About forty-six years ago a story of English heroism stirred the heart of the world.  Grace Darling was born at Bamborough, on the coast of Northumberland, in 1815, and died in 1842.  Her father was the keeper of the Long-stone Light-house, on one of the most exposed of the Farne islands.  On the night of September 6, 1838, the Forfarshire steamer, proceeding from Hull to Dundee, was wrecked on one of the crags of the Farne group.  Of fifty-three persons on board, thirty-eight perished, including the captain and his wife.  On the morning of the 7th the survivors were discovered by Grace clinging to the rocks and remnants of the vessel, in imminent danger of being washed off by the returning tide.  Grace, with the assistance of her parents, but against their remonstrance, immediately launched a boat and, with her father, succeeded in rescuing nine of them, and six escaped by other means.  Presents and admiration were showered upon her from all parts of the United Kingdom, and a public subscription to the amount of L700 was raised for her.  Among the many poets who sang her praises was Wordsworth, in a poem of considerable length, of which the following is a passage: 

    “Among the dwellers in the silent fields
    The natural heart is touched, and public way
    And crowded street resound with ballad strains,
    Inspired by one whose very name bespeaks
    Favor divine, exalting, human love;
    Whom, since her birth on bleak Northumbrian coast,
    Known unto few, but prized as far as known,
    A single act endears to high and low
    Through the whole land—­to manhood, moved in spite
    Of the world’s freezing cares; to generous youth;
    To infancy, that lisps her praise; to age,
    Whose eye reflects it, glistening through tears
    Of generous admiration.  Such true fame
    Awaits her now; but, verily, good deeds
    Do no imperishable record find
    Save in the roll of heaven, where hers may live
    A theme for angels, when they celebrate
    The high-souled virtues which forgetful earth
    Has witnessed.”

These lines describe equally well Ida Lewis, the heroine of our own country, whose brave deeds have passed into the habit of a life.

Ida Lewis Wilson, for she is now married, is the daughter of Hosea Lewis, who was formerly of the revenue service, became keeper of Lime Rock Lighthouse, in the inner harbor of Newport, R.I.  The lighthouse is situated on one of the small rocks of limestone in that harbor, and is entirely surrounded by water.

From her thirteenth year Ida has resided on the rock.  As the only means of connection with the city of Newport is by water, she early learned the use of oars.  When she was about fifteen years of age she rescued from drowning four boys who had been thrown into the water by the upsetting of their boat near the lighthouse.  During the Winter of 1865-66, on one of the coldest days of that season, she rescued a soldier belonging to Fort Adams, who was clinging to a skiff, which had upset with him and become full of water.  She lifted him out of the water into her own boat and carried him to the lighthouse.