This  little  book  describes  with
accuracy  the  actual  life  of  one  of  the
to-be-forgotten  millions.  Is  this  life
a  true  American  type  ?  If  it  is,
there  is  good  hope  for  our  country.
John   Gilley    was    born    February

22,  1822,  at  the  Fish  Point  on  Great

Cranberry    Island,    Maine,    whither

his    mother,   who    lived    on    Baker's

4


JOHN    GILLEY

Island,  had  gone  to  be  confined  at
the  house  of  Mrs.  Stanley,  a
midwife.  Baker*s  Island  lies  nearly
four  miles  from  the  island  of  Mount
Desert.  It  is  a  roundish  island,  a
little  more  than  half  a  mile  long
from  north  to  south,  and  a  little
less  than  half  a  mile  wide  from  east
to  west.  At  low  tide  it  is  connected
with  another  much  larger  island,
called  Little  Cranberry,  by  a  reef  and
bar  about  a  mile  long;  but  by  half-
tide  this  bar  is  entirely  covered.
Almost  all  the  coasting  vessels
which  come  from  the  westward,
bound  to  the  Bay  of  Fundy  or  to
the  coast  of  Maine  east  of  French-
man's Bay,  pass  just  outside  of  Bak-
er's Island;  and,  as  this  island  has
some  dangerous  ledges  near  it,  the
5


JOHN    GILLEY

United  States  built  a  lighthouse  on
its  highest  part  in  the  year  1828.
The  island  has  no  good  harbor ;  but
in  the  summer  small  vessels  find  a
safe  anchorage  on  the  north  side  of
it,  except  in  easterly  storms.  The
whole  shore  of  the  island  is  bare
rock,  and  the  vegetation  does  not
approach  the  ordinary  level  of  high
water,  the  storm-waves  keeping  the
rocks  bare  far  above  and  behind  the
smooth-water  level  of  high  tide.
There  are  many  days  in  every  year
when  it  is  impossible  to  land  on  the
island  or  to  launch  a  boat  from  it.
