ENGLISH STORY (GRACE DARLING)

GRACE DARLING
IT was a dark September morning. There was a storm at sea. A ship had
been driven on a low rock off the shores of the Farne Islands. It had been
broken in two by the waves, and half of it had been washed away. The
other half lay yet on the rock, and those of the crew who were still alive
were clinging to it. But the waves were dashing over it, and in a little
while it too would be carried to the bottom.
Could any one save the poor, half-drowned men who were there?
On one of the islands was a lighthouse; and there, all through that
stormy night, Grace Darling had listened to the storm.
Grace was the daughter of the lighthouse keeper, and she had lived by
the sea as long as she could remember.
In the darkness of the night, above the noise of the winds and waves, she
heard screams and wild cries. When daylight came, she could see the
wreck, a mile away, with the angry waters all around it. She could see the
men clinging to the masts.
"We must try to save them!" she cried. "Let us go out in the boat at once!"
"It is of no use, Grace," said her father. "We cannot reach them."
He was an old man, and he knew the force of the mighty waves.
"We cannot stay here and see them die," said Grace. "We must at least try
to save them."
Her father could not say, "No."
In a few minutes they were ready. They set off in the heavy lighthouse
boat. Grace pulled one oar, and her father the other, and they made
straight toward the wreck. But it was hard rowing against such a sea,
and it seemed as though they would never reach the place.
At last they were close to the rock, and now they were in greater danger
than before. The fierce waves broke against the boat, and it would have
been dashed in pieces, had it not been for the strength and skill of the
brave girl.
But after many trials, Grace's father climbed upon the wreck, while
Grace herself held the boat. Then one by one the worn-out crew were
helped on board. It was all that the girl could do to keep the frail boat
from being drifted away, or broken upon the sharp edges of the rock.
Then her father clambered back into his place. Strong hands grasped the
oars, and by and by all were safe in the lighthouse. There Grace proved
to be no less tender as a nurse than she had been brave as a sailor. She
cared most kindly for the ship-wrecked men until the storm had died
away and they were strong enough to go to their own homes.
All this happened a long time ago, but the name of Grace Darling will
never be forgotten. She lies buried now in a little churchyard by the sea,
not far from her old home. Every year many people go there to see her
grave; and there a monument has been placed in honor of the brave girl.
It is not a large monument, but it is one that speaks of the noble deed
which made Grace Darling famous. It is a figure carved in stone of a
woman lying at rest, with a boat's oar held fast in her right hand.