As a rule, the public take but little interest in the economy of our lighthouses; and yet there is something singularly romantic in the idea of the lone tower encircled by boiling waters, with its warning light flashing through the deep night shadows, and the heroic men who hour after hour watch with anxious care lest its radiance should be obscured or extinguished. “And as the evening darkens, lo! how bright, Through the deep purple of the twilight air, Beams forth the sudden radiance of its light With strange, unearthly splendour in its glare! “Not one alone: from each projecting cape And perilous reef along the ocean’s verge, Starts into life a dim, gigantic shape, Holding its lantern o’er the restless surge. “Like the great giant Christopher it stands Upon the brink of the tempestuous wave; Wading far out among the rocks and sands, The night-o’ertaken mariner to save. “And the great ships sail outward and return, Bending and bowing o’er the billowy swells; And ever joyful, as they see it burn, They wave their silent welcomes and farewells. “They come forth from the darkness, and their sails Gleam for a moment only in the blaze; And eager faces, as the light unveils, Gaze at the tower, and vanish while they gaze. “The mariner remembers when a child, On his first voyage, he saw it fade and sink; And when, returning from adventures wild, He saw it rise again o’er ocean’s brink. “Steadfast, serene, immovable, the same Year after year, through all the silent night, Burns on for evermore that quenchless flame, Shines on that inextinguishable light! “‘Sail on!’ it says, ‘sail on, ye stately ships! And with your floating bridge the ocean span; Be mine to guard this light from all eclipse, Be yours to bring man nearer unto man!’”[62] [62] Longfellow. As a proof of the romance that formerly invested lighthouse life, we may lay before the reader one or two “true stories.”