THE WRECK OF THE STEAMBOAT.


The following narrative teaches a lesson of courage and devotion such as
are seldom read. In one of the light-houses of the desolate Farne Isles,
amid the ocean, with no prospect before it but the wide expanse of sea,
and now and then a distant sail appearing, her cradle hymn the ceaseless
sound of the everlasting deep, there lived a little child whose name
was Grace Darling. Her father was the keeper of the light-house; and
here Grace lived and grew up to the age of twenty-two, her mother's
constant helpmate in all domestic duties. She had a fair and healthy
countenance, which wore a kind and cheerful smile, proceeding from a
heart at peace with others, and happy in the consciousness of
endeavoring to do its duty.

It was at early dawn, one September morning, in the year 1838, that the
family at the Longstone light-house looked out through a dense fog which
hung over the waters. All night the sea had run extremely high, with a
heavy gale from the north, and at this moment the storm continued
unabated. Mr. and Mrs. Darling and Grace were at this time the only
persons in the light-house; through the dim mist they perceived the
wreck of a large steam vessel on the rocks, and by the aid of their
telescope the could even make out the forms of some persons clinging to
her.

It was the Forfarshire steamboat on her passage from Hull to Dundee.
She left the former place with sixty-three persons on board. She had