ary, the seasons in which work could be
done were very short. During the whole of the first season of 1807, the
aggregate time of low-water work, caught by snatches of an hour or two
at a tide, did not amount to fourteen days of ten hours! while in 1808
it fell short of four weeks.

A great event is worthy of very special notice. We should fail in our
duty to our readers if we were to make only passing reference to this
important event in the history of our country.

That 1st of February, 1811, was the birthday of a new era, for the
influence of the Bell Rock Light on the shipping interests of the
kingdom (not merely of Scotland, by any means), was far greater than
people generally suppose.

Here is a _fact_ that may well be weighed with attention; that might be
not inappropriately inscribed in diamond letters over the lintel of the
lighthouse door. Up to the period of the building of the lighthouse,
the known history of the Bell Rock was a black record of wreck, ruin,
and death. Its unknown history, in remote ages, who shall conceive,
much less tell? _Up_ to that period, seamen dreaded the rock and
shunned it--ay, so earnestly as to meet destruction too often in their
anxious efforts to avoid it. _From_ that period the Bell Rock has been
a friendly point, a guiding star--hailed as such by storm-tossed
mariners--marked as such on the charts of all nations. _From_ that date
not a single night for more than half a century has passed, without its
wakeful eye beaming on the waters, or its fog-bells sounding on the air;
and, best of all, _not a single wreck has occurred on that rock from
that period down to the present day_!

Say not, good reader, that much the same may be said of all lighthouses.
In the first place, the history of many lighthouses is by no means so
happy as that of this one. In the second place, all lighthouses are not
of equal importance. Few stand on an equal footing with the Bell Rock,
either in regard to its national importance or its actual pedestal. In
the last place, it is our subject of consideration at present, and we
object to odious comparisons while we sing its praises!

Whatever may be said of the other lights that guard our shores, special
gratitude is due to the Bell Rock--to those who projected it--to the
engineer who planned and built it--to God, who inspired the will to
dare, and bestowed the skill to accomplish, a work so difficult, so
noble, so prolific of good to man!