 

 keepers. 



The discipline of the service is somewhat 

 rigid and severe, and has been from the be- 

 ginning. On December 31, 1806, Mr. Galla- 

 tin, then Secretary of the Treasury, placed the 

 following endorsement on a letter : 



The pnrt which relates to the conduct of the keeper of 

 Cape Henry lighthouse is submitted to the President 

 for his decision. 



