The Old Lamplighter

Streetights were lit each evening, generally by means of a wick and put out at dawn using a small hook on the same pole. Another lamplighter duty was to carry a ladder to renew the candles, oil, or gas mantles. In some towns, lamplighters served in a role of watchman. Early gaslights required lamplighters but today a lamplighter is an extremely rare job. There is a long history of the role of a lamplighter-as-lightbringer, a symbolic figure in literature.