[GRACE DARLING was a daughter of the lighthouse keeper on Longstone, the largest of the Farne Islands, a group of bare and desolate rocks off the coast of Northumberland. On a dark and stormy night in September 1838, the steamer Forfarshire was wrecked between these islands and the coast; and the fore part, to which some dozen poor wretches clung, was impaled upon a rock. At dawn the next morning, Grace Darling, then a slight maid of twenty-two, descried the fragment of the wreck, and prevailed upon her father to go out with her in the open boat to rescue the survivors. Nine persons were got safely into the boat and landed onthe island. Grace at once became one of the most famous of women. She died of consumption in 1841.]
A MAIDEN gentle, yet, at duty"s call,
Firm and unflinching as the Lighthouse rearedOn the Island-rock,her lonely dwelling-place:
Or like the invincible Rock
itself that braves,
Age after age, the hostile elements,
As when it guarded holy Cuthbert"s cell.
All night the storm had raged, nor ceased, nor paused, When, as day broke, the Maid, through misty air,Espies far off a Wreck, amid the surf, Beating on one of those disastrous isles;- Half of a Vessel, half-no more; the restHad vanished, swallowed up with all that thereHad for the common safety striven in vain,Or thither thronged for refuge. With quick glanceDaughter and Sire through optic-glass discern, Clinging about the remnant of this Ship, Creatures-how precious in the Maiden"s sight! For whom, belike, the old man grieves still more Than for their fellow-sufferers engulfedWhere every parting agony is hushed,And hope and fear mix not in further strife. "But courage, Father! let us out to sea-A few may yet be saved." The Daughter"s words,Her earnest tone, and look beaming with faith, Dispel the Father"s doubts: nor do they lack The noble-minded Mother"s helping handTo launch the boat; and with her blessing cheered,And inwardly sustained by silent prayer, Together they put forth, Father and Child! Each grasps an oar, and struggling on they go- Rivals in effort; and, alike intentHere to elude and there surmount, they watch The billows lengthening, mutually crossed And shattered, and re-gathering their might; As if the tumult, by the Almighty"s will,Were, in the conscious sea, roused and prolonged,That woman"s fortitudeso tried, so proved--
May brighten more and more!
True to the mark. They stem the current of that perilous gorge,Their arms still strengthening with the strengthening heart Though danger, as the Wreck is neared, becomesMore imminent. -Not unseen do they approach; And rapture, with varieties of fearIncessantly conflicting, thrills the frames Of those who, in that dauntless energy,Foretaste deliverance. But the least perturbed Can scarcely trust his eyes, when he perceives That of the pair-tossed on the waves to bring Hope to the hopeless, to the dying, life-One is a Woman, a poor earthly sister;Or, be the Visitant other
than she seems,
A guardian Spirit sent from pitying Heaven, In woman"s shape. But why prolong the tale, Casting weak words amid a host of thoughts Armed to repel them? Every hazard faced And difficulty mastered, with resolveThat no one breathing should be left to perish, This last remainder of the crew are allPlaced in the little boat, then o"er the deep Are safely borne, landed upon the beach, And, in fulfilment of God"s mercy, lodged Within the sheltering Lighthouse.
Shout, ye Waves! Send forth a song of triumph. Waves and Winds, Exult in this deliverance wrought through faithIn Him whose providence your rage hath served! Ye screaming Sea-mews, in the concert join! And would that some immortal Voice-a Voice Fitly attuned to all that gratitudeBreathes out from floor or couch, through pallid lips Of the survivors-to the clouds might bear- Blended with praise of that parental loveBeneath whose watchful eye the Maiden grew Pious and pure, modest and yet so brave,Though young so wise, though meek so resolute- Might carry to the clouds and to the starsYea, to celestial Choirs, GRACE DARLING"S name!
- WILLIAM WORDSWORTH
