It was a Hard Struggle to Make Headway
IDA LEWIS, THE HEROINE OF LIME ROCK LIGHT
This is the story of Ida Lewis, a New England girl who became famous as a lighthouse keeper.
Ida’s father, Captain Lewis, kept the lighthouse on Lime Rock, near Newport in Rhode Island. While Ida was still a young girl, Captain Lewis became a helpless cripple, and the entire care of the light fell upon the daughter.
One stormy day, as Ida was looking out over the water, she saw a rowboat capsize. In a moment, she was in the lifeboat rowing to the spot. There, in the high waves, three young men were struggling for their lives. Somehow, Ida got them all safely aboard her boat and rowed them to Lime Rock.
That was the first of her life-saving ventures. Before she was twenty-five years old there were ten rescues to the credit of this brave girl.
Ida did not seem to know fear. She risked her life constantly. Whenever a vessel was wrecked or a life was in danger within sight of her lighthouse, Ida Lewis and her lifeboat were always the first to go to the rescue.