Norwich bulletin., 1914-05-06
Special Correspondence

appear the names of twenty N seven woman keepers, all or
 them of beacons that warn eeafaring men of dangerous rocks anu reefs, shoals and bars, upon which the bones of good ships would bleach were the guiding lights or the deep-toned fog bells untended for a night Some day writer will arise who will tell to the world, in fitting words, the story of these women Day after day, night after night in sunshine and in blinding fog, they do the work of strong men, for the merest pittance of a mans wage.
 On All Our Coasts.
 And when the tale is written the world will know that the race of Grace Dar- iings is not yet extinct-that on our own coasts, beside the reefs of our own shores. along the stretches of our great lakes and up and down the waters Of our mighty rivers, our own Grace Oar iings live today, humble, modest, pa- tient, toiling women, whose duty 1t Is to guard the sailor from the hidden, lurking dangers that beset his path, and who count the saving of half score of human lives only as a part of the days work. It was in 1888 that the~world was thrilled by the story of how Grace Dar- ling, the twenty-three-year-old daughter of the keeper of lighthouse on one of the lonely Farne islands. off the coast of England, had rescued nine persons from the wreck of the steamer Forfarshire
 She had been left alone at the light house while her father, too Ill to attend the light, was helpless to go to the aid of those on board the ilI-fated steamer Tn boat which she rowed herself, Grace Darling nIJllad fO I,a xxyrac nd 1, only the assistance of cool members of the Forfarshire's crew, too oil the nine persons and carried them safely to shore.
 Prototypes Live Today.
 For this action Grace Darling was made a popular heroine in England. popu- lar subscription was taken up, andsx flie sum of more than $3,50O was raised which was presented to the young woman who had unhesitatingly yentured her life fin the effort to save others.
 Grace Darling died October 20 Is42. being then only twenty-seven years old. Her deed, that wild day when the For farshire, one of the oldest types of steam vessels. broke to pieces on the rocks of the Farne island, has been made the sub 5ect of song aad story, and great artists have found inspira ton for masterpieces ~~~ ~AS NoA AaiS OL thA5 StslpiS EnSlISh ETH.
 Though the original Grace Darling has long been dead. her prototypes live to- day, and more than one of them is in tne service Of the United States bureau of lighthouses.
 Along the New England seaboard, where
 .,The breaking waves roll high
 on stern and rock bound coast"
 oiaze the lights that are tended by these MnInah keepers of Uncle Sam's beacons " nere the treacherous reefs and snits 1e Tn wait to trap the nayfgafors oS Chesapeake bay you may find fhe Graoa Darnngs Of today. Down among the nsIs metto,ciad met keys of the Florida coast they Leno Ine lamps that burn in the tall white towers And from Caiifornia,s so,,,ra.. most point to the far northwest a1ona Puget sound, their lights and inc s,anaIss ear Ma.cn va. Il. snow the mariner where dan ger pares Its fangs of black rock noasLaa py the writhdng white spu,ne .rS ts . 2 Ioaming breakers. You may. find ,-s, .he Mss;, senoers of lights along the, Ohio and tha tions along the shores of tha eest sta are tended by them s5eat lakes
 What tales of heroism tbaso
 ne moaes. women could tell if they wnI,Id ing heavy hammer ceasaiassas' sWing- urediy striking the notes on tha bi meas Ing peu 70 warn vessels off the rasf .,i : Srowrine er roey ey iog, E. or saving struggling more than dozen times, by sbaa, put and unaided daring, that urr piuck SohgIess unanalifed praise and the medn edn prized more highly than would bau were the adequate wage penurious oeen ment ever denied. Of days of labeer severn se enough to daunt strong men. fn1ior f1or stern nights of ceaseless, unwearied ,t1,Wyed v,s,ye by wild winds roared about fba Mnlie li tower and the thunder of the fo@calng @ th rowneo ,,1d eyen aai thought itself What tales would! But the stories are sti,, T., they iockeo within the bosoms of those v,t, : have lived them, and only hinted at WIG io the formal reports that contain tbn% % lh tory of the governments Ishtbn,,se ms. service. 'house
 Her Dreadful Vigil.
 Today there are twenty-seven of tbess women on the pay roll of the service. Were brave and loyal Ida Lewis alive today the roll would number twenty eight. Of all the woman keepers of the lights she was the most conspicuous, and her death. which occcrrred little more than a year ago, removed from the 9erv- ice a woman whose claim to the title heroine" was established by her record of thirteen lives saved-thirteen men res cued from drowning at sea. Ida Lewis tended light near Newport, R, L., and at the time of her death, when she was in her sixty-ninth year, she was the pos sessor of several congressional medals which at one time and another were vot- ed to her in recognition of her brave deeds.
 At the other side of the continent is another heroine of the lighthouse service who is still living and who still tends her beacon in San Francisco bay. The An gels Island light station is in the direct path of the larger part of the navigation ;. in the bay, and its tender is Mrs. Juliet p. Nichols, widow of Henry 9. Nichols, U. s. N, inspector of lighthouses.
 Besides taking care of the lantern in the top of the tower Mrs. Nichols at