Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1894-05-17

keeper Of Limo Rock light disclosed pen
chant for dashing forth in frail sl,tf
which She propelled with the speed of the
wind, to rescue strong men whom fato
somehow placed at the mercy of the waves
moralists, with a touch of facctiousnCss,
exclaimed, 'Whcrc is the emancipation of
women to Cnd2' for that was long ago,
before some of the attributes attached to
prominent names in the woman CnCy-
clopcdia were coined Charlotte Corday,
Joan of Are and even Grace Darling were
but PARKWAY and altogether unlovely
myths. Woman plying the dagger and
sword was dramatic but horrible to con
template, and woman plying the oar, even
to rescue life, was CuarsCly amalunian.
Whether the outbreak OF the lighthouse
keepers daughter led to that wild siam
pCdc of her sisters over the bars OF consCrv-
alive custom which has been going on
since the sixties is Il question, but Ger
tainly her exploits have served to point
the moral for counties, arguments in favor
of sex emancipation.
As the pioneer life saver and the one
''hcroinc" among lao famous Ameri-
can women Ida Lewis claims "A place in
/ the annals of daring deeds
/ Her first rescue was made in 1859, and
were four young men whose boat was
swampcd in Newport harbor. Ida saw the
disaster from the lighthouse put off in her
sllif and helped the drowning wrctches to
dry land Probably the reason that she
didn't marry one Of the crowd, again No
versng the order of things was her hon
est contempt for a man who couldn t
| swim. The next rescue was that of an in
toXicatcd soldier whose plight was well de
| served. The generous girl not only saved
him, but let him off without II curtain lee
turc on the evils OF drinking. Three able
bodied men were the bencficiarics of her
next exploit Their boat was swampcd
by a sou 'wcstcr which, it seems, had 40
terror for Ida thoroughbred sailor that she
was a he thief overtakcn by a sudden
gale was the next rescue. Ida found him
clinging to the mast of tho wreck, quaking
with fear and praying with all the fcrvor
of a discounted satan.
A stormy day in March, 1869, it was
that revealed the Newport heroine to a
world surfcitcd with contemplation OF
manly exploits on the field of Mars Two
soldiers attempted to cross from Newport
to Fort Adams in IA skiff managed by q
boy. n sudden gale capsizcd the boat, anC
the boy was drowned. Tho soldiers clunl
" INC httl 'tIlNl Ntl' lllldllN t'N W ih'i
} who. as usual, was ON the lookout and pu
off from the rock in her lifcboat, In rec
ogntion of that exploit "a new boat wa
presented her by admiring citizens, ant
: General Grant, then president, made TIN
gift in the name of the donors Jim Fisk
Jr., ordered IA boathOuse built to sheltc
the Rescue and also presented the hero
D inc with n silk flag Sorosis elected her Il
, membership and sent her an elaborate pin
bearing the legend, "Sorosis to Ida Lewis
, Heroine
Ida Lewis name was long ago place,
upon the medal of honor roll of Cncl
Sans life savers She was the first of he
= sex to receive the gold medal, which wa
awarded to her in 1851 Up to tha5 tin,
She had saved l3 lives, and nearly all of tn
70 rcscues had called for great daring am
2 had involved the risk of her own life. He
o. last achievement before receiving the med
= al was the rescue of two members of tn
, United states military band of Fort Ad
% ans They were crossing the harbOr o
e the ice, and when near Lime Rock light
+ house the ice gave way beneath them. Id
{ heard cries for help, seized a line and ia
- TO their aid. There was the double dangC
p of her being pulled into the hole by tn
70 struggling, half frantic men and of tn
e sound ice breaking beneath the combine
/. weight as she stood upon the frail cdo
t hauling ut the shore end of the rope. Sine