ious to rise
above their fellows, be sure of this, that those who have the
apportioning of important and lucrative places of trust, judge in the
main by Christ's rule, "He that is faithful in that which is least is
faithful also in much."

Subsequent events proved that Grace Darling was worthy of such a
father. She was baptised at Bamborough Church, and received the name
of her maternal grandmother; and soon grew to be an interesting,
toddling little maiden, the joy of her father's heart. She was not the
youngest of the family, for there were twin-brothers born two years
after her, but it was said that Grace was the favourite always, and
that her winsome ways, and tractable and affectionate spirit, endeared
her greatly to her parents.

The Farne Isles would seem to have made rather a desolate home for the
girlhood of a romantic maiden.

Speaking of the time when St. Cuthbert dwelt there, Raine, in his
"History of Durham," says:--"Farne certainly afforded an excellent
place for retirement and meditation. Here the prayer or repose of the
hermit would be interrupted by the screaming of the water-fowl, or the
roaring of the winds or waves--not unfrequently, perhaps, would be
heard the thrilling cry of distress from a ship breaking to pieces on
the iron shore of the island, but this would more entirely win the
recluse from the world, by teaching him a practical lesson on the
vanity of man and his operations, when compared with the mighty works
of the Being who 'rides on the whirlwind, and directs the storm.'"

Another writer says of it--"Looking at the situation and aspects of the
Farne Islands, of which Longstone is one, we cannot but be struck with
their extreme dreariness. Not a tree nor a bush, hardly a blade of
grass, is to be seen. The islands are twenty-five in number, many of
them with a sheer frontage to the sea of from six to eight hundred
feet. They mostly lie north and south, parallel with each other; a few
of the smaller ones extend to the north of the larger, thus rendering
the navigation in their neighbourhood still more dangerous. The sea
rushes at the rate of six or eight miles an hour through the channel
between the smaller islands; and previous to the erection of a
lighthouse there, many distressing shipwrecks occurred."

Howitt, in speaking of the Longstone Island, says--"It was like the
rest of these desolate isles, all of dark whinstone, cracked in every
direction, and worn with the action