Scribner's Monthly. 
 
 Vol. XVIII. 
 
 SEPTEMBER, 1879. 
 
 No. 
 
 name, and to the voyager from Europe it is 
 the extended right arm, lamp in hand, which 
 
 SANDY HOOK. 
 
 Every American knows Sandy Hook by ; offers first greeting to the land of promise. 
 
 Of itself, it is not particularly inviting. 
 It consists of a long, low, sandy penin- 
 sula, of drift formation, the continuation 
 of a sand-reef skirting the Jersey coast, 
 which projects northward five miles into 
 the lower bay of New York, and forms the 
 eastern break-water of Sandy Hook Bay. 
 In width it varies from fifty yards at the 
 Neck, near Highlands Bridge, where jet- 
 ties of brush-wood form but a frail pro- 
 tection against easterly storms, to a full 
 mile at the point where the main light is 
 located. Those who look upon it from 
 excursion boats or incoming steamers 
 see only a strip of white sand-beach and 
 a thick growth of cedars, broken here 
 and there by light-houses and low build- 
 ings ; but closer inspection discloses many 
 interesting details by which this outline 
 is filled in. 
 
 The scenery of the Hook is not varied, 
 but it is unique. Situated within twenty 
 miles of America's metropolis, and threat- 
 ened on every hand by advancing lines of 
 hotels and summer boarding-houses, this 
 isolated spot, owned and set apart by the 
 
 government for certain 
 special purposes, has 
 resisted every attempt- 
 ed inroad of civiliza- 
 tion, and in many 
 places retains the same 
 wildness that it had 
 when its Indian pos- 
 sessors gazed upon 
 their first pale-faced 
 visitors. 
 
 A first glimpse of 
 Sandy Hook, discern- 
 ed dimly upon the 
 horizon of American 
 history, is found in the 
 diary of Robert Juet,of 
 Limehouse, the com- 
 panion of Henry Hud- 
 
 MA1N LIGHT, SANDV HOOK, AND KEEPERS* HEN-COOP. SOn durillg hlS third 
 
 VOL. XVIII. — 46. [Copyright, Scribner & Co., 1879. All rights reserved.] 
 
642 
 
 SANDY HOOK. 
 
 MAP OF SANDY HOOK. 
 
 voyage. The name of the "Ancient Man " 
 Juet is rendered infamous by his participation 
 in the mutiny that occurred on the following 
 voyage, which resulted in the great navi- 
 gator being left, with eight sick companions, 
 in a shallop, to perish miserably in a wintry 
 sea ; but Juet showed commendable zeal in 
 keeping a journal, and he has given to 
 posterity a circumstantial and graphic ac- 
 count of the first explorations in this part 
 of the New World which is of inestimable 
 historical value. His journal, first made 
 public in 1625 by Purchase, in " His 
 Pilgrimes," is frequently quoted from ; but, 
 lest the reader be unacquainted with it, 
 we reprint below that portion describing 
 his impressions upon entering the lower 
 bay of New York, this extract being the 
 first recorded account of the region we are 
 about to describe. 
 
 The diary is dated 1609, and the record 
 shows the Half Moon to have been off Here- 
 ford Inlet, Cape May, at noon of Sep- 
 tember 1st, bound north-north- west with a 
 fair wind, favored by which she hove in sight 
 of the lower bay on the afternoon of the fol- 
 lowing day. 
 
 "The Fourth (of September, 1609). * * * Sowe 
 trimmed our Boate and rode still all day. At night 
 the wind blew hard at the North-west, and our Anchor 
 came home, and wee droue on shoare, but tooke no 
 hurt, thanked bee God, for the ground is soft sand 
 and Oze [probably Sandy Hook]. This day the 
 people of the Country came aboord of vs, seeming 
 very glad of our comming, and brought greene 
 Tobacco, and gave vs of it for Kniues and Beads. 
 They goe in Deere skins loose, well dressed. They 
 haue yellow Copper. They desire Cloathes, and 
 are very ciuill. They haue great store of Maiz or 
 Indian Wheate, whereof they make good Bread. 
 The Countrey is full of great and tall Oakes. 
 [There are no oaks on Coney Island, while these 
 are abundant on the Jersey shore, where there were 
 also two important Indian encampments, just south 
 of the mouth of the Raritan River.] 
 
 " The Fifth. — In the morning as soone as the day 
 was light, the wind ceased and the Flood came. 
 So we heaued off our ship againe into fiue fathoms 
 water, and sent our Boate to sound the Bay, and 
 we found that there was three fathoms hard by the 
 Souther shoare. [Admitting this to refer to Raritan 
 Bay, all the subsequent statements seem clear.] 
 Our men went on Land there, and saw great store 
 of Men, Women and Children, who gaue them 
 Tobacco at their comming on Land. So they went 
 vp into the Woods, and saw great store of very 
 goodly Oakes, and some Currants. For one of 
 them came aboord and brought some dryed, and 
 gaue me some, which were sweet and good. [Prob- 
 ably huckleberries. ] This day many of the people 
 came aboard, some in Mantles of Feathers, and 
 some in Skinnes of diuers sorts of good Furres. 
 Some women also came to vs with Hempe. They 
 had red Copper Tobacco pipes, and other things of 
 Copper they did weare about their neckes. At 
 
SANDY HOOK. 
 
 643 
 
 night they went on Land againe, so wee rode very 
 quiet, but durst not trust them. 
 
 " The Sixth. — In the morning was faire weather, 
 and our Master sent Iohn Colman, with foure other 
 men in our Boate ouer to the North- side, to sound 
 the other Riuer, being foure leagues from vs. 
 [This undoubtedly refers to the Narrows, and the 
 Raritan would be distant about the space named.] 
 They found by the way shoald water two fathoms; 
 but at the North of the Riuer eighteen, and twentie 
 fathoms, and very good riding for Ships; and a 
 
 ments. He soon afterward purchased from 
 them a considerable tract of land, including 
 all of Sandy Hook and a portion of the 
 hill-side where the town of Highlands is now 
 located; the latter tract has remained in 
 possession of his descendants ever since. 
 On August 8th, 1678, a second agreement 
 was entered into between Hartshorne and 
 Chiefs Vowavapon and Toeus, wherein, by 
 
 ALONG Til 
 
 narrow riuer to the Westward betweene two Hands 
 [unquestionably Kill von Kull]. The Lands they 
 told us were as pleasant with Grasse and Flowers, 
 and goodly Trees, as euer they had seene, and very 
 sweet smells came from them. So they went in 
 two leagues and saw an open sea [unquestionably 
 Newark Bay], and returned ; and as they came 
 backe, they were set vpon by two Canoes, the one 
 hauing twelue, the other fourteene men. The night 
 •came on and it began to rayne, so that their Match 
 went out ; and they had one man slaine in the fight, j 
 which was an English man, named Iohn Colman, I 
 with an arrow shot into his throat, and two more 
 hurt. [From this unhappy circumstance, Sandy 
 Hook gained its early name of Colman 's Point.] 
 It grew so darke that they could not find the ship j 
 that night, but labored too and fro on their Oares. 
 They had so great streame, that their grapnell 
 would not hold them." 
 
 History next alludes to Sandy Hook in 
 connection with Richard Hartshorne, an 
 English Quaker, who came to America in 
 1669 and took up his abode on the Nave- 
 sink Hills, not far from the Indian encamD- \ 
 
 I BEACH. 
 
 the additional payment of thirteen shillings 
 by Hartshorne, the Indians relinquished all 
 right to fish, hunt, or gather beach-plums on 
 the territory in question. The Indians ap- 
 pear to have kept faith with this agreement, 
 for we find no record of any further trouble 
 with them. 
 
 In 1679-80, Andros suggested to Carteret, 
 governor of East Jersey, the advisability of 
 erecting beacons or " sea-marks for shipping " 
 upon Sandy Hook, — called by him "Sandy 
 Point," — and advised the purchase of land 
 from Richard Hartshorne for this purpose. 
 This seasonable advice was not, however, 
 acted upon until nearly a century later, and 
 the delay proved expensive, for when the 
 project was revived in 176 1, by the merchants 
 of NewYork, the sum of £7 50 was demanded 
 by Robert and Isick Hartshorne for the tract 
 of four acres called for, and the soil being 
 about as arid and profitless as possible, the 
 
644 
 
 SANDY HOOK. 
 
 BACK FROM THE BAY. 
 
 investigating committee very naturally char- 
 acterized this as " unreasonable." It was, 
 however, decided to make the purchase, 
 and on May 8th, 1761, the Assembly of 
 New York authorized a lottery, not to ex- 
 ceed ^3,000, for the purpose of raising 
 sufficient money to pay for the land and to 
 erect a proper beacon. A committee of 
 four New York merchants, Messrs. Cruger, 
 Livingston, Lispenard and Bayard, was 
 appointed to superintend this lottery ; and 
 twelve months later they reported that 
 ^2,666 15s. 6d. had thus been raised. 
 The Hartshorne deed transferring the 
 "light-house tract" of four acres to the 
 New York representatives is dated May 
 10th, 1762, and accompanying it is a map 
 of the locality, particularly interesting from 
 the fact that it indicates the original location 
 of the light-house, eight chains and fifty 
 links, or a little over 500 feet from high- 
 water mark north. By this purchase a por- 
 
 tion of Sandy Hook was annexed to New 
 York, and it remained in her possession 
 until relinquished to the general government, 
 which afterward purchased from the Harts- 
 horne family all the remainder of the Hook 
 as far south as the mouth of Youngs Creek, 
 the second and third deeds of sale bearing 
 the dates, February 26, 1806, and June 17, 
 181 7. The amount raised by the first lottery 
 proving insufficient, in December, 1762, a 
 second ^3,000 lottery was authorized by 
 the New York Assembly for the Sandy 
 Hook fund, which was drawn on June 13th 
 in the following year; and in 1764, the first 
 light-house was completed and put in use. 
 To assist in defraying the cost of maintain- 
 ing it, a duty of threepence a ton was laid 
 on all ships entering the port, and some 
 idea of the extent of the commerce of those 
 days may be gathered from the fact that 
 this duty realized ^487 6s. 9d. during the 
 first twelve months. The " New York Maga- 
 
 THE PLUM-GATHERER. 
 
SANDY HOOK. 
 
 645 
 
 zine," dated August, 1790, contains an en- 
 graving of this first light-house, identical in 
 appearance with the present Main Light, to- 
 gether with a full description of it, wherein 
 we learn that it was built of stone, and 
 <l measured from the surface of the ground to 
 the top of the lanthorn, 106 feet." By act of 
 George the Third, dated May 2 2d, 1762, it 
 was provided that trespasses on Sandy 
 Hook should be actionable in the New 
 York courts. The original of this act is on 
 file in the engineer's office in Washington. 
 
 We find no record of any further occur- 
 rence of note until the opening of the 
 Revolution, when we learn, from the "Jour- 
 nal of the Provincial Congress," that on 
 March 4th, 1776, the New York Congress 
 resolved upon the de- 
 struction of this bea- 
 con, the British fleet 
 being daily expected ; 
 and two days later 
 instructions were is- 
 sued to Major Malcom 
 to execute the order, 
 and to be careful to 
 employ secrecy and to 
 save the glass and oil 
 if possible. Fortu- 
 nately for New York 
 commerce, the major 
 proved tender-heart- 
 ed ; we find no evi- 
 dence that he de- 
 stroyed the walls, and 
 the following memo- 
 randum from Colonel 
 George Taylor, dated 
 Middletown, March 
 1 2th, 1776, enumer- 
 ates the further sal- 
 vage : " Received 
 from Wm. Malcom, 
 eight copper lamps, 
 two tackle falls and 
 blocks, and three 
 casks, and a part of 
 a cask of oil, being 
 articles brought from 
 the light-house on 
 Sandy Hook." The ^ 
 light next appears in 
 
 prominence in the little-known, but invalu- 
 able, " Chart of the Bar of Sandy Hook, and 
 Entrance of Hudson's River," made from 
 the surveys of Lieutenant Hills, of the 23d 
 regiment, and published in London, Jan. 
 1, 1784. This chart we shall frequently 
 refer to further on. 
 
 Sandy Hook seems never to have fully 
 determined whether to be a peninsula or 
 an island. It figures in both capacities in 
 the various maps and charts preserved by 
 the New York Historical Society. The 
 oldest of these is a fac-simile of a chart dis- 
 lodged not many years ago from the Royal 
 
6 4 6 
 
 SAiYDY JfOOK. 
 
 this, Sandy Hook is called 
 u Sandpunt;" the Highlands 
 of Navesink, " De Ronde- 
 bergh;" Raritan Bay, "Sand- 
 bar;" and two settlements 
 of the " Aqvamachvke " 
 | Hackensack ?] Indians are 
 indicated, one at the mouth 
 of Raritan River, and the 
 other a few miles south of 
 that point. "Sandpunt" is 
 here a peninsula as at pres- 
 ent, but shorter and broader. 
 The rare old Tiddeman 
 map, printed in London 
 about 1 7 19, and found in 
 1804 by William De Pey- 
 ster among his grandfather's 
 papers, also represents it as 
 a peninsula. But when 
 General Howe, in 1778, 
 retreated from the battle of 
 Monmouth by the Navesink 
 road and embarked at the 
 Hook, it is clearly stated 
 that he built a temporary 
 bridge to "Sandy Hook 
 Island" a statement that is 
 confirmed by the Lieutenant 
 Hills chart, 1784, where it 
 is shown cut off from the 
 mainland by Shrewsbury 
 Inlet. In 1800 it seems to 
 have been connected again 
 with the mainland, but just 
 previous to 1810 it is again 
 shown as an island, and 
 still again in 1830. It has 
 also changed materially 
 from time to time in its out- 
 lines. It is of drift forma- 
 tion, consisting of oblique 
 layers of sand, which have 
 without doubt been thou- 
 sands of years in accumu- 
 lating ; the lower Hook, 
 just above Spermaceti Covej 
 was probably once its ex- 
 tremity. Within the mem- 
 ory of those now living it 
 has increased in length 
 nearly half a mile. The 
 Main Light, which in 1762 
 was located 500 feet from 
 the extreme northern point, 
 is now seven-eighths of a 
 our naturalist. m jl e distant, which shows 
 
 Archives at the Hague, which was presented j that the Hook has lengthened, within the 
 co the States-General on Aug. 18, 1616; in 1 period named, nearly 4,000 feet, or be- 
 
SAXDY HOOK. 
 
 647 
 
 ;\veen thirty-five and forty feet a year ; 
 3ut how soon the sea may again claim 
 
 its own, no one can 
 affirm. The rough 
 map given on page 
 642 shows the pres- 
 ent outlines of the 
 Hook, and suggests 
 the situation of the 
 points mentioned 
 below. 
 
 Turning our backs 
 upon the steam- 
 boat pier of the 
 New Jersey South- 
 ern Railway, which 
 tips the point above 
 "Horse-shoe Cove," 
 let us now stroll lei- 
 surely southward 
 along the shore of 
 the u Horse-shoe, " 
 toward the twin 
 lights of the Nave- 
 sink beacon with 
 their connectingem- 
 battled building, ris- 
 ing from the Nave- 
 sink Highlands be- 
 fore us, somber and 
 picturesque as a 
 castle of the Rhine. 
 To our right is Sandy 
 Hook Bay, an arm of the lower bay of New 
 York, and a well sheltered harbor, where, 
 when the weather is foggy or the winds 
 contrary, large numbers of fishing boats and 
 coasters lie anchored, counted at times by 
 hundreds. To our left rises a steep sand- 
 bank, from five to fifteen feet high, crowned 
 with cedars, which crowd close to the brink, 
 where the winds sift the sand from their 
 twisted roots until they pitch headlong 
 down upon the beach, dragging their com- 
 rades with them. 
 
 The first object of special interest that we 
 approach is a wrecked canal-boat, standing 
 erect in the sand, broadside on, twenty feet 
 above high-water mark. A stranger might 
 pass this many times and see nothing more 
 than a wrecked canal-boat ; but one summer 
 day as we strolled by, a small window stood 
 open, and a child was looking out of it. 
 Curiosity led us to walk around to the land- 
 ward side of the wreck, where we found hen- 
 coops, a cow-shed, a pile of drift-wood, and 
 a collection of fishing gear, including nets, 
 eel-pots, and clam-rakes. "Surely, some 
 
 FISH- POUND. 
 
 one must live here," we said, and knocked 
 at a door. A pleasant-laced (Jerman woman 
 opened it, and after some preliminaries we 
 asked permission to go inside, which was 
 granted. Here was a furnished dwelling, 
 with four rooms, and occupied by two 
 families. By a few modifications, including 
 the addition of roof, windows, doors and 
 a smoke-pipe, the father had made the 
 boat habitable; and a woman's hands had 
 done the rest. The outer door leads into 
 the kitchen, furnished with a stove, a table 
 and chairs ; to the right of this is a store- 
 room; and to the left is the cabin, with 
 bunks against the stern, now converted into 
 a bed-chamber. There are six small win- 
 dows in this room ; its walls are decorated 
 with prints, a clock, and a shelf holding the 
 precious four-volume library : a Bible and a 
 geography, both in German, an English 
 prayer-book, and " Gospel Hymns." The 
 furniture is simple, and most of it was made 
 by the father. In one of the bunks sleep 
 three boys who have never visited a city. 
 Here, one day last winter, a fourth brother 
 was born, and when we went to call upon 
 him in the spring, a new family of ducklings 
 was sheltered by the stove, and the cat 
 presented herself at the window, offering 
 
 OLD LAM'MAKKS. 
 
648 
 
 SANDY HOOK. 
 
 'rudder grange at sandy hook. 
 
 one of her kittens for inspection. Within, 
 everything is comfortable and clean, and 
 without there is an evident air of thrift. 
 The boat itself still cherishes memories of 
 its youthful days and clings to the memen- 
 toes of its former life, as if, like a careful 
 housewife, it anticipated that they might 
 become of use again. The oakum still 
 sticks to its joints, the rudder-post remains 
 firm, and on the stern you may decipher from 
 the faded, weatherworn lettering, the mat- 
 ter-of-fact name by which it was known long 
 ago, when it drifted leisurely up and down 
 the Delaware and Hudson Canal. 
 
 Near by is a marshy inlet where the fid- 
 dler crabs have formed a colony. They 
 are active little bodies, dragging their un- 
 comfortable fiddles about with them in a 
 most cheery manner. The spider-crabs and 
 horse-shoes occasionally pay them visits; 
 and who shall tell what antics are cut up, 
 
 on midsummer nights, during 
 these cousinly reunions ? 
 
 Accepting the offer of one of 
 the boys from the canal-boat, we 
 are rowed by him down the 
 shore as far as the Boiler Testing 
 Grounds, used for some years by 
 the government for testing the 
 relative strength of different 
 grades of iron used in the con- 
 struction of boilers. The ap- 
 propriation having failed last 
 year, the experiments were dis- 
 continued, and the grounds ap- 
 pear to be abandoned. 
 A short distance south of the Boiler 
 Grounds is a second inlet, similar in shape 
 to the " Horse-shoe," known as " Sperma- 
 ceti Cove," so named, tradition tells us, 
 from a whale of that class having once 
 been stranded here. We find no record of 
 the occurrence, but the fact is not improb- 
 able, for in the last century whales were 
 frequently taken along this coast. 
 
 Leaving the shore, we now strike east- 
 ward into a picturesque growth of cedars. 
 To the trunk of one of these is nailed a 
 sign-board with the governmental order: 
 " No Visitors Allowed." A fish-hawk has 
 built a nest on the tip-top of this tree, — the 
 biggest kind of a nest, a landmark for 
 miles around, and here his mate has raised 
 many a brood in security. Some of the 
 cedars found at this point have trunks as 
 large round as a man's body, and as this 
 
SANDY HOOK. 
 
 649 
 
 THE DOVE-COTE. 
 
 tree is of exceedingly slow growth, they help 
 to prove the antiquity of this portion of the 
 Hook. It has been decided by compe- 
 tent authority that some of these trees must 
 be between 300 and 500 years old. Farther 
 on we pass through several burnt tracts, 
 where brush fires have crept along the 
 undergrowth, killing the trees, but leaving 
 them with every branch and twig intact, to 
 drop their bark in shreds, and to bleach in the 
 rain and sunshine. One of these is called 
 "Captain Kidd's tree." It is the tallest in this 
 region, and is a pine, — not a cedar, — the only 
 one that we have noticed on the Hook. To 
 boatmen approaching from the south-east, 
 this tree is said to present the appearance 
 
 of a full-rigged ship, and this sug- 
 gested resemblance is thought to 
 have given rise to the superstition 
 that treasures lay buried beneath it, 
 — a superstition strengthened by 
 Cooper's highly colored and fantastic 
 novel, " The Water Witch." the interest 
 of the plot of which largely consists 
 in the references to Sandy Hook and 
 vicinity. Trenches surround the Kidd 
 tree, and the sand has been well 
 sifted from its roots. In some places 
 the cedars are covered by lichens and 
 hanging moss, vividly suggesting the glades 
 on the Sea Islands off South Carolina and 
 Georgia. Indeed, Sandy Hook as a whole 
 has a note worthy resemblance to those islands, 
 having the same formation and the same gen- 
 eral character of soil and vegetation. That 
 variety of cactus known as the " prickly 
 pear " is found in every part of the Hook, 
 and forms a characteristic feature ; in sum- 
 mer it bears bright yellow blossoms, which 
 in October are followed by a red fruit, 
 succulent and pleasant to the taste. 
 
 The fish-hawks are common here, and 
 now and then they show an undue appre- 
 ciation of the benefits of society by con- 
 fiscating somebody's fat chicken; and the 
 fact is well authenticated that on one oc- 
 casion the vest of a workman was carried 
 away by one of these pirates of the air. 
 The owner returned just in time to see 
 his property go sailing away in the clutches 
 of the hawk. With celerity and skill 
 equal to the emergency, he brought both 
 down by a well-directed stone. His son 
 afterward had the curiosity to inspect the 
 nest of this bird, which was poised like 
 a bundle of brushwood on the top of a 
 dead cedar, and there he found one of his 
 father's hammers and a motley collection of 
 
 A SEA-SIDE TURN-OUT. 
 
650 
 
 SANDY HOOK. 
 
 other articles not commonly thought need- 
 ful to the household economy of hawks. 
 
 The study of insect life was diligently 
 pursued by a lady friend, a naturalist, who 
 accompanied us on one of our excursions. 
 To her eyes Sandy Hook was an insect 
 paradise, and we must admit this to be quite 
 true during mosquito season, when it is pur- 
 gatory to everybody else. Truth compels us 
 also to admit that sand-adders are quite 
 partial to the Hook, and that during the past 
 few years they have increased in proportion 
 to the decrease of the hogs, whose fondness 
 for them proves more fatal than man's 
 hatred. Black snakes are also occasionally 
 seen, much to the terror of the cattle. 
 
 Leaving the cedar grove, we now cross the 
 railway track, and suddenly the character of 
 the vegetation changes. Desolate sand-dunes 
 rise before us, blown by the wind and un- 
 clothed save by a scanty growth of sand-moss 
 and beach-plums; and, mounting one of the 
 higher dunes, we see the vast Atlantic, 
 streaked by black and purple, or by long lines 
 of sunshine, and specked by white-caps. 
 
 We pass the little red-painted house used 
 as a life-saving station, which is provided 
 with a complete outfit. Seven men are 
 stationed here, and from April 15 to Sep- 
 tember 15 two patrols walk the shore 
 throughout the night. Of late they have 
 seldom had occasion to lend a helping hand, 
 since most of the wrecks have occurred lower 
 down the reef, at Long Branch, Squan, and 
 the still more fatal Barnegat. A mile and 
 a half east of this point is the Scotland 
 light-ship, and six miles farther east the 
 Sandy Hook light-ship — red, with two red 
 fixed lights forty-five feet above the sea- 
 level and provided with an automatic fog- 
 horn, whose hoarse voice is familiar to all 
 transatlantic travelers who have had the 
 unhappiness to approach the port of New 
 York during foggy weather. 
 
 A two-mile walk northward against the 
 wind brings us to the main light, located 
 half-way between the two shores, or about 
 half a mile from either. This is the light- 
 house that was completed in 1764, and its 
 stone walls are, without doubt, the same that 
 were then erected. Various improvements 
 have from time to time been introduced, 
 including a brick lining, iron stairs in place 
 of wood, and a French lens in place of the 
 copper lamps that Major Malcom carried 
 away ; but its outward appearance has 
 changed very little. During the Revolu- 
 tion it played an important role, being for- 
 tified and occupied for a time by the British 
 
 and refugees. Previous to recent repairs 
 the marks of cannon-shot were plainly visi- 
 ble on its walls. When introducing the 
 brick lining some years ago, the cellar was 
 excavated, and fourteen feet below the 
 flooring the workmen came upon a ponder- 
 ous iron door, upon removing which they 
 penetrated into a small room, where a fire- 
 place was found, with ashes still upon it. 
 What this prison-like chamber was intended 
 for is by no means apparent. The lens 
 is ninety feet from the ground. Close 
 beside the tower are the keeper's house and 
 barn, surrounded by shade trees and a flow- 
 ering garden — an oasis in the midst of sand- 
 hills. Here almost every object offers a 
 suggestion of storm and disaster. That 
 arm-chair on the piazza drifted ashore from 
 the brig Swett (Captain George Pendleton), 
 which foundered off the east shore during 
 the winter of 1868. Here is a remnant 
 from the English ship Clyde, and there one 
 from the brig Prosper, which, during a ter- 
 rific gale, drove on the bar near the west 
 beacon. Here is a figure-head that once 
 danced over the waves defiant of storms, 
 now warped and weather-stained ; and on 
 the side of the barn, just beneath the dove- 
 cote, is a stern-board bearing the name 
 Trojan, close to which nestle the cooing 
 doves. The cow-sheds are built of wreck- 
 wood, and one side of the hen-coop is in- 
 closed by a panel from a French brig, elab- 
 orately carved with sprays of foliage, which, 
 when it was disentangled in fragments from 
 the sea-wrack upon the beach, was gorgeous 
 with gilding, but which, with the exception 
 of a bright speck here and there, is now 
 bare and brown. Keeper Patterson has 
 been in charge of this light for eighteen 
 years, during which period more than fifty 
 wrecks have occurred within sight of his 
 lantern. When milking-time comes, the 
 keeper's cows are followed to the barn-yard 
 by one of the curiosities of the Hook — an 
 aged goat, of unknown species, the sur- 
 vivor of a large flock descended from a 
 pair left here by pilots many years ago. 
 
 The sand-hills that surround the Main 
 Light are covered with a thick growth of 
 the beach-plums so prized by the Indians ; 
 these are low shrubs of the pear family, 
 which in May are snowed over with drifts 
 of white blossoms, and in early September 
 droop under the weight of their purplish 
 fruit. The plums are about the size of 
 cherries, having an agreeable flavor, not 
 unlike the cultivated varieties, but with 
 more acidity and a slightly bitter taste. When 
 
SANDY HOOK. 651 
 
 these are ripe the region is frequented by 
 many women and children, who come, often 
 from long distances, to gather them for 
 preserves and marketing. Near by is 
 " Ocean Cemetery," a melancholy half-acre, 
 shadowed by cedars, where, among the 
 sand- grass and brambles, appear a few 
 crosses and wooden head-boards ; most of 
 those buried here are shipwrecked mariners, 
 unknown by name, who have been picked 
 up on the adjacent beaches. 
 
 The boom of heavy guns grows louder, — 
 we have now approached so near the point 
 and the ordnance department that the 
 east shore is no longer a safe resort. We 
 will proceed the rest of the way by the west 
 beach, where we shall probably find the 
 
 a hundred feet wide, in the midst of which 
 stand the town pump and the school-house. 
 The latter contains one small room, where 
 a dozen scholars are accustomed to gather 
 daily. It is here that the three boys from 
 the canal-boat come, leaving the prints 
 of six small feet upon the wet beach. 
 Sometimes the tide crosses their path at the 
 inlet, and they are forced to go around 
 through the cedar grove ; or if it is not too 
 deep for wading, the elder boy tucks up his 
 trowsers (or removes them, as the case may 
 demand) and carries the others across on 
 his back. To the outside of the school- 
 house is attached a covered shelf containing 
 six buckets of water, — this is Sandy Hook's 
 fire department. The barracks were built 
 in 1856-7, for the engin- 
 eers and laborers engaged 
 in building the Sandy 
 Hook Fort, and from two 
 to three hundred men were 
 
 light-keeper's pigs investi- 
 gating the contributions of 
 the last tide. One day we 
 happened along just in 
 time to see them under 
 somewhat trying circum- 
 stances. A party of gen- 
 tlemen from New York had just come in 
 from blue-fishing, and landed here for a 
 ramble. After laboriously cleaning their fish , 
 they laid them among the sand-reeds and 
 wandered up toward the light, picking 
 beach-plums as they went. Upon returning 
 they perceived with dismay this company of 
 pigs banqueting upon the blue-fish. The pigs 
 enjoyed the joke, and although they made 
 their next half mile in quicker time, and 
 with less military precision than customary, 
 we met them afterward cheerfully looking 
 for more. 
 
 Before us are the barracks, — one of the 
 most picturesque features of Sandy Hook. 
 These consist of two long lines of two- 
 story houses, separated by a sandy road-way 
 
 THE OLD SCHOOL- HOUSE. 
 
 then quartered here; this number increased 
 to five hundred during the war, when several 
 companies of recruits were also stationed 
 here for drill, etc. Soon after the close of 
 the war work on the fort was abandoned, 
 from lack of appropriations, and most of the 
 buildings are now in a dilapidated condition. 
 Those that are still habitable are occupied 
 by government employes, connected with 
 the ordnance department, the life-saving 
 stations, and the light-house and signal 
 service, or by Western Union Telegraph 
 operators. These men with their families 
 number about fifty souls, and compose 
 somewhat more than half of the population 
 of the Hook, the others being mainly steam- 
 boat and railway men, living near the 
 
652 
 
 SANDY HOOK. 
 
 THE ELECTRIC PRIMER, SANDY HOOK, 
 
 . 
 
 " Horse-shoe." These residents are jocosely 
 called "Sand-hillers," and a strangely iso- 
 lated community they make up, with no 
 post-office, no church, no physician, no 
 policeman, no fireman, and only one store, 
 — that a floating one, moored to the steam- 
 boat dock; but as the world goes these 
 people are uncommonly contented, being 
 healthy, well fed, with work to do and reg- 
 ular pay for doing it, and freedom from the 
 interruptions of landlord, tax gatherer, com- 
 missioner of jurors, or the insurance agent. 
 Just to the east of the barracks is the offi- 
 cers' quarters, soon to be transferred to the 
 new brick building near by; and in the 
 garden is the so-called "officers' menagerie," 
 containing an eagle, a crow, and an owl, — 
 
 the remnant of 
 a once happy 
 and much more 
 numerous fam- 
 ily, which, af- 
 ter the adoption 
 of the owl, grew 
 beautifully less 
 with each suc- 
 ceeding night. 
 
 Having pass- 
 ed the barracks, 
 we find the 
 scenes more 
 conventional. 
 Before us stands 
 the fort, occu- 
 pying a com- 
 manding posi- 
 tion, and offering a fine view of the ocean 
 and the bay. This is intended to guard 
 the entrance to the anchorage bay by the 
 Main Channel, a half mile distant, or by 
 the Swash Channel, a mile further north. 
 When completed it will be one of our first- 
 order fortifications, covering, with its out- 
 works, between eighteen and twenty acres, 
 and will be the largest in the United States 
 with the exception of Fortress Monroe, and 
 perhaps Fort Adams at Newport. The 
 construction of this fort was begun in 1858 
 under the superintendence of Captain, 
 now General, Benham, colonel of engin- 
 eers, who at present has charge of this 
 fort, as well as of the other principal 
 harbor defenses. Previous to the suspension 
 of the work at the outbreak of the last 
 war, the foundations of the main north 
 front were completed, in some parts, as 
 high as the embrasures. The principal 
 part of the work was done subsequently, 
 under the superintendence of the late Gen- 
 eral Delafield, chief of engineers, by whom 
 the arches for the main battery, or lower 
 tier of guns, were built. The completion 
 of the fort has since been delayed by the 
 revolution in modern artillery, which, it is 
 thought, may demand changes in its construc- 
 tion and outfit. It is now popularly known 
 as " the Sandy Hook fort," but it has never 
 been duly christened; the name of "Fort 
 Clinton " has been proposed, and seems 
 most likely to be adopted. Its foundation 
 is of drift sand, made within the past cent- 
 ury, but it seems firm, and the lines of 
 masonry are as true as when first laid. 
 Near by are several objects of interest, 
 including the machine shop ; the " North 
 Light," painted red, which recently took the 
 
SANDY HOOK. 
 
 6 53 
 
 place of the old " dumb beacon," so long a 
 landmark ; the two " syrens," or steam fog- 
 whistles, which, when the weather is thick, 
 raise a terrific alarum by their six-second 
 blasts at the interval of every forty seconds ; 
 and the head-quarters of the ordnance de- 
 partment, very completely equipped, where 
 the government test new guns and other ord- 
 nance material introduced from time to time. 
 The guns are discharged by electricity from 
 the office, two hundred and fifty feet distant. 
 The largest of the practice guns is a 
 twelve-inch rifle, requiring a charge of 115 
 pounds of powder, and carrying a 700- 
 pound shot. 
 
 Lastly, we come to the tower of the 
 Western Union Telegraph Company, sev- 
 enty feet high, where a lookout now pushes 
 his telescope through one of the port-holes, 
 and slowly scans the horizon. The little 
 chamber in which he stands is ten feet 
 square, furnished with a desk, chairs, lights, 
 spy-glasses, telegraph instruments, and a 
 stove that in winter is kept red-hot, for this 
 is a bleak and windy perch. This station is 
 directly connected with the general office of 
 the company in New York, and also with the 
 Beaver street office of the Maritime Associ- 
 ation. It is the business of the lookout to 
 report the approach of incoming ships and 
 steamers. In the day-time he recognizes 
 them by flags displayed at the mizzen mast- 
 head, the topmost, or ensign, to reveal the 
 nationality, while four smaller ones beneath 
 this indicate certain letters, and as soon as 
 he distinguishes these, he seeks the corre- 
 sponding combination in the u International 
 Code of Signals" at his elbow, and in this 
 book learns name, horse-power and tonnage. 
 For example, Captain Farrell has just 
 sighted an incoming steamer ; let us see if we 
 can make out what she is. At the mast-head 
 floats the British ensign. Below this is a 
 square flag, yellow and blue, divided ver- 
 tically, — that means " K " ; second flag 
 
 square, with blue border, then white, and 
 centered by red, — that means "W"; third, 
 square, crossed diagonally by white lines, 
 — that means "M"; fourth, blue, with 
 white square in center,—-" K W M P," — 
 it is the steamer Adriatic, of the White Star 
 Line. At night ships are not reported, but 
 the signals of steamers consist of lights of 
 various colors; thus, the Adriatic would 
 be recognized by two green lights burned 
 on deck, aft, twenty feet apart ; or a Cun- 
 arder by two Roman candles, each throwing 
 six blue balls about 150 feet, with a blue 
 light over the stern at the same time. The 
 name of the line is thus clearly indicated, 
 and it is easy to determine the individual 
 steamer by knowing which one is due. 
 The importance of this telegraph station 
 has somewhat decreased since the ocean 
 cable came into use. Moreover, when the 
 cable came, Dickie's work was done. Dickie 
 was one of the half dozen carrier pigeons 
 formerly attached to this station. When a 
 transatlantic steamer hove in sight, no mat- 
 ter how rough the sea or stormy the sky, 
 Captain Farrell took Dickie with him and 
 rowed out to receive the latest European 
 news. The message, written on tissue 
 paper, was attached to the bird's leg, and 
 with swift flight he returned to his cote 
 upon the tower, where the assistant oper- 
 ator was awaiting him. But Dickie was 
 sometimes obstinate, recognizing his impor- 
 tance very exasperatingly by evading the 
 waiting hand and walking around the tower 
 just out of reach. Now he drew near and 
 looked propitious ; " Come, Dickie, come, 
 that's a dear," whispered the telegraph man 
 coaxingly. Now Dickie cooed, as if to 
 say, " What's the hurry ! what's the hurry ! " 
 and continued to sidle away to the very 
 verge of the roof. And so it some- 
 times happened that all America, yearning 
 for news from the Old World, waited upon 
 the caprices of Dickie, the carrier pigeon. 
 
654 
 
 THE UNIVERSITY OF ROME. 
 
 THE UNIVERSITY OF ROME. 
 
 PICO DELLA MIRANDOLA. (AFTER ORIGINAL IN THE UFIZZI GALLERY, FLORENCE; PAINTER UNKNOWN.) 
 
 The history of the University of Rome is 
 in many respects representative; it is ap- 
 proximately the history of every Italian 
 university, and the typical features are here 
 displayed in a more pronounced degree 
 than in the annals of the institutions more 
 remote from the seats of authority. Its 
 unedifying career therefore presents a most 
 instructive chapter of history, and teaches 
 a lesson which the Italian government has 
 not failed to take to heart and to apply 
 with exemplary zeal and fearlessness. 
 
 Previous to 1870, education in Italy was 
 generally looked upon as the peculiar prov- 
 
 ince of the clergy, and even at the present 
 time, in spite of the professedly anti-clerical 
 policy of the government, the elementary 
 instruction is largely in the hands of the 
 priests. The middle class, and, indeed, 
 many of the highest aristocracy, prefer to 
 intrust their children from an early age to 
 their spiritual advisers, rather than assume 
 themselves the care and the responsibility 
 of their education. Public opinion, at least 
 among the conservative class, sanctions 
 this course, and however much the govern- 
 ment may seek to discourage it, the priest 
 will maintain his influence in the family 
 
 AVER> 
 DURS1