powers' of
intellect, we are quite sure that all who read the following pages will
agree that the title bestowed upon him by his grateful and admiring
townsman,--'The Hero of the Humber,' was well and richly deserved. He
was a 'Hero,' though he lived in a humble cottage. He was a man of
heroic sacrifices; his services were of the noblest kind; he sought the
highest welfare of his fellow-creatures with an energy never surpassed;
his generous and impulsive nature found its highest happiness in
promoting the welfare of others. He is held as a benefactor in the fond
recollection of thousands of his fellow countrymen, and he received
rewards far more valuable and satisfying than those which his Queen and
Government bestowed upon him: more lasting than the gorgeous pageantries
and emblazoned escutcheon that reward the hero of a hundred battles.

The warrior's deeds may win
An earthly fame, but deeds by mercy wrought,
Are heaven's own register within:
Not one shall be forgot.

The scene of most of his gallant exploits in rescuing human lives was
'The river Humber;' hence the title given him by a large gathering of
his fellow townsmen.

The noble river Humber, upon which the town of Kingston-upon-Hull is
seated, may be considered the Thames of the Midland and Northern
Counties of England. It divides the East Riding of Yorkshire from
Lincolnshire, during the whole of its course, and is formed by the
junction of the Ouse and the Trent. At Bromfleet, it receives the little
river Foulness, and rolling its vast collection of waters eastward, in a
stream enlarged to between two and three miles in breadth, washes the
town of Hull, where it receives the river of the same name. Opposite to
Hedon and Paul, which are a few miles below Hull, the Humber widens into
a vast estuary, six or seven miles in breadth, and then directs it's
course past Great Grimsby to the German Ocean, which it enters at Spurn
Head. No other river system collects waters from so many important towns
as this famous stream. 'The Humber,' says a recent writer, 'resembling
the trunk of a vast tree spreading its branches in every direction,
commands, by the numerous rivers which it receives, the navigation and
trade of a very extensive and commercial part of England.'

The Humber, between its banks, occupies an area of about one hundred and
twenty-five square miles. The rivers Ouse and Trent which, united, form
the Humber, receive the waters of