The L'Anse sentinel. (L'Anse, L.S., Mich.) 18??-current, 1894-06-02
Grace Darling, Jr.

Roxy humphrey, the nshermans
little daughter, was 12 years old, and
as brave lassie as any fathers heart
could desire. She loved to watch the
clouds as they foated low over the
cottage, and when storm was brew
ing, Roxy was always the first one to
see it approaching.
One night after the sun had set in
clear sky, she noticed great banks Of
dark clouds creeping up above the
horizon.
"There will be storm tonight"
she said to herself, as she watched the
black masses looming up higher and
higher.
Her father was not expected home
that night, and her mother was ill
not able even to look after baby Paul.
while Susie, Dick, Ruth and wee Davie
were all tucked snugly away in their
snowy beds before the clouds began
to show their ragged edges. For a
while all was painfully silent, then
the wind began to rise; gust after
gust came rushing by; it whistied
round the little cottage for few min
utes and then went roaring and
shrieking along like a herald of dis
tress.
Roxy thought of her father far out
on the sea, and hoped that he had
seen the storm coming in time to run
into shelter higher up the coast, as he
sometimes did in times of danger. She
tried to think of him as safe and
happy, but in spite of her faith in his
han -
quivered every time the wind rocked
the house. She finally lay down on
the cot by her mothers bed, but
though she closed her eyes to shut out
the lightning, she could not sleep.
Ten. eleven, twelve, the clock in
the kitchen chimed out merrily, and
then, clear and distinct, above the
roar of the thunder, came the boom of
the signal gun. Roxy sprang to her
feet, for the firing was in the direc-
ton of Witches Kettles, as the swirl
ing waters around these murderous
rocks were called. The little girl,
trembling from head to foot, crawled
quietly up to the attic window to see
If she could discover the cause of the
distress signal Yes; huge black
something stood out in the darkness
and storm-stood where the white
foam leaped and curled, as IL boiling
and seething around the rocks. She
knew the direction of those PREACHER
Gus rocks too we'll to be mistaken.
1t was surely a ship! There she lay,
and again that boom of distress came
across the dark, turbulent waters.
Roxy could now see people moving
about the rocks, and hoped the men
in the village could hear, and go out
in strong boat to their rescue. But
no; boom! boom! shrieked the signal
gun at shorter and shorter intervals;
their need was more pressing, their
peril more certain; still no human
forms were to be seen hurrying along
the lonely coast, ready to push off to
their rescue. No help, and that cry
of distress became more urgent, more
agonizing. The strong men sleeping
so soundly in the village below ought
to be aroused. but who could do it?
Was it her duty to go down and alarm
them?
It was not so much the half mile
journey along the cliff as leaving her
sick mother alone with the slumber-
ing children, that this brave daughter
dreaded. She might wake Dick, but
he was too timid to go. and too weak
to leave in charge of the restless
mother. Still, il her father were out
in the storm. she would be glad to
know that some little girl was strong
enough to wake others to go to his
help.
ut must be done, and am the only
one able to do it," she said to herself.
The next minute she was out in the
binding rain, cropping her way in the
darkness alone. AS soon as she
reached the first cottage, she knocked
loudly at the door, and called:
"a ship in distress out at Witches
Kettles! Do be quick, Mr.. Jack, for
they have been firing gun this long,
long time. oh, do hurryr
"a ship goin' down and Jack Jones
sound asleep In his bed? A pretty
man am, to be sure, to have wee
maiden walk half mile along dan.