Vermont watchman and State journal. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1836-1883, 1871-02-22
A Story of Hcroism in Humble Life.


The 9th Of October, 1857 will be long
remembered among the Labrador fishermen.
On that day an awful hurricane ragged along
the coast. The sea rose in many pades if-
ty feet higher than it had ever been known
to rise before. Cliffs that had stood the buff
feting of the waves without perceptible
change for half a century, gave way before
the furious rush of the watery battaons.-
Huge boulders that dozen men could not
move were hurled from their beds, and car
ried far inland by the mighty swing Of the
ocean. Binding snoW-drtts and showers Of
hail and rain accompanied the tempest. In
few hours thirty fshiLs vessels were ashore or
swallowed up in the boiling surges. Fifteen
hundred human beings were shipwrecked,
and about forty of these met a watery grave,
or persisted by cold and hunger on the inhos-
pitable coast. The product Of months Of hard
toll was swept away, and the poor fishermen
found themselves flung out shelterless upon
the rocks, hundreds Of miles from home.
One of the fishing vessels, with a large
number Of men, women and children on board,
was caught in the storm, and tried hard to
ride out the hurricane. After a few hours Of
frearful suspense she dragged her anchors and
was driven ashore. With great difficulty all
on board were safely landed. Dreuched with
rain, blinded by the snow drifts, shiyering in
the cutting blasts, they found themselves on
an uninhabited part of the coast, the nearest
huts being nearly five miles distant The
gloomy night closed in as the last Of them was
dragged ashore from the wreck. Their only
hope lay in eudeavoring to reach the distant
huts and in the darkness and storm they
staggered on through the trackless wilderness.
Who can picture the horrors of that night Of
suffering to this forlorn baud When the
morning sun shone out nineteen Of them Jay
dead along the shore \ group Of three wo-
men and two children clasped in one another.
arms aud half buried in mud was found, all
stiff and stark in the icy embrace of death.
| During the darkness and confusion of land
ing, family Of four young children were sep
arated from their parents, who sought ioI
them in vain, and at length gave them up for
lost A boy Of fourteen, hearing the cries Of
these poor little ones, and finding they had nc
guide or protector, resolved to do what he
could to save their lives To reach the hut
with them being impossible, he made the shiy
ering children lie down, locked in one anoth
er's arms; then he set to work rcsolutely
collecting moss, of which fortunately ther,
wasa large quantity about and piing thi
around them, layer upon layer, he at lengtl
succeeded in excluding partially the piercing
cold. Fortunately too, he found on the beacl
the fragment of an old sail which he spreat
over all and collecting more moss he inereas
cd the rude covering until the poor little SUI
ierers ceased to cry with the bitter cold
and declared themselves more comfortable
Through all the dreary hours of that awfu
night that heroic boy stood alone by thes
children, replacing their covering when tn
wind scattered it, and cheering them wit
words of hope He might have tried to es
his helpless charge, At length day dawned
and then he turned his tottering steps toward
the settlement to seek for aid When abou
half way he met the parents of the lost chi
dren, wild with grief coming to search 70
their dead bodies, as they had no ekpectatio
of finding them alive. The young hero qu
city told them what he had done to save then
and by his directions they soon found the spC
where they lay. On removing the coyerin
Of moss, they found the little creatures snu
and warm and in refreshing sleep. WIS
words could picture the wild joy Of fathC
and mother at that sight But alas o
their way back, near the spot whero they ha
parted with him, they found the noble bo
who had saved their children's lives at tn
expense of his own, lying dead. Nature wa
exhausted, after the fatigue and exposure {
the night, and unable to reach the friondl
shelter he sank down and expired.
History has glorilied the names Of thos
who have sacrificed themselves on the alta
of patriotism, or who risked aud lost the
lives in the cause Of humanity. With mois
ened eyes, we have read Of the British sodit
= who thrust the dispatch with which he ha
been entrusted into his wound, caring not thu
he thus invited death, if only he should pr,
vent the important document from falling int
the hands Of the enemy We have all rea
with beating heart the story of "The Mob
Boy" who
-" Stood on the burning deck
Whence all but he had fed"
and preferred death in its most awful form
, a desertion of the post of duty. And if "
/ sympathi1e with these deeds Of unseltsh herr
, ism, shall we not give the tribute Of our a,
miration to the gallant little fisher boy ,
, Newfoundland Picture MIN in that nigl
: of storm, on the savage shore Of Labrado
with the howl of the tempest and the roar {
the broken surges in his ears, as they dashe
themselves to death on the rocks and sand
and, all alone, struggling to save those hell
f less children-refusing to listen to the promp
, ings Of selfpreseryation, and brayely giyin
! up his young life on behalf of others, N