k to the Longstone, and the rescued crew landed in
safety. Here, owing to the violence of the sea, they were detained for
nearly three days, along with a boat's crew which had put off to their
relief from North Sunderland; and it required some ingenuity to
accommodate so large a party within the narrow limits of a lighthouse.
Grace gave up her bed to poor Mrs Dawson; most of the others rested as
they best could upon the floor.

The romantic circumstances of this rescue, the isolated position of the
girl, her youth and modesty, and the self-devoting heroism displayed
upon this occasion, thrilled through the length and breadth of the
country like an electric shock, and the name of Grace Darling became for
the time as well known as that of the greatest in the land, while the
lonely lighthouse on the Longstone became a point of attraction to
thousands of warm admirers, among whom were many of the rich and the
noble. Letters and gifts flowed in upon Grace Darling continually. The
public seemed unable to do enough to testify their regard. The Duke of
Northumberland invited her over to Alnwick Castle, and presented her
with a gold watch. A public subscription, to the amount of 700 pounds,
was raised for her. The Humane Society presented her with a handsome
silver tea-pot and a vote of thanks for her courage and humanity.
Portraits of her were sold in the print-shops all over the land; and the
enthusiasm, which at first was the natural impulse of admiration for one
who had performed a noble and heroic deed, at last rose to a species of
mania, in the heat of which not a few absurdities were perpetrated.

Among others, several of the proprietors of the metropolitan theatres
offered her a large sum nightly on condition that she would appear on
the stage, merely to sit in a boat during the performance of a piece
illustrative of the incident of which she was the heroine! As might
have been expected of one whose spirit was truly noble, she promptly
declined all such offers. God seems to have put his arm tenderly round
Grace Darling, and afforded her special strength to resist the severe
temptations to which she was exposed.

All proposals to better her condition were rejected, and she returned to
her home on the island rock, where she remained with her father and
mother till within a few months of her death. The fell destroyer, alas!
claimed her while yet in the bloom of womanhood. She died of
consumption on the 20th of O