A NEW GRACE DARLING.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 9092, 23 November 1907, Page 3

A NEW GRACE DARLING.

I__g_it__-t.se Keeper Saves Eighteen

Lives.

Not the least notable of the inhabitants of Newport, America's fashionable seaside summer resort, is the woman lighthouse-keeper, Miss Ida Lewis, who hae for twenty-eight years vigilantly kept alight the beacon on the Lime Rock, off the harbour. This summer it has been the proper thing for the "cottagers" from New York to make a boating-party visit to the lighthouse for a chat with the " Grace Darling of America," as she is called. Last March (says the "Evening Standard" correspondent) Miss Lewis celebrated her sixty-eighth birthday, and the jubilee of her becoming a resident of the rock. Her father was the keepter of the light, which guards the south end of the harbour, but for seventeen years was a paralytic. His daughter performed the duties of keeper in his behalf, and, through an Act of Congress, was appointed to succeed bim, being the only woman to hold 6uch a position. The Newport folk are justly proud of their Grace Darling, who has saved eighteen lives from the isea. She was only twenty when, one summer evening, just after dark, she heard from the lighthouse the cries of four young men, sons of prominent Newport summer residents, whose catboat had capsized. She rowed to their rescue, and after much effort saved them all The garrison at Fort Adams is similarly deeply indebted to her,, for she has at different times saved five soldiers from drowning. Her heroism has been acknowledged by Congress, which awarded her a gold medal. General Grant, General Sherman and Admiral Dewey have been among her distinguished visitors, delighting to do her honour. Newport itself, nearly forty years ago, presented her with a rowboat, and in it drew Miss Lewis through the streets to the old City Hall, where she received the public thanks of the State of Rhode Island and the city for the rrscues she made with such daring and clever seamanship. America's Grace Darling still displays mental and physical vigour, and maintains the reputation of the lighthouse as being one of the best managed on the coast.