The Grange advance. [volume] (Red Wing, Minn.) 1873-1877, 1875-07-06


Lady Franklln--F aithful Even After,5,
zas..#&=Ss.@ s Death. S@ s
There:is something both touching and
appropriate in the petition of Lady
Franklin, lying in dangerous and perhaps
mortal illness, for the prayers of the
American people. It was an American
expedition which brought to an end her
terrible and long lingering suspense
From McClintock and his brave com
rades she at least learned that not to be
doubted news that her gallant and heroic
husband had persisted amid the icy mys-
teries of the farthest north. Lady Frank
lin did not need this proof of American
interest in her life spurpose and hearts
work: her sufferings, her noble heroism,
her untiring energy, her uncowed spirit,
have always received Cur warmest sympa-
thies. Surely her appeal will be answer
ed, if not in the churches,-where per-
haps it will beat least in thousands Of
hearts impressed with the beauty of her
devotion throughout the land. The old
classic tales of wifely fidelity and self.sac.
rifce almost pale before her heroic search
for, her husbands fate for more than
thirty years. Left alone at an age when
it is proper to be joyous, and excusable
to be giddy and forgetful, she has passed
early and later youth, womanly pride,
and oncoming age in; this constant, heart
wringing, yet undismayed pursuit. The
pleasures, the ambitions of life were afar
off from her; her soul dwe't in the grim
solitudes of ice deserts; her spirit was in
the vague regions where there is nothing
Of vegetation, where an awful and eternal
silence reigns, but where, also, she be.
lieved that her hero husband, dead OF
alive, must be. We may guess that for
long years there dwelt hope in her heart
that Sir John was yet alive; that he had
somehow escaped, perhaps, FROM the vast
ice prison; that he had passed, by
perilous wanderings, and it might be5<by
shipwreck, far beyond the north, and
been thrown upon some remote but hos.
pitable land, where grasses grew, and men
could live. ..,s%[@@a#> At at = y : : y
Then came the truth, that the vestiges
of Franklin and his men had been found,
vestiges which left no doubt of their41den-
tity, or Of the long ago accomplished late
Of the voyagers. Certainly, even the
saddest is better than narrowing sus-
pense; and Lady Franklin was as heroic
under the sure bereavement as she had
borne up nobly while there was still hope.
Franklin:must indeed have been a noble
man toehave inspired such devotion in
the hearts of two self-sacrifcing wives.
Ills frstwife, Eleanor Porden, lay NOR.
tally i'll when he set out on his second
Arctic expedition in 1926. He offered to
remain till she was we'll but she begged
I him to proceed on his voyage, and placed
in his handsa silk flag, which she asked
him to hoist in the Polar Sea. He sailed
and the day after his gentle young wife
died. He returned in three years to wed
Jane, Griffin, the lady who is now
known , as Lady Franklin; the
story r of her devotion is
household words in both countries. What
she has suffered, none can tell; that: she
has suffered nobly, all men have seen
Andsnow at last, after long, weary wait
ling, and when she had passed the psalm
lists limit of three score and ten by five
Years, it may bethat her life's desire i:
1 shout to be granted her, and that sht
sIsWill ere long, rejoin her long -lost here
lind husband. Should she pass away, il
70 BE hoped that her memory will b,
J E1l1,onored BY memorial in England
n grsnd eldmausoleum, dedicated to kings
Inobi es,aets and heroes; for none lie i,
4 estmiaster Abbey more worth " 70 b,
Remembered for heroism and fidelity tia,
Lady Frank Her story will be 70
finance and an example to future genera
tions Of the young, and her name will be
come the duplication Of wifely virtues