What Light-houses are for. 



167 



CHAPTER XV. 



LIGHT-HOUSES. 



1 . Light-houses are very 

 necessary in saving ships. 

 When the wind is blowing 

 a ship towards the shore 

 on a dark night, if there 

 were no light-houses the 

 ship would inevitably be 

 destroyed. 



2. The United States 

 has many miles of sea-coast 

 along the Atlantic and 

 Pacific Oceans, as well 

 as on the Gulf of Mex- 

 ico, and also in the great 

 lakes of the north ; these 



lakes are like seas of fresh water. 



3. To protect the shipping on all this long 

 line of coast this country supported in 1873 six 

 hundred and twenty light-houses. 



4. Light-houses are built of stone, brick, or 

 iron. To look at some of the rocks before a light- 

 house is built on them, you \vould say that it 

 was impossible to build anything on such a 

 slippery, wave- washed place as that, for some- 

 times the rock can be seen for a short time 

 only at low tide. 



A Light-house. 



