Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1869-04-22

site point, and Lime Rock midway be-
tween, about 800 yards from the shore.
\ The rock commands the widest view OF
the harbor, and upon it the keeper lived
alone for three years and half. Then
a substantial, square, two-story brick
house was built, in June, 1857, and his
family Joined him. Four months later,
4 q stroke Of paralysis disabled him from
4 all work, and ever since, his eldest
4 daughter, Ida, has been the main-stay
ofthe family. 1t was she who cared for
i her father, and lighten'ed her mothers
toll, and watched over her younger sis
ter Harriet, and rowed her brothers
Rudolph and Hosea to school, and eked
out the light keepers slender pittance
with her needle and other feminine la
bOrs, and flew to the rescue of imperiled
1 life with an instructive courage that
! would not let her worst enemy sink
without risking her life to save him.
1 In personal appearance this Newport
heroine scarcely attains the average
height of women, is remarkable slender,
and would be thought much nearer
twenty than twenty-seven. Light brown
thair, blue eyes,. keen but kind, and
cheeks pink-fiushed, though not round
enough for beauty, attract one to wo-
man whose quick smile and frank and
friendly manner more than excuse the
ineyitableeduca aldefciencies which
such life must always entail. No one
can talk with her without believing her
as unselfish as she is fearless, and the
fame her heroism 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 has to spend much time
in consideration before she could tell
how many lives she had saved.
aE Her father is still sociable and pleas
ant old gentleman, able to walk little,
but spending most of the waking hours
in his chair. Mrs. Lewis is a free-spoken
and hospitable matron, 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 barber from sunset to sunrise
these many years with as sure and un-
| failing ray as CLEANS from any light
upon the American coast, Rudolph is
a young sailor of twenty-three, now
absenton voyage, and "Hosey" Hosea)
| is twenty and a teamster in Newport
Hattie is only seventeen, and possesses
a wealth Of personal attractions that
many a fair Fifth avenue girl mighs
envy. Both the sisters indulge in rings
and ear-drops, and ether vanities dear
to the female heart, and when they
have recourse to the treasures of their
ward robe, accumulated chiefly by Idas
industry, they might easily be mistaken
for damsels of high degree.
The house in which they live is white
washed till it glistens like snow, and
every thing is kept scrupulously clean.
The rock itself is a jagged pile less than
an acre in extent, divided by channel,
xvln;ala 10 hcr OF nd ,rft
barren that not blade ofgrass will grow
upon. it,. A mischievous black poodle,
two rabbits, three plump cats (who
made an end to all rats and mice long
ago., 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 hier, capped with fifteen
massive blocks of stone, and here, swing
ing from the derrick, or rocking on the
tide may be seen the small square,
sturned, well worn Government boat,
black without and white and green
within, which Miss Lewis has learned |
to row so we'll that even the brawny
boatman of the hLrbor concede her su-
perior skill, and with which most of her |
rescues have been achieved. sell
"A portrait of the American Grace Dar-
ling, and a picture oil one of her ploits,
were Published two years ago in an
illustrated newspaper and many requests
for photographs ensued. More than one
romantic gentleman tried to pursuade
her 10 change her name for his, and
fOunda a friend indeed, but ne wife. Two
brothefs seafaring men, Black Rock,
G enn., with more success, and tits quite
probable that both the sisters may be
married before another spring. I'D a-i.-
1t is worth nothing, perhaps, that Miss
Lewis is rightfully entitled to the ex-
"Idawalley Zoradia, which she inherits
from the quaint fancy of her maternal
grandfather, an estimable but eccen-
trio Block Island physician. This name,
however, she has wisely discarded, and
writes herself simply Ida" .a. .r-.
In France or England, such a heroine
would have long since received many
and substantial testimonials q
but scarcely any gifts were made to
Miss Lewis until the two soldiers, res
cued on the 29th of March, insisted on
her accepting gold watcha and chain of
Swiss manufacture, valued at 500. l..
Prang, the Boston chrome publisher,
sent her, last week, kind letter and
half a dozen choice pictures. John Car
ter Brown, Esq, of Providence, and
John Auchincloss, ESQ.,, of New York,
have each sent her check for $25; and
Boston gentleman transmitted her, last
Friday, the sum of$100. An active New
port citizen, oflong salt water experience,
is rapidly raising, in that city and Prov
idence, subscription of $135, for the
building of cedar life-boat, to be fin
shed in the fineststyle, by one the best
Newport builders, and painted white
with a guilt stripe. It is almost certain .
that this will be completed and present.
I'd to Miss Lewis within. few weeks.
Another energetic citizen meditates
raising a fund for her benefit, this sea-
son, from the summer visitors at New
port. and one or two private enterprises
If moment for her benefit are also in
progress. 6
In the opinion of the best judges, no 6
ruer or more fearless heroine that Ida 6
Lewis ever found place in the annals of J
my humane society on either side of the
Atlantic, and none mere unselfish ever !
eceived honors from those whose posi- t
ion or wealth unables them to crown }
neritorOus acts with suitable rewards. /
What the Women VIII Do.
rom the Revolution. .....
Women have been listening, think ;.
ng, studying Philosophy, Hebrew,
1reek, first principles, and when they
ranslate the Bible for themselves We &
l..