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

Lady Franklin-.Faithful Even After
l.: Death. !.
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. 1t 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 purpose 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 lite were afar
off from her; her soul dwell 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 or
alive, must be. We may guess that for
long years there dwelt a 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 be by
shipwreck, far beyond the north, and
been thrown upon some remote but hos
pitable land, where grasses grew, and men
could live.
Then came the truth, that the vestiges
of Franklin and his men had been found,
vestiges which left no doubt of their lden.
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.
His first wife, Eleanor Porden, lay NOR
tally i'll when he set out on his second
Arctic expedition in 1925. He offered to
remain till she was we'll; but she begged
him to proceed on his voyage, and placed
in his hands 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 of her devotion is
household words in both countries. What
she has suffered, none can tell; that she
has suffered noblv, all men have seen.
And now at last, after long, weary wait.
ing, and when she had passed the psalm.
lists limit of three score and ten by five
years, it may be that her life's desire is
about to be granted her, and that she
will, ere long, rejoin her long-lost hero
land husband. Should she pass away, it
Eis TO be hoped that her memory will be
honored= by memorial in England
grand eldmausoleum, dedicated to kings,
mobiles, Haets and heroes; for none, lie in
WESTMINSTER Abbey more worthy to be
remembered for heroism and fidelity than
Lady Franklin. Her story will be sa ro-
nance and an example to future genera
tions Of the young, and her name will be-
come the Implication of Wifely virtues. .