_Showing how one should act in an emergency demanding thought and
nerve._
There are many lighthouses along our coasts, and the keepers
live in them. They have great responsibilities. They suffer many
hardships, and sometimes even lose their lives in discharge of
their duties.
In one of the large lighthouses along the coast of Maine there
lived an old gray-haired man with his little granddaughter, Jane.
The keeper was very old and at times very feeble. Jane was the
orphan child of his own daughter, and he loved her very much. They
often thought and talked of the brave sailors out on the open sea,
whom they protected by sending out the bright rays from the great
light which shone high up in the tower. The sailors looked for this
light and depended on it to help them reach shore.
Jane’s grandfather was a faithful old keeper of the light, and
had never failed to have the welcome beams shine out far into the
darkness of the ocean. Night after night he would climb to the top
of the tower with his lantern and light the great light. Sometimes
Jane carried the lantern to help her grandfather.
Many happy years were passed in the old lighthouse, and the old man
was growing more and more feeble. He climbed the steps more slowly
each day; his hand trembled sometimes as he reached for the light,
but still he was faithful to his duty.
There came a night when he could go no more; he was broken down and
ill. He could only lie still and think of the dark tower and the
unlighted lantern. Outside a storm was raging. He thought of the
sailors on the wild waters fighting against the furious storm, but
he could not give them the light that they needed so much.
Little Jane saw her grandfather’s distress. She, too, had learned
to love the men of the sea, and knew that the brave sailors would
be lost if the light was not there. She went to the foot of the
stairs and looked up the dark passageway. She could hear the wind
howling and the rain beating against the tower. Terror was in her
little heart. Could she go up alone? Could she light the great
lantern without her grandfather’s help? Then she caught a vision of
the helpless ones outside.
Up and up she climbed. It was cold and dark, yet she went on.
Finally the top was reached, but how was she to lift the great
wick? She pushed hard, and something seemed to give her strength.
Slowly the wick swung back. Quickly she touched the match, then the
great light shone forth over the sea giving help to the souls who
would have otherwise perished in the waves.
When she came down and told her grandfather she had lighted the
lamp, he patted her on the head and said: “You are a brave girl,
and have perhaps saved many lives this night.”