Keep the Lights Burning, Abbie

Summary

Keep the Lights Burning, Abbie is a short easy-reader history book about Abbie Burgess, the teenage daughter of the lighthouse keeper on Matinicus Rock, a bare island far out in the sea off the coast of Maine. In January 1856 Abbie's mother is sick, the family is running low on food and on oil for the lamps, and Captain Burgess must sail his small boat to the mainland town of Rockland for supplies and medicine. Before he goes he puts Abbie in charge of the lights in the island's two lighthouse towers and tells her to keep them burning. Soon after he leaves, a great winter storm comes up and keeps him from sailing back. Day after day Abbie cares for her sick mother and her younger sisters, and night after night she climbs the towers to fill the lamps with oil, trim the wicks and scrape the ice from the windows so that ships at sea can see the light. The family's three hens, Hope, Patience and Charity, are almost lost when huge waves wash over the rock; Abbie runs out to bring them to safety and is nearly caught by a wave herself. As the sea floods the island, the family takes shelter in one of the towers. Food runs short and Abbie grows very tired, but the lights never go out. After about four weeks the storm ends and Captain Burgess comes home. He tells Abbie that every night he looked across the water from the mainland, saw the lights burning, and so knew his family was all right. The story is told in short sentences for children reading on their own, with watercolor pictures by Peter E. Hanson of the rock, the towers and the gray winter sea. Carolrhoda Books published it in 1985 in its On My Own series, with an author's note on the real Abbie, and it was chosen as a Reading Rainbow feature book.

Plot or Argument

• Father must go

  On Matinicus Rock in the winter of 1856, Abbie's mother is ill and the family needs food, lamp oil and medicine. Captain Burgess decides to sail to Rockland on the mainland, and he leaves Abbie in charge of the lighthouse with orders to keep the lights burning.

• The storm comes

  Almost as soon as her father's boat is gone, the wind rises and a fierce storm sets in. The sea is far too rough for him to come back, and Abbie realizes that the lights, her mother and her sisters all depend on her.

• Tending the lamps

  Each night Abbie climbs the towers again and again to fill the lamps, trim the wicks and scrape ice and frost from the glass. In the daytime she nurses her mother, looks after her younger sisters and does the household work.

• Saving the hens

  Great waves begin to break over the rock. Abbie dashes out to rescue the three hens, Hope, Patience and Charity, whose eggs the family needs, and a huge wave nearly sweeps her away as she gets back to shelter.

• Shelter in the tower

  With the sea washing across the island, the family moves into a tower to stay safe. Supplies run low and Abbie is worn out, but week after week she keeps every lamp lit.

• Father comes home

  When the storm finally ends, about four weeks after he left, Captain Burgess sails back to the rock. He tells Abbie that he saw her lights each night from the mainland and knew that his family was safe, and he is proud of her.

Characters

• Abbie Burgess, protagonist

  The keeper's teenage daughter, left in charge of the lighthouse, her sick mother and her younger sisters during the storm.

• Captain Burgess, father; lighthouse keeper

  Keeper of the Matinicus Rock light, who sails to Rockland for supplies and medicine and is kept away by the storm.

• Mrs. Burgess, mother

  Abbie's mother, too sick to work, whom Abbie nurses through the weeks of the storm.

• Abbie's younger sisters, siblings

  The little girls Abbie looks after and keeps safe while their father is away.

• Hope, Patience and Charity, the family's hens

  Three hens whose eggs help feed the family, rescued by Abbie from the waves.

Lessons

• Faithful when no one is watching

  Captain Burgess gives Abbie one job, to keep the lights burning, and then he cannot come back to check on her. She climbs the towers every night anyway, even when she is tired and cold. The book shows that being faithful means doing your job just as well when the grown-up is far away.

  • What job did Abbie's father give her before he sailed away?
  • Why did Abbie keep climbing the towers even when she was very tired?
  • What is a job you have that you should do even when nobody is checking?

• Other people depend on the light

  The lamps on Matinicus Rock are not for Abbie's family alone; sailors out on the dark sea need them to steer clear of the rocks. Abbie scrapes the ice from the windows for ships she will never meet. Small faithful work can keep people safe that we never see.

  • Who needed to see the lighthouse lights at night?
  • What could happen to a ship if the lights went out?
  • Can you think of someone whose work keeps you safe even though you do not see them?

• Caring for the family

  Besides the lamps, Abbie nurses her sick mother, looks after her little sisters and saves the hens whose eggs they need to eat. She does the work of a grown-up because her family needs her. Love at home shows itself in plain chores done for others.

  • Name three things Abbie did to take care of her family during the storm.
  • Why were the hens so important to the family?

• A father's trust

  Captain Burgess trusts Abbie with the most important work on the island, and every night from far away he looks for her lights. When he comes home, he tells her that the lights told him his family was safe. Abbie's faithful work answers her father's trust.

  • How did Captain Burgess know his family was all right while he was gone?
  • How do you think Abbie felt when her father came home and said he was proud of her?

Context

In the 1850s lighthouses along the American coast were lit by oil lamps that had to be filled, trimmed and watched through every night, and keepers' families often lived beside them and shared the work. Matinicus Rock, a treeless ledge at the outer edge of the Maine islands, had two light towers and a keeper's house and could be cut off from the mainland for weeks by winter storms. The real Abbie Burgess (1839-1892) was about sixteen in January 1856, when her father Samuel Burgess went to Rockland for supplies and a great gale kept him away for weeks; the house was wrecked by the sea, the family sheltered in a tower, and Abbie kept the lights going.

Composition

Peter and Connie Roop, both teachers in Appleton, Wisconsin, wrote the book for children just beginning to read history on their own, using short sentences and simple words and adding an author's note about the real Abbie. Carolrhoda Books of Minneapolis published it in 1985 in the Carolrhoda On My Own series, about forty pages long, with watercolor illustrations by Peter E. Hanson. It remains in print from Lerner Publishing Group in the On My Own History series.

Reception

The book was chosen as a Reading Rainbow feature book; the episode has the actress Sada Thompson reading the story while LeVar Burton tours a modern lighthouse. Booklist praised the Roops for turning a fascinating true story into simple language and noted the quality of Hanson's watercolors, and School Library Journal called it an exciting account of a young girl's courage. It is one of the best-known easy-reader history books on an American heroine and a frequent choice for early-grades history and read-aloud.

Comparisons

• the-bears-on-hemlock-mountain

  Both books put a child alone in charge of a real task in a winter emergency, Jonathan the borrowed iron pot and Abbie the lighthouse lamps, and both end with a father's return and pride.

• the-courage-of-sarah-noble

  Another true-based early-grades story of a girl who must be brave far from home: Sarah keeps house for her father in the Connecticut wilderness, Abbie keeps the lights for her father on a rock in the sea.

• carry-on-mr-bowditch

  Both draw on the New England sea and its dangers: Nathaniel Bowditch made navigation safer with his charts and tables, while Abbie keeps the light that ships steer by off the Maine coast.

• little-house-in-the-big-woods

  Laura's family and Abbie's both live far from town and must be ready for long winters on their own, with children sharing the real work of the household.

Quotes

For Students

A reading companion for classical Christian high school students. See the student guide.

Reading Guide

Watch for

• The words Abbie's father says before he sails away. Notice how the title of the book comes from them.
• The two lighthouse towers. Count how many times Abbie climbs them and what she does at the top.
• The three hens, Hope, Patience and Charity. Watch what happens to them when the big waves come.
• The ending. Listen for how Captain Burgess knew all along that his family was safe.

Key terms and names

Lighthouse

A tall tower with a bright light at the top that warns ships away from rocks at night. Matinicus Rock has two of them.

Keeper

The person whose job is to look after a lighthouse and keep its lamps lit. Abbie's father is the keeper, and Abbie takes his place.

Matinicus Rock

The small, rocky island far out in the sea off Maine where Abbie's family lives and keeps the lights.

Wick

The strip of cloth in an oil lamp that soaks up the oil and burns. Abbie has to trim the wicks so the lamps burn brightly.

Mainland

The large land of Maine across the water from the island. Captain Burgess sails there to the town of Rockland for supplies.

Storm

Strong wind with high waves and snow. The storm in this book lasts so long that Abbie's father cannot sail home for weeks.

Seminar Questions

1. Comprehension Why did Captain Burgess have to sail to the mainland?
2. Comprehension What did Abbie have to do at the top of the towers each night?
3. Comprehension How did Abbie save the hens, and what almost happened to her?
4. Interpretation Abbie was tired and the storm was scary. What do you think helped her keep going night after night?
5. Interpretation Why do you think her father trusted Abbie with the lights instead of doing something else?
6. Interpretation How was Abbie like a mother to her sisters while her father was gone?
7. Big Question Abbie kept the lights burning for sailors she never met. Why is it good to help people who will never thank us?

Faith Connections

• Matthew 25:1-13 (Scripture)

  In Jesus' parable, the wise virgins keep oil ready so their lamps are burning when the bridegroom comes. Abbie keeps the lighthouse lamps full of oil and burning until her father comes home.

• Matthew 5:14-16 (Scripture)

  Jesus tells his followers that they are the light of the world and that a light is meant to be set up high where all can see it. Abbie's lights shine from the towers so that every ship at sea can see them.

• Psalm 107:23-30 (Scripture)

  The psalm tells of sailors tossed by a great storm who cry to the Lord, and he calms the waves and brings them to the harbor they wanted. Children can read it alongside Abbie's long storm and her father's safe return.

• Philip P. Bliss, Let the Lower Lights Be Burning (hymn, 1871) (Great Conversation)

  This gospel hymn pictures Christians as the lights along the shore that guide struggling sailors safely into harbor. It fits a story about a girl who kept a real light burning through the storm.

Logic and Rhetoric

Central argument: Ships at sea need the lighthouse lights to stay off the rocks. Abbie's father has left her in charge and cannot come back. So if Abbie does not keep the lamps burning, no one will, and sailors could be lost. Abbie does the work every night, and the proof that she was faithful is that her father could see the lights from far away and know that all was well.

Rhetorical device: repetition. The book returns again and again to the same night-time tasks, climbing, filling, trimming and scraping, so young readers feel how long the storm lasted and how tired Abbie became.

Debate: Resolved: Abbie was right to run out into the storm to save the hens.

Writing Prompts

Essay: Write about three ways Abbie was brave during the storm. Tell what she did and why it mattered for her family or for the ships.

Comparison with The Bears on Hemlock Mountain: Abbie and Jonathan were both left to do a big job alone in winter. Tell what each one had to do, what was scary, and how each father showed he cared at the end.

Medical Lens

Medicine appears only at the edges of the story. The keeper's wife is ill with an unnamed sickness, and the father's voyage is partly to fetch medicine from Rockland, a reminder that an island lighthouse family of the 1850s had no doctor within reach and depended on whatever remedies could be carried out by boat. Day-to-day nursing falls to a teenage daughter. As the storm drags on, food runs short and the hens' eggs matter for survival; historical accounts of the real 1856 storm describe the family living for a time on very small daily rations of cornmeal mush and eggs, though the book itself does not give exact amounts. Abbie's exhaustion from repeated night climbs and broken sleep is shown plainly but not medicalized.

• Opening pages

  Abbie's mother is sick, and her father sets out for the mainland partly to bring back medicine.

  Nursing Caregiving
• Middle of the book, during the storm

  Abbie nurses her mother and cares for her sisters while also tending the lamps through the night.

  Nursing Caregiving
• Late in the storm

  Food runs low and Abbie grows worn out from weeks of broken sleep and hard work.

  Starvation Nutrition

Creative Prompts

• Classroom

  Turn off the classroom lights, hold up a single flashlight, and talk about how a sailor on a dark sea would look for Abbie's lights on Matinicus Rock.

• Classroom

  Make a picture chart of Abbie's night: fill the lamps, trim the wicks, scrape the ice, check on Mother, and climb the tower again.

• Fiction

  Tell the storm from the point of view of Patience the hen: what was it like to be carried to safety by Abbie as the waves came over the rock?

• Dialogue

  Act out Captain Burgess stepping off his boat after the storm and telling Abbie what he saw every night from the mainland.

Further Reading

• Buttons for General Washington, Peter and Connie Roop

  Another true story by the Roops for beginning readers, about a boy who carries secret messages during the American Revolution.

• The Little Red Lighthouse and the Great Gray Bridge, Hildegarde H. Swift

  A picture-book classic about a small lighthouse on the Hudson River that still has an important job to do.

• Birdie's Lighthouse, Deborah Hopkinson

  A picture book, inspired by stories like Abbie's, about a keeper's daughter on a Maine island who keeps the light lit when her father falls ill.