The St. Johns herald., 1899-09-09
LIFE-sAviNo HEROES.
Thrilling Rescues-Men, Women and
 Children N ho Have Won Medals.


 Children N ho Have Won Medals.
 The Heroes of Peace" celebrated by Gustav Kobbe in the Century, are the volunteer life-savers. Many deeds are recorded that equal the bravest ex- ploits of the battlefield.
 For many years before the United States life-saying service was estab- lished, the Massachusetts Humane So- ciety maintained, along the coast or that State, houses of refuge for ship wrecked sailors, and stations equipped with life-saving apparatus, in charge of keepers, who, when the emergency arose, summoned volunteer crews. This volunteer life-saving service is to render effective assistance to the regular government crews, but Occa- sionally, also, to save life when the nearest United States life-savings sta ton Is too far from the scene of dis aster for its crew to arrive in time. The rivalry between these two corps been most generous. There have been no bickerings, no attempts of one to outwit the other, but a singleness of impulse to serve in the cause of hu- manity. Naturally the gold and silver medals awarded by the United States government for heroism, displayed in saving life, have been more frequent ly bestowed upon members of the regu- h{c de ofn entire seaboard and lake coast, but the volunteer corps has had its share of honor.
 But by far the greater number of medals for heroism displayed in sav- ing life from drowning have been awarded to indiyiduals-people from the most varied walks of life; men of high social position, Western Indians, a Southern negro, pleasure-seekers along the coast, Japanese cabin stew ard, steamboat men, and officers and men of the United States army, navy, and revenue-cutter service. Every sec ton of the country seems to have con- tributed its hero or heroes to the roll of honor. There are also heroines on that roll. A number of women hold silver medals, and two women the gold medal. Silver medals have also been awarded to mere boys and girls for displays of daring far beyond their years. Frederic Kernochan was a lad when he received a silver medal for saving woman from drowning in the .Navesink River, near Highlands, New Jersey; and Marie D. Parsons, a girl of only 10 years when she rescued a child at Fireplace, Long Island. Nor was Edith Morgan, of Hamlin, Mich, much beyond girlhood when she tried, with her father and brother, to row to a vessel capsiZed three miles out Beat en back by the heavy waves, she aided in clearing away the logs and drift wood from the beach so as to make a track for the surf-boat. At previous rescue she had stood for six hours in the snow, hauling at the lifeline, in landing sailors from a wreck.
 Would l could add to this record those unknown heroes-"greater than those who are knOwn"-whOse hero ism lacks human reward because they not only risked but lost their lives in the endeavor to save others. Would there were roll of the unhOnOred and unsung! The medal list is a long one, but the roll of the perished longer. Oc- casionally a memorial like the Brokaw Field at Princeton, which commemor- ates the heroism of Frederick Brokaw, the Princeton student who gave his life to save two servants from drown ing, reminds us of one or another of these sacrifices. But far more ire quently grave in an unfrequented church-yard, or a proud pang in a woman's heart, is the only memorial of the unknown hero."