The Sedalia weekly bazoo. [volume] (Sedalia, Mo.) 187?-1904, 1884-04-22
GRACE DARLING.
Some Points in the Biography OF
the Modest English Heroine.
From Notes and Queries.

In the Lord Mayors show OF 1888
was the boat in which Grace Darling
and her father went out TO the wrec';
of the Fortarshire and rescued the
nine survivors, at dayb -eak on Fri
day, September Z, 1889. This boat
is stout fishing cobIe, built for halt
a dozen oars and it looks as strong
as ever. 1t was on view all last sum-
me, at the Fisheries exhibition at
South Kensington and on November 9
it was carried through London streets,
high on wheeled truck, drawn by a
team of noble cart-horses and guarded,
as Was right and proper, by British
sailors. Where is this boat now? Is
it Fept safe and in honor, as such a
relic should be? But for Its history, IL
would long ago have been sold among
other old stores, by the Trinity hOdee;
and perhaps it was SD sold and bought
bv some private owner. One would
like 10 know this; and still more
should like to know how much of
that heroic story of forty-five years
ago was 10 the minds of The lockers
on. 1t is only the simple story of all
English peasant girl of three-and-
twenty, who had lived for twelve
years with her parents on the lonely
Longstone island, and who, after that
night of tempest, persuaded her father,
the lighthouse man, 10 row ont with
her, across mile Of stormy sea. to
the dangerous rock on which, through
his telescope. few perishing homan
beings could be seen. She did it;
and she hro1g,3f every ore Of them
lfe back with her. That IS all but
it is one of those stories that men do
ot:wilIingly let die.
She, Grace Darling, was born at
scarborough, on November "a, 1915,
the seventh child of William Darling
and Thomason Horsely, his wife.
These details learn from a poor bur
genuine little anonymous memoir of
her, published at Berwick.upon-Tweed
1913, just after her death, which little
memoir also tells NE that during those
five years Of her fame, 1888 10 1913,
she steadily refused to quit her par
ents or her island and went on living
there as quietly and simply as before.
She was a devout, courageous girl
comedy and sincere and silent. She
has, says good old William Hewitt,
tae most gentle. quiet, amiable look
and sweetest smile that [ ever saw in 2
person of her station and appearance.
You see she is thoroughly good crea-
ture. When Lloyd's agent, his name
was Sinclair, and he deserves to be
remembered for her sake, went out 10
the LOngstone ne said to her: Well.
Grace we'll surely be able to get you
a silk gown for this, and she said !:
Do you think so, sir? with perfect
simplicity. Silk gowns came in plen-
ty; silver teapots came, and notes of
thanks and coin to the amount of
seven hundred pounds, and visitors
from afar, yes even from St. Peters
burg. But, as my. little pamphlet
truly says, she "never for a moment
forgot the modest dignity Of conduct
which became her sex and station"
Large sums of money We're offered to
her by London managers if she would
but come aud sit in a boat at their
theatres, and men far above her sent
her proposals of marriage But she
was not professional beauty" so
she declined the stage-she was not a
successful murderesS, therefore she
refused to marry in that way. Never
theless, when consumption attacked
her, and she was carried to her native
scarborough to die, | perceived
among the crowds at her funeral
there was "certain young man from
Durham, who is said to have cher
ished an ardent affection for the la
lJented deceased" Him she might
hBve welded had she lived.
| do not know whether there is any
monument to her in marlborough
churchyard, nor whether St. Cuth-
bert's chapel on Houselands, the
largest of the Farne Islands. was ever
bulls, as some had proposed, in men,
DRY of her. Perhaps a new cha pei
was not wanted for the old one bril-
by the monks, was destroyed eng ago
by Protestant monarch whose name
We all revere, and since his tire, says.
my pamphlet, there has been no pub
lie celebration of divine worship upon
the island.