LOAFER IN THE STREET.

Globe, Volume XX, Issue 1371, 8 July 1878, Page 3

LOAFER IN THE STREET.

[FEOM THE PBE3S.] To the descriptive writer nothing ought to come amiss. If it fall to his lot to describe a cathedral, he ought to write of gargoyles and buttresses as if he had been buttressing all his life. If he have to worry out a boot factory he ought to possess a soul fecund with tops and bottoms. From the evolutions at a review to tho displacement of a ship nothing ought to seem foreign to him. Knowing such to be the casj, I feel out of place sometimes when you put me on to a job such as I had last week. You told me, if you recollect, to go and r port on the Lighthouse. Well, I've been. You're welcome to my experiences such as they are. I went to this establishment many years, ago, but only as a casual visitor. This timo I went right through the job to the bitter end. The worst of writing for your admirable journal is, that you have such a misplaced aversion to those well written preliminaries which are so effective when tho writer is not up in his subject. Were it otherwise, I could follow the example of many inkslingers I have met, and make a few interesting paragraphs by bringing in the Pharos at Alexandria, the Eddy stone Lighthouse, the Inch Cape Bell, " Where Ralph tho Rover tore his hair, and cussed himself in his despair," and after a happy allusion to Grace Darling and another to the lighthouse keeper, who had to keep the body of his dead mat o three weeks lest they should think he murdered him, one could get on, perhaps, moderately with the subject in hand. As it is, I have to wade in right away. Perhaps you want to know about the road. Well, there is no road. Ther-3 is a sort of fifth-rate invalid bridle track leading from the top of the Zig Zag to Godley Heads, and that was engineered by the present lighthousekeeper. A bridle track means mud, stones, ascents and misery to man or beast. A bridle track is the same all the world over. It struck us—l was accompanied by three other pedestrians, all intrepid, but all short of work-—that it would not cost much money to make a road to the lighthouse. At present all the stores have to be sent down by the steam launch to the foot of the cliff at the Heads. The landing is very bad, and when the goods are ashore they have to be packed up a zig zag path to the top of the cliff. This is an amusing arrangement for all concerned, especially for the animal that packs coal up a path like the sido of a house, The role of Issachar, is, under such circumstances, unthankful, and as Issachar's master requires mon»ys for his use, the authorities would bo eventually in pocket by making a road, the construction of which would not cost much. I don't think there is anything remarkable about the track out. On the right, as a panoramic lecturer would say, is the harbor with some ships, the Quarantine Station, the Pilot Station, opposite which last the outward bound voyager usually begins to feel sadly sick and sickly sad. On the left is Whitewash Head and Taylor's Mistake, where, as tho alliterative Mr Swinburne observes—

" Slow slops tlio surf upon the soppy strand." There aro some sheep and a good fow tussocks. You walk up one rise and down another, and if you have a flask about you it will probably approach your lips. It is supposed to be seven miles from Port to G-odlcy Ileads. Like most reports of a similar kind I should consider thi:» apocryphal. Tt walks more like 17, The lighthouse nestles within a fow feet of the faoe of (he cliff. I don't know how a house nestles, but it's the U6ual remark on such occasions. The two keeper:)' cottages, and the lighthouse itself are surrounded by a alone wall, which we surmount by a ladder, which reminds one of the one in Mr E. Crusoe's ralisado. Here I was introduced to Captain Gregory, the head keeper of the Light. I had always thought that lighthouse keep.') were, as Mr Wcller, senior, describes the guardians of pikes, disappointed misanthropes, but the gay captain quite dispelled this illusion, for a more genial skipper I never met in a pretty long experience of those who_ go and have gone down into the sea in ships. After a rest wo had a look round the place, including the live stock, amongst tho latter were cows and three or four hordes, and though it was scarcely a place where one would have expected to meet with blood stocks, there was a Diomedea mare, with progeny by Traducer, Blue Boy and Albany. There were two dogs, one a very handsomo greyhound that will astonish some of your coursing sports ono of

days, and when I ndd that the poultry was of the game species I flunk I've got the live stock played out, and said enough to show that the captain ia sporting in his tendencies. There is a nice little flower garden round the lighthouse, a garden constructed with no small amount of troublj, as Captain Gregory and Mr Parkes,his assistant, had to briii;» all the soil for some considerable distance. Hero the gay geranium and oilier flowers were blooming in neat parterres. I'm not strong on botany. I judge eo from the fact that after reporting a horticultural show oneo for you I had to apologise to thirteen different people, and you bave never piid me for my labors even unto this day. It struck me, however, when looking at the garden that if Mr Wordsworth be correct in his remark,

that every flower Enjoys the air it breathes, some blooms must be awful fond of air. The stones forming tho paths were all bought up by the Issacharal steed of the establishment from the beach below, and the shells with which the flower beds are bordered from Taylor's Mistake over two miles away. The lighthouse itself is a very massive tenement, as indeed it needs to be, for rude Boreas and his own brothers are very blustering railers at Godley Hoads. On entering you ascend a spiral stair, and on the first landing, which is immediately under the light, there is, omitting the bed, just about the same amount of upholstery as the Shunemmite provided for the Prophet of old. Here the keeper of the light keeps his lonely vigil, and a dreary time ho must have of it. Tho lamp is supposed to burn from sunset to sunrise, but in putting " her" out (Why are lamps, witches, and engines, always spoken of in the feminino gender, I wonder ?) the keepers are guided a good deal by the state of tho atmosphere. On the occasion of my visit 'Bhe"waslit a little after five. The workng of the lamp was explained to me several timc3 over, but I've got mixed over it somehow. I know it works like a pump —that there is an indicator with a danger mark on it. I believe it is not considered safe to set the indicator below this, as paraffin possesses explosive qualities of no mean order. In two respects paraffin is ahead of most fluids. I mean stinking and busting. A little before sundown, the keeper who has the first watch goes up to see all right. At dusk the lamp is lit, and then the keeper has a pleasant six hours before him. The flame of tho lamp is much smaller than I should have thought, bnt is very intense. The eagle is the only creature that can stare at the sun unmoved as to his blinkers, but I think this lamp would lick him. The lenses are beautifully made. They are placed so as to concentrate all the light into ono focus, and sling it to the mariner on the heaving billow. In the lighthouse at Pharos, which wa3 one of the seven wonders of the world, they used mirrors. The Egyptians of the period, according to Strabo, had not realised the uses of glass further than in connection with beer. The little gallery round tho lamp is not over warm, and even if it were you could not stop there long, owing to the intense glare. The keeper goes up frequently to see that all is right, but the major portion of the time is spent on the first landing, and a six-hours spell there in tho cold is really festive. Your obedient servant remained there with Mr Parkes a considerable time. Ho said he thought the "Loafer" would enjoy a visit to the light-house, and would be amused. I smoke in an evanescent shivering style, and never felt less humourous in tho whole course of my life. I must admit the night hours I spent in the light-house were a little disappointing in ono way. If there had been a raging storm —if the elements had been waltzing around a bit—there might have been somo thrills to give you, but the night was quite calm. Not a leaf or anything else stirred. I slept a spell, and went in again in Captain Gregory's watch. He explained the working of the light again to me, and I think I knew rather about it than I did before, but we had a pleasant pitch about wrecks and racing mainly, and many times I felt sorry that 1 was not what I heard one of the worst parliamentarv speakers call " one of them shorthand fellers." I learn that Captain Gregory illumed the first light in New Zealand on Taiaroa Heads, and that tho Godly Heads appointment is in most respects one of the best he has held. It would appear that apart from the isolation generally experienced by keepers there is oiten a great deal of hardship to bear. I had a look through the visitors' book, which, like most volumes of the same kind, contains little more original than the statement that callers were delighted with the appearance of tire lighthouse, and appreciative of the courtesy of the keepers. I endorse these statements, and look over the journals, which are very minute. The keepers have to log the weithor, the amount of oil consumed, and a variety of other facts. I learn, also, that the Godley HeadsJLight is visible on a clear night quite forty miles away and that paraffin will soak through metal or anything else, even through a glass bottle. I have my doubts about this last. I know some men who, from personal experience, will readily believo it however. About six wc started in to clean up. When I say we—l superintended, a game which, like Tom Quartz's Cat, I'm lightning on. All the lenses were carefully wiped, every bit of metal burnished, every inch of the interior of the lighthouse cleansed according to its kind. The premises are probably the cleanest I have ever visit; d. It struck me the more because I'm an excellent judge of dirt. At 7.30 or thereabouts the sun rose above the horizon, and the view was very picturesque. Some men are not big on views I'm one of them. I can't understand a fellow climbing a mountain 4000 ft. high for the pleasure of looking around, not when ho can see it in a picture. This is one of the chief attractions of panting. Similarly with photography, it frequently occurs that it is moro pleasurable to gaze upon the lineaments of a friend than to discourse him in the flesh. You may have observed this. There is, however, now that it's over, few more beautiful sights in these parts then sum-ise from Godley Heads. Old Sol does lay the color on neatly when he has a mind. Here he sends a reddish gold line rippling in to the rocks 500 ft. below us ; he purples the snowy helmets of the distant hills, and makes tho surroundings generally jocund and beautiful. Thanks to Old Sol I was enabled to see the mountains in the Wellington province, in the vicinity of which I reflected live tho enterprising Ministers who are carrying on tho business of this enlightened and prosperous country with upwards of £270,000 of our good money. This thought was saddening, and I went in and ate seven chops in a melancholy style. Soon after this I farewelled my hospitable entertainers, and came away. If you want to know what Btruck me most about the establishment, it was its cleanliness, a cleanliness which was almost appalling to the likes of me. I wish I could have done more justice to my subject, but next time you send me describing I shall know the hang of things better.