$ l I OH N L m o . J G I L E$ $ M aine Far er a nd Fisherman b A ES W E LI OT C H R L . , y A U U U A $ l II . G ST S ON NT $ Illinoi o . C s Pioneer and Prea c h er b R OB ERT , y OL $ ER C L . $ A P’ N H A DW K ol . III . C C IC $ Marble h ead Ski er and Sh oem aker b OHN pp , y J W W H AD I C K . C $ l I$ DA $ D L B E Penob s ot o . I I B $ c W oodsm an and R iver - driver b FANNI E , y H . E C KSTO RM . $ l $ A T A S A S OTT P N T H OM A . C o . C I M t D H INS O S M ITH as er iver b F . OP K N . , y Price each 6 0 c ents net b m ail 6 c ents. , , , ; y , 5 A ME RICAN U N ITA R IA N A S S OCIA TI ON Pu blish ers oston M assa ch u sett s , B , J O S H U A J A M E S LIFE SA$ ER N K I B LL SU M ER I . M A B O S T 0 N AM ER ICA N U N ITA R IAN A S S OCIATI O N I 9 0 9 COP$ R I GHT 1 909 AMER ICAN UNITAR IAN AS SOCIATION No Wild hurrahs accompany The deeds these men do dare ; No beat of drum , no martial strain , i - No sp rit stirring air . But in the cold and darksome night They combat with the blast ; And d gain , by int of hardihood , The victory at last . J O S H UA JAM ES O finer examples of sturdy American manhood can any where be found than in the crews of - the U nited States Life Saving Service . These little groups of from seven to a ten men each , numbering in the g re ate t are g g a scan two thousand , - composed of robust , warm hearted, and strong- handed residents o f the coast , chosen for the most part from oc those who , through their previous cu ations p as fishermen , boatmen , and fa wreckers , have gained a thorough miliarity with the changeful moods of J O S H U A J A M E S se a h ecu the , and especially wit the p liarities o f the currents , reefs , bars , and surf in the region of their re s e $ p ctive habitations . The qualifica tions thus attained , supplemented by their daily drill after enlistment in the Service , equip them in the best poss ible manner for their subsequent arduous and ha z ardous work . They are hardly known to the great ma $ ’ j OI l ty o f their countrymen living in , land ; but to the inhabitants o f the in coast , especially that large portion te reste d sea in our and lake commerce , o se a and to those who foll w the , they ' are well known indee d To the lat o ter , when the tr pical hurricane or the chilling bla st of the Arctic winter storm is driving their helpless craft n da r and i to nge possible destruction , J O S H U A J A M E S or when impenetrable fog envelop s them for days at a time , rendering chart and reckoning worthless , the as surance that a practically continuous line of keen - eyed and sleepless senti nels march and countermarch along the surf- beaten beaches or stand guard with warning signals in hand upon the jutting cliffs and headlands reaching far out into the sea for unwary vic tims , lends a comfortable sense of se u r c ity. That this confidence is not misplaced is attested by the statistics of of the Service , which show that more than a hundred thousand lives imperiled upon vessels wrecked or in distress within the scope of the opera tions of the station crews since the systematic organization of the Service 1 8 1 in 7 , less than one per cent has J O S H U A J A M E S been lost , and that a considerable por tion of even this small percentage is made up of those whom no human agency could save as , persons washed overboard b efore or at the moment of stranding , sailors drowned in attempting to land in their own $ o f boats , or ictims of sudden capsizes small boats who perished before help could possibly reach them . The rec ord includes all , every life lost within the reasonable bounds of station ac tivit y, from craft of all kinds , the diminutive canoe as well as the mam moth ocean steamship . Another American organization for the relief and succor o f the ship wrecked is the Massachusetts Humane Society , which has made a most hon orable record , and stands credited J O S H U A J A M E S with the rescue of a multitude of lives . This Society is supported by volun a tary contributions , their boats and p pliances being operated by volunteers who are paid for each occasion of 1 8 service . It was organized in 7 5 , and was among the first , if not the first , in the world to build huts for the comfort and shelter of ship wrecked persons and , subsequently to provide for rescue work with boats and other apparatus . Its to operations are , of course , limited the coast of Massachusetts , where it maintained at one time as many as I 7 8 lifeboat and 3 mortar stations . When the national service extended 1 8 its field to include that coast , in 7 4 , the Society discontinued some of its stations at points covered by the Gov J O S H U A J A M E S ernm ent s work , and transferred other It to points needing protection . still in x maintains , however , several pro im ity to Government stations in espe i ll c a y dangerous localities . At these places the crews of the two service s have always harmoniously and effect ively co- operated on occasions of ship wreck . The relations between the two organizations have also been of the most friendly and cordial nature . $ In a series of sketches of True A merican Types , one that represents the phase of our national character A - which the merican life saver, trained in one or both of these organizations , so aptly typifies , is peculiarly fitting , and the following is a narrative of the simple , unpretentious life of such a one . The subject of the sketch was 6 J O S H U A J A M E S connected with the Massachusetts H u mane Society from his early youth un til he was made keeper of a station in - the U nited States Life Saving Service , in which capacity he served during the last twelve years of his life . Joshua James , on the paternal side , was of humble Dutch stock . William in James , his father, was born Dok 1 8 2 . kum , Holland , in the year 7 Lit tle is known of him before he became old enough to enter the army of his native country . He served for a while as a soldier until , tiring of the and in life , he ran away to sea , the course of time made his way to A in merica , landing Boston , where he soon after shipped on one of the nu m erous small schooners engaged in J O S H U A J A M E S the business of furnishing paving stones to that city . This led him to make his home in Hull , where the vessel belonged . In due course , by dint of faithful service and a frugal f o f li e , he became the owner a vessel and engaged in the paving- stone busi 1 8 0 ness for himself . In 8 he mar E ried sther Dill , daughter of Nathan E iel and sther ( Stoddard) Dill , of Hull , both descended from the e arly - English colonists . Her great grand father , Daniel Dill , served as a pri A vate in the Revolutionary rmy, and during the War of 1 8 1 2 members of her family acted as volunteer coast guards , and in that capacity rendered valuable service to the country . E sther , who was the only girl in a family of seven children , was but six 8 J O S H U A J A M E S teen years o f age at the time o f her marriage . She was notably humani tarian and philanthropic in her na ture , smart and capable of quickly adapting herself to circumstances . The crews of her husband ’s vessels found in her a veritable mother . She nursed them in sickness without thought of recompense , and constantly f looked a fter their wel are . Nor did sh e confine her ministrations to these and their families only , but volunta rily sought out and liberally supplied the needs of the poor about her . Her remarkable courage and prompt de cision are attested by an incident of f her early married li e . One of her children , then a year and a half old , fell into an Old well some thirty to f forty eet deep , containing about three 9 J O S H U A J A M E S feet of water .