The Hancock Jeffersonian. [volume] (Findlay, Ohio) 1857-1870, 1869-05-07


But the fierce southeast gale was too
much for them, the boat began tt
swamp rapidly, they could not regair
the shore, and were staring death il
, the face, when the fearless Ida went
to their relief, carried them and the
skiff to land, and then went out and
saved the sheep. In the remaining
instance, it seems that fine looking
but reckless young fellow, stole {
large sail boat from one of the wharves
one winter evening and put to sea
with it. but the gale drove the craft
upon the Little Lime Rock,' about
mile from the light, where it sunk,
leaving the unlucky thief clinging to
the halylards from midnight till dawn,
when the heroine reached and picked
him up. "There he was,' says Miss
Lewis, in relating the incident, "shak-
ing, and God-blessing me, and beg
ging to be set on shore, and the last
| saw of him he was crawling up the
wharf on his hands and knoes."
The heroism of Grace Darling was
the result of single noble impulse !;
the bravery of Ida Lewis is part other
daily life. Sixteen years ago, the light
on Lime Rock was established, and
Hosea Lewis, a veteran ex revenue
pilot, familiar with the coast from
Halifax to Norfolk. became It's keeper
on the sth day of December, 1888 -
The southern line of the harbor makes
a wide, deep-angled sweep, with the
city on one side, Fort Adams, two
miles off on the opposite point, and
Lime Rock midway. between, about
800 yards from the shore. The rock
commands the widest view of the har-
Dor, and upon it the keeper lived
alone for three years and halt. Then
a substantial, square, two story brick
house was built, in June, 1857, and
his family joined him. -Four months
later, a stroke of paralysis disabled
him from all work, and ever since, his,
eldest daughter, Ida, has been the
main-stay of the family. 1t was she
who cared for her father, and light
ened her mothers toll, and watched
over her younger sister Harriet. and
rowed her brothers Rudolph and HO
sea to school, and eked out the light
keepers slender plttance with her
needle and other feminine labors, and
acw TO the rescue ofimperiled life with
an instructive courage that wonld not
let her worst enemy sink without
risking her life to save him.
In personal appearance this New
port heroine scarcely attalns the aver
AGE height of women, is remarkably
slender, and would be thought much
nearer twenty than twenty-seven =
Light brown hair, blue eyes, keen but
kind, and cheeks pink-flushcd though
not round enough for beauty, attract
one to a woman whose quick smile and
frank and friendly manner more than
excuse the inevitable educational def
ciencies which such 4 life must always
entail. No one can talk with her
without believing her rs unseltsh as
she is fearless, and the fame her hero
ism has created seems simply to amuse
her, without exciting the least vanity.
So little has she thought of her own
deeds that, when first asked, she had
to spend much time in consideration
before she could tell how many lives
she had saved.
Her father is still a sOciable and
pleasant old gentlemen, able to walk
a little, but spending most of the wax
ing hours in his char. Mrs. Lewis is
free-spoken and hospitable matren,
devoted to her family, to her four
story papers, Bonner's Ledger Is one,
and to the care of the lamp whose
flame has glistened across the harbor
from sunset TO sunrise these many
years with as sure and untailing ray
as CLEANS from any light upon the
American coast. Rudolph Is young
sailor of twenty three, now absent on
voyage, and ''Hosey" (Hosea) Is
twenty and teamster in Newport
Hattie is only seventeen, and possesses
wealth of personal attractions that
many a fair Fifth avenue girl might
envy Both the sisters indulge in
rings and ear-drops, and other vanities
dear to the female heart, and when
they have recourse to the treasures OF
their wardrobe, accumulated chiefly
bv Ida's industry, they might easily be
y g 1omsals of hiph deoree
The house in which they live is
whitewashed till it glistens like snow,
and everything is kept scrupulously
clean. The rock itself is jagged pile
less than an acre in extent, divided by
a channel, which is bare at low tide.
and so utterly barren that not blade
of grass will grow upon it. A mis-
chieyous black poodle, two rabbits,
three plump eats (who made an end
to all rats and mice long ago), a couple
of turkeys and dozen common fowls
give quite a Robinson Crusoe air to
the place. The tide rises here about
seven feet, and the highest point of
rock is seventeen feet above that line
On the landward side is long, high
pier, capped with fifteen massive blocks
of stone, and here, swinging from the
derrick, or rocking on the tide, may
he seen the small square sterned, well
worn Government boat, black without
and white and green within, which
Miss Lewis has learned to row so well