Watertown weekly leader. [volume] (Watertown, Jefferson County, Wis.) 1906-1908, 1907-11-29

NEWPORT, X. l., Nov. 22.-Ida Lewis,
the lifesaver of Lime Rock lighthouse
has been further honored. This time it
is Andrew Carnegie who has taken no.
tice of her, and he has advised her that
he has placed her name on his private
pension list at the rate of $50 a month
Bravest Woman in America
Away out on the end of Viewpoints
pOcky cliffs, where great waves break in
eessantly against the rocks, lives Ida
Lewis, the aged keeper of the Lime Rock
Light, who has been singled out by the
Society of the American Cross of Honor
as the braveSt woman in America, and
so entitled to wear its cross, says writ
er in the New York World, who visited
her home a few days ago.
After clambering up the rocky trail.
the newspaper man knocked at the door
1t was opened by bright-faced little
woman, her hands covered with dough,
her apron whitened with flour, but with
a happy, kindly smile.
Il had received a letter from some
society, telling me that l was brave. or
something Of that kind she said, but
| get so many letters from all kinds of
people that | did not pay any attention
to it. So they say I'm brave''-and she
laughed merry, musical laugh.
Tells of Her Rescues.
When asked to tell of her rescues she
said:
''All l can say is that l have made
eighteen from before the war to 1896.
But | don't care anything for records.
If [ saw you III there'-and she pointed
out into the raging surf-''and your boat
had capsized, | would go to your res
cue.
Il was asked to take a medal last
year, but | refused it. | pulled a wom-
Of h., afr C. Tow.
name was Miss Walker. She was
dressed so handsomely that | was very
sorry for her. Her friends came and
told me a lot of nice things, and that |
must have a Carnegie medal, l told
them l did not care about medals
Then a committee waited on me and |
refused to accept any medal. 1t was no
rescue; nothing like the others, and l
never even numbered it among the res
cues | had made"
She related that it was a summer visi-
tor who had been capsized in a boat,
and she went out in her boat and res
cued her.
sThey told me she would have
drowned had | not pulled her out, but
| did not care anything about that. 1t
did not seem to me to be a rescue, so
| refused the medal. | would try to
save any one who vas out there. That
is all there is to it.
Il used to keep clippings of the res
cues, but people borrowed them one by
one, and though they promised to re
turn them, they seldom did, and they
are all gone. l was very sorry to lose
them, but | never took the trouble to re-
place them.
Lives Contented Life.
Il do not know the names of those
whom I rescued, except Sergt. Adams,
whom [ rescued III 1869 The others
used to write to me from time to time,
but [ guess they have all gone now. L
don't get letters from &Tzy of them, nor
do they visit me now.
Il have always been troubled with
weak lungs, and | guess it is Lime Rock
that has kept me alive and well 50
many years. | just love the old light
and the sea breeze that blows here and
lashes the sea into such fury against
the rocks. Ii is all my life, and l
don't suppose l could be cOntented any
where else"
Here she took two well-browned pies
out of the oven and resumed her work
at the pastry board.
Few women of the country are held
in greater reverence at Newport than
Ida Lewis Wilson. She has tended" the
light for fifty years. Her hair is but
slightly tinged with gray. She is of me-
dunn height, we'll formed, but inclined
to be frail. She cleans, oils and runs
the light that warns mariners off this
dangerous ledge, and never have mari
ners found it dimmed.
Politicians often tried to get her job
as keeper Of the light until Congress
finally passed an act appointing her
keeper for life.
Although seventy years of age, her
cheeks are tinged with color and her
eyes are as bright, and alert as those
of a young girl.