The children of the lighthouse

Front matter

CHARLES LINCOLN WHITE

Class ' ^ Book \N

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Contents

CHAPTER PAGE

I Life at the Lighthouse i

II Captain Anderson Talks About Cuba . 8

II Captain Anderson Talks About Cuba

S they all stood watching the launch coming rapidly toward them, their father called to the children : “ The Captain is a good man. His father was a missionary to the Indians and he knows many wonderful stories about the Red Men. I met him often, when I was a boy, and remember very well the day when he went away to study at Annapolis and learn to be a naval officer. He is one of the best Christian men in the Navy, and is very kind to all whom he meets. I have been told that his sailors and officers love him. But I have not seen him for many years. For a long time he has been in European waters. I wonder how he knew I was here at the light.”

Nearer and nearer the boat came, and at last Captain Anderson shouted through a megaphone which he held to his mouth : “ Hello, there ! How do you do, Mr. Light-

house Keeper? Watch out! If you don’t, the Indians will get you.”

Then he laughed and the children’s father waved a salute and shouted : “ I see you are the same old boy,

Captain.”

THE CAPTAIN TALKS ABOUT CUBA 9

“Yes,” came the answer, “and how are the children? How do you do, Ruth, Tom, Paul, and Mother? ”

“ How do you know our names ? ” cried Ruth.

Oh, that is a secret,” he answered, as he climbed up the iron ladder that reached from the water to the top of the wall. “ I know all about you.”

In a moment they had grasped his strong hand, and then, all talking at once, walked to the little room under the light. They had hardly seated themselves, when Captain Anderson leaped to his feet again, seized Tom and stood him on his head, then let him topple over on the floor. Before her brother knew what had happened, the big visitor swung Ruth around the room a dozen times and dropped her on the sofa, laughing. Then he held his hands out to Paul, who jumped in his eagerness to leave his mother’s lap.

“ Well,” said their new friend, holding Paul in his arms, “ these children must all call me Uncle Jack. I have long been hungry for a sight of boys and girls. I have three, but have not seen them for two years. I am just going home from Europe, where my ship has been visiting the ports of Italy, France, Spain, England, Holland, and Germany. Let me see! My twins must be nearly the same age as Tom and Ruth are. They were ten years old two weeks ago last Wednesday, and the baby will be four years old tomorrow. I wonder how many teeth he has.”

“ How strange ! ” cried the mother. “ Our twins were born the same year and had their birthday party last Monday.”

“ Why,” said the Captain, “ that is wonderful, and we must have our children become acquainted. Richard and Clarissa are the twins. All the family live in Brooklyn,

New York, and this card tells the street and number of the house. They are great letter writers, and will be glad to correspond with Ruth and Tom. ,,

After a long talk about the days when the visitor often met their father out in the Indian country, they all sat down at the dinner table, which Ruth and her mother had arranged. Before they began to eat, however, the lighthouse keeper asked Captain Anderson to pray for God’s blessing on the food.

After dinner, they all went out on the long wall and sat in chairs that the children brought from the house.

“ How long can you stay ? ” asked the lighthouse keeper. “ Excuse me, please, for asking, but I am anxious that you should tell the children about Cuba and the missions there, before you go back to the ship.”

“ Oh, I can stay till sunset and that will let me sail into the harbor on the full tide soon after midnight. Yes, indeed, I shall be glad to tell the children about Cuba — at least all I know about it. I haven’t been there for several years. I was one of the naval officers in the battle of Santiago, but that story is not what I must tell you today.

“ Cuba was discovered,” said Uncle Jack, “ by Columbus on the 26th of October, 1492, and he took possession of it at Nuevitas on the northern coast. Columbus thought he had reached Asia, the land of riches. The great man soon went away to discover other lands, and not long after returned to Spain to tell about Cuba and all the other places he had seen.

“ In 1508, the Spaniards found out that Cuba was only an island, for one of their ships sailed all around it, and came back to the place from which it started. That was a great surprise. Three years after Columbus went

THE CAPTAIN TALKS ABOUT CUBA ii away, a rich man, whose name was Velasquez, was sent by the son of Columbus to conquer and to make Cuba into a Spanish colony. He built a town and called it Baracoa, at the eastern end of the Island.

“ The natives of this wonderful country were Indians. Cuba was divided into nine parts. These parts were called provinces, and each had one Indian chief to rule it. We do not know what their laws were, but they did not have wars with one another, or with the Indians of other islands. They loved peace and were timid. They liked to dance to their rude music. The best thing I know about them is that they were glad to receive the story of the Saviour, told to them by their Spanish conquerors, just as the Cubans now believe the Gospel the missionaries take to them. Of course all the Indians didn’t believe what they said about God’s love, and all the Cubans now do not accept as their own the salvation that Christ brought to the world.

“ But the Spaniards were very cruel to the trustful Indians, and for four hundred years they did not stop abusing these poor people who lived on the Island. In 1518 the Spaniards built a large church at Baracoa, which was made a city that year. Havana, now the largest city on the Island, was founded in 1519, seven years after Baracoa was built. This was one hundred and one years before the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth Rock. In 1522, Santiago, another city, had grown to be so large that it became the capital instead of Baracoa. If you see where Nuevitas, Baracoa, Santiago, and Havana are, you will have four good points to mark on the map. You must learn to draw a map of Cuba and put each of these four cities down with a dot and a little circle around it, to show they were important places.

“ Some of the Indians would not believe in the Christian religion, because the Spaniards, who said they loved God, were so cruel to them. One of these Indians was called Chief Hatuey. He fought long and hard to save his people, but Velasquez, the first Governor sent there by the son of Columbus, gave orders to have this great Indian burned alive in order to punish him for fighting the Spaniards. The brave man was told that he could go to heaven, if he would become a Christian. He at once asked if there would be any Spaniards in heaven. When he was told there would be many Spaniards in heaven, then the old chief Hatuey said, ‘ I don’t want to go there.’

“ In those early days and during the centuries since, there have been many wars, when the Cubans tried to be free. Twice the Spaniards were attacked in Cuba by the French and once by the English, who captured Havana. The Cubans many times fought hard battles to drive out the Spaniards. When they could not fight them in battle, they set fire to their houses and corn fields. One war lasted ten years, but each revolution failed until the final war of liberation, when the Cuban people became free.

“ This war began in 1895. The people were suffering and thousands were starving because the Spanish soldiers were very cruel to them, and so on April 11, 1898, President' McKinley asked Congress to try to stop the awful troubles. The war was soon ended, and a treaty of peace was signed in Paris on December 10, 1899. Cuba was then free.

“ Our soldiers stayed on the Island for awhile and our government taught the Cuban people what freedom meant. They also taught them how to build good roads and bridges, and keep their cities clean, so that the people

THE CAPTAIN TALKS ABOUT CUBA 13 would not have yellow fever and other dangerous diseases. The officers of the United States built good schools for the Cubans and enlarged the postal and telegraph systems. Better laws were also made and put into force. On May 20, 1902, the new Cuban government took control ; and this day is called the * Cuban Independence Day/ ”

“ Is that the same as our Fourth of July ? ” asked Tom.

“ Yes, just the same,” said Uncle Jack, and continued :

" A few years later the Cuban government was afraid there would be another revolution, and their President, in 1906, asked the United States to help Cuba again. Some wise men from the United States went to Cuba and gave its President and his friends good advice. On January 28, 1909, the Cuban people chose a new President, and since then, have governed themselves without many difficulties.

“ There are many missionaries who preach the Gospel in Cuba. And there are schools and hospitals, too, on the Island. Four years ago I went to Havana, El Cristo, and Santiago, where there are wonderful schools.

“ Oh, children, I will tell you what to do. Send a letter to my friend who lives near Santiago, and ask him to have some of the children in the mission schools write you letters. You can tell him that I asked you to do this. Be sure and promise to write a letter about the lighthouse, and send a little picture of it to each Cuban girl or boy who writes you a letter.

“ My friend will tell the Cuban children what to write about. The Cuban boys and girls are very dear children. Many of them love and serve Christ, and they will write to you all about their homes and games and their schools.”

“ Oh, what a fine plan ! ” cried Ruth.

“ We will write the letter tomorrow,” said Tom.

“ Good,” said Uncle Jack. “ Do it,” and he added, “ Toward sunset, I will signal an officer to come and guard the lighthouse, and you all, yes, even the baby, must go with me to the ship and take dinner with me in my cabin. Then I will tell you a real Indian missionary story.”

All through the afternoon they talked and laughed, and at last they were ready to make the trip across the water. The Captain’s first officer had been signaled to come in another boat, and was now with them. Then they went away with Uncle Jack.

Soon the lighthouse seemed a long way off, and the war-ship grew very large as they came nearer. Suddenly Ruth said :

“ Uncle Jack, you haven’t told us yet how you knew we lived here, .and how you knew our names too.”

“ I will tell you now,” he answered. “ Uncle Rufus wrote me your names, and yesterday I sent a wireless message to Washington, and a reply came in about an hour, telling me just where you lived. It happened to be in the direction I must sail in order to reach the land, so I kept a look-out for my new friends.

“ But remember you and Tom are to send that letter to Cuba.”

Ill

AN AFTERNOON ON A WAR-SHIP

ERY soon Uncle Jack and his friend were climbing up the brass covered stairs on the side of the big ship and were on its clean deck, where everything was strange to the children and their parents. The sailors saluted the Captain, and the visitors * were at once introduced to several

officers and felt very much at home.

While Tom and Ruth were looking at many strange things, the mascot of the ship bounded up to them. This was a large St. Bernard dog called Tiger, that soon was their firm friend. He came up with such a bound that he almost knocked Tom over, but at once the dog held up his right paw to shake hands, and he even stood up on his hind legs and then tried to shake hands with baby Paul.

While this was happening, the Captain asked a young officer to take Tom and Ruth around the ship, show them everything, and answer all their questions. In a few minutes the children found themselves down in the engine room with their guide, and then in the kitchens, and after that, they looked into the big guns and even put their hands on the wheel that steered the ship.

i5

A half hour later, when their kind guide led them to the Captain’s cabin, Uncle Jack asked if Tom and Ruth had been bashful about their questions. The children were silent and the officer said: “ No, sir, they take the first prize for questions, and Ruth can beat Tom two to one. The only question I couldn’t answer was, ‘ What do you do for Tiger if he is sea-sick ? ’ ”

This made the Captain laugh. “We should like to have the children’s guide dine with us, and dinner is now ready in my cabin,” he said.

The young officer had never eaten with the Captain before, and was very happy to have the chance to do so and especially with the children, with whom he had fallen in love. It was a delightful dinner party. Before they sat down, Captain Anderson asked the lighthouse keeper to ask God’s blessing. After that the colored waiters served soup, fish, chicken, sweet potatoes, and many kinds of strange fruits and nuts that Tom and Ruth had never tasted. Last of all came the ice cream, which was the greatest treat and surprise of the whole day. The children could not understand how ice cream could be made on a war-ship.

When the dinner came to an end and the children had had three servings of ice cream, Uncle Jack walked to a shelf. “ Here Tom, is a book called ‘ The American Indian on the New Trail!’” he said. “In this you will find many facts about the Indians. I would like to give this to you, if you will promise to read it and write me a good letter about the Indians, so that my children may hear it.”

Tom was delighted with the book, and almost before he could say, “ Thank you,” Uncle Jack said : “ And here is a little book called ‘ Goodbird, the Indian.’ I want to

AN AFTERNOON ON A WAR-SHIP give it to you, Ruth, and I know you will enjoy it very much. ,,

Ruth was very happy to receive the present, and thanked the Captain many times. Tom promised to read the book at once and to write the best letter he could to the giver. “ But can’t Richard and Clarissa write to us too ? ” he asked.

“ Yes,” replied Uncle Tom, “ they will certainly write you a long letter about themselves and the little foreign boys and girls in Brooklyn, who go to their Sunday school and mission band. Richard and Clarissa will tell you all about the children in these poor homes, and these foreign boys and girls will also, I believe, write letters, and give them to my children to send to you.”

“ Hurrah ! ” shouted Tom. “ That will be fine. We shall have letters then from Cuba and from the foreign children on the land.”

“Yes,” said the Captain, “you ought to write also to the missionaries in Mexico, Porto Rico, New Mexico, California, Colorado, Arizona, and other places where thousands of Mexican children live. You will get many wonderful letters from these children, and perhaps you can also get them from other mission schools. Your mother can tell you the names of the missionaries who teach in the schools among the mountain people, and among the colored people of the South. These children could write you good letters if they were asked to do so.”

“ Can we do this, Mother ? ” asked the children, with one voice, “and send them pictures of the lighthouse too?”

“ We will try to do it,” -said their mother, “ but how can we write so many letters, and where can we get all the pictures of the lighthouse, my children ? ”

i8 THE CHILDREN OF THE LIGHTHOUSE

“ Oh, that is easy,” cried Uncle Jack. “ I have been looking around the cabin to see what presents I can give to the children, and I find two things that will help you to write the letters and make the pictures also. Here is a camera that I bought in Germany, and a box filled with everything you will need to make pictures. I want to give that to Tom as a present from Clarissa. And I have something else — a typewriter — and also a box with wax sheets and a little machine to make clear copies of all the letters. Oh, I have found one thing more — a big box of paper, and about two hundred envelopes. These are a present from Richard to Ruth.”

“ Oh, Uncle Jack, you are such a dear to give us so many things,” said Ruth, as she danced for joy, around the room, with Tom almost standing on his head as he followed her ; “ Clarissa and Richard ought to have all these presents.”

“ No,” answered the good man, “ they will have a great many presents that are in a big trunk down in the ship.”

“ Oh, thank you a hundred times,” shouted Tom.

“ Yes, a thousand times,” added Ruth.

“ It is too bad to have to leave such a lovely place,” said the children’s mother, “ but I am sure it is now time to return to the lighthouse, because the sun will soon set, and Uncle Jack must be starting the big ship toward the shore.”

A few minutes later, as they stood at the side of the ship, the Captain gave a signal and all the sailors ran up the rigging, stood up with joined hands, and gave three cheers for the visitors. This greatly excited Tom and Ruth, who had one more big surprise when the band began to play, “ Nearer my God to Thee.” This was followed by, “ Let the Lower Lights be Burning,” and after that,

AN AFTERNOON ON A WAR-SHIP i9 as the men all removed their hats, the band played, “ My Country ’Tis of Thee/’

Then the Captain went home with his friends, and had several sailors go along to lift the bundles of presents out of the launch and carry them up the ladder to the lighthouse. When they all stood again on the wall, where the children sat when they saw the ship, they looked back upon a very pleasant afternoon.

The packages were carried into the house, and a few minutes after that, good-bys were said; soon they were alone, and watching Uncle Jack hurrying back in the launch to the ship. A half hour later, they stood on the wall to see the war-ship start. When it sailed away, an officer waved two flags and the father read this message, repeating it to his family :

“ Uncle Jack will expect that letter soon. Richard and Clarissa will surely write to Tom and Ruth. Perhaps they will all four go to the same college. Good-by, baby Paul and Mother and Father and Ruth and Tom and Bobby and all the pets and the dear old lighthouse! J will surely visit you again sometime, and perhaps before.

another summer. We have had a happy time together, and must try to have many more such afternoons when Richard and Clarissa and our baby and their mother can all be with us. God be with you till we meet again.”

Then the big whistle gave two long blasts, and the ship rapidly sailed away. The children watched it pass out of sight below the horizon. Soon their mother took Paul to bed, and their father lighted the big lamp as the sun dipped below the water.

“ Oh, what a happy day we have had ! ” shouted Ruth, as she ran into the house, followed by Tom.

Of course the children were curious to see what was in the bundles, and even their mother said : “ What can all

these things be, do you suppose, children? We must untie the bundles very carefully so that nothing will be broken, and save the string. Roll it up very carefully, for we shall need it and the paper too, some day.”

Soon the camera and the typewriter were standing on the table, and Tom and Ruth looked at them with open eyes. While they were peering into their new presents, their mother untied the other strange packages, and a moment later their father opened the box containing playthings for Paul. Then they found six books of foreign travel, and three French and three German books. In another bundle was a large box of chocolates made in Germany, marked, “ From Uncle Jack.” The last bundle was shaped like a big cage, and in it they were surprised to find a parrot. When they saw the red and yellow little creature, the children danced wildly and laughed, as it said: “ How do you do, dear friends? Polly likes crackers. Do you ? ”

IV

HE next morning, Tom jumped out of bed when the clock was striking six, and a few mo- { ments later Ruth ran out to the end of the wall, where she and her brother often sat in the early morning. Tom was already reading the book about the Indians which Uncle Jack gave him. When his sister reached their corner in the wall, he looked up and said : “ Why, Ruth ! I must go back at once to my

room. I was in such a hurry to read this new book that I forgot to read my morning chapter in the Bible and to say my prayers.”

“ Why ! ” exclaimed Ruth, “ I was so excited, I forgot too.”

A few minutes later they had returned to their seats on the wall and Ruth was soon very busy writing in her diary. While her brother was reading, she looked up and said : “ It is your turn to write in the diary today,

Tom, but I am afraid that book will keep you from doing it. We have an hour before breakfast and then an hour after breakfast until school begins again. Our vacation of one week ends today, you know, but I fear Mother almost dreads to begin to teach us this morning.”

Just then the door of the sitting room opened and their mother called : “ Children, you can have another

week of vacation and we will all work on the letters, get them written and the envelopes addressed, so that the supply ship one week from today can take them all away with it. Soon the letters will be hurrying in the mail bags to Porto Rico, Cuba, Mexico, and to all the other places. Are you willing to have a longer vacation ? ”

Tom and Ruth leaped to their feet dancing with joy. Then they ran to the lighthouse, kissed their mother and Tom answered: “ Willing? Perhaps Ruth wants school this week, but I can get along without it, although you are the best teacher in the world, Mother. ,,

Ruth stood there laughing too, and a few minutes later their mother went to get baby Paul who was crying, and sent the children back to their place on the wall. Then Ruth wrote in her diary :

“ Captain Anderson is my newest Uncle. He asked Tom and me to call him Uncle Jack. The war-ship party and the presents were the best we have ever had. Meeting Uncle Jack makes me want to be a true Christian and to be a missionary to the Indians or to the Cubans or to the people somewhere, when I grow up to be a woman. We have a parrot now, that Uncle Jack gave us. Our new friend is very quiet this morning. Perhaps he is homesick for the war-ship. I am now going to write to Clarissa and Richard,” and this was her letter.

Dear Richard and Clarissa:

Tom and I fell in love with your father and we call him “ Uncle Jack.” We want you to come and visit us at the lighthouse and your father says you may. Be sure and come so that you can be with us next Fourth of July and stay as long as you can. Last year we had a great Fourth. Tom and I fired torpedoes and firecrackers nearly all day. Early in the morning a tired sea-gull flew into a hole in the wall under the light and Father climbed down by holding to a rope and brought the bird up to us. One of its wings was badly hurt. Mother put it in a basket in a warm place near the kitchen stove, and we fed it little bits of meat and dried fish. Just before sunset the little visitor seemed so bright that we put the basket up on the wall, near the place where it came to us in the morning. We stood in the doorway and watched it. When it saw that it was alone, our little friend jumped out of the basket, walked along the wall and then sailed away over the water.

One very dark night a beautiful red-breasted bird flew against the lighthouse window. Mother said the little dear was going up north for the summer. It seemed to be dead, but it wasn’t. It stayed in our basket nearly a week and was so tame that it would eat little pieces of a boiled egg out of our hands. When we let it go one morning it flew toward the north, just as though it knew the way.

I asked Father how such a little bird could go all alone across the ocean when it couldn’t see the land. He told me, God gave every little bird an instinct. Mother thinks this is a kind of a voice in the bird’s heart that whispers and tells it the way to go, just as He has given us the little voice of conscience in our souls to teach us what is right and what is wrong.

The sea is very blue today and I love to look at it. There is not a cloud in sight. Last Fourth of July was about a third as long as I wish it had been. I must now find the cat and the dog and get the parrot his breakfast and then go up to the light and visit Father. Tom and I read a chapter in the Bible with Mother every evening, then have our prayers and go to bed and dream of the day we were homesick when we visited Uncle Rufus and Aunt Clara.

Our beds are near the window and the sweet air blows through the room. I can look up at the stars and I love to watch them twinkle as they seem to wink at me. I tried to count them last night but I was asleep before I reached fifteen.

The next thing I knew the sea-gulls were calling for their breakfast and Bobby was barking at the big ocean steamship that was sailing past the light. Then the cat jumped on the bed at my feet. I kept very quiet while it walked up slowly and put its paw on my cheek. It does this almost every morning. It raps with its claws on the window when it wants to come in, and it can open the door from the inside by standing up on its hind legs and pushing the latch down with its paw. I have never seen a cat do this before. I am sure I have a prize cat.

I wish the glorious Fourth came oftener, and I pity the boys and girls that celebrate it on the hot and dusty land far away from the ocean.

On Sundays we have church at ten o’clock. First, we have sacred music on the phonograph and a solo “ Jerusalem the Golden ” or “ Jesus Lover of my Soul ” or some other beautiful hymn. Then Father reads a chapter in the Bible and prays. After that, Mother reads a poem and sings a solo, just before Father preaches a short sermon. Mother always plays on the piano that her college classmates gave to her and then the meeting ends.