| By Author | [ A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z | Other Symbols ] |
| By Title | [ A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z | Other Symbols ] |
| By Language |
|
Download this book: [ ASCII ] Look for this book on Amazon Tweet |
Title: Clara Barton a Centenary Tribute
Author: Young, Charles Sumner
Language: English
As this book started as an ASCII text book there are no pictures available.
*** Start of this LibraryBlog Digital Book "Clara Barton a Centenary Tribute" ***
This book is indexed by ISYS Web Indexing system to allow the reader find any word or number within the document.
***
[Illustration:
CLARA BARTON
See Contents.
]
CLARA BARTON
A CENTENARY TRIBUTE
TO
THE WORLD’S GREATEST HUMANITARIAN
FOUNDER OF THE AMERICAN RED CROSS SOCIETY
AUTHOR OF THE AMERICAN AMENDMENT TO THE INTERNATIONAL
RED CROSS CONVENTION OF GENEVA
FOUNDER OF THE NATIONAL FIRST AID
ASSOCIATION OF AMERICA
CHARLES SUMNER YOUNG, A.M. Ph.D
ILLUSTRATED
[Illustration]
BOSTON
RICHARD G. BADGER
THE GORHAM PRESS
COPYRIGHT, 1922, BY RICHARD G. BADGER
All Rights Reserved
Made in the United States of America
Press of J. J. Little & Ives Company, New York, U. S. A.
This book is respectfully dedicated to the Boys and Girls of the
World; and to the Men and Women who are still Boys and Girls, in their
love for humanity.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The author, in the preparation of his pen pictures, begs to acknowledge
with sincere thanks the courtesies extended to him by Mr. Stephen E.
Barton, the Executor of the Clara Barton Estate; by Doctor J. B.
Hubbell, for many years the manager for Clara Barton; by the Oxford
(Mass.) Memorial Day Committee of 1917; by the Twenty-First
Massachusetts Regiment G. A. R.; by many of the Army Nurses of the Civil
War; also for material assistance in data by the American National Red
Cross; by Mrs. J. Sewall Reed Acting-President, National First Aid
Association of America; by Honorable Herbert Putnam, Librarian of
Congress; by General W. H. Sears for the use of his data in his book of
177 pages, prepared for and used in the defense of Clara Barton before
the Library Committee of Congress, and his generous contribution of
incidents in the life of his personal friend; by Honorable Francis
Atwater for data in “The Story of My Childhood,” by Clara Barton; by the
Macmillan Co., Publishers of the Life of Clara Barton by Percy H. Epler,
the book of the best data on her life now before the American people; by
the National First Aid Association of America and likewise to many other
associations, personal friends and admirers of America’s most remarkable
woman.
There is a woman at the beginning of all great things.
LAMARTINE.
Honor women! they entwine and weave heavenly roses in our earthly life.
SCHILLER.
“The fairest chaplet Victory wears
is that which mercy weaves.”
I live to learn their story,
Who suffered for my sake;
To emulate their glory
And follow in their wake;
Bards, patriots, martyrs, sages,
The noble of all ages,
Whose deeds crown History’s pages,
And Time’s great volume make.
· · · · ·
For the cause that needs assistance,
For the wrongs that need resistance,
For the future in the distance
And the good that I can do.
THE FOREWORD
The author undertakes to produce a few pen pictures of a personal
friend—humanity’s friend. They are pictures of sentiment, pictures of
reality—pictures of humanity.
Although precluded the use of data left by Clara Barton for her
biography the author, nevertheless, is conforming to the sentiment of
her oft expressed wish that he write the story of her life. Recognizing
the wish to be a sacredly imposed trust, for the past six years he has
gleaned what he could for his sketches from public documents, from her
personal friends in California, New England, New York, Washington and
elsewhere, as well as from his memory of facts developing through the
years he enjoyed her confidence and received from her highest
inspirations.
The author assumes not a rôle literary—has herein no aspirations,
literary. His impulse to write is not fame; it is sentiment, a
love-sentiment for a woman whom all the world loves and whose “life
gives expression to the sympathy and tenderness of all the hearts of all
the women of the world.” His motive in writing is to point a moral in “a
passion for service”; to limn scenes, vivid, along “paths of charity
over roadways of ashes”; to depict for the lesson it teaches a career, a
career the memory of which must remain a rich heritage to the American
people.
In life’s drama, wherein Clara Barton played the leading rôle, there
appear faces to inspire, faces to instruct, but also the faces of
intrigue. In the closing incidents of a life-heroic time’s detectives
disclose the plotters, and the motive in their plot to destroy—
Like a led victim to my death I’ll go,
And, dying, bless the hand that gave the blow.
Except now and then in dim outline, the faces of intrigue in the
_tragic_ scene do not appear. These faces are un-American—inhuman—and
would mar humanity’s picture.
The Divine Humanitarian forgave His enemies, but the picture of the
crucified on the cross ever suggests the Pontius Pilate and the
executioners. Clara Barton also forgave her enemies, and yet some day a
literary artist may portray the Judasette Iscariot, or possibly the
plotting Antony and Cleopatra, to make a Clara Barton picture
historically and tragically complete.
In biography is the world’s history. If, in human logic, the silencing
of truth in biography be an imperative virtue, then literature should be
relegated to the ash-heap of forgotten lore. As “in a valley centuries
ago grew a fern leaf green and slender,” leaving its impress on what
have become the rocks of the centuries, so truth leaves its impress
imperishable on what become the tablets of history. Truth crushed to
earth again and again will appear; and, when Clara Barton’s Gethsemane
appears with all its delineations in a picture complete, there will be
none so poor to do reverence to Clara Barton’s character assassins, nor
to the Clara Barton ghouls who desecrate her tomb and use the United
States mails to traduce the dead.
Sentiment is the soul of action. The highest tribute to mortal is the
angel-sentiment—the tribute to self-sacrificing woman that blazes her
“path where highways never ran.”
Ever the blind world
Knows not its angels of deliverance
Till they stand glorified ’twixt earth and heaven,
and yet more powerful than armies is the soul-sentiment that protects
fame,—the fame of the Florence Nightingales, the Clara Bartons and the
Edith Cavells.
Her “friends” say time will vindicate Clara Barton. The more such
“friends” the more’s the pity. It’s not time, it’s truth, that
vindicates. “Procrastination is the thief of time.” The thief of time
must not be permitted to steal from the present, even under pledge to
disgorge in the future. The present is ours to possess, ours to enjoy.
It’s not that the millions can do something for Clara Barton; instead,
the Clara Barton spirit can do something for the millions. The plotter
may revile the Red Cross Mother; the Red Cross Artist may picture the
cross of red on the breast of a fictitious “Greatest Mother in the
World;” the self-constituted autocrat in Red Cross literature may
suppress, and belie, truth; but the spirit of Clara Barton is the
Mother-Spirit still, the real spirit of the American Red Cross, the Red
Cross spirit in all Christendom. The fighting sons of America on the
“Western Front” may not have read of Clara Barton in recent Red Cross
literature but, trooping under the Red Cross peace-banner that Clara
Barton brought here from Europe, were more millions of her followers in
America than in the world war there were soldiers marshalled under the
military banners in all the armies in Europe.
Grant was “Grant the Great” at Appomattox; Lincoln was more than “six
feet four” when in the home of Confederate General Pickett he stooped
down to kiss the brow of “Baby George” Pickett; Stephen A. Douglass was
more than “the little giant” when at the inauguration on the east steps
of the capitol he held the hat of Abraham Lincoln; Clara Barton was more
divine than human when, with love for her enemies, in her last world
prayer she gave expression to the forgiving sentiment of the Divine
Humanitarian.
Clara Barton said that the bravest act of her life was crossing the
pontoon bridge under fire at Fredericksburg. The historian will say that
the bravest act of her life was snatching her Red Cross child from the
social—political—fat-salaried-swiveled-chair clique at Washington, and
handing over her best beloved unharmed to the country for which in the
smoke of battle and terrors of disaster she had many times risked her
life. The historian will further say that in refusing to accept a
pension of $2500 for life and Honorary Presidency of the Red Cross from
that “clique” as the price of her child, and suffering persecution for
life as the penalty, there was shown the true mother spirit that must
commend her for all time to those who respect the spirit of
self-sacrificing Motherhood.
President Warren G. Harding, the president also of the Red Cross,
“entertains the highest sentiment regarding the splendid service of
Miss Barton.” Ex-President Woodrow Wilson—also ex-president of the
Red Cross—has voiced the sentiment of the American people in no
uncertain sound as has a second Clara Barton,—the soldier-angel
Margaret Wilson. General John J. Pershing has not been silent in his
admiration of the great woman, nor have the hundreds of thousands of
American boys on the “Western Front” been unmindful in gratitude to
the Founder of the American Red Cross; and, if signs fail not, from
the American Congress there will come to America’s greatest
humanitarian a testimonial—accompanied by an acclaim that will be
heard around the world.
On a certain state occasion the statement was made that there is less to
censure, and more to commend, in the public life of Clara Barton for the
twenty-three years she was President of the Red Cross than in the public
life of any one of the twenty-eight Presidents from George Washington to
Woodrow Wilson. There commenting on the statement, America’s beloved
Mrs. General George E. Pickett significantly said: “Yes, that’s true,
but Clara Barton was a woman.” But woman is coming into her own, and
Clara Barton said, “My own shall come to me.” Never was prophecy more
certain of fulfillment. With hundreds of thousands of Americans
receiving the benefits of “First Aid”; with more than thirty thousand
brave American nurses, ten thousand of these following the illustrious
example of Clara Barton by going to the battlefield; with more than
thirty millions of Americans serving the Red Cross in time of war; with
more than a billion of human beings making use of the Red Cross American
Amendment in times of peace and war, Clara Barton already has come into
her own.
The American nation will come into its own, as did respectively two
great nations of Europe, when she wipes out from the scroll of history
its foulest blot,—by giving national recognition to a national heroine;
the American Red Cross will come into its own when it shall repossess
the name Clara Barton; the American people will come into their own when
they patriotically recognize, and sacredly cherish, that immortal
Mother-Spirit which, after a half century of heroic sacrifices in the
war of human woes, passed triumphant through the archway ’twixt earth
and heaven.
If these pen pictures give to the boys and girls of America inspiration
to loftier patriotism and higher ideals in achievement; if truth in the
biography give renewed impulse to American Red Cross philanthropy; if
through this volume immortal deeds, and a name unsullied, be treasured
for world-humanity then Clara Barton’s dying message to the author shall
not have been in vain.
[Illustration:
CHARLES SUMNER YOUNG
]
The only picture of myself that I have cared anything about at all is
the one taken at the time of the Civil War (1865), in which I am
represented in the uniform of a nurse. If my friends had let me have
my way, I would never have had another picture taken. (_Frontispiece_)
CLARA BARTON.
CONTENTS
CHAPTER PAGE
I Babyhood Impressions 21
II School—Childish Memories—Military 24
III On Her Favorite Black Horse 28
IV Phrenology—Read Her Characteristics—Basis of Friendship 30
V “Spontaneous Combustion” Laid to Clara Barton 34
VI Christmas—a Christmas Carol 36
VII “Button”—“Billy”—Clara Barton Ownership 38
VIII Pauper Schools; from Six to Six Hundred 43
IX Child Love—Joe and Charlie—Appreciation 45
X Temperance—Clara Barton and the Hired Man—Stranger than
Fiction 48
XI Looking for a Job—Equal Suffrage 51
XII Credulous Ox—Innocent Child—Clara Barton, a Vegetarian 55
XIII Fell Dead on the Ground beside Her 57
XIV Wickedness of War—Settles no Disputes 59
XV Her Wardrobe in a Handkerchief—The Battle Scene 63
XVI The Bravery of Women—Clara Barton’s Bravest Act 66
XVII Yes, and Got Euchred 69
XVIII To Dream of Home and Mother 71
XIX Tribute of Love and Devotion 74
XX Cheering Words—Always Ready—Wears a Smile 76
XXI Horrible Deed—Leads American Navy—Angel of Mercy 80
XXII Confederates and Federals alike Treated 86
XXIII The Enemy, Starving—Tact—The White Ox 89
XXIV Bullethole—Amputated Limbs Like Cordwood—God Gives
Strength 91
XXV Fearless of Bullets and Kicking Mules 95
XXVI His Comfort, not Hers; His Life, not Hers 97
XXVII Does not Need any Advice 99
XXVIII Had but a Few Moments to Live 102
XXIX Enlisted Men First—The Colonel’s Life Saved 104
XXX You’re Right, Madam—Good Day 107
XXXI Bleeding to Death—His Headless Body—Women in the War 109
XXXII Timid Child—Timid Woman 112
XXXIII Ez Ef We Wuz White Folks 115
XXXIV In Her Dreams—Again in Battle 117
XXXV Four Famous Women 120
XXXVI Simplicity of Childhood—Pet Wasps—Pet Cats—Loved
Life—Domestic 122
XXXVII Clara Barton in the Literary Field 128
XXXVIII The Art of Dressing—Clara Barton’s Individuality 133
XXXIX The Jewelled Hand and the Hard Hand Meet 138
XL Clara Barton and the Emperor 140
XLI America—Scarlet and Gold—Europe 143
XLII Three Cheers—Wild Scenes in Boston—Tiger!! No, Sweetheart 147
XLIII The Last Reception—Her Autograph—The Boys in Gray 150
XLIV Open House—Cost of Fame, Self-Sacrifice—Best in Woman 152
XLV Kneeled Before Her and Kissed Her Hand 158
XLVI I Never Get Tired—Eating the Least of My Troubles 160
XLVII Royalty Under a Quaker Bonnet 163
XLVIII Still Stamping on Me—Personally Unharmed 165
XLIX At the Memorial—“The Flags of all Nations”—A Good Time 167
L Clara Barton Kept a Diary 171
LI Nursing a Fine Art—Over the Washtub 176
LII Immortal Words—A Million Thanks 178
LIII The Pansy Pin—For Thoughts 180
LIV Clara Barton Pays Respects to Florence Nightingale 182
LV The Passing of Years—Right Habits of Life 184
LVI She Won His Heart 186
LVII You Buy It for Him 188
LVIII Or God Wouldn’t Have Made Them 190
LIX Clara Barton—Mary Baker Eddy 192
LX Like Tolstoi She Lived the Simple Life 194
LXI Clara Barton—Florence Nightingale 196
LXII The General Has Money—I Am His Reconcentrado 201
LXIII Abraham Lincoln’s Son 204
LXIV The Butcher Didn’t Get It 207
LXV The Kind of Girls that Needed Help 209
LXVI A Romance of Two Continents 211
LXVII The Little Monument—For all Eternity 215
LXVIII Story of Baba—Dream of a White Horse—Life’s Woes 218
LXIX People, Like Jack Rabbits—No “Show-Woman” 223
LXX Clara Barton’s Heart Secret—$10,000 in “Gold Dust” 227
LXXI Fell on Their Knees before “Mis’ Red Cross” 231
LXXII Clara Barton’s Tribute to Cuba 233
LXXIII At the Birthplace of Napoleon—The Corsican Bandit 235
LXXIV When Cares Grow Heavy and Pleasures Light 238
LXXV A Red Cross Red Letter Day 240
LXXVI Patriotic Women of America Self-Sacrificing 242
LXXVII Opposition—The American Red Cross “Complete Victory” 246
LXXVIII Greetings—National First Aid Association of America 255
LXXIX Humanitarianism, Unparalleled in All History 264
LXXX Clara Barton’s Prayer Answered 268
LXXXI Not the Value of a Postage Stamp 272
LXXXII Honorary Presidency for Life—Proposed Annuity 275
LXXXIII Clara Barton’s Resignation 279
LXXXIV No Red Cross Controversy 285
LXXXV International Red Cross—American Red Cross—American
Amendment 287
LXXXVI Blackmail Alleged—“Congressional Investigation”—Truth of
History 294
LXXXVII Of Graves, of Worms, of Epitaphs 332
LXXXVIII Turkey—Statesmanship of Philanthropy—Armenia 340
LXXXIX Treason—Lincoln Assassinated—Grant Protects Clara Barton 349
XC President McKinley Sends Clara Barton to Cuba 352
XCI In Details—Clara Barton, a Business Manager—World’s
Record 355
XCII Superintendent of Woman’s Prison 363
XCIII Greatness—An Immortal American Destiny—Immortality 365
XCIV What Was Her Religion? 369
XCV One Day with Clara Barton 373
XCVI The Personal Correspondence—Clara Barton’s Proposed
Self-Expatriation 377
XCVII Closing Incidents—The Biography—Other Correspondence 392
XCVIII A Record History at the Funeral 398
XCIX Clara Barton’s Last Ride 401
C Chronology of the Leading Achievements in the Life of
Clara Barton 403
CI The Press and the Individual 411
CII The Clara Barton Centenary—Memorial Address, 1921 415
CIII Clara Barton—Memorial Day Address, 1917 422
I want the last picture of the friends I love to show them in their
strength, and at their best, not after time and age shall have robbed
them of all _characteristic_ features which represented them in actual
life.—CLARA BARTON, from her diary of December 13, 1910.
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
CLARA BARTON _Frontispiece_
FACING PAGE
CHARLES SUMNER YOUNG 12
THE UNIVERSALIST CHURCH, MAIN STREET, OXFORD,
MASSACHUSETTS 35
SUMMER HOME OF CLARA BARTON, OXFORD, MASSACHUSETTS 35
BIRTHPLACE OF CLARA BARTON, NEAR OXFORD, MASSACHUSETTS 42
OFFICERS OF THE W. N. M. A. PRESENT AT THE DEDICATION OF
THE CLARA BARTON MEMORIAL ON OCTOBER 12, 1921 42
HISTORIC IN EDUCATION, BORDENTOWN, N. J. 53
The School House
The Desk Used by Clara Barton
The Clara Barton Museum
REPRESENTATIVE TEMPERANCE ADVOCATES 56
Annie Wittenmeyer
John B. Gough
Mary Stewart Powers
Frances Willard
REPRESENTATIVE SUFFRAGE LEADERS 69
Susan B. Anthony
Carrie Chapman Catt
Dr. Anna Howard Shaw
WARREN G. HARDING 72
REPRESENTATIVES RESPECTIVELY OF THREE WARS 83
William T. Sampson
Isaac B. Sherwood
Joseph Taggart
REPRESENTATIVE OF TWO WARS 90
Mathew C. Butler
Joseph Wheeler
Harrison Gray Otis
LEONARD WOOD 117
THE RED CROSS HOME OF CLARA BARTON, GLEN ECHO, MARYLAND 120
REPRESENTATIVE OF THE LITERARY WORLD 133
Ida M. Tarbell
Lucy Larcrom
Elbert Hubbard
Alice Hubbard
W. R. SHAFTER 136
THE ROYALTY OF GERMANY 149
Empress Augusta
Emperor William I
Luise, The Grand Duchess of Baden
Friederich, The Grand Duke of Baden
THE ROYALTY OF RUSSIA 152
Nicholas II, The Czar of Russia
Alexandra Feodorowna, The Czarina of Russia
Maria Feodorowna, The Empress Dowager
FLORENCE NIGHTINGALE between pages
182 and 183
FLORENCE NIGHTINGALE MEMORIAL ON THE MALL, LONDON between pages
182 and 183
CO-WORKERS WITH CLARA BARTON 195
Count Lyof Nikolayevitch Tolstoi
Dr. Henry W. Bellows
Dr. Julian B. Hubbell
WOODROW WILSON 202
SENTIMENT IN HISTORY 213
The Clara Barton Baby Cradle
The Pet Jersey Calf
Colony of Constantinople Dogs
HISTORIC AND SENTIMENTAL 216
Baba, Clara Barton’s Pet Horse
The Baba Tree and William H. Lewis
THE CLARA BARTON MONUMENT 229
MARIO G. MENOCAL 232
WILLIAM MCKINLEY 241
JAMES A. GARFIELD between pages
246 and 247
CHESTER A. ARTHUR between pages
246 and 247
THE INTERNATIONAL COMMITTEE OF THE RED CROSS (in 1898) 252
CLARA BARTON 275
HARRIETTE L. REED 275
MRS. JOHN A. LOGAN 282
AMBASSADOR BAKHMETEFF 289
ELUTHEROS VENIZELOS 293
GROVER CLEVELAND 296
FIVE PHOTOGRAPHS OF CLARA BARTON 300
ATTORNEYS FOR THE AMERICAN RED CROSS SOCIETY UNDER THE
PRESIDENCY OF CLARA BARTON 321
Richard Olney
Lewis A. Stebbins
William H. Sears
BADGES, MEDALS, DECORATIONS between pages
326 and 327
DORENCE ATWATER 332
DEDICATION OF MEMORIAL TO CLARA BARTON AT ANDERSONVILLE,
GEORGIA 332
CEMETERY AT ANDERSONVILLE, GEORGIA 339
DR. G. PASDERMADJIAN between pages
342 and 343
I. H. R. PRINCE GUY DE LUSIGNAN between pages
342 and 343
ABDUL-HAMID 346
WILLIAM R. DAY 355
HER BUSINESS RECORD between pages
358 and 359
Benjamin F. Butler
Francis Atwater
Leonard F. Ross
REDFIELD PROCTOR between pages
358 and 359
THE AMERICAN RED CROSS BUILDING, WASHINGTON, D. C. 362
HENRY BRECKENRIDGE 369
REPRESENTATIVE OF UNITED STATES CONGRESS 380
Champ Clark
Charles F. Curry
Denver S. Church
REUNION OF 21ST MASSACHUSETTS REGIMEN between pages
390 and 391
THE MEMORIAL TREE PLANTING TO THE MEMORY OF CLARA between pages
BARTON, 1922 406 and 407
Lieutenant-General Nelson A. Miles, with the first
shovel of dirt
Mrs. John A. Logan, with second shovel of dirt
The Clara Barton Oak
Miss Carrie Harrison, planting the Clara Barton Rose
Charles Sumner Young, while delivering the memorial
address
WILLIAM HOWARD TAFT 417
THE INSIDE OF MEMORIAL BUILDING, OXFORD, MASSACHUSETTS between pages
422 and 423
THE OXFORD, MASSACHUSETTS, MEMORIAL BUILDING between pages
422 and 423
REPRESENTATIVE MASSACHUSETTS STATESMEN 428
Henry Wilson
Charles Sumner
George F. Hoar
UNITED STATES SENATORS WHO SAW THE WORK OF CLARA BARTON 430
Charles E. Townsend
Jacob H. Gallinger
H. D. Money
NELSON A. MILES 433
JOHN J. PERSHING 435
ABRAHAM LINCOLN 442
THE RED CROSS MONUMENT 444
The embossed cut on the front cover is a reproduction of a bronze bust
by Mrs. Otto Heideman.
CLARA BARTON
There is a kind of character in thy life,
That to the observer doth thy history
Fully unfold.
I
I take my pencil (at 86 years of age) to describe the first moment of my
life that I remember. CLARA BARTON—In _The Story of My Childhood._
Do not sin against the child. GENESIS.
The fir trees dark and high,
I used to think their slender tops
Were close against the sky.
HOOD—_I remember, I remember_.
The rude wooden cradle in which Clara Barton was rocked is now one of
the very interesting curios in possession of the Worcester (Mass.)
Historical Society. THE AUTHOR.
The child’s grief throbs against the round of its little heart as
heavily as the man’s sorrow. CHAPIN.
Baby lips will laugh me down. TENNYSON.
A child’s sob curseth deeper in the silence
Than the strong man in his wrath.
E. B. BROWNING.
Dispel not the happy delusions of children. GOETHE.
Happy child! The cradle is to thee a vast space.
SCHILLER.
Who can foretell for what high cause
This destiny of the gods was born.
ANDREW MARVELL.
BABYHOOD IMPRESSIONS
Babyhood repeats itself. Babyhood is practically the same yesterday,
today and forever. And yet who does not try to recall first impressions
and first experiences? Clara Barton says her first baby experience that
she recalls was when she was two and one half years of age. She thus
describes it:—
“Baby los’ ’im—pitty bird—baby los’ ’im—baby mos’ caught ’im.
“At length they succeeded in inducing me to listen to a question, ‘But
where did it go, Baby?’
“Among my heart-breaking sobs I pointed to a small round hole under the
doorstep. The terrified scream of my mother remained in my memory
forevermore. Her baby had ‘mos’ caught’ a snake.”
Her second experience that she recalls was when four years old, at a
funeral of a beloved friend of the family. She previously had been
terrified by a large old ram on the farm. On this occasion she was left
in care of a guardian, in a sitting room. The four windows were open.
Suddenly there came up a thunder storm. Sharp flashes of lightning
darted through the rising, rolling clouds. She thought the whole heavens
were full of angry rams and they were coming down upon her. Her screams
alarmed, and her brother rushed into the room only to find her on the
floor in hysterics.
Sorrows put permanent wrinkles on the face, in maturity; on the mind, in
childhood. Only strangeness may produce fear in babyhood but, with a
baby, strangeness is everywhere. Darkness and strange noises frighten.
Forms of phantasy float on the imagination; when gradually, it’s comedy;
when suddenly, it’s tragedy.
These tragic moments left their impressions on Clara Barton’s plastic
mind. Such impressions ever must remain. Miss Barton said she remembered
nothing but fear in her earlier years; and terror-stricken she remained
to the end, except when she could serve someone in distress, or rescue
someone from danger of death. An English philosopher says: “the least
and most imperceptible impressions received in our infancy have
consequences very important and are of long duration.” The greatest
minds of earth, in all ages, have tried to recall baby experiences, and
have wondered what they had to do with success or failure.
II
At three years Clara Barton was taken a mile and one-half to school on
the shoulders of her brother Stephen; at eleven years she ceased
growing, then but five feet three inches. THE AUTHOR.
When I found myself on a strange horse, in a trooper’s saddle, flying
for life or liberty in front of pursuit, I blessed the baby lessons of
the wild gallops among the beautiful colts.
CLARA BARTON.
Clara Barton—The memories of her childhood belong to our little town,
and are our most precious heritage.
MRS. ALLEN L. JOSLYN, Oxford, Mass.
Remember that you were once a child, full of childish thoughts and
actions. CLARA BARTON.
Sweetly wild
Were the scenes that charmed me when a child.
LYDIA H. SIGOURNEY.
The sports of children satisfy the child. GOLDSMITH.
Children’s plays are not sports, and should be regarded as their most
serious actions. MONTAGUE.
When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I
thought as a child. I CORINTHIANS.
A sweet child is the sweetest thing in nature. C. LAMB.
Sweet childish days, that were as long
As twenty days are now.
S. WORDSWORTH.
The scenes of childhood are memories of future years.
J. O. CHOULES.
I do not like to beat my children—the world will beat them.
ELIHU BURRITT.
How dear to this heart are the scenes of my childhood
When fond recollections present them to view.
S. WORDSWORTH.
Deep meaning often lies in childish plays. SCHILLER.
Backward, turn backward, O time, in your flight!
Make me a child again, just for to-night.
ELIZABETH A. ALLEN.
Toil without recompense, tears all in vain;
Take them, and give me my childhood again!
E. A. ALLEN.
The Baker homestead (Bow, N. H.)—Around the memory thereof cluster the
golden days of my childhood.
MARY BAKER EDDY.
A long way seems the dear old New England home—its sheltering groves
and quiet hills; amid the clustering memories my tears are falling
thick and silently like the autumn leaves in forest dells.
CLARA BARTON.
Children have more need of models than of critics.
JOSEPH JOUBERT.
Children think not of what is past nor of what is to come but enjoy
the present time, which few of us do.
LA BRUYERE.
Women are only children of a larger growth.
CHESTERFIELD—_Letter to his son_.
The only fun is to do things. CLARA BARTON.
I pledged myself to strive only for the courage of the right and for
the blessedness of true womanhood. CLARA BARTON.
SCHOOL—CHILDISH MEMORIES—MILITARY
What woman has not said “I remember when I was a girl....” Clara Barton
at eighty-six years said, in the story of her childhood, I remember ...,
I remember riding wild colts when I was five years of age. I remember
how frightened I was, but acquired assurance when my brother used to
tell me to “cling fast to the mane.” To this day (at eighty-six years of
age) my seat in the saddle, or on the bare back of a horse, is as secure
and tireless as in a rocking chair. I remember I thought the President
might be as large as the meeting house and the Vice President perhaps
the size of the school house. I remember telling my teacher that I did
not spell such little words as “cat” and “dog,” but I spell in
artichoke, artichoke being the first word in the column of three
syllables.
I remember writing verses, many of which for years were preserved—some
of these verses by others recited to amuse people—some verses to tease
me. I remember, in school, making a mistake in pronouncing ‘Ptolmy,’
when the children laughed at me, and I burst out crying and left the
room.
I remember that my father taught me politics; and that, as an old
soldier,[1] he amused the other children and myself by giving us
practical lessons in military life. We used improvised material, such as
children are accustomed to use in “playing soldier,”—paper caps, plumes,
banners, kettle for the kettle drum, tin swords, sticks for guns and
bayonets—all of which were perfectly satisfactory to us.
Footnote 1:
A Clara Barton paternal ancestor immigrated to America from
Lancashire, England, about twelve years after the landing of _The
Mayflower_. Since that date a direct descendant of his has
participated in every war, by this country.
Our muskets were of cedar wood
With ramrods bright and new;
With bayonets forever set,
And painted barrels, too.
We shouldered arms, we carried arms,
We charged the bayonet;
And woe unto the mullen stalk
That in our course we met!
The armies played havoc with each other, had fearful encounters and,
what seemed to our young minds then, suffered disastrous results. Camps,
regiments, brigades, military terms, she said, thus became familiar to
her as the most ordinary matters of home.
Is it warm in that green valley,
Vale of childhood, where you dwell?
Is it calm in that green valley,
Round whose bowers such great hills swell?
Are there giants in the valley—
Giants leaving footprints yet?
Are there angels in the valley?
Tell me—I forget.
III
In my home here at Oxford, we would listen with intense interest to
the story of her early years, to childhood and girlhood, and to scenes
and events in her old home on the hillside. Clara Barton, by her
shining example to our children and our children’s children, has left
a rare legacy to the town of her birth.
MRS. A. L. JOSLYN—In _Clara Barton In Memoriam_.
Bucephalus was calmed, and subdued, by the presence of Alexander and
became his favorite war-horse.
ABBOTT.
My arms, my arms. My horse; come quick, my horse——.
JOAN OF ARC.
My brother David was the “Buffalo Bill” of all that surrounding
country.
CLARA BARTON.
My father was a lover of horses, one of the first in the vicinity to
introduce blooded stock.
CLARA BARTON.
The first horses imported into the United States were brought to New
England in 1629. Surviving the ocean voyage were one horse and seven
mares. Oxen being used for all farm work, horses did not come into
general use until one hundred years afterwards.
THE AUTHOR.
Joan of Arc, Clara Barton and Florence Nightingale was each an expert
horsewoman and each made use of her skill in horsemanship, in war.
THE AUTHOR.
ON HER FAVORITE BLACK HORSE
Like many other country girls, Clara Barton was fond of horseback
riding. When twelve years of age, on one occasion, she ran away from
home to go for a ride. She came down stairs quietly and slipped out for
a ride on her favorite black horse.
What a wild triumph, that this “girlish hand”
Such a steed in the might of his strength may command!
Falling from the horse, she injured her knee. Determined to keep the
injury a secret she joined her brothers in the field as though nothing
had happened. But she limped, and her brothers noticed it. She merely
told her brothers she had injured her knee, but would say no more. They
sent for a doctor. By plying many questions as to how it happened, the
doctor drew from her a confession. In later life—in the Civil War, in
the Franco-Prussian War, in the Spanish American War, her skill as a
horseback rider was of great service to her. On several occasions she
had to “ride for her life.” In speaking of this accomplishment, she used
to say “When I was a little girl I could ride like a Mexican.”
IV
Clara Barton—the pitying sweetness which fills her eyes and the
sympathetic lines which have been drawn about her mouth bear witness
to a long intimacy with suffering and death.
Central (Mo.) _Christian Advocate_. (1912)
Physiognomy is the language of the face. JEREMY COLLIER.
Physiognomy is reading the handwriting of nature upon the human
countenance. CHATFIELD.
Palmistry is a science as old as the history of the human race. The
mind deceives; the hand tells the truth; the thumb in particular, the
tell-tale of character.
DOLORES CORTEZ, _Queen of the Spanish Gypsies_.
Show me an outspread hand and I’ll show you whether or not its master
is honest, is kind, is affectionate.
ARTHUR DELROY, _Author_.
* * * * *
Human nature, as unfolded by phrenology, is being universally accepted
by all classes of people. CRANIUM.
Phrenology can be used in every phase of life. C. S. HARDISON.
Phrenology is very fruitful in its capacity to paint mental images.
MISS JESSIE ALLEN FOWLER.
Phrenology,—a science that has been of great help to us in the
progress of life. DOCTOR CHARLES H. SHEPARD.
The shape of the brain may generally be ascertained by the form of the
skull. O. S. AND L. N. FOWLER.
Phrenology professes to point out a connection between certain
_manifestations of the mental and peculiar conditions and developments
of the brain_. O. S. AND L. N. FOWLER.
Of all the people in England, I was most glad to meet Doctor L. N.
Fowler, the same gentle, kind man he used to be so many years ago, and
who has done so much for the middle classes of England, giving them
helpful advice they could not get from other sources. CLARA BARTON.
Remembering that fully one-fifth of my life (1856) has been passed as
a teacher in schools, it is not strange that I should feel some
interest in the cause of education. CLARA BARTON.
’Tis education forms the common mind; just as the twig is bent the
tree is inclined. ALEXANDER POPE.
PHRENOLOGY—READ HER CHARACTERISTICS—BASIS OF FRIENDSHIP
The physiognomist reads character in the face; the palmist in the hand;
the phrenologist in the skull. Physiognomy since the origin of man has
been nature’s open book. The science of palmistry is at least five
thousand years old; but the science of phrenology is of comparatively
recent origin. When Clara Barton was a little girl phrenology received
its really first great impulse in this country, through the lectures and
writings of the Doctors Fowler of England. In England, as in this
country, phrenology was then the subject of much ridicule. Of this
strange science Thomas Hood sarcastically writes:
’Tis strange how like a very dunce,
Man, with his bumps upon his sconce,
Had lived so long; and yet no knowledge he
Has had, till lately, of phrenology—
A science that by simple dint of
Head-combining he should find a hint of,
When scratching o’er those little pole-hills
The faculties threw up like mole hills.
Little Clara was bashful, afraid of strangers, too timid to sit at the
family table when guests were present; would not so much as tell her
name when asked to do so. When spoken to by a stranger she would burst
out crying—sometimes leaving the room. Now and then she would go hungry
rather than ask a favor even of a member of the family. Doctor L. N.
Fowler visited Oxford. While there he was a guest at the Barton home.
Doctor, what shall we do with this girl, asked the mother; she annoys us
almost to death. We can hardly speak to her without her crying, from
fear. The doctor examined her head. He replied, she is timid, that’s
all. The “bump” of fear is over-developed. Nothing will change a child’s
innate fear; that is a characteristic of her nature. She may outgrow it
to some extent but her sensitive nature will remain as long as she
lives. The doctor advised the parents to give her something to do; to
keep her at work, and thus to let her forget herself. Don’t scold her;
encourage her. When she does anything well, give her full
credit—compliment her. Throw responsibility on her; when she is old
enough give her a school to teach.
To be understood is the basis of friendship. The Doctor understood
Clara; little Clara understood the Doctor. They became friends. That
friendship lasted through life. Many years after the Doctor visited
Oxford Clara Barton visited the Doctor, in London. They spent evenings
together. The Doctor renewed his interest in the people of those early
days in New England. He especially recalled the characteristics of Miss
Barton’s father;—they became mutually reminiscent of the days of her
childhood. The Doctor had then become old and decrepit but was still
giving lectures on phrenology. The happiest hours Clara Barton spent in
England were in the home of the Fowlers; with the Doctor, his charming
wife and three beautiful daughters.
V
The earth can never have enough women like Clara Barton.
Detroit (Mich.) _Free Press._
Clara Barton belonged not only to the United States but to the entire
civilized world. Boston (Mass.) _Globe._
A merry heart doeth good like a medicine. PROVERBS.
Laugh and the world laughs with you. ELLA WHEELER WILCOX.
With mirth and laughter let old wrinkles come.
SHAKESPEARE.
A little nonsense now and then
Is relished by the best of men. ANONYMOUS.
The next best thing to a very good joke is a very bad one.
J. C. HARE.
Full well they laughed with counterfeited glee
At all his jokes, for many a joke had he. GOLDSMITH.
If ever there were lost, or omitted, a well-turned joke or a bit of
humor by the various members of the Barton family it was clearly an
accident. CLARA BARTON.
Joking decides great things stronger and better of’t than earnest can.
MILTON-HORACE.
[Illustration:
THE UNIVERSALIST CHURCH, MAIN STREET, OXFORD, MASSACHUSETTS
Where Clara Barton attended church. Oldest Universalist Church in the
world, built 1792. Society second oldest. Organized April 27, 1785.
Denomination organized here, September 14, 1785.
]
[Illustration:
SUMMER HOME OF CLARA BARTON, OXFORD, MASSACHUSETTS
Arrow points towards the window of the room where Clara Barton was
bed-ridden for several months, through her last fatal illness, in
the latter part of 1911.
]
“SPONTANEOUS COMBUSTION” LAID TO CLARA BARTON
A timid child is invariably the butt of jokes. Clara Barton, in her
youth, was not an exception. As a little girl she had learned to weave,
working in a North Oxford satinet mill. She had not been it work there
very long when the mill took fire and burned down. Then, as no
satisfactory explanation of the cause could be given by the members of
the Barton family, the fire was attributed to spontaneous combustion,
brought on because Clara had worked so fast as to set the mill on fire.
Clara Barton did not object to, but rather enjoyed, a joke on herself.
She used to tell her friends of this joke and said that in her own town
and among her playmates that joke was “told on me for many years.”
VI
Forget not Christmas. HENRY _IV._ of England.
At Christmas be merry, and thankful withal,
And feast thy poor neighbors, the great with the small. TUSSER.
Those who at Christmas do repine,
And would fain hence despatch him,
May they with old Duke Humphry dine,
Or else may ‘Squire Ketch catch him.’
POOR ROBIN’S ALMANAC, 1684.
Without the door let sorrow lie,
And if, for cold, it hap to die,
Wee ’le bury ’t in a Christmas pye,
And evermore be merry.
WITHER’S JUVENILIA.
Now Christmas is come,
Let us beat up the drum,
And call all our neighbors together.
And when they appear,
Let us make them such cheer,
As will keep out the wind and the weather. OLD SONG.
A Christmas baby! Now, isn’t that the best kind of a Christmas gift
for us all? FATHER STEPHEN BARTON (1821).
Clara Barton was a Christmas present, given to the world.
Bridgeport (Conn.) _Standard_ (—In 1912).
The sweet love-planted Christmas tree. WILL CARLETON.
A good conscience is a continual Christmas.
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN.
This day shall change all griefs and quarrels into love.
SHAKESPEARE.
I will honor Christmas in my heart and try to keep it all the year.
CHARLES DICKENS.
On Christmas Day we will shut out from our fireside nothing.
CHARLES DICKENS.
’Tis the season for kindling the fire of hospitality in the hall, the
genial fire of charity in the heart. WASHINGTON IRVING.
I was born on one bright Christmas day, and I am told that there was a
great family jubilation upon the occasion. CLARA BARTON.
For which the shepherds at their festivals
Carol her goodness loud in rustic lays. JOHN MILTON.
The winds ever chant on the bright Christmas morn,
The sweetest of carols for “Two” that were born.
E. MAY GLENN TOON.
CHRISTMAS
A CHRISTMAS CAROL
(1894)
For my 30,000 Sea Island Friends
A Loving Greeting and Merry Christmas. CLARA BARTON.
Lo! The Christmas morn is breaking,
Bring the angels bright array,
For the Christian world is waking,
And the Lord is born to-day.
Shout then, brothers; shout and pray,
For the blessed Lord is born to-day.
No more tears and pain and sorrow,
Hark! I hear the angels say
Blessed be the bright to-morrow,
For the Lord is born to-day.
Shout then, sisters; shout and pray,
For the blessed Lord is born to-day.
Forget your night of sad disaster,
Cast your burdens all away,
Wait the coming of the Master,
For the Lord is born to-day.
Shout then, children; shout and pray,
For the blessed Lord is born to-day.
In the sunlight, soft and golden,
Round the babe the angels play;
List, their notes so grand and olden,
Lo! The Lord is born to-day.
Shout, all people; shout and pray,
For the blessed Lord is born to-day.
VII
The life of Clara Barton should be familiarized to every child.
Woonsocket (R. I.) _Call._
Learning to ride, Clara, is just learning a horse.
BROTHER DAVID (“Buffalo Bill”) in 1826.
How can I learn a horse, David? SISTER CLARA.
Catch hold of his mane, baby, and just feel the horse a part of
yourself—the big half of the task being.
BROTHER DAVID. _Heroines of Service._
Love me, love my dog. HEYWARD’S PROVERBS.
The one absolutely unselfish friend that a man can have in this
selfish world, the one that never deserts him, and the one that never
proves ungrateful, or traitorous, is his dog. SENATOR VEST.
We are two travellers, Roger and I—Roger’s my dog—so fond, so
unselfish, so forgiving. JOHN TOWNSEND TROWBRIDGE.
I have seen many friends in my travels,
Some friends whom the world would call game,
But the friendship of my old dog Roger
Would put all the others to shame.
WILLIAM DEVERE.
I would rather be a dog and bay at the moon
Than such a Roman. JULIUS CAESAR.
Every dog has his day, why not I?
Dogs are very much like people—
I am Preacher Smith’s dog, whose dog are you?
ABBIE N. SMITH, “_Bobtail Dixie_.”
A horse! a horse! my kingdom for a horse! SHAKESPEARE.
O for a horse with wings. CYMBELINE.
Champing his foam, and bounding o’er the plain,
Arch his high neck and graceful spread his mane.
SIR R. BLACKMORE.
A good rider on a good horse is as much above himself and others as
the world can make him. LORD HERBERT.
I die,—but first have possessed
And come what may, I _have been blessed_. BYRON.
Aspiration sees only one side of every question; possession, many.
LOWELL.
How senseless is the love of wealth and treasure. GUARINI.
Remember not one penny can we take with us into the unknown land.
SENECA.
“BUTTON”—“BILLY”—CLARA BARTON OWNERSHIP
A dog is a real philanthropist, his whole existence is living for
others. The best “war-scout” known is the Red Cross dog, wearing the
insignia. In a dog Miss Barton found a congenial spirit. Her first
ownership was a dog, and known by the name of “Button.” He was
medium-sized, very white, with silky ears, sparkling black eyes, and a
very short tail. “Button” was Clara Barton’s guardian in the cradle, her
playmate in childhood.
Some little dogs are very good,
And very useful too:—
“Button” would try to pick her up when she fell down, sympathize with
her in her troubles,—ever unselfish, helpful, loyal.
Clara Barton’s second individual ownership was “Billy.” “Billy” was a
horse. She said he was high stepping; in color, brown; of Morgan
ancestry, with glossy coat, slim legs, pointed ears, long black mane and
tail, and weighing nearly nine hundred pounds.
Ownership endowed “Billy” with wonderful characteristics. He could trot,
rack, pace, single-foot,—a Bucephalus worthy of world fame. “Like beads
upon a rosary” she would count and recount the joys of memory, memory of
her saddle horse, and she on his back, riding like mad, at ten years of
age. He had many characteristics, doubtless, that she didn’t recount. As
a horse is known to be “a vain thing for safety” “Billy” could probably
run away, get frightened at a shadow, senselessly “kick up” and
“smash-up,” as do other horses. But fun is in the danger; the greater
the danger to life and limb the greater the fun. “Billy” would not stand
over her to guard her, nor help her up when she fell down, but was
useful and gave her pleasure. “The true, living love is love of soul for
soul,” hence mankind loves, in return for love, only what gives love;
but mankind also pretends to love what it can force to serve man’s
purpose. The dog spirit and the horse spirit satisfy the longings of
human nature—all the world loves a dog and assumes to love a horse.
In hearing of the cannon’s roar one afternoon, an officer galloped up
asking, “Miss Barton, can you ride?” “Yes sir.” “But you have no
saddle—could you ride mine?” “Yes sir, or without it, if you have
blanket and surcingle.” “Then you can risk an hour.” An hour later the
officer returned at breakneck speed—and leaping from his horse said:
“Now is your time Miss Barton; the enemy is already breaking over the
hills.”
Oh! not all the pleasures that poets may praise,—
Not the wildering waltz in the ballrooms blaze,
Nor the chivalrous joust, nor the daring race,
Nor the swift regatta, nor the merry chase,
Nor the sail heaving waters o’er,
Nor the rural dance on the moonlight shore,—
Can the wild and fearless joy exceed
Of a fearless leap on a fiery steed.
Romance enters into ownership of pet animals. Probably “Button” was
_just_ a dog and “Billy” _only_ a horse. But one has said that the right
of ownership is the cornerstone of civilization. Ownership of what is
worthy of love at least enriches character—contributes to the happiness
of human existence. If the Father of his Country was right, that the
object of all government is the happiness of the people, then the love
of animals serves a very high purpose.
With the first “gold dust” suddenly acquired, an illiterate Western
miner built on the desert a stone mansion. He ornamented it with gold
door knobs door hinges of silver—the doors opening but to golden keys.
Yet some there be that by due steps aspire
To lay their just hands on that golden key,
That opes the palace to eternity,—
To such my errand is:—
Where human beings throng, and men and women suffer, Clara Barton built
a structure and ornamented it with a RED CROSS on a white ground—the
emblem of service to the suffering. With unusual earning capacity for
seventy-five years, and at all times practicing greatest economy, Clara
Barton’s ownership at her passing was but $21,000. The Glen Echo Red
Cross home that had been used, free of cost to the RED CROSS, was valued
at $5,000. While the owner lived she continued to keep it as a charity
center—a home for the homeless and indigent—ex-soldiers, civilians,
children.
In her closing years she had, therefore, for her own personal and
exclusive use in money and realty, not to exceed $21,000. This was nine
thousand dollars less than the value of her property when she first
became interested in Red Cross work. “Mere money,” she said, “never
separates me from my friends. I don’t care for money; I wish only not to
become an object of charity, and to be a burden to my friends when I am
unable to work for others.”
[Illustration:
BIRTHPLACE OF CLARA BARTON, NEAR OXFORD, MASSACHUSETTS
On March 14, 1921, the title to the Barton Homestead was transferred
by Carl O. Carlson to The Woman’s National Missionary Society of the
Universalist Church. It is now known as The Clara Barton Memorial
Home. Mementoes, Red Cross literature and all else possible to
obtain that appertain to Clara Barton’s life work will be assembled
here and become a part of the Memorial. The homestead consists of
the house where Clara Barton was born, and eighty-five acres of
land. It was dedicated as a shrine for the public, October 12, 1921.
Arrow points to the room where Clara Barton was born. Size of the room
8 × 10 feet. Ceiling 8 feet high. Clothes closet 5 feet 2 inches × 2
feet 5 inches. Two windows each 4 feet 5 inches high × 2 feet 3
inches wide. Two sashes in each window; six panes of glass in each
sash.
]
[Illustration:
OFFICERS OF THE W. N. M. A. PRESENT AT THE DEDICATION OF THE CLARA
BARTON MEMORIAL ON OCTOBER 12, 1921.
Left to Right: Mrs. Bertram O. Blaisdell, Trustee; Mrs. Ethel M.
Allen, Rec. Sec’y (now President); Mrs. Marietta B. Wilkins,
President; Mrs. Fred A. Moore, Literature Secretary; Miss Susan M.
Andrew, Trustee (Chairman Clara Barton Guild).
]
VIII
Every child in the country has known of Clara Barton.
Oakland (Calif.) _Tribune_.
Pestalozzi was the Father of the Public School; Washington the Father
of his Country; Lincoln, the Father of a Race; Clara Barton, the
Mother of the Red Cross. THE AUTHOR.
The building which housed Clara Barton in her efforts for popular
education is still standing along with other historic landmarks.
Bordentown (N. J.) _Register_.
If you will let me try, I will teach the children free for six months.
CLARA BARTON.
I thank God that we have no free schools—in the colony—and I hope we
shall not have these hundred years.
GOVERNOR BERKELEY of Virginia in 1670.
The first incorporation to provide free schools, under the provisions
of the State, was passed in New York in 1805.
THE MODERN SCHOOL SYSTEM.
The basis of free government is in education; in a republic the hope
of the millions is the free public school.
THE TWO REPUBLICS.
The hope of all modern civilization is the public free school.
ANCIENT SCHOOL SYSTEMS.
I taught in an uninclosed shed at North Oxford, there being no house
for that purpose. CLARA BARTON.
The first meetings for the establishment of a kindergarten system at
Washington was held at the Clara Barton home, in Washington; among
others present Phoebe Hearst and Mrs. Grover Cleveland, wife of the
President, the chairman. THE AUTHOR.
Let us live in our children. FREDERICK FROEBEL.
PAUPER SCHOOLS; FROM SIX TO SIX HUNDRED
New Jersey had no public schools. The people said they were not paupers
and would not have their children taught at public expense—would not
send them to “pauper schools.” In New Jersey Clara Barton opened, for
the first time, what was called a “free school for paupers.” Since those
puritan days, what a change in public sentiment! Then it was “Pauper
school” education; now
Free education is the poor man’s marble staircase that leads upward,
and into, the palaces of wealth, health and happiness.
Clara Barton was told that a public school was impossible; every time it
had been tried, it had failed. At Bordentown she found herself with six
bright boys, and the public school[2] commenced. At the end of twelve
months her six pupils had grown to six hundred pupils—among whom no
corporal punishment had been administered.
Footnote 2:
The School Building, erected in 1837. School taught by Clara Barton,
in 1853. Building and site the property of New Jersey, purchased
through contributions by teachers and pupils. Building dedicated June
11, 1921, and now known as The Clara Barton Memorial School but used
as a Clara Barton Museum.
“Pauper schools” became thence in fact the free public school; now the
free public school is the one institution from whose flagstaff freedom’s
flag is never hauled down.
IX
Clara Barton taught the rich to be unselfish and the strong to be
gentle. CHARLES E. TOWNSEND, U. S. Senate.
Her voice was soft,
Gentle and low; an excellent thing in woman.
SHAKESPEARE.
Miss Barton was a soft-voiced, retiring little woman, yet she had a
way of approaching her work in a most telling manner.
Buffalo (N. Y.) _Express_.
Miss Barton followed her own light with steadfast steps.
Springfield (Mass.) _Republican_.
Clara Barton—a model of the beautiful simplicity of a life given to
others. Bridgeport (Conn.) _Standard_.
The severest test of discipline is its absence. CLARA BARTON.
Social, friendly and human, Clara Barton joined with the children in
the playgrounds;—instead of being locked out as the previous teachers
had been she “locked” herself “in” the hearts of every boy and girl.
_The Life of Clara Barton_, by Epler.
Show me a child well disciplined, perfectly governed at home, and I
will show you a child that never breaks a rule at school.
CLARA BARTON.
Whenever corporal punishment is inflicted on a pupil it is a sign of
negligence and indolence on the part of the teacher, says Seneca.
ANCIENT SCHOOL SYSTEMS.
In refinement of taste and beauty of action, or purity of thought and
delicacy of expression, nature’s own best teacher is woman.
THE MODERN SCHOOL SYSTEM.
CHILD LOVE—JOE AND CHARLIE—APPRECIATION
To the child nothing is small; nor does the child forget. Whatever
kindness comes to the child is stored in one of the cells of the brain
for future years. As an heirloom, the longer it is possessed the more it
is cherished.
Referring to her teacher of long ago, Dr. Eleanor Burnside recently
related this incident in her school life: “I recall when a little girl
in her school Clara Barton’s friendly interest in the progress of her
pupils; unvarying patience, no matter what the circumstances might be. I
do not think she knew how to scold, nor were scoldings and other
manifestations of ill temper necessary. Her quiet, firm word, pleasantly
expressed, seemed sufficient always.”
Speak gently; it is better far
To rule by love than fear—
Speak gently; ’tis a little thing
Dropped in the heart’s deep well;
The good, the joy, which it may bring,
Eternity shall tell.
Not easily disturbed, Miss Barton did not notice little misdemeanors by
the children at all. She seemed not to observe one day when some fun was
started by a boy sitting back of Joe Davis. The mischievous boy was
putting his finger in Joe’s red hair and pretending his finger was
burnt. Of course it amused the children, but only for a moment. To
govern too much is worse than to govern too little. This was an incident
merely of a child’s humor, requiring no reprimand. “But no matter what
happened, Clara Barton did not scold. Her pupils loved her and that made
what she did, and what she said too, right.”
The old desk used by Clara Barton recently has been found in possession
of one of the old families at Bordentown, New Jersey. By tracing back
the ownership it has been proved conclusively to be the original desk
used by Miss Barton. The desk refuted the libel that she was a
disciplinarian, and not a humanitarian. The libel referred to was that
she had a particularly unruly boy; that she seized him by the nape of
the neck, lifted the lid of the desk and dropped him inside. Now that
the desk has been discovered, her admirers point to the interesting fact
that it doesn’t have a top lid; it has a small drawer.
Childhood is ever of the living present. Up the stream of time the eye
keeps fixed on memory’s treasures of youth. In one of the battles of the
Civil War, Clara Barton stooped down to place the empty sleeve, then
useless to the bullet-shattered right arm, over the shoulder of a
soldier boy. Recognizing the face of his former teacher the fair-haired
lad dropped his face into the folds of her dress, then threw his left
arm around her neck, in deepest grief, crying: “Why, Miss Barton, don’t
you know me? I am Charlie Hamilton who used to carry your satchel to
school.”
X
Like a patriotic soldier Clara Barton responded in the youth of her
womanhood to the call of service to others.
York (Pa.) _Gazette_.
Clara Barton is one of the greatest heroic figures of her time.
_Buffalo Press._
Clara Barton—our greatest national heroine. _Literary Digest._
We reckon heroism today, not so much on account of the thing done as
the motive behind the act. CHAUNCEY M. DEPEW.
Yes, it is over. The calls are answered, the marches have ended, the
nation saved. CLARA BARTON.
The best blood of America has flowed like water.
CLARA BARTON.
The soldier is lost in the citizen. CLARA BARTON.
The proudest of America’s sons have struggled for the honors of a
soldier’s name. CLARA BARTON.
Their glory, bright as it shone in war, is out-lustered by the
nobleness of their lives in peace. CLARA BARTON.
I shall never take to myself more honesty of purpose, faithfulness of
zeal, nor patriotism, than I award to another. CLARA BARTON.
What can be added to the glory of a nation whose citizens are its
soldiers? Whose warriors, armed and mighty,—spring from its bosom in
the hour of need, and peacefully retire when the need is over. CLARA
BARTON.
I have taught myself to look upon the government as the band which the
people bind around a bundle of sticks to hold it firm, where every
patriot must grapple the knot tighter.
CLARA BARTON.
If our government be too weak to act vigorously and energetically,
strengthen it till it can act; then comes the peace we all wait for,
as kings and prophets waited—and without which like them we seek and
never find. CLARA BARTON.
Henry Wilson worked on a farm at six dollars per month. Then he tied
up his scanty wardrobe in a pocket handkerchief, and walked to Natick,
Massachusetts, more than one hundred miles, to become a cobbler. The
trip cost him but $1.88.
HENRY MAKEPEACE THAYER.
I am the son of a hireling manual laborer who, with the frosts of
seventy winters on his head, lives by daily labor. I too lived by
daily labor. HENRY WILSON.
Henry Wilson, born in New Hampshire, February 16, 1812; elected to U.
S. Senate, 1855; elected Vice-President, 1872; died November 22, 1875.
THE AUTHOR.
We should yield nothing to our principles of right.
HENRY WILSON.
The sorrows of drunkenness glare on us from the cradle to the grave.
HENRY WILSON.
I would not have upon my soul the consciousness that I had by precept
or example lured any young man to drunkenness for all the honors of
the universe. HENRY WILSON.
Clara Barton’s never-failing friend, Senator Henry Wilson.
PERCY H. EPLER.
TEMPERANCE—CLARA BARTON AND THE HIRED MAN—STRANGER THAN FICTION
Way back in 1857 in Worcester, Massachusetts, Clara Barton showed her
humanitarian spirit and organization ability. Under the Reverend Horace
James, she assisted in the organization of the Band of Hope,[3] a
society originating in Scotland whose object was: “To Promote the Cause
of Temperance and Good Morals of the Children and Youth.”
Footnote 3:
First Temperance Society organized in America, in 1789; First National
Temperance Convention, in 1833; a “temperance revolution” urged, in
1842, by Abraham Lincoln; Women’s Christian Temperance Union organized
in 1874; National Prohibition went into effect January 16, 1920.
On the breaking out of the Civil War, the Reverend James became Chaplain
of the Twenty-fifth Massachusetts Regiment, and two of the boys that
Clara Barton induced to join the society became officers of the
Fifty-seventh Massachusetts Regiment. One was Colonel J. Brainard Hall
and the other Captain George E. Barton. At the Battle of the Wilderness
the Colonel Hall referred to was seriously, then thought to be fatally,
wounded. Clara Barton was the first at his side to nurse, and to care
for, him. As soon as he was able to be moved, she sent him to Washington
to be cared for there by one whom she told him was her very dear friend.
Stranger than fiction, on reaching Washington, Colonel Hall discovered
this friend to be the “Hired Man,” previous to 1839, who worked in his
grandmother’s shoe-shop,—the late Henry Wilson, Vice-President of the
United States.
XI
Every woman who loves her country and who realizes what true
patriotism means will always revere the name of Clara Barton, and
connect it with the highest ideal of service to one’s country. DR.
ANNA H. SHAW _President American Woman Suffrage Association_.
Clara Barton has won the hearts of the women of the world. CARRIE
CHAPMAN CATT, _President American Woman Suffrage Association_.
John Marshall, for thirty-five years Chief Justice of the U. S.
Supreme Court, held the female sex the equals of men.
JUSTICE JOSEPH STORY.
I had not learned to equip myself—for I was no Pallas ready armed but
grew into my work by hard thinking and sad experience.
CLARA BARTON.
I am a woman and know what barriers oppose all womanly efforts.
HARRIET G. HOSMER.
Clara Barton is the best clerk, either man or woman, I ever had in my
office. MR. MASON, _Commissioner of Patents_.
It is less difficult for a woman to obtain celebrity by her genius
than to be forgiven for it. BRISSOT.
Only the machinery and plans of Heaven move unerringly and we
short-sighted mortals are, half our time, fain to complain of these.
CLARA BARTON.
It is possible for the wisest even to build better than he knows.
CLARA BARTON.
Who furnished the Armies; who but the Mothers? Who reared the sons and
taught them that liberty and their country was worth their blood? Who
gave them up and wept their fall, nursed them in their suffering and
mourned them, _dead_? CLARA BARTON.
There is none to give woman the right to govern herself, as men govern
themselves by self-made and self-approved laws of the land.
CLARA BARTON.
Only the Great Jehovah can crown and anoint man for his work, and he
reaches out and takes the crown and places it upon his head with his
own hand. CLARA BARTON.
Whenever I have been urged as a petitioner to ask equal suffrage for
women a kind of dazed, bewildered feeling comes over me.
CLARA BARTON.
In making an appeal to her soldiers for “votes for women” Clara Barton
said: “When you were weak and I was strong, I toiled for you; now you
are strong, and I am weak. Because of my work for you, I ask your aid;
I ask the ballot for myself and my sex. As I stood by you, I pray you
stand by me and mine.” THE AUTHOR.
Clara Barton advocated “Votes for Women” on the platform of the First
National Suffrage Convention in this country.
Buffalo (New York) _Courier_.
LOOKING FOR A JOB—EQUAL SUFFRAGE
Among the ancients, controlling the certain affairs worthy of man, were
many goddesses; of these, Venus, Ceres, Juno, Diana, Pomona, Minerva.
Such man’s inherent respect for femininity that feminine names in
classic days were given to temples of worship; to the continents,
Europe, Asia, Africa, and later to America.[4] Feminine names with few
exceptions, also, have been given to all countries,—“she” and not “he,”
likewise the word used to identify great things mechanical and useful.
Long and hard has been the contest for woman to achieve in fact what in
spirit seemingly comports with womanhood. In this contest through the
last half of the nineteenth, and the first half of the twentieth,
century Clara Barton was conspicuous.
Footnote 4:
In 1507, by Martin Waldseemuller, the name of America was given to the
then newly discovered continent.
[Illustration:
THE SCHOOL HOUSE
Built of brick, in 1839, where Clara Barton taught school in 1853. See
page 47.
]
[Illustration:
THE DESK USED BY CLARA BARTON
See page 47.
]
HISTORIC IN EDUCATION
Bordentown, N. J.
[Illustration:
THE CLARA BARTON MUSEUM
The old school house reconstructed. See page 47.
]
Alone in the world, dependent upon her own efforts for a living and
looking for a “job,” the following is what in letters Miss Barton says
of herself in 1854 and 1860 respectively:
In a letter to her friend Miss Lydia F. Haskell, Washington, D. C.,
January 20, 1854, Clara Barton said:
“Well, I am a clerk in the United States Patent Office, writing my
fingers stiff every day of my life.... The truth is, I have written
nights until one or two o’clock for the last two weeks. I shall not be
so very busy long. I am just now fitting the mechanical report for the
press; that off my hands and I shall be quite at ease, I suppose.”
In a letter to Frank Clinton, Bordentown, New Jersey, dated January 2,
1860, Clara Barton said:
“I can teach English, French, drawing and painting.... I am a rapid
writer or copyist, and have the reputation of being a very good
accountant ... and if, in your travels through the South, you see an
opening for me, tell me.”
As the pioneer woman in Government service Clara Barton was the object
of commiseration. And only because she was a woman, she suffered through
jeers and hoots and cat-calls, and tobacco smoke in her face, and
slanderous whisperings in the hallways and boisterous talks about
“crinoline”—all sorts of offensiveness, on the part of Government
employees. Clara Barton in the public school, in the patent office, in
the Civil War, in the Franco-Prussian War, in the Cuban War, in national
disasters, in the presidency of the Red Cross, now filled by the
President of the United States, is a series of object lessons of the
greatest significance in the progress of womankind in the public
service. Clara Barton the _intruder_ among men in the patent office in
1855, and Jeannette Rankin, the _honorable_ among men in Congress in
1918, are the exponents respectively of two conditions of American
sentiment as to the public function of women in the United States.
Possibly because of her sad experience as a woman in the public service,
she became one of those who, with Susan B. Anthony, Elizabeth Cady
Stanton, and other suffragettes, blazed the way to equal rights for
women—equal rights now approved by the President, the United States
Congress and the American people. At a meeting of the American Suffrage
Association held in Washington, D. C., in language most caustic and
argumentative, in part in a public address Clara Barton said:
A woman shan’t say there shall be no war—and she shan’t take any part
in it when there is one; and because she doesn’t take part in the war,
she must not vote; and because she can’t vote she has no voice in her
Government. And because she has no voice in her Government she is not
a citizen; and because she isn’t a citizen she has no rights, and
because she has no rights she must submit to wrong; and because she
submits to wrong she isn’t anybody. Becoming optimistic, she said, the
number of thoughtful and right minded men who will approve equal
suffrage are much smaller than we think and, when equal suffrage[5] is
an accomplished fact, all will wonder as I have done, what the
objection ever was.
Footnote 5:
The Nineteenth Amendment to the Constitution proclaimed August 26,
1920.
XII
Clara Barton’s simple life was long, and so full of stirring incidents
that all the books will not record the whole of it.
Worcester (Mass.) _Telegram_.
Be not like dumb-driven cattle.
LONGFELLOW—_The Psalm of Life_.
The Ox has therefore stretched his yoke in vain.
A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM.
And the plain ox,
That harmless, honest guileless animal,
In what has he offended? he whose toil,
Patient and ever ready, clothes the land
With all the pomp of harvest.
THOMPSON—_The Seasons_.
A man loves the meat in his youth that he cannot endure in his age.
MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING.
Tell me what you eat, and I will tell you what you are.
BRILLAT SAVARIN.
The sign of true, not casual, progress, ... is the progress of
vegetarianism ... more and more people have given up animal food.
TOLSTOI.
I had not then learned the mystery of nerves. CLARA BARTON.
CREDULOUS OX—INNOCENT CHILD—CLARA BARTON, A VEGETARIAN
Among the Puritans the horse was a luxury; the beast of burden was the
ox. In the first half of the nineteenth century the ox made possible in
Massachusetts even the existence of man. In the snows of winter, at seed
time and at harvest, the toiling ox was loyal—faithful to the best
interests of the family. The ox himself was unsuspecting, and untutored
in the art of deceiving others. He couldn’t think his kindly attentive
Master, Man, unappreciative, disloyal—wholly obsessed with greed. He
didn’t know that money was above life,—he hadn’t read war-history. He
didn’t know that through the love of money, by man, come life’s woes.
The ox knew only that _he_ was the friend to man; and he thought man
must be _his_ friend. Poor credulous ox! And yet in the child the
friendship of the ox is not misplaced. Innocent child! to man and beast
Heaven’s best gift, a loyal friend.
Captain Stephen Barton kept a dairy. When a small girl Clara used to
drive the cows and oxen to, and from, the pasture. Clara also assisted
morning and evening in milking the cows. One evening she observed three
men, one holding in his hand an axe, driving a big, red, fat ox into the
barn. She saw the man with the axe strike the ox in the head, then saw
the ox drop to the floor. At the same moment she fell unconscious to the
ground. She was carried to the house, placed on a bed, and a camphor
bottle freely used. When she regained consciousness, in reply as to why
she fell, she said: “Someone struck me.” “Oh, no, no one struck you,”
they said. “Then what makes my head sore,” she asked. At that time her
desire for meat left her; and in later years she used to say, “all
through life to the present, I have eaten meat only when I must for the
sake of appearances. The bountiful ground always yields enough for all
of my needs and wants.”
[Illustration:
ANNIE WITTENMEYER
Clara Barton is second to none of womankind.—MRS. ANNIE WITTENMEYER,
First President W. C. T. U.
]
[Illustration:
JOHN B. GOUGH
Clara Barton’s lecture—I never heard anything more thrilling in my
life.—JOHN B. GOUGH, America’s Greatest Temperance Lecturer.
]
REPRESENTATIVE TEMPERANCE ADVOCATES
[Illustration:
MARY STEWART POWERS
Clara Barton was prominent among women as an advocate of the cause of
temperance. Through her leadership in practical humanitarianism she
endeared herself to the whole world. Her good name will live
forever.—MRS. MARY STEWART POWERS, Public Lecturer and State
Superintendent of Scientific Temperance of Ohio.
]
[Illustration:
FRANCES WILLARD
President W. C. T. U.
In the name of your God and my God, ask your people and my people not
to be discouraged in the good work (Red Cross) they have
undertaken.—CLARA BARTON. From Armenia, in 1896, to Miss Willard.
See page 347.
]
XIII
The Mother, patriot though she were, uttered her sentiments through
choking voice and tender trembling words, and the young man caring
nothing, fearing nothing, rushed gallantly on to doom and to death.
CLARA BARTON.
The soldier’s fear is the fear of being thought to fear. BOVEE.
Self trust is the essence of heroism. EMERSON.
I have no fear of the battle field; I want to go to the suffering men.
CLARA BARTON.
I was always afraid of everything except when someone was to be
rescued from danger or pain. CLARA BARTON.
Like the true Anglo-Saxon, loyal and loving, tender and true, the
Mother held back her tears with one hand while with the other she
wrung her fond farewell and passed her son on to the State.
CLARA BARTON.
FELL DEAD ON THE GROUND BESIDE HER
The first time Clara Barton visited in New Haven, she wore a gray dress
that had bullet holes in it—received in caring for the wounded at
Fredericksburg. In describing the battle scene Clara Barton said: “Over
into that City of Death; its roofs riddled by shells, its very Church a
crowded hospital, every street a battle line, every hill a rampart,
every rock a fortress, and every stone wall a blazing line of forts!”
At Fredericksburg
They rated blood as water,
And all the slope shone red,
Past Valor’s call
By bristling wall;
Defeat linked arms with slaughter
Astride the blue-robed dead.
As Miss Barton was being assisted off the bridge by an officer, an
exploding shell hissed between them, passing below their arms as they
were upraised, carrying away both the skirts of his coat and her dress.
A moment later, on his horse, the gallant officer was struck by a solid
shot from the enemy; the horse bounded in the air and the officer fell
to the ground dead, not thirty feet in the rear.
In her usual modest manner, in relating _war incidents_, she described
the experience to a lady friend and said: “I never mended that dress. I
wonder whether or not a soldier ever mends a bullet hole in his
clothes.”
XIV
Military glory—that attractive rainbow that rises in showers of blood,
that serpent’s eye that charms to destroy.
ABRAHAM LINCOLN.
The friends of humanity will deprecate war, whenever it may appear.
GEORGE WASHINGTON.
There is no need of bloodshed and war. ABRAHAM LINCOLN.
* * * * *
Wars are largely the result of unbridled passions.
CLARA BARTON.
War is only splendid murder. JAMES THOMSON.
War is the mad game that the world so loves to play. SWIFT.
* * * * *
Every battleship is a menace to the peace of the world. With each new
battleship every nation carries a chip on its shoulder.
CLARA BARTON.
The Red Cross took its rise in, and derived its existence from, war.
Without war it had no existence. CLARA BARTON.
Deplore it as we may, war is the _great act_ of all history.
CLARA BARTON.
War has been the rule, if not largely the occupation, of the peoples
of the earth from their earliest history. CLARA BARTON.
Scarcely a quarter of the earth is yet civilized, and that quarter not
beyond the probabilities of war. CLARA BARTON.
General Sherman was right when, addressing an assemblage of cadets, he
told them “war was hell!” Take it as you will, it is this;—whoever has
looked active war full in the face has caught some glimpse of regions
as infernal as he may ever fear to see.
CLARA BARTON.
Only time, prolonged effort, national economics, universal progress
and the pressure of public opinion could ever hope to grapple with the
existence of war, the monster evil of the ages.
CLARA BARTON.
I have studied the massing of forces and scanned from point to point
the old battle-grounds of Marengo and Jena and Waterloo and the
Magenta and Solferino and it has seemed to me that these armies had a
fairer field and a better chance than ours, in the Civil War. CLARA
BARTON.
War may be a _great harmonizer_, but it is not a _humanizer_.
CLARA BARTON.
That which is won by the sword must be held by the sword, whether it
is worth the cost or not. CLARA BARTON.
If there be any power on earth which can right the wrongs for which a
nation goes to war, I pray it may be made manifest.
CLARA BARTON.
If there be any good wars, I will attend them.
SIR PHILIP SIDNEY.
That noble and numerous class of patriots who are brave with other
men’s lives and lavish of other men’s money. GLADSTONE.
There never was a good war, nor a bad peace.
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN.
Don’t talk about war; we have done with war. The Peace of the world is
the question now. CLARA BARTON.
WICKEDNESS OF WAR—SETTLES NO DISPUTES
Clara Barton was a patriot, but “not a war woman.” She had no sympathy
with the religion such as was Odin’s, of the ninth century, which
religion assured for him who had killed in battle the greatest number
the highest seat reserved in the Paradise of the Valhalla; nor with the
sentiment of the King of Denmark of that day, “What is more beautiful
than to see the heroes pushing on through battle, though fainting with
their wounds;” nor with the sentiment of that same king’s boast, “War
was my delight from my youth, and from my childhood I was pleased with a
bloody spear.”
Princes were privileged to kill,
The numbers sanctified the crime.
Wolves in “packs” seek prey; so do men—in sheep’s clothing. Wolves
truthful, in howls, send forth their propaganda—hunger; men untruthful,
in words, send forth their propaganda—hate. If the “survival of the
fittest” be nature’s law only brutes conform to nature—by using no
weapons. Men kill their own “kith and kin”; brutes combine to protect
their own species. The more one sees of men on war’s slaughter-fields
killing their friends or strangers, for prospective profit, the more he
must admire the ethics of the brute. In brute history there have been no
wars. Facing human record, the record of 3,400 years, there have been
3,166 years of war, and only 234 years of peace; facing the picture of
which history makes no mention and which in the wake of armies she had
seen, Clara Barton says: “Faces bathed in tears and hands in blood, lees
in the wind and dregs in the cup of military glory, war has cost a
million times more than the world is worth, poured out the best blood
and crushed the fairest forms the good God has ever created.”
Through war and its consequences, one third of “civilized man” since the
world began has come to an untimely end, by violence, as did Abel at the
hands of Cain.
Earth’s remotest regions
Lie half unpeopled by the feuds of Rome.
“Mankind is the greatest mystery of all mysteries,” says Clara Barton,
and insists that she can never understand the history of human conduct
in this world, and wonders whether or not she will in the next. In the
light of war’s history and, trying to solve the “mystery of all
mysteries,” she asks: “Heavenly Father! what is the matter with this
beautiful earth that thou hast made? And what is man that thou art
mindful of him?”
Further philosophizing on the “Wickedness of War,” in a masterful public
address, she says: “There is not a geographical boundary line on the
face of the earth that was not put there by the sword, and is not
practically held there by this same dread power. War actually settles no
disputes, it brings no real peace; it but closes an open strife;—the
peace is simply buried embers. The war side of the war could never have
called me to the field—_through and through_, thought and act, body and
soul, _I hate it_. We can only wait and trust for the day to come when
the wickedness of war shall be a thing unknown in this beautiful world.”
Again philosophizing she says: “As I reflect upon the mighty and endless
changes which must grow out of war’s issues, the subject rises up before
me like some far-away mountain summit, towering peak upon peak, rock
upon rock, that human foot has not trod and enveloped in a hazy mist the
eye has never penetrated.”
XV
In the same year, and about the same time in the year, that Clara
Barton first started for the battlefield her warm personal friend,
Julia Ward Howe, wrote “The Battle Hymn of the Republic.”
THE AUTHOR.
You remember the time was Sunday, September 14th, 1862.
CLARA BARTON.
Society forbade women at the front. CLARA BARTON.
Tradition absolutely forbade a good woman to go unprotected among
rough soldiers. CLARA BARTON.
And what does woman know about war, and because she doesn’t know
anything about it she mustn’t say, or do, anything about it.
CLARA BARTON.
It has long been said, as to amount to an adage, that women don’t know
anything about war. I wish men didn’t either. They have always known a
great deal too much about it for the good of their kind. CLARA BARTON.
I struggled long and hard with my sense of propriety—with the
appalling fact that “I was only a woman” whispering in one ear; and
thundering in the other the groans of suffering men dying like
dogs—unfed and unclothed, for the life of every institution which had
protected and educated me. CLARA BARTON.
When war broke over us, with an empty treasury and its distressed
Secretary, Salmon P. Chase, personally trying in New York to borrow
money to pay our first seventy-five thousand soldiers, I offered to do
the work of any two disloyal clerks whom the office would discharge
and allow the double salary to fall back into the treasury. When no
legal way could be found to have my salary revert to the national
treasury, I resigned and went to the field.
CLARA BARTON.
I could not carry a musket nor lead the men to battle; I could only
serve my country by caring for, comforting, and sustaining the
soldiers. CLARA BARTON.
I broke the shackles and went to the field. CLARA BARTON.
Washington, D. C., June 20, 1864.
Dr. J. M. Barnes,
Acting Surgeon General, U. S. A.,
Sir: The undersigned, Senators and Representatives of Massachusetts,
desire you to extend to Miss Clara Barton of Worcester, Massachusetts,
every _facility_ in your power to visit the army at any time or place
that she may desire, for the purpose of administering to the comfort
of our sick and wounded soldiers. Also that such supplies and
assistants, as she may require, may be furnished with transportation.
We are, very respectfully,
H. L. DAWES,
ALEX. H. RICE,
D. W. GOOCH,
JOHN D. BALDWIN,
THOS. D. ELIOT,
GEO. S. BOUTWELL,
CHARLES SUMNER,
HENRY WILSON,
JNO. B. ALLEN,
OAKES AMES,
W. F. WASHBURNE.
HER WARDROBE IN A HANDKERCHIEF—THE BATTLE SCENE
On September 14, 1862, Clara Barton started from the City of Washington
to the firing line, then at Harper’s Ferry. She took with her no
Saratoga, no grip, no “go-to-meeting clothes.” The articles in her
wardrobe on that eventful trip will never be known but it is known to a
“dead certainty” that whatever “worldly goods” she did take with her
were all tied up in a pocket handkerchief.
Her only escort was a “mule skinner.” He, wearing the blue, held the one
_jerk line_ to the team of six mules, animals known in the west as
“Desert Canaries.” The vehicle in which Clara Barton took that eventful
ride was an army freight wagon covered with canvas, such wagon sometimes
called the “prairie schooner.” “In the Days of Old, the Days of Gold,”
as “Westward the Course of Empire Takes its Way,” the “prairie schooner”
was almost the exclusive vehicle of conveyance over the deserts for
freight and passengers. It was in the “prairie schooner” that the
Mormons went to Utah in 1848, and the Argonauts to California, in “’49
and ’50.” It was from a “prairie schooner” that, rising from a sick bunk
and looking out over that beautiful valley of Salt Lake, Brigham Young
exclaimed: “This is the Place!”
After an eighty-mile ride bumping over stones and dykes and ditches, up
and down the hills of Maryland, Clara Barton arrived at the battlefield.
There, side by side, cold in death with upturned faces, were the brave
boys of the Northern blue and the Southern gray. In closing a
description of this battle scene Clara Barton says: “There in the
darkness God’s angel of Wrath and Death had swept and, foe facing foe,
the souls of men went out. The giant rocks, hanging above our heads,
seemed to frown upon the scene, and the sighing trees which hung
lovingly upon their rugged edge dropped low and wept their pitying dews
upon the livid brows and ghastly wounds beneath.”
XVI
Clara Barton carried on her work in the face of the enemy, to the
sound of a cannon, and close to the firing line.
Boston (Mass.) _Transcript_.
So long as the Republic lives the name of Clara Barton will be
honored. _Roswell Record._
Clara Barton—Glorious Daughter of the Republic!
_The Buffalo News._
Clara Barton performed work for wounded soldiers often at the risk of
her life. PHEBE A. HANAFORD, AUTHOR.
Clara Barton—right into the jaws of death she went, ministering to the
wounded, soothing the dying.
CHAPLAIN COUDON (_of G. A. R._)
_National House of Representatives_.
Follow the cannon. CLARA BARTON.
The soldier has been supposed to die painlessly, gloriously, with an
immediate passport to realms of bliss eternal. CLARA BARTON.
The soldier who has fallen in battle “with his face to the foe” has
been regarded as a subject of envy, rather than pity.
CLARA BARTON.
If wounded and surviving, the honor of a soldier’s scars has been
cheaply purchased, it has been supposed, though he strolled a limping
beggar. CLARA BARTON.
Only a small portion of the thought of the generations of the past has
been devoted to the subject of devising, or affording, any means of
relief for the wretched condition resulting from the methods of
national and international strife. CLARA BARTON.
The pitiable neglect of men in war appears to have constituted one of
the large class of misfortunes for which no one is to blame, or even
accountable, assuming that wars must be. CLARA BARTON.
Go card and spin,
And leave the business of war to men. DRYDEN.
I am a U. S. soldier and therefore not supposed, you know, to be
susceptible to fear. CLARA BARTON.
THE BRAVERY OF WOMEN—CLARA BARTON’S BRAVEST ACT
When asked where occurred her bravest act, Clara Barton replied: “At
Fredericksburg.” She made headquarters at the Lacy House, just north of
the Rappahannock River. While there, the surgeon in charge of the
wounded on the south bank of the river sent a special messenger to Miss
Barton to come across with her assistants and supplies at once. As a
_soldier_ and as an American patriot, she obeyed orders and followed the
flag over the bridge and on to the battle field. In later years
describing the women who went to the war Clara Barton sings:
The women who went to the field, you say,
The women who went to the field;—what did they go for—?
Did these women quail at the sight of a gun?
Will some soldier tell us of one he saw run?
In referring to the _incident_, in her experience at Fredericksburg, she
said: “As I walked across this bridge with the marching troops, the
bullets and shells were hissing and exploding in the river on either
side of me, the long autumn march down the mountain passes—Falmouth and
old Fredericksburg with its pontoon bridge,—sharp-shooters—deserted
camps—its rocky brow of frowning forts—the one day bombardment, and the
charge!” There, unperturbed, among the men was Clara Barton, there in
the broad glacis, the one vast Aceldama, where—
In the lost battle,
Borne down by the flying,
Were mingled war’s rattle
With the groans of the dying.
[Illustration:
SUSAN B. ANTHONY
My dear Clara Barton, you have done some wonderful things in the
world.—SUSAN B. ANTHONY, Pioneer Suffrage Leader.
Susan B. Anthony was the first woman to lay her hand beside mine in
the promotion of the Red Cross Society.—CLARA BARTON.
]
REPRESENTATIVE SUFFRAGE LEADERS
[Illustration:
CARRIE CHAPMAN CATT
One of the great women of the world. Broad of vision, exalted of soul
and absolutely free from selfishness that binds, Miss Barton was a
rare human being.—CARRIE CHAPMAN CATT, President National American
Woman Suffrage Association, 1900–1904; 1913——; Ex-President
International Woman Suffrage Alliance.
]
[Illustration:
© _Harris & Ewing_
DR. ANNA HOWARD SHAW
Every woman who loves her country will revere the name of Clara
Barton.—DR. ANNA HOWARD SHAW, President National American Woman
Suffrage Association, 1904–Dec., 1915.
]
XVII
Clara Barton—soldiers of every battlefield since the Civil War have
almost deified her. Mothers, wives, sisters and sweethearts of the
conflict have ever since held her name in the highest reverence.
Hartford (Conn.) _Post_.
The ears of the sick are strangely acute. CLARA BARTON.
A light heart lives long. SHAKESPEARE.
The burden becomes light that is cheerfully made. OVID.
A cheerful spirit is one of the most valuable gifts ever bestowed upon
humanity by a kind Creator. AUGHEY.
Whatever comes, keep up cheerful and happy and hope for the best.
CLARA BARTON.
YES, AND GOT EUCHRED
During the battles of the Wilderness and Spotsylvania, while the
Federals lay again in Fredericksburg, Clara Barton one evening went to
the hotel which from ground to garret was filled with wounded men. Five
hundred of these were lying upon the bare floors. They had no food to
eat, nor was there any food to give them. Clara Barton was struck with
their fine soldierly figures and features, remarkable even in their
terrible extremity, and stopping near one she asked: “Where are you
from?” “Michigan,” he said. On to another—“Michigan,” and so on
“Michigan”—“Michigan”—“Michigan.” Up one flight of stairs, then another,
still “Michigan.” At length in her surprise, she said somewhat
humorously and without reflection, “Did Michigan take up this hand and
play it alone?” “Yes,” answered a poor fellow lying on the floor nearby,
seriously wounded but one who evidently understood the game better than
she did, “Yes, and got euchred.”
XVIII
With a strong, brilliant, cultivated mind was united a gentle, tender,
loving heart, and nothing was too great, nothing too small to enlist
Miss Barton’s earnest thought and tender sympathy.
HARRIETTE L. REED,
_Past National Secy. Woman’s Relief Corps_.
Men are what their mothers make them.
RALPH WALDO EMERSON.
All I have, and am, I owe to my mother. A. LINCOLN.
All that I am my mother made me. JOHN QUINCY ADAMS.
Work and words are for the individual soldier—what he does, sees,
feels or thinks in the dread hours of leaden rain and iron hail.
CLARA BARTON.
I remember my mother’s prayers, and they have always followed me. They
have clung to me all my life. A. LINCOLN.
Happy he
With such a mother! faith in womankind
Beats with his blood, and trust in all things high
Comes easy to him. TENNYSON.
As the years sped on and the hands were stilled, there shone the gleam
of the far sighted mother’s watchfulness that neither toil could
obscure nor time relax. CLARA BARTON.
His sweetest dreams were still of that dear voice that soothed his
infancy. SOUTHEY.
TO DREAM OF HOME AND MOTHER
At Decatur, Alabama, in a well-remembered scene of the Civil War many
were the songs by southern chivalry started, but none finished. All
efforts to sing one evening having been boisterously tabooed, there
arose in the air a voice carrying the sentiment that thrills the camp,
the field, the hospital. In gloom for today with foreshadowing for
tomorrow, around a score of camp fires thousands of voices following the
leader there broke forth pathetic, in full chorus, “Who will care for
Mother now?”
While General Butler was digging Dutch Gap in 1863, a hospital boat was
plying daily between Fortress Monroe and Point of Rocks. In the Civil
War, among the wounded brought in from the battlefield to Point of Rocks
was a lad about sixteen or seventeen years of age. One of his arms, and
a leg, had been amputated.
Away from home! Crippled for life! Homesick, and no “tear for pity.”
Hope gone! No, not all hope. He still has his Mother—“She floats upon
the river of his thoughts.”
A Mother is a Mother still
The holiest thing alive.
“Mother, come to me—thine own son slowly dying far away.” “No, you
_can’t_ come. May I come to you, my dearest Mother?”
Tired of the hollow, the base, the untrue,
Mother, O Mother, my heart calls for you!
[Illustration:
© _Harris & Ewing_
WARREN G. HARDING
The President, also President American Red Cross Society, March 4,
1921–.
From a letter by the Secretary to President Harding: “The President
entertains the highest sentiment regarding the splendid service of
Miss Barton and her contribution to the development of practical
modern humanitarianism.”
]
His soldier chum heard his pleadings and interceded: “Miss Barton, can’t
we _possibly_ find room for this boy on the boat going down to Fortress
Monroe tonight? I think he has grit enough to live.” Miss Barton,
turning to the boy said: “My dear boy, you _shall_ go, though they have
sent word they can take no more.” The boy was taken down a long steep
hill on a stretcher, tenderly placed in a nice comfortable cot way up on
the hurricane deck, to dream of home and Mother.
XIX
The test of civilization is the estimate of woman.
GEORGE WILLIAM CURTIS.
A woman who is resolved to be respected can make herself so, even
amidst an army of soldiers. CERVANTES.
Clara: Go, if it is your duty to go. I know soldiers, and they will
respect you and your errand. STEPHEN BARTON (_Her Father, an old
soldier_).
To a gentleman every woman is a lady, in right of her sex.
GEORGE ELIOT.
Man pays deference to woman instinctively, involuntarily.
GAIL HAMILTON.
I gaze upon the men through blinding tears of admiration and respect,
and sing in my heart “It is well to be a soldier.”
CLARA BARTON.
TRIBUTE OF LOVE AND DEVOTION
“I was young and strong and loved to walk,” says Clara Barton. “I had
four great wagons loaded with supplies for sick and wounded soldiers
coming in the rear, so I decided I would not get my feet wet, but wait
for my wagons and cross in one of them. The soldiers splashed right
through in solid ranks, the water being only about a foot deep. Suddenly
the captain of a company in the middle of the stream called out to his
men ‘Company, Fours, Left, March! Halt! Right, Dress! Front! Now, Boys,
There stands Clara Barton. I want you to kneel down in the water on your
right knees, and let Miss Barton walk across on your left knees.’ This
order the soldiers instantly obeyed, and I stepped from knee to knee,
the soldiers reaching up and holding my hands, and passed dry shod to
the other shore.” As Miss Barton related this incident the tears
streamed down her cheeks, and she said, “This was the most beautiful
tribute of love and devotion ever offered me in my life.”
XX
All the elements of desolation have traced such lines upon that face
as no mortal artist ever drew, and filled it with emotions that no
music could incite. Oh, the power of the expression of the face of
Clara Barton! CONGRESSMAN PORTER H. DALE.
Welcome ever smiles
And farewell goes out sighing.
TROILUS AND CRESSIDA.
Her smile which cheered—like the breaking day.
JOHN G. WHITTIER.
A smile is a thankful hymn. GERALD MASSEY.
A smile—the effusion of fine intellect, of true courage.
CHARLOTTE BRONTË.
A tender smile, our sorrow’s only balm. YOUNG.
Smile and the world smiles with you. ELLA WHEELER WILCOX.
A smile that turns the sunny side o’ the heart
On all the world. ELIZABETH BARRETT BROWNING.
Duke of Marlborough—his fascinating smile and winning tongue, equally
with his word, swayed the destinies of Empires.
WILLIAM MATTHEWS.
Smiles are the language of love. HARE.
Smiles more sweet than flowers. SHAKESPEARE.
Smiles are better teachers than mightiest words.
GEORGE MCDONALD.
Smiles are smiles only when the heart pulls the wire.
THEODORE WINTHROP.
Smiles, not allowed to beasts, from reason move. DRYDEN.
Sweet intercourse of looks and smiles, for smiles from reason flow.
MILTON.
There is no society where smiles are not welcomed.
WILLIAM MATTHEWS.
A beautiful smile is to the female countenance what the sunbeam is to
the landscape. LAVATER.
Her smiles were like the glowing sunshine. BULLARD.
If He has a place and work for me, and I think He has, I believe I am
ready. A. LINCOLN.
Clara Barton’s energy and humanity, with a “God bless you.”
Boston (Mass.) _Journal_.
A noble and attractive everyday bearing comes of goodness, of
sincerity, of refinement. WILLIAM MATTHEWS.
I have no higher ambition than to work obscurely, and singly, where I
can see the greatest necessity. CLARA BARTON.
CHEERING WORDS—ALWAYS READY—WEARS A SMILE
No being other than the human knows how to wear a smile. A smile is as
significant as are words—the smile oft proclaims the mind. Wearing
apparel is the gift of man; the smile, the gift of nature. Wearing
apparel wears out; the smile that is genuine never wears off. Of a woman
it is said her face is her fortune. It also may be said, to rob the
world of woman’s smile would leave the human race poor indeed. Of Clara
Barton an author has said, “her heart made music and her face radiated
sunshine.” Of Clara Barton a soldier said, “No discordant word ever
escaped her lips; in camp or on the field she always wore a smile.” Her
smile and her cheering words won the heart of the private soldier, the
heart of royalty—won the heart of the world.
A woman without effort may receive a “windfall,” in wealth; but success
is achieved through personal qualities, by effort. Said a writer: “The
life of Clara Barton should be familiarized to every child. Her history
and work should be as well known to the young of the nation as those of
the great Presidents. Her history should be taught in the public schools
for the enlightenment of all pupils, boys and girls, that they may
realize how great a task for humanity was undertaken and accomplished,
by a weak woman.”
It was at Fredericksburg. The rising sun was casting its rays aslant the
eastern sky. The boys had just come off picket-duty. Their fingers were
stiff with cold; their clothes, wet and frozen. Five or six of the
comrades went to the rear; there they discharged their rifles. Then they
went to a brick house one quarter mile distant—where they found Clara
Barton. In anticipation of their proposed call, Clara Barton was ready.
She had not forgotten, when a little girl, how she suffered from the
cold, fell unconscious in a pew at Church and was taken home with frozen
feet. She had for them a “blazing-hot” fire, and also had prepared for
them plenty of hot ginger tea. In the gloom of war’s woes all must wear
“sorrow’s crown of sorrows;” but, seeing them approaching the house, she
met them at the door with a smile—with greetings as kindly as if they
had been her long-ago friends, of happier days.
At a recent annual reunion of _her_ regiment Comrade Vincent, in tears
while relating the incident, said “THAT’S CLARA BARTON. I will never
forget that smile and that welcome.” In speeding her parting guests, at
the door she said: “God bless you, my boys! If I can do anything for you
at any time, call on me—it is never too late nor too early. I want you
to know you will always find me ready.”
XXI
From the days of earliest cravings for “fairy stories” there have been
recounted to young people the wonders wrought by that noble woman of
New England. Oakland (Cal.) _Tribune_.
Clara Barton’s work in Cuba, in 1898, added still greater luster to
her glory. Holyoke (Mass.) _Telegram_.
We have heard soldiers, who faced death green-eyed, tell with
quivering voice of Clara Barton’s services before the Battle of
Santiago when, perched on a gun-carriage, she gave directions to the
doctors and nurses. Lexington (Ky.) _Herald_.
Miss Barton, when your country was in trouble (1776) Spain was the
friend of America; now Spain is in trouble, America is her enemy.
GENERAL BLANCO (_In a Salon, Santiago de Cuba_, 1898.)
Miss Barton, you will need no directions from me, but if any one
troubles you let me know. ADMIRAL SAMPSON.
God will not call me home until my work is done.
CLARA BARTON.
There was an Overruling Providence when the “State of Texas” was
loaded for Cuba. CLARA BARTON.
I have with me a cargo of 1400 tons, under the flag of the Red Cross,
the one international emblem of humanity known to civilization. CLARA
BARTON.
A man said to me “The Red Cross has been a fairy godmother to us.”
CLARA BARTON.
Wherever men fight and tear each other to pieces, wherever the glare
and sound of war are heard, there the Red Cross aims to plant the
white banner that bears the blessed sign of relief.
CLARA BARTON.
The Red Cross has come to quicken into fresh new growth the best
things in life. CLARA BARTON.
Our Red Cross century tree blossomed in the smoke, and valor, and
wails of the Spanish-American War. CLARA BARTON.
The highest and best in the land stood under the cooling shade of the
Red Cross, and breathed its atmosphere of peace, love and help. CLARA
BARTON.
The Red Cross recognizes no features other than the relief of the
victims and the mitigation of the horrors of war. CLARA BARTON.
The Red Cross is founded in the soundest and noblest principles, in
the deep needs of human nature and in the enduring instincts of
mankind. CLARA BARTON.
Men do not go to war to save life; they might save life by keeping the
peace, and staying at home. CLARA BARTON.
Men go to war solely with the intent to inflict so much pain, loss and
disaster on the enemy that he will yield to their terms.
CLARA BARTON.
It is a wise statesmanship which suggests that in time of peace we
must prepare for war. It is no less a wise benevolence that makes
preparation in the hour of peace for assuaging the ills that are sure
to accompany war. CLARA BARTON..
In no other country, as in ours, have the people so often risen from a
state of unreadiness and accomplished such wonderful results—at _such
a sacrifice_. CLARA BARTON.
As friends of humanity, while there is still a possibility of war or a
calamity, it behooves us to prepare. CLARA BARTON.
The memories of pitiful Cuba would not leave us.
CLARA BARTON.
To those who could not understand, Heaven came; to those who could,
“Cuba Libre.” CLARA BARTON.
Not with the booming of cannon; not with the shouts of victory, but
with the singing of Christian hymns and the outstretched hand of
help,—never before in the history of warfare was there triumphant
entry such as this. WM. E. BARTON, D.D.
Oh, the horrible, useless, tragic waste which no Peace Congress has
yet been able to avert! O treacherous fate! That made the great woman
of peace wait to see men of blood go before her to kill, to wound, to
devastate. ALICE HUBBARD.
Could it be possible that the commander would hold back his flagship
and himself, and send forward, and _first_, a cargo of food on a plain
ship, under direction of a woman? Did our commands, military or naval,
hold men great enough of soul for such action? It must be true, for
the spires of Santiago rise before us. How sadly the recollection of
that pleasant memorable day has since recurred to me! CLARA BARTON.
HORRIBLE DEED—LEADS AMERICAN NAVY—ANGEL OF MERCY
“Go to the starving Cubans!” She went. She had been entertained by
Captain Sigsbee and his officers on the Maine the evening before the
explosion. “Remember the Maine!” became the war cry.
War was declared. The Government wired: “Take no chances; get out of
Cuba.” She returned to Florida to await events. The blockade of Cuban
ports followed; the war was on. Let Clara Barton draw a picture of the
war scene:
“War has occurred four times in the United States in 120 years. Four
times men have armed and marched; and its women waited and wept. But we
cannot always hold our great Ship of State out of the storms and
breakers. She must meet and battle with them. Her timbers must creak in
the gale. The waves must dash over her decks; she must lie in the trough
of the sea. But the Stars and Stripes are above her. She is freighted
with the hopes of the world. God holds the helm; and she is coming into
port.”
[Illustration:
WILLIAM T. SAMPSON
Miss Barton, you need no advice, only the opportunity. If any trouble
happens you, let me know. REAR-ADMIRAL WILLIAM T. SAMPSON, of New
York. Commander-in-Chief, U. S. Atlantic Naval Forces,
Spanish-American War.
]
REPRESENTATIVES RESPECTIVELY OF THREE WARS
[Illustration:
© _Harris & Ewing_
ISAAC B. SHERWOOD
Clara Barton is the greatest woman of either the nineteenth or
twentieth century.—ISAAC B. SHERWOOD, of Ohio, Brigadier-General,
Civil War; U. S. Congress, 1869–1875; 1907–1921.
]
[Illustration:
JOSEPH TAGGART
Clara Barton gave expression to the sympathy and tenderness of all the
hearts of all the women in the world.—JOSEPH TAGGART, of Kansas. U.
S. Congress, 1912–1918; Captain, World War.
]
Bullets had done their ghastly work; disease had run riot amidst filth
and squalor. Starvation had stalked ruthlessly over the island. “May I
return to the starving,” asked Clara Barton, “with my relief ship of
supplies now in waiting?”
“Not so,” replied Admiral Sampson, “I go first; I am here to keep
supplies out of Cuba.”
“I know, Admiral, my place is not to precede you. When you make an
opening I will go in. You will go in to do the horrible deed. I will
follow you and, out of the human wreckage, restore what I can.”
Cervera’s fleet was at the bottom of the sea, or wrecked on the shores.
Spanish Cuba doomed, the enemy had raised the white flag, capitulated;
soldiers, sailors, civilians, women and children, the human wreckage.
Fateful days! Enough crime and misery rampant to satisfy the God of War
and the imps of regions infernal.
Fair land of Cuba! on thy shores are seen
Life’s far extremes of noble and of mean;
The world of sense and matchless beauty dressed,
And nameless horrors hid within thy breast.
Cuba! Thou still shalt rise, as pure, as bright
As thy free air—as full of living light;—
The American navy, with flags flying, in triumph was ready to enter the
Bay of Santiago. The Red Cross Flag floats from the flagstaff of the
State of Texas. The Admiral gives the order that the “Red Cross Ship” is
to lead; that now “flag-ship” moving majestically, is commanded by a
woman—that woman “The Angel of the Battlefield.” Moving over the smooth
waters of the Bay that Angel with her cospirits thrilled the ear with
the patriot’s song “My Country ’Tis of Thee;” and there too the little
band of crusaders, while nearing the holy wreckage they would rescue,
touched the human heart with the grandest of all hymns of gratitude,
“Praise God from Whom all Blessings Flow.”
As on the Island of Corsica nearly three decades before, again there
goes in spirit to Heaven the prayer of Clara Barton: “And I pray, Oh!
how earnestly, once more to battle with error; to help sever the
shackles of the oppressed of every name and kind; to hold firm the right
and to set right the wrong; to raise up the weak against the power of
the mighty; to make our country what it should, and must, be—true and
just as well as great and strong. Once more to comfort the afflicted; to
give rest and shelter to the weary, water to the thirsty, bread to the
hungry; to stay the tide and bind the wounds that bleed, or to take the
farewell message and point the glazing eye to hope and heaven.”
There is a woman, it’s the Red Cross!
My God, boys, it’s Clara Barton! now we’ll
Get something to eat. (_Starving children._)
“Majestic in simplicity” and of more heraldic splendor than that of the
army and navy, with their thousands of heroes, stands the little woman
overlooking the scene of woe’s misery. There on the peaceful waters are
the destroyers that had done the “horrible deed;” there on the bridge of
the Peace-Ship, leading all others, stands the “Angel of Peace,” who
will restore what she can; and before the eyes of all lay the “Gem of
the Ocean,” strewn with life’s woes—a scene of pathetic grandeur
unequaled in the annals of history.
Miss Barton: Admiral Sampson, I wish to express to you my sincere
appreciation of your exceeding courtesy in permitting my ship to
precede the battleships into Santiago.
Admiral Schley (in a side remark): Don’t give the Admiral too much
credit, Miss Barton; he was not quite sure how clear of torpedoes the
channel might be. Remember that was a _trial trip_.
XXII
Clara Barton dressed the wounded of both armies indiscriminately—a
practice which first annoyed and sometimes angered the Union
officers—from whose headquarters she worked. IDA TARBELL.
Be generous and noble. CLARA BARTON.
War is in its very nature cruel—the very embodiment of cruelty in its
effects—not necessarily in the hearts of the combatants.
CLARA BARTON.
As the daughter of a Mason my Father bade me to seek and comfort the
afflicted everywhere, and as a Christian he charged me to honor God
and love mankind. CLARA BARTON.
Baron Thomas B. Macaulay thought it not a mitigation but an
aggravation of the evil that men of tender culture and humane
feelings, with no ill will, should stand up and kill each other.
CLARA BARTON.
It is comforting, in our reflections upon the past, to know that the
idea of humanity to an enemy in distress is not entirely modern; for
Xenophon in Cyropaedia, about 400 B.C. represents Cyrus the Great as
ordering his surgeons to attend the wounded prisoners.
CLARA BARTON.
A wounded Confederate that Clara Barton had been serving whispered to
her, “Lady, you have been kind to me—every street and lane in the city
is covered with cannon. When your entire army has reached the other
side of the Rappahannock, they’ll find Fredericksburg only a slaughter
pen. Not a regiment will escape. Do not go over or you will go to
certain death.”
PERCY H. EPLER.
AT GALVESTON FLOOD
Major McDowell, ex-Union soldier, wounded—assistant to Clara Barton:
Comrade, here is some clothing for you.
Ex-Confederate: But, Major (hesitating), I am an ex-Confederate
soldier....
Major McDowell: God bless you, poor suffering soul; what difference
does that make—here, will this fit you?
Love and tears for the Blue
Tears and love for the Gray.
FRANCES MILES FINCH.
CONFEDERATES AND FEDERALS ALIKE TREATED
Quite a number of wounded Confederate officers were brought to us. They
shared alike with our own men. They were amazed, said C. M. Welles, at
the kindness of northerners, particularly at a Massachusetts lady (Clara
Barton) devoting herself to them as freely as to her own neighbors. One
of them, a captain from Georgia, needed shirt, coat, stockings and
something to eat. After being supplied, he said to me, while tears were
streaming down his face, “Sir, I find that I have mistaken you; and, if
I live to return, I will never fight against such a people any more.”
An Angel of Mercy,—her touch they will miss,
That was felt by the Boys of the Blue and the Gray;
But her name is still fragrant with Service, and this
Will inspire their sons in the Cause of Today.
At Fredericksburg a shell shattered the door of the room in which Miss
Barton was attending to wounded men. True to her mission, she did not
flinch but continued her duties as usual. She found a group of
Confederates with their garments frozen fast in the mud. As the wounded
were helpless, Miss Barton got an axe and chopped them loose. She then
built a fire in a negro cabin and, while the wounded were warming
themselves she dressed their wounds, fed them gruel and otherwise cared
for them as if they were her “Brothers in Arms.”
A KNOT OF BLUE AND GRAY
Upon my bosom lies
A knot of blue and gray;
You ask me why; tears fill my eyes
As low to you I say:
I had two brothers once,
Warm hearted, bold and gay;
They left my side—one wore the blue
The other wore the gray.
One rode with Stonewall and his men,
And joined his fate with Lee;
The other followed Sherman’s march
Triumphant to the sea.
Both fought for what they deemed the right,
And died with his sword in hand;
One sleeps amid Virginia hills,
And one in Georgia’s sand.
The same sun shines upon their graves,
My love unchanged must stay;
And so upon my bosom lies,
The knot of blue and gray.
XXIII
Clara Barton deserves first place in the living memory of the world
today, and of generations to come.
Jacksonville (Florida) _Times-Union_.
She bore herself with a poise that lost for her no friends.
Utica (N. Y.) _Observer_.
She had a faculty for seeing what needed to be done, and how to do it.
_New York Examiner._
She accomplished what crowned heads failed in.
_Unity_, Chicago.
Things came to me as if ordered by a world-controlling power.
CLARA BARTON.
Goodness does not consist in greatness, but greatness in goodness.
ATHENÆUS.
O God! that bread should be so dear, and flesh and blood so cheap.
HOOD.
The greatest attribute of Heaven is mercy;
And ’tis the crown of justice, and the glory,
Where it may kill with right and save with pity.
J. FLETCHER.
Tact is born with some people.
WILLIAM MAKEPEACE THAYER.
Tact is not a single faculty, but a combination of faculties.
W. M. THAYER.
What men call “shrewdness” and “Common Sense” usually signify no more
than tact. W. M. THAYER.
THE ENEMY, STARVING—TACT—THE WHITE OX
To know is power, but the power may be latent. Tact is skill, ever
alert. Tact knows what to do, when and how to do it. Queen Elizabeth had
tact, unerring. Her long reign was a series of tactful events. Tact was
the basis of the supremacy of the Elizabethan Age.
Clara Barton had tact, unerring. Tact gave her position among rulers of
nations, and likewise won for her the esteem of the lowly. Tact
attracted to her unpaid Red Cross assistants, who cheerfully shared her
privations. Through tact she retained her friends, made new friends, and
to an extent unprecedented.
Clara Barton was with the Army of the Blue, but nearby was a hospital in
which were the wounded Gray, starving. The surgeons from within were
begging for food. The Federal Quartermaster had refused supplies, giving
as a valid excuse that he was a bonded officer and responsible for the
property under his charge.
A “bunch” of cattle were seen passing. Clara Barton said to the officer:
“I know you are bonded, but I am neither bonded nor responsible.” The
officer taking the “cue” was soon out of sight. Clara Barton then gave
orders to her men, at the same time pointing to the large unsuspecting
white ox that had strayed from the “bunch.” The men appreciated the
_delicate situation_; the ox somehow _strayed_ over to the enemy, and
later received a hearty reception among the starving wounded inside the
hospital.
[Illustration:
MATHEW C. BUTLER
My dear Miss Barton:—
I do not see how those poor people in South Carolina will ever be able
to thank you enough for your noble work of relief. Certainly you
have been to them a “ministering angel.” I shall never cease to be
grateful for your self-sacrificing, heroic work.—MATHEW C. BUTLER,
of South Carolina, Major-General Civil War, Major-General
Spanish-American War, U. S. Senator 1877–1895.
General Butler, that busy, hard-worked Senator, prompt and kind. CLARA
BARTON.
]
REPRESENTATIVE OF TWO WARS
[Illustration:
JOSEPH WHEELER
I think it due Miss Barton that the government should give to her the
highest possible recognition, and thanks.—JOSEPH WHEELER, of
Alabama, Major-General Civil War; Major-General Spanish-American
War; U. S. Congress, 1881, 1882; 1885–1893; 1895–1900.
]
[Illustration:
HARRISON GRAY OTIS
Clara Barton is one of the blessed ones of the earth, and her name
will remain green in the heart of America.—HARRISON GRAY OTIS, of
California; Brigadier-General, Civil War; Major-General (Brevet),
Spanish-American War; America’s Great Journalist.
]
XXIV
One’s blood runs cold and then mounts high in reading of the amazing
feats of strength and courage of heart shown by this little lone
woman. _The Outlook._
Clara Barton—her personal service and self-sacrifice are beyond
praise. _Philadelphia Public Record._
The sum of all human agony finds its equivalent on the battlefield.
CLARA BARTON.
We cannot desert our poor charge of humanity, but must stay and suffer
with them if need be. CLARA BARTON.
And if you chance to feel that the positions I occupied were rough and
unseemly for a _woman_—I can only reply that they were rough and
unseemly for _men_. CLARA BARTON.
The sooner the world learns the better that the halo of glory which
surrounds a field of battle and its tortured, thirsting, starving,
pain-racked victims exists only in the imagination.
CLARA BARTON.
When dying President Garfield murmured: “The great heart of the nation
will not let a soldier die,” I prayed God to hasten the time when
every wounded soldier would be sustained by that sweet assurance.
CLARA BARTON.
My business is staunching blood, and feeding fainting men.
CLARA BARTON.
I am so sorry for the _necessity_, so glad for the _opportunity_, of
ministering with my own hand and strength to the dying wants of the
patriot martyrs who fell for their country and mine.
CLARA BARTON.
I sometimes discuss the application of a compress, or a wisp of hay
under a broken limb, but not the bearing of a political movement.
CLARA BARTON.
I make gruel, not speeches; I write letters home for wounded soldiers,
not political addresses. CLARA BARTON.
You must never so much as think whether you like it or not, whether it
is bearable or not; you must never think of anything except the need,
and how to meet it. CLARA BARTON.
If it has been granted to me to be ever so little service to those
about me, in need of my help, He alone who granted me the privilege
knows how grateful I am for it. CLARA BARTON.
BULLETHOLE—AMPUTATED LIMBS LIKE CORDWOOD—GOD GIVES STRENGTH
The valley of Antietam lies in Maryland. In September, 1862, on the
night of the 16th, the Federals were on one ridge of the valley; the
Confederates, on the opposite ridge. Somber night was hushed to
stillness. Within the fog that arose from the valley and the smoke of
the campfires there gleamed the stacked bayonets and the properly placed
cannon which portend the fateful tomorrow. On the tomorrow Antietam was
to be the harvest field, death and suffering the harvest.
In the early morning were heard the bugle notes which call to battle.
The fight to death was on—possibly the fight that would unmake a nation,
or make a new nation. A little lone woman had flanked the cannon at
midnight and, in the early sunlight, stood beside the artillery.
Terrifying the sharp crack of the musketry, deafening the boom of the
cannon. The earth quaked; the sun, obscured. Over her head were shells
bursting or, passing, buried themselves in the hills beyond. Her tongue
was dried by the sulphurous powder smoke; her lips parched to bleeding.
Such the scene of the conflict in which Clara Barton said she had the
most terrible experiences of her life.
The men were falling, bleeding to death. Within that organized system
for death there was no system to save life,—no surgical instrument, no
bandage, no lint, no rag, no string. Clara Barton hastens to her supply
wagon, and with all things needful rushes into the line of fire. There
on the battlefield, with a pocket knife, she extracted a ball from the
face of a wounded soldier. There, while lifting a canteen of water to
quench the thirst of a soldier-lad, a minnie ball from the gun of the
enemy passed harmlessly through her clothing and fatally into the body
of the soldier she was trying to save.
Close beside her, faintly moaning, fair and young a soldier lay,
Torn with shot and pierced with lance, bleeding slow his life away!
With a stifled cry of horror, straight she turned away her head;
With a sad and bitter feeling looked upon her dead.
But she heard the youth’s low moaning, and his struggling breath of
pain,
And she raised the cooling water to his parching lips again.
Whispered low the dying soldier, pressed her hand and faintly smiled;
Was that pitying face his mother’s? Did she watch beside her child?
All his broken words with meaning her woman’s heart supplied:
With her kiss upon his forehead, “Mother!” murmured he and died.
There through the day, in that awful carnage of blood, fearless Clara
Barton worked to save human lives. Did she shrink from danger? She said
“_I am an American Soldier_ and am not supposed to be susceptible to
fear.”
But the most gruesome of her experiences was after nightfall. Through
the night in a barn near by, she assisted the surgeons. The surgeons had
no bandages, she supplied them; they had no light, she supplied the
lanterns and candles until the operating tables were in a blaze of
light. They had no food; she supplied the gruel made from Indian corn
meal, cooked in great brass kettles. The surgeons were without adequate
assistance; she assisted at the amputating tables. “Through the long
starlit night,” she said, “we wrought and hoped and prayed.” When the
morning came the amputated limbs made a pile so high that you had to
look up to see the top, a pile of human limbs like a cord of wood.
Not only gruesome was that “cord of wood” but pathetic. In that pile the
limbs were from mere boys,—innocent victims of the greed of men;—not a
leg, not an arm in that pile was from “War’s Profiteers.” And with the
morning came complete exhaustion. When she returned from her uncanny
labors her arms were crimson with blood; her skirts, blood-soaked; her
shoes, blood-sopping. In all human history did woman have such
experience as had Clara Barton through that two days of human
carnage—carnage on one of America’s most famous battlefields in the most
infamous fratricidal war in history? Frail Clara Barton! “The most timid
person on earth!” The same Clara Barton who fainted at the killing of an
ox? Can it be? Let hers be the explanation: “I was always afraid of
everything except when someone was to be rescued from danger or pain.
Human endurance has its limits;—God gives strength and the thing that
seems impossible is done.”
XXV
An Overruling Providence seemed to interpose its hand between Clara
Barton and the perils of war and epidemic alike, for a high and
splendid purpose. Pawtucket (R. I.) _Times_.
If Almighty God gives a man a cowardly pair of legs, how can help
their running away with him? A. LINCOLN.
Cowards die many times before their deaths
The valiant never taste of death but once.
SHAKESPEARE.
For others Clara Barton will be perfectly fearless.
DR. L. N. FOWLER (Phrenologist.)
I have no fear of the battlefield; I have large stores but no way to
reach the troops. CLARA BARTON.
FEARLESS OF BULLETS AND KICKING MULES
General Shafter used to say that he did not think Clara Barton knew the
meaning of the word fear. Sharp words passed between the General and
Miss Barton because she would not obey his orders to keep away from the
“firing line,” out of the way of the fighting men and of the bullets. On
one occasion he even threatened to order her out of Cuba, if she
continually disobeyed his orders in this respect.
Sergeant Henry White, of the 21st Massachusetts Regiment, said that he
had seen Clara Barton in positions of danger where an old veteran would
hardly dare venture. He had seen her passing among the wounded lying
around on the ground, the battle raging in front of them. As she did so,
she supplied the boys in turn with coffee, milk, and other food. Just to
please the “boys” she accepted the Sergeant’s pistol which she carried
several weeks.
Not only was she oblivious to the danger of the bullets on the
battlefield but even more reckless as to her personal safety in the
camp. She would go around among the army wagons, close to the heels of
kicking mules, where any moment there might be a “stampede,” endangering
her life. In a “stampede” of mules, she would be as helpless as in a
shower of grape and cannister from the guns of the enemy.
XXVI
And when at morning and evening repast, with folded hands and grateful
heart, you bless God for the bounties He has placed before you, let
your thoughts wander a little to find if there is not another than
yourself. CLARA BARTON.
Paradise is open to all kind hearts. BERANGER.
Kind words are the music of the world. F. W. FABER.
Happiness must be unselfish; only in the happiness of all can one find
happiness. TOLSTOI.
Kindness in women, not their beauteous looks
Shall win my love. SHAKESPEARE.
I have always refused a tent unless the army had tents also, and I
have never eaten a mouthful of my own soft bread or fresh meat, until
the sick of the army were abundantly supplied with both.
CLARA BARTON.
Clara Barton is the noblest, bravest, and most unselfish woman God
Almighty ever made. JUDGE JOSEPH SHELDON.
HIS COMFORT, NOT HERS; HIS LIFE, NOT HERS
In the winter of 1863–64 Clara Barton lived for a time in an old
plantation house on Chapin’s farm, in Virginia. Chapin’s farm was not
far from the field hospital. In the hospital were the sick and wounded;
her services there were greatly needed. An ambulance was sent as a
detail to bring her to the hospital. The soldier-messenger arrived at
the house, and called for her. It was in the midst of a snow storm, the
thermometer indicator hovering around zero. “Wait a minute,” she said;
“tie your horses and come in. Have you had any dinner?” “No marm,” he
replied. The soldier sat down to a dinner of cold meat, hot biscuit,
cake and cocoa,—a refreshing change from “hardtack” and “salt hash,” the
daily rations of the soldier.
While the soldier-messenger was eating his meal she had been thinking.
“The soldier has generally no part nor voice in creating the war in
which he fights. He simply obeys, as he must, his superiors and the
laws of his country.” The soldier is under orders, but he is under
_my_ orders now. It’s bitter cold and, while I can ride comfortably on
the inside of the ambulance, he must ride outside on the seat in the
snow. She considered his comfort, not her own; his life, not hers. She
_ordered_ him to put his horses in the barn and care for them. She
made him her guest, standing sponsor for him at military
headquarters—awaiting a pleasant day for the trip. In soliloquizing on
her conduct she said: “God forbid that I should ask the useless
exposure of _one_ man, the desolation of _one_ home.”
XXVII
Advice is seldom welcome. LORD CHESTERFIELD.
Men give away nothing so liberally as their advice.
ROCHEFOUCAULD.
I do not like giving advice; it is incurring an unnecessary
responsibility. BEACONSFIELD.
Those who give bad advice to the prudent both lose their pains and are
laughed to scorn. PHAEDRUS.
I pray thee cease thy counsel, which falls into my ears as profitless
as water in a sieve. MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING.
Clara Barton—in her 77th year—followed to the fever ridden tropics, to
lead in the relief work on Spanish battle grounds.
Grand Rapids (Mich.) _Herald_.
In Cuba one saw only
Nodding plumes over their bier to wave,
And God’s own hand in that lonely land
To lay them in their grave. CLARA BARTON.
Mr. Cottrell, private secretary of Clara Barton, says: “Miss Barton
was the means of saving thousands of lives in Cuba. She was a small,
unostentatious woman, very quiet in her demeanor and spoke in a soft,
sweet tone. Her habits were simple, but she had a great capacity for
organization work.”
New Orleans (La.) _Times-Democrat_.
My post is the open field between the bullet and the hospital.
CLARA BARTON.
DOES NOT NEED ANY ADVICE
At Santiago Miss Barton approached Admiral Sampson and said, “There is
some doubt about our being able to unload.”
“Miss Barton,” replied Sampson, “Tell the world that the Red Cross
Society does not need any advice. We only need an opportunity. If any
trouble happens you, let me know.”
On one of the boats in the harbor of Santiago, the following
conversation took place between a Major-Surgeon and Clara Barton:
Major: “You have been at the front?”
Clara Barton: “Yes, Major.”
Major: “I should think you would find it very unpleasant there.”
Clara Barton: “Such things are not supposed to be pleasant.”
Major: “What do you go for? There is no need of your going there; it is
no place for women. I consider women very much out of place in a field
hospital.”
Clara Barton: “Then I must have been out of place a good deal in my
lifetime, Major, for I have been there a great deal.”
Major: “That does not change my opinion; if I had my way I would send
you home.”
Miss Barton: “Fortunately for me, if for no one else, Major, you have
not your way.” Major: “I know it, but again that does not change my
opinion. I would send you home....”
Miss Barton: “Good morning, Major.”
“I am with the wounded,” flashed along the wire
From the Isle of Cuba swept with sword and fire.
Angel sweet of mercy, may your Cross of Red
Cheer the wounded living; bless the wounded dead.
XXVIII
Clara Barton—humanity is richer for her having lived.
Grand Rapids (Mich.) _Press_.
Life is a shuttle. MERRY WIVES OF WINDSOR.
Life is a bubble. WM. BROWNE.
Life is a miracle. KING LEAR.
Life is a walking shadow. MEREDITH.
Life is like a stroll on the beach. THOREAU.
Life is scarcely the twinkle of a star. BAYARD TAYLOR.
Life lives only in success. SWIFT.
That life is long that answers life’s great end.
YOUNG’S NIGHT THOUGHTS.
For the multitude of failures I have encountered I am sorry.
CLARA BARTON.
Life is so short at best. CLARA BARTON.
It’s now three minutes past twelve and I am thirty-three. Alas, my
friend, the years pass swiftly by, but I do not regret them so much
for what I have done, as what I _might_ have done. BYRON.
HAD BUT A FEW MOMENTS TO LIVE
Clara Barton supplied the place of mother and sister to the sick
soldiers, and this she did for many months, while in the deadly miasma
of the South Carolina marshes. Much of this time she was with the
soldiers and facing the guns of Fort Wagner. There with the shot and
shell whistling about her, the heroic woman could be seen at all hours
of the day and night stooping over the wounded soldiers, and tenderly
administering to their wants. An officer who had been with the Army of
the Potomac said that he had seen this woman upon the field of battle,
sitting with the head of a dying soldier in her lap, apparently
unconcerned and then only for the comfort of the poor fellow who had but
a few moments to live.
XXIX
Clara Barton—representing the mercy and magnanimity of the nation.
Columbus (Ohio) _Despatch_.
Clara Barton—her works of mercy in war and peace made her an
international figure. _New York Tribune._
Everybody’s business was nobody’s business, and the stricken victims
perished. CLARA BARTON.
The door that never creaked a hinge for the feeble child of want may
swing wide open at the thundering knock of the Marshal’s Staff. CLARA
BARTON.
The incentive to help and heal another in distress is spontaneous,
generally the result of sympathetic impulse and kindness—a thing of
the feelings and consequently of sudden growth.
CLARA BARTON.
“The other ladies could not endure the climate at Morris Island,” and,
as I knew somebody must take care of the soldiers, I went.
CLARA BARTON.
The idea of humanity in distress is not entirely modern;
Alexander was accompanied in his march by the most famous physicians
of the age. CLARA BARTON.
Homer and Plato were so struck with Egyptian Science and skill that
they declared the Egyptians were all doctors.
CLARA BARTON.
It is probable that the first practitioners in common life were women.
CLARA BARTON.
A wise physician, skilled, our wounds to heal
Is more than armies to the public weal.
A sister and family followed me to Washington that I should not be
quite alone in that slave city, for up to 1860 they bought and sold
slaves at the Capital. CLARA BARTON.
When I think, I fear how supreme an International Court must have been
to be able to induce the Southerners to liberate the slaves, or to
convince them that “mudsills” and “greasy mechanics” and “horned
yankees” are a people entitled to sufficient respect to be treated on
fair international grounds. CLARA BARTON.
ENLISTED MEN FIRST—THE COLONEL’S LIFE SAVED
In ancient Greece, in the Roman Empire, in Europe through the middle
ages, in the more modern chivalry of “Dixie,” among soldiers no slave,
no servant—none but a _gentleman_ carried a gun to kill. Killing in war
time was the occupation of “gentlemen” only. For the first time in the
history of the Centuries—in 1863—the ex-slave alongside the “gentlemen”
on the battlefield, fought for human rights. It was at the battle of
Fort Wagner on Morris Island; Colonel Shaw had led his “colored
regiment” to that field of slaughter.
The first woman nurse on any battlefield, a veteran nurse at the front,
was there,—the only woman present among the thousands of boys in blue.
The chivalric southern soldiers hated the “mudsills,” the “greasy
mechanics” and the “horned yankees,” but with a still more deadly hatred
the “nigger in blue”—the ex-slave now marshalled in battle array against
his former master. The onslaught there amidst the whizzing of bullets
and bursting of shells is pictured as the “orgy of hell.”
The Colonel while leading that colored regiment was among the wounded.
“Miss Barton, Colonel Shaw is lying on a dissecting table. His leg has
been taken off. His life is ebbing away; won’t you go to him?”
Bearing the bandage, water and sponge,
Straight and swift to the wounded I go—
Miss Barton replied: “Officers generally have friends enough to see that
their wants are attended to, while the poor enlisted men are neglected.
I will go to see the Colonel as soon as I have attended to my charges
here.” When she was through with the wounded enlisted men, Clara Barton
gave her attention to the Colonel, and through her services his life was
saved.
XXX
If any number of Americans were asked off-hand to name the woman who
stands highest in the esteem of the American people, the reply would
be unanimously, “Clara Barton.”
_Republic Magazine._
The patience, the nobility of soul, the resignation and bravery of our
gallant troops! CLARA BARTON.
Love chivalry. ARMAND.
Chivalry is the essence of virtue. LORD JOHN RUSSELL.
Chivalry was the parent of honor. A. DELEVAN.
The true spirit of chivalry is a generous impatience of wrong.
CHATFIELD.
Chivalry has not entirely died out in this prosaic age.
CECILIA FINDLAY.
“People say that I must have been born brave,” said Clara Barton.
“Why, I seem to remember nothing but terrors in my early days, I was a
shrinking little bundle of fears, fears of thunder, fears of strange
faces, fears of my strange self.”
MARY R. PARKMAN—In _Heroines of Service_.
Fear loves the idea of danger. S. CROXALL.
The moment my fear begins, I cease to fear. SCHILLER.
The weak most fear, the timid tremble, but the brave and stout of
heart will work and hope and trust. CLARA BARTON.
YOU’RE RIGHT, MADAM—GOOD DAY
Immediately following the Battle of Fredericksburg, every house in the
city became a hospital. Among the thousands of wounded Clara Barton, in
her usual unobtrusive manner, passed in and out of the houses, first on
one side of the street then on the other, on her mission of mercy.
Provost Marshal General Patrick seeing her alone among the soldiers
mistook her for a resident driven from her home.
The general did not seem to know that any good woman is safe among men,
brave and true, and nowhere else more so than among soldiers. He did not
fully appreciate that when a woman is true to herself
So dear to heav’n is saintly chastity,
That when a soul is found sincerely so,
A thousand liveried angels lackey her;
and he did not know Clara Barton.
So, with admirable southern chivalry, he dashed to her side, bowing with
hat in hand, and said: “Madam, you are alone and in great danger here!”
“No, I think not, Marshal.”
“Yes, you are, Madam. May I offer you my protection?”
“No, Marshal, I think it is not necessary.” Then turning to the ranks of
the soldiers she further commented: “No, Marshal, I am the best
protected woman in the United States.”
The soldiers appreciating the compliment sent up cheer after cheer,
accompanied with “That’s so! that’s so!”
The Marshal, taking in the situation and waving his hand towards Miss
Barton with a broad smile, said: “I think you are right, Madam, Good
day!”
XXXI
Clara Barton dared the bullets on the battlefield with the abandon of
a dashing cavalry leader. Pawtucket (R. I.) _Times_.
In Clara Barton, the world has lost a guardian angel.
PUEBLO CHIEFTAIN.
Death grinned a horrible ghastly smile. JOHN MILTON.
Says Clara Barton, in one of the battles of the Civil War, “A little
sibley tent had been hastily pitched for me in a slight hollow upon a
hillside. How many times I fell from sheer exhaustion in the darkness
and mud of that slippery hillside I have no knowledge; but at last I
grasped the welcome canvas, and a well established brook which washed
in on the upper side, at the opening which served as the door, met me
on my entrance to the tent.”
PERCY H. EPLER.
Clara Barton slept on the ground, wrapped in a blanket like a soldier,
but her zeal was in no way diminished by hardship.
St. Paul (Minn.) _Pioneer Press_.
Clara Barton gave a lifetime of glorious service to humanity—a
ministering angel like a benediction of her God amid the desolate, the
stricken, the hungry and despairing. _Los Angeles Examiner._
Sickness, confusion and death—these are inseparable from every
conflict. CLARA BARTON.
I can never see a poor mutilated wreck, blown to pieces with powder
and lead, without wondering if visions of such an end ever floated
before his mother’s mind when she washed and dressed her fair-skinned
boy. CLARA BARTON.
When giant misery stalks to the very threshold, and raps with bloody
hands on one’s door, it is almost a libel upon the good Christian term
to call it charity that answers. CLARA BARTON.
Women should certainly have some voice in the matter of war, either
affirmative or negative, and the fact that she has not this should not
be made the ground to deprive her of other privileges.
CLARA BARTON.
“They say”:
Imagine their skirts ’mong artillery wheels,
And watch for their flutter as they flee ’cross the fields,
When the charge is rammed home and the fire belches hot;—
They never will wait for the answering shot.
They would faint at the first drop of blood in sight—
CLARA BARTON.
BLEEDING TO DEATH—HIS HEADLESS BODY—WOMEN IN THE WAR
One day Miss Barton was asked to tell what was the most terrible
experience she had ever gone through on a field of disaster or war, and
she replied: “It was at the battle of Antietam. The poor boys were
falling so fast that I rushed up into the line of fire to save them from
bleeding to death by temporarily binding up their wounds. Bullets went
through my clothing, but I did not think of danger. I loaded myself with
canteens and went to a nearby spring and filled them with water, until I
staggered under the load. The wounded were crying for water and I went
to one poor boy who was wild with thirst and, stooping, I lifted his
head on my arm and knee and was giving him water from the canteen when a
cannon ball took his head off, covering me with blood and brains. I
dropped the headless body and went to the next wounded soldier, and so
all day I worked through this awful battle and refused to retire, though
officers and men tried to drive me back.”
In the Civil War there was widespread opposition to the presence of
women on the battlefield—both on the part of civilians and the military
officers. Lincoln was not the exception. He protested that a woman on
the battlefield would be a “fifth wheel to a wagon.” After the close of
the war Clara Barton penned the following, a part of the poem entitled
“The Women who went to the Field”:
Will he glance at the boats on the great western flood,
At Pittsburgh and Shiloh, did they faint at the blood?
And the brave wife of Grant stood there with them then,
And her calm stately presence gave strength to the men.
XXXII
In spite of her retiring nature and shrinking from publicity, Clara
Barton remained probably the best known woman in America, surely one
of the best-beloved.
New Orleans (La.) _Item_.
Miss Barton took the lecture platform, under an agreement to lecture
300 nights at $100 a night.
Louisville (Ky.) _Courier-Journal_.
Fear is the mother of foresight. HENRY TAYLOR.
Fear is the mother of safety. EDMUND BURKE.
Fear makes us feel for humanity. EARL OF BEACONSFIELD.
In the earlier years of my life, I remember nothing but fear.
CLARA BARTON.
It was high counsel that I once heard given to a young person: “Always
do what you are afraid to do.”
RALPH WALDO EMERSON.
Timid as a sheep. OUIDA.
Timid as a doe. ROBERT NOEL.
Timid as a fawn. THACKERAY.
I am the most timid person on earth. CLARA BARTON.
Some critic has said that I was visibly agitated when I arose to
address my audience;—the critic was right, and why should I not be?
CLARA BARTON.
All speech-making terrifies me. First I have no taste for it, and
lastly I hate it. CLARA BARTON.
Nothing could gratify me more than to know that I had been one of
these self-reliant American girls like our sweet poetess Lucy Larcrom.
CLARA BARTON.
If I could have gotten over my timid sensitiveness it would have given
far less annoyance to my friends, and trouble to myself, all through
life. CLARA BARTON.
TIMID CHILD—TIMID WOMAN
Fear is relative. The fear of death by flames is greater than by water.
The fear not to do is ofttimes greater than the fear to do. The fear of
failure is supplanted by courage. To the sensitive nature the fear that
others may suffer impels to the greatest courage. Despite innate fear,
courage is uppermost in the minds of those who would achieve results.
The most renowned in the fine arts, in oratory, in patriotism, in the
humanities, are those by nature timid.
John B. Gough and Clara Barton at one time lived in the same town; were
personal friends; in the lecture season, successively talked from the
same platform. These two Americans were each as timid, probably, as ever
appeared before a public audience. But each achieved an enviable
reputation as a platform lecturer.
The morning following one of his inimitable temperance lectures, I
remarked: “Mr. Gough, I wish I had your assurance before an audience.”
“Young man,” he replied, “you don’t know me. I have given thousands of
lectures, but I never rise to address an audience that my knees don’t
knock together, from stage fright. Last night, as I arose to address
that splendid body of college boys, I was scared stiff; for some moments
I was so frightened I couldn’t utter a word.”
In his autobiography he wrote: “For thirty-seven years I have been a
public speaker, but have never known the time when I did not dread an
audience. Often that fear amounts to positive suffering. In my
suffering, trembling seizes every nerve.”
Clara Barton was a timid child; so much so as to annoy her parents, and
other friends. When about eight years of age she was sent away to school
in the hope that, among strangers, she would become at ease in the
presence of others. At school she grew tired; became thin and pale; said
she was hungry, but refused to eat. It was suspected that it was all on
account of her timidity, and that she might die of starvation. Because
she dared not eat, the teacher returned her to her home. In referring to
this experience, and her later experiences in the presence of strangers,
a few years before she died, she said: “To this day I would rather stand
behind the lines of artillery at Antietam, or cross the pontoon bridge
under fire at Fredericksburg, than to preside at a public meeting.”
XXXIII
The negro has no linguistic laws—his pathetically musical speech is
fast dying away—only will linger the salient printed form to convey to
the future some idea of the olden dialect.
LA SALLE CORBELL PICKETT—“_In de Miz Series_.”
I know of the intelligence of the negro, for I have heard of his
unquestioned loyalty between every war of our land from Bunker Hill to
the Argonne. SECRETARY OF THE NAVY DANIELS.
The only flag the negro ever carried was when his spirit was stirred
crimson by the sacrificial blood he gave for America. Cite me a negro
traitor! JUSTICE STAFFORD.
In the World War, in France up in the zone where death was spread
about I found the black man and the white man fallen side by side.
SECRETARY OF WAR BAKER.
The courage that faces death on the battlefield, or calmly awaits it
in the hospital, is not the courage of race or color.
CLARA BARTON.
Two of the bravest men I ever saw lay wounded, almost side by side,
one white and the other black. CLARA BARTON.
The patient suffering of the black soldier is fully equal to that of
the Anglo-Saxon. CLARA BARTON.
EZ EF WE WUZ WHITE FOLKS
At Galveston one day, when Miss Barton was busy dictating letters her
companion, Mrs. Fannie B. Ward, came in and told her that there were two
negro soldiers of the Civil War waiting to see her. Miss Barton said,
“Let them come in.” The two old negroes came in with their hats in their
hands and bowing at every step.
One of them asked, “Miss Barton, do you know us?” She replied, “No, I
don’t remember you.”
“We knows you, Miss Barton,” was the reply, “We wuz in de battle er Fo’t
Wagner an’ got wounded dyar, an’ you foun’ us an’ tied up our wounds an’
tuk cyar er us same ez ef we wuz white folks.”
Proud of their wounds, one of the negroes rolled up his sleeve and
showed a great scar on his arm, saying, “I wuz in de cha’ge, Miss
Barton, an’ a officer slashed me wid a swo’d.” The other pulled up his
trousers and displayed a very deep scar on the calf of his leg and said,
“En’ I got wounded in de leg wid a bullet.”
Miss Barton’s smile of appreciation and her cordial handshake sent them
away with happy memories.
[Illustration:
© _Harris & Ewing_
LEONARD WOOD
There is a call for women who will carry forward the work begun by
Florence Nightingale and Clara Barton.—LEONARD WOOD, Major-General
Spanish-American War; Major-General World War; Governor-General
Philippine Islands.
General Wood, alert, wise and untiring, with an eye single to the good
of all, toiled day and night.
CLARA BARTON.
]
XXXIV
Clara Barton’s name will take its place among the world’s heroines.
Denver (Colorado) _Times_.
Life is like a dream. DR. S. JOHNSON.
Our Life is a dream. CHARLES WESLEY.
I have a presentiment that I shall not outlast the rebellion.
A. LINCOLN.
Dreams are the bright evidence of poem and legend, who sport on the
earth in the night season. CHARLES DICKENS.
Dreams in their development have breath and tears, and torture and a
touch of joy. LORD BYRON.
I have dreamed of bloody turbulence; and this whole night
Hath nothing been but forms of slaughter. SHAKESPEARE.
It seems to me I have been dreaming a horrid dream for four years; now
the nightmare is gone. A. LINCOLN.
O Memory! that midway world,
’Twixt earth and paradise,
Where things decayed and loved ones lost
In dreamy shadows rise.
A. LINCOLN.
To dream of battle—danger of persecution.
MADAME CLAIRE ROUGEMONT, Author.
For a woman to dream that she is in battle is a very lucky omen.
_The Queen of the Romanies._
IN HER DREAMS—AGAIN IN BATTLE
“What’s that big barn of a house?”
“It’s the Red Cross house.”
“Who lives there?” “Clara Barton, don’t you know Clara Barton?” “And
what does she want to live in a house like that for?”
“It is her headquarters—her home. There is where she does her work;
there is where she keeps her supplies. Whenever there is a cry of
distress anywhere in the United States she is off at a moment’s notice.”
No paint on the outside of the house, none on the inside—a regular
barn—why wouldn’t the stranger ask questions?
The inside of the house is also strangely mysterious, with its great
central part open to the ceiling; the balconies protected by railings,
reminding one of a steamship, the atmosphere giving the stranger a sort
of weird, uncanny feeling.
The visitor when within is still curious, and would ask other questions.
“What are all these things on the wall?”
“They are diplomas, resolutions of cities, states and nations—medals won
for services rendered in distress—all kinds of souvenirs complimentary
to Clara Barton.”
“Interesting, very interesting!”
“Yes, no other place like it in all the world.”
“But what are these small doors for? They look like doors to sleeping
berths.”
“No, they are doors to closets. There are thirty-eight rooms in this
house and seventy-six closets.”
“What are the closets for?”
“Well, these closets in the walls, on either side of the big hall, are
where she keeps bandages, linen, clothes, food in large quantities, to
be shipped wherever wanted. It is surely no vine-clad cottage; it is a
veritable store-house of food for the needy, a ware-house of clothes for
the suffering,—anywhere in the world. Clara Barton called it her ‘House
of Rough Hemlock Boards’—the boards were from the wreckage of the
Johnstown flood.”
Hourly in the presence of such environments as to suggest war and flood
and famine, and at times delirious, it is not strange that two nights
before her death, on April 10, 1912, in her dreams there flitted before
her the tragic past; that she dreamt that she was again in battle; that
she saw “her boys” with legs and arms gone; that she gave crackers and
gruel to the sick and bound up the wounds of the soldiers; that again
she felt the twitching at her dress and heard “You saved my life;” that
again she caught the last words of the dying to be sent to the mothers
and sisters and sweethearts, and heard from the lips of her dying
soldier-brother, “Oh! God, save my country!”
XXXV
Minerva, the goddess of wisdom, was the greatest feminine mind of the
ancient deities concerned in human welfare. THE AUTHOR.
Bring the feminine mind to bear upon all that concerns the welfare of
mankind. JULIA WARD HOWE.
Judge—You voted as a woman, did you not?
Miss Anthony—No, sir, I voted as a citizen of the United States.
SUSAN B. ANTHONY.
(In 1872, she then being under arrest for voting
for President of the United States.)
Let us “push things” so that every state in the union shall speedily
surrender to the advocates of women’s equality and elevation.
MARY A. LIVERMORE—Jan. 8, 1870.
American women and students of American history have long deplored the
meagre credit which has been given to women for the part they have
taken in the progress and achievement of America, as a nation. MRS.
JOHN A. LOGAN.
In “Part Taken by Women in American History.”
I know nothing remarkable I have done. The hum-drum of my every day
life seems to me quite without incident. CLARA BARTON.
Speaking of myself, and my own doings, is a thing very distasteful to
me. CLARA BARTON.
[Illustration:
THE RED CROSS HOME OF CLARA BARTON, GLEN ECHO, MARYLAND
“Clara Barton to the end kept open house at her Glen Echo home, for
the soldier boys.”
“The Red Cross House at Glen Echo was a flag museum of historical
achievements.”
Historical ground carries its own sentiment: Mount Vernon, American
Liberty; Monticello, American Democracy; Glen Echo, World Humanity.
]
FOUR FAMOUS WOMEN
A famous artist called at Miss Barton’s home and explained to her that
he had been sent out to secure the portraits of the four most famous
women in America. She asked him, “Whom have you been to see?” And he
replied, “I have come to you first.” “And whom will you go to next?”
Miss Barton inquired. “To Julia Ward Howe, of Boston,” he replied. “And
whom for the third?” Miss Barton asked. “I do not know,” he answered.
“You tell me, Miss Barton.” “Well,” replied Miss Barton, “why not go to
Mrs. General John A. Logan?” “I will, Miss Barton,” he said. “And whom
will I go to next?” asked the artist. Miss Barton replied, “I cannot
tell you, but if Susan B. Anthony were living, or Mary Livermore, I
could tell you.”
Susan B. Anthony wrote to Clara Barton: “I know, in a general way, my
dear Clara, that you have done some wonderful things in the world, but I
would like to have a list of just what you have done, to present to my
audiences. So please prepare a brief story of your achievements for my
use.” In due time came the reply, enclosing a very brief chronological
list of Miss Barton’s achievements. Miss Anthony wrote back at once and
said: “Dear Clara: I cannot present this skeleton to the public. Please
put some clothes on it.”
XXXVI
Clara Barton—a wonderful majesty in the simplicity of her character.
Sacramento (Cal.) _Record-Union_.
Like the stories from fairy lore are the accounts, modestly written
and simply given, of the tremendous, almost super-human, work done by
this little woman. Oakland (Cal.) _Tribune_.
Clara Barton loved everything that lived. Roanoke (Va.) _News_.
Bugs and other insects, as well as squirrels and other animals, gave
her hourly enjoyment. Clara used to say, “these are my friends, they
have as good a right to live as I have.”
“SISTER HARRIETTE” L. REED.
Her love for the farmyard and its animals never left her.
PERCY H. EPLER.
It was her heroic soul and deep woman sympathy that made Clara Barton
strong and brave. WILLIAM E. BARTON.
Nothing endures but personal qualities. WALT WHITMAN.
Sir John Franklin,—who never turned his back upon a danger, yet of
that tenderness that he would not brush away a mosquito.
WILLIAM MATTHEWS.
I too have a kitty and he is pretty much master of the house. He
doesn’t speak German, although I have no doubt he understands it.
CLARA BARTON.
A harmless necessary cat. MERCHANT OF VENICE.
A cat may look on a king. HAYWOOD’S PROVERBS.
In the night all cats are grey. CERVANTES.
When the cat’s away the mice will play. OLD PROVERBS.
As vigilant as a cat to steal cream. SHAKESPEARE.
It has been the providence of nature to give this creature nine lives,
instead of one. PILPAY.
Hang sorrow! Care will kill a cat,
And therefore let’s be merry. GEORGE WITHER.
Confound the cats! All cats—alway—
Cats of all colors, black, white, gray;
By night a nuisance and by day—
Confound the cats! DOBBIN.
Even poverty has its compensation. CLARA BARTON.
There is neither teacher nor preacher like necessity.
CLARA BARTON.
No work can retain its vitality without constant action.
CLARA BARTON.
Though to bed at daylight, or at best midnight, Clara Barton never
slept late in the morning. J. B. HUBBELL.
Let us each make haste to do the work set before us, in the Providence
of God, unostentatiously, thoroughly and well.
CLARA BARTON.
She looketh well to the ways of her household, and eateth not the
bread of idleness. PROVERBS.
In October, 1911 (at the age of 90), while she was propped up in bed
and seriously ill, I asked “why, Miss Barton, you haven’t a gray hair
in your head, have you?” Quick was the response, “I don’t know, I
haven’t had time to look.” THE AUTHOR.
Oftener than I could wish my heart sinks heavily, oppressed with fear
that I am falling short of the fulfillment of life’s duties.
CLARA BARTON.
Domestic Happiness, thou only bliss
Of Providence that hast survived the Fall. COWPER _Task_.
SIMPLICITY OF CHILDHOOD—PET WASPS PET CATS—LOVED LIFE-DOMESTIC
The simplicity of childhood continued with Clara Barton through to her
latest years. Because requested by children in letters to do so, at
eighty-six years she commenced to write “The Story of My Childhood.” She
did not reach second childhood; she was in her first childhood at
ninety. On a certain occasion, having declined to address an audience,
she reconsidered and said: “Oh, yes, I will talk to the children.”
Pets, as in childhood, continued; she had them wherever she happened to
be,—pets of the chickens, pets of the birds, pets of the squirrels, pets
of the domestic animals. She saw Divinity in nature; loved as does the
believer in pantheism, as does the believer in the “transmigration of
souls.” To the science of entomology she was not a stranger. Among her
swarms of bees she continued the student of those who work for man and
do not “bruise their Master’s flower;” loved even that household “pest,”
the wasp.
A wasp met a bee that was just buzzing by
And she said, “Little Cousin, Can you tell me why
You are loved so much better by people than I?”
But in the existence of a wasp Miss Barton did not think there was
wholly of “mischief to do.” Genius philosophizes. To serve its uses, the
wasp is perfect in its organs, and in its symmetry. The male wasp does
not sting at all; and, while the “female of the species is deadlier than
the male,” the female does not sting except in defence, in obeying the
first law of nature,—the law which is the saving principle in the
universe.
The wasp renders service, service to the fruit-grower by destroying the
caterpillar, especially of the green fly and black fly, and of other
harmful insects. The wasp is not too aristocratic to act as scavenger,
stripping the bones of small dead animals of skin and flesh—for its
grubs—thus precluding carrion from becoming offensive and, through
pollution of the atmosphere, unhealthful. The social wasp is strategic,
is accredited with amazing cleverness, with courage never-failing, with
intelligence higher than instinct,—having a system of living that should
shame its human enemy. He who, in his ignorance, comes to the wasp to
scoff goes away to admire. If only the wasp would toil for man,
appeasing man’s appetite for sweets, that winged “pest” would be _loved_
as is the honey bee.
At the Glen Echo Red Cross house, on the window-ledges, in the slats for
window-catches, where the walls and ceilings join, in every nook and
corner, the welcomed wasps had their little mud cells. While at the
dining table, or at her writing desk, Miss Barton would cut an apple and
sometimes around it would gather a swarm of these “pests.” Of the wasps,
that nobody likes, she was wont to say “these are my little friends;
they keep me company;”—as they hovered over and around her she seemed to
get inspiration from them in her literary work.
In her early years Clara Barton’s special pets were the dog and the
horse; in later years, the cat. She accredited her black and white cat
at Dansville with human personality. Her Maltese cat at Glen Echo she
accredited with _reasoning_ powers, with a _logical_ mind. Of Maltese
Tommie she tells this story. Tommie saw another cat in the mirror. He
stared at it; moved his head in rapid succession to one side of the
mirror, then to the other side. The other cat did likewise. He dashed
like mad to the back of the mirror, but found no cat. Returning to the
front of the mirror, he put his left paw on the glass; the right paw of
the other cat responded. He put his right paw on the glass; the left paw
of the other cat met his. He again put his left paw on the glass, this
time being close to the edge of the mirror and, continuing to hold it
there he reached around to the back of the mirror with his right paw to
grab the insolent intruder. Not seeing the other cat, as he quickly
glanced around the edge of the mirror, and not having found it with his
right paw, “he wiser grew” and walked away philosophizing;—in this vain
world—
Things are not what they seem—but then,
A pleasant illusion is better than a harsh reality.
The picture of Maltese Tommie, painted by Antoinette Margot, is still
one of the historic art-treasures on the walls of the Clara Barton Glen
Echo home.
Those who think of Clara Barton only as the “war woman” within the
battle smoke, or on the rostrum addressing literary audiences, or on
state occasions as the cynosure of all eyes, or as the guest of honor
among the crowned heads of Europe—as masculine and not feminine—have not
seen the daily life-picture of Clara Barton. Clara Barton was most
womanly when most childlike, queenliest when lowliest and, like the
Roman Matron, most aristocratic when most domestic.
As Divinity lives in all life, as God the first garden made and work was
the best religion Clara Barton had, her applied religion was in the yard
as she cared for the domestic animals; in the garden as she cared for
the shrubs, the flowers, the vegetables, her special pride being in
raising fine strawberries. Frequently was Miss Barton called from the
yard or garden, to meet guests in her “House of Rough Hemlock
Boards,”—there where was welcome ever royal and farewell went out loyal;
there where—
Honest offered courtesy
Which oft is sooner found in lowly sheds
With smoky rafters than in tapestry halls
And courts of princes, where it first was named
And yet is most pretended.
XXXVII
Of the women writers that lived at the time of the Civil War the mind
of Harriet Beecher Stowe was the most imaginative; “the vehicle of
thought” used by Clara Barton, the best equipped, the most powerful.
In war-literature Mrs. Stowe will live through the genius of her great
novel; Clara Barton, through her descriptive powers, forceful diction,
and patriotic sayings. THE AUTHOR.
Learn to be good readers. CARLYLE.
God be thanked for books. CHANNING.
Mankind are creatures of books, as well of other circumstances.
LEIGH HUNT.
The true university of these days is a collection of books.
HERO AND HERO WORSHIPPERS.
Reading to the mind is what exercise is to the body. ADDISON.
Books that are books are all that you want, and there are but
half-a-dozen in a thousand. THOREAU.
Books, like friends, should be few and well chosen. FULLER.
Read much, but not many books. SIR WILLIAM HAMILTON.
When a new book appears, read an old one.
ENGLISH APHORISM.
Old wood to burn, old wine to drink.
Old friends to trust, old books to read.
ALONZO of Arragon.
Miss Barton would not rewrite a public address; on looking it over,
not a sentence, not a word, could be improved by changing.
J. B. HUBBELL, Assistant to Clara Barton.
She who desires information can sit down, read, and obtain it.
CLARA BARTON.
Persons who use their brains, tongues and pens for the improvement of
their kind, are those of whom biographies may profitably be written.
CLARA BARTON.
Miss Barton is in the front rank of American lecturers—excelled by
none. AURORA BEACON.
The Secretary to President McKinley used to say that in his
correspondence at the White House the letters of Clara Barton excelled
all others in literary merit. THE AUTHOR.
Clara Barton’s lecture is beautifully written. JOHN B. GOUGH.
CLARA BARTON IN THE LITERARY FIELD
The treasure-house of the world is of books. Books are one’s chosen
friends, and friends are of souls with like aspirations. From the
contents of books character is made. The legacy in books is what youth
bequeaths to maturity. In youth Clara Barton entered the “true
university,” that of books. She read not only books from the shelf but
found “books in running brooks, sermons in stones, and good in
everything.” Her favorite authors were Shakespeare, Longfellow, Milton,
Keats, Schiller, Bunyan, Tennyson, Scott and Browning.
Had she followed the promptings of her head, and not her heart, Clara
Barton might have been a Mrs. Sigourney. One of her admirers says that,
had she been an author, “her gracefulness of expression, her buoyancy of
thought, and brilliancy of imagery” would have placed her in a class
with Maria Edgeworth, Jane Austen, and Charlotte Brontë. But Clara
Barton is now in a class—in a class by herself—and throughout the future
the student of humanity will study Clara Barton.
Clara Barton’s descriptions of battle, and other, scenes are surpassing
in vividness—unequalled. In her diaries, which she kept for more than
half-a-century, are nuggets of human wisdom. Her wise sayings, as those
of Benjamin Franklin, would fill a volume. Such Clara Barton Red Cross
maxims, and other wise sayings as appear in these pages, are but the
flotsam and jetsam of a cargo of writings, the cargo partly wrecked and
no part of it available by the author.
Clara Barton was a nurse, but only as Lincoln was a rail-splitter. As an
executive, Clara Barton is accredited as the greatest _man_ in America,
by one of America’s greatest statesmen; as the greatest woman in the
world, by one of America’s greatest generals; as having done more for
humanity than any other woman since the time of Mary of Galilee, by a
great State Executive. By a great writer, it is said that through
reading everything is within one’s reach. Clara Barton’s mental reach
into national and world problems at least widens and heightens the
possibilities of womankind.
Her Red Cross lectures are not “Caudle Lectures to Ladies”; they,
including official reports, are high-class state papers which would do
credit to the White House—literary, argumentative, statesmanlike. For
twenty-three years in America Clara Barton was the Red Cross
encyclopedia, the Red Cross dictionary. She was also the Red Cross
legislature, the Red Cross Supreme Court, the Commander-in-Chief of our
Red Cross battalions, at home and abroad. Although one of the
“remonstrants,” in the press, referred to the Red Cross as “Clara
Barton’s Bread and Butter Brigade” the Achilles in that brigade had won
for humanity the greatest battle on American soil.
Her address, “History of the Red Cross; Its Origin and Progress,” is all
comprehensive, showing research, scholarship, logic. Her “Address to the
President, Congress and People of the United States” on “The Red Cross—A
History of This Remarkable Movement in the Interest of Humanity” is as
overwhelmingly convincing, as to the necessity of adhesion by this
Government to the Treaty of Geneva, as was Webster’s historic reply to
Hayne, in advocacy of the perpetuity of the Union. Her address on “What
is the Significance of the Red Cross in its Relation to Philanthropy” is
hardly less meritorious. Her address at Saratoga on “International and
National Relief in War” is more than a literary gem; it is a compendium
of humanitarian history—of Red Cross philosophy. No similar humanitarian
address even approximates it, in wisdom and argument.
Through seven years, in the field of letters and politics, there raged a
war against woe, a war led by a Master Spirit. Humanity won—won through
that Master Spirit. That Master Literary Spirit, says another great
woman, has “won the hearts of the women of the world.” She not only
“walked like a benediction of her God amid the desolate, the stricken,
the hungry and despairing,” but she walked and talked and lived “in
pulses stirred to generosity.” Her pathos of sentiment and elegance of
diction won the hearts of the American people, won Congress, won the
President, won the Red Cross for America. And “the Red Cross in its
great and human principles, its far-reaching philanthropy, its
innovations upon long established and accepted customs and rules of
barbaric cruelty, its wise practical charity, stands forever next to the
immortal proclamation of freedom to the slaves that crowns the name of
Abraham Lincoln.”
[Illustration:
IDA M. TARBELL
Clara Barton got the preliminary experience which led to the
foundation of the Red Cross work, on the battlefields of the Civil
War. I have a high regard for her devotion, her organization
ability.—IDA M. TARBELL.
]
[Illustration:
LUCY LARCROM
Even a casual observer can not fail to see in Clara Barton’s work a
unity peculiar to itself—a work which has grown out of a character,
and which no one but herself could have done.—LUCY LARCROM.
]
REPRESENTATIVE OF THE LITERARY WORLD
[Illustration:
ELBERT HUBBARD
Clara Barton has given us a constant lesson in thrift; a worker from
infancy, taking neither vacation nor recreation.
]
[Illustration:
ALICE HUBBARD
The greatest woman of all times. The people of the United States
admire, revere and devotedly love Clara Barton.
]
_The Fra_—Elbert and Alice Hubbard.
XXXVIII
Clara Barton’s dress was so simple that no one tried to follow her
fashion. ALICE HUBBARD.
For personal adornment Clara Barton cared little, choosing green
dresses in her youth; and ornaments of bright red, for cheer, in her
older years. CORRA BACON-FOSTER, Author.
Dress changes manners. VOLTAIRE.
Eat to please thyself, but dress to please others. FRANKLIN.
Ridiculous modes, invented by ignorance, and adopted by folly.
SMOLLETT.
To live to dress well indicates a fool. DR. A. E. WINSHIP.
The plainer the dress with greater luster does beauty appear.
LORD FAIRFAX.
Beauty, like truth, never is so glorious as when it goes plainest.
STERNE.
Those who think that, in order to dress well, it is necessary to dress
extravagantly, make a great mistake. Nothing so well becomes feminine
beauty as simplicity. GEORGE D. PRENTICE.
A plain, genteel dress is more admired and obtains more credit than
lace and embroidery, in the eyes of the judicious and sensible.
GEORGE WASHINGTON.
Elizabeth, who died the happy owner of 3,000 dresses, issued a solemn
proclamation against extravagance in dress.
GEORGE WILLIAM CURTIS.
loveliness
Needs not foreign aid of ornament,
But is, when unadorned, adorned most.
THOMSON—_Autumn_.
We sacrifice to dress till household joys and comforts cease. Dress
drains our cellar dry and keeps our larder lean. COWPER.
The dress that shows taste and sentiment is elevating to the home, and
is one of the most feminine means of beautifying the world.
MISS OAKEY.
A lady of genius will give a genteel air to her whole dress by a well
fancied suit of knots, as a judicious writer gives to a whole sentence
by a single expression. GAY.
A rich dress is not worth a straw to one who has a poor mind.
AZ ZUBAIDI.
’Tis the mind that makes the body rich. SHAKESPEARE.
I wear what I want to. CLARA BARTON.
THE ART OF DRESSING—CLARA BARTON’S INDIVIDUALITY
Dress is a sentiment, sentiment of an occasion. Dress is an expression
of the attitude of the mind as to propriety, necessary to accomplish
results. Like smiles, dress is an expression of the intelligence of the
wearer. Dress is an art, one of the highest of the arts. Dress has to do
with the form divine and, whether dress be for good or ill, depends on
the mind that fashions it. Court dress, then the want of _dress_, Clara
Barton disliked and on one occasion would not conform. She thereby
missed the honor of being a guest on a state occasion—proffered her by
the world’s greatest queen.
There is an individuality of dress, as of conduct. Clara Barton had
individuality. There has been no one else like her, and a famous
American woman says we shall never again produce her like. In religion
she adhered to no creed; in social life, to no rules; in wearing
apparel, to no fashion. In service to the world she wished for something
to do that no one else would do—something that no one else thought of
doing. “Clara Barton was Clara Barton,” individual even in her wearing
apparel. The first straw bonnet she ever had she made herself. She cut
the green rye; she scalded it; she bleached it in the sun; she cut it
into lengths; with her teeth she split the straws into strands,
flattening them. She braided the bonnet by the use of eleven strands;
she fashioned it to suit herself; she wore it; it was Clara’s individual
bonnet, and at 86 years of age she regarded it the great achievement of
her life.
When advised by a clerk in a store that a woman of her age should wear
lavenders and violets, Clara Barton turned to her shopping companion and
said, “I guess she doesn’t know I wear what I want to.” While on the
lecture platform, to a limited extent, she conformed to custom and wore
trains. On a certain occasion, looking her over from head to feet, an
obtrusive flatterer said to her “How stunning!” Floating on a breeze
several degrees below zero came from Miss Barton’s lips “_What did you
say!_” Nor would she gossip about the dress of others. Says Goethe: The
“highest fortune of earth’s children is personality.” Characteristic of
her observations on personality rather than of dress, on an occasion
when she was a special guest of honor, she thus writes of her hostess:
“I want you to know what a beautiful, bright lady I think Mrs. President
Hayes to be. She is brilliant and beautiful, brunette with abundant jet
black hair, put back over her ears;—she is entirely different from the
Grand Duchess of Baden, and still _bright_ and _full of life_, like
her.”
Every human being dresses for effect, as does the actress before the
footlights—the greater the intelligence the greater the discrimination.
Clara Barton was the designer of her own fashions, the mistress of her
own stitches. In the use of one of her stitches, she taught the women of
Corsica to do more work in one hour than previously they had done in
five hours. She found forty thousand people in despair, ill clothed. In
her “dress-making shop,” she taught large classes of girls to sew.
Daily, with these poor girls,
Plying her needle and thread,—
Stitch! Stitch! Stitch!
she left those people the best clothed people in Europe.
Clara Barton was as proud of her skill with the needle as was Lucretia
with the spinning wheel, or Florence Nightingale in the art of nursing.
In a western town a lady was discredited, and shunned, because she had
been a sewing girl. Appreciating the situation, and ambitious socially,
she made her home the center of fashionable sewing circles. She taught
fancy crochet, and embroidery stitches; in a very short time she had the
aristocratic women at her feet, and became the social leader.
The bright little needle, the swift-flying needle,
The needle directed by beauty and art.
Clara Barton’s apparel was her personal care, and not the care of a
_modiste_. While in charge of relief work on a field of disaster, she
said I have no clothing, and couldn’t attend to it if I had.” She fully
appreciated also that “rags are royal raiment when worn for virtue’s
sake.” She would sew on her own buttons, mend, clean, stitch and
hemstitch, make and remake, her own clothes,—not only as a matter of
economy but as a matter of personal pride.
[Illustration:
W. R. SHAFTER
No governmental red tape system could possibly be as effective as were
Clara Barton’s sensible business methods in Cuba.
W. R. SHAFTER.
Brigadier-General Civil War; Major-General
Commanding the American Army in the Spanish-American War.
General Shafter, the kind and courteous officer and gentleman.
CLARA BARTON.
]
Clara Barton received no one until she had donned the, to her, becoming
apparel,—the proper bow at the neck, the proper bow in her hair.
Everything about her dress must be, to her, _au fait_. Propriety of
dress had been a part of her education. She recognized that a tramp
seldom gets by the barking dog at the gate, while the door of the palace
opens wide to the person well-dressed. And possibly also she entertained
the sentiment of Emerson, “The sense of being well-dressed gives a
feeling of inward tranquillity which religion is powerless to bestow.”
She agreed with Walt Whitman that only personal qualities endure, and
dress bespeaks personal qualities.
That she succeeded in the art of dress—that her personal qualities were
at all times in the ascendancy, is attested by the fact that the press
reporter overlooked her dress, in describing the “ladies’ costumes.” He
would describe her very dark, bright eyes, her face as the ideal one
which conforms to her character, her raven black hair worn in the
fashion of our mothers and grandmothers; or “her hair, black as the
raven’s wing, does not follow fashion’s ways but is dressed like
Longfellow’s Evangeline, low down on either side of her forehead,” and
then possibly dismiss her with the simple statement: “Miss Barton was
attired in black silk.”
XXXIX
Clara Barton—her brilliancy and bravery won her a European reputation;
she was decorated with several honorary orders in recognition of her
exploits. Raleigh (N. C.) _Times_.
The whole of Europe is marshaled under the banner of the Red Cross.
CLARA BARTON.
In the Grand Duchy of Baden, woman leads in Red Cross work.
CLARA BARTON.
Scarcely had man made his first move in organizing the Red Cross, when
the jeweled hand of royal woman glistened behind him, and right
royally she has done her part. CLARA BARTON.
Sovereigns deeply interested in the work of the Red Cross will be less
and less disposed to precipitate their peoples into war for light and
trivial causes, for small, or personal, or unworthy ends.
CLARA BARTON.
The patrons of the Red Cross in Europe are always of the Crown, or
royal families, as Empress Augusta of Germany, Victoria of England,
Dagmar of Russia, Marguerite of Italy, and the Royal Grand Duchess of
Baden. CLARA BARTON.
THE JEWELLED HAND AND THE HARD HAND MEET
In the Franco-Prussian War the jeweled hand of the princess and the hard
hand of the peasant met, and labored side by side unquestioned and
unquestioning in their God-given mission. Side by side they wrought,
says Clara Barton, as side by side their dead lay on the battlefield.
Empress Augusta became the active head of the Red Cross Society of
Germany. Luise, Grand Duchess of Baden, only daughter of the Emperor and
Empress of Germany, was untiring in the conduct of the Society she had
already formed and patronized. Her many beautiful castles, with their
magnificent grounds throughout all Baden were at once transformed into
military hospitals. The whole court with herself at its head formed into
a committee of superintendents an organization for the relief of the
wounded soldiers. Clara Barton was the leading spirit in all such relief
work. She says: “I have seen a wounded Arab from the French Armies, who
knew no word of any language but his own, stretch out his arms to my
friend, the Grand Duchess, in adoration and blessing as she passed by.”
XL
Clara Barton—The object of decorations by many sovereigns.
Tacoma (Wash.) _Ledger_.
Clara Barton—The rulers of many nations have done her honor.
Boston (Mass.) _Herald_.
The title of Emperor never loses itself. NAPOLEON.
A throne is but of wood, covered with velvet. NAPOLEON.
Royalty is no longer the feeling of the age. NAPOLEON.
Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown. SHAKESPEARE.
Every monarch is subject to a mightier one. SENECA.
The name of Emperor is a word, like another; but he who bears it must
have a better title to render him worthy of posterity.
NAPOLEON.
Clara Barton was the welcome guest in the soldiers’ camp, the
woodman’s hut, and the palace of the king.
_Universal Leader_, Boston, Mass.
Clara Barton’s services in the Franco-Prussian War brought her
recognition from the German Emperor in the shape of an iron cross,
Germany’s most prized decoration.
Bridgeport (Conn.) _Post_.
The “little woman” accomplished what crowned heads failed in.
_Unity_—Chicago.
Germany, which was in the vanguard of treaty nations was thoroughly
organized and equipped. She was the first to demonstrate the true idea
of the Red Cross—people’s aid for national, for military, necessity.
CLARA BARTON.
His Majesty, in the name of humanity, was glad to meet and welcome
those who labored for it. CLARA BARTON.
CLARA BARTON AND THE EMPEROR
The royalty of Germany had assembled to speed the parting guest, to pay
tribute of respect to the “little lady” who had sacrificed herself for
the sick and wounded in the Franco-Prussian war. William the First was
there. The Emperor observed, among her many decorations, two decorations
worn on that occasion by the “little lady.” One of these had been
presented to her by His Majesty on his 75th birthday; the other, the
“Warrior Brothers in Arms” of Milwaukee, he had not seen. It was the
“Iron Cross of Germany,” on an American shield. The “American Eagle”
surmounted the arms for defence; and the colors of Germany—the Red,
White, and Black, of the Empire,—united the two.
The Emperor, with much curiosity, turned to his daughter, the Grand
Duchess, as if to ask “does my daughter understand this?” His daughter’s
explanation was satisfactory, whereupon the Emperor expressed the wish
to know whether or not the Germans make good American citizens. “The
best that could be desired,” responded the “little lady,”—“industrious,
honest, and prosperous.”
The Emperor then commented on the high compliment thus paid the
German-Americans; “I am glad to hear this; they were good soldiers and,
thank God, they are true men everywhere.”
In a personal sense the Emperor said: “Of myself, I am nothing. God be
praised; it is all from Him. I am only His. He made us what we are. God
is over all.”
Miss Barton, “this is probably the _last_ time; we may not meet again in
this world, but we will be sure to meet in the world beyond. Good-bye.”
Farewell! if ever fondest prayer
For others availed on high
Mine will not all be lost in air,
But waft thy name beyond the sky.
This was the _last time_. When she again visited Europe he had passed to
the Beyond. But Prince Henry later visited the United States. Clara
Barton was then temporarily at Hotel Willard, Washington, D. C. At the
request of Kaiser William, Lieutenant Commodore Von Egidy, of the Royal
Suite, made a personal call upon Clara Barton at her hotel. She had been
apprised of his coming and was tastefully attired, wearing her historic
souvenirs, including those presented to her by the Royal Family of
Prussia. Among the souvenirs were the Iron Cross of Prussia, by Emperor
William the First and Empress Augusta; Gold Cross of Remembrance, by the
Grand Duke and Grand Duchess of Baden; Silver Medal, by Empress Augusta
of Germany; Jewels, including the Ruby Pin, by the Queen of Prussia;
Jewels, including the famed Pansy Pin, by the Grand Duchess of Baden;
Medal of the International Committee of the Red Cross of Geneva,
Switzerland. The Lieutenant Commodore, in full uniform, bore the
greetings of Prince Henry to Miss Barton; and also friendly messages
from the Emperor and other members of the Royal Family. Among the other
pleasant messages from the Emperor was the statement that he still
cherished the “little lady,” as a member of his own family.
XLI
Were all the crowns and laurels of earth won by the kings of earth
within my reach on one hand, and on the other there rested the One
Never Dying Jewel—made brilliant and lustrous by Clara Barton’s good
deeds—I would count myself most blessed of men to—in reverence—touch
the latter rather than become the owner of all the others. T. V.
POWDERLY.
Clara Barton’s name was mingled with the orations of statesmen, the
elegance of the pulpit, the command of royalty, the commands of
generals—engraved in the halls of fame, in books of story for children
and adults, and engraved on jewels of costly make and rare art. Bangor
(Me.) _Commercial_.
What have kings
The privates have not, too, save ceremony?
SHAKESPEARE.
A crown
Golden in show is but a wreath of thorns. MILTON.
The crowned heads of Europe were quick to perceive the benign uses of
Red Cross Associations, and bestowed upon the Central Committees of
their countries money, credit and personal approbation.
CLARA BARTON.
Secretary of State Frelinghuysen, insisting that illness was not a
good excuse, and that Clara Barton _must_ represent the United States
at the International Conference at Geneva, in 1884, said: “All the
country knows what you have done and is more than satisfied. Regarding
your illness—you have had too much fresh water, Miss Barton—I
recommend salt and shall appoint you.”
THE AUTHOR.
I saw Paris when the Commune fell; the Army of Versailles shot down
its victims on the streets by the ghastly glare of blazing palaces.
CLARA BARTON.
In 1872, at the time of the Reign of Terror there, Clara Barton walked
into the city of Paris. When the people saw her entering the stricken
city on her errand of mercy, they cried out: “God, it is an angel!”
PERCY H. EPLER, Author.
As Clara Barton and her faithful attendant, Antoinette Margot, a fair
haired Swiss maiden, were on their way in Europe to the front they
heard “Turn back, turn back; turn back; the Prussians are coming.”
“Yes,” said Miss Barton, “that is why we are going, we are on our way
to care for the wounded of the battle.” And the people cried out:
“Dieu vous benisse!” PERCY H. EPLER.
For services among the Armenians, Turks and Kurds, Sultan Abdul-Hamid
of Turkey decorated Clara Barton with the order of Shefacat and
diploma for charity, and referred to her as “A Missionary of
Humanity.” W. H. SEARS.
Miss Barton was President of the Red Cross at the time of the Russian
famine. The total contribution from America was estimated at $800,000.
In 1902 Clara Barton, and party, was invited to Moscow, Russia, where
she had a royal reception lasting three days.
Referring to her relief work in Russia, to Clara Barton the mayor of
St. Petersburg said: “The Russian people know how to be appreciative.”
THE AUTHOR.
The Czar of Russia personally decorated me (1902) with the highest
honor conferred on anyone not of royal blood. I was entertained in the
royal palaces and the imperial railway trains were placed at my
disposal. CLARA BARTON.
In 1902 the delegates were received by the Czar, and as such they
passed in review. Everyone bent over and kissed his hand. When it was
Miss Barton’s turn, she attempted to bend over to kiss his hand, but
he pulled his hand away and said: “Oh! no, Miss Barton, not you,” and
shook her hand, instead. B. F. TILLINGHAST, Delegate to Quinquennial
Conference of the International Red Cross Society, in 1902.
To honor me, the likes o’ me, not so! Poor little me who has not seen
the present ruler (1909) of her own country.
CLARA BARTON.
AMERICA—SCARLET AND GOLD—EUROPE
In the autumn of her life honors, like the rich and beautifully colored
leaves from the trees of New England, fell upon Clara Barton in showers.
Twenty-seven testimonials officially were conferred upon America’s
greatest woman philanthropist. The nations thus recognizing her valuable
services to their respective countries are: Germany, Prussia, Austria,
Russia, Switzerland, Servia, Turkey, Armenia, Spain, Portugal and Cuba.
Through official sources it is learned that several of these nations
have under consideration a perpetual Clara Barton memorial, and it is
not improbable that the first great monument to our American
World-Character will be on foreign soil.
Before the organization of the National Red Cross Society, in 1870–71,
Clara Barton was an active participant in relief work on the following
battlefields: Hagenau, Metz, Strasburg, Sedan; in relief work at
Belfort, Woerth, Montbelard; in hospitals at Baden; in relief work in
Paris at the Fall of the Commune; and for some time thereafter
personally assisted in organizing relief work for the sick and wounded
in France.
Clara Barton officially represented the United States Government at the
Red Cross International Conferences. She was appointed by President
Arthur in 1884, as our country’s representative at Geneva, Switzerland;
by President Cleveland in 1887 to the Conference at Carlsruhe, Germany;
by President Harrison in 1890 to the Conference at Rome, Italy; by
President McKinley at Vienna in 1897; by President McKinley in 1902 to
the Conference at St. Petersburg, Russia. In person she attended the
Conference at Geneva, at Carlsruhe, at Vienna and at St. Petersburg.
At Geneva, “Mlle. Barton bien merite de l’human’te,” prepared by an
Italian delegate, was adopted by acclamation by the representatives of
all the governments of Europe—an honor to a woman never before or since
equaled in the world’s history.
At St. Petersburg Clara Barton and party were received by all the
royalty of Russia; entertained by them at dinners, luncheons, on
excursions, given free transportation with an escort, everywhere. At
Carlsruhe she received signal honors at the hands of the Emperor and
Empress of Germany, Grand Duke and Duchess of Baden, Grand Duchess
Luise, Bismarck, Von Moltke, and other statesmen and military officers.
At the palace of the Grand Duchess Louise, she had attendants liveried
in “scarlet and gold”; received all the honors accorded to royalty; and
on leaving for America all Royalty stood hat in hand wishing her _Bon
Voyage_ and _Dieu Vous Benisse_!
XLII
Clara Barton is the greatest woman in the world.
GENERAL W. R. SHAFTER.
Greatness is the courage to exercise common sense in high places.
JUDGE T. M. COOLEY.
General Shafter, while in Santiago as he had been at all other times,
was the kind and courteous officer and gentleman.
CLARA BARTON.
In Cuba General Leonard Wood—alert, wise and untiring, with an eye
single to the good of all—toiled day and night.
CLARA BARTON.
Take whatever three or four years of my existence you will, but leave
the old army life _untouched_. CLARA BARTON.
THREE CHEERS—WILD SCENES IN BOSTON—TIGER!! NO, SWEETHEART
It was on the twenty-fifth anniversary of the Grand Army of the
Republic, held at Atlanta, Georgia. Mrs. W. M. Scott, of O. M. Mitchell
No. 2, W. R. C., was the President. At that meeting the President
described the scene occurring at one of the sessions in Boston the
previous year.
Mrs. Annie Wittenmeyer was the President of the W. R. C. at the session
in Boston. As President she said: “I have the pleasure and the honor to
introduce to you”—and hundreds of lips ejaculated “Clara Barton!” Then
there occurred an ovation seldom witnessed. Handkerchiefs waved from
every part of the hall, and loving little tears of tenderness streamed
down the faces in that vast throng of admirers of the beloved woman. And
Clara Barton talked. She, describing a former meeting, said (her voice
tremulous): “They showed me the wounds they said _I_ had helped to heal,
and the stubs of the limbs they said _I_ had tried to save, and they
clustered around me like loving boys, and I—I cried, and they cried too;
and we talked of those terrible times, and then we talked of those
glorious times. They were grateful to me for what I had done for them,
and I was grateful that I had the privilege of doing it.” “And,” says
Mrs. Scott, “as Clara Barton told the simple story of her experiences
with her soldier boys every one of us women, gazing at her, thought that
if we did not have a sweetheart, or husband, at that time to nurse,
well,—we wish we had.”
The old soldier boys _brave and true_ in numbers were there. The G. A.
R. too was having its session in Boston, and their heroine also was
there. He, too, whom history will record as one of the greatest of
American generals, was there. As since has the soldier’s idol, the great
General also had “suffered the slings and arrows of outrageous
fortune”—at the hands of schemers and politicians. Under the General she
had served in Cuba—the same fearless woman that at the battle of
Santiago, perched on a gun-carriage, gave orders to the doctors and
nurses. Clara Barton again received an ovation, and General Shafter
shared in the honors.
[Illustration:
EMPRESS AUGUSTA
The Empress—her precious gift, the beautiful cross, is the chiefest
among my treasures. CLARA BARTON.
See pages between 326–7, decorations Nos. 9, 18.
]
[Illustration:
EMPEROR WILLIAM I
(1861–1888)
Tell the “little lady” I still cherish her as a member of my own
family.—THE EMPEROR.
See pages between 326–7, decoration No. 3.
]
THE ROYALTY OF GERMANY
[Illustration:
LUISE, THE GRAND DUCHESS OF BADEN
née Princess of Prussia
]
[Illustration:
FRIEDERICH, THE GRAND DUKE OF BADEN
Duke of Zährengen
]
For more than forty years, I have known dear, beloved Miss Clara
Barton. Great affection and great admiration and great gratitude
united me with her. Her memory I will keep sacred in faithful and
thankful remembrance of her whose friendship was in our never altering
affection so very precious to me.—LUISE, the Grand Duchess of Baden
(in 1912).
The Grand Duke, one of the kindest and noblest types of manhood. CLARA
BARTON.
See pages between 326–7, decorations Nos. 2, 4, 5, 16, 17.
The literary exercises were over. The General had stepped down from the
platform. There at the foot of the steps the General waited. The
audience had remained sitting. In a few moments Clara Barton and her
chivalric old Commander were in private conversation. As that great
audience, composed principally of old soldiers, saw together the
greatest hero and the greatest heroine of the Spanish-American War,
reminiscing of common hardships and common dangers, as one man they rose
to their feet, tumultuously cheering.
An old soldier at the top of his voice shouted:
“Three cheers for Clara Barton!”
The cheers given were uproarious, cheers continuing again and again. At
a still higher pitch of voice another shouted: “Tiger!!”
Hardly had the echo of that voice died away when still another voice
cried out: “No, Sweetheart!!”
Then shouts and tears were intermingled and little Clara, with a love as
true to her “soldier boys” as that of her “soldier boys” to her, much
embarrassed and speechless, could only smile back her love in return,
and in tears smile and smile and smile.
XLIII
I have been shaking hands since nine o’clock this morning, and my
right hand is almost paralyzed.
A. LINCOLN, January 2, 1863.
My “duties?” Receiving and shaking hands with _two thousand persons_,
sitting down to the May breakfast at one o’clock with eleven
hundred—leaving the table at four P. M.
CLARA BARTON, May 3, 1910.
All speaking terrifies me. CLARA BARTON.
Formality and parade I hate. CLARA BARTON.
Vain pomp and glory of the world
I hate ye. KING HENRY VIII.
Who was it that said that life is three-fourths conduct? Matthew
Arnold, I think. BISHOP WILLIAM F. MCDOWELL.
While Clara Barton’s religion was real, it was a thing expressed not
in words nor creeds, but almost wholly in deeds.
REVEREND PERCY H. EPLER.
Such lives as Clara Barton’s teach the world a lesson which it must
never be permitted to forget—namely, that the wealth of human life is
not what it gets, but what it gives.
REV. WM. E. BARTON, D.D.
THE LAST RECEPTION—HER AUTOGRAPH—THE BOYS IN GRAY
The last great public reception to Clara Barton was in Chicago, May 3,
1910. Miss Barton made the trip alone from Washington to Chicago, she
then being nearly ninety years of age. The reception was given by the
Social Economics Club, in Mandel’s Tea Room, to twelve hundred
delegates, representing the club women of the State of Illinois, Clara
Barton being the special guest of honor. Just back of Miss Barton on the
stage was a snow-white flag bearing in its center a blazing red cross.
The question to be discussed was “Are We Elevated by Knocks or Boosts?”
Under the spell of Miss Barton’s presence, “Knocks” was omitted from the
program and “Boosts” resulted in a symposium of tributes,—in an ovation
given to Miss Barton “such as few mortals receive.”
Since her death her autograph has become very valuable. Even then it was
highly prized, and she was not permitted to leave the hall until every
delegate present had her autograph. At the close of the meeting a
delegation of Southern women waited on Clara Barton to thank her for
what she did for the “boys in Gray” during the Civil War.
The following Sunday evening she was asked to fill the pulpit of a
famous Chicago divine. She declined. “But you must, Miss Barton; it is
announced, and the audience expects you.”
Commenting on the occasion she remarked to a friend: “I got even with
the pastor, for he had to sit in the pulpit to listen to my talk; but
possibly more annoying to him is the fact that he sat there, facing the
largest audience he had ever seen in his church—wondering all the while
what had been the trouble with his sermons.”
XLIV
I am sure I express the sentiment of our great commonwealth when I say
“All honor to the memory of the great founder of the Red Cross.”
CHARLES E. TOWNSEND, U. S. Senate.
Clara Barton’s fame will live as long as the race honors
self-sacrificing devotion in ministering to the suffering.
Dayton (Ohio) _Journal_.
Clara Barton—her fame will live throughout the ages.
Tampa (Fla.) _Tribune_.
Thou art Freedom’s now and Fame’s. FITZ-GREENE HALLECK.
Fame outlives marble. W. G. CLARK.
Fame is but a phantom. J. BROOKS.
Fame is the echo of action. FULTON.
Fame is a magnifying glass. PAVILLON.
Fame is the thin shadow of eternity. MARTIN LUTHER.
Fame is the perfume of heroic deeds. SOCRATES.
Fame comes only when deserved. H. W. LONGFELLOW.
Fame is no plant that grows on mortal soil. MILTON.
The temple of fame stands upon the grave. HAZLITT.
With fame—in just proportion, envy grows. YOUNG.
He lives in fame that died in virtue’s cause.
TITUS ANDRONICUS.
What is fame? A fancied life in other’s breath.
POPE—_Essay on Man_.
[Illustration:
NICHOLAS II
The Czar of Russia
Oh, no, Miss Barton, not you.
THE CZAR.
The Czar is young and handsome, an educated, refined, kind-hearted
gentleman. I know him. CLARA BARTON.
]
[Illustration:
ALEXANDRA FEODOROWNA
The Czarina of Russia
The Czarina was the active head of the Red Cross, in the Russian
famine of 1892. She and the Czar gave a special audience to Clara
Barton, on the occasion of her visit to St. Petersburg, in 1902.
]
THE ROYALTY OF RUSSIA
[Illustration:
MARIA FEODOROWNA
The Empress Dowager
_née_ Princess Dagmar of Denmark
The personal friend of Clara Barton and who, with the Czar, presented
her with a decoration. See page 327, decoration No. 23.
]
There is nothing vainer than the love of fame. THEOPHRASTUS.
Earth hath bubbles as the water has. MACBETH.
What is fame? The advantage of being known by people of whom you
yourself know nothing and for whom you care as little.
STANISLAUS.
Nor Fame I slight, nor for her favors call;
She comes unlooked for, if she comes at all.
ALEXANDER POPE—In _The Temple of Fame_.
So long as we love, we serve. ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON.
Happiness can be attained only by considering the good of others as
our own. TOLSTOI.
Love gives itself to others, and inclines to extremest sacrifice.
TOLSTOI.
To give up seeking one’s own happiness, as animals, is the true law of
the life of humanity. TOLSTOI.
When we help someone else, we add to our own resources and power. DR.
EUGENE UNDERHILL.
If we cannot live so as to be happy, let us at least live so as to
deserve happiness. FICHTE.
He serves most who serves his country best. ALEXANDER POPE.
They never fail who die in a good cause. BYRON.
Coarseness and roughness lock doors and close hearts; courtesy,
refinement and gentleness are “open sesame” at which bolts fly back
and doors swing open. WILLIAM MATTHEWS.
The years of unsheltered days and nights, the sun and storm, the dews
and damps have done their work and now with bitter tears I turn my
face away from the land I have loved so well and seek in a foreign
clime, perchance, a little of the good strength once lent me here.
CLARA BARTON.
Reserve your energies, doing those little things that be in your way,
each as well as you can, so that when God shall call you to do
something good and great you will be ready to do the work quickly and
well. CLARA BARTON.
We question whether there has been any man or woman in the whole
world’s history who has been a greater blessing to mankind than Clara
Barton. _Topeka Daily Journal._
Clara Barton stands as the complete refutation of the spirit of the
age that either great wealth, social position or political power is
necessary to the achievement of success.
_The Universalist Leader_ (Boston).
Life is giving one’s self to save others. CLARA BARTON.
Grace was in all her steps, heav’n in her eye,
In every gesture dignity and love. MILTON.
OPEN HOUSE—COST OF FAME, SELF-SACRIFICE—BEST IN WOMAN
Clara Barton kept “open house.” She was “in” to everybody. One had but
to knock and enter. Expressive of her welcome, on one occasion she says:
“You will begin to feel the strings of welcome tugging at your footsteps
when you leave the cars, and will know that it is fastened firmly to the
knob of the door, pulling only the harder as the door swings wide open.”
At one time her Glen Echo home was filled with indigent, homeless
soldiers. About this time “Bessie Beech” was heard to say: “Clara Barton
really needs a guardian; she gives away everything she has and almost
starves herself. Recently she gave to her soldier friends in distress,
$800.00—all the money she had and is “strapped.” A well known
millionaire gave, fearing he might die _rich_; Clara Barton gave,
knowing that she must die _poor_. Giving,—that was Clara Barton’s whole
existence.” “All the world,” she says, “expects me to give something
every time it can get through the door or get a letter to me.”
“To pay respects” is a convenient excuse for imposing on good nature. To
pay respects to America’s humanitarian became a fad. She not only
personally answered 3,700 letters annually, besides her foreign
correspondence, but thousands of people every year called, on her “to
pay their respects.” On one occasion it would be for her to entertain
the First Lady of the Land, representatives of the Army, the Navy, the
Military, the Members of the Cabinet, the Members of Congress, the
Officers of the Bureau of Education—“Official Washington.” On another
occasion it was for her to entertain 600 members of the American Woman
Suffrage Association, headed by the President Susan B. Anthony. It was
for her almost daily to receive delegation after delegation, titled men
from Europe, “globe trotters,” “sight-seers,” “prominent officials”—and
to receive the “people who want something” all the time. If “the
greatest of all sacrifices is the sacrifice of time,” for others, Clara
Barton made a sacrifice theretofore without precedent,—“the sacrifice of
half a century.”
Fame is one’s misfortune. Clara Barton did not seek fame, she sought
work; fame was thrust upon her. It may be enjoyable to achieve fame, but
it is misery to be a slave to fame. Only when the possessor of fame is
dead can there come compensation—_that’s a monument_. A famous English
Cardinal moaned, “Would that I had served my God with half the zeal I
served my king!” A world-famed French philosopher soliloquized, “What a
heavy burden is a name that has become famous!” An immortal American
President said: “I wish I had never been born—my position is anything
but a bed of roses.” Again, in the nation’s darkest night, despairingly
this same President said: “Oh, if there is a man out of hell that
suffers more than I do I pity him.” Another, America’s most beloved
President, advised a small boy: “Grow up to be a good man, a useful man,
but don’t try to be President; it won’t pay you.” Responsive to an
admirer, who said “I helped to nominate you,” a world-famed President in
the afternoon of his release, with nerves shattered, from an invalid
chair commented: “Yes, you helped me into a lot of trouble.”
Even more than a famous man does a famous woman “belong to history and
self-sacrifice.” In the evening following an “afternoon at home” to a
thousand people, in full dress, and while sitting on the floor
entertaining her little children with their toys, America’s most famous
society entertainer and wife of a multimillionaire U. S. Senator, was
heard to say, “This is the only pleasure I get out of Washington
society.” To reach the heights of mere social fame is an achievement of
folly. To live in an atmosphere of social aristocracy is to live on a
desert-waste; the only attraction, the mirage that deceives.
On the steamer, while in ill health on her way to Europe, in her diary,
Clara Barton philosophizes: Is my life really worth while? I give all of
my time and strength to the public that seems unappreciative. In
obscurity I might have had health, at least personal comfort. I might
have married and had a home, a family of children; I might have taken up
painting or literature, in each of which my friends say I have ability.
In either of such life’s work I might have achieved success. As it is,
even while serving the public, I am alone in the world, buffeted about
and nobody seems to care for me unless to use me for some purpose. I
wonder whether or not any woman thinks her life a success? Oh, well, I
guess it was intended that I should do the work I am doing, forget
myself and live for others, so I might as well make the best of it and
try to be happy.
All organization is difficult; Clara Barton organized. She brought into
existence the machinery of the organization and her master mind,
unerring, directed the movements of every part of the machinery, “in a
way that the people knew what she had done and are more than satisfied.”
Without a title she occupied such a position as now must be filled by
the male executive of a great nation. In qualities feminine, in sympathy
tender, shrinking from publicity as no other woman in history, she
filled a public-service position as no man could fill it. To an audience
of women in Boston, another self-sacrificing woman who would serve the
human race, said: “Clara Barton is an epitome in her life and character
of all that is best in woman; she is what we would all like to be.”
XLV
She had all the royal makings of a queen. SHAKESPEARE.
She moves a goddess, and she looks a queen. HOMER—_Iliad_.
Clara Barton, America’s uncrowned queen.
HON. FRANCIS ATWATER.
We crown you in our minds and hearts as a “Queen Among Women.” B. H.
WARNER, Chairman, Public Reception, Washington, August 8, 1896, to
Clara Barton on her return from Turkey and Armenia.
Clara Barton’s “queenliness as a woman and womanliness as a queen”
endear her to our hearts beyond all words.
President Economics Club, Chicago, Ill.
Clara Barton should be exalted above queens.
Central Relief Committee of Galveston, Texas.
KNEELED BEFORE HER AND KISSED HER HAND
In 1902 the International Red Cross Conference was held at St.
Petersburg. At this conference the civilized nations of the world were
either indirectly or directly represented. The Czar and Czarina gave
Clara Barton a special audience. The Dowager Empress also gave her the
honor of a state dinner. Of all the delegates present Clara Barton was
the most sought after personage. Not only at St. Petersburg but wherever
she went throughout Europe, similar queenly honors were accorded Clara
Barton by rulers and world-famed military officers.
When they came into her presence and were introduced, as to a queen, the
greatest generals kneeled before her, and kissed her hand. They were
invariably profuse in compliments and in undisguised praise of her
services to humanity. Whenever the little, modest, timid woman attended
the sessions of the Conference as she entered the hall the whole
audience would rise to their feet and would remain standing while she
was walking down the aisle to take her seat, and this was not
infrequently accompanied by cheers and the waving of handkerchiefs, as
if in the presence of royalty.
Referring to Clara Barton, at a public reception, one of America’s great
women said: “No one loves a self-sacrificing woman as well as—as all
other good women.” In America, as in Europe, Clara Barton was honored as
has been no other American woman,—by the “First Lady of the Land,” by
the Julia Ward Howes, by the Frances Willards, by the Susan B. Anthonys,
by all great and good women—all recognizing her “queenliness as a woman
and womanliness as a queen,” and graciously willing to crown her “Queen
Among Women.” Writers also have referred to her as “The Angel of the
Battlefield,” “The Angel of the World’s Battlefields,” “The Beautiful
Lady of the Potomac,” “The American Lady with the Lamp,” “The Angel of
Peace,” “The Angel of Mercy,” “The Angel of Humanity,” “Our Lady of the
Red Cross.”
XLVI
Life at best is so exhaustive. FRANK W. GUNSAULIS, D. D.
Clara Barton was a soft-voiced little woman, yet she had a way of
approaching her work in the most telling manner.
_Buffalo Express._
The Stars make no noise. IRISH PROVERB.
The secret of my long life, “Hard work and low fare.”
CLARA BARTON.
A surfeit of the sweetest things
The deepest loathing to the stomach brings.
MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM.
They are sick that surfeit with too much,
As they that starve with nothing.
MERCHANT OF VENICE.
This was the afternoon of Monday. Since Saturday noon I had not
thought of tasting food.
CLARA BARTON (At Battle of Chantilly).
You have the full record of my sleep—from Friday night till Monday
morning—two hours.
CLARA BARTON (Among the wounded at Chantilly).
At Cedar Mountain, among the wounded, Clara Barton had five days and
nights with only three hours’ sleep, and a narrow escape from capture.
PERCY H. EPLER.
I never think of weariness. CLARA BARTON.
Clara had some source of strength that we knew nothing about.
“SISTER HARRIETTE” L. REED.
Clara Barton’s endurance is unprecedented, and I have never known her
equal. SURGEON-IN-CHIEF A. MONAE-LESSER.
Gentleness, sweetness, quiet unobtrusiveness were her armor; from dawn
to midnight usually her working day; the frugal meal at Red Cross
headquarters was frequently prepared solely by her hand. CHARLES A.
BAKER, Treasurer, Red Cross.
Clara Barton: My working hours are fourteen out of the twenty-four.
Port Royal Nurse: You mean eighteen out of the twenty-four, Miss
Barton, don’t you?
I NEVER GET TIRED—EATING, THE LEAST OF MY TROUBLES
“Miss Barton, these workers say they are _starving_,” said “Sister
Harriette”; “it’s four o’clock, and they have had nothing to eat since
early morning.”
“Why, bless their dear hearts; I had forgotten all about them. Take them
to the restaurant across the street, and get them something to eat.”
“But, Miss Barton, you need a rest and something to eat as much as we
do.” “Oh, no, I never get tired, you know, and eating is the least of my
troubles.” Miss Barton kept at her work in the warehouse, unpacking and
repacking, preparatory to leaving.
In the dusk of the evening, her assistants returned and Miss Barton was
still there, alone, and at work. Turning to the workers Sister Harriette
said: “Did you ever see such a tireless worker? Miss Barton must have
some source of strength we know nothing about.”
The relief workers had cared for, provisioned and resettled in their
homes 30,000 negro refugees, victims of the cyclone and hurricane
disaster on the Carolina Islands. The party arrived at Beaufort late
that night; the “workers,” worn out; Clara Barton, as vigorous as when
the relief-work-campaign opened ten months before.
XLVII
Clara Barton, “Our Lady of the Red Cross”—her real life is measured by
deeds, not days—rich in the joy of service.
MARY R. PARKMAN—Author of _Heroines of Service_.
The ladies of Johnstown, Pennsylvania, presented Clara Barton with a
gold pin having a large diamond in the center. From it hung two small
gold chains to which was attached a superb gold locket with a
beautiful sapphire on the face of it. THE AUTHOR.
Clara Barton learned how to care for her many pets which lived in the
farm yard and was especially fond of horses. Her turkeys, dogs, geese,
and cats were added to Clara’s stock of pets. She also learned to milk
the cows. ENGLISH AUTHOR.
I was a very poor boy, hired on a flat-boat at $8.00 a month—if you
call this aristocracy, I plead guilty to the charge.
A. LINCOLN.
I have neither clerk nor typewriter; I still _aristocratically_ eat by
myself and do my own work. CLARA BARTON.
ROYALTY UNDER A QUAKER BONNET
Clara Barton had at Glen Echo a beautiful pet Jersey cow. This she
personally cared for, feeding and milking her morning and evening. While
milking the cow she would wear usually a plain black gown, white and
blue checked apron, a white shawl over her shoulders, and on her head a
brown, old-fashioned Quaker bonnet. As pendants on her breast there
would be the elegant Pansy pin, presented to her by the Grand Duchess of
Baden, and the Iron Cross of Prussia, presented to her by the Emperor of
Germany. These royal jewels she had promised the donors to wear as long
as she lived, and the promise she faithfully kept, whether she was in
the parlor entertaining guests or in the yard among the animals doing
the “chores.”
Miss Barton: What beautiful medals you are wearing.
Diplomat: Oh, yes, Miss Barton, but mine are from my own country,
while yours are from the whole world.
XLVIII
Clara Barton, a Christian-like spirit.
Pueblo (Colo.) _Chieftain_.
Clara Barton—no other woman has come so near the Christ Spirit.
Worcester (Mass.) _Gazette_.
Revenge, at first though sweet,
Bitter ere long back on itself recoils. JOHN MILTON.
This was the most unkindest cut of all. JULIUS CAESAR.
Wisdom and goodness to the vile seem vile. SHAKESPEARE.
The wicked plotteth against the just. PSALMS.
The black destroyers, the red torturers
Shall vanish—they like smoke shall disappear.
MOTHER ARMENIA.
Women always find their bitterest foes among their own sex.
J. PETIT-SENN.
’Twill not, false traitor!
’Twill not restore the truth and honesty
That thou hast banished from thy tongue with lies.
JOHN MILTON.
The traitor to humanity is the traitor most accursed. LOWELL.
The utmost ingenuity of metaphysics cannot
Excuse the man who wantonly wounds another.
BENJAMIN CONSTANT.
A woman’s shape doth shield thee. SHAKESPEARE.
Aunt Clara has only Christian forgiveness for others. STEPHEN E.
BARTON (Executor of the Clara Barton estate, 1911).
Clara Barton had no time to hate; only time to serve, to live, to
give,—one of the greatest souls that ever came to earth.
ALICE HUBBARD.
STILL STAMPING ON ME—PERSONALLY UNHARMED
In a letter under date of November 20, 1905, Clara Barton said: “I thank
you for the clipping concerning Miss ——’s lecture. I have received
others not at all complimentary to me personally. I am learning some
very bad things of myself.
“I wonder whether it ever occurs to her that taking a reputation and
appropriating the work of another might be quite honest. I have,
however, nothing to say. I have done with it all and so long as I am
left _personally_ unharmed I expect nothing more. They have long ago
done everything else, and I have lived through it thus far. If they
think their work will progress faster, or show better, by still stamping
on me I shall not complain. I never have.”
The fairest action of human life
Is scorning to revenge an injury.
XLIX
Clara Barton—Let all flags fly at half-mast, and all the world stand
reverently with uncovered head.
_Richmond_ (Va.) _Leader_.
The world stands with uncovered head.
Chicago (Ills.) _Inter-Ocean_.
A grateful world pays tribute to her. Boston (Mass.) _Pilot_.
Her soul goes marching on. Boston (Mass.) _Journal_.
The pomp that is attendant on funerals feeds rather the vanity of the
living than does honor to the dead. ROCHEFOUCAULD.
Let me not be made to appear proud and fond of vain show, when I am
dead. JOHN BURROUGHS.
When her mother died Clara Barton wore no evidence of mourning. THE
AUTHOR.
Clara Barton said that death was only one of the things of life, a
part of life. She is not dead; I cannot even say she is away.
ALICE HUBBARD—In _The Fra_.
Clara Barton still lives. FATHER TYLER.
Great sorrows speak not. C. MARAT.
The deeper the sorrow the less the tongue has it. TALMUD.
Suspect that sorrow which is anxious to show itself. RUZZIK.
Some grief shows much love
But much of grief shows still some want of wit.
ROMEO AND JULIET.
Excess of grief for the deceased is madness; for it is an injury to
the living and the dead knows it not. XENOPHON.
Christ never preached any funeral sermons.
REV. D. L. MOODY.
I cannot go to Heaven until my work is done. CLARA BARTON.
How often I have wondered whether or not the souls will know us in the
Great Beyond. CLARA BARTON.
The Red Cross is a peculiar institution, without nationality, race,
creed or sect, embracing the entire world in its humanizing bond of
brotherhood; without arbitrary laws or rules, and yet stronger than
armies and higher than thrones. CLARA BARTON.
The world is my country; to do good is my religion.
TOM PAINE.
I know no section. In the labors that have come to me the nations of
the world, and their strange tongues, have become my own. CLARA
BARTON.
Just to have seen the collection of flags from all over the world,
brought together through the mercy and loving kindness of one woman,
made us feel that a Peace Proclamation is not an improbable thing.
ALICE HUBBARD.
There flowed in upon Clara Barton blessings uttered in all tongues
known among men. Portland (Ore.) _Telegram_.
All nations shall call you blessed. MALACHAI.
AT THE MEMORIAL—“THE FLAGS OF ALL NATIONS”—A GOOD TIME
Charon, the ancient guide over the River Styx, was peculiarly equipped
to serve departing souls. Following the souls’ escape from earth,
mourning customs are as numerous as are tribes and nations, as varied as
are nationalities. At funerals, lives have been sacrificed, human forms
disfigured, mourners employed, bells rung, lighted candles used—to serve
their respective purposes, as have food, jewels, implements and weapons
at the “last resting place.”
Go, call for the mourners and raise the lament,
Let the tresses be torn and the garments be rent,—
Funerals and memorials sometimes are to honor the dead; sometimes to
cater to the vanity of the living; sometimes seemingly to strengthen an
organization, social, religious, political, but in every instance
following custom’s ways. Were not the public funeral display the custom,
it would be sacrilege—custom sanctifies barbarity. Averse to personal
display Clara Barton was also averse to the use of any custom of public
mourning.
At the memorial held in honor of America’s greatest humanitarian, soon
after her passing, the stage and the boxes of the theatre were decorated
with flags that had been given to Clara Barton by grateful nations. Some
were of silk, rich and magnificent; some, battle-stained and
bullet-scarred. Some she had carried on the battlefield along with the
Red Cross flag, the emblem to the sick, wounded and dying, that an Angel
of Mercy was winging her way to their presence. There were the flags of
England, Germany, Austria, Belgium, Italy, Norway, France, Russia, Cuba,
Prussia, Holland, Greece, Switzerland, Turkey—and the flag of the United
States.
To me remains nor place nor time;
My country is in every clime.
Anticipating that there might be a memorial for her by the Philadelphia
School of Nurses, Clara Barton thus advised the President: “Do not make
it a serious occasion; let the people laugh if they want to, and tell
stories and have a good time. There is no reason why it should be
serious.”
When I am dead, no pageant train
Shall waste their sorrows at my bier.
L
Clara Barton—a biography of absorbing interest.
Duluth (Minn.) _Tribune_.
Clara Barton wrote several golden pages in the history of the
brotherhood of man. Houghton (Mich.) _Gazette_.
“Amici! diem perdidimus” (Friends! we have lost a day), said Titus
when at the end of a day he had nothing memorable for his diary. THE
AUTHOR.
Nothing is of greater value than a single day. GOETHE.
A great library contains the diary of the human race.
GEORGE DAWSON.
The diary is greatly relied on by the writers of history, but—
CHARLES DUDLEY WARNER.
Tolstoi keeps a diary in which he notes down what he has been
thinking. Translator for Tolstoi.
Diaries tell their little tales with a directness, a candor conscious
or unconscious, a closeness of outlook which gratifies our sense of
security. Reading them is like gazing through a small pane of clear
glass. _Varia_—By AGNES REPPLIER.
A man’s diary is a record in youth of his sentiments, in middle age of
his actions, in old age of his reflections.
JOHN QUINCY ADAMS.
A well kept diary is one of the most interesting productions of human
industry—not the least benefit of a diary is that it produces a taste
for writing. REVEREND WILLIAM SUTTON, S. J.
We converse with the absent by letters, and with ourselves by
diaries—many of our greatest characters in public life have left such
monuments of their diurnal labors. ISAAC DISRAELI.
Her unpublished diaries and letters are my chief original sources of
information that the book should come forth with the force of an
autobiography. _The Life of Clara Barton_, by Epler.
Only two classes of people can keep diaries of unimportant
things—those who never have time to do anything else and those who
have stopped doing things. I have done neither. CLARA BARTON.
Clara Barton’s war diaries, and diaries of her travels, if published,
would be eagerly read by the people and be of great historic interest.
THE AUTHOR.
Clara Barton could say with Seneca: “I keep an account of my expenses;
I cannot affirm that I lose nothing, but I can tell you what I lose,
and why, and in what manner.” THE AUTHOR.
CLARA BARTON KEPT A DIARY
The diary is an important factor in literary culture, and likewise in
history. Diaries in some form are probably co-existent with the history
of man. Keeping diaries, however, was revived in the seventeenth
century. The best known diaries are those by Samuel Pepys and John
Evelyn, of England. In this country, among the many well known diarists
are John Quincy Adams and Henry David Thoreau. From youth continuous
through her long and eventful life, Clara Barton kept a diary. The
subject matter therein consists of routine daily work, travels, public
functions, personal opinions of people she met, and philosophizing,
which would fill volumes with interesting reading.
In her diary also she discussed questions of the day, public men, the
problem of life, spiritualism, religion, politics,—everything that
passes through the human mind, besides keeping account of every cent
expended and for what purpose. By reading her diaries, almost any friend
could find Miss Barton’s opinion of himself. Before retiring for the
night her custom, amounting almost to a religious one, was to write in
her diary the day’s events.
Pleasing, when youth is long expired, to trace
The forms our pencil or our pen designed;
Such was our youthful air, and shape, and face,
Such the soft image of our youthful mind.
Illustrating this remarkable characteristic in her life are appended two
excerpts of a domestic nature from her diary in 1907, she then being
eighty-seven years of age.
“DOING MY WORK,” AT 87
Friday, October 18, 1907.
This is my first day (since my illness) of doing my work and having a
guest, but it has gone superbly. The breakfast table was neatly
elegant—all silver and glass except the plates and cups and saucers. We
had soft boiled eggs, cooked on the table, corn flakes, and a delightful
platter of cream toast, with grapes, apple sauce, Dutch cheese and thick
cream, and two kinds of coffee. Mr. Brown went to town returning at 5 P.
M., when we had supper (or dinner)—a nicely cooked steak and sausage,
fine potatoes, rice pudding, bananas, cake and tea—fruit.
I arranged the milk and cream, put the house in order, took care of
lamps and room, and drafted a long letter to the Grand Duchess (from the
medium), and Empress.
Doctor got Uncle Silas to come at evening and I engaged one hundred
bundles of fodder at .04 cents a bundle, to be bought and put in the
stable next week.
Have talked with Mr. Brown concerning Lucy.
“A RATHER HARD DAY”
Saturday, Oct. 26, 1907, Glen Echo.
Another fine day. But an experience this morning was anything but that.
As Mrs. Barker did not come I was “doing up” the breakfast dishes at the
sink and had put a kettle of beans on the stove to parboil for baking,
as Doctor had expressed a desire for them. A rather heavy coal fire was
going for this purpose. Suddenly I was startled by a great rush at the
stove. Supposing that my kettle of beans had boiled over, I turned to
see a flame three feet high from a vehicle larger than my kettle,
pouring a liquid out over the hot stove that blazed the moment it
touched. The Doctor had wanted to use some tar about the roof, and
brought in a two-gallon tin bucket partly full and set it on the stove
to warm up, and left it without speaking or in any way calling my
attention to it. It had gotten boiling hot, and my first notice of its
presence was the burst of blaze. The bucket of boiling black tar running
over all on fire, the flame streaming up some two feet high. I called
the Doctor at the cellar steps, at the windows—no response. The blaze
went higher and wider. The carpenters must be on the roof and to the top
I rushed, to find no one there—down again. I saw I was the only person
on the premises. The room was dark with smoke. I could see little but
the blaze. Four feet to the left stood a five-gallon can of kerosene oil
for the lamps. I could not remove it and, if I could, I must carry it
directly past the flame—if a spark reached, we would be blown to atoms,
house and all. The floor was bare, with one or two small _cotton_ mats.
I dared not use even them. There was but one way; I must grapple the
boiling, blazing mass, take it across the room and throw it from the
window. I had no inflammable material on me, being dressed in entire
black silk, waist and skirt. There was no time to lose. I tore away the
curtain, raised the window to its fullest height, seized the bucket
firmly with both hands and landed it on the ground. I knew the smoke
must raise outside help as I did it. The Doctor had been to the post
office. He rushed in to find me in the midst of darkness. I had closed
the doors at first, still the smoke poured out of the chamber windows we
kept closed. My right hand, which had taken the tip of the bucket, was
nearly covered in a coat of tar, put on boiling hot, and to stay. I did
not try to remove it but put it in hot water and went to work with it. I
need not say that the rest of the day was needed, and given to the
house, but we were only too thankful that we _had_ a house to clean up.
The tar coating and hot water saved the hand, so that a few heavy
blisters tell the story of their hardship. It is all over now. I write
this the _next_ day; last night I could not have done it.
Doctor went to Mrs. Warneke’s; I remained home. Mrs. Hinton came but I
made no mention of the morning adventure. She has commenced her new
home. I gave her butter, fruit, jellies, to help her table. A _rather_
hard day.
LI
All the world pays homage to the nurse—poets, warriors, statesmen,
kings, and the numberless multitudes of human sufferers.... EUGENE
UNDERHILL, M.D., author of “_Nursing—The Heart of the Art_.”
Efficient nurses are the most difficult to obtain of all aid in Red
Cross work. CLARA BARTON.
I never claimed to be a nurse. There are hundreds of women who could
nurse as well as I, if not better, than I could.
CLARA BARTON.
Time is the great physician. DISRAELI.
Physicians mend or end us. LORD BYRON.
Send for a physician;—but the sick man answered, “It is no matter for,
if I die, I’ll die at leisure.” LORD BACON.
For the woman has a friend
Who will keep her to the end. IRONQUILL.
NURSING A FINE ART—OVER THE WASHTUB
Was Clara Barton a nurse? Yes, and Florence Nightingale said that
nursing is a fine art; and to succeed requires greater devotion than
that in the art of painting or sculpture, for nursing has to do with
“the living body, the temple of God’s spirit.” It’s probably the finest
of the fine arts. Clara Barton did not assume the rôle of an art-nurse;
she said others could surpass her in this art.
Miss Barton in her passion for service claimed to be only a
“working-woman.” Work did not undignify her; instead, she seemed to
dignify work—she surely made nursing popular. Work was a part of the
best religion she ever had. With her
Human hopes and human creeds
Have their seat in human needs.
The day preceding the delivery of her public address she spent washing
the clothes of the family and the linen of the household. Such exercise,
more useful than golf and serving like purpose, strengthened the
muscles, increased the blood circulation, made the brain active.
Commenting on the “wash-tub custom” her old physician said as she became
so very tired after a hard day’s washing at first he used to protest,
then facetiously remarked,
But her spirits always rose
Like the bubbles in the clothes;
and therefore he concluded that Miss Barton knew better than he did what
was good for her.
LII
Clara Barton—The millions she has blest.
KATE BROWNLEE SHERWOOD.
With the gleam of the scarlet she walks with the immortals now.
Haverhill (Mass.) _Gazette_.
One of the few immortal names. FITZ-GREENE HALLECK.
Oh! the love of woman, the love of woman! no coldness, no neglect, no
harshness, no cruelty can extinguish thee! Like the fabled lamp in the
sepulchre, thou sheddest thy pure light in the human heart, where
everything around thee is dead forever.
WILL CARLETON.
Will Carleton—author of “The New Church Organ,” “Betsy and I are Out,”
“Over the Hill to the Poor-house,” and many others. THE AUTHOR.
Thy voice sounds like a prophet’s word;
And in its hollow tones are heard
The thanks of millions yet to be.
FITZ-GREENE HALLECK.
IMMORTAL WORDS—A MILLION THANKS
The following correspondence occurred between two beloved Americans:
On the occasion of Memorial Day, May 30, 1895, at Arlington, Will
Carleton delivered the poem. It was so fine that at its close I felt a
great desire to reach him with some word of appreciation and, tearing a
scrap from an envelope which I had, I wrote this upon it:
Thanks: Immortal thanks for immortal words.
Arlington, 1895. (_Signed_) CLARA BARTON.
Folding and addressing the scrap to Mr. Will Carleton, Miss Barton
passed it to the next person, who graciously passed it to the next, and
so on, through possibly a hundred hands, until finally it was lodged
with Mr. Carleton. In due course of time, another little scrap with the
following words came back to Miss Barton, through the same hands:
To Miss Clara Barton,
A million thanks to one,
Who hath a million plaudits won,
For deeds of love to many millions done.
(Signed) WILL CARLETON.
LIII
Wherever flowers cannot be reared, there man cannot live.
NAPOLEON.
A rose to the living is sweet. CLARA BARTON.
The roses are sweet, and blessed be they who bring them into one’s
life. CLARA BARTON.
A heaven-sent gift, and blessing, is the rose,
Its grace inspireth aspirations high. E. G. BROWNE.
The red rose has been blazoned with a boar’s head on the Barton crest
ever since the War of the Roses.
DR. WILLIAM E. BARTON.
All the world brings its roses to the bier of Clara Barton.
_Grand Rapids Herald._
My life is like the summer rose
That opens to the sky,
But ere the shades of evening close
Is scattered on the ground—to die.
RICHARD HENRY WILDE.
There’s the rosemary, that’s for remembrance;—and there is pansies,
that’s for thoughts. SHAKESPEARE.
THE PANSY PIN—FOR THOUGHTS
Once Friendship weaves its silken band
It cannot be by time or distance broken;
And severed friends are bound by Mem’ry’s hand
More closely by some little simple token.
The “Pansy Pin,” of which so much has been written, and which Miss
Barton continually wore, was given to her by the Grand Duchess of Baden.
The pin is about as large as the case of a lady’s watch and in the shape
of a pansy. The five petals are splendid amethysts and a single large
beautiful pearl rests in the center, like a dew drop. The gift was
accompanied with the words: “This is a simple gift, but it is a pansy
which means ‘for thoughts.’”
Jeweler—“Miss Barton, do you know the value of that pin?”
Miss Barton—“No, sir, it was a present to me.”
Jeweler—“Each of these jewels is almost priceless. They represent a
king’s ransom.”
Miss Barton—“The pin is priceless to me. I always wear it ‘for thoughts’
of a very dear friend.”
LIV
AT A DINNER IN LONDON
Lord Stratford—Will the guests kindly write on a slip of paper the
name of the one, including the famous generals, who served in the
Crimean War they think will be the longest remembered?
Guests—Florence Nightingale (written on every slip).
THE AUTHOR.
Clara Barton is to America what Florence Nightingale is to us.
_London Times._
No general that led hosts to victory on the battlefield is nearly so
secure of lasting fame as is the name of Clara Barton.
Dayton (Ohio) _Journal_.
Miss Nightingale found herself misunderstood and lost her Governmental
position—suffering much from Governmental heartlessness and neglect.
England, in later Governmental acts, was more appreciative of her war
heroine.... PERCY H. EPLER.
English women are solid and sensible, learned and self-possessed, and
all the world respects them. CLARA BARTON.
Surely woman should bring the best she has, whatever that is, to the
work of God’s world. FLORENCE NIGHTINGALE.
A white marble cross, 20 feet high, overlooking Balaclava and seen
from ships crossing the Black Sea, is known as the “Nightingale
Cross,”—erected at the personal expense of Florence Nightingale in
memory of the soldiers and nurses who died in the War. THE AUTHOR.
[Illustration:
© _American Red Cross_
FLORENCE NIGHTINGALE
Clara Barton is to America what Florence Nightingale is to us.
London _Times_.
I will not speak of reward when permitted to do our Country’s work—it
is what we live for.
FLORENCE NIGHTINGALE.
Florence Nightingale, covered with the praises and honors of the
world.
CLARA BARTON.
See pages 183; 197.
]
[Illustration:
FLORENCE NIGHTINGALE MEMORIAL ON THE MALL, LONDON
(Left to right.) The monument erected at Waterloo Place, corner of
Pall Mall, London, England, to the memory of Florence Nightingale.
Funds, by public subscription. Unveiled, February 24, 1915.
“To the memory of 2162 officers, non-com. officers and privates of
Brigade of Guards who fell during the war with Russia in 1854–1856.
Erected by their comrades.”
(In front) Statue of Sidney Herbert, associated with the life work of
Florence Nightingale.
]
CLARA BARTON PAYS RESPECTS TO FLORENCE NIGHTINGALE
In the year 1854 occurred the Crimean War. At the Scutari and Barrack
Hospitals, Florence Nightingale rendered service that gave her immortal
fame. “Her services there,” said Clara Barton in 1882, “marked an era
never before reached in the progress of the world. When Miss
Nightingale, with her thirty-eight faithful attendants, sailed from the
shores of England, it meant more for the advancement of the world, more
for its future history, than all the fleets of armies and navies, cannon
and commissary, munitions of war, and regiments of men, than had sailed
before her in that vast campaign.
“This unarmed pilgrim band of women that day not only struck a blow at
the barbarities of war, but they laid the axe deep at the root of war
itself. When Florence Nightingale, covered with the praises and honors
of the world, bending under the weight of England’s gratitude, again
sought her green island home, it was to seek also a bed of painful
invalidism, from which she has never risen and probably never will.”
’Tis good that thy name springs
From two of earth’s fairest things
A stately city and a sweet-voiced bird.
LV
How age is a matter of individual commendation I have never been able
to see. CLARA BARTON.
We have no control over the beginning of life and, unless criminally,
none over its ending. CLARA BARTON.
It is not my fault, if my gray hairs are not honorable.
JOHN B. GOUGH.
One is as old as his strength. CLARA BARTON.
We can neither hasten, nor arrest, age. CLARA BARTON.
Let work be thy measure of life. W. E. H. LECKY.
We live in deeds, not years—we should count time by heart-throbs. He
most lives who thinks most, feels the noblest, acts the best.
PHILIP J. BAILEY.
Although she had lived more than ninety years Clara Barton never gave
the impression to anyone that she was an old woman. ‘Her age knows no
time.’ She gave to the world nearly a century of work. ALICE HUBBARD.
A life spent worthily should be measured by a noble line—by deeds, not
years. PIZARRO.
Age is opportunity no less than youth itself, but in a different
dress. H. W. LONGFELLOW.
THE PASSING OF YEARS—RIGHT HABITS OF LIFE
At the age of 11 years Clara Barton was a nurse; at 15 years, a teacher;
at 34 years, a clerk in the Patent Office; at 40 years, a nurse in the
Civil War; at 59 years, an organizer of nurses in the Franco-Prussian
war; at 60 years, President of the American Red Cross; at 78 years as
President of the Red Cross in the Spanish-American war; at 83 years,
retired from the Presidency of the Red Cross; at 84 years, organizer and
the President of the National First Aid Association, which Presidency
she held up to the time of her death in 1912, when she was 91 years of
age.
Commenting on the passing of years, Clara Barton philosophizes: “Age is
no business of ours. We have no control over its beginning and, unless
criminally, none over its ending. I have never, since a child, kept a
‘birthday’ nor thought of it only as a reminder by others.
“I have been able to see that persistent marking of dates, and adding
one mile-stone every year, encourages the feeling of helplessness, and
release from activities which might still be a pleasure to the
possessor. Somehow it has come to me to consider strength and activity,
aided so far as possible by right habits of life, as forming a more
correct line of limitation than the mere ‘passing of years.’”
LVI
Clara Barton, the good angel of comfort, will live enshrined in the
hearts of America and of the world.
_Western Christian_ (Ohio) _Advocate_.
Great evils die hard. CLARA BARTON.
Don’t drink. A. LINCOLN.
Cold water,—the only beverage I have used, or allowed, in my family.
A. LINCOLN.
The saloon, the most blighting curse;—liquor traffic, the tragedy of
civilization—I am a practical prohibitionist. A. LINCOLN.
Intemperance is one of the greatest, if not the greatest, of all the
evils among mankind. A. LINCOLN.
The one victory we can ever call complete will be that one which
proclaims there is not one slave nor drunkard on the face of God’s
green earth.
A. LINCOLN—(In a letter to George E. Pickett.)
Although the temperance cause has been in progress for nearly twenty
years, it is apparent to all that it is just now being crowned with a
degree of success hitherto unparalleled.—Hail, full of fury! Reign of
reason, all hail! A. LINCOLN, February 22, 1842.
Humanity is the peculiar characteristic of great minds.
CHESTERFIELD.
Lincoln’s tenderness was as gentle as a woman’s.
HENRY WARD BEECHER.
Lincoln was human and thus touched the chord that makes the world
akin. H. W. BOLTON, D.D.
God has placed the genius of women in their hearts, because the works
of their genius are always the works of love. LAMARTINE.
SHE WON HIS HEART
The son had broken a mother’s heart, and crushed out her life. The
relatives and other mourners were at the open grave, made ready to
receive her. Among them stood the son, then maudlin with drink. In that
pathetic scene was Clara Barton. She stepped to the side of the boy, and
grasped his arm. The ceremony halted. In a low voice she made her
appeal; she won his heart; he promised—The casket was lowered; the group
separated and she led the boy away. A few more words, then humanity’s
friend and the boy parted, she to other deeds of mercy and he to a new
life.
LVII
The philosophy of the old-time African servitor was of the most
consoling character—he preached the gospel of contentment, perhaps as
divine as any other principle of the moral law.
LASALLE CORBELL PICKETT—“_In de Miz Series_.”
America had freed a race. CLARA BARTON.
A gift must be outright. CLARA BARTON.
Our gifts fall short of the best. CLARA BARTON.
Charity and beneficence are degraded by being reduced to a dependence
upon a system of beggary. CLARA BARTON.
Charity bears an open palm; to give is her mission.
CLARA BARTON.
How good it is to make two blades of grass grow where was one.
CLARA BARTON.
I know I am right because I know liberty is right. A. LINCOLN.
The colored people would probably help, in some trying time, to keep
the jewel of liberty in the family of freedom. A. LINCOLN.
My early history is perfectly characterized by a single line of Grey’s
elegy:
“The short and simple annals of the poor.”
A. LINCOLN.
The history of philanthropy has few brighter pages to record than at
the Sea Island Hurricane, and its pleasant memories will gladden the
hearts long after its weary hours are forgotten.
CLARA BARTON.
YOU BUY IT FOR HIM
The policy of the Red Cross was to help people to true independence by
enabling them to support themselves by their own work. In Galveston
after the flood had produced widespread ruin, Clara Barton authorized
her field agent to visit the coast towns, ascertain the needs of the
people, and send in requisitions by telegraph. As the agent was leaving
on this mission she said:
At the Sea Islands one day a negro came to see me. He said that we had
built a little house for him, fenced in his field and garden and given
him seed and plow and tools to work with. Now if he had a horse or a
mule or a little bull to pull the plow he could put in his crops. I gave
instructions that his need should be supplied and, as the horse or mule
could not be found, a two-year-old steer was bought for him.
Now you are going to the coast country, but wherever you go in all the
world if you find anybody who needs a horse or a mule or a little bull,
you buy it for him.
Oh, chillun, life’s contra’wise,
But you’ll neber know no diff’unce
’Twel you’s knockin’ at de skies.
LVIII
Clara Barton—perhaps the most perfect incarnation of mercy the modern
world has known. _Detroit Free Press._
Peace and good will to all the world. CLARA BARTON.
Animals are such agreeable friends; they ask no questions, pass no
criticism. GEORGE ELIOT.
Humanity is much more shown in our conduct towards animals than
towards our fellow creatures. CHESTERFIELD.
Some animals are so faithful that I hate to call them brutes.
LORD ERSKINE.
There is in every animal’s eye a dim image and gleam of humanity.
RUSKIN.
Clara Barton’s affection for dumb animals showed itself in almost
every letter. REV. PERCY H. EPLER.
Nature teaches beasts to know their friends. CORIOLANUS.
Asoka, Ruler of India, about 300 years before Christ, organized
hospitals for the treatment of animals. LAJPAT RAI.
Clara Barton had some reward in the fact that every human living thing
that knew her loved her. Roanoke (Va.) _News_.
OR GOD WOULDN’T HAVE MADE THEM
Just back of the old Red Cross house at Glen Echo, the hills slope
somewhat abruptly about 100 feet down to the Chesapeake and Ohio canal.
The canal is still in use, with its locks intact, the boats plying day
and night up and down between its banks. The canal is historic—one of
the oldest in the United States. It is of unusual interest because the
first construction work was under the supervision of George Washington,
he being the President of the canal company. The canal was operated long
before railroads came into use in this country. From the Red Cross house
forest trees and thick underbrush cover the slope of the hills down to
the canal.
One day Miss Barton had a distinguished guest, who wanted to stroll down
to the edge of the canal and have her tell him about it. Miss Barton
accompanying him, they made their way slowly through the growth of
ferns, tall brakes, thick underbrush and dead timbers. On their way a
“cotton tail” jumped out from the brush. The visitor suddenly pulled out
of his pocket a pistol to kill the rabbit but Miss Barton protested,
saying: “I do not permit wild animals to be killed around my place.
These animals are my friends; I am very fond of them.” The visitor,
disappointed in not enjoying the “sport” of killing, tried to convince
his hostess that the squirrels, rabbits, muskrats and other such animals
would injure her fruit trees, destroy her flowers and ruin her garden.
Miss Barton mildly responded: “I suppose they do, but they also must do
some good in the world too, or God wouldn’t have made them.”
LIX
All creeds in need of help enlisted Clara Barton’s sympathies and
received her cordial assistance. HARRIETTE L. REED, Past National
Secretary, Woman’s Relief Corps.
Neither “Mental” nor “Christian” Science, nor Theosophy claims to be
new, but only the distinct enunciation of great world-wide truths.
TOLSTOI.
I read “Science and Health” very conscientiously at all times.
CLARA BARTON.
I accepted Christian Science as something better than I had known,
without seeing its text books, without ever having heard an argument.
CLARA BARTON.
Isn’t it blessed that the way is opening for the relief of the ills of
the human race—poor, suffering race, how many of our ills we make
ourselves. CLARA BARTON.
CLARA BARTON—MARY BAKER EDDY
Clara Barton and Mary Baker Eddy[6] were warm personal friends.
Footnote 6:
Born July 16, 1821, five months and nine days before Clara Barton.
For three years Clara Barton attended the Christian Science Church, but
did not become a member. On numerous occasions Miss Barton expressed
high estimation of the work done under the leadership of that most
wonderful woman, Mary Baker Eddy, in the religious life of the people.
Spiritually these two great women were in harmony.
“Miss Clara Barton,” says Mrs. Eddy, “dipped her pen in my heart, and
traced its emotions, motives and objects. Then lifting the curtain of
mortal mind, she depicted its rooms, guests, standing and seating
capacity, and thereafter gave her discovery to the press.
“Now, if Miss Barton were not a venerable soldier, patriot,
philanthropist, moralist and stateswoman, I should shrink from much
salient praise, but in consideration of all that Miss Barton really is,
and knowing that she can bear the blame which may follow said
description of her soul visit, I will say ‘Amen,’ so be it.”
On December 5, 1910, in her diary, Clara Barton writes: “This morning
brings the sad news of the death of Mrs. Mary Baker Eddy.” In the diary
the following day Miss Barton writes: “More particulars concerning the
passing of Mrs. Eddy. All so quiet, correct—no form, no excitement, no
mourning; all peaceful, thoughtful, proper. What a lesson she has taught
the world, and what faithful, apt scholars she has taught and trained!
The greatest woman of all; her life a signal triumph and her death the
greatest of all.
“No criticisms _now_, no light comments. Her followers bow in meek
submission and her foes stand rebuked. There is no such person left, no
such mind, no such ability. Long ago I said she was our greatest living
woman; I now say she is our greatest dead.”
LX
Clara Barton has given us a constant lesson in thrift. She lived so
simply that at her desk, at work, a piece of bread and cheese and one
apple was her dinner; a frugal supper and a most abstemious breakfast.
ALICE HUBBARD.
Count Tolstoi gave up his whole time to mitigating the suffering
caused by the Russian famine. CLARA BARTON.
The simple needs being the only true needs, their satisfaction alone
is guaranteed. TOLSTOI.
The satisfaction of all simple, normal wants is guaranteed to men as
it is to the bird and the flower. TOLSTOI.
The brave soul rates itself too high to value itself by the splendor
of its table and draperies. RALPH WALDO EMERSON.
Economy, prudence, and the simple life are the sure masters of need.
CLARA BARTON.
LIKE TOLSTOI SHE LIVED THE SIMPLE LIFE
Clara Barton’s food was of the simplest. Costly food, even at another’s
expense, she could not enjoy; eating costly food, to her, seemed a sin.
For breakfast, her first choice of menu was a dish of graham mush, with
milk and fruit; her second choice, meal grains and vegetables, with
simple accompaniments.
[Illustration:
COUNT LYOF NIKOLAYEVITCH TOLSTOI
I would like to visit the United States, but I would want to spend the
time among the farmers. Give Clara Barton my love; I feel that we
are related.—COUNT LYOF NIKOLAYEVITCH TOLSTOI.
]
CO-WORKERS WITH CLARA BARTON
[Illustration:
DR. HENRY W. BELLOWS
Miss Barton, I trust you will press this (Red Cross) matter upon our
present administration with all the might of your well-earned
influence.—DR. HENRY W. BELLOWS (November 21, 1881). Ex-Chairman, U.
S. Sanitary Commission.
]
[Illustration:
DR. JULIAN B. HUBBELL
Clara Barton was scrupulously honest, severely economical in her
personal needs, always sacrificing self for others, and her simple
life in her home was as beautiful as her public life.—DR. JULIAN B.
HUBBELL, Clara Barton’s physician and co-worker in the field for
thirty years.
]
A favorite meal was bread, cheese and a Rhode Island Greening Apple. Two
meals a day satisfied, and nothing eaten between meals. No tea, no
coffee, no substitutes, and no wine. A bottle of wine presented by a
friend would last from one year to five years. There is now a bottle of
Bordeaux, in her old home at Glen Echo, that has been there for
twenty-five years. Like Tolstoi, she was a vegetarian, and an advocate
of “low fare”; but, like Tolstoi, she did not so much as advise the
household of which she was a member what to eat, or how much to eat.
Like Tolstoi, Clara Barton lived the simple life, but did not impose her
philosophy upon others; like Tolstoi, she lived to a ripe old age,
endured persecution, and served the human race. So much in common were
their habits of living, and their philosophy of human life, that
Tolstoi, in sending his love to Clara Barton, said: “I feel that we are
related.”
LXI
Two Angels—God’s sweet gifts, one of the Old World, one of the New.—E.
MAY GLENN TOON.
Just as Florence Nightingale was “The Angel of Crimea,” so Clara
Barton was “The Angel of the World’s Battlefields.”
_Boston Transcript._
Florence Nightingale, who introduced into the world a system of women
hospital nurses, was ousted from her Governmental position, she then
being an invalid. Later the treatment accorded to her by England was
made a national issue, and on that issue her admirers and friends
overwhelmingly won. THE AUTHOR.
At the unveiling of the Florence Nightingale Memorial in the Crypt of
St. Paul’s Cathedral, as she pulled the cord revealing the beautiful
sculpture, Queen Victoria said: “I have great pleasure in unveiling
this memorial.” THE AUTHOR.
Although unknown to each other save in name, the “Lady of the Lamp”
and the “Angel of the Battlefield” were indeed sisters.
CONSTANCE WAKEFORD.
When Florence Nightingale labored among the sick and wounded at
Scutari, Clara Barton was still writing beautiful “copper-plate style”
in the office at Washington. ENGLISH AUTHOR.
When Florence Nightingale had safely returned to her lovely home in
England, the great call came to Clara Barton away on the other side of
the Atlantic. ENGLISH AUTHOR.
For half a century we have thanked God for what Florence Nightingale
has wrought and taught. CONSTANCE WAKEFORD.
Clara Barton’s personal devotion had already planted the idea of the
Red Cross in the heart of the American people better than any official
bureau could do. _Heroines of Modern Progress._
I will not speak of reward when permitted to do our country’s work—it
is what we live for. FLORENCE NIGHTINGALE.
What is money without a country! CLARA BARTON.
CLARA BARTON—FLORENCE NIGHTINGALE
Clara Barton was born in 1821 and lived to be ninety-one years of age.
Florence Nightingale was born in 1820 and lived to be ninety years of
age.
Clara Barton lived her long life without marrying; Florence Nightingale
likewise lived her long life without marrying.
Clara Barton is known as the “Angel of the Battlefield”; Florence
Nightingale, as the “Lady of the Lamp.”
Although they were strangers to each other, they are known as, indeed,
sisters.
Clara Barton had the distinction of being born on Christmas and passing
away on Easter; Florence Nightingale had the distinction of having for a
name the name of a stately city and a sweet-voiced bird.
Clara Barton as a nurse had her first experience nursing a brother by
the name of David; Florence Nightingale as a nurse had her first
experience caring for a pet shepherd dog by the name of “Cap.”
Clara Barton on an army wagon seated with a mule driver left Washington
to go to the battlefields of the Civil War; Florence Nightingale on
board of a vessel with 38 other nurses, sailed from England to go to the
hospitals at Scutari, Turkey, in the Crimean War.
Clara Barton continually “followed the cannon” from the camps of the
soldiers on to the “firing line”; Florence Nightingale lived at Scutari,
but on one occasion inspected the camps of the soldiers at Balaclava
within hearing of the cannon.
Clara Barton had for a pet, presented to her, a white Arabian horse and
known as “Baba”; Florence Nightingale had for a pet, presented to her, a
Russian hound, and known as “Miss Nightingale’s Crimean Dog.”
Clara Barton wore the Iron Cross of Prussia, representing Germany, and
presented to her by Emperor William I; Florence Nightingale wore a
brooch bearing a St. George’s Cross, in red enamel on a white field
representing England, and presented to her by Queen Victoria.
Clara Barton received from the Sultan of Turkey a “Diploma,” and
“Decorations”; Florence Nightingale received from the Sultan of Turkey a
costly diamond necklace.
The United States Government refused to appropriate one thousand dollars
for a memorial tablet to Clara Barton in the Red Cross Building; England
conferred on Florence Nightingale the dignity of a “Lady of Grace of the
Order of St. John of Jerusalem,” and later the still higher “Order of
Merit,” founded by King Edward VII himself, in 1902.
The people of the United States contributed to a fund for Clara
Barton—well, perhaps, this is a secret and should not be told here; the
people of England contributed to a fund for Florence Nightingale,
through the Jenny Lind concerts and in other ways, a fund amounting to
$250,000, the fund since used to establish the “Nightingale Home at St.
Thomas’ Hospital”—a Training School for Nurses.
By her request, Clara Barton was buried near her home at Oxford,
Massachusetts; by her request, Florence Nightingale was buried near her
home at Lea Hurst, Derbyshire, England.
Clara Barton built for herself, at her own expense, a very unpretentious
memorial in her family burying ground at Oxford; Her Majesty the Queen
unveiled the memorial to Florence Nightingale in the crypt of St. Paul’s
Cathedral, London, where are the tombs of Nelson, Wellington, Wolsey and
Lord Roberts.
The plain granite monument to Clara Barton in the country cemetery bears
the inscription:
CLARA BARTON
ANGEL OF THE BATTLEFIELD
Civil War 1861–1865.
Franco-Prussian War 1870–1871.
Spanish-American War 1898.
Organizer and President of the American
National Red Cross 1881–1904.
December 25, 1821–April 12, 1912.
BARTON
The memorial to Florence Nightingale is a beautiful sculpture in white
marble, representing Florence Nightingale bending over a wounded
soldier, to whose lips she is holding a cup. A rich alabaster frame
surrounds the marble, inscribed above with a legend, “Blessed are the
merciful” and below: Florence Nightingale, O. M.; born May 12, 1820—died
August 13th, 1910.
Of two famous women be it written:
Their bodies are buried in peace; but their names live for evermore.
LXII
American Red Cross Founder, a life of sacrifice.
_New York Tribune._
We realize the economies which Clara Barton lived and practiced, that
she might give life and aid to those who were in dire need. _The Fra._
Economy is not parsimony. BURKE.
Economy is no disgrace. BERZ.
It would be well if we had more misers. GOLDSMITH.
Economy is the poor man’s mint. TUPPER.
Economy is half the battle of life. SPURGEON.
Economy is the parent of integrity, of liberty, and of ease.
DR. S. JOHNSON.
A habit of economy is prolific of a numerous offspring of virtues.
C. BUTLER.
Sound economy is a sound understanding, brought into action.
HANNAH MORE.
It is not what we earn, but what we save, that makes us rich.
SIR WALTER SCOTT.
Beware of little expenses; a small leak will sink a ship.
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN.
The prospect of penury in age is so gloomy and terrifying that every
man who looks before him must resolve to avoid it.
DR. S. JOHNSON.
I was brought up New England, and I have the New England thrift. CLARA
BARTON.
My expenses have been so heavy and my receipts so “nothing” that I
cannot take on more “help.” CLARA BARTON.
There must be no more big hotel bills; the money must be saved for the
sufferers. CLARA BARTON.
Clara Barton has often been known by those near her to rob herself of
all her personal income—to carry on the work of an abiding and
all-absorbing charity. DR. J. GARDNER.
At first I used to be shocked over her penuriousness but when I
discovered the motive, that it was to save for others in need, no
words could describe my conscience-stricken feeling and my admiration
of that self-sacrificing woman.
GENERAL W. H. SEARS, “Secretary.”
THE GENERAL HAS MONEY—I AM HIS RECONCENTRADO
When traveling on the cars, Clara Barton would take her lunches with
her. At night she would sit up in the day coach, and not take a
sleeper—because of the expense. She made a trip from Washington to
Boston. Her secretary was with her. He wanted a sleeper. How could he
enjoy the luxury and Miss Barton not know it? Miss Barton had taken her
shawl—in a bundle tied together with straps—and laid her head on it for
a pillow. “Now is my opportunity,” thought the secretary, but she didn’t
close her eyes. Four or five hours any night was enough sleep for Miss
Barton, and the secretary knew it. The secretary was becoming ill at
ease. He said, “Now, if you will excuse me, Miss Barton, I will go to
the smoking car and have a smoke.” He was not there long;—he quietly
slipped into the Pullman and went to sleep.
[Illustration:
© _Jaro Studio_
WOODROW WILSON
The President, also President of the American Red Cross Society, March
4, 1913–March 4, 1921.
I have learned, from all I have heard of Clara Barton, to admire her
very much.
WOODROW WILSON (in 1918).
]
Early the next morning he passed unseen into the smoker of the day
coach, then to where Miss Barton, bright and cheerful, was sitting. As
nothing was said about “a good night’s rest,” he assumed that she
thought he too had practiced self-denial. Nevertheless, he was ashamed
over his “make-believe,” and also that a lady of seventy years the
possessor of wealth had beaten him, her able-bodied young secretary, on
a small salary, at the “game of economy.”
On arriving at Boston “Sister Harriette,” owner of one of the ancestral
homes of Massachusetts, was at the station to meet her. The secretary
unsuspecting—still “blooded” and a “real sport”—as they entered the
station restaurant said “Now, ladies, you are going to have breakfast
with me this morning.”
“Sister Harriette,” having served with the Red Cross in the
Spanish-American War and knowing the secretary, fully understood when
Miss Barton slyly remarked “oh, yes, the General has money, you know;
_he_ travels in a Pullman and I am his reconcentrado.”
LXIII
The greatest generals were proud to know her; eminent statesmen felt
honored by her friendship.
Bridgeport (Conn.) _Post_.
Abraham Lincoln—the simplest, serenest, sublimest character of the
age. U. S. SENATOR JOHN M. THURSTON.
The beauty of Lincoln’s immortal character has thrown in the shade the
splendor of his intellect. BISHOP J. P. NEWMAN.
Presidents Arthur, Cleveland, Harrison and McKinley, with their
cabinets, have been actively interested in, and committed to its (Red
Cross) work. WALTER P. PHILLIPS, Chairman, Red Cross Committee (in
1903).
Character is higher than intellect. EMERSON.
Character is the dearest earthly possession. T. SHARP.
If our character is lovely we are loved. PRESTON.
Character lives in a man; reputation lives outside of him.
J. G. HOLLAND.
Character, like everything else, is affected by all the forces that
work upon it, and produce it. BISHOP W. F. MCDOWELL.
Character is made up of small duties faithfully performed.
_Anon._
The true character of a man displays itself in great events.
NAPOLEON.
Brains and character rule the world. The most distinguished Frenchman
of the last century said: “Men succeed less by their talents than by
their character.” WENDELL PHILLIPS.
Great trials test great characteristics. CLARA BARTON.
Great trials seem to be a necessary preparation for great duties.
EDWARD THOMPSON.
Times of general calamity and confusion have ever been productive of
greatest minds. COLTON-LACON.
It is only by the active development of events that character and
ability can be tested. A. LINCOLN.
ABRAHAM LINCOLN’S SON
Robert T. Lincoln was Secretary of War.
When Clara Barton handed her card to the porter, he asked, “What do you
want to see him about?”
“Just because he is Abraham Lincoln’s son. I knew his father and merely
want to pay my respects to him.”
Clara Barton was admitted. The War Secretary rose as she entered the
office, and Miss Barton opened the conversation by saying: “I knew
President Lincoln well. He was good and kind to me in whatever I tried
to do for the soldiers. He seemed to appreciate the little things I had
succeeded in doing; and when there came a great undertaking (referring
to making a record of the missing soldiers), so great as to appal with
its seeming impossibility, he encouraged me. Survivors of the missing
entreated me to undertake the work and, when other officials said it
could not be done, your father, with his big heart, said ‘I will help
you.’ He smoothed the way and made it possible, assisting me until the
work was done. When I came back to Washington, he was not here to
receive my grateful thanks. He had gone beyond all that. It was a sad
little burden to carry around with me unshared, but I have carried it.
At home and beyond the sea, wherever I have been, it has gone with me,
and I have come today to ask you, as his representative, to accept my
burden of thanks for him.”
The tears were filling Miss Barton’s eyes before she had finished. She
was abashed at her failure to control her emotions but, glancing up at
the Secretary, she saw that he too was weeping. Looking at each other a
moment in silence, the Secretary reached out his hand to Miss Barton and
said “I do accept your tribute of thanks—for my father.”
LXIV
Clara Barton—intelligent and reclaiming, her leading attributes.
Atlanta (Ga.) _Constitution_.
Pity it is to slay the meanest thing. HOOD.
Man is an aristocrat among animals. HEINE.
The merciful man doeth good to his own soul. PROVERBS.
How deeply seated in the human heart is the injunction not to kill
animals. TOLSTOI.
Animals in their generation are wiser than the sons of men.
JOSEPH ADDISON.
Could we understand the language of animals, how instructive a
dialogue of dogs would be. EUDOXES.
Animals, in our degenerate age, are every day perishing under the
hands of barbarity, without notice, without mercy. A. DEAN.
Surely the sensibility of brutes entitles them to a milder treatment
than they usually meet with from hard and unthinking wretches. A.
DEAN.
THE BUTCHER DIDN’T GET IT
“Miss Barton, the butcher has been here today. He wants to buy the
little Jersey calf; offered me $5.00 for it,” said the manager of the
Red Cross home, “and I told him he could have it.” “But he can’t,—why
didn’t you ask me about it?” “Well, I knew we couldn’t keep it; we need
the milk—” “But the calf needs the milk too, and I tell you that the
calf is not going to be killed.” “But I have sold it.” “That doesn’t
make any difference; I haven’t—and it’s my calf.”
“You just ask your neighbors, and they’ll tell you that nobody thinks of
raising a calf—in town here.” “But I’m not asking my neighbors.”
“Now, Miss Barton, don’t you know we have no pasturage and we have to
buy all our feed, and feed is high now, too.”
“Never mind, we’ll get the feed.”
“But, Miss Barton, the calf is a nuisance around the house, and it will
cost more——”
“Now, you’ve said enough; the calf is _not_ a nuisance and _I_ am paying
the expenses. If you don’t want to take care of the calf, I’ll take care
of it myself. Now go along and don’t talk to me any more about that
calf. The butcher will _not_ get it.”
And the butcher didn’t get it.
LXV
Clara Barton, an example of charity to a younger generation.
Boston (Mass.) _Pilot_.
Woman! there is a place for thee; go forth and fill it, that in thee
mankind may be doubly blessed. CLARA BARTON.
Let all things be done in charity. I. CORINTHIANS.
Go and sin no more. ST. JOHN.
The Lord alone can direct me. CLARA BARTON.
Go straight to God’s work, in simplicity and singleness of heart.
FLORENCE NIGHTINGALE.
I never in my life performed a day’s work at the field that was not
grounded in that little sentence “Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one
of the least of these, ye have done it unto me.”
CLARA BARTON.
With malice towards none; with charity for all. A. LINCOLN.
Alas, for the rarity of Christian charity under the sun. HOOD.
O charity, thou friend to him who knows no other friend besides.
CANON BOWLES.
Charity and personal force are the only investment worth anything.
WALT WHITMAN.
Did universal charity prevail, earth would be a heaven and hell a
fable. COLTON.
Clara Barton—the candles of her charity lighted the gloom of death.
_Grand Rapids Herald._
Clara Barton—her beautiful deeds of charity.
_Roswell Record._
How white are the fair robes of charity, as she walketh amid the lowly
habitations of the poor. HOSEA BALLOU.
THE KIND OF GIRLS THAT NEEDED HELP
In Miss Barton’s relief work in the overflow of the Ohio River at one of
the stops, at Shawneetown, among the people who came on board the boat
for relief were two girls. They had evidently told Clara Barton their
needs in a private conversation and were leaving, when somebody living
in the town came to Miss Barton and quietly told her that she had better
not have anything to do with these girls; they were not the kind she
should be helping.
Without ostentation, or without making any display about it, she called
the girls back, had a long private talk with them and furnished them
with all of the supplies they needed, in quiet defiance of the advice
which had been volunteered about the character of the girls. Of course
her advice would be of a kind that they would never forget through their
whole lifetime and would be their guide in the future. And as they left
she calmly remarked that they were the kind of girls that probably
needed her help more than any others in the place.
LXVI
Clara Barton—loved and honored as perhaps no other woman of her day.
Tacoma (Wash.) _Ledger_.
Switzerland is an _armed_ neutrality in which one has faith.
CLARA BARTON.
The Red Cross was chosen out of compliment to the Swiss Republic; the
Swiss colors being a white cross on a red ground. The badge chosen
were those colors reversed. CLARA BARTON.
Romance is the poetry of literature. MADAME NECKER.
Romance is always young. WHITTIER.
Romance—the parent of golden dreams. BYRON.
The Red Cross seems to have become the milder romance of war.
CLARA BARTON.
Love took up the glass of time. TENNYSON.
Love will find out the way. ALFRED NOYES.
Love took up the harp of life. LOCKSLEY HALL.
Love conquers all things. VIRGIL.
All mankind loves a lover. EMERSON.
True love is better than glory. THACKERAY.
Love is the beginning of everything. F. W. BOREHAM.
None but the brave and beautiful can love. BAILEY.
Love rules the camp, the court, the grove.
_Lay of the Last Minstrel._
A love that makes breath poor, and speech unable.
SHAKESPEARE.
Hail wedded love,
Perpetual fountain of domestic sweets. MILTON.
Love’s history, as Life’s, is ended not by marriage.
BAYARD TAYLOR.
Love is greater than war, truer than steel, stronger than fear or
danger of death. CLARA BARTON.
A ROMANCE OF TWO CONTINENTS
The battle had been fought, and on the bloody field lay the wounded.
Among these was a Swiss boy who had left his native country, coming to
America to fight in the cause of the Union. In her ministerings on the
field, Clara Barton had heard of this lad, by name Jules Golay, but had
not seen him. He was undergoing a surgical operation. As the knife was
doing its work, in great pain he cried out, “Mon Dieu!” Clara Barton
heard the cry and went to him. He could not speak in English, but in
French Clara Barton while dressing his wound gave him words of sympathy.
Daily, as tender as a mother, she cared for him until he recovered.
Only the brave know how to be grateful. The soldier’s gratitude knew no
bounds. He did not forget, and awaited his opportunity. Years later Miss
Barton was taken ill, and went to Switzerland. Jules begged her to come
to his home. There, in her shattered physical condition, she was cared
for in greater than a royal palace—a cottage where love reigns. Clara
Barton returned to America. The elder Golay died; his family then
scattered. The eldest son, Mons A. Golay, came to New York. There his
wife, of a
The hand that rocks the cradle
Is the hand that rocks the world.
WILLIAM ROSS WALLACE.
[Illustration:
THE CLARA BARTON BABY CRADLE
I remember my first baby experience, when I was two and one-half years
of age. CLARA BARTON.
]
SENTIMENT IN HISTORY
[Illustration:
THE PET JERSEY CALF
The butcher will not get it.
CLARA BARTON.
See page 208.
]
[Illustration:
COLONY OF CONSTANTINOPLE DOGS
“Dogs in Constantinople are held sacred.”
See page 345.
]
year, died also. He, ill and penniless, came to Dansville to see Miss
Barton, then convalescing.
Mons A. Golay, recovering his health, went to Chicago and became
established there in business with his brother Jules. Jules’ old wounds
broke out afresh and in consequence he died, leaving a broken hearted
wife and several children. “One woe doth tread upon another’s heel so
fast they follow.” The widow soon followed him to the Beyond. The orphan
children became the care of Mons. A. Golay, who struggled nobly to
provide for them. In his distress over the problem of life, he
remembered.
She was a form of life and light
That seen becomes a part of sight
And goes wher’er I turn my eye
The moving star of memory.
But the romance does not end here; the romance follows:
A Miss Kupfer while traveling had been stricken with a fever, and was
seriously ill at a hotel in Switzerland. There the ever humane Clara
Barton took care of her, nursing her back to life. When Miss Kupfer, in
her far-away home, heard of Miss Barton’s serious illness she crossed
the ocean to be at the bedside of her benefactor, then living at
Dansville.
Mons A. Golay revisits Dansville and there, as on former visit, meets
the beautiful Miss Kupfer, herself still exemplifying that “the religion
of humanity is love.”
“Love is life’s end, an end but never ending.”
The two of foreign birth thus strangely brought together were each of
gentle manners, of rare culture,—of like tastes and alike spiritually.
As love is the spiritual friendship of two souls, unwittingly through
Miss Barton there became inter-clasped two human loves, the crowning
event of all human bliss.
It was one of the happiest of occasions in her home at Dansville when
Miss Barton gave away the bride,—Miss Kupfer becoming Mrs. Mons A.
Golay, and the guardian spirit of the little children needing a mother’s
care. The romance of two continents, which reads like a fiction resulted
in a happy family, in an ideal American home.
LXVII
Clara Barton’s monument is the gratitude of humanity.
Boston (Mass.) _Record_.
Deeds, not stones, are the true monuments of the great.
MOTLEY.
The grave, dread thing! Men shiver when thou’rt named; nature,
appalled, shakes off her wonted firmness. ROBERT BLAIR.
An immortal hope was in her gaze and in her soul—in her life she did
everything thoroughly. What more natural than that she should want to
know her last resting place would be in order when the Master called?
REV. PERCY H. EPLER.
The monument means a world of memories, a world of deeds, a world of
tears and a world of glories. JAMES A. GARFIELD.
By desire and nomination of President Garfield, I was made President
of the American Red Cross. CLARA BARTON.
Life’s race well run,
Life’s work well done,
Life’s crown well won
Now comes rest.
PRESIDENT GARFIELD’S _Epitaph_.
THE LITTLE MONUMENT—FOR ALL ETERNITY
She suddenly stopped talking; she faltered; she choked; then trembling,
the veteran of many struggles, propped up in bed and suspecting the end
near, on Oct. 3, 1911, there occurred the following conversation:
“Now Mr. Young, I want to ask something of you. Would you do me a
favor?”
“Why certainly, Miss Barton, what is it?”
“I know it is uncanny. You may not want to do it. I must not ask it, and
yet I _must_.”
“My dear Miss Barton, tell me what it is.”
“You know, I have no one to leave my little property to,—well, I have
from time to time been spending some money out in the cemetery.” Then
she hesitated for fully two minutes, sobbing but trying to control her
emotions, when she continued—“where I’ll remain for all eternity. Maybe
you would like to see the little monument I have had constructed; to
keep it in memory, and to associate me with the place I am to be always.
I would so much like to have you see it, and it might be some
satisfaction to you. Will you do me this favor? You can get off the
electric car on your way to Worcester; it won’t take you long, and I
would feel better to have you do so.”
“My dear,” I said, “it is so kind of you to have mentioned this. I
appreciate it more than I can tell you. I won’t get off the car, but if
Doctor Hubbell will go with me, I’ll get an auto to drive out there. I
also want to see where you were born. How far is that?”
“Only two or three miles. If you will do this you will make me very
happy.”
I am taught by the Oak to be rugged and strong
In defense of the right, in defiance of wrong.
HELEN O. HOYT.
HISTORIC AND SENTIMENTAL
[Illustration:
BABA, CLARA BARTON’S PET HORSE
Baba was presented to Clara Barton at Santiago, Cuba, by a war
correspondent of the New York _World_, 1899.
We both loved him. I am glad my last act was for his welfare.
CLARA BARTON.
See page 219.
]
[Illustration:
THE BABA TREE—WILLIAM H. LEWIS
(Tree registered in Hall of Fame for Trees, Washington, D. C.)
The Baba Tree (Quercus Alba), grown on Cedar Green Farm, Battlefield
of Chancellorsville, Virginia. Planted April, 1912, on Woodland
Farm, two and one half miles from Bloody Angle, of said battlefield.
White oak trees nearby, eleven feet in circumference, whose age
(estimated) is between two hundred and three hundred years.—WILLIAM
H. LEWIS, Chancellor Virginia.
]
“Do you know, I can get no help here; I thought when I came here I could
get all the help I wanted, but it seems to be something that neither
love nor money will buy. Haven’t been able to get a nurse to wait on me.
But my tenants on the lower floor are very kind, and bring me my meals.
I feel very much alone. I am the lonesomest lone woman in the world. You
do not know how much I appreciate your coming such a long distance to
see me; it has done me so much good—”
Moved by a sudden impulse I took her right hand in mine, kissed it and
said “God bless you!” Faster than the mind thinks, she raised up in bed
with a “No, no”—caught my left hand in both of her hands so excitedly
that I could not divine her movements, other than to suspect that I had
performed a breech of decorum. Holding tight my hand in both of hers she
kissed it, and with tears in her eyes said: “I’ll never see you again,
this is the last—”
“Oh! yes you will,” I said.
“No, not again. Good-bye!”
“No, Miss Barton, I’ll not say good-bye to you; you cannot die. You will
live always. I will only say—God bless you!”
And then, backing out of the room, facing her all the while and watching
her changing expressions as the shadows played over her features,—waved
a kiss, and said “God bless you!”
LXVIII
I think I shall never see a poem as lovely as a tree. JOYCE FILMER.
The trees are monuments with a meaning, for they live gloriously just
as did those for whom they are planted. CHARLES LATHROP PACK,
_President of the American Forestry Association_.
The soil is right and the husbandman will not fail. CLARA BARTON,
_President The National First Aid_.
There never was any heart truly great and generous that was not also
tender and compassionate. SOUTH.
Life is war; eternal war with woes.
YOUNG’S _Night Thoughts_.
Before any great national event I have always had the same dream.
I had it the other night; it is a ship sailing rapidly.
A. LINCOLN.
Whichever way it ends, I have the impression that I shall not last
long after it is over. A. LINCOLN.
O, I have passed a miserable night,
So full of ugly sights, of ghastly dreams.
KING RICHARD III.
Always there have been believers in dreams. From Genesis to Revelation
we read of dreams and visions and their influence for good or evil
upon the acts and lives of numerous characters in Biblical history. In
Genesis, Jacob dreams of a ladder to Heaven; Joseph’s rise to eminence
is based on dreams and his solution of them. The Revelation of St.
John the Divine in its entirety is given to us as a vision seen while
on the Isle of Patmos.
_Queen of the Romanies._
STORY OF BABA—DREAM OF A WHITE HORSE—LIFE’S WOES
While in Santiago Clara Barton was presented with a beautiful white
Arabian horse, named Baba. Baba was a pacer and an ideal saddle animal.
Miss Barton was fond of Baba, and Baba just as fond of Miss Barton.
Having been bred and reared on the Island of Jamaica, Baba was very fond
of bananas and, when Miss Barton brought from the store any of this
fruit, her first thought on returning home was to share it with Baba. On
one occasion, when her little nephew was out riding Baba, Baba spied a
banana on the side of the road; he refused to go further, and insisted
on turning around and going back. Not knowing why Baba acted in this
way, the little boy kicked him, struck him with his stick, but Baba won
out, went back and got the banana. After eating it, he went on as if
nothing had happened. When Miss Barton found it out she scolded the
little boy for mistreating the horse. And when it was explained to the
boy he cried piteously because he had been so cruel, for he too was fond
of Baba.
Baba was a great traveler. He visited New York, Massachusetts, and
Virginia, always living on the best in the land. Baba made friends
wherever he went for he was not only kind and beautiful but he was fond
of children. Baba was never happier than when the children were on his
back, having a good time. Baba passed his last days in a pasture in
Virginia and as the favored guest of a good friend of Miss Barton.
In the absence of Baba from Glen Echo, Miss Barton would frequently
dream of a white horse. To dream of a white horse, she interpreted, was
a bad omen. When she heard of Baba’s death Miss Barton became very
despondent, and said to the members of her household “this means that I
am not going to stay here a great while.”
Clara Barton, who was at that time preparing for herself a monument,
wished also a monument for Baba. She philosophizes and thinks it should
be a tree—the longest-lived of all living things. Of a tree’s longevity
there is of record in England an oak 800 years, an elm 2,600 years, one
yew 3,000 years, and another yew, with a diameter of 27 feet, 3,200
years; in Africa, baobabs 4,000 years; near the Castle of Chapultepec,
Mexico, a cypress 26 feet in diameter, and said to be 6,000 years old.
Of the first class at Bowdoin was George Thorndike. He planted the
Bowdoin Oak, and is the only one of that class remembered by the
students of that American college. The boy died in 1802, at the age of
twenty-one years, but the tree is still the pride of that great
institution of learning, and sacred to the memory of him who planted it.
In this instance, Miss Barton thought “Woodman, spare that tree” might
be a sentiment to be respected for hundreds of years. She, therefore,
selected for a monument to Baba a tree,
Jove’s own tree,
That holds the woods in awful sovereignty.
Characteristic of the heart that quickened to sympathy for life’s woes
the peoples of the world is the sentimental philosophizing of Clara
Barton on the death of Baba in the following remarkable letter:
Glen Echo, Maryland,
November 19, 1911.
My Dear Mr. Lewis:
Your letter telling me of the last of our dear Baba came yesterday;
and I hasten to reply, for I know you need sympathy as well as myself.
We both loved him, and are alike grieved; and yet there is much to be
thankful for. He went quickly and was not left to suffer, nor to give
pain or trouble to others.
His future care and keeping are no longer questions. He no more needs
me. He lived without harm and died well. I do not think he ever
knowingly nor intentionally did a wrong thing in his life. Could a
human being blest with intelligence and language do better? He had a
language of his own which we both understood, and I always felt that
he largely understood ours. Kindly as a brother and obedient as a
child,—I am glad my last act was for his welfare. He lived with you,
and loved you, to the last. He has gone from our hands and our care,
leaving with us a loving memory tinctured with respect for the virtues
he possessed, and knew not of.
Let me thank you, dear Mr. Lewis, for the tender care given his
remains, and for the grave you have given him on your own farm. Some
time when the spring days come, if you see a thrifty oak sapling and
have time, will you kindly transplant it beside the grave? His body
will nourish it, and let it be his monument. The children will love
and protect it as Baba’s tree. His saddle and bridle you ask; you keep
them and his little belongings as no one else could hold them so
tenderly as you.
I will take back the check for his winter feed as useless now; but
wish to enclose in this ten dollars for the last tender care and
burial, with the assurance that you will always hold a high place in
my esteem and affection for the kind and manly part you have taken in
this little episode of life’s woes.
Let me repeat from your letter this sentiment, the hope that we may be
friends while life shall last.
Yours gratefully,
CLARA BARTON.
LXIX
Resolved, in behalf of the State of Texas especially does the
legislature thank Clara Barton, President of the Red Cross Society.
Approved February 1, 1901.
A tribute of honor, of which sovereigns might be proud, clothed in
language the eloquence of which our English tongue does not surpass.
CLARA BARTON.
Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for
his friends. ST. JOHN.
Clara Barton is the embodiment of the saving principle of laying down
one’s life for one’s friends. Her achievements are greater than the
conquest of nations or the inventions of genius, and who is justly
crowned in the even-tide of her life with the love and admiration of
all humanity.
Central Relief Committee of Galveston, Texas.
The name of Clara Barton has ever been a cherished one in our
Southland, and the Red Cross the symbol of the most noble charity.
MRS. ROSENE RYAN, Chairman, the Governor’s Relief Committee for
Clothing, March 5, 1901.
It proves to us more strongly than ever, after the experience we have
had since the arrival of Miss Barton, that “woman rules the world, as
she has always done.” MRS. JENS MOLLER, of the Central Relief
Committee, November 13, 1900.
No name in Texas is today dearer to its people than that of Clara
Barton. Red Cross Committee, 1903.
How much of the heroic there is in our people when it is needed.
CLARA BARTON.
The Red Cross has come to be the first thought of any community
suddenly overtaken by disaster. CLARA BARTON.
The Red Cross creates an organized neutral volunteer force, from the
people, supplied by the people. CLARA BARTON.
The Red Cross is the outward and practical expression of that
universal sympathy that goes out from millions of homes and firesides;
from the heart of the nation to humanity in distress.
CLARA BARTON.
Not one dollar, for twenty years or more, on twenty fields of national
disaster, has there been drawn from the Treasury of the United
States,—the beneficence of the people through their awakened
characters were equal to all needs. CLARA BARTON.
High or low, rich or poor, we are the people of this God-given nation;
we are also the arbiters of its fate.
“For sure as sin and suffering’s born
We walk to fate abreast.”
CLARA BARTON.
I am here at Galveston, my fingers are in the wound, and I assure you
that the side was pierced and the nails did go through.
CLARA BARTON.
Despite all its woes and terrors, the memory of Galveston comes ever
back to me with a gleam of pleasure for the hope in humanity, which it
has kindled, and the noble characteristics of our country which it
disclosed. CLARA BARTON.
In every instance the gratitude of the people has been the glad
heritage of the Red Cross and its willing servers.
CLARA BARTON.
PEOPLE, LIKE JACK RABBITS—NO “SHOW-WOMAN”
In 1900 a devastating flood visited Galveston. Thousands of human lives
were destroyed. For two miles back from the shore not a house remained
standing. Only here and there on the barren sands were seen the wreckage
of the storm-swept city. Suffering and death held sway in that city of
once happy homes. Clara Barton, with a corps of able assistants, was
there having come from Washington at the urgent solicitation of the
authorities of the City of Galveston.
From overwork and nervous strain she had been taken ill. She was in bed
at the Tremont Hotel. For three weeks her life hung in the balance. The
writer, with a party of California tourists, happened to be in the city
on his way east. He incidentally “dropped in” the hotel, only to learn
of the serious condition of his friend. Fanny Ward was standing guard at
the door of the sick room. Undaunted, the writer ventured to suggest:
“I’d like to see Miss Barton.” “Well, sir, you can’t see Miss Barton.”
“Why not?” “She is ill, and nobody is permitted to see her.” “But she is
a friend of mine.” “That makes no difference. I have orders from her
physician not to let _anybody_ go to her room. No one but the nurse has
been permitted to enter this room for three weeks.” “Well, if that’s so,
I don’t expect to see her, but kindly take in my card.” “No, I’ll not do
that either.” “Well, it seems strange to me that I cannot at least send
a card of sympathy to my friend.” “Oh, well, if you insist, I’ll take in
your card, but it won’t do you any good.” “All right, I insist.”
The messenger returned, and reported that Miss Barton wanted to see me
and would be ready in about fifteen minutes, but she could see no one
else in the party. As I entered the room, she was half sitting and half
reclining in her bed, having two large pillows at her back. She had her
hair neatly arranged, a pink bow adjusted tastefully at the neck, a
little white shawl hanging loosely over her shoulders and otherwise
attired as for a state occasion, as similarly was her custom when
receiving any friend.
Miss Barton: “Mr. —— I am glad to see you. The Doctor said two weeks ago
that I had but one chance to live. I told him that I would take that
chance. I did; and I know I am going to get well.”
Mr. ——: “Miss Barton, do you know that on the barren sands between here
and the shore they already have two or three ‘shacks’ going up?”
Miss Barton: “That does not surprise me. People are like jack-rabbits.
Scared out of their nice warm nests, they soon forget and return from
where they started. That whole sand waste will soon be built on again,
and the people will forget that there has been a flood.”
M. ——: “Miss Barton, there is a very wealthy young lady in our party who
wants to see you.”
Miss Barton: “But I cannot see her.”
Mr. ——: “I know, Miss Barton, but she told me to tell you that, if your
assistant would open the door wide enough so that she could just see
your face, she would give a hundred dollars to charity, and you could
use it among the sufferers.”
Miss Barton: “I have worked very hard here, and am a very sick woman,
but I have not yet become a ‘show-woman,’ and I don’t think I will. I do
not understand such curiosity, nor why your young lady friend would care
to see me,” and she unconcernedly passed on to another subject
apparently more agreeable to her modest nature.
LXX
Clara Barton was loved by the people of the whole world.
_The Two Martyrs_—By HON. FRANCIS ATWATER.
Love is the life of the soul. WILLIAM ELLERY CHANNING.
The law of Heaven is love. HOSEA BALLOU.
The soul of woman lives in love. MRS. SIGOURNEY.
Love—’tis woman’s whole existence. BYRON.
The religion of humanity is love. MAZZINI.
Love is the Amen of the universe. NOVALIS.
Love is indestructible;
The holy flame forever burneth
From heaven it came, to heaven returneth.
SOUTHEY—_Curse of Kehama_.
There is in the heart of woman such a deep well of love that no age
can freeze it. BULWER-LYTTON.
Love is the beginning, the middle, and the end of everything.
LA CORDAIRE.
Love lives on, and hath a power to bless when they who loved are
hidden in their grave. LOWELL.
Julia—His little speaking shows his love but small.
Lucetta—Fire that’s closest kept burns most of all.
_The Two Gentlemen of Verona._
CLARA BARTON’S HEART SECRET—$10,000 IN “GOLD DUST”
Clara Barton was very non-communicative as to her personal affairs,
confiding in no one her heart’s secrets. But a woman’s curiosity got the
best of the closest friend Clara ever had, and on a certain occasion
“Sister Harriette” ventured to draw out of her heart what she had long
wanted to know:
“Clara, have you never had a sweetheart?”
“Oh yes!” she replied, “just the same as all other girls.”
“But tell me about yours,” Harriette ventured further.
“I will, sometime,” Clara said.
“Oh, no, tell me now,” Harriette continued.
“No, not now—some other time I’ll tell you all about it,” persisted
Clara. Then she said: “Oh, well, I’ll tell you I had a dear friend in my
younger days, but he went to California in the rush to the gold fields
with my brother David, and never came back.”
“Did you really love him?” asked Harriette again, trying to draw her
out.
“Now, don’t ask me anything more, for I am not going to tell you,”
replied Clara.
“But you said you would and I am really curious,” continued Harriette.
Clara hesitated, then said: “I don’t feel like it now, but sometime I’ll
tell you the story.”
She never told her love,
But let concealment, like a worm i’ the bud,
Feed on her damask cheek; she pined in thought;
And with a green and yellow melancholy,
She sat (like patience on a monument)
Smiling at grief.
On a certain other occasion it became necessary for her attorneys to
know in detail of her finances, and their origin, so they plied her with
questions:—
[Illustration:
THE CLARA BARTON MONUMENT
Built at her expense in the cemetery at North Oxford, Massachusetts.
In her will Clara Barton left sixteen hundred dollars for the
permanent maintenance of the Barton cemetery lot. WILLIAM E. BARTON.
No more fitting tribute could be paid by the American people than the
raising of a monument that will perpetuate the life work of Clara
Barton.
LIEUTENANT-GENERAL NELSON A. MILES.
Monuments and endowments are the physical testimonials, but they do
not express the entire obligation. The life of Clara Barton should
be familiarized to every child. Woonsocket (R. I.) _Call._
Congress should pass a Special Act setting aside a plot and defraying
the expenses of a suitable monument over the last resting place of
the noble woman who has served the nation in peace and in war.
Manchester (N. H.) _Mirror_.
As we passed one particular monument in the cemetery at Buffalo Clara
Barton said: “There is a design which I wish to have copied, and
sometime to have a monument put up in my family yard in Oxford for
my Father and Mother, my brothers and sister and to be ready for me
when I join them.” The design was copied and the monument placed as
Miss Barton desired. FRANCIS ATWATER.
]
Attorney—Now, Miss Barton, tell us where you got all your wealth.
Miss Barton—I haven’t much wealth—what do you mean?—Everything?
Attorney—You inherited some money did you not? Tell us about that.
Miss Barton—I inherited, no—Oh! yes, I got some money once, but why
should I tell you?
Attorney—It may be brought up in “the investigation” by the attorney on
the other side and we don’t want any surprise sprung on us.
Miss Barton—Well, that seems reasonable—I’ll tell you. My brother and
_another_ went to the California gold fields; my brother returned,—the
other _never did_ return. But he left me all his savings, $10,000 in
gold.
Attorney—What did you do with the $10,000?
Miss Barton—I always regarded this too sacred to use, so I placed it in
a New York bank. This was in 1851. I kept it there on interest until
President Lincoln commissioned me to look up the names of the missing
soldiers. I did not consider it _too sacred_ for this purpose, and so in
1865 I drew it out of the bank, then with the interest about $15,000,
and used it to pay the expenses....
The romance includes the trip in a sailing vessel around the “Horn,” the
“49ers outfit” in San Francisco, and on the way to the “placer diggins,”
the death scene in the pueblo of Los Angeles, the story of the sack of
“gold dust” that reached the sweetheart, and its use later in giving
cheer to thousands of unhappy homes.
Only on the two occasions were these disclosures of that heart secret,
and yet visions of her sweetheart are said to have appeared to Clara in
her dying hours. The most sacred of the heart secrets of womankind Clara
Barton carried with her to the other world—a secret of her love affair
which her closest friends think may have been the inspiration of her
self-sacrifice for humanity.
LXXI
Clara Barton represented the spirit that knows not race nor color.
_New York Globe._
Charity and beneficence are degraded by being reduced to a dependence
on a system of beggary. CLARA BARTON.
A grateful mind is a great mind. T. SECKER.
There is not a more pleasing attitude of mind than gratitude.
JOSEPH ADDISON.
A grateful mind is not only the greatest of virtues but the greatest
of all virtues. CICERO.
Don’t kneel to me—that is not right. You must kneel to God only, and
thank Him for the liberty you will now enjoy. I am but God’s humble
instrument. A. LINCOLN.
Grateful to me! It is I who should be grateful, and I am.
CLARA BARTON.
We of South Carolina can never forget her contributions to the
storm-wrecked people on our desolated sea-coast, after the fearful
tempest of 1893. She came as an angel of mercy. With uncovered heads,
and with profound deference, we bow to the blessed name of Clara
Barton. _The Southern Reporter._
FELL ON THEIR KNEES BEFORE “MIS’ RED CROSS”
A terrific hurricane and tidal wave had struck the coasts of North
Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia. It was estimated that at least
thirty thousand people were rendered homeless,—the larger number of
these being of the colored population. Governor Tillman and Senator M.
C. Butler sent an urgent request to Clara Barton to come to their
assistance.
Clothing was so scarce among the poor colored people that only the men
could appear on the streets. About four o’clock in the morning, a crowd
gathered about the warehouse. Only men were present and these were
attired in such garments as could be found, mostly ragged at the best.
In some cases only rags were tied about them, just enough to enable them
to come for their rations of food, for their starving families. A motley
crowd it was, but there was never any jostling or crowding, nor
confusion of any sort.
“Many pathetic scenes come to my mind as I remember this work,” says
“Sister Harriette.” “When Miss Barton was engaged and could not be seen,
it was my place to receive the visitors, ascertain their wishes, and
dispose of them as seemed best. They called Miss Barton ‘Mis’ Red
Cross,’ came to see her, sometimes in crowds and, when she was not
otherwise engaged, they were taken to her office. Many of them were old
women, and upon entering the room one and all fell upon their knees and
bowed their heads, as if in the presence of a superior being. She
approached them graciously; some seized her hands and kissed them;
others reached a fold of her skirts and carried it to their lips, never
saying a word, asking for nothing, satisfied with just being permitted
to look at her. They left as quietly as they had come in and went out to
their homes satisfied that they had been permitted to see ‘Mis’ Red
Cross.’”
[Illustration:
MARIO G. MENOCAL
In commendation of the Founder of the American Red Cross—Clara Barton,
it gives me great pleasure to state that her services rendered to
the cause of humanity in general and the poor starving people of
Cuba in particular, during our last struggle for independence, were
inestimable and her memory is linked to the history of Cuba by ties
of gratitude, love and respect.
MARIO G. MENOCAL,
The President of Cuba, 1912–1920.
See pages 82; 100; 234; 241; 354.
]
LXXII
While the American Navy (in 1899) was sinking the ships of Spain, the
Spanish Cortes, by unanimous vote, granted Clara Barton a “Diploma,” a
“Decoration,” and a “Vote of Thanks”; and following the war, a
“Diploma of Gratitude.” THE AUTHOR.
I am with the wounded. CLARA BARTON.
Cuba was a hard field, full of heart-breaking memories.
CLARA BARTON.
Send food, medicine—anything. CLARA BARTON.
It is to the Rough Riders we go, and the relief may be rough but it
will be ready. CLARA BARTON.
At the time of the Spanish-American War, in Cuba, Colonel Theodore
Roosevelt personally accepted favors at the hands of Clara Barton, as
President of the Red Cross. PERCY H. EPLER.
Keep the pot boiling; let us know what you want.
CLARA BARTON.
The first American War (Spanish-American), since the adoption of the
Treaty of Geneva, has brought the Red Cross home to the people; they
have come to understand its meaning and desire to become a part of it.
CLARA BARTON.
Without the Red Cross, as one of our treaties, we could not in the
Spanish-American War have floated a relief boat without danger of
capture. CLARA BARTON.
The Red Cross of Spain has officially recognized in a most graceful
and welcome manner its high appreciation and gratitude for the good
offices we were able to render in line of our duty to its sick and
wounded countrymen, during the late Spanish-American War.
CLARA BARTON.
CLARA BARTON’S TRIBUTE TO CUBA
After the Spanish-American war nearly 500 of the leading men and women
of Cuba joined in inscribing their names together with the most touching
tribute, and sentiments of appreciation, in a beautiful album to Clara
Barton. In order to get their signatures it required five and one half
years of time for the collection of the same throughout the Republic.
Miss Barton’s reply to the testimonial in part follows:
“I have watched the beautiful island since independence came to it as a
proud, careful mother watches her child; have seen the steps, at first
uncertain, grow to the sturdy strides of manhood, and the gem of the sea
become a nation among nations and its destinies held by the same strong
patient hands that so struggled for its life.
“It had learned endurance from suffering, drawn strength from adversity,
courage from the proud ancestral nations whose blood is its own, and the
memory of its untold woes has enveloped it in a veil of tender
thoughtful justice to others that will form its brightest gem.
“God bless the new nation the world is glad to welcome. She is still the
‘Gem of the Ocean.’ My soul craves once more to look upon her beautiful
face, and its grateful prayer forever goes up to Him who ruleth and
guideth all—that He watch over her, keep her pure and true, and
safe-guard forever her motto and watchword, ‘Cuba Libre’!”
NOTE.—If Cuba gets free, she must come to the United States, as she is
too small to stand alone against the greed of great nations which will
try to gobble her up for her riches, in soil and products. (Prophecy
in 1874) Clara Barton.
LXXIII
Upon every line of Clara Barton’s life may be hung a thrilling story
of perilous adventure and pathetic moving incidents.
“_Clara Barton and Her Work._”
Like everything in Corsica, my education was pitiful.
NAPOLEON.
Greatness is nothing, if it is not lasting. NAPOLEON.
Impossible! That word is not in the French dictionary.
NAPOLEON.
Drama is the tragedy of women. NAPOLEON.
I have fought like a lion for the Republic and, by way of recompense,
it grants me permission to die of hunger. NAPOLEON.
Fortune is a woman. The more she does for us the more we expect.
NAPOLEON.
Thus conscience does make cowards of us all. SHAKESPEARE.
The wicked flee when no man pursueth. PSALMS.
The thief doth fear each bush an officer. SHAKESPEARE.
Little sea-girt Corsica is weird, wild, soft and bewitching, strange,
unique, but she had so much that one wearied of.
CLARA BARTON.
AT THE BIRTHPLACE OF NAPOLEON—THE CORSICAN BANDIT
At Ajaccio, on the Island of Corsica, there is still carefully preserved
the house where was born Napoleon, in 1769. The island (a French Colony)
is 114 miles long and 52 miles wide, and contains about 300,000
inhabitants; Ajaccio, the capital, about 19,000 inhabitants. Many of the
street names, and statues of the city likewise, perpetuate the memory of
the great military chieftain, as do other spots of similar historic
interest in connection with his boyhood.
At Ajaccio, Clara Barton lived for some time. There she not only visited
every place of interest but she also studied the character, and military
strategy, of that masterful leader of men, as later she studied him in
the city made by him “Paris Beautiful.”
For a time, until she regained her health, she lived _incognito_; later,
she produced a letter from our U. S. Minister Washburn, then at the
Court of Paris. When her identity became known she was overwhelmed with
attentions from the natives, as well as from Americans, and attended
many receptions given in her honor by that most hospitable people. Her
experiences there were so numerous and sensational as worthy to become
the basis for a great novel.
From the back door of her hotel a path led out into a forest of wildness
and rare beauty. Describing the wood, by way of comparison, Clara Barton
said: “The wood of Cuba is beautiful in quality, but hard to burn; in
Corsica, one may take the green, wet wood and make a blazing fire.” By
the side of the house were terraces on which were orange trees, loaded
with the golden fruit. A little strategy secured what oranges Miss
Barton wanted. She would take her blue bandana, put a franc in it, tie
the ends of the bandana with a stone mason’s cord, then let it down from
her room on the fourth story of the hotel to a little girl living in a
rude hut. The back of the hut was against a precipitous stone cliff, the
living quarters of the girl’s family being partly in the hut and partly
in a chamber blasted out of the rock, as frequently occurs on the
island. The girl would fill the bandana with fruit then, the signal
given, Miss Barton would pull the fruit through the side window to her
sick room.
All Americans in Europe are supposed to have money. Clara Barton there
alone, unsuspecting and unguarded, was not protected against theft. A
native bandit one evening sneaked into her room and demanded her money,
or her life. With her usual presence of mind, and fearlessness in
imminent danger, Clara Barton at the top of her voice cried out: “Now,
boys, come on; I’ve got him!” Quicker than it takes to tell it, the
bandit jumped through an open window in one corner of the room, and
escaped into the forest.
LXXIV
Clara Barton, beloved by every one who knew her. HON. PETER VOORHEES
DEGRAW, U. S. Fourth Postmaster General.
And memory turns to him fondly
Whom we call by the name of Friend!—
CARL F. ROSECRANS.
The chiefest of human virtues,—loyalty to friends.
C. S. YOUNG in _The Richmond Terminal_.
The better part of one’s life consists of his friendships.
A. LINCOLN.
Friendship and love
Take second place to loyalty and honor. CALDERON.
Friendship is necessary to life. BISHOP WM. F. MCDOWELL.
Friendship’s the wine of life. YOUNG’S _Night Thoughts_.
Friendship is a sheltering tree. S. T. COLERIDGE.
No man is useless while he has a friend.
ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON.
Our wisest friends are life’s best book. CALDERON.
Poor is he, and beggar, that hath no friends at all. GRACIAN.
The face of an old friend is like a ray of sunshine through dark and
gloomy clouds. A. LINCOLN.
The friends thou hast, and their adoption tried,
Grapple them to thy soul with hoops of steel.
SHAKESPEARE.
And can true friendship be tested, if not in the hour of misfortune?
The Mayor of St. Petersburg to Clara Barton.
WHEN CARES GROW HEAVY AND PLEASURES LIGHT
It became incumbent upon Clara Barton to write tens of thousands of
autographs, and inscriptions in books. As a philosopher, many such
inscriptions are interesting and instructive. Characteristic of her is
the following inscription which she wrote in a book presented to a
personal friend:
My Dear General and Friend:
When life’s track has grown long, and the road bed flinty and hard;
when the cares grow heavy and the pleasures light; and the tired soul
reaches out for help, may you find those who will be as loyal and
faithful to you as you have ever been to me.
Fraternally,
CLARA BARTON.
You have bound yourself so closely round my heart,
Friend of mine,
That it seems as if our paths could never part,
Friend of mine!
Oft the vine forsakes the wall
Stars have e’en been known to fall,
You are not like star nor vine,
Friend of mine!
LXXV
The Red Cross Organization has been built up largely by the heroic
work of Clara Barton. FREDERICK H. GILLETT, Chairman (1900) House
Committee on Foreign Relations; now Speaker of the House of
Representatives.
Honor to whom honor is due. ST. PAUL.
Never did an organization select so wisely and elect so judiciously as
did the National Red Cross Association when it chose Clara Barton to
preside over its beneficent work.
Johnstown (Pa.) _Democrat_.
In Cuba, the Red Cross Society snatched thousands from the grave and
made the sufferings of other thousands much lighter. But for Clara
Barton America would today have been a stranger to the Red Cross and
its beneficent work. DOCTOR HENRY M. LATHROP. Author of “_Under the
Red Cross; or the Spanish-American War_.”
Miss Barton’s well-known ability, her long devotion to the noble work
of extending relief to suffering in different lands, as well as her
highest character as a woman, commend her to the highest consideration
and good will of all people.
PRESIDENT WILLIAM MCKINLEY.
Officers and men unite in saying that too much praise cannot be given
those noble Christian women, Clara Barton and her assistants, for
their gentle care, their tender solicitude and untiring efforts in
aiding and comforting our sick and wounded soldiers. They came as
ministering angels to the suffering army at Santiago.
GENERAL JOHN J. PERSHING (in 1919).
[Illustration:
WILLIAM McKINLEY
The President, March 4, 1897–September 14, 1901.
Whatever Clara Barton says, and does, is always honest and right.
WILLIAM MCKINLEY.
Miss Barton, I have long wanted to thank you for what you did for my
boys in Cuba.
WILLIAM MCKINLEY.
Mr. President, I could not have done what I did in Cuba, if you had
not stood by me so nobly.
CLARA BARTON.
]
A RED CROSS RED LETTER DAY
For thirteen years Clara Barton had tried to secure from Congress and
the President a National Charter for the Red Cross. The bill had been
before the 56th Congress, and passed. It was then before the President
for his signature. He sent for Miss Barton. She went, accompanied by a
few personal friends. They were at the White House, at the appointed
hour. After a few moments of waiting, the President came into the room,
receiving Miss Barton in a beautiful manner. He put his left arm around
her, and holding her right hand in his said:
“Miss Barton, I have long wanted an opportunity to thank you for what
you did for my boys in Cuba.”
She replied: “Mr. President I deeply appreciate your thanks, but I could
not have done what I did in Cuba if you had not stood by me so nobly.”
Then the President said:—
“Miss Barton, I am proud of this opportunity to sign this bill.” Miss
Barton then introduced one by one her friends to the President. With his
usual graciousness, he chatted for a few moments with his guests, then
sat down at his desk where Secretary Cortelyou had placed the bill. With
a plain steel pen he signed his name: “William McKinley, June ,” and
then stopped, looked over his desk and asked, “Captain where is my
calendar?” An old soldier looked high and low but couldn’t find the
missing calendar. The calendar was standing on one corner of the broad,
flat-topped desk, in another part of the room. Seizing it, one of the
party tore off “June 5th,” and placed it before the President. He said
“thank you, sir,” then signed “6th, 1900.” Rising from his seat, and
extending his hand, he said: “Miss Barton, I will make you a present of
this pen.” Graciously appreciative Miss Barton replied: “I thank you,
Mr. President. I will preserve it in the archives of the Red Cross as a
treasured memento of this occasion.”
LXXVI
As a nurse in the Civil War Clara Barton performed invaluable service.
Pueblo (Colo.) _Star Journal._
Clara Barton in the theme of her address here, “The Ministering
Angel,” urged the organization of Nurses’ Associations and Training
Schools for Nurses. Atlanta (Ga.) _Constitution_.
The great war-nurse, friend of the world. The loftiest eloquence could
give her none that more clearly expressed the keynote of her life.
Grand Rapids (Mich.) _Press_.
Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe upon these slain that
they may live. EZEKIEL.
Nothing is impossible to Organized Womanhood,—united in aims and
effort. CAROLINE M. SEVERANCE—“Mother of Clubs.”
American nurses are covering their profession with a glory that will
live forever is the report that comes from France.
AMERICAN RED CROSS.
The nurse is proud to be chosen from millions of women anxious to care
for the sick, as the representative of American womanhood.
AMERICAN RED CROSS.
Thirty-two thousand graduate nurses have said to the American Red
Cross, “We are ready, use us.” AMERICAN RED CROSS.
Profane histories are three-fourths filled with the details of battles
and sieges, and almost silent as to any provision for the sick and
wounded. CLARA BARTON.
There were probably surgeons and nurses long before there were
military chieftains. CLARA BARTON.
Agrippina, wife of the General, distributed clothing and dressings to
the wounded. CLARA BARTON.
Courage of the soldier awakes the courage of woman. EMERSON.
Scarcely had man made his first move in organizing the Red Cross when
the jeweled hand of royal woman glistened beside him, and right
royally has she done her part. CLARA BARTON.
Women are, by nature, much better fitted for nurses than men can be.
CLARA BARTON.
Had there been need for them, the Red Cross could easily have
recruited an army of twenty-five thousand nurses from the flower of
American womanhood. CLARA BARTON.
Large organizations of women, the best in the country and I believe
the best in the world, have faithfully labored with me to merge the
Red Cross into their societies, as a part of woman’s work.
CLARA BARTON.
I have wrought day after day and night after night, so sorry for the
_necessity_, so glad for the opportunity,—ministering with my own
hands and strength to the dying wants of the patriot-martyrs, who fell
for their country and mine. CLARA BARTON.
To the army of nurses, brave, generous and true who, either as
auxiliaries at home or as nurses in the field, made up that
magnificent array of womanhood ready for sacrifice on the altar of
humanity and their country—no words of mine can do justice.
CLARA BARTON.
Three great conflicts were seen by Miss Barton, and her career is an
example to thousands of women who today are trying to heal human
suffering. Buffalo (N. Y.) _Express_.
PATRIOTIC WOMEN OF AMERICA SELF-SACRIFICING
Nursing in war is of comparatively recent origin. While it is recorded
that Fabiola, a patrician Roman lady, founded a hospital in A.D. 380,
and 600 nurses in the early part of the fifth century were in the
hospitals in Alexandria, nursing in war hospitals dates from the Crimean
War; and on the battlefields, from our Civil War. The Crimean War gave
the first real impulse to this humanitarian work, and the Civil War gave
added luster to the glory of this work of humanity, as did the
Franco-Prussian War and the Spanish-American War. But the late war broke
all records; now, war-nursing will continue until “Nation shall not lift
up a sword against nation, neither shall they learn to war any more.”
The true disciples of humanity in war are the nurses, wearing the sign
of the Red Cross and whose sacred mission it is to bind up the soldier’s
wounds and “To heal all manner of sickness and all manner of diseases.”
In the World War, reports show that there were approximately 11,600
American Red Cross nurses in service over-seas.
The total number of nurses employed:
Army Nurse Corps, Regulars and Reserves 22,854
Navy Nurse Corps, Regulars and Reserves 1,500
Nurses assigned directly under the Red Cross for
service overseas 604
Nurses assigned to U. S. Public Health Service in
this country—extra military zones, essential
war industries plants; marine hospitals 284
———
Total 25,242
The cost for operation for June 30, 1917–July 1, 1918, was
$197,180.00.
Total assignments of Red Cross nurses in foreign activities:
To the Army 17,931
To the Navy 1,058
To the U. S. Public Health Service 284
To the Red Cross nurses 604
———
Total 19,877
The Red Cross has furnished equipment to approximately 12,000 nurses and
lay women personnel engaged in foreign war service, and to nurses in
cantonments and naval hospitals in this country, at an approximate cost
of $2,000,000.
Personnel equipped by the Red Cross for overseas duty, from the
beginning of the war to December 31st, 1918, at the following cost:
Army $2,031,120.00
Navy 60,120.00
Red Cross 138,960.00
—————————————
12,546 nurses—Total cost $2,230,200.00
As to the work of the American Red Cross Clara Barton says: “History
records the wonderful achievements of the Red Cross, the greatest of
relief organizations, though it cannot record the untold suffering which
has been averted by it.” As to the Red Cross war-nursing, she says:
“There can be no estimate of the misery assuaged and the deaths
prevented by the unselfish zeal and devotion of the nurses of the Red
Cross.” In prophecy she says:
And what would they do if war came again?
The scarlet cross floats where all was blank then.
They would bind on their “brassards” and march to the fray.
And the man liveth not who could say to them nay;
They would stand with you now, as they stood with you then,—
The nurses, consolers, and saviours of men.
LXXVII
Clara Barton started the Red Cross alone.
Boston (Mass.) _Transcript_.
Miss Clara Barton, the American Red Cross is your society alone, and
none other we will patronize. G. MOYNIER, President, International Red
Cross Committee, Geneva, Switzerland.
The total expense connected with the acceptance of the Treaty by this
Government, in addition to the personal service of more than five
years, was defrayed individually by Clara Barton. Red Cross Committee
(in 1903). House Document No. 552, Vol. 49, 58th Cong.
If we heed the teachings of history we shall not forget that in the
life of every nation circumstances may arise when a resort to arms can
alone save it from dishonor.—We must be prepared to enforce any policy
which we think it wise to adopt. CHESTER A. ARTHUR, The President. (In
advocacy before Congress of Clara Barton’s Red Cross Measure).
Legislation by Congress is needful to accomplish the humane end that
your society has in view. It gives me, however, great pleasure, Miss
Barton, to state that I shall be happy to give any (Red Cross) measure
which you may propose careful attention and consideration. JAMES G.
BLAINE, Secretary of State (in 1881).
The first official advocate of the Red Cross measure, and fearless
friend from its presentation in 1877, was Omar D. Conger, now Senator
from Michigan, then a member of the House.
CLARA BARTON (Sept. 6, 1882).
[Illustration:
JAMES A. GARFIELD
The President, March 4, 1881–September 19, 1881.
Executive Mansion.
Will the Secretary of State please hear Miss Barton on the subject
herein referred to? J. A. GARFIELD.
The first tribute to Clara Barton in her Red Cross measure, March 30,
1881.
Clara Barton, friend and counselor of Abraham Lincoln, Ulysses S.
Grant, of Garfield, of Hayes, Harrison, Cleveland and McKinley.
Organized the American Red Cross and was appointed for life by
Garfield. While the republic lives and womanhood is honored, her
place is sure among the millions she has blest and whose name and
fame they will cherish and revere.
KATE BROWNLEE SHERWOOD,
in a letter to the Toledo (Ohio) _Times_.
]
[Illustration:
CHESTER A. ARTHUR
The President, September 19, 1881–March 4, 1885.
The President in whose administration the American Red Cross was
approved by the U. S. Government, also the first President of the
Board of Consultation, American Red Cross Society.
Washington, March 3, 1882.
_Whereas_ (certain facts of Red Cross history here detailed)....
Now, therefore, the President of the United States of America, by and
with the advice and consent of the Senate, do hereby declare that
the United States accede to the said Convention of October 20, 1868.
Done at Washington this first day of March in the year of our Lord one
thousand eight hundred and eighty-two, and of the Independence of
the United States the one hundred and sixth.
By the President, CHESTER A. ARTHUR.
FREDERICK T. FRELINGHUYSEN,
Secretary of State.
]
In 1877 Monsieur Moynier, President of the International Red Cross
Committee, decided to make a further effort to obtain the adherence to
the Treaty by our Government. For this purpose a special letter was
sent to Miss Barton to deliver to President Hayes. MABEL T.
BOARDMAN—In “_Under the Red Cross at Home and Abroad_.”
In 1869 Clara Barton went to Geneva, Switzerland. She was visited
there by the President and members of the International Committee for
Relief and of the Wounded in War, who came to learn why the United
States had refused to sign the Treaty of Geneva.—Years of devoted
missionary work by Miss Barton with preoccupied officials and a
heedless, short-sighted public at length bore fruit. MARY R.
PARKMAN—Author of “_Heroines of Service_.”
Miss Barton, I trust you will press this matter upon our present
administration with all the weight of your well-earned influence.
Having myself somewhat ignominiously failed to get any encouragement
for this (Red Cross) measure from two administrations, I leave it in
your more fortunate hands, hoping that the time is ripe for a less
jealous policy than American isolation in international movements for
extending and universalizing mercy towards the victims in war. DR. H.
W. BELLOWS (Nov. 21, 1881).
Later—Miss Barton, I advise you to give it up as hopeless.
DR. H. W. BELLOWS
(Ex-Chairman U. S. Sanitary Commission).
Miss Clara Barton, I thank you in the name of all of us (myself and
colleagues of the International Committee).—Thanks to a perseverance
and zeal which has surmounted every obstacle. Wishing to testify to
you its gratitude for the services you have already rendered to the
Red Cross (in securing the adherence of the United States to the
Treaty), the Committee decided to offer to you one of the medals which
a German engraver caused to be struck off in honor of the Red Cross.
Please to regard it only as a simple memorial, and as a proof of the
esteem and gratitude we feel for you. G. MOYNIER, President Red Cross
International Committee.
NOTE.—The silver medal referred to is beautifully engraved with the
coat of arms of the nations within the Treaty compact,—the medal being
a model both of skillful design and exquisite workmanship.
Department of State,
Washington, D. C.
February 16, 1883.
My dear Miss Barton:
It affords me great pleasure to transmit a parcel containing a book
presented to you by Her Majesty, the Empress of Germany, as a token of
her high appreciation of the success of your efforts for the formation
of an Association of the Red Cross in America.—Congratulating you upon
the compliment which the Empress has paid to you by her action in
sending you this gift I am, my dear Madam,
Very truly yours,
SEVELLON A. BROWN,
Chief Clerk.
On the night that came to Europe the news of the accession of the U.
S. Government to the Treaty of Geneva (news sent by cable) there were
lit bonfires in the streets of Switzerland, France, Germany and Spain.
THE AUTHOR.
If I live to return to my country (from Switzerland) I will try to
make my people understand the Red Cross and that Treaty.
CLARA BARTON.
Weak and weary from the war-soaked fields of Europe, I brought the
germs of the thrice-rejected Red Cross of Geneva, and with personal
solicitations from the international Committee sought its adoption.
CLARA BARTON.
I stood with this unknown (Red Cross) immigrant from the little
Republic of Switzerland, outside the doors of the Government, for five
years before I could secure for him citizenship papers and recognition
as a desirable resident of the United States.
CLARA BARTON.
Perhaps no act of this age or country has reflected more merit abroad
upon those especially active in it than this simple and beneficent Red
Cross measure. CLARA BARTON.
Transitions are neither rapid nor easy. Dark days, if not dark ages,
have shadowed them all. CLARA BARTON.
The Red Cross is one of the thresholds to the Temple of Peace.
CLARA BARTON, President, Red Cross.
Respect for the rights of others is peace.
BENITO JUAREZ, President, Republic of Mexico.
The history of a country is _mainly_ the history of wars.
CLARA BARTON.
Men have worshipped at Valkyria’s shrine and followed her siren lead
until war has cost a million times more than the whole world is worth;
poured out the best blood and crushed the finest forms that God has
ever created. CLARA BARTON.
There is in the Red Cross no entangling alliances that any but a
barbarian at war can feel any restraint. CLARA BARTON.
There is not a peace society on the face of the earth today, nor can
there be one, so potent, so effectual against war as the Red Cross of
Geneva. CLARA BARTON.
There can be no estimate of the misery assuaged, and the deaths
prevented, by the unselfish zeal and devotion of the Red Cross.
CLARA BARTON.
Your children and your children’s children will need the Red Cross,
when your hands are powerless to do that which is within your grasp.
CLARA BARTON.
OPPOSITION—THE AMERICAN RED CROSS “COMPLETE VICTORY”
She had served in Europe with a brassard on her arm; she had served in
the camp, on the march, in the hospital, in the smoke of battle; she had
bound up the wounds, soothed in a foreign tongue the dying; and there
had learned her first Red Cross lessons. She had visited the Solferino
battle ground where Dunant caught the humane inspiration for relieving
distress of victims in war. She had breathed the spirit of great minds
in the Red Cross world movement. She was armed _cap-a-pie_ for a humane
warfare. She made a vow, “If I live——;”—the vow of woman is a decree,
unrecorded.
Since 1864 the Red Cross measure had been before the American people.
Dr. Henry W. Bellows, of more than national fame as a diplomat and
humanitarian, through a period of ten years had failed of a respectful
consideration. For nearly two decades man had failed—signally failed;
what could woman do?
The vow of woman! that’s all between failure and success. The woman with
the vow lived to return to America. She “pestered” her friends with her
visionary scheme; she haunted the offices of Senators and
Representatives; she pled her cause before the Secretary of State and
the President. With her logic and eloquence she combated “it’s an
entangling alliance with foreign powers;” “it would encourage war;”
“it’s a war policy in the interest of war-makers;” “it’s un-American;”
“it would demoralize army discipline;” “the military doesn’t want it,
Congress doesn’t want it, the people don’t want it;” “Secretary of State
Seward years ago gave the ultimatum: ‘The Government wishes to act as a
free agent with option in the premises and in its own good time;’” “Dr.
Bellows has given it up;” “it’s no use, Miss Barton, to discuss this
question, it has been before the American people for many years and it’s
a dead issue, forever settled.”
Alone her task was wrought,
Alone the battle fought.
She took the rostrum, travelling from place to place throughout the
country; she appealed to the people in the name of God and humanity. She
was denounced as “that war woman;” “that woman who is trying to put
something over on the people;” “something behind it, or she wouldn’t be
spending her own money;” “wonder what she’s going to get out of it,
anyway?”
Senator John Sherman was then a tower of strength in this country. She
approached him on the subject. He was against it; said that he did not
see any use of going to this trouble; that making such preparation for
war would have a tendency to agitate the public, and bring on war. Oh,
no, Miss Barton, I can’t support such foreign organization as is your
proposed Red Cross. Besides, we will never have another war in this
country. Having given his final answer and subsided, the
ever-ready-with-answer Miss Barton remarked that it seemed to her years
ago, back in 1858, a certain Senator Sherman had made such a statement
in the Senate. Caught in a trap set by himself, yet graciously smiling,
the Senator replied, “Yes, I believe we did have a little brush after
that.” A second “brush” occurred, in 1898. Senator Sherman, then
Secretary of State, had occasion in connection with Red Cross work to
issue to the head of the Navy the following order: “I have the honor to
commend Miss Barton to the kind attention of your department.”
One of the ablest arguments ever presented on any national issue was
presented in an address in November, 1881, by Clara Barton on the Red
Cross issue “To the President, Congress and the People of the United
States.” In that masterful address among other things she said: “Yes,
war is a great wrong and sin and, because it is, I would provide not
only for but against it. But here comes the speculative theorist! Isn’t
it encouraging a bad principle? Wouldn’t it be better to do away with
all war? Wouldn’t peace societies be better? Oh, yes, my friend, as much
better as the millennium would be better than this, but the millennium
is not here. Hard facts are here; war is here; war is the outgrowth,
indicator and relic of barbarism. Civilization alone will do away with
it, and scarcely a quarter of the earth is yet civilized, and that
quarter not beyond the possibilities of war. It is a long step yet to
permanent peace.... Friends, was it accident, or was it Providence,
which made it one of the last acts of James A. Garfield, while in
health, to pledge himself to urge upon the representatives of his in
Congress assembled this great national step for the relief and care of
wounded men? Living or dying, it was his act and wish, and no member of
that honored, considerate, and humane body but will feel himself in some
manner holden to see it carried out.”
Among the first who became champions in her cause for the Red Cross were
Senators Conger of Michigan, William Windom of Minnesota, Chairman of
the Committee on Foreign Affairs, and who was the first to investigate,
and take the matter up, as a member of President Garfield’s Cabinet.
Senator E. G. Lapham, of New York, “who spared neither time nor thought,
patience nor labor, in his legal investigations of the whole matter;”
Senators Morgan of Alabama, Edmonds of Vermont, Hawley of Connecticut,
Anthony of Rhode Island, Hoar of Massachusetts, “all accorded to it
their willing interest and aid.” And also she had the support of the
eminent Secretary of State James G. Blaine, Presidents Garfield and
Arthur, as well as many other statesmen of whose services on this
measure there has been left no official record.
[Illustration:
THE INTERNATIONAL COMMITTEE OF THE RED CROSS (in 1898)
_Resolved_: That this conference declares that in obtaining the
accession
the United States of America to the Convention of Geneva, Miss Clara
Barton has well merited the gratitude of the world.—INTERNATIONAL
CONFERENCE
OF THE RED CROSS, Geneva, Switzerland, 1884.
]
Early Red Cross history reads like a tale of romance from some long ago
past century, the leading woman character inspirited by a power
superhuman. Was Clara Barton the Founder of the American Red Cross? Of
the millions of Americans who would esteem such honor, no one else so
much as lays claim to it. In appreciation, Monsieur Moynier, President
of the International Red Cross Committee, in an address delivered in
Europe on September 2, 1882, on “The Foundation of the American Society
of the Red Cross” in part said: “Its whole history is associated with a
name already known to you—that of Miss Barton. Without the energy and
perseverance of this remarkable woman we should probably not for a long
time have had the pleasure of seeing the Red Cross revived in the United
States. We will not repeat here what we have said elsewhere of the
claims of Miss Barton to your gratitude;—we know that on the first of
March she gained a complete victory.”
Commenting on her struggles, and expressing her natural desire for the
Red Cross, Clara Barton says: “A time will come when I shall lay down my
work. Out of the many years I have given to it has grown one great,
natural desire, a desire to leave my little immigrant of twenty-seven
years ago a great National Institution, in the hands of the people,
supported by the people, for their mutual help and strength in the face
of disaster; and I would have those who take it up and follow in our
footsteps freed from the severity of toil, the anguish of perplexity,
uncertainty, misunderstanding, and often privations, which have been
ours in the past.”
LXXVIII
War, although more tragic, is not the only evil that assails humanity.
CLARA BARTON.
Do you know that more than 1,500,000 persons were killed or injured in
automobile accidents in 1921? _Boston American_, May 16, 1922.
Not nearly all the sick and crippled are on the battlefield, nor is
all the danger there. CLARA BARTON.
Peace has her battlefields, no less than war. CLARA BARTON.
Day by day men and women are being maimed and killed in our great
industrial struggle, and in the rush and hurry of our strenuous life.
It is in the mitigation of the horrors of this strife, and of this
struggle, that the First Aid Department of the Red Cross is to find
its mission and its work. E. HOWE, Superintendent of the First Aid
Department, American National Red Cross (December 8, 1903).
The mission of the First Aid (National First Aid Association of
America) is to preserve the name of Clara Barton all over the country.
The work she accomplished during the Civil War placed her at the head
of the women of the country at that time, and her name should stand
forever before the American people. We all know how England is
reverencing the name of Florence Nightingale, and it is for America to
preserve the name of her Florence Nightingale in Clara Barton whose
efforts have been so world-wide as to place her at the head of woman’s
work for humanity throughout the world. MRS. J. SEWALL REED, first
Acting President, National First Aid Association of America (in
address to 9th annual meeting of the association held May 7, 1914).
The work of the National First Aid Association of America, which was
founded by the noble Clara Barton, continues to “Carry On” in the
philanthropic spirit which it has inherited from her. The association
is practically a college for National First Aid work, offering one
course of lectures, one textbook, one examination in kind, for all to
follow. The handsome diploma which is only granted to students
attaining 80 per cent., or over, upon a thorough examination is the
prized possession of thousands of graduates all over the United
States, Alaska, Panama, Canada and England. Thus do we honor our
president, Clara Barton, in death—world honored as she was in life for
her achievements for suffering humanity; for upon each diploma the
association has placed these words—“Clara Barton, Founder and
President.” ROSCOE GREEN WELLS, present Acting President, National
First Aid Association of America. October 15, 1921.
Clara Barton was a world worker for suffering humanity, and our first
president. As a perpetual tribute to her memory the National First Aid
Association of America has established her name as “President—In
Memoriam.” Clara Barton has passed on, but the noble spirit which
lived within her continues to live in her last great national
endeavor. MARY KENSEL WELLS, Secretary of the National First Aid
Association of America. October 16, 1921.
The First Aid will become time-honored in America, for it has come to
stay. Its character is broad and firm, its title clear; and although
young its organization is complete. It has its own characteristics, in
keeping with its motives,—neither ambition, self-seeking, nor
vain-glory, but good-will, helpfulness, kindliness, the spirit of Him
who gave his life for others, whose example we seek to follow, and
whose blessed birth was God’s great Christmas gift to the world. CLARA
BARTON (Christmas, 1905), President, the National First Aid
Association of America.
GREETINGS
To the Friends of these, and other, days:
“Merry Christmas and Happy New Year, Ay! Many New Years, each happier
than the last.
“The unerring records affirm that on Christmas day of 1821, 84 years
ago, I commenced this earthly life; still, by the blessing of God I am
strong and well, knowing neither illness nor fatigue, disability nor
despondency, and take the privilege of bringing to you an outline of My
Later Work (First Aid). * * * Work has always been a part of the best
religion I had.”
CLARA BARTON.
(In 1905.)
NATIONAL FIRST AID ASSOCIATION OF AMERICA
(Clara Barton, President In Memoriam; and First Aid Department in the
American National Red Cross)
On February 9, 1903, there was established in the American National Red
Cross a department known as “First Aid to the Injured.” Mr. Edward Howe,
a member of the St. John Ambulance Association of London, England, was
made the Superintendent of the department.
On December 8, 1903, Section 7 of the By-Laws to the Constitution was
adopted and provided for its permanent operation—the formation of
classes of instruction in first aid, methods of treatment of the injured
and other necessary provisions. On December 8, 1903, Superintendent Howe
made his first annual report, including the approval of thirty-five
States of the Union, through the Governors respectively; also his report
of its successful inception in Massachusetts. “The American Amendment”
to the Red Cross Treaty of Geneva, and relating to national disasters,
was thus followed by the First Aid Department to the Red Cross.
There are pioneer souls that blaze their paths
Where highways never ran;—
But let me live by the side of the road
And be a friend to man.
After Clara Barton’s retirement from the Presidency of the Red Cross in
1904, the First Aid Department was discontinued, but was reëstablished
January 2, 1910. Independent of the American National Red Cross Clara
Barton organized the National First Aid Association of America. She was
the President of the Association while she lived and, since her death,
to perpetuate the Clara Barton spirit and to be a permanent Memorial to
the Founder, Clara Barton is officially recognized as
“The President In Memoriam.”
The National First Aid Association of America was the development of a
little New England organization named The New England First Aid
Association, and Clara Barton was the Chairman of its Advisory Board.
When the work grew and calls came for classes from western and southern
states, it was Clara Barton who suggested the value of national
incorporation. Therefore, on April 18, 1905, The National First Aid
Association of America was incorporated, under the laws of the District
of Columbia, and Clara Barton accepted the Presidency.
“To Clara Barton’s First Aid,” thus addressed, are many letters which
arrive at the headquarters of The National First Aid Association of
America in Arlington, Massachusetts. Although not the corporate name of
the last great work of Clara Barton, it serves the purpose of
demonstrating that First Aid and Clara Barton are inseparable.
The real tribute of Clara Barton to the organization, which is today
paying tribute to her, lies in the following words of welcome which she
delivered at the second annual meeting of The National First Aid
Association of America in 1907, as its President. Opening her address by
reading a letter from former field workers, she continued:—
“They are not with us, and I have given this soulful letter in their
place.
“I have read it because it speaks the silent sentiment of a body of
people, few of whom are here, and few of whom you know. From far off
scattered homes they watch the flickering blaze of this new bonfire,
with an anxious tender interest you little dream of. Below its sparkling
flame they see the embers from which it springs. They live over again
the terrible fields of woe where the sufferers suffered, and the dying
died; where, in the moment of consternation paralyzing the whole land,
they stood, the sudden vanguard of order and relief, till other help
could reach—never asking for help—never shouting for aid nor money, but
trusting to the great hearts of the people to render what they had to
render, when they should understand the need. This, friends, was First
Aid, and the people were the doctors. We held life in the injured till
they could be reached.
“Did our method fail? Let the old friends answer. Was a more
satisfactory relief record ever made? Let the swollen Ohio and
Mississippi, Johnstown, the Sea Islands, Armenia, and Galveston make
reply. It was the foundation of knowledge through experience gained
there and then that makes this work and this day possible. These are the
smouldering embers watched from afar.
“But this, friends, is the giving, and the teaching of mere material aid
for human suffering; all to be done over and over again to the end of
time, and no one the wiser, no one knowing any better what to do than
before. This was charity. Blessed be it for ‘the greatest of these is
charity.’ Leave it to do its work in its own way.
“But out of this has come to us another feature of human beneficence,
having its foundation in knowledge; when one shall know, not only how to
give, but how to do, and possibly prevent; when every man may understand
his wounded brother’s need and how to meet it; when the mother shall
know how to save her child in accident; when even the child shall be
taught how to lessen the pain or to save the life of its playmate—then
comes the real help.
“Think, friends, what it would be—yes, what it will be, when all the
rough, sturdy men of danger, living every hour in the face of accident
and death, shall know what to do in the moment for his writhing
companion in toil; when the homes—the children in the streets and in the
schools—shall all possess the knowledge which this method of human
beneficence teaches—this is First Aid—this is what it stands for—the
lessons which it inculcates and its faithful apostles teach.
“So young, so tiny, this beginning seems to you, scarcely meriting the
attention or the aid of busy people.
“But, watch it, busy men and women, it will bear watching.
“We are here today to learn something of what it has accomplished in a
year.... I am dumb with amazement. The very thought of the diligence—the
tirelessness—the cheerful alacrity—the bravery with which obstacles have
been attacked—the courage with which they have been overcome—the single
handedness—the small means and the great results astonish, and gratify
me. So much for so little. Let me step aside and give place to the
report which will tell us all.”
The association is today what its name implies—The National Association
of First Aid in America. It is to the American people what the St. John
Ambulance Association is to England, and the St. Andrews Ambulance
Association is to Scotland. It is a college of National First Aid
instruction—offering one textbook, one course of lectures, one
examination, one diploma in kind for all.
For the past nine years, since the death of the Founder, it has given
service the Clara Barton way—promptly, efficiently, thoroughly—and its
classes send forth each year hundreds of National First Aid graduates
who are capable men and women, and who wear the little medallion of
National First Aid service (which only a graduate may purchase and
wear), out into a world of suffering humanity. Word of their activities
comes back to national headquarters from many fields—even from far off
India, South America, and the Hawaiian Islands. One graduate sent back
word from the Soudan, Africa, “What would we have done without National
First Aid when there is only one medical doctor to every 500,000
natives?”
Clara Barton said of The National First Aid Association of America:
“Another work reaches out its hands to me and I have taken them. The
humane and far sighted are pressing to its standard—the standard of
organized First Aid to the Injured.”
The true history of Clara Barton should not leave out the work of The
National First Aid Association of America, Clara Barton’s last work. If
so, the history of the great philanthropist becomes an unfinished
record. The association stands today as a working memorial to Clara
Barton. It continues to serve the American people under her name.
Without ostentation it continues its humane service, making friends,
sending forth efficient graduates, and carrying systematic and organized
First Aid instruction to every part of the country.
By a leading cosmopolitan newspaper: “It is said that every year more
than 11,000,000 persons, about one-tenth of the total population of the
United States, fall downstairs, get run over, drown, lean too far out of
the window or peer into a gun they ‘didn’t think was loaded,’ meeting
death or injury in these and kindred ways. Statisticians say that, when
war claims a victim, accident takes four victims.”
It is estimated that 100,000 fatal accidents occur annually in the
United States, and 500,000 accidents occur that render the victims
incapable of earning their own living. Hundreds of thousands are being
trained in first aid classes; and likewise many hundreds of thousands of
victims of accidents on the railways, in the factories, and on the
farms, are receiving the benefits of first aid assistance. The First Aid
Division of the American Red Cross is affiliated with the Young Men’s
Christian Association, the Young Women’s Christian Association, the Boy
Scouts of America, the Girl Scouts of America, and also allied with many
other humanitarian and patriotic associations.
“First Aid,” therefore, is becoming hardly less important in war and
peace than Red Cross Aid in war. Clara Barton’s constructive
humanitarian work in First Aid may yet be recognized by her country as
even of greater humanitarian service than her Red Cross achievement, or
that of the “American Amendment” to the International Red Cross. For
seven years—from the inception of the “First Aid” in 1905 to 1912—Clara
Barton was the unanimous choice of its members for President. To her
co-workers in her latest national humanitarian association are the
prophetic words of the “Mother of First Aid:”
“I believe the ‘First Aid’ to be the beginning of an organized movement
that shall permeate more homes, carry useful knowledge to more men and
women who would get it in no other way, assuage more suffering that
nothing else could reach, awaken an interest in the welfare of his
brother man in more rough toil-worn hearts unknown to it before, than
lies in our power to estimate or our hopes to conceive.”
LXXIX
Clara Barton worked for humanity, for whom she had a love unparalleled
in history. ALICE HUBBARD—In _The Fra_.
My first endeavor has been to wipe from the scroll of my country’s
fame the stain of imputed lack of common humanity—to take her out of
the rôle of barbarism. CLARA BARTON.
Alas! what a stony soil the Red Cross has sometimes found, and the
seeds scattered by the wayside many a day. CLARA BARTON.
With what fidelity, wisdom and unanimity it has fulfilled its
important and peaceful mission, its vast work of almost twenty years
(1901) has conclusively shown. CLARA BARTON.
The whole civilized world acclaims the noble character and good work
of Clara Barton. Portland (Oregon) _Union_.
The Clara Barton movement spanned the globe.
Springfield (Mo.) _Republican_.
Clara Barton is one of the greatest women that ever lived.
JULIA H. GULLIVER, President Rockford College.
I personally inspected the vouchers—In tracing the missing men Clara
Barton expended $2,000 more than the government gave her for the
expenses. U. S. SENATOR GRIMES, in a speech in the Senate.
Clara Barton expended from her own savings during the Civil War $1,000
each year ($4,000), receiving no pay nor salary, except her bare
living expenses and these expenses she paid, herself, largely.
FRANCES B. GAGE.
Miss Barton has devoted her life and strength to Red Cross work in
America and during which time she has not received, nor desired to
receive, a penny for her services. It will be readily seen that she
has made an investment in principal and interest for the benefit of
her countrymen to the amount of another quarter of a million of
dollars—half a million of dollars in all.
ELLEN SPENCER MUSSEY, Attorney for the Red Cross.
The life of Clara Barton ought to be taught in the public schools for
the enlightenment of all pupils, boys and girls, that they may
understand the work of the Red Cross and realize how great a task for
humanity was undertaken, and accomplished by a weak woman.
Woonsocket (R. I.) _Call_.
Largely through Clara Barton’s endeavors, the Red Cross became
international, with the national power represented by the Stars and
Stripes as one of its staunchest supporters. HON. JOHN M. ROSS,
President of District of Columbia Board of Commissioners.
We question whether there has been any man or woman in the world’s
history who has been a greater blessing to mankind than the
sweet-faced Clara Barton. _Topeka Daily Capital._
HUMANITARIANISM, UNPARALLELED IN ALL HISTORY
Greater than the organization of the American Red Cross, and of far more
reaching importance to the human race, was the securing of the so-called
American Amendment to the original International Red Cross treaty. To
secure this amendment, Clara Barton personally addressed the Governments
through the “International Committee of Geneva,” advocating the measure.
This measure was seriously considered by the “Congress of Berne,” and
adopted by the powers. The amendment is in force by every civilized
nation in the world—wherever there is a Red Cross Society. Through their
representatives, hundreds of millions of people are reaping continuing
benefits of this humanitarian Clara Barton measure.
The amendment permits the Red Cross to do the work of alleviating
distress in all national calamities, such as fire, flood, famine,
cyclone and earthquake. Under this amendment, Clara Barton
administered relief at Johnstown, Charleston, Carolina Islands—in all,
in about twenty disasters—relief of untold benefits to hundreds of
thousands of American people. No other woman in this country, nor in
the history of civilization, has to her credit an achievement of such
world-humanitarian influence.
Clara Barton, as President of the Red Cross, served for over twenty
years and on every field of national disaster then occurring in the
United States; and also served in Cuba through the Spanish-American War
within that period of time. Through that period of over twenty years,
not one dollar was drawn by her from the national treasury; with
confidence in her, the people contributed what was necessary. And,
further, unprecedented in all history was her self-sacrificing
humanitarian spirit in this, and in all similar work. Clara Barton, in a
personal letter, confides to her friend as follows: “In all my life, in
its various humanitarian activities, _I have never received, nor have I
desired, remuneration for my services_; and with the exception of the
$15,000 (expended out of my private funds and returned to me by the 39th
Congress), I have never received in all my life _anything in return for
my personal expenditures_.”
“During the first nineteen years, to maintain the Red Cross
Headquarters, to build up the Organization and carry on its work,”
according to an official report made to the House of Representatives by
the Red Cross Committee, “Clara Barton expended from her individual
funds an average of $4,000 a year, or a total of $76,000. This does not
include her expenses for the four years that followed while she was
President of the Red Cross, nor for the five years spent in securing for
this country the American Red Cross. Nor does this include the amount
expended by Miss Barton, after retiring from the Red Cross—from 1905 to
1912—in organizing and carrying on the work of the National First Aid
Association—this amount from her personal funds being about $5,000.”
As through her fifty years of public services she continuously expended
moneys from her personal funds, accepting no remuneration for her
services, it has been estimated by an ex-secretary of the Red Cross that
Clara Barton put the equivalent of a half million dollars in the Red
Cross Society.
LXXX
The great good Christian woman—one of God’s noblest creatures.
DOCTOR HENRY A. LATHROP, Author.
Clara Barton lives in deeds, and will be an inspiration to millions
who shall come after her.
CHAPLAIN COUDON, Nat’l House of Representatives.
Clara Barton bequeathed to the world a glorious heritage.
Birmingham (Ala.) _Age-Herald_.
Whatever the Red Cross accomplishes in the future; whatever it has
accomplished in the past, to this one woman (Clara Barton) belongs the
credit. It was her child, with which she blessed the race. 90,000
years will not blot out the mercies which Clara Barton set in motion.
Springfield (Ill.) _News_.
Clara Barton,—founder of the most philanthropic movement of the age—an
intrinsic part of world civilization. _Detroit Free Press._
World-wide, Clara Barton will be remembered.
Holyoke (Mass.) _Telegram_.
At the mention of the name of Clara Barton the world stands with
uncovered head. _Chicago Inter-Ocean._
Clara Barton, worthy immortality. JANE ADDAMS.
Clara Barton did a world’s work, and her name will be immortalized.
WILLIAM SULZER, Governor of New York.
At all of our early fields the Red Cross went, and worked, alone.
CLARA BARTON.
For twenty years (1901) the Red Cross work so small at first—a mere
speck—has grown up under our hands until its welcome blaze has
lightened the footsteps of relief for the entire and direful contest
of nations. CLARA BARTON.
CLARA BARTON’S PRAYER ANSWERED
In loud acclaim by the man whose arm had been cut off by order of the
Queen, with the other arm upraised there came forth from the throat of
the guiltless victim, “God Save Elizabeth.” Although her strong arm,
serving humanity for half a century, had been paralyzed by the tyrannous
“Powers that Be,” Clara Barton’s daily prayer, from 1904 to the closing
scene at Glen Echo in 1912, was “God Save the American Red Cross.”
The Mother’s prayer for the Red Cross has been gloriously answered; the
Red Cross is safe and the spirit of Clara Barton still lives.
Practically for 23 years Clara Barton was the Red Cross and the Red
Cross was Clara Barton. The American people knew none other than Clara
Barton. Through the confidence of the people in her, she received and
distributed to the suffering, $2,557,000.00, in money and supplies.
Through her Red Cross literature, her Red Cross talks from the rostrum
and as the official representative of this nation at the International
Red Cross Conferences in Europe, Clara Barton became widely known, and
the Clara Barton spirit became the spirit of every humanity-loving
household in America.
Tens of thousands of women who as girls learned to love her were proud
in the World War to wear, as nurses, the Red Cross badge of distinction.
Men of national fame were honored in accepting a position in the Red
Cross Service. Men of wealth were glad of the opportunity to finance
such a worthy organization, and of such deservedly good name, in
humanity’s cause.
Through the reputation of Clara Barton, the adhesion of the Government
to the “Treaty of Geneva” had been secured; by Congressional action and
the signature of the President, a national charter had been granted; the
American Government had given official recognition to the American Red
Cross. The American people recognize that, when the Mother of the Red
Cross retired from the Presidency, what she then said was true: “When I
retired from the Red Cross, my little nursling (Red Cross) had grown to
manhood. It was taken over with the highest reputation of any
organization in the country—its methods settled, its organization
unexceptional, its prestige assured at home and abroad, and a balance of
funds subject to its call, and sufficient for all its needs.”
A greater need arose; the call came and, Clara Barton’s home people in
Massachusetts leading all others in the Red Cross spirit, the American
people responded. They responded, up to January 1, 1918, to the number
of 21,000,000 in memberships, with 9,000,000 members additional of the
Junior Red Cross. Besides, there were more than 8,000,000 volunteer Red
Cross workers. The memberships, and volunteer enrollment workers, were
made possible on the lines laid down by Clara Barton; “I would recommend
the enrolling of the whole country under the banner of the Red Cross.”
In the first drive for funds, the Red Cross realized $110,000,000; in
the second drive, $135,819,911.56; a total in the two drives of
$245,818,911.56.
In less than eleven months the American people contributed more than
$300,000,000 to the Red Cross; through the World War up to February 18,
1919 $400,000,000. This enormous amount of money was used for the
benefit of the millions of soldiers and others, of this country and of
the allies. The foregoing memberships and financial strength have
verified Clara Barton’s conception of the Red Cross possibilities:
“The Red Cross is capable of becoming the largest organization in the
United States and one of the most useful.”
Of what she had done in her life-time, Governor W. R. Stubbs of Kansas
said: “Looking over history as far back as Mary of Galilee, I cannot
recall where God has chosen a maid servant—who has done more for
humanity than Clara Barton.” In prophecy of the future results of her
life’s work, Honorable George F. Hoar in the United States Senate said:
“Known not only throughout our land, but throughout the whole civilized
world, countless millions and uncounted generations will profit by the
humanity of which Clara Barton has been largely the embodiment.”
LXXXI
Clara Barton—America’s foremost philanthropist.
Pasadena (Calif.) _News_.
Clara Barton—the usefulness of this extraordinary woman.
San Jose (Calif.) _Herald_.
Clara Barton—the most useful woman of her day.
Bangor (Me.) _News_.
Clara Barton’s slogan: “People’s Help for National Needs.”
The American Red Cross (1896) never appeals for, nor solicits, aid for
any purpose. CLARA BARTON.
The Red Cross has received nothing from the Government. No fund has
been created for it. CLARA BARTON.
Not a penny of tax, nor dues, has ever been asked for the expenses of
the National Red Cross. CLARA BARTON.
Every dollar and every pound that has been received by the Red Cross
has been the free-will offering of the people, given for humanity
without solicitation and disbursed without reward.
CLARA BARTON.
The greatest work performed by the Red Cross has consisted in the
education of the peoples along the lines of humanity.
CLARA BARTON.
The Red Cross was “her child,” and Clara Barton naturally and
willingly provided for it. _Heroines of Modern Progress._
When the Government accepted the Red Cross, perhaps a bit arrogantly,
I felt that my end was accomplished and I was ready to give it up.
CLARA BARTON.
The Red Cross “opposes the arms of humanity to the arms of violence.”
CLARA BARTON.
Antagonistic to nothing the Red Cross can know neither jealousies nor
rivalry. CLARA BARTON.
The future of the Red Cross will be worthy of the labors and
sacrifices in which it originated. CLARA BARTON.
But for the never-ending kindly words that bade me strive on, I fear I
should have been inclined to give up the fight.
CLARA BARTON.
For me I had few words of prayerful gratitude and many memories of the
long years of patient watching that had brought the American Red Cross
even up to the point it had attained.
CLARA BARTON.
NOT THE VALUE OF A POSTAGE STAMP
In 1902 a party of friends visited Clara Barton in her Glen Echo Red
Cross home. In our party were two gentlemen from Mexico. One of the
latter, an Englishman, had lived in the “Land of the Montezumas” for
many years. He described to Miss Barton the people, their peculiar
customs, their love of music and the other arts, their beautiful Moorish
architecture, their lofty mountains and fertile valleys. Then he
portrayed the characteristics of Porfirio Diaz, the then popular ruler
of the Mexican Republic.
Miss Barton was much interested. She said that for some time she had
been doing what she could to get the Mexican Government to organize,
under the Geneva Convention, a Red Cross Society. With the tact of a
diplomat and the strategy of a general she laid out her plan of
campaign. She asserted that in no other country could so much good be
done by the Red Cross as in Mexico.
She wanted the influence of President Diaz. How could she get it?
Through whom? And of what assistance could her Mexican guests be to her?
That her guests might become interested in the Red Cross she described
in detail her work, how she got the necessary funds, the supplies, and
how they were distributed. She explained that whenever there was
suffering from flood, fire, famine—suffering anywhere in the world from
any cause—she would issue a call, setting forth the fact and needs.
Immediately thereafter, the good people would respond with money, food,
clothing. In some cases money and material were sent to her personally,
and sometimes to her as President of the Red Cross.
Also she would send out an appeal for assistants who would serve without
pay on any certain field of disaster. At that time the Government did
nothing whatever for the Red Cross; had not contributed towards it so
much even as the value of a postage stamp. Then the people were being
educated along the lines of humanity, and which Clara Barton said was
the most important work of the Red Cross Society. As the result of such
education and of its then growing importance, she predicted that
sometime it would be the largest organization in the United States. In
fulfillment of this prediction, in the World War, the people on one
occasion, in a few days, responded to a Red Cross call for $100,000,000.
[Illustration:
CLARA BARTON
The President (now In Memoriam) of the National First Aid Association
of America.
]
[Illustration:
HARRIETTE L. REED
With statesmanlike ability Clara Barton directed the affairs of
panic-stricken citizens paralyzed by the fearful calamities which
had overtaken them and rendered them powerless.—HARRIETTE L. REED
(Sister Harriette). Also known as Mrs. J. Sewall Reed, First Acting
President of the National First Aid Association of America, June 6,
1912–April 2, 1920.
]
The historic pictures on this page were taken each on the occasion of
the organization of the National First Aid Association of America, in
Boston, in 1905.
See page 257.
LXXXII
_In re_ a bill before Congress (1902) proposing an annuity of $5,000
for Clara Barton during life, in an official letter to Congress, she
protested as follows: “Any grant of Government moneys, either in aid
of this body (Red Cross) direct, or of myself as its President, would
be subversive of its principles and methods, and not to be desired.”
THE AUTHOR.
If those now (1904) at variance with me on Red Cross matters will meet
me in the same spirit by which I am animated, we cannot fail to adjust
all difficulties to our mutual satisfaction, and to the advantage of
the cause all should have at heart. CLARA BARTON.
Unless one is actually going down hill with a load, it is easier to
stop than to go on. CLARA BARTON.
I have nothing to gain from the Red Cross, and never have had.
CLARA BARTON.
In Red Cross work I have no ambitions to serve, and certainly no
purposes. CLARA BARTON.
I am glad that after thirty years our country has been awakened to the
thought that it could confer an honor on the Red Cross; and I wish you
could know how entirely indifferent I am to the _personal_ “honors”
conferred. CLARA BARTON.
No private individual in the world’s history has ever before been able
to command through a long term of years, and a continuous succession
of almost a score of great public disasters, the unlimited confidence
of the whole people, so that the response to each successive call has
been instant and in generous amount.
Contributions in money and supplies have been received for the relief
of the sufferers by these national calamities of more than $1,900,000.
The Officers and Members of the American National Red Cross (in
1903)—in a Memorial to Congress—From House Document No. 552, Volume
49, 58th Congress.
HONORARY PRESIDENCY FOR LIFE—PROPOSED ANNUITY
Miss Mabel T. Boardman, after the retirement of Clara Barton, became
Chairman of the Executive Committee of the American Red Cross Society.
In the following excerpts from letters in 1903, she certifies to the
_integrity_, good name and fame, of Clara Barton, this being at the time
the “MOTHER OF THE RED CROSS” was offered the Honorary Presidency for
life, with an annuity of $2,500:
“The character of Miss Barton nobody has assailed.
“No such assault was made, nor intended, upon Miss Barton’s character.
“No loss of confidence in Miss Barton’s personal integrity is meant.
“A proposition of —— which I should not for a moment have thought of
assenting to, if I had believed Miss Barton wanting in integrity.
“Believe me, there is no desire for one moment to humiliate Miss Barton
nor to withdraw her from any honor due her for past services in the
interest of humanity. The very fact of our trying to get up a fund for
Miss Barton to place her in an honorable position—is sufficient evidence
that there was no purpose to attack Miss Barton personally.
“I feel that by accepting the position of Honorary President for life
(with an annuity given as a token of appreciation of her past services)
Miss Barton will be placed in a most dignified and honorable position.
“Mr. Foster, Mr. Glover, Mr. Chas. Bell, Mr. Walsh and my Father will
act as guarantors of the annuity for the first year.
“As to the annuity;—five or six responsible gentlemen, such as Messrs.
Bell, Glover, and others, would sign a letter guaranteeing to Miss
Barton, for the first year, an annuity of $2,500, and pledging
themselves to have set on foot a movement to raise a Red Cross fund,
within a year, out of which should be paid to Miss Barton a similar
annuity during life.
“People are continually urging that a complete investigation be made of
Red Cross expenditures and methods, beginning with the Johnstown
disaster, the Armenia disaster, Russian famine, Sea Islands, etc.; but
we do not want to have to do this, and will not, if Miss Barton in the
true interest of the Red Cross, and in the true interest of her own name
and fame, will consent to take the distinguished position of Honorary
President.” (The foregoing are excerpts from a letter by Miss Mabel T.
Boardman under date of February 20th, 1903, and found in Document 552,
House Documents, Volume 49,—58th Congress.)
Under date of February 18, 1903, Honorable John W. Foster, of the Red
Cross Society, the ex-Secretary of State, in a letter says: “We have
canvassed the matter of a proper person to succeed Miss Barton as
President (she accepting the place of Honorary President,) and the best
fitted person for the position seems to be Admiral Van Reypen.... It is
presumed he would be acceptable to Miss Barton. As to the annuity: five
or six responsible gentlemen—will sign a letter guaranteeing to Miss
Barton for the first year an annuity of $2,500 and pledging themselves
to have set on foot a movement to raise a Red Cross fund, within a year,
out of which should be paid to Miss Barton a similar annuity during
life.” (From House Document No. 552, Volume 49, 58th Congress.)
The official records show that the highest representative of a former
Administration, the minority and majority in the so called “controversy”
unanimously commended the name of Clara Barton; and in writing the
minority, through Miss Mabel T. Boardman, unanimously solicited Clara
Barton to become, and to remain for life, Honorary President of the Red
Cross.
NOTE.—For reasons which seemed good to Clara Barton and her friends
the foregoing named annuity and _honor_ were declined. THE AUTHOR.
LXXXIII
Clara Barton’s services in the Franco-German war, as a member of the
Red Cross, were memorable throughout both continents. Holyoke (Mass.)
_Telegram_.
There are old soldiers, veterans of the German battlefield, who still
live and tell with tear-dimmed eyes of Clara Barton’s work among the
wounded and the dying. Sioux Falls (S. D.) _Press_.
O, reputation! dearer far than life. SIR WALTER RALEIGH.
A good name is rather to be chosen than great riches.
PROVERBS.
Good name, in man or woman, is the immediate jewel of their souls.
OTHELLO.
Why persecutest thou me? ACTS.
Those about her
From her shall read the perfect ways of honor.
KING HENRY VIII.
Miss Barton witnessed the work of the Red Cross during 1870. MABEL T.
BOARDMAN—In “_Under the Red Cross Flag at Home and Abroad_.”
In 1870–71 Clara Barton attached herself by invitation to the foreign
Red Cross, and in that relation was actually in the Red Cross work
during the entire Franco-Prussian war.
Red Cross Committee.
My physical strength had long ceased to exist, but on the borrowed
force of love and memory I strove with might and main—I walked its
hospitals day and night; I served in its camps, and I marched with its
men; and I know whereof I speak.
CLARA BARTON.
During the eighteen months of European experience I worked with the
Red Cross on my arm. The horrors and sufferings of Weissenburg,
Woerth, and Hagenau, Strasbourg, Metz, Sedan and Paris—poor twice
shattered Paris—and every besieged and desolated city of France fell
under my observation and shared the labor of my hands through eighteen
hard and dreadful months.
CLARA BARTON, in public address at Cape May.
Truth, like the sun, submits to be obscured; but, like the sun, only
for a time. BOVEE.
Our dearly beloved and most honored Clara Barton! She understood fully
the meaning of the Red Cross, and knew well how to put into action the
great and beautiful, though difficult, duties of the Red Cross. How
shall I forget what she was to us here in the year 1870, helping us
during the time of war we had to go through with then! God grant her
peace eternal! There where her beautiful soul will live in the glory
of Christ.
LUISE, Grand Duchess of Baden (1912).
OMISSION OF, OR ACQUIESCENCE IN, THE TRAGEDY OF 1904
“PASSES THE BUCK”
It may be we shall let most of the period of the differences with the
Red Cross remain in solution till the larger life and letters (by
William E. Barton).
Reverend Percy H. Epler,
(In 1915)
One of the “Committee to Advise,” and
Author of “The Life of Clara Barton.”
“REFUSES TO ANTE”
If there was any lack of consideration for Clara Barton, it would do
no good now to remember it.
Reverend William E. Barton,
(In 1922)
One of the “Committee to Advise,” and
Author of “The Life of Clara Barton.”
Years were to Clara Barton merely opportunities of service, not
measures of life. This attitude prolonged her life and kept her young
in spirit.
At ninety (1911) there was no mark of physical infirmity upon her nor
was there any slightest slacking in the interest of the object for
which she long had cared.
Senility was farther removed from her at ninety (1911) than from most
women at sixty.
At the age of ninety-one (1912) there was not a physical lesion nor a
diseased organ in the body.
She lived to enter her tenth decade, and when she died (1912) was
still so normal in the soundness of her bodily organs and in the
clarity of her mind and memory that it seemed she might easily have
lived to see her hundredth birthday.
WILLIAM E. BARTON
“Her Cousin, the Author.”
(“William E. Barton is one of our third or fourth cousins.
Stephen E. Barton,”)
Clara Barton’s Nephew, and Dedicatee of
Barton’s “Life of Clara Barton.”
At no time in her life has Miss Barton been in sounder bodily or
mental health or better able to continue the work to which her years
of experience and natural endowments have preeminently fitted her.
Moreover, the nation’s confidence is Miss Barton’s, and no hand can
better guide its Red Cross work than hers.
Red Cross Committee, officially, to Congress.
Written report unanimously concurred in.
(In 1903.)
Year after year your President has framed and offered her resignation
to the preceding Board and Committees. These have been resolutely met
by appointment for life. CLARA BARTON.
Miss Barton has resigned three times before this time (May 14, 1904)
but every time we have elected her again unanimously; and twice we
have elected her for life and every member, 315 in number, voted for
her. W. H. SEARS, Secretary for Clara Barton.
I certify that at the meeting of the American National Red Cross, held
in Washington, D. C, December 9, 1902, on motion to elect Clara Barton
President of the organization for life, a standing vote was taken,
resulting as follows: Ayes 28, noes 3, the three negative votes
being....
S. W. BRIGGS, Secretary, Red Cross Committee.
It is the Red Cross, without the glamor of war or disaster, to attract
your interest, that I bring to you to nourish and protect.
CLARA BARTON.
When the Government accepted the Red Cross, perhaps a bit arrogantly,
I felt that my end was accomplished and that I was ready to give it
up. CLARA BARTON.
It is a pride as well as a pleasure to hand to you an organization
perfectly formed, thoroughly officered, with no debts and a sum of
from $12,000 to $14,000 available to our treasury as a working fund.
(Amount realized $15,541.89. The Author.) CLARA BARTON (on May 14,
1904, in offering her resignation as President).
It would be strange, if after so many years of earnest effort for the
relief of human suffering, during which time I have always lived and
moved in the full glare of the public gaze, I could not now safely
trust my character and good name to the care of the American people.
CLARA BARTON.
[Illustration:
MRS. JOHN A. LOGAN
Clara Barton is the greatest woman of this, or any other, age.—MRS.
JOHN A. LOGAN, the Vice-President under Clara Barton; the President
of the American Red Cross Society, May 14, 1904–June 16, 1904.
It is an unspeakable joy to me that the toil-worn, weary mantle, that
drops from mine, falls upon the shoulders of my vice-president, the
woman so cherished in our own country and honored and trusted in
other countries.
CLARA BARTON.
]
CLARA BARTON’S RESIGNATION
At a meeting of the American National Red Cross, held December 10, 1901,
President Clara Barton said: “at that meeting (July 10, 1900) I brought
my armor, worn and rusted, and reverently laid it at your feet with the
request that I be released. You declined to permit me to retire. I again
lay my armor before you, recommending the filling of this most eminent
position in your gift by someone better fitted than I ever have been to
assume its duties, and wear its honors.” The Red Cross again refused to
accept the resignation.
The so called “charges” against Miss Barton were made December 10, 1903.
The case was heard before the Proctor Red Cross Committee on May 3,
1904. Only one witness testified and, as elsewhere stated, he refused to
be cross examined whereupon his statements were discredited, the case
summarily dismissed for want of evidence, and on motion of the committee
itself. Miss Barton previously had been re-elected, almost unanimously,
to succeed herself.
The “remonstrants” discredited, their “charges” found baseless, Miss
Barton vindicated, on May 14, 1904, she again offered her resignation[7]
of the Presidency, this time in favor of Mrs. General John A. Logan, and
insisted on its acceptance. Her friends protested her resignation;
insisted she should not resign but should hold the position for life.
Miss Barton persisted in sacrificing herself for what she _then_ thought
would be in the interest of harmony, and the cause nearest her heart.
The following is the personal explanation of her then attitude of mind.
Footnote 7:
Clara Barton resigned the presidency May 14, 1904. Mrs. John A. Logan
succeeded to the presidency, holding the office until June 16, 1904.
Mrs. Logan nominated W. H. Taft as her successor. Mr. Taft declining
then to serve, Admiral W. K. Van Reypen, according to Red Cross
official records, acted as president pro tern until January 8, 1905,
when Mr. Taft accepted the presidency.
“In initiating measures for the conciliation of opposing interests and
views, it may seem to some of my friends that I have overlooked just
grounds of personal offence in imputations wantonly made upon my honor
and integrity. I do so knowingly and willingly, and because the cause
that the American Red Cross is meant to promote stands first in my
affections and my desires. It would be strange if it did not—if the
cause for which I have devoted myself for half a century were not deemed
by me worthy of any possible sacrifice of personal pride or personal
interest.”
’Tis not the house and not the dress,
That makes the saint or sinner,
To see the spider sit and spin,
Shut with her walls of silver in,
You would never, never, never guess,
The way she gets her dinner.
Had she entered the spider’s web of the society “remonstrant”; had she
accepted the proposed annuity—and proposed honor of Honorary President,
and thrown her child to the sharks, Clara Barton’s frail bark would have
been towed into port, in peace. Instead, with her never failing courage
she took to the life boat, on a stormy sea, and survived the storm to
hand over her Red Cross child not to an unworthy, but to her Country and
humanity.
LXXXIV
No cynic will find a flaw in what Miss Barton did.
Boston (Mass.) _Record_.
The spiteful factionist, to be found in every cause—even the cause of
Christ himself—formed an opposition to Miss Barton.
Harrisburg (Pa.) _Telegram_.
Truth hath a quiet breast. SHAKESPEARE.
Great souls suffer in silence. SCHILLER.
Silence is the Mother of Truth. EARL OF BEACONSFIELD.
Come, let us have peace. U. S. GRANT.
Peace to the land forevermore. CLARA BARTON.
I never spoke a discordant word in my life, meaningly.
CLARA BARTON.
Like her Master, whom she followed, Clara Barton opened not her mouth.
KATE BROWNLEE SHERWOOD.
And when He was accused by the chief priests and elders He answered
nothing. ST. MATTHEW.
NO RED CROSS CONTROVERSY
“There has been no Red Cross controversy,” says Clara Barton, “as the
sensational press has termed it, inasmuch as the Red Cross has taken no
controversial part. It has only spoken when it _must_, and as little as
possible, and its President not at all, nor ever will.
“When it is necessary for me to defend myself before the _American
people_, let me fall. I should not value the defense thus gained, and I
trust I shall never feel it needful.”
In her later years the following was oft quoted by Clara Barton:
The stars come nightly to the sky,
The tidal wave unto the sea
I’ll rail no more ’gainst time or tide,
For lo! my own shall come to me.
LXXXV
A Greek Red Cross on a field of white should tell any soldier of any
country within the treaty that the wearer was his friend and could be
trusted; and to any officer of any army that he was legitimately
there, and not subject to capture. CLARA BARTON.
This is what the Red Cross means, not an order of knighthood, not a
commandery of it, not a secret society, not a society at all by
itself, but the powerful, peaceful sign and the reducing to practical
usefulness of one of the broadest and most needed humanities the world
has ever known. CLARA BARTON.
I hope that all the patriotic and humane men, women and children of
the United States who are able to do so, will give it (the Red Cross)
their support by becoming members of our national organization.
EX-PRESIDENT THEODORE ROOSEVELT.
I hereby commend the plan of the Red Cross to secure a large
membership in this country. I hope the American people will prove as
patriotic in this respect as are the people of other nations, so that
we may be as well prepared as they to render relief in the misfortune
of war or to mitigate the suffering caused by pestilence, famine,
fire, floods, mine explosions and other great disasters.
EX-PRESIDENT W. H. TAFT.
A large, well-organized and efficient Red Cross is essential. It is
both a patriotic and humane service that is rendered by every citizen
who becomes a member of the American Red Cross.
EX-PRESIDENT WOODROW WILSON.
I perceive that in creating an institution that shall be National and
of the people the foundations must be as broad and as solid as the
whole nation. CLARA BARTON.
The Red Cross has become well known and well beloved. Of all the great
humanitarian institutions of this country the Red Cross is surely
among the greatest. CLARA BARTON.
Though we may leave our task unaccomplished, the task may be glorious
in design if not in completion, and speak of us sincerely and with
more fitting substance than words could ever compass or suggest. CLARA
BARTON.
The Red Cross is the Big Brother of the Fighting Man.
GENERAL LEONARD WOOD.
The Red Cross is the most generally recognized humanitarian movement
in the known world. CLARA BARTON.
The Red Cross has awakened the senses, and attuned the public ear to
the cry of distress wherever emanating. CLARA BARTON.
The Treaty of Geneva takes its powers from the common consent of the
United Governments of the civilized world.
CLARA BARTON.
Human intelligence has devised the provisions of the Red Cross, and it
is peculiarly adapted to popular favor. CLARA BARTON.
It is probable that no sign nor figure in the secular world is sacred
to so many people as is the Red Cross of Geneva. CLARA BARTON.
The insignia, which has given its name to the Treaty of Geneva, has
become universally known and respected. CLARA BARTON.
The Red Cross never leads, but follows, in all military matters.
CLARA BARTON.
The Red Cross has given rise to most valuable inventions and, under
its humane impulses, sanitary science has made rapid progress.
CLARA BARTON.
Inspired by the love of humanity and the world-wide motto of the Red
Cross: “In time of peace and prosperity, prepare for war and
calamity.” CLARA BARTON.
[Illustration:
© _Clinedinst, Washington, D. C._
AMBASSADOR BAKHMETEFF
The veneration in which Russians of every class hold the name of Clara
Barton.—RUSSIAN AMBASSADOR BORIS BAKHMETEFF (in Boston in 1917).
The Ambassador requested me to transmit to you the expression of every
loyal Russian appreciation for the splendid work done by the
American Red Cross during the last war, and especially for its
assistance to the needy in Russia.—G. GAGARINE, First Secretary to
the Embassy (in Washington in 1920).
]
Some forty nations are in the Red Cross treaty, and from every
military hospital in every one of these nations floats the same flag.
CLARA BARTON.
Of all existing organizations, there is possibly not one that has
causes for sentiment of higher devotion and more prayerful gratitude
than the Red Cross, which owes its very life to pity and help for the
woes of the world. CLARA BARTON.
The Red Cross means not national aid for the needs of the people, but
the people’s aid for the needs of the nation.
CLARA BARTON.
History records the wonderful achievements of the Red Cross, greatest
of relief organizations, though it cannot record the untold suffering
which has been averted by it. CLARA BARTON.
I desire to enroll all to whom this message may come as subscribing,
or sustaining, members of the Red Cross; and I wish this idea to
spread and grow until it develops into a great National Red Cross
movement. Then my hope will be realized. And when the call shall come
I can lay the burden of my work tenderly and lovingly into the lap of
the whole people, with whom I have labored so many years, and who will
keep and cherish it always because it is the sacred cause of humanity
they hold. CLARA BARTON.
In France recently there was found in the mails an unstamped postcard
addressed, “Clara Barton, Heaven,” and on the card was written, “You
certainly founded a wonderful institution,” and signed “A Soldier.”
_Press Dispatch._
No country is more liable than our own to great overmastering
calamities, various, widespread and terrible. CLARA BARTON.
Seldom a year passes that the nation, from sea to sea, is not by the
shock of some sudden, unforeseen disaster, brought to utter
consternation and stands shivering like a ship in a gale, powerless,
terrified and despairing. CLARA BARTON.
Through Clara Barton’s influence the International Congress of Berne
adopted the “American Amendment.”
MARY R. PARKMAN, Author.
Although the original purpose and object of the Red Cross was indeed
to heal the wounds and sickness incident to warfare, there will remain
the work under the “American Amendment,” in which the Red Cross goes
forth to heal other great ills of life.
CLARA BARTON.
INTERNATIONAL RED CROSS—AMERICAN RED CROSS—AMERICAN AMENDMENT
The International Treaty of Geneva—Red Cross—dates from August 23rd,
1864. The Red Cross is a Confederation of Societies in different
countries for the amelioration of the condition of wounded soldiers in
arms, in campaigns on land and sea. The World Society originated with
Henri Dunant of Switzerland, after seeing the condition from neglect of
the wounded at the battle of Solferino, Italy, on June 24, 1859. Gustave
Moynier, also of Switzerland, called a meeting at Geneva, Switzerland,
and the organization followed—August 23, 1864.
France was the first nation to adopt the treaty, this being September
23, 1864. The United States was the thirtieth in the list of nations
adopting the treaty, this being on March 1, 1882. Up to the present time
49 nations have acceded to the Treaty of Geneva. In this list are the
following possessing a National Red Cross Society:
1. Wurtemberg
2. Belgium
3. Prussia
4. Denmark
5. France
6. Italy
7. Spain
8. Hessie (Grand Duchy)
9. Portugal
10. Sweden
11. Norway
12. United States
13. Saxony
14. Baden
15. Switzerland
16. Russia
17. Austria
18. Netherlands
19. Bavaria
20. Turkey
21. Great Britain
22. Montenegro
23. Serbia
24. Roumania
25. Greece
26. Peru
27. Argentine
28. Hungary
29. Bulgaria
30. Japan
31. Congo
32. Venezuela
33. Uruguay
The following are governments that have signed the Geneva convention but
have not Red Cross Chapters recognized by the International Committee:
34. Bolivia
35. Brazil
36. Chili
37. Colombia
38. Cuba
39. Ecuador
40. Guatemala
41. Haiti
42. Panama
43. Siam
44. Luxembourg
45. Mexico
46. Persia
47. Honduras
48. Nicaragua
49. China
Anticipating the adoption of the treaty by the United States, in July
1881 the American Association of the Red Cross was organized,
seventy-five persons present with Clara Barton the President. The United
States Senate having acceded to the Treaty of Geneva, its ratification
was proclaimed by President Arthur July 26, 1882. This association was
incorporated April 17, 1883, under the name American National Red Cross;
reincorporated by Act of Congress, the charter signed by President
McKinley June 6, 1900. That charter was repealed and a new charter
substituted, the same being adopted by an Act of Congress and approved
by President Roosevelt January 5, 1905. Under the new charter the name
continued to be The American National Red Cross. Section 4 of this Act
was amended by an Act of Congress, and approved by President Taft June
23, 1910. This amendment relates to the collection of moneys by
authorized agents, the use of the Red Cross emblem or any other insignia
colored, and similar matters. A second amendment was adopted by Congress
and approved by the President December 12, 1912, and relates to the time
of the annual meeting.
The American National Association of Red Cross (organized in July 1881)
was independent of the Treaty of Geneva; it was a private association,
but Miss Barton was constantly urging this Government’s adhesion to the
Red Cross Treaty of Nations. In compliment to Clara Barton, she was
invited to address a meeting at Dansville, New York. As a result there
was formed on August 2, 1881, the first local Society of the Red Cross
in the United States of America.
In September 1881, the Michigan forest fires occurred. This became the
first test of the merits of the Red Cross work in America. Miss Barton
was at this time also invited to make an address on this subject to the
citizens of Syracuse, New York. A proposition to organize an auxiliary
in that city was made at the close of the meeting. The amount there
raised for the relief of the Michigan sufferers was $3,807.28, the new
Red Cross Auxiliary Society numbering 250 members. This, in brief, is
the history of the inception of the Red Cross and the two auxiliaries in
America.
[Illustration:
ELUTHEROS K. VENIZELOS
Although I never met Miss Barton, her achievement in establishing the
American Red Cross is such as to win for her the lasting gratitude
of many millions of people all over the world.
Greece, in particular, will never forget the noble work accomplished
here by the American Red Cross. Its aid has been invaluable during
the world war and I am therefore glad to be given this opportunity
to pay this small tribute to the founder and first President of this
splendid organization.
ELUTHEROS K. VENIZELOS,
The Ex-Premier of Greece.
]
Of the Michigan forest fires Clara Barton said: “So sweeping has been
the destruction that there is not food enough left in its wake for a
rabbit to eat, and indeed there is no rabbit, if there were food.”
In the spring of 1882 for hundreds of miles there overflowed the raging
waters of the Mississippi, destroying homes and causing great suffering.
Again the new association responded to the cries of distress. While the
National Association was in session, devising ways and means for
extending relief, a messenger came from the U. S. Senate announcing that
the United States had acceded to the Treaty of Geneva. “Through all the
past years, during which the Red Cross has sought recognition,
protection and cooperation of the Government,” says Clara Barton, “it
has been but for one purpose—to be ready.” The relief of suffering in
national disasters, hitherto unknown in the history of the world through
Miss Barton had become popular among the American people.
The ratifying powers at Berne accepted the National American Red Cross
with the proposed Clara Barton amendment, generally known as the
American Amendment. The system for relief work in national disasters,
made popular in the United States through Clara Barton, was later
approved and adopted by the International Red Cross Committee of the
Treaty of Geneva. It has therefore become a part of the Red Cross system
of all Treaty nations. These nations, representing a population of more
than one billion of human beings, or four-fifths of the human race, are
now enjoying the beneficence of the constructive genius of Clara Barton.
LXXXVI
Clara Barton—one of God’s noblest. Augusta (Ga.) _Journal_.
One of the world’s greatest.
Sacramento (Cal.) _Record-Union_.
Honored in three continents. St. Paul (Minn.) _Dispatch_.
Her movement spanned the globe.
Springfield (Mo.) _Republican_.
The preferring of charges against Clara Barton, and her subsequent
investigation, is one of the rankest instances of injustice in the
history of this country. Unfounded charges, political spite and the
hope of remuneration,—the charges were refuted and the schemers were
discredited, but politics had triumphed and Miss Barton was cast
aside. Los Angeles (Cal.) _Examiner_.
It was demanded of Clara Barton that she give an accounting of goods
and food distributed to dying and wounded on the battlefield. The
unspeakable Turk never did anything as bad as this.—But that
investigation was only an exigency, an excrescence, a malformation, a
wart on the nose. _The Fra_, East Aurora, N. Y.
Squint-eyed slander. BEAUMONT AND FLETCHER.
Slanderous as Satan. SHAKESPEARE.
Slander expires at a good woman’s door. EWALD.
’Twas slander filled her mouth with lying words,
Slander, the foulest whelp of sin.
POLLOCK—_Course of Time_.
Slander, meanest spawn of Hell—
And woman’s slander is the worst.
TENNYSON—_The Letters_.
’Tis slander “whose breath
Rides on posting winds and doth belie
All corners of the world.” CYMBELINE.
If the end brings me out all right what is said against me won’t
amount to anything. ABRAHAM LINCOLN.
Truth is generally the best vindication against slander.
ABRAHAM LINCOLN.
Speak not evil of the dead. CHILO.
They that slander the dead are like envious dogs that bark, and bite,
at bones. ZENO.
A poor lone woman. SHAKESPEARE.
Done to death by slanderous tongues. SHAKESPEARE.
Speak me fair in death. SHAKESPEARE.
And thereby hangs a tale. SHAKESPEARE.
The greater the truth the greater the libel. LORD MANSFIELD.
The greatest friend of truth is Time. COLTON-LACON.
Truth is the daughter of Time. MAZZINI.
Truth is Truth. TENNYSON.
There is nothing so powerful as truth. DANIEL WEBSTER.
Truth pierces the clouds; it shines like the sun and, like it, is
imperishable. NAPOLEON.
The happiest women, like the happiest nations, have no history.
GEORGE ELIOT.
All error, false hate, malice, evil company and their kindred, are
sure to find their true value, and though apparently successful are
doomed to die at last. CLARA BARTON.
The Almighty has his own purposes. ABRAHAM LINCOLN.
We never know the uses the Master will put us to. His designs are
known only to himself. CLARA BARTON.
When you come to the certain conclusion that only truth and justice
are eternal, you will find it easy to wait and let the Heavens rule.
CLARA BARTON.
Nothing but truth lives. CLARA BARTON.
My Lord will help me. JOAN OF ARC.
God shows me the way I shall go. JOAN OF ARC.
We are all lost! We have burned a saint.
TRESSART, Secretary to Henry VI.
Would that my soul were where I believe the soul of that woman is.
JOHN ALESPIE,
PETER MAURICE.
(Two of the judges that condemned Joan of Arc.)
First in the list of American great women is Clara Barton; first in
her ideals; first in her achievements. In America, she ranks with
Jeanne d’Arc, of France, to whom the English are now (1818) placing a
monument in Manchester.
CORRA BACON-FOSTER, Author, _Clara Barton, Humanitarian_.
Joan of Arc was rather tall, well shaped, dark, with a look of
composure, animation and gentleness. GUIZOT.
It is not true, I think, that Miss Barton has ever done anything to
disentitle her to a conspicuous recognition in the Red Cross Building.
EX-SECRETARY OF STATE RICHARD OLNEY (in 1917). (The eminent American
selected by the “Remonstrants” in 1903, and unanimously approved by
the Red Cross, to name the members of the Red Cross Proctor
Committee—to investigate the “charges.”)
[Illustration:
GROVER CLEVELAND
The President, March 4, 1885–March 4, 1889; March 4, 1893–March 4,
1897
Miss Barton, I want you to represent the United States at the
International Red Cross Conference at Carlsruhe, Germany.
FREDERICK T. FRELINGHUYSEN (in 1887),
Secretary of State, under Grover Cleveland.
I thank you, Mr. Secretary, but I cannot do so; I am ill.—CLARA
BARTON.
Miss Barton, all the country knows what you have done, and are more
than satisfied. Regarding your illness, you have had too much fresh
water, Miss Barton, I recommend salt.—FREDERICK T. FRELINGHUYSEN.
]
There is, and can be, no foundation for such a charge.... During all
the twenty-five years that Miss Barton has devoted herself to the Red
Cross work she has been in receipt of an individual income which it
has been her pleasure to use in defraying her own expenses and for
such helpers as the extensive correspondence compelled.
(Signed Red Cross Committee
By WALTER P. PHILLIPS Chairman,
SAMUEL M. JARVIS,
J. B. HUBBELL.)
(In a Memorial to Congress, March 3, 1903—from House Document No. 552,
Vol. 49, 58th Cong.)
Wherein ... was removed from his position, under Miss Barton, he said:
“I can stand a great deal of cuffing, but then my time will come, so
help me God I will not humbly submit to all I am having to bear.” ...
was brought to Washington from a distant State ... principal witness
for the “Remonstrants.” Mr. Stebbins and I were convinced that ...’s
object was blackmail.
W. H. SEARS, Attorney for Red Cross.
... conspired to supplant Miss Barton by destroying her name and fame.
Miss Barton resigned in my favor. Hoping to secure justice for Miss
Barton I accepted the Presidency, but finding that I would be unable
to assume the onerous duties as her successor, with Miss ...’s
insatiable desire to be at the head of the Red Cross, I resigned in
favor of a party Miss ... dared not oppose. Affidavit by MRS. JOHN A.
LOGAN. (From a book of 177 pages by General W. H. Sears, in a report
to the Library Committee of Congress, in 1916.)
... not one of whom (“remonstrants”) ever went to a field nor gave a
dollar, above fees; and half of whom were never known as members until
now they appear in protest against the management. CLARA BARTON
(1903).
As to the threat of an investigation, if there be any, Miss Barton
cannot assent that it be suppressed by any act of hers. Red Cross
Committee, 1903. From House Document No. 552, Vol. 49th, 58th
Congress.
The Red Cross up to this time, 1898, had kept clear of political
rings, and uncontaminated. Miss Barton was the acknowledged chief in
authority. The Society had begun to win the most enviable reputation;
it was growing to be a power; and politicians who had hogged
everything else, from a cross-roads postoffice to a foreign minister,
had begun to lay plans for displacing Miss Barton with a wife, niece,
or daughter of a Washington politician. Miss Barton was probably not
aware of this unholy scheme at this time. Perhaps, even if she had
been, it would not have disturbed the serenity of her countenance for
she was working for God and humanity. _Under the Red Cross; or the
Spanish-American War_ (Page No. 154, book published 1898; Author,
Doctor Henry M. Lathrop; Editor, John R. Musick.)
BLACKMAIL ALLEGED—“CONGRESSIONAL INVESTIGATION”—TRUTH OF HISTORY
Joan of Arc was born in 1410; Clara Barton in 1821—411 years
later. The former became the leader of the armies of France; the
latter, the leader of humanitarianism in America. Each was a
patriot—self-sacrificing—serving not for self-glory, but for a
great cause. The little clique of politicians and military
aristocracy plied Joan of Arc for five months with “catch
questions” on “trumped-up” charges, then condemned her to be
burned at the stake. The little clique of politicians and social
aristocracy plied Clara Barton with “catch questions” on
“trumped-up” charges, then tried to condemn her to eternal
ignominy. General Leonard Wood, humanity’s friend and chivalric,
with whom Clara Barton served in the camp, the hospital, and on
the battlefield, says: “There is a call for women actuated by the
same spirit of service as a Deborah, a Joan of Arc, a Molly
Pitcher—women who will carry forward the work begun by Clara
Barton and Florence Nightingale.”
Let the ends thou aimest at be thy country’s
Thy God’s and Truth.
Clara Barton met her fate in the Nation’s Capital. Says _The Fra_: “The
clique went before Congress and secured an amended charter to the Red
Cross, which included none of Miss Barton’s friends. Because the name of
Clara Barton headed the list, the bill was passed; the members of
Congress supposed it was a bill that Miss Barton wanted. This was done
without Miss Barton’s knowledge or consent. However, Miss Barton was
ignored by the new organization. Her name has never been mentioned in
their reports or publications; she has never been invited to attend any
meeting of the Society which she had created, and established in this
country.”
The Red Cross then was non politics, non society, non salary, non graft.
President Clara Barton was obdurate, non pliable. She could not _be
used_. Her virtues became her undoing. She was retired. From Europe, for
inspiration in America, was brought the English heroine;—suppressed or
belittled, the American Red Cross Mother in semi-official literature,
“At Home and Abroad.” The _coup_ won—the conspiracy completely
triumphed. And how the official records disclose.
Washington is the rendezvous of “in full dress”
criminals—character-assassins,—“that strange bedlam composed largely of
social climbers and official poseurs.” They carry a stiletto, half
truth, but in desperate cases make use of slander, of forty-five
calibre. Their prospective victims range from rich Uncle Sam down to a
poor lone woman, of charity. They ply their vocations sometimes, through
envy, for self-glorification; sometimes, through ambition, for
self-exaltation. While Washington was having the _honor_ of dishonoring
the great American philanthropist, a western town was offering as a
present to her a fifty thousand dollar home, just to have the honor of
her presence there. Lincoln, Garfield, McKinley, Miss Barton’s three
cospirits and co-workers for humanity, met their fate while guarded by
detectives; under certain customs prevailing in the West and South, as
there is no protection from slander against a woman, “Chivalry” would
have come to the rescue of defenseless Clara Barton.
There is an official Red Cross report to Congress, made in 1903, said
report on file in House Document No. 552, Vol. 49, 58th Congress,
statements of historic interest relating to the status of Red Cross
affairs about that time. _In re_ the proposed annuity of $2,500 and the
Honorary Presidency for Life, should Clara Barton consent to permit the
minority membership _thereafter to control the Red Cross_, and other
matters relating thereto, appear the following in that report:
Since the filing of their (the remonstrants) Memorial in Congress, at
least two thousand newspapers, in the country and out of it, have
openly published these damaging statements, without the slightest
knowledge of the facts.
The memorial includes an ex parte statement.—It is greatly to be
regretted that such action should have been taken—without giving a
hearing to the majority of the organization, or to Miss Barton
herself.
[Illustration:
From a photograph taken at St. Petersburg, Russia, July, 1902, at the
time the Decoration of the Red Cross was conferred on Clara Barton
by the Czar and Empress Dowager.
]
[Illustration:
From a photograph taken in 1904, at the time when occurred the
so-called “investigation” of Clara Barton, at Washington, D. C.
]
[Illustration:
From a photograph taken in Washington, D. C., in 1878.
]
[Illustration:
From a photograph taken in 1897, just before leaving the United States
for her work among the Reconcentrados in Cuba.
]
[Illustration:
From a photograph taken in 1882, just after Clara Barton had completed
the organization of the American Red Cross.
]
While there were seven States represented by members actually present
(at the meeting), the entire list of signers to the Memorial (by the
remonstrants), with one exception, were residents of Washington, D. C.
With one exception, not one of the twenty-five members has ever taken
part in Red Cross Field work for a single day;—and she valuing her
services, however, at $50.00 per week for two weeks, making a sum of
$100, which was allowed and paid by the board; nor were there any
records to show that, aside from their membership fees aggregating
about $160, they have ever contributed to the funds of the Red Cross,
while individual signers of this Memorial have drawn from it more than
500, in aggregate amount.
Clara Barton has never been a pensioner on the Red Cross Society, and
certainly could not assent to be placed in that relation. We may, too,
reasonably ask how these sticklers for correct form in all proceedings
can find authority, being only a small minority of the membership, to
offer such terms; and how can they undertake to barter its offices,
privileges, and funds for a compliance with their demands? They admit
they can stop the proceedings in Congress—for a consideration—thereby
indirectly admitting the purpose of their movement from the beginning.
The mere statement of the situation will suggest its difficulties. The
majority in control of the body is at a loss to know where and how,
under the charter or any of its bylaws, past or present, there can be
authority for such proceedings.
“That it was physically withstood,” says Clara Barton after her
retirement, “was beyond either the expectation or the intention;” “still
stamping on me;” “so long as I am _personally_ unharmed I expect nothing
more.” Fortunately for her country her life was spared, by her
“enemies,” eight years more; for in that eight years she did a work many
times more difficult than to have kept running her perfected and
well-oiled Red Cross machinery. She brought into existence a new
organization, of possible greater benefit to the American people than
the Red Cross, an organization with headquarters in Boston and branch
societies everywhere from Maine to California.
And why should she not have done so? About the time of her retirement
(in 1903) there was filed with Congress by a committee of the Red Cross
an official report, unanimously concurred in by the committee, in which
report appears the following: “At no time in her life has Miss Barton
been in sounder bodily or mental health, or better able to continue the
work to which her years of experience and natural endowments have
preeminently fitted her. Moreover, the nation’s confidence is Miss
Barton’s, and no hand can better guide its Red Cross work than hers.
While every right minded person will deplore the mental suffering,
anxiety, and personal humiliation inflicted upon one of the noblest
women that ever lived, it cannot be supposed that she will abandon her
life work on such a demand as this, or that she will retire from the
office to which she has been almost unanimously elected, while under
fire; nor would her friends permit it if she were so disposed.—We find
nothing in the opposition except malice, resentment, and the jealousy of
a few people whose ambition has been thwarted.”
Tis eminence that makes envy rise;
As fairest fruit attract the flies.
Successful with her new organization, the Red Cross a few years later
(in 1910) formed in its society a department to carry on relief as then
carried on in Miss Barton’s new organization, the department being of
like name—The First Aid Division. In her new field of humane service,
Clara Barton expended from her personal funds about $5,000, besides five
years of hard work, before she achieved success.
She was herself again; she was on the “firing line”; she had the support
of her former Red Cross field forces,—not one had deserted her. She
didn’t flee her “enemies” to Mexico, but to the “Hub”;—where, and in
which vicinity, she had enjoyed social amenities with the Julia Ward
Howes, the Wendell Phillips’, the George Bancrofts, the John B. Goughs,
the Louisa M. Alcotts, the Lucy Larcoms, the Mary Baker Eddys, the Henry
Wilsons, the Charles Sumners, the George F. Hoars. Either among such
then living or their friends, she had lost none of her prestige because
she had been attacked in the “Den of Character-Assassins.”
Be thou chaste as ice, as pure as snow,
Thou shalt not escape calumny.
On her “First Aid” Advisory Board were Lieutenant-General Nelson A.
Miles and ex-Governor John L. Bates, of Massachusetts; Dr. Eugene
Underhill, of Pennsylvania; Dr. Charles R. Dickson, of Canada; Dr.
Joseph Gardner, of Indiana. Associated with her in various other
capacities, also, were persons of national fame and widely-known
humanitarianism. She was unanimously elected and re-elected, while she
lived, the Active President of the organization—the organization known
as the National First Aid Association of America: now she is the
President _In Memoriam_.
In the House Records of 1903 and 1904 there is found the following:
“They (Remonstrants) suggest that Miss Barton is a party to loose and
improper arrangements for securing the needed accountability for
supervision of disbursements for money furnished in demand of exigency
of the Red Cross by the charitable public.” In 1916, a letter signed by
a leading Red Cross official was mailed to the members of the United
States Senate and the House of Representatives. In that letter, among
many other “charges,” was the following: “I think I have given
sufficient evidence to show why the dishonest appropriation of relief
funds for the personal use of Miss Barton makes the officials of the Red
Cross strongly opposed to having the memorial of such a woman placed in
a building that stands in remembrance of the noblest, finest, and most
self-sacrificing womanhood of America.”
It is inexcusable, on the part of a member of the present management of
the Red Cross, to make public “accusation” of Clara Barton’s
book-records without certification to that effect by an expert
accountant, in an official capacity, and then only confidentially to the
organization itself for some good purpose; and in no case to the public
in defamation, to support the position taken by an “enemy.” Similar
conduct, on the part of an employé in a well-ordered private corporation
would subject the guilty, probably, to dismissal in disgrace from the
service. If in the interest of public policy such information should be
made public, and become of record, it should be made officially public,
and through the President of the society.
In what has been done, _pro bono publico_ has had no
consideration. In publicly attacking the Red Cross Founder’s
book-records before the members of the National Legislature,
there should also have been considered that conditions now
are not as were the conditions a score of years ago. Then the
President-Vice-President-Chairman-Vice-Chairman-Comptroller-General
Manager received no salary; _now_ (in 1919) the annual salary of
four Red Cross officers is $41,400; $15,000 and $10,000
respectively, for Chairman and Vice-Chairman; $8,000 and $8,400
respectively, for Comptroller and General Manager. _In re_ the
attitude of the “Remonstrants” towards her, Clara Barton said: “I
am still unanimously bidden to work on for life; bear the burden
of an organization; meet its cost myself—and now threatened with
the expenses of the ‘investigation.’”
In consonance with her sentiment, and statement, “The foundation on
which all good government rests is conformity to its laws,” Clara Barton
in 1904 turned over to the new management all Red Cross books, official
papers, official records, public funds—all Red Cross matters of
whatsoever kind or nature. If there were evidence of defalcation, or
“dishonest appropriation of relief funds for the personal use of Miss
Barton,” then was the time to have made the charges, and in the criminal
court. “Instead, the _post mortem_ charges were made twelve years after
Clara Barton’s resignation of the Red Cross Presidency, and four years
after her death.”
Kings, queens and states,
Maids, matrons, nay, the secrets of the grave
This vituperous slander enters.
Under the laws of this country the accuser was estopped from making
“charges” in 1916; or at any other time, except in a court of competent
jurisdiction. Were it not for this wise provision the reputation of no
man nor woman, alive or dead, could have adequate protection from
“enemies,” in ambush. By what code of ethics, legal or moral, is such
_personal_ judgment against the dead rendered? And where is the
record-verdict of the “crime”? In five or six years of the
investigation, I have been unable to find any record that such “crime,”
as is alleged against Miss Barton, was committed. Nor do I find that a
criminal charge of any kind against her is of record in the criminal
court, the only institution under the laws of this country where a
person should be adjudged guilty of crime. I do find from the records,
however, that the Red Cross official making these charges was one of the
“Remonstrants” of 1903–4, and who then certified to Miss Barton’s
“_integrity_”; and also over her own signature proposed that Miss Barton
accept the Honorary Presidency of the Red Cross as a tribute to her
“_integrity_.”
“Loose and improper arrangements for securing the needed
accountability”; “such a woman”; “dishonest appropriation of relief
funds for the personal use of Clara Barton!” Says _The Fra_, then under
the management of Mr. and Mrs. Elbert Hubbard, “Such accusation is not
only the blunder of boors but it is crime and sacrilege.” If such
unproved, unfounded charges against a woman, with immunity to their
author, can get into the government record, into the hands of the
people’s representatives at Washington, passing without governmental
protest through the mails, perilous the adventure of the women of
America to enter upon a career of public service.
And has the cause of Clara Barton grown? Yes, gloriously, to the
infinite credit of Clara Barton in laying the foundation in conformity
to her statement, “To be efficient, the Red Cross must have government
recognition, must bear the stamp of national individuality, and be
constructed according to the spirit, habits, and needs of the country it
represents;—in contemplating the possible realization of my hope and all
it would entail and involve, I have been looking carefully and anxiously
to the plans of the foundations of the structure we are hoping to build;
and I perceive in creating an Institution that shall be National and of
the people, the foundations must be as broad and as solid as the whole
nation.”
To the credit of the Clara Barton management, and of the succeeding
management, of the Red Cross; to the credit of the American people that
for twenty-three years previous to the “accusation,” and thereafter
notwithstanding, the world has held in highest regard the Red Cross
Founder and Red Cross integrity. What of financial support, _for
reasons_ that have been withheld, (probably millions) has not been
reported. What of financial and moral support accorded to the Red Cross
brings a flush of pride to the face of every true American; what of
seeming policy toward the Founder also brings a flush,—but not of pride.
A public policy, not in harmony with public sentiment, has brought on
national disasters—a world disaster.
Mere growth, of itself, is not a virtue; for the upas tree grows, with
spreading branches. The best prosperity is that prosperity whose
foundation is secure, whose record-history is untarnished. The best
philanthropy is that philanthropy which lives in the best atmosphere,
breathes of the purest, gives of the soul’s best. To her latest breath
Clara Barton breathed love, breathed purest Red Cross philanthropy,—but
prayed justice for herself. She had never spoken a discordant word in
her life, meaningly; her “enemies” monopolized the discordant words. So
far as known, she never made an enemy; her “enemies” were
self-made—their self-made record, on the books, reported “in the red.”
Wearing a “political helmet,” those who attacked a helpless woman took
possession of her reputation and prospered. At no time in her life has
it been shown that in her chosen field, with years of successful
experience, Clara Barton was not a good business manager; her “enemies”
assumed themselves, _without experience_, to be good in business and
took charge of her affairs:—but under _proper_ political protection.
Slander—it is a coward in a coat of mail
That wages war against the brave and wise.
Her “enemies,” shielded behind “charges,” made accusation against
her,—_without self-sacrifice_; she exposed herself to attacks of every
character known to womankind, and made self-sacrifices for the Red Cross
and for country. What is inscribed over the portals of the cell, near
Brussels, of Edith Cavell, must be inscribed on history’s tablets, of
Clara Barton: “She sacrificed herself for the Red Cross; she sacrificed
herself for the country.”
Slander
I saw it tread upon a lily fair—
A maid of whom the world could say no harm;
And when sunk beneath the mortal wound,
It broke into the sacred sepulchre
And dragged its victim from the hallowed grave
For public eyes to gaze upon.
Yea, I have seen this accursed child of envy
Breathe mildew on the sacred fame of her
Who once had been her country’s benefactor.
Human nature hasn’t changed since he, who became the first American
President, suffered through the “Conway Cabal,” a cabal not dissimilar
in the motives, the charges and the execution, to that through which
suffered the first Red Cross President. But George Washington was a
fighter; Clara Barton, a woman of peace. The Red Cross President was as
patient as was the first martyred American President, under persecution,
and who then said “I am nothing, but truth is everything.” She was as
innocent and unsuspecting as was our last martyred American President,
who said “I have never done any man wrong, and I believe no man will do
me one.”
Man, political, cowardly-man constructed the apparatus;—the tongue of
woman, the sender; the ear of woman, the receiver. Of all the God-given
good of earth, one woman is the best; TWO WOMEN, the worst. The only
serious charge in history that will stand against Clara Barton is that
she WAS A WOMAN; her most serious “misappropriation,” that of her
confidence in _another woman_.
Away the fair detractors went
And gave by turns their censures vent.
Elected for life? Yes. Then resigned? She was not a “war-woman,”—she had
never filled a swiveled-chair;—yes, she resigned in the interest of
peace and _harmony_. And from the facts, distorted, and the motives,
impugned, as to why she resigned were taken the bundle of faggots to add
fuel to the flames of her torture.
Slander never wants for material;
Virtue itself provides it with weapons.
As for safety, the ancient criminal fled to the Temple of the Gods, so
America’s modern character-assassin fled to the Temple of the Red Cross,
and implored silence; for then to recite the historic facts of the
martyrdom might cause vibrations that would have shaken to earth the
pillars of that sacred temple. President Clara Barton of the Red Cross
said: “Its President has spoken not at all, and never will.” Silence
reigned. The truth was withheld at the Red Cross receiving station,
while untruth sped wireless—and all the world wondered.
The Red Cross! No, the recent Red Cross officials don’t know the
facts,—the reputation of the Mother is the child’s richest heritage. The
Mother loved the Red Cross child; the child, the Mother—the slander of
the Mother, dead, is by the individual, not by the Red Cross. The
slander having coiled itself in Red Cross official circles there it
lives, and will live, until scotched by the Red Cross or the American
people.
For slander lives upon succession;
Forever housed, where it gets possession.
The so-called “investigation of charges” against Clara Barton in 1904
was before the Red Cross Proctor Committee. The “Remonstrants” demanded
an investigation, and suggested that Honorable Richard Olney name the
committee. The Red Cross unanimously approved the selection. The great
Ex-Secretary of State named as that committee: U. S. Senator Redfield
Proctor of Vermont; William Alden Smith of Michigan, then a member of
the House and later a member of the Senate; General Fred C. Ainsworth,
of the United States Army, of Washington, D. C. This in fact was a Red
Cross Committee and not, as so-called, a Congressional Committee.
“Congressional Committee to investigate” was a threat to frighten a
timid woman.
In the so-called “remonstrance” (of record) there is by the
“remonstrants,” of whom the “post-mortem accuser” was one, a disclaimer
of
(a) “Any dishonesty on the part of Miss Barton in the administration of
the affairs of the Red Cross.
(b) “Any charge of misappropriation of any property or any money by Miss
Barton; or
(c) “Any improper act or conduct of any kind which involved in the
slightest degree any element of moral turpitude.”
Had there been an official charge at that time of “misappropriation of
any property or any money,” or any other charge involving “in the
slightest degree any element of moral turpitude,” on the part of the Red
Cross Founder, charities would have thenceforward ceased to flow into
Red Cross coffers, the Red Cross would have collapsed, and the
“remonstrants” making such accusation haled into court, on a charge of
criminal libel. The “remonstrants” foresaw that the good name of the
Founder was the one hope of the Red Cross. The disclaimer was
prerequisite to the attainment of the “remonstrant’s” ultimate object,
namely: the coming into possession of a popular organization that
carried political and social prestige.
Mrs. Logan, the Vice-President, threatened court proceedings unless her
name was removed from Red Cross literature, and in consequence it was
removed. Not so, Miss Barton. She at all times wished it removed, at one
time threatened court action, but she dared not risk the possibly fatal
consequences to the Red Cross. She suffered, in heart-aches, because of
such conscienceless fraud on the American people, as she often said,
that the Red Cross might survive. Thus to the very day of her death,
through silent acquiescence in the fraudulent use of her name to secure
legislation and the people’s confidence for the new management, she was
being terrorized, lest by her own word or act her Red Cross child might
come to grief. The _post mortem_ charges are camouflage, a shield to
protect the actors in the “tragedy of 1904;” the game as of the
cuttle-fish in making the waters murky, when being chased by a superior
force;—in this case, that of Truth.
The charges made were:
(a) “That proper books of account were not at all times kept;
(b) “That the property and funds of the Red Cross were not at all times
distributed upon the order of the Treasurer of the Society, as alleged
to be required by the by-laws of the Society; and
(c) “That a certain tract of land in Lawrence County, Indiana, had been
donated to the Society by one Joseph Gardner; that the Society was
reincorporated after such donation, and that such donation was never
reported to the new corporation.”
It was shown at the investigation that no Red Cross money had been
invested in the tract of land referred to; that for reasons the proposed
deal was not consummated, and the title lapsed; that proper books of
account had been kept, and receipts taken for material and money, but
not individual receipts from the sick, the wounded and the dying on
fields of disaster—a system of red-tape impossible consistent with good
service; that also the by-laws had been complied with in making
disbursements through the Treasurer except,—when that too was
impossible—during the stress of active relief work in the field. As her
every field worker, then living that had at any time served under
President Barton, approved her methods in Red Cross work; as the
Washington “Society Remonstrants” had no experience in field work,
manifesting pitiful ignorance as to what was required, the “charges” of
_incompetency_ on the part of the accused received no consideration at
the hands of the Committee.
L. A. Stebbins, of Chicago, Illinois, ex-attorney for the Red Cross, in
July, 1916, in a written report to the Library Committee of the House,
and to which report he makes affidavit, refers to the charges of 1903
and 1904 in words such as follow: “The _only witness_ ever produced to
give testimony;—testimony was wholly unworthy of credit—false and
untrue;—for blackmailing purposes;—clearly indicating blackmail.”
On February 20, 1903, as elsewhere stated, the “remonstrants” certified
in writing (certification of record) as to the “integrity, good name and
fame of Clara Barton.” At the investigation held in the Senate Foreign
Relations Committee Room on April 12, 1904, _in re_ the terrifying
twenty-four page “remonstrance” before the Proctor Red Cross Committee,
General John M. Wilson, himself a “remonstrant” and representing the
“remonstrants” on that occasion, among other things said “We do not
charge that anybody has been guilty of malfeasance,” in Red Cross
affairs.
Referring to this very occasion, Major-General W. R. Shafter, Commander
of the American Army in the Spanish-American War, in 1904 while the case
was pending, said: “If the charges made against Clara Barton were true,
no gentleman could afford to be mixed up in the affair, but not one word
uttered against her _is_ true.” Clara Barton, in 1911, referring to that
now historic event, said: “The harvest is not what the reapers expected,
and I suspect if it were all to be done over again in the light of their
newly-gained experience, it would not be done.”
To the credit of man’s respect for historic truth in official decisions,
and his innate American chivalry, since the exoneration in 1904 there is
not, at least of record, by any man an adverse criticism of the Red
Cross Founder. _The perversion of the truth of history, however, by
woman is as injurious to the public weal as such perversion by man, and
through no ingenuous excuse of chivalry for a live woman, and against a
dead woman, should untruth have countenance._ The investigation, for
want of evidence, was _summarily dismissed_, on motion of the Committee
itself. It thus became a mere farcical episode in American history.
The written certification of the Founder’s “integrity,” by the
“remonstrants” in 1903; the oral disclaimer by the “remonstrants” of
_any_ Red Cross malfeasance in office officially proclaimed at the
investigation in 1904, followed by a unanimous decision adverse to the
“remonstrants,” the incident then should have been closed. The
“accusation,” however, of even worse import than that originally in the
_indictment_, by the “remonstrants” of 1903 and of 1904, again comes to
the attention of the public in a semi-official way, from the same “lone
woman accuser,” and is still a living factor in Red Cross policy,—still
coming—still going—never ending—
All slander
Must still be strangled in its birth; as time
Will soon conspire to make it strong enough
To overcome truth.
A certain letter by a Red Cross official, assuming to represent the Red
Cross Society, was mailed from the Washington Red Cross headquarters to
the members of the U. S. Senate and House of Representatives. Said
letter was written to be used, and was used, as the basis of an argument
against the record and fame of Clara Barton before the Library Committee
of Congress. On the letter-head was the following:
The American Red Cross
Pointe-au-Pie
Province of Quebec,
Canada. July 29, 1916.
The letter was signed ... (unofficially).
From that long letter, certain to be in American annals of peculiar
interest as an epistolary curio, are taken the following excerpts:
“Her father died in 1862, leaving property valued at a little more
than $1,000, of which she received a few hundred.”
“I may say individually that previous to the war Miss Barton appears,
according to her statement to have taught school at Bordentown, New
Jersey, where a teacher’s salary was $300 per year. A little later the
records show that she and some other woman occasionally did copying in
the Interior Department.”
“She obtained from Congress in 1866, $15,000 which she said she had
expended of her own money in tracing the missing soldiers. It is
difficult to understand where she obtained this money and also upon
what her income depended in future years, as she stated she never
received any salary or income from the Red Cross and yet she had no
other remunerative occupation that we know of.”
“In the 126 volumes of the War Department records of the Civil War no
mention is made of Miss Barton’s name or services except in a single
letter from her asking information as to prisoners at Annapolis.”
“We have a printed diary of.... This diary was published in 1863.
Though the names of a number of efficient women like Miss Dix and
others connected with the Sanitary Commission are mentioned in a
laudatory way, Miss Barton is never referred to.”
“In many published accounts of the Sanitary and Christian Commissions,
Miss Barton is not mentioned, though hundreds of other devoted women
are given.”
“Just after the Civil War, several gentlemen who had been connected
with the Sanitary Commission organized the first American Red Cross
Society, but as the Senate had not at that time ratified the treaty of
Geneva, this body could hold no official status and shortly went out
of existence.”
“In 1881 Miss Barton who, previously when visiting in Vienna, had
learned of the treaty of Geneva and the Red Cross societies, with a
number of others organized the American Red Cross.”
“The International Committee of Geneva transmitted through her a
letter to the President of the United States requesting the
ratification of the Treaty.”
“Mr. Blaine interested himself in the matter and in 1882 the Treaty
was ratified by the United States Senate.”
“From 1881 until 1904 Miss Barton remained the President of this small
American Red Cross, and sometimes acted also as its treasurer.”
“Financial statements were not made public and it is impossible to say
what funds were received and expended during the 23 years of its
existence.”
“I don’t care to take your time in stating many evidences of the
misuse of the Red Cross relief funds under Miss Barton, but I desire
to mention two or three incidents.”
“She advertised in the Worcester papers for contributions for relief
among the soldiers, but no record was made of what she received or
expended during the Civil War.”
“Certain letters we have seem to show that she occasionally had some
of the contributed funds invested in the West.”
“It is difficult to obtain data regarding the receipts and expenditure
of funds.”
“At the time of the Russian famine in 1892 ... no financial report was
made.”
“Shortly after this time Miss Barton bought real estate in Washington
and Glen Echo....”
“I think I have given, however, sufficient evidence to show why
dishonest appropriation of relief funds for the personal use of Miss
Barton makes the officials of the American Red Cross strongly opposed
to having the memorial of such a woman placed in a building that
stands in remembrance of the noblest, finest and most self-sacrificing
womanhood of America. Should your committee desire me to go to
Washington and lay before it the evidence I have given and more in our
possession, I would be willing to do so.”
... would well become
A woman’s story at a winter’s fire,
_Authorized_ by her grandam.
The “charges,” including detractions, innuendoes and suspicions (of
which the foregoing are only in part), take a wide range, extending from
the time Clara Barton taught her first school at Bordentown in 1836 (80
years previous), down to the Sea Islands hurricane in 1893 (22 years
previous). These “charges” were segregated by a friend of Clara Barton
for the Library Committee. In that form they consist of thirty-one
“charges,” including the accuser’s _personal verdict_, “the dishonest
appropriation of relief funds.” In history the “accusation” will be
referred to as “_The Thirty-One Charges Without a Charge In It._” In
legal circles such affirmations are known as “stale charges,” or by a
worse name; but, even if presented immediately, such “charges” would
have no standing in any court of equity in this country. The “charges”
are further negatived by the admissions of the accuser, “It is difficult
to obtain data regarding the receipts and expenditures;” “It is
impossible to say what funds were received and expended.”
Also, inexcusable ignorance was shown on the part of the accuser of
Clara Barton as to her methods in Red Cross affairs. It is certified to
by the Red Cross (and of official record) that Clara Barton made her
report at the close of every disaster, and in every instance the report
was approved by the Red Cross, and was satisfactory to her government
and the American people. Besides besmirching the history and good name
of the Red Cross and her country, thus to impeach the integrity of the
Founder of the Red Cross and for more than a score of years its
President, is to impeach also her various boards of officers and her
hundreds of other associates, including American Presidents,—all of whom
uniformly approved her methods, her reports and the results achieved,
while “she remained the President of this small American Red Cross and
sometimes acted also as its Treasurer.”
If what the “lone accuser” asserts be true, that “we (Red Cross) have
letters that seem to show that she occasionally had some of the
contributed funds invested in the West,” they are letters, among other
Red Cross effects, that came officially into the possession of the Red
Cross, in 1904, through the pleasure and free-will offering of the
conscientious-and-honest-to-a-fault-concealing-nothing Clara Barton. And
for which also she received a _clearance card_, a “receipt in full.” As
an American citizen and a member of the Red Cross I protest the legal
right, or the moral right, of the Red Cross “accuser” now to incriminate
her whose lips are sealed, or longer to approve of record, _upon what
seems to show_.... The facts _not only seem to show, but do show_, that
if Clara Barton had not accepted as a present from the twin brothers,
Edwin and Edward Baltzley of Glen Echo, Chautauqua, her Glen Echo real
estate, and for a house thereon as a present, the wreckage lumber from
the people of Johnstown, Pennsylvania, in 1889, there would have been no
free-of-rent home for the Red Cross for the last fifteen years of her
Red Cross administration and that of other philanthropies; that, while
the accuser was living in a palace and “rolling in wealth,” the accused
would have been homeless and penniless, living on charity.
The “lone accuser” has no “letters that seem to show,” save and except
such letters be interpreted by an “enemy,” and for an ulterior purpose.
There is no truth in cynicism, or but half truth, which is more untruth
than no truth. There is no truth in “we (Red Cross) have others in our
possession” which the “lone accuser” pretended to have in her
_post-mortem cruise_, in 1916, while trying to thwart the will of the
people as to the proposed Clara Barton memorial tablet in the American
Red Cross Building; and, still worse, trying to blot out forever the
name of the Red Cross Founder. As the sentiment of all the people, but
said by the people of Johnstown just after the flood, in 1889: “Try to
describe the sunshine. Try to describe the starlight. Picture the
sunlight and the starlight, and then try to say good bye to Clara
Barton.”
Truth will come to sight.
_In re_ Memorial to Clara Barton in 1916, the Library Committee of the
House of Representatives, having before them all charges of whatsoever
nature against Clara Barton, but especially those certain _post mortem_
“charges,” wholly ignored each charge, and all “charges,” made by the
“remonstrants” of 1902–4, in their memorial to Congress at that time.
The report of the Library Committee in 1916 was favorable to Miss
Barton, and as disastrous to the cause of the “remonstrants” as was that
of the Red Cross Proctor Committee, in 1904.
From the House Records, in the unanimously approved report by the
Library Committee, are the following excerpts:
“Miss Barton’s life was given up to the work of relieving the distress
in Europe and America, and her place in the affection of her friends and
admirers is secure. None of them is willing to admit that she needs any
special tablet, or stone, or that either is required to keep alive her
memory as a benefactor of all distressed mankind. As one of the women of
the Civil War, and a distinguished one, she also is memorialized in the
Red Cross Building.”
[Illustration:
RICHARD OLNEY
I have always believed in Miss Barton’s merits as a patriot and
disinterested worker in aid of suffering humanity.
RICHARD OLNEY, in 1916.
]
ATTORNEYS FOR THE AMERICAN RED CROSS SOCIETY UNDER THE PRESIDENCY OF
CLARA BARTON
[Illustration:
LEWIS A. STEBBINS
Clara Barton is one of the greatest, if not the greatest, of
humanitarians of recent times.
LEWIS A. STEBBINS, in 1922.
]
[Illustration:
WILLIAM H. SEARS
Measured by her achievements, Clara Barton is the greatest woman the
world has yet produced.
WILLIAM H. SEARS.
]
The memorial tablet[8] was not placed in the Red Cross Building, as
requested by the friends of Clara Barton, backed by one and one-half
millions of petitioners to have it so placed, the most forceful argument
being that one of the largest contributors to the cost of the
building—and a friend of the accuser—made objection.
Footnote 8:
As a substitute for the proposed memorial tablet in the Red Cross
building, the statue of Clara Barton, representing American
philanthropy, should be placed in the “Hall of Fame” in the National
Capitol, alongside that of Frances Willard, representing temperance;
and the name of the Red Cross Founder also should be recognized as
President _In Memoriam_ of the American Red Cross, as her name is now
recognized by The National First Aid Association of America.
The foregoing is the authentic record presented to Congress in 1916, and
a complete statement of facts—all the important recorded facts—relating
to the “charges” of 1903–1904, with no official charges succeeding that
date. Nor have I found in many months of examination in the Library of
Congress, consisting of 2,800,000 volumes, or anywhere else of record,
any detraction of early American Red Cross history or the slightest
intimation that the Red Cross Founder was dishonest or a malfeasant in
office, except from the pen of this “lone accuser.”
Every officer, under oath sworn to conduct his office to the best of his
ability, that knowingly conceals “dishonest appropriation” of public
funds becomes _particeps criminis_, in the dishonest transaction. If
true, therefore, as the “lone accuser” asserts over her signature in her
letter to the Members of Congress, that “we (i.e., Red Cross) have
letters that seem to show”—“dishonest appropriation of relief funds”
then, inasmuch as no effort was made to recover from her or her estate
these alleged losses, Clara Barton’s successors as Red Cross executives,
in their capacity as trustees of a public trust, Mrs. John A. Logan, W.
H. Taft and Woodrow Wilson become involved.
“CHARGES”? YES, REDUCTIO AD ABSURDUM
If not true, what could have been the object hoped for by the accusing
Red Cross official, in her perversion of Red Cross history? Was it that
she might dictate to one hundred millions of people the sentiment of a
government building, known as The American Red Cross Building? It is
somewhat significant that a few months later the United States put four
millions of soldiers in the field, to make “The World Safe for
Democracy.”
Since this chapter was written and in type, there came into the
possession of the author a letter, unsolicited, and relating to the
possible motive. The letter was written by the Honorable Francis
Atwater, the well-known Journalist and Ex-State Senator of Connecticut,
and who for 40 years was Clara Barton’s co-worker and financial adviser.
The letter, sworn to, follows:
October 14, 1921.
Mrs. Marietta B. Wilkins,
359 Boylston Street,
Boston, Mass.
My dear Mrs. Wilkins:
Miss Andrews informs me that —— has been in communication with you in
regard to Miss Barton. I would like to say a few words about ——. About
1900 she became interested as a member of the American Red Cross. Miss
Barton, some fifteen years previous, had founded the association after
years of effort. She furnished the funds for the purpose, as she did
for many years afterward for its support. It became a very popular
institution. Miss Barton was honored by the world as no other woman
had ever been.
—— having great wealth and connected with the social elements of
Washington, coveted Miss Barton’s position and honors. She used her
every endeavor to accomplish this purpose. She visited me in my office
at Meriden, Conn., knowing I had great influence with Miss Barton, and
offered, if I would get her to become honorary president of the Red
Cross, to raise a million dollars for a Red Cross temple to be built
in Washington and Miss Barton could have any sum she chose as an
annuity, expecting, of course, to succeed Miss Barton as president. If
we did not accept her offer she insinuated we would be sorry. Her
proposition was spurned.
From that day she hounded and persecuted Miss Barton until her wicked
design was completed. Since Miss Barton’s death —— has made the most
damaging, slanderous statements, well knowing there is no law to which
she is amenable. If there was we would avenge Miss Barton’s memory
quickly.
I will say that Miss Barton when she died was several thousand dollars
poorer than when she established the Red Cross. She had the friendship
and confidence of every president from Lincoln to McKinley, also Gen.
B. F. Butler, Vice-President Wilson, Charles Sumner, Senator Hoar and
Richard Olney of Massachusetts, the most influential men of the
country, and the crowned heads of the world. Many, like myself, gave
years of our time and paid our own expenses, not for the Red Cross,
but for Miss Barton and humanity. With friends of great wealth who
offered and sent her checks for large amounts to her individual order
to be used as she pleased (I opened many such letters) could any one
imagine that Miss Barton would stoop to steal a few paltry dollars?
If —— persists in vilifying Miss Barton’s character, I wish you would
ask her to make her statements in my presence.
Our Saviour was crucified, but has been remembered affectionately ever
since.
—— is down and out in the Red Cross, which since her removal has
printed much in Miss Barton’s favor.
—— seems obsessed with only one idea, to besmirch the memory of Clara
Barton but, like Abraham Lincoln, who in life was so sadly traduced,
Miss Barton’s name will be blessed more and more as the years pass by,
while —— will pass away practically unknown and unmourned.
Yours truly,
(Signed) FRANCIS ATWATER.
_AFFIDAVIT_
Personally appeared before me Francis Atwater, and made oath that the
facts set forth in the above statement are true to the best of his
knowledge and belief.
(Signed) _Edward B. Whitney_.
Notary Public.
Meriden, Conn., Oct. 21, 1921.
The probable motive of the “lone accuser” was the subject of much
comment on Capitol Hill. Soon after the defamatory letter reached the
Members of the National Legislature there came a near-explosion in the
House that promised to rival that of the Petersburg mine explosion of
Civil War days; and to which scene, in the blackness of night, midst
thunder and lightning and blinding storm, and on her horse with one
attendant taking her life in her hands, Clara Barton rushed to the scene
of death and mangled bodies, to save the lives of her country’s
patriots. Accompanying the near-explosion, there also was predicted a
tidal-wave as destructive to the Red Cross management as was that at
Galveston in 1900 to her stricken people; and hard-following which, from
what was then thought to be her death-bed, Clara Barton was on that
storm-swept coast, in charge of the life rescue station.
Especially tense was the consternation on the part of the members from
fifteen or twenty states whose peoples respectively (from 1881 to 1900),
had been the beneficiaries to the extent of thousands of lives saved and
untold sufferings assuaged, at the hands of that “_small American Red
Cross_.” What really quieted the five hundred legislators on Capitol
Hill was the rumor that the sensation came from a luxurious summer
resort in Canada, where there had been summering merely a harmless
phenomenon—an incinerator with a “continuous performance” furnace-flame,
containing no heat units. But just what happened, and why, at the
Nation’s Capital with threats, impendent, of a criminal suit and in the
“jungle of intrigue” following, is a story for the novelist, not a
subject for this pen picture.
One patriot-Congressman, however, for days kept revolving in his mind
the many awful scenes, in which Clara Barton was her country’s “Angel of
Mercy”; of the Michigan forest fires of 1881; of the two Mississippi
River floods of 1882 and 1883; of the Ohio and Mississippi River flood
of 1884, in which Clara Barton came near losing her life; of the
Charleston earthquake of 1886; of the Mt. Vernon cyclone of 1886; of the
Florida Yellow Fever scourge of 1888; of the Johnstown flood of 1889; of
the Cuban scourge of famine and war of 1898, where “The Angel of Mercy”
again lay at death’s door; nor could he forget the many other national,
and international, disasters in which the woman-patriot served her
country.
Her fitful days of war were over; in far-away New England, she was
sleeping her sleep of harmless peace; her character was being assailed
in the very Capitol Building where fifty-five years before she had cared
for the unfortunate boys of the Sixth Massachusetts Regiment, who had
fallen in service to country. In all the world was there ever such
tragedy? But the “assassin” lives to a purpose; he serves to perpetuate
to posterity the virtues of his victim; in contrast, his victim seems
the more glorious. In such atmosphere of near-treason, as did many other
Congressmen, “Fighting Joe,” of Kansas, tried to be “reasonable,” but
his “Fighting Irish” got the best of him. He was too chivalric to give
his pent-up feelings vent to a woman; but he was less considerate of one
of the most distinguished of his men compatriots, as is shown in the
following letter (letter of record in “Sears’ Report to the Library
Committee of Congress”—page 139, but text given by Taggart from memory):
September 6, 1916.
Major-General Arthur Murray, U.S.A., Retired,
American Red Cross Society,
Washington, D. C.
My Dear General:
After a careful perusal of the enclosure on the subject of a tablet
for Miss Clara Barton, I find it my duty to say to you that I am
profoundly astonished that an officer of your rank would lend himself
to the publication of such an unseemly screed against one who is
esteemed the greatest of American women.
As one who served as a soldier in the least of capacities, I am
astonished that a distinguished soldier should have a shame in
belittling and accusing the dead—not simply the ordinary and common
dead, but a glorious woman who has departed.
To my mind, Miss Clara Barton gave expression to the sympathy and
tenderness of all the hearts of all the women in the world. If she was
overwrought, and did more than she might have done, who will say that
it was a fault? The whole world knew and loved her; and I daresay that
her own dear land, that she served with such unremitting devotion as
an angel of mercy, is the only place under all the stars where harsh
words were ever written or said about her.
General, I know you are not responsible for the inscrutable jealousy
that gnaws at the hearts of women. You did not write the article. I
have no commission to defend Miss Barton, except what I trust is the
best impulse of an American citizen. Her name should not perish and no
one should listen with patience to an attack upon her record, much
less her character.
Yours truly,
(Signed) JOSEPH TAGGART, M.C. 2nd Kansas District.
THE LIST OF NAMES OF TRIBUTES IN THE WAY OF BADGES, MEDALS, DECORATIONS
AND OTHER EVIDENCES OF ESTEEM PRESENTED TO CLARA BARTON.
No. 1. _Masonic Emblem._ Given to Clara Barton by her father, and worn
by her through the Civil War, 1861–1865.
No. 2. _The German Official Red Cross Field Badge._ Presented by the
Grand Duchess of Baden, and worn by Clara Barton through the
Franco-German War, 1870–1871.
No. 3. _The Iron Cross of Germany._ Conferred by Emperor William I and
Empress Augusta, 1871, in recognition of Clara Barton’s services for
humanity in the Franco-German War.
No. 4. _The Gold Cross of Remembrance._ Conferred by the Grand Duke and
Duchess of Baden, Germany, 1871.
No. 5. _Royal Brooch._ Presented by the Grand Duchess of Baden, Germany,
1897. When presenting this brooch to Clara Barton, the Grand Duchess
said: “An unbroken friendship of 26 years deserves to be tied by a knot
of gold.”
No. 6. _The Official Medal of the International Red Cross._ Presented by
The International Committee of Geneva to Clara Barton when, through her
efforts, the Congress of the United States adopted the Treaty of Geneva
in 1882.
No. 7. _Servian Decoration._ Conferred by Queen Nathalie of Servia,
1883, in recognition of Clara Barton’s services for humanity.
No. 8. _Gold Badge._ Presented by the National Woman’s Relief Corps to
Clara Barton, the sole Honorary Member of the Relief Corps, 1883.
No. 9. _Silver Medal._ Conferred by Augusta, Empress of Germany, 1884.
No. 10. _The Gold Badge of the “Waffengenosen.”_ German soldiers in
America, who took part in the Franco-German War 1870–1871, presented to
their Honorary Member, Clara Barton, 1885.
No. 11. _Silver Medal._ Of the Mass. Charitable Mechanics Institution.
Presented 1887.
No. 12. _Turkish Decoration._ Conferred by the Sultan Abdul-Hamid 1897,
through the State Dept., with the request that if America desired to
send further relief to his domains please send back the missionaries of
humanity they sent before.
No. 13. _Gold Badge of “Sorosis,” N. Y._ Presented to Clara Barton,
their Honorary Member, 1890.
No. 14. _Red Cross Insignia._ In Commemoration of the Armenian Relief
Field, 1896. Presented by Clara Barton’s Assistants on the field, in
memory of the same.
No. 15. _Gold Brooch and Locket._ Presented by the Ladies of Johnstown,
Pa., at the close of the Relief Work of the Johnstown Flood, 1889.
No. 16. _Amethyst Pendant—Royal jewel._ Given by the Grand Duchess of
Baden and constantly worn by Clara Barton.
No. 17. _Royal Jewel—Smoky Topaz surrounded by perfectly matched
pearls._ Presented by the Grand Duchess of Baden, 1884.
No. 18. _Royal Jewel—Topaz brooch with Red Cross._ Presented by Augusta,
Empress of Germany, 1887.
No. 19. _Belgian Decoration._ Conferred by the Red Cross of Belgium, in
1892.
No. 20. _Spanish Decoration of Honor._ Conferred by the Spanish
Government in 1898.
No. 21. _Gold Badge of “The Clara Barton Lodge of the Sisters of the G.
A. R. of Gloucester, Mass.”_ Presented to Clara Barton, their Honorary
Member, 1890.
No. 22. _Armenian Decoration._ Conferred by the Armenian Prince Guy
Lusignan, 1896, in recognition of services in relief of the Armenian
Massacres.
No. 23. _Russian Decoration._ Conferred by the Czar Nicholas and the
Dowager Empress Dagmar, 1892.
No. 24. _Gold Medal of the Vanderbilt Benevolent Association of South
Carolina._ Presented to Clara Barton, their Honorary President, 1894.
In addition to the above pictured decorations, the original collection
as arranged by Mr. and Mrs. Roscoe G. Wells for exhibition at the first
annual meeting of The National First Aid Association of America
contained
_Gold Badge of the War Veterans and Sons Association, of Brooklyn, N.
Y._ Presented to their Honorary Member, Clara Barton, April, 1899.
_Badge of the Loyal Legion of Women of Washington, D. C._ Presented to
their Honorary Member, Clara Barton, 1893.
_American Red Cross Pin._ Presented by a Friend.
_Silver Ink Stand._ Presented to Clara Barton on her departure for
Armenia, 1896, by Mr. Spencer Trask.
_Ivory Sealing Wax Set with Gold Trimmings._ Presented to Clara Barton
on her departure for Armenia in Relief of the Sufferers of the Massacres
in 1896 by Mrs. Charles Raymond, President Red Cross Hospital.
Top.—Picture of Clara Barton taken in Paris in 1871.
Clara Barton was also the recipient of many diplomas of honor,
resolutions, votes of thanks and commendations from rulers of nations,
legislative bodies, relief Committees and distinguished or titled
personages. In her home at Glen Echo the visitor could see many of
these, together with great flags of foreign nations which had been
presented to her as tributes to, and testimonials of, Clara Barton’s
great work for humanity.
[Illustration:
BADGES, MEDALS, DECORATIONS
]
The unintentionally offending official, on receiving the foregoing
letter, forthwith resigned his position in the Society; but the author
of the “unseemly screed” continues “full of honors”—a _shining_ Red
Cross light to the youth of this country, while the “screed” remains of
record as a blot on the fair name of the Red Cross Founder.
Contrasting Patriotic West towards the memory of the Father of his
Country and Political Washington towards the memory of the Mother of the
Red Cross, about this time there appeared the following
pertinent-to-the-occasion Associated Press dispatch:
JAIL WASHINGTON’S LIBELER
Tacoma Man Must Serve 4 Months for Attack on First President.
Olympia, Wash., Dec. 29.—As a libeler of George Washington’s memory,
Paul Haffer, of Tacoma, must serve four months in the county jail, the
Washington supreme court today upholding the conviction of Haffer on a
criminal libel charge.
Haffer published an article accusing the first President of the United
States of drunkenness and other irregularities.
_Washington Post_, Dec. 30, 1916.
It might be of interest, both to the friends and “enemies” of Clara
Barton, by way of contrast to this pathetic picture of her closing years
and of the more recent years, to know that three years before her
passing she deeded her “Glen Echo Red Cross Home,” the gift to her by
friends, to Dr. Julian B. Hubbell, who had served her cause for more
than thirty years without compensation, but with the expressed wish that
eventually it should revert to the American Red Cross. It can,
therefore, be said of Clara Barton and the Red Cross as similarly it was
said of that bond of “love eternal” between Theodosius and Constantia,
“They were lovely in their lives, and in their death they were not
divided.”
At no time in her life did Clara Barton seek preferment;—she said, “I
wish you could know how entirely indifferent I am to _personal_ honors
conferred.” She did not seek the Red Cross Presidency; she accepted it,
under protest, from President Garfield. Resigning the position several
times, she still continued to hold it because no one else acceptable to
the Society was found to take her place. She appealed to no jurist nor
politician to protect her, for _she had always lived and moved in the
full glare of the public gaze and could safely trust her character and
good name to the care of the American people_. She entrusted her all—her
Red Cross and her good name—to the Government she had “_loyally tried to
serve_:” and so long as the Red Cross banner is held sacred as the
emblem of America’s humanity God have mercy on her country and ours, if
that trust of woman shall have been misplaced.
The records, in the “reign of _terrorizing_,” show that the so-called
“charges” before the Library Committee were made by _one_ person,
unofficially, not by the Red Cross; by the _same_ person, of record in
1903, who made similar “charges” before the Red Cross Committee, the
accuser by the Committee discredited; by the _same_ person who appeared
before the Red Cross Proctor Committee, and there unceremoniously
“turned down”; by the _same_ person referred to by Clara Barton’s
successor to the Red Cross Presidency, as to the motive of the accuser
in the affidavit herein presented; by the _same_ person whom Clara
Barton refused to support as her successor; by the _same_ person who has
taken the rostrum since Clara Barton’s death to traduce the country’s
benefactor; by the _same_ “enemy” who has relentlessly persecuted Clara
Barton and traduced her memory for nearly twenty years; by the _same_
person whom Clara Barton received in her Red Cross household, and in her
personal household, as her friend; by the _same_ person who, on February
20, 1903, wrote to their mutual “_friend_,” Mrs. General John A. Logan
(letter of record): “Miss Barton is in town.... I know you will use all
your influence to have her accept the position of Honorary Presidency
for Life, with an annuity.”
The affidavit by Clara Barton’s immediate successor to the Red Cross
Presidency, Mrs. John A. Logan, as to the conspiracy and the object
hoped for, in the persecution; the statement by the “remonstrants”
themselves in 1903 as to the “_integrity_” of Clara Barton; the
statement of ex-Secretary of State Richard Olney; the summary dismissal
by the Proctor Red Cross Committee, and on motion of the Committee
itself, of the investigation of all “charges” whatsoever made by the
“remonstrants”; the unchallenged sworn statement by Attorney L. A.
Stebbins; the unchallenged signed statement by Attorney W. H. Sears; the
official statement by the American Red Cross that “There was no
foundation for such a “charge”; the exceeding high compliment by the
Library Committee of Congress;—all these facts of public record make
officially conclusive the _vindication_ (no, the spotless record), of
Clara Barton.” As her reputation has been three times in jeopardy, Clara
Barton has been thrice-_vindicated_, thrice officially complimented,
every time unanimously.
Truth is truth
To the end of the reckoning.
Previous to the date of the so-called “charges” in 1904, as tributes
unsolicited and graciously tendered, Clara Barton had received
twenty-seven decorations and other official honors; had received
tributes from nine American presidents, nine foreign rulers; also by
eleven foreign nations and several of our American States and Cities,
through official resolutions. Since 1904, the year in which the
conspiracy occurred, Clara Barton has been commended by two American
Presidents, at the laying of the corner stone of The Red Cross Building
at Washington by the U. S. Government through the then Acting Secretary
of War; by the Commander of the largest American army ever mobilized; by
at least three thousand American newspapers, not one newspaper in the
country commenting on the “charges” with approval; by America’s great
statesmen; by America’s great women; by a memorial representing a
million and one-half of American citizens; by the Civil War veterans,
North and South; by the United Spanish War Veterans; by the Sons of
Veterans; by the Legion of Loyal Women; by the National Woman’s Relief
Corps; by the National Army Nurses; by the National Woman Suffrage
Association; by the Woman’s Christian Temperance Union; by the
Protestant, Catholic and other religious organizations; and by all other
public and private institutions whose attention has been called to this
matter of national interest.
Whether in art, literature or philanthropy the pride of a nation is in
the realized ideal. That which must live longest and best serve the race
is the highest ideal, realized. American philanthropy, the realized
ideal obtained through “a movement the most philanthropic of the age and
an intrinsic part of world-civilization,” is the nation’s chiefest moral
asset. A decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that the
memorial tributes to the Founder and petitions by the people be
heeded,—the schemers discredited officially—that _the record of untruth_
may not stand against this nation through envy of “one of God’s
noblest.”
Justice is the end of government, womanhood the crown of American
civilization,—and the spirit of the woman “whose movement spanned the
globe,” a heritage to this nation priceless. That spirit through wars
and national disasters should be the saving spirit in untold suffering
among “the countless millions and uncounted generations throughout the
civilized world.” “Unfounded charges,” inhumanity’s foul blot, _must be
and will be_ removed from the scroll of The American Red Cross, off the
escutcheon of the American nation—that the name of humanity’s luminary
may shine throughout time as the guiding star in American philanthropy.
LXXXVII
Andersonville[9] was not the gateway of hell; it was hell itself.
CLARA BARTON.
Footnote 9:
Without honoring the request of the Secretary of War, Edwin M.
Stanton, to take an expedition to Andersonville to mark the graves
of the missing soldiers, there could have been no cemetery at
Andersonville. The cemetery which the Government now so worthily
owns is a gift from our active corps of women.—Clara Barton.
He (President Lincoln) said, “I will help you.” He smoothed the way
and made it possible, assisting me until the work was done.
CLARA BARTON.
Only in the Great Book of Life is it written what Clara Barton did for
the homes of this land, after the Civil War was over.
SARAH A. SPENCER.
In a Memorial to U. S. Congress, Clara Barton said that in doing this
work referred to, as per itemized bill, she reported that she had
expended from her private funds as a contribution to the cause
$1,759.33, and further said: “My own time and services have been
cheerfully given.” THE AUTHOR.
I remembered our prisons crowded with starving men whom all the powers
and pities of the world could not reach with a bit of bread. I thought
of the widows’ weeds still fresh and dark through all the land, north
and south, from the pine to the palm, the shadows on the hearths and
hearts over all my country—sore, broken hearts; ruined, desolate
homes. CLARA BARTON.
[Illustration:
DORENCE ATWATER
For the record of your dead you are indebted to the forethought,
courage and perseverance of Dorence Atwater, a young man not
twenty-one years of age.—(Signed) CLARA BARTON, in an official
report to the people of the United States of America, in 1865.
]
[Illustration:
This memorial will stand as a silent reminder of the untiring and
loyal devotion of one whose memory will live while time endures.—IDA
S. MCBRIDE, Chairman Memorial Committee.
DEDICATION OF MEMORIAL TO CLARA BARTON AT ANDERSONVILLE, GEORGIA, MAY
31, 1915
Erected by the Woman’s Relief Corps Auxiliary to the Grand Army of the
Republic.
Left to right: Mrs. Emma E. Grinnell, P. Dept., Pres. Wisc. W. R. C.;
William Grinnell, P. Dept., Com. G. A. R., Wisc; Mrs. Ida S.
McBride, P. Natl. Pres. W. R. C.; Miss Agnes Hitt, P. Natl. Pres.,
W. R. C.; Hon. Washington Gardner, P. Com.-in-Chief, G. A. R.; Mrs.
Mary A. North, P. Natl. Jun. Vice-Pres., W. R. C.
]
The path of this work was opened for her through records kept by
Dorence Atwater, a Connecticut boy-prisoner at Andersonville, who had
been detailed to keep a record for the prison officials of the dead,
and their burial. He kept a secret duplicate record, with location of
graves. He saw a notice asking for information signed “Clara Barton,”
when he at once wrote to her. Together they went to Andersonville and
with his aid she succeeded with the identification of 19,920 graves
and placing headstones above them, while 400 of these were marked
“unknown.”
Manchester (N. H.) _Mirror_.
Yes, give me the land with a grave in each spot,
And the names in the graves that shall not be forgot;
Yes, give me the land of the wreck and the tomb—
There’s grandeur in graves, there’s glory in gloom;
For out of the gloom future brightness is born,
And after the night looms the sunrise of morn;
And the graves of the dead, with the grass overgrown,
May yet form the footstool of liberty’s throne;
And earth’s single wreck in the war path of night
Shall yet be a rock in the temple of right.
FATHER RYAN.
OF GRAVES, OF WORMS, OF EPITAPHS
After the Civil War Clara Barton engaged in a sad mission. Of the
Federal soldiers, there were 80,000 missing. Letters from the sorrowing
were coming to the President and the Secretary of War, for information.
To obtain the names of the missing, how died, where buried, and other
information about loved ones, was a tremendous undertaking,—it was Clara
Barton’s mission. Many of her personal friends said it was impossible,
but President Lincoln gave her encouragement. She also received her
Commission from the President, who had published the following:
TO THE FRIENDS OF THE MISSING PRISONERS:
Miss Clara Barton has kindly offered to search for the missing
prisoners of war. Please address her at Annapolis, Maryland, giving
the name, regiment, and company, of any missing prisoner.
A. LINCOLN.
For four long years she carried in her heart the sorrows of scores of
thousands, in unhappy homes. She took the lecture platform and, in
public halls, churches and school-houses, she said to the people “let’s
talk of graves and worms and epitaphs.”
She had known Sorrow,—he had walked with her,
Oft supped, and broke the bitter ashen crust;
And in the dead leaves still she heard the stir
Of his black mantle trailing in the dust.
Few of the obscure dead had even head-boards at their graves. In the
absence of head-boards, the information was obtained through an
ex-federal prisoner, who had kept the necessary data. Tens of thousands
of letters were exchanged. Through correspondence, private information,
personal contact with friends of the missing, and an inspection in the
cemetery, the remains of 19,920 of the missing were found, the remains
sent home, or the grave marked. The whole expense of this work was about
$17,000, the amount advanced by Miss Barton. Later, the Government
reimbursed her to the extent of $15,000. So stupendous, so
philanthropic, and so successful, was this work that this one mission of
love, of itself, would have given Clara Barton eternal fame.
Sad wistful eyes and broken hearts that beat
For the loved sound of unreturning feet
And when the oaks their banners wave,
Dream of the battle and an unmarked grave!
FRANK L. STANTON.
If all that has been said by orators and poets since the creation of
the world in praise of women were applied to the women of America, it
would not do them justice, for their conduct during the war. God bless
the women of America. A. LINCOLN.
I feel how weak and fruitless would be any word of mine which should
attempt to beguile you from the grief of a loss so overwhelming; but I
cannot refrain from tendering you the consolation that may be found in
the thanks of the Republic they died to save.
A. LINCOLN (in his letter to Mrs. Bixby).
Mothers—wives—and maidens, would there were some testimonials grand
enough for you—some tablet that could show to the world the sacrifice
of American womanhood and American motherhood in the Civil War!
Sacrifices so nobly and so firmly—but so gently and so
beautifully,—made. CLARA BARTON.
In the crowded yards of every prison ground, in the dark ravines of
the tangled forests, in the miry, poison swamps, where the slimy
serpent crawls by day and the will-o’-the-wisp dances vigil at night,
in the beds of the mighty rivers, under the waves of the salt sea, in
the drifting sands of the desert islands, on the lonely picket line,
and by the roadside, where the weary soldier laid down with his
knapsack and his gun, and his march of life was ended; there in their
strange beds they sleep till the morning of the great reveille.
CLARA BARTON.
To show the sentiment then existing among the people, and the
appreciation of the services rendered,—of the thousands of letters
received by Miss Barton are appended the following:
GRATITUDE OF A BROKEN-HEARTED MOTHER
“Paw Paw, Van Buren Co., Michigan,
July the 5th, 1865.
“MISS CLARA BARTON,
“_Dear Madam_:—Seeing a notice in the paper of the effort you are making
to ascertain the fate of missing soldiers from Michigan, I hasten to
address you in regard to my son. His name is Eugene P. Osborne. He was a
private in the 13th Michigan Regiment, Co. H Infantry; was in Sherman’s
Army; left Atlanta last November with the Regiment, became lame soon
after leaving there, and fell out the first day of December, near
Louisville, Georgia. Since that time we have never been able to learn
anything of him, or what has become of him. Those that went with him
from this place, and were in the Company with him, have returned, but
they know not what has become of him, or what his fate may be. We have
endeavored to learn something of him by writing to various persons and
places, but as yet we have heard nothing reliable.
“Will you, Oh! will you, aid me in the search for my loved but
unfortunate son; if so, the prayers and gratitude of a heartbroken
Mother shall be yours. Please answer without delay and tell me if you
know aught concerning him, for this cruel suspense is dreadful.
“Respectfully yours,
“Address
“Mrs. C. A. OSBORNE,
“Paw Paw, Van Buren Co., Michigan.”
I never for a moment lose sight of the mothers and sisters and
white-haired fathers, and children moving quietly about, and dropping
the unseen, silent tear in those far-away saddened homes.
CLARA BARTON.
THANK YOU FROM MY VERY HEART, HIS POOR HEART-BROKEN MOTHER
“MISS BARTON:
“_Dear Angel of Love and Mercy_:—I address these few lines to you hoping
to get some information in regard to my son’s remains. He died in August
in the dreadful prison pen at Andersonville. I think it was about the
ninth day of the month. Did you find when you were there on the list the
name of Edward H. Walton, Co. H, 57th Regt. Massachusetts Volunteers? If
so, you will confer a great kindness on me, his poor heartbroken Mother,
by giving me what information you can. He went from Worcester, Mass.
“Please let me know if you think I could obtain his remains if I should
send for them, as I am very anxious to get them. I shall ever remember
your great kindness and labor in thus giving me the comfort that you
have seen the remains of the poor murdered ones decently buried. I thank
you from my very heart and may heaven bless you while you live and when
you have done on earth may the richest of heaven’s blessings be yours
through that never ending eternity for which thousands of mothers will
pray.
“Very respectfully,
“Your humble servant,
(Signed) “MRS. DOLLY WALTON,
“Worcester, Mass.
“Mother of Edward H. Walton, Co. H, Fifty-seventh Regt. Mass. Vol., died
at Andersonville Prison in August, ’64.”
Nor has morbid sympathy been all; out amid the smoke and fire of our
guns, with only the murky canopy above and the bloody ground beneath,
I have not lost sight of those saddened homes.
CLARA BARTON.
MAY GOD BLESS YOU
“LaFayette, Ind., March 30, 1866.
“DEAR MISS BARTON:—
“Will you please excuse a bereaved Mother again addressing you. I have
seen by the papers that you have visited Andersonville. Can you give me
any information respecting my dear lost son, my poor boy, as you have
visited the graves of the precious dead; did you find the name of John
Newton Strain? Oh! it would be a satisfaction, although a melancholy
one, to know where his dear remains rest and oh! if I could only have
them brought home, my noble boy, no better son a Mother ever had. If he
had died on the field of battle it would not have been so hard. He
belonged to the New York 2nd Cavalry Co. I. Dear Miss, if you can give
me any information it will be most thankfully received and the best I
can say is, may God bless you and be your great reward.
“From your afflicted friend,
(Signed) “ELIZA FORESMAN.
“Lafayette, Ind.”
“Please answer.”
I have too often wiped the gathering damp from pale anxious brows and
caught from a shy quivering lip the last faint whispers of home, not
to realize the terrible cost of these separations.
CLARA BARTON.
The history of Andersonville is the most sad, and at the same time the
most discouraging to our confidence in man’s inhumanity to man, of all
the episodes of the Civil War.—_Harper’s Weekly_, Oct. 7, 1865.
The name of Clara Barton will be held in grateful remembrance whenever
and wherever human needs are weighed in the scales of human
want.—_Washington Gardner._
[Illustration:
_By permission of “Harper’s Weekly.”_
CEMETERY AT ANDERSONVILLE, GEORGIA
The Department of Georgia, Grand Army of the Republic, early secured
title to the Andersonville stockade, which it later transferred to
the National organization, Woman’s Relief Corps, Auxiliary to the
Grand Army of the Republic. This body, after having purchased very
considerable additions and improved and beautified the whole through
a period of sixteen years, deeded the entire property to the United
States Government which, together with the cemetery, will be held in
trust perpetually as the most tragic and hallowed plot of ground
under the flag. WASHINGTON GARDNER, Post Commander-in-Chief, G. A.
R., in his memorial address, May 31, 1915.
The number of graves marked is 19,920. Scattered among the
thickly designated graves stand four hundred tablets, bearing
only the number and the touching inscription “Unknown Union
Soldiers.”—(Signed) CLARA BARTON, in an official report to the
people of the United States of America, in 1865.
]
The winds will blow, the skies will weep,
Where fair Columbia’s heroes sleep,
And Clara Barton’s name is known
Where waves our flag or stands a throne;
The work she did fills every heart
Wherein affection hath a part;
A woman to her country true,
She marked the graves where sleep the Blue.
—From the dedicatory poem _Clara Barton_, by T. C. Harbaugh.
MY PRAYERS FOR YOU
_“Miss Clara Barton_:
“Please give me some information, if you can, of Frank Pearson of the U.
S. Str. _Mackinaw_, North Atlantic Squadron. He was from New York State.
I have not heard from him since the last of March. They were then on the
Appomattox River and I suppose he fell when Petersburg was captured. I
wrote to him the first of April, and not getting any word from him I
wrote to his Captain but never heard from him. I had given up all hopes
of ever hearing what has happened my _best friend_. When I saw your
name, that you were trying to find our lost friends, I took courage, but
whether I will have any better luck to hear just a word about _Poor
Frank_. Three years and a half on the _Blockade_. Oh! how fast the time
was passing; only six months from April until he would have been once
more free. I would have willingly died for him, but God has ordered it
otherwise and I am not the only one that is mourning for a _Dear
Friend_.
“If you can find anything about him please let me know as soon as you
can conveniently. My prayers for you. Oh! how lonely! how sad I feel all
alone in this cold world. ‘Would that I were resting too!’
“Pardon me and excuse the writing. My eyes are dim. Please answer soon.
I am
“Your friend,
(Signed) “MATTIE C. BEATTY,
“Coal Bluff, Washington County, Penna.”
LXXXVIII
Clara Barton is Clara Barton. DR. SAMUEL WOODWARD.
Clara Barton went to Russia, in 1892, to carry food to the famine
sufferers there;—the most widely known American of today.
_Central Christian Advocate._
The total value of contributions from America to Russia in 1892 was
estimated at about $800,000. Through all sources, here and in Europe,
upwards of 35,000 people were saved from starvation.
PERCY H. EPLER, Author.
Clara Barton gave to the world a greater influence than Catherine of
Russia with her millions of subjects—her name will be remembered when
that of Catherine shall have been forgotten.
Parsons (Kan.) _Sunday_.
The sign of the Red Cross, in crimson red, had come nearer its true
significance under Clara Barton’s direction than it ever did before,
whether by Constantine, named, or borne by crusader bands in assaults
upon the Crescent. Worcester (Mass.) _Telegram_.
When stricken Armenia called for help in 1896, it was Clara Barton who
led the relief corps of salvation and sustenance.
Grand Rapids (Mich.) _Herald_.
Resolved, That we regard Miss Barton the highest representative and
purest embodiment of the Christian humanitarian spirit in America. The
Church of Martyrs (Armenian Congregational Church). Worcester, Mass.
They knew, in Turkey, we had taken our lives in our hands to come to
them, with no thought of ourselves. CLARA BARTON.
No American will hereafter in foreign lands feel any less security
since the American National Red Cross has been before them in Russia
and Armenia. CLARA BARTON.
When the cry came from Turkey, what man was there in all this land
brave enough to lead where Clara Barton went, like an Angel of Mercy?
The boundless love of that woman’s heart! God bless Clara Barton! MRS.
ELLEN SPENCER MUSSEY.
When the wail of the Armenians and downtrodden of the Oriental World
was heard, Clara Barton was among the first to raise the banner of the
Red Cross, like the crusader of old and push forward to the scenes of
anguish and carnage.
MRS. GEN. JOHN A. LOGAN.
The work Clara Barton did in Asia Minor, and which Col. Hinton
designated as the Statesmanship of Philanthropy, was similar to the
work along this line she did at the Sea Islands flood, in the
Carolinas. THE AUTHOR.
Clara Barton, in Asia Minor, has done a splendid work, sensibly and
economically managed. HENRY C. DWIGHT, D.D., American Board of Foreign
Missions at Constantinople.
The difficulties of the work in Asia Minor, the perils and discomforts
would surely have appalled a less courageous heart than Clara
Barton’s. JOS. K. GREENE, Resident Missionary in Armenia.
To Turkey and Armenia—a mission so difficult and perilous that all the
world wondered, watched, waited, hoped and prayed for her success, and
her safe return to her native land. W. H. SEARS.
To us who have seen so much and worked so long and so hard, it would
seem that the Red Cross movement has some “significance”—some
connection with philanthropy. CLARA BARTON.
The Red Cross flag has no Christian sense that many suppose. It is
broader than Christianity itself, because it has neither prejudice nor
bounds; Christian, Mohammedan and pagan are the same in the eyes of
the Red Cross. CLARA BARTON.
The principal nations of earth are bound together by the bands of the
highest international law that must make war in the future less
barbarous than it has been in the past. CLARA BARTON.
Bakashish is the substitute for our “tip” system. To make any headway
in Turkey with a hoard of beggars, two words must be mastered:
“Yok”—No; and “Hide-git”—Be off with you.
GEORGE H. PULLMAN, Secretary to Clara Barton in Turkey.
The moral support given in Asia Minor was far beyond any valuation. At
such a money valuation then, the aggregate value of the relief
distribution is nearly $350,000. GEO. H. PULLMAN.
Reticent, constant and efficient, Clara Barton has won the confidence
of every government under whose flag she has labored—as in the land of
the Crescent and Scimitar—and has done honor to her native land. B. H.
WARNER.
No matter how far from home, how lone and desolate, the soldier knows
the Red Cross for his own; the glazing eye can discern it and next to
God or “Allah” it is his Saviour, the American Annie Laurie of the
wounded soldier. CLARA BARTON.
There is, we are happy to believe, a warmth and an appreciation of the
Red Cross that brings added honor to the country.
CLARA BARTON.
TURKEY—STATESMANSHIP OF PHILANTHROPY—ARMENIA
“Alone, bereft, forsaken, sick and heartbroken, without food, raiment or
shelter, on the snow-piled mountain sides and along the smiling valleys
they wander and linger and perish. By scores, by hundreds, they die; no
help, no medicine, no skill, little food and, as if common woes were not
enough, the Angel of Disease flaps his black wings like a pall.” Such
the condition, says Clara Barton, in Asia Minor in 1896; and “Help or we
perish,” the cry of the people.
[Illustration:
DR. G. PASDERMADJIAN
THE DEMOCRACY OF ARMENIA
Armenian Legation,
January 17, 1922.
After the great massacre of 1895, thanks to the personal testimony of
Clara Barton, we came to learn of another Christian Power, a nation
dedicated to the lofty principles of our common religion, a champion
of liberty and justice, and a helpful friend to all oppressed and
suffering peoples. We are indebted to Clara Barton in the sense that
she was the first among other Americans to inspire us with this
faith.
DR. G. PASDERMADJIAN,
Minister from Armenia to United States.
]
[Illustration:
I. H. R. PRINCE GUY DE LUSIGNAN
Last of the Royal Line
THE ROYALTY OF ARMENIA
The Armenian Decoration
I have received a decoration, officially described as follows:
Brevet of Chevalier of the Royal Order of Melusine, founded in 1186,
by Sibylle, Queen and spouse of King Guy of Jerusalem, and
reinstituted several years since by Marie, Princess of Lusignan. The
Order is conferred for humanitarian, scientific and other services
of distinction, but especially when such services are rendered to
the House of Lusignan, and particularly to the Armenian nation. The
Order is worn by a number of reigning sovereigns, and is highly
prized by the recipients because of its rare bestowal and its
beauty. This decoration is bestowed by His Royal Highness, Guy of
Lusignan, Prince of Jerusalem, Cyprus and Armenia.—CLARA BARTON.
See pages between 326–7; decoration No. 22.
]
To enter Turkey at this time was an undertaking _too great_ for man;
this must be the work of woman. There was one woman equal to the
emergency, and she seventy-five years of age. All eyes were turned
toward that woman. She was chosen unanimously. Her assistants were to be
men but she stood sponsor for man’s conduct, a responsibility the
greatest in life woman ever assumes. The deference paid to this
woman—_Mirabile dictu_—was some years before a woman was regarded even
capable of sitting as member of the American House of Representatives or
as Member in the English House of Commons. Did she accept? Nothing too
hazardous for her to undertake; she ever was seeking for something to do
that no one else would do, no one else could do.
Florence Nightingale sailed for Crimea “under the strong support of
England’s military head and England’s gracious Queen;” Clara Barton set
sail for Turkey, “prohibited, unsustained either by governmental or
other authority,”—destined to a port five thousand miles away, from
approach to which even the powers of the world shrank in fear. As Clara
Barton, with her four assistants, left New York City, on the S. S. _New
York_, “crowded were the piers, wild the hurrahs, white the scene with
the parting salutes, hearts beating with exultation and expectation;”
longing the anxious eyes that followed far out to sea that band of five
fearless American crusaders, on humanity’s mission.
Would she reach Constantinople? The Turkish Minister, resident at
Washington, forbade her and her Red Cross band to enter the land of the
Moslem. Her Christian presence there was not desired; would not be
permitted. Unperturbed, she proceeded on her way. She arrived at
Constantinople. She stopped at Pera Palace hotel. She asked for an
audience with Tewfik Pasha, Minister of State. She explained; she begged
the privilege of self-sacrifice. The High Official listened attentively,
then said: We know you, Miss Barton; have long known you and your work.
And you shall have it. We know your position, and your wishes shall be
respected. Such aid and protection as we are able to render, we will
cheerfully render you. I speak for my government. I extend to you my
cordial good wishes in your work among our distressed people.
At the interview Clara Barton thus assured Tewfik Pasha: “We have no
newspaper correspondent, and I promise you I will not write a book on
Turkey. What we see and hear will be confidential—not repeated.” But she
didn’t keep faith with the Government—she reported on the dogs. Dogs in
Constantinople are held sacred, but not because decorated with a
brassard they serve in Red Cross work or otherwise are useful. The
streets and plazas day and night are filled with dogs, colonies of dogs.
Fond of dogs, she enjoyed telling this story. About to be overpowered by
other dogs the Turkish dog flops over on his back, his feet in air to
serve as the dog’s Red Cross flag, over a hospital. In the “hospital” he
remains until there is an opportunity of escape when, without so much as
“by your leave,” he invalids himself home.
The British Legation had a blooded rat terrier, also _sacred_. By chance
the terrier slipped out of the yard. Unsuspecting he was “ambushed” and,
not knowing Turkish dog strategy, was foully slain. The secretary, in
righteous wrath, forthwith imported from England “Bull Brindle,” of a
famous fighting breed. The British “warrior” also strolled out on the
plaza, _but not by chance_. A colony of several hundred dogs, with
confused noises as terrifying as of a “pack of coyotes” hunting prey,
massed an attack on the lone “Britisher.” Victory this time was not with
the largest battalions. Bull terrier was killing mongrels without mercy
or shame, and with as much ease as the terrier had killed rats, and so
continuing until four score or more lay dead on the field.
As ranged
Achilles in his fury through the field
From side to side, and everywhere o’ertook
His victims, and earth was dark with blood.
_By chance_, through an opening in the walled fence of the embassy,
the secretary was an eye-witness. The natives in numbers, aroused,
watched the uneven contest but no one dared to lay hands on the
“achilles.” Alarmed over the possible consequences to himself, the
secretary rushed to the scene, grabbed Brindle by the collar, led him
to the embassy, chained him. A diplomat, the secretary returned to the
plaza—explained—expressed regrets—almost _heartbroken_, apologized,
but to Miss Barton he confidentially said: “That’s one time I got even
with the unspeakable Turk.”
Aghast and horrified had stood the world over the news of the then
recent terrible massacres; of the contagious diseases that windswept
Asia Minor, leaving thousands and tens of thousands dead and dying in
its wake. But proud was America. Her heroine was at the Moslem Capital,
the foreign representative of the one country there on guard for
humanity. This, her picture of the trip to Killis, the scene of one of
the many terrible massacres: “Our security, the official order, ‘Go and
we protect,’—camels heavy-laden not with ivory and jewels, gold in the
ingots and silk in the bales, but food and raiment for the starving, the
sick, the dying. Onward toward dread Killis—the wild tribes’ knives
before, the Moslem troops behind—till at length the spires of Aintab
rise in view. Weary the camels and weary the men.” In fear that the
means might not be at hand to do all she would, in anguish of soul Clara
Barton writes to her friend Frances Willard: “My heart would grow faint
and words fail to tell the people of the woes here and the needs. In the
name of your God and my God, tell them not to be discouraged in the good
work they have undertaken.”
She was then on the site of Ancient Byzantium whose history reaches back
six hundred years before the Christian Era, a city with its successor
Constantinople, the rival of Athens and Rome and Jerusalem, in service
to civilization. She might have said, as did the proud Roman General, “I
have come, I have seen, I have conquered.” But no word then,—neither
before nor since—escaped her lips. She was there, having taken her life
in her hands, not thinking of self, knowing no race, no creed, no
religion, no nationality; there to distribute to the needy in such a way
as an American President said she only knew how.
[Illustration:
_Permission D. Appleton & Co._
ABDUL-HAMID
1876–1899
Some months after returning home I received through our State
Department at Washington, the Sultan’s decoration of Shefacat and
its accompanying diploma in Turkish. The translation is here given:
“As Miss Barton, American citizen, possesses many great and
distinguished qualities and as recompense is due to her, I am
pleased, therefore, to accord to her the second class of my
decorations of Shefacat.” CLARA BARTON (in 1897).
See pages between 326–7; decoration No. 12.
]
Strange and startling must have been the sensation to the Moslem as, on
an eventful reunion of the Crusaders, through the open windows of
[10]Red Cross headquarters there came from his foreign benefactors, in
chorus, strains of sweetest music: “Home, Sweet Home,” of which the
native was merely dreaming; “Sweet Land of Liberty,” of which he had
only read; “Nearer My God to Thee,” which was wholly foreign to his
religious teachings. It was on the patriotic Fourth at Constantinople,
at the time of her carrying a message to the Turkish people, that in a
poem entitled “Marmora,” of her own country Clara Barton sung:
Footnote 10:
Red Cross work in Turkey is under the name of Red Crescent.
MARMORA
It was twenty and a hundred years, oh blue and rolling sea,
A thousand in the onward march of human liberty,
Since on its sunlit bosom, wind tossed and sails unfurled,
Atlantic’s mighty billows bore a message to the world.
And weary eyes grew brighter then, and fainting hearts grew strong,
And hope was mingled in the cry, “How long, oh Lord, how long?”
The seething millions turn and stir and struggle towards the light;
The free flag streams, and morning gleams where erst was hopeless night.
Four expeditions through Turkey, Armenia and other parts of Asia Minor
were planned and successfully carried out. Coasting boats were used to
reach the interior, as were caravans of camels over the deserts and
other almost waste places—the expeditions supplying the destitute with
food, medicine, clothing, seed and farming implements. For this, the
greatest undertaking of its kind in history, she was decorated by the
Sultan of Turkey, by the Prince of Armenia, and from each of these
rulers also she received a Diploma of Merit.
She was then in the hey-day of her popularity. Abdul-Hamid was on the
throne of Turkey. Twelve years later the Sultan was dethroned and by his
people put into prison. Oh! the irony of fate! About that time she draws
this picture: “The Sultan was locked in and I locked out, but my whole
country seemed my prison and I struggled to free myself of it.” Unfair
the comparison! The “Young Turks” (a political party), representing the
people, had dethroned, then imprisoned, Abdul-Hamid. Not so Clara
Barton, by her people.
She was dethroned by methods that would shame a Turkish brigand; her
prison-keeper was not the people, but
Man, proud man!
Drest in a little brief authority.
On her return from Turkey Clara Barton was accorded a most wonderful
reception at the nation’s Capital, and was acclaimed a world-heroine by
the whole American people.
LXXXIX
Clara Barton, friend and counselor of Abraham Lincoln. KATE BROWNLEE
SHERWOOD.
Already the pale messenger waits at the gate, and his weird shadow
falleth near. CLARA BARTON.
Treason must be made odious. ANDREW JOHNSON.
Treason is ever odious. J. HALL.
Treason doth never prosper. SIR JOHN HARRINGTON.
Treason is one of the greatest crimes possible. T. DWIGHT.
Treason seldom dwells with courage. W. SCOTT.
Treason always operates, if possible, by surprise. W. H. SEWARD.
Treason and murder ever kept together as two yoke-devils, sworn to
either’s purposes. HENRY IV.
Washington brought the United States of America into being; Lincoln
made that being immortal. GEORGE H. SMYTHE, JR.
The life of Lincoln should never be passed by in silence by young or
old. DAVID SWING.
His biography is written in blood and tears.
HENRY WARD BEECHER.
Lincoln—not thine the sorrow, but ours, sainted soul!
HENRY WARD BEECHER.
Lincoln now belongs to the ages. EDWIN M. STANTON.
TREASON—LINCOLN ASSASSINATED—GRANT PROTECTS CLARA BARTON
On the evening of the 14th of April, 1865, Clara Barton was at 488½
Seventh Street, Washington, D. C. She saw two men on the opposite side
of the street, talking, and then excited men and women running up and
down the street. Not long afterwards she heard the footsteps of a man
pacing up and down the hall outside of her door, on the third floor. She
cautiously opened the door to see who it was. In the hall she saw a
sentinel, with his gun, passing—she wanted to know what it was all
about. He said that he had been sent there to guard her, but could only
tell her that a general massacre was feared. The sentinel stood guard
there all night.
The news came sometime in the night that Lincoln had been assassinated,
and that there was a plot to assassinate W. H. Seward, Salmon P. Chase,
U. S. Grant, and Andrew Johnson; that they were protecting her because
they felt sure that she was also to be attacked, as she was close to
Lincoln. She did not close her eyes in sleep, but paced the floor until
morning. In the morning she opened the door and saw another sentinel
outside the door. This other sentinel said it would not be safe for her
to leave her room; that if she would give him her order for breakfast he
would see that it was served; that if she had any letters to mail to
pass them out, but she must remain a prisoner for the present.
The first person that came to see her in the morning was a messenger
from General Grant—to see if she were all right. Soon after this she
heard that Lincoln had died,—another messenger brought her the news.
Describing the terrible events of the saddest of all nights at the
Capital, Miss Barton said: “I heard a great commotion in the street and
looking out the window I saw strong men standing everywhere, crying.”
The people still feared there was going to be a general massacre. At the
end of three days Miss Barton was told she might leave her room. The
body of Lincoln was taken to Philadelphia to lie in state at the old
State House, Sixth and Chestnut streets. Miss Barton received a letter
from General Grant, asking her to go to Philadelphia. The General sent a
companion to accompany her on the trip. Clara Barton attended the
memorial in the “City of Brotherly Love,” and there paid her last
tribute of respect to her friend, the immortal Lincoln.
XC
It is a wise benevolence that makes preparation in the hour of peace
for assuaging the ills that are sure to accompany war.
CLARA BARTON.
The thoughtful mind will readily perceive that these responsibilities
incurred by relief societies involve constant vigilance and effort,
during periods of peace. CLARA BARTON.
The Red Cross has stood, unrecognized in the shades of obscurity, all
the eighteen years of its existence among us, waiting for sure, alas,
too sure the touch of war to light up its dark figure, and set in
motion the springs of action. CLARA BARTON.
The fundamental principle of good citizenship is willing acquiescence.
CLARA BARTON.
It will be history by and by to whom Cuba belongs and, while one has
to study to learn past history, it is not worth while to let slip that
which is all the time making history in our day and generation. CLARA
BARTON, in 1874.
With funds, or without, the Red Cross has been first on every field of
disaster. CLARA BARTON.
The cause the American Red Cross is meant to promote stands first in
my affections and desires. CLARA BARTON.
The Cuban field gave the first opportunity to test the co-operation
between the Government and its supplemental hand-maiden, the Red
Cross. CLARA BARTON.
Thirty years of peace had made it strange to all save the veterans,
with their gray beards, and silver-haired matrons of the days of the
old war long since passed into history. Could it be possible that men
were to learn anew (in Cuba)? Were men again to fall and women to
weep? CLARA BARTON.
The able and experienced leadership of the President of the Society,
Miss Clara Barton, on the fields of battle and at the hospital at the
front in Cuba. PRESIDENT WILLIAM MCKINLEY.
PRESIDENT MCKINLEY SENDS CLARA BARTON TO CUBA
President McKinley personally had subscribed $1,000 to a fund to relieve
the starving Cubans. He issued an appeal to the American people; the
people responded with barely $50,000. Discouraged, he sent for Clara
Barton. Not knowing the President’s desire to see her, Private Secretary
Pruden told her that the President was very busy, and probably would not
be able to see her until the next day. As she was about to leave Major
Pruden said: “Wait a minute, Miss Barton, I’ll take your card in.”
Returning, Major Pruden said: “Miss Barton, the President wants very
much to see you.” Entering, Miss Barton found the President in
conference with Secretary of State Day on the very matter of sending her
to Cuba, to take charge of furnishing relief to the starving
reconcentrados. The conference, which was to have been held next day,
was held at once. At this conference Miss Barton outlined a complete
plan of action. The plan was approved by the President, but provided
only that Miss Barton herself should go to Cuba to take charge of the
relief work. The President, in highest appreciation of her, said: “My
dear Miss Barton, this is your work; go to the starving Cubans, if you
can with your relief ship, and distribute as only you know how.”
In Red Cross relief work through Clara Barton, under her slogan
“People’s Help for National Needs,” the uniform policy was _not to
sell_, but _to distribute_. In Cuba when “Teddy the Rough Rider,” with
money in his pocket and a gunny sack over his shoulders, in behalf of
his soldiers ill and in distress, appeared at the door of her tent _to
buy_, Clara Barton said: “Colonel, we have nothing to sell. What do your
boys need? We have food and clothing to give away.” Recently commenting
on that policy, an editorial writer says: “That its members should know
neither friend nor foe, but serve all alike in fields of war and in
camps of sickness, was the essence and spirit of the Red Cross which
Clara Barton founded.”
[Illustration:
© _Harris & Ewing_
WILLIAM R. DAY
In the troublesome times preceding and following the outbreak of the
Spanish-American War, I learned to know how valuable the services of
Clara Barton have been to her country.—WILLIAM R. DAY, Associate
Justice, U. S. Supreme Court; the Secretary of State under President
McKinley.
]
XCI
Everything Clara Barton did was performed in a masterly and
businesslike way. _New York Examiner._
Clara Barton possessed rare executive ability.
Boston (Mass.) _Journal_.
Clara Barton—her strong and capable hands—her clear and logical
brain—her systematic methods. Boston (Mass.) _Globe_.
Is it not the finest kind of glory that when the American Red Cross is
seen the name of Clara Barton comes to the mind like a benediction.
New York (N. Y.) _Sun_.
The world lost in Clara Barton a great lawyer when it gained a
whole-souled philanthropist. ELLEN SPENCER MUSSEY, Attorney for
American Red Cross.
Had Clara Barton belonged to the other sex, she would have been a
merchant prince, a great general, or a trusted political leader.
DR. HENRY W. BELLOWS.
Clara Barton’s herculean work was done with means that most men would
scorn as too trivial to begin a work with.
ALICE HUBBARD—In _The Fra_.
Our methods are based upon strict business principles.
CLARA BARTON, President Red Cross.
No donor to, nor recipient of, Red Cross relief ever criticised Clara
Barton’s bookkeeping. CORRA BACON-FOSTER, Author.
After each event a financial statement has been prepared showing in
full detail both receipts and expenditures. Every donation of money
sent to the field and every one of the supplies, so far as could be
identified, has had individual acknowledgment.
Red Cross Committee,
By WALTER P. PHILLIPS, _Chairman_.
SAMUEL L. JARVIS,
J. B. HUBBELL,
House Document, No. 552, Vol. 49, 58th Congress.
_In re_ Clara Barton’s business methods,—although the exigencies of
the situation rendered the distribution one of great difficulty, it
has been done so wisely, prudently and effectively, as not only to
accomplish its purpose but to excite the admiration of all who are
personally conversant with it. Red Cross Committee, in Official
Communication to Congress, House Document, No. 552, Vol. 49, 58th
Congress.
The Red Cross has set in motion the wheels of relief at a moment’s
warning over the whole land. CLARA BARTON.
It has been my custom, as the head of the organization which has grown
up around me, to reach a field of great disaster in the shortest
possible time, regarding neither weather, night, nor Sunday.
CLARA BARTON.
IN DETAILS—CLARA BARTON, A BUSINESS MANAGER—WORLD’S RECORD
On Christmas Eve, 1899, there arrived for Clara Barton at her Glen Echo
home, besides letters, more than a bushel basket full of presents. These
presents were from various parts of the world. One of them from Cuba was
a large cocoanut with her name and address burned with a hot iron, the
cocoanut plastered with postage stamps. The other presents were in
packages. From these her secretary commenced to cut the strings. “Don’t
do that, General; untie the strings. I save all the strings; we may need
them.” Following her custom the General then untied the strings, looped
the ends together in every case and so continuing until each bunch was
about six inches long; then he tied the bunches respectively with a
loose bow-knot. All the bunches so arranged were then taken upstairs
into one of the small rooms of the house and there hung on nails for
future use. Red, white, and blue strings to the number of perhaps
thousands were thus hung on the row of nails on the wall, the whole
length of the room. Whenever a string of a certain length was wanted she
would take from the nail a bunch of the length needed at that particular
time.
Equally methodical was she with wrapping paper. She ironed out the paper
and folded it, placing the papers respectively on shelves; the papers
likewise were classified as to size, and this including corrugated
paper. She would remind her assistants that it is not the value of the
strings and the paper but the certain need of them; and being saved and
thus classified, time would be saved when the need came. Spools of
thread, needles, thimbles, hosiery, garments, shoes, or whatever else
used by her in her work, were in like manner classified and through a
system as nearly perfect as in the best arranged store in the world.
In 1893 occurred the Sea Islands Hurricane and Tidal Wave Disaster.
Thirty thousand people were homeless in consequence. Clara Barton, with
her four Red Cross assistants, was in charge. Admiral Beardslee, of the
U. S. Navy, volunteered as a “helper.” He made notes, and later a
report, on the Red Cross work there. He reported that for a desk Clara
Barton had a dry goods box; for a bed, a cot; that she had systematic
and businesslike methods; that books were kept and every penny, or
penny’s worth, were accounted for;—that what had been contributed by the
people was honestly and intelligently placed where it would do most
good.
General Leonard F. Ross, of Civil War record and of large affairs, was
in Cuba at the sinking of the “Maine.” Clara Barton accepted his
proffered services as superintendent of the warehouse. The General said
Miss Barton had a perfect business system—such a system as he had not
seen equalled. General W. R. Shafter, in charge of the American forces
in the Spanish-American War, commending Clara Barton, said that in
relieving distress and saving life no Governmental red tape system could
possibly be as effective as Clara Barton’s sensible, business methods,
in Cuba. United States Senator Redfield Proctor was not only a statesman
but also a business man, handling successfully millions of dollars in
business annually. He was chairman of the Senate Committee, to make
investigations in Cuba. In his official report, in his speech to the
Senate, he eulogized Clara Barton in highest terms. The Senator told the
Senate that Clara Barton could give him points in business; that she
needed no commendation from him; that he found in her conduct of the
business affairs of the Red Cross there was nothing to criticise, but
everything to commend her to the American people.
The storm and tidal wave had struck Galveston. Clara Barton received the
news in the evening. A moment’s warning was all that was necessary. At
once she took counsel with her secretary. “General, what are we going
to?”
[Illustration:
BENJAMIN F. BUTLER
There has been inaugurated by Clara Barton a system of economy that
will save ten thousand dollars, within a year of her
administration.—BENJAMIN F. BUTLER, Governor of Massachusetts,
1881–1882; Major-General Civil War; U. S. Congress, 1867–1875;
1877–1879. See pages 359; 364.
]
HER BUSINESS RECORD
[Illustration:
FRANCIS ATWATER
Clara Barton had rare business qualifications. No person existed more
scrupulously honest, as I know from having been her financial
adviser for nearly forty years. There was no time in her life when
she was not doing good. A wonderful woman!—FRANCIS ATWATER, State
Senator in 1906, Connecticut; Journalist. See pages 323; 359.
]
[Illustration:
LEONARD F. ROSS
In Cuba, Clara Barton had a perfect business system, such as I have
never seen equalled.—LEONARD F. ROSS, Brigadier-General, Civil War;
Superintendent of Red Cross Warehouse in Cuba, 1898, under Clara
Barton.
General Ross is one of the most gracious, courteous gentlemen I have
ever known.—CLARA BARTON. See page 359.
]
[Illustration:
REDFIELD PROCTOR
I especially looked into Clara Barton’s business methods, as to
system, waste and extravagance. I found nothing to criticise, but
everything to commend. She could teach me on these points.—REDFIELD
PROCTOR, Colonel in the Civil War; Governor of Vermont; member of
the U. S. Senate, 1891–1908; Chairman Red Cross Proctor Committee to
“investigate” Clara Barton.
See page 359.
]
Secretary: “Well, Miss Barton, we are going to an awful scene of death
and destruction.”
Miss Barton: “Yes, but what are we going to; we are going to nothing,
aren’t we?”
Secretary: “I suppose we are, Miss Barton.”
Miss Barton: “Why, at Johnstown I hunted a half day and couldn’t find a
thimble with which to do some sewing. Here, General, take these keys and
go through the house and whenever you find anything that can be used
_where there is nothing_, you pack it up.”
The secretary took the keys, went through the house of thirty-eight
rooms and seventy-six closets. He found carefully stored away supplies
of every description. He found packing-chests, trunks, valises and
telescopes all ready for use—everything imaginable at hand. Miss Barton
and her secretary worked all night. The next morning two great
dray-loads of goods were _en route_ to the railway station, and
Galveston. Arriving at Galveston she asked: “Mr. Mayor, have ward
committees been organized?”
Mayor Jones: “No, Miss Barton.”
Miss Barton: “How many wards are there in the city?”
Mayor Jones: “Twelve.”
Miss Barton: “Do go at once and organize strong committees in every
ward; provide ward headquarters, and a store-room where every ward
committee can take charge of supplies furnished. Have your ward
committees canvass every ward thoroughly and get the name of every
person and what he needs—the food necessary and in case of clothing the
exact size of the clothing. Then have your committees make requisition
for what is needed on the Red Cross at its headquarters. My corps of
helpers will see that these requisitions are promptly filled, and the
goods sent to ward headquarters for distribution.”
Miss Barton then said to her helpers: “_Now we must work!_ Mr. Lewis,
you go at once and secure a good saddle-horse, and direct the
organization of Mayor Jones’ ward committees. General Sears, you go into
the city and secure a headquarters building for the Red Cross. Mr.
Talmage, you go to Houston and stay there until every delayed Red Cross
car is forwarded to Galveston. Major McDowell, you go to the
headquarters to take charge of the unpacking, the classifying, and the
issuing of the supplies. Mr. Ward, you will go with Major McDowell to
open up an office at the headquarters. Keep a careful book account of
the receipts of all supplies and moneys. Mr. Marsh, you will go with Mr.
Ward, to be his assistant. Mrs. Ward, you will stay by me to take such
directions as I may have to give you from time to time. Miss Coombs, you
are to be my stenographer and typewriter—you’ll find plenty to do to
keep busy. Miss Spradling (a trained nurse), you arrange proper space
for the opening up of an orphanage at headquarters building, then gather
up all the homeless, uncared-for orphans in the city and take care of
them. Every person in charge of work is expected to report to me daily,
and hourly if necessary.” In less time than it takes the military
commander to get his columns into action the woman, who had “the command
of a general,” had humanity’s forces on the “firing line.”
Clara Barton possessed in the highest degree the elements necessary to
succeed in business. She had the mental grasp of a great enterprise; she
had executive ability; she inspired confidence in those serving with
her; she was methodical in attention to details—without a superior in
the business world; she was economical in her personal expenditures,
exacting like economy on the part of her assistants;—ever anticipating
the future by making wise provision. When much was at stake, and means
necessary to accomplish her purposes, she was without limit as to
expenditures. These elements, combined in her, gave to her the power she
swayed as the business head of a great corporation.
The measure of success is the measure of the capacity for achievement.
It was on her nursing record in the Civil War that she made her national
reputation; on her business record, her world reputation. She was not a
Hetty Green in a bank account, for she invested in the field of
humanity, not of finance; but her genius shone in handling, unerringly,
a great business enterprise, her record far surpassing that of the
woman-wizard of Wall Street. By American Presidents, by commanders of
armies, by statesmen, by financiers, by her co-workers, without an
exception who were with her on fields of war and disaster, she was
commended for her business acumen, business methods, and in the results
obtained. From previous knowledge, from personal observation at the
Galveston flood, from having, within the past five years, spent many
months in her Glen Echo Red Cross home, with the accountants who were
going through her business records and assisting myself in the work, I
speak what I do know.
She did not come into the business world panoplied as from the head of a
Jupiter, her record was not temporary camouflage; it is a record of
years; nor was it solely through the heart, for other women have hearts.
Clara Barton had genius, “the power of meeting and overcoming the
unexpected;” had genius for work, and through work comes genius. Her
business record is as firmly established as is that of her heart record;
as is that of the great “captains of industry” and, as theirs, is based
on _methods and success_, the only known data for such determination. In
the use of her approved methods in continuous service for twenty-three
years, she was without one record-failure, achieving success under
varied and most trying conditions.
It is said of her by one writer, “a woman of great force of character;”
by another, from the results accomplished and without prejudice toward
womankind in the business world, “one of the world’s greatest
personages, for greatness knows no sex;” by another, as shown in her
capacity to do things, “she must be classed as a genius, for genius is
the intuitive capacity for overcoming insurmountable difficulties.”
Clara Barton’s twenty-three years as the Executive Head of the Red
Cross; her collection and distribution of two and one-half millions of
money and material; her unanimous election three times to the Red Cross
presidency for life, on her business record, is without precedent. She
might have been a _Merchant Prince_; she could teach one of America’s
most successful business men on _business points_; she excited _the
admiration of all who were acquainted with her business methods_. Some
day some man or woman may appear as her rival on the horizon of the
business world but, up to the present time as an unpaid executive with
unpaid helpers, Clara Barton holds the world’s record as Business
Manager, in public service.
[Illustration:
THE AMERICAN RED CROSS BUILDING, WASHINGTON, D. C.
Dedicated to the Heroic Women of the Civil War.
Cost $800,000.00—$400,000 by Congress; $400,000 by Friends of the Red
Cross (Mrs. Russell Sage, $150,000, Rockefeller Foundation,
$100,000, James A. Scrymser, $100,000, Mrs. E. H. Harriman,
$50,000).
One and one-half million of names were represented on the petition
memorializing the 65th Congress to place a Clara Barton tablet in
the new Red Cross Building at Washington, D. C.—CORRA BACON-FOSTER,
author of _Clara Barton, Humanitarian_.
Clara Barton, “Her character eternally crystallized at the base of an
enduring foundation and an immortal American destiny—the greatest an
American woman has yet produced.”—HON. HENRY BRECKENRIDGE, Acting
Secretary of War, at the laying of the corner stone of the American
Red Cross Building at Washington, D. C., March 15, 1915.
]
XCII
Honor any requisition Clara Barton makes; she outranks me.
GENERAL B. F. BUTLER.
The Jury passing on the prisoner’s life may in the sworn twelve have a
thief or two guiltier than him they try. SHAKESPEARE.
A felon’s cell—
The fittest earthly type of hell. WHITTIER.
Prison—the living grave of Crime. JOAQUIN MILLER.
Prison—Young Crime’s finishing school. MRS. BULFOUR.
Every penitentiary should be a real reformatory—the discipline of the
average prison hardens and degrades—the criminal should be treated
with kindness. R. G. INGERSOLL.
Even the most obstinate yields to the rule of kindness, firmly and
steadily administered. CLARA BARTON.
SUPERINTENDENT OF WOMAN’S PRISON
There is a woman’s prison, supported by the state at Sherborn,
Massachusetts. Its condition had been unsatisfactory. Governor Ben F.
Butler[11] sent for Miss Barton, and begged her to accept its
superintendency. He said: “I ask it as a personal favor.” “But, if I
accept, Governor, what would be required of me?” “Well, it will be
necessary first for you to put up a ten thousand dollar bond.” “Would
you accept a cash bond, Governor?” “Of course,” he replied. And she put
up the bond.
Footnote 11:
At a public reception in honor of Miss Barton a few years after the
Civil War, the wife of a Massachusetts Congressman, addressing General
Benjamin F. Butler, said: “How wonderfully well Miss Barton looks in
her evening dress! What beautiful arms and shoulders she has!” General
Butler replied: “Yes, I have seen those arms red with human blood to
the shoulders.”
The ten thousand dollars was not in the “coin of the realm”; it was in
railroad bonds, then above par. The governor had enemies who at no time
closed their eyes to his faults, real or imaginary; but he also had
adherents, who were his “friends to a fault.” It was reported that the
governor had accepted her personal bond. His enemies adversely
criticized the waiving of the requirements of the law in her case. His
friends justified the official conduct of the executive, protesting that
Miss Barton’s personal bond was good anywhere. While the agitation of
the public mind over the bond was at its height, the governor paid an
official visit at the prison. On the issue pending the governor to Miss
Barton made this comment: “If the good Lord would only protect me from
my ‘fool friends,’ I could take care of my enemies myself.”
Her executive ability and methodical work soon showed results.
Discipline and economy had transformed the prison. Instead of
insubordination, there was obedience; instead of wastage, there was
frugality. The Governor and his Council paid the institution an official
visit. In a public address delivered shortly after this at Springfield,
the Governor said: “I’ll tell you that the _Prison Is In a Thorough
Condition_, and there has been inaugurated there a system of economy
that will save $10,000 within a year of her administration.”
XCIII
America’s foremost woman. Houghton (Mich.) _Gazette_.
Clara Barton’s, a career which has no parallel in American history.
Cleveland (Ohio) _Plain Dealer_.
Clara Barton—in citizenship, the memory of her career must remain a
rich heritage to the people of this country.
Portland (Ore.) _Telegram_.
Clara Barton’s Red Cross achievements are monumental, and because of
the corner-stone she laid the present superstructure will endure. Her
name is the synonym for the American Red Cross as it was, and as it
is. B. F. TILLINGHAST, Delegate to the International Red Cross
Conference at St. Petersburg, Russia, in 1902.
Destiny is the decree of God. A. CUNNINGHAM.
Destiny cannot be avoided. G. COWPAY.
Destiny bears us to our lot. DISRAELI.
Who can turn the stream of destiny? SPENCER.
In your own bosom are your destiny’s stars. COLERIDGE.
How circumscribed is woman’s destiny. GOETHE.
Let a woman steer straight onward to the fulfillment of her own
destiny. MRS. EMMA R. COLE.
Clara Barton—one of the immortals. _Brooklyn Citizen._
Quaff immortality. JOHN MILTON.
Born of immortality. WORDSWORTH.
This longing after immortality. ADDISON.
I have an immortal longing in me. SHAKESPEARE.
Immortality! We bow before the very term, Immortality!
GEORGE DOUGLAS.
’Tis immortality to die aspiring. CHAPMAN.
No one could meet death for his country without the hope of
immortality. CICERO.
Clara Barton—she earned immortality.
Boston (Mass.) _Herald_.
She passes through the portals of immortality.
Joplin (Mo.) _Globe_.
Rest thee among the immortal names that were not born to die.
Rutland (Vermont) _Herald_.
He is truly great that is great in charity.
THOMAS À KEMPIS.
The most useful is the greatest. THEODORE PARKER.
Great names stand not alone for great deeds. HENRY GILES.
He who does the most good is the greatest. BISHOP JARTIN.
He only is great at heart who floods the world with a great affection.
ROSWELL D. HITCHCOCK.
As the stars are the glory of the sky, so great men are the glory of
their country; yea, of the whole earth. HEINE.
Greatness is nothing unless it is lasting. NAPOLEON.
On eagle’s wings immortal scandals fly. STEPHEN HARVEY.
To reproach is a concomitant to greatness, as satire and invectives
were an essential part of a Roman triumph.
JOSEPH ADDISON.
Such is the destiny of great men that their superior genius always
exposes them to the butt of the envenomed darts of calumny and envy.
VOLTAIRE.
America has her Washingtons, Jeffersons, Lees, and others whose names
are written down in the hearts of all Americans, but Clara Barton
accomplished a work compared with which the career of generals fade in
the distance as a shadow.
Pensacola (Fla.) _Journal_.
GREATNESS—AN IMMORTAL AMERICAN DESTINY—IMMORTALITY
From a speech by Honorable Henry Breckenridge, Acting Secretary of
War, representing the United States Government, at the laying of the
corner-stone of the American Red Cross Building, at Washington, D. C,
March 27, 1915.
To every soldier who fought in the Union Army, and survived the war, the
name of Clara Barton was known. And as long as the American Red Cross
endures or its name is remembered the memory of Clara Barton will be
cherished. Her sympathies were universal, her zeal unflagging. She
nursed the wounded of two wars on the continents, in our Civil War and
in the Franco-Prussian War. She directed the work of her association to
the calamities of peace, as well as the stricken fields of war. She was
in Cuba before the Spanish War—was on the “Maine” the day before it was
blown up, and tended the wounded survivors in the hospital ashore.
Wherever humanity called for help—in the Balkans or in Strasburg—in Cuba
or in Galveston—in Paris or on the American battlefields of the
sixties—there came the ministering hand of Clara Barton.
To take an historical perspective, disfavor with a temporary and passing
administration means nothing in the end to a name as great and a career
as long as Clara Barton’s, as this estimate shows. For a while it may
mean on both sides much misconstruction and suffering, but in the end
this is forgotten and the fame remains undimmed.
Florence Nightingale, at the Crimea, England’s great introducer into the
world of the system of women hospital nurses, was actually so ignored by
a subsequent English ministry that, though a poor invalid, she was
ousted from her minor position in a Governmental office. It caused her
intense pain, and although a chronic sufferer from her many labors, she
saw herself ignominiously thrown out by new political leaders who, great
as they were, could not understand her. But when she became an
octogenarian, all this became a buried incident, and all England a few
years ago bent to do her homage, when the Lord Mayor of London granted
her the freedom of the city, and the Golden Casket, England’s highest of
honors. Now, since her death, a monument is being erected and nothing is
considered too good to let Great Britain make her memory green in the
British Isles.
Thus will perish the temporary unhappy misunderstanding and
misconstruction of 1902–1904, through which Clara Barton suffered. In
the atoning stream that swallows time’s ticking seconds of little
troubles, its unessentials will be dissolved. Indeed, as demonstrated in
nearly 3000 American newspapers in 1912, they have already been
dissolved, leaving her character and career eternally crystallized at
the base of an enduring national foundation and an immortal American
destiny—the greatest an American woman has yet produced.
[Illustration:
© _Harris & Ewing_
HENRY BRECKENRIDGE
So long as the American Red Cross endures, and its name is remembered,
the memory of Clara Barton will be cherished.—HENRY BRECKENRIDGE, of
Kentucky. Orator of the Day, Assistant Secretary of War,
representing the U. S. Government at the laying of the corner stone
of the Red Cross Building at Washington, D. C., March 17, 1915;
Lieutenant-Colonel World War.
See page 368.
]
XCIV
Clara Barton has built an imperishable monument for herself in the
hearts of the people of all creeds. Dallas (Texas) _Herald_.
Clara Barton—her deeds lend honor to her country’s fame.
_The Outlook._
Clara Barton—the embodiment of one vital principle of all creeds, the
love of humanity. _Detroit Free Press._
Before her gentle assault the steel walls of religious prejudice and
race hatred melted like a mist. Leadville (Colo.) _Herald_.
Put your Creed in your Deed. RALPH WALDO EMERSON.
Souls in Heaven are placed by their deeds. ROBERT GREENE.
Things of today? Deeds which are honest, for eternity.
EBENEZER ELLIOTT.
Truly does the Hindoo say, with averted face: “God only is great.”
CLARA BARTON.
Without guile, and with pure purpose, let us renew our trust in God.
A. LINCOLN.
Each of the great religions of the world seems to have some good in
it. BISHOP W. F. MCDOWELL.
God bless all the Churches. A. LINCOLN.
I am profitably engaged in reading the Bible. A. LINCOLN.
There are few people who have memories of harder Church work and
better Church love than I. CLARA BARTON.
In regard to the Great Book, I have only to say that it is the best
gift that God has given to man. A. LINCOLN.
What sensations can possess the mind but wonder and adoration for the
power of Almighty God, and a humble gratitude that no words can speak.
CLARA BARTON.
You believe that God is a Divine Immanence; you believe that God is
now communicating himself to humanity and that his loving Presence is
here now as ever. Why, then, can’t you call up a direct relationship,
rather than going around to the uncertain allusions of Theodore
Parker? CLARA BARTON.
In the Universalist Church at Oxford, where Clara Barton attended
Church, there is carefully preserved the pulpit in which the famous
Reverend Hosea Ballou was ordained in 1794.
THE AUTHOR.
Reverend Father Tyler, a memorable Universalist minister, who
officiated at the funerals of Father and Mother Barton, on the
occasion of her funeral pronounced also at the grave a memorial
tribute to Clara. Among her religious friends also were Hosea Ballou,
Phillips Brooks, Mary Baker Eddy, Archbishops Gibbons and Ireland. THE
AUTHOR.
I firmly believe in the divinity of Jesus Christ, the Jesus of
Nazareth, in His life and death, His suffering to save the world from
sin, so far as in His power to do so. But it would be difficult for me
to stop there, and believe that this spirit of divinity was accorded
to none others of God’s creation who, like the Master, took on the
living form and, like Him, lived the human life.
CLARA BARTON.
Miss Barton does not wait and “wish to be an angel.” She goes right
about it. A visible, substantial, present angel she is—a “ministering
spirit.” W. H. ARMSTRONG.
Over all, spreading its Aegis like a benediction is the great mantle
of Christianity, wrapping all in its beneficent folds.
CLARA BARTON.
WHAT WAS HER RELIGION?
Was Clara Barton a Church woman? Of herself she says: “There are few
people who have memories of harder Church work and better Church love
than I; I have never lost my love for the old Church of my Fathers, my
family and my childhood.”
Was she a Mormon? A friend of the Mormons, and one of the biggest
receptions ever tendered to her was in the tabernacle at Salt Lake City,
by the Mormons of Utah. Was she a Mohammedan? She was most cordially
received by the Mohammedans, and decorated by the Sultan of Turkey. Was
she a Spiritualist? She attended spiritualistic meetings, studied the
cult, consulted mediums, and mingled with spiritualists. Commenting on
the fact, claimed, that spiritual communications occur between those of
this world and those of the other world, she said: “I am more and more
filled with wonder how these things can be” but—“I hope so.”
Was she a Catholic? She frequently attended the Catholic Church, and
counted among her friends Sisters of Mercy, Priests, Bishops, and
Archbishops. Was she a Congregationalist? She attended that Church at
times. Several Congregational ministers officiated at the funeral, and a
beautiful Clara Barton window is preserved in the Congregational Church
at Oxford. Was she a Methodist? She attended the Methodist Church, and
the Methodists now use Clara Barton leaflets, and other Clara Barton
literature, in their Sunday Schools throughout the country.
Was she a Christian Scientist? She said: “I do not know enough to be
one, nor to understand it,” but she also said: “I cannot see why
Universalists should not become Christian Scientists.” She attended the
Christian Science Church for three years, but a leading scientist editor
said: “We do not claim her, nor do I think any other Church can claim
her.” Was she a Universalist? She was reared a Universalist, and in her
youth attended the Universalist Church where the famous divine, Hosea
Ballou, was pastor and she also requested a Universalist pastor to
assist in officiating at her funeral.
She attended other Churches, and ministers of several denominations
officiated at her funeral. Clara Barton says: “I am not what the world
denominates a Church woman; I was born to liberal views, and have lived
a liberal creed.”
But really what was her religion? “Perplexed in faith but pure in
deeds,” Clara Barton, to the annoying question so often asked by the
curious, answered: “I am a well disposed pagan.”
XCV
I never had a mission and I don’t know what I should do with one, if I
had it. CLARA BARTON.
We all tumble over opportunities for being brave and good, at every
step we take. Life is just made up of such opportunities.
CLARA BARTON.
Wanting to work is so rare a merit that it should be encouraged.
A. LINCOLN.
There are other altars than that of Venus on which to light your
fires—work, incessant, hard, earnest work. SIR WILLIAM OSLER.
How much of the sweets of life one loses in the rush of it.
CLARA BARTON.
I lost two months entire, but the time went on and spun its web each
day. CLARA BARTON.
The gray haired military chieftain, whom all would recognize were I to
name him, was correct when he once said to me: “Strange as it may
seem, the days of ‘rest’ at the field are the hardest days.”
CLARA BARTON.
I always had a passion for service. CLARA BARTON.
Honest labor bears a lovely face. THOMAS DECKER.
Labor: All labor is noble and holy. FRANCES SARGENT OSGOOD.
Work ye, and God will work. JOAN OF ARC.
Life is a great bundle of little things. O. W. HOLMES.
Life is made up, not of great sacrifices or duties, but of little
things. SIR HUMPHREY DAVY.
Nothing is of greater value than a single day. GOETHE.
Life is but a day at most. BURNS.
Life is a short day, but it is a working day. HANNAH MOORE.
Living is doing. CLARA BARTON.
“Even while we say there is nothing we can do, we stumble over
opportunities for service that we are passing by in our tear-blinded,
self-pity.” CLARA BARTON.
I have had more work than I could do lying _around my feet_, and try
to get it out of my way so I can go on to the next.
CLARA BARTON.
There is but one method, and that is hard labor.
SIDNEY SMITH.
If God works, Madam, you can afford to work also.
JULIA WARD HOWE.
Clara Barton was a worker from infancy. She gave to the world nearly a
century of work, taking neither vacation nor recreation.
ALICE HUBBARD.
Women, always—as a rule—have worked harder than men.
CLARA BARTON.
I do hope I may live long enough to get the story of my life and my
life’s work in shape for publication. I am doing this ill in bed (at
90 years of age), sometimes working until two or three o’clock in the
morning. CLARA BARTON.
ONE DAY WITH CLARA BARTON
How so much was accomplished in the lifetime of one woman may be
understood by reading “One Day with Clara Barton,” as described by
herself in a personal letter to a friend:
“How shall I manage to be a woman of business, and act like a lady of
leisure? How strangely odd it seemed to me when I read your pretty
description of how your time was passed, that you could dress for
breakfast, help do some little things about the house, get ready for tea
and walk after it. When _did_ I see such days, or even _one_ such day.
If it would not take too long I could tell you something of how I pass a
day. Let me try; and as one day is a fair sample of another, suppose I
take yesterday as I remember it better than any other. Well, let me
brush up my hair and try to think. First, I rose when I could see to
dress, I suppose a little past four, went into my bath room, and bathed
thoroughly in preparation for a scorching day and partly made my toilet;
then read my chapter in the scriptures by _myself_, and offered my own
prayer and thanksgiving (no family service to unite in like you, and I
have too much of the dust of old Plymouth Rock sticking to me to omit
it); then finished a hurried toilet, and sat down to a French lesson at
half past six; went to my breakfast at seven, commenced my French
recitation, lasted until eight; after this put my chamber and myself in
order and started for the office; called on my dress-maker on my way and
tried on a dress; called at the post office and found one business
letter; and reached the office at nine; distance little over a mile, and
then commenced the tug of war. I wrote until three o’clock P. M., took
an omnibus home, took my writing, or a portion of it, along with me
(don’t tell; it’s against the rule), reached home at three-thirty, took
a hurried bath, went to dinner and at four-thirty was seated at my table
writing for my life. Did not leave my room again, or scarce arose from
my table until twelve o’clock, when I retired and slept as fast and hard
as I could until daylight in preparation for a repetition of the same.
Perhaps you wish, or are curious, to know how much I accomplished in all
that time. Ten thousand words of bold round record which must live and
be legible when the mound which once covered me shall have become a
hollow and the moss-covered headstone, with ‘born’ and ‘died’ no longer
to be traced upon its time-worn front shall have buried itself beneath
the kindred turf.”
Working twenty hours out of the twenty-four would give almost any woman
the reputation of being a _genius_. Thinking the woman who had done
things held the secret of woman’s success, a touring party of ambitious
young ladies called on Clara Barton, in her later years, at Glen Echo.
The following conversation took place:
Vassar Girl—Miss Barton, these other ladies and myself called to pay our
respects. We have heard much of you since we were little girls. A few
weeks ago, in the class of ——, we graduated from Vassar College. We, as
you have done, wish to do some good in the world. We cannot decide what
we should do; we want your advice.
Clara Barton—My dear young lady, do the first thing that comes to your
hand. Do it well. Then do the next thing. Do that well. Then do the next
thing, just so keep on doing——.
Clara Barton then pinned a Red Cross badge on each of these young
ladies, the happiest visitors when leaving, says Miss Barton’s
secretary, that he had ever seen in that “house of rough hemlock
boards.”
XCVI
Finally Clara Barton was forced out of her position in May, 1904.
_New York Examiner._
Clara Barton—antagonism she encountered. But in all of them she bore
herself with a poise that lost for her no friends.
Utica (N. Y.) _Observer_.
I know there is a God, and he hates injustice. A. LINCOLN.
There were no heroes, there were no martyrs.
BULWER-LYTTON.
Great women belong to history and self-sacrifice.
LEIGH HUNT.
I am in the Garden of Gethsemane now, and my cup of bitterness is full
to the overflowing. A. LINCOLN.
Let us have faith that right makes might. A. LINCOLN.
Why should there not be a patient confidence in the ultimate justice
of the people? Is there any better, or equal, hope in the world? A.
LINCOLN.
Beneficence breeds gratitude, gratitude admiration, admiration fame,
and the world remembers its benefactors.
PRESIDENT WOODROW WILSON.
To be great is to be misunderstood. RALPH WALDO EMERSON.
The people will never understand the motive, and of course cannot
comprehend that it was necessary for the “aspirants” to resort to
“charges” in order to accomplish their purpose,—to gain possession of
the Red Cross. CLARA BARTON.
What you are speaks so loud I cannot hear what you say.
RALPH WALDO EMERSON.
Crowns of roses fade; crowns of thorns endure. Calvaries and
Crucifixions take deepest hold of humanity; the triumphs of might are
transient, they pass and are forgotten; the sufferings of the right
are graven deepest on the chronicles of nations.
FATHER RYAN.
Alas! I have not words to tell my grief:
To vent my sorrows would be some relief. DRYDEN.
For the heart must speak when
The lips are dumb. KATE PUTNAM OSGOOD.
Clara Barton speaketh from the heart in eloquence pathetic and
convincing; through her own words, written to Professor Charles Sumner
Young at this time (1904), are “The most vital, and interesting of a
wonderful life and a wonderful work, and few men hear of it without
envy and emulation.” _New York Sun._
THE PERSONAL CORRESPONDENCE—CLARA BARTON’S PROPOSED SELF-EXPATRIATION
Occurring in October, 1911, in the sick room at Oxford, was the
following interview:
Mr. Young: Miss Barton, you once requested me to do a certain thing for
you. I did not do it then and I won’t do it now, so please don’t ask it.
Miss Barton: What’s that? I don’t understand.
Mr. Young: You requested me to destroy a certain letter. I did not do
it.
Miss Barton: Was that the letter in which I asked you to take me to
Mexico? And why did you not destroy it as I requested?
Mr. Young: That’s the letter. It is now in a safe deposit box in Los
Angeles. I did not destroy it because, in my opinion, that letter would
do more in your defense than any argument that could be put up by the
greatest lawyers in America. What you wrote at the time of your
persecution, in confidence to a friend with a request that the letter be
destroyed, the American people would believe. No slander would stand for
a moment against your heart’s secrets, thus told to a friend. In case I
should die before you do, I have arrangements with a mutual personal
friend that in any event the letter will be published after you shall
have passed.
Miss Barton: (Hesitatingly, then very frankly): Mr. Young, you are a
very wise man; possibly you are right. Anyway, do what you please with
that letter when I am gone. Now, Mr. Young, I meant it. For several
months I was getting together my belongings and adjusting my affairs so
that I could go. There were but two countries where the _Red Cross_ did
not exist; one was China, and the other Mexico. I did not want to go to
China, but I did want to go to Mexico. Oh! Well, it’s probably best that
I did not go; if I had gone I might not be alive now.
Freedom lives hence, and banishment is here. SHAKESPEARE.
Have stooped my neck under your injuries, eating the bitter bread of
banishment. SHAKESPEARE.
The letter referred to and similar correspondence follow:
THE WAIL OF AN ACHING HEART
Glen Echo, Maryland,
January 13, 1904.
My dear Mr. Young:
It is a blessing to your friends that you have a good memory.
Otherwise, how should you have carried the recollection of poor me,
all these weary months running into years and, through friends all
unknown to me, sent such tribute of respect.
I waited, after receiving the notices from you, to be sure of the
arrival. I have directed the acknowledgement to be made to Mr. and
Mrs. Canfield, but words tell so little; you will, I am sure, thank
them for me.
You will never know how many times I have thought of you, in this
last, hard and dreadful year to me. I cannot tell you, I must _not_,
and yet I _must_. So much of the time, under all the persecution it
has seemed to me I _could_ not remain in the _country_, and have
sought the range of the world for _some_ place among strangers and out
of the way of people and mails—and longed for some one to _point_ out
a quiet place in some _other_ land; my thoughts have fled to you, who
would at least tell me a _road_ to take, outside of America, and who
would ask of the authorities of Mexico if a woman who could not live
in her own country might find a home, or a resting place, in theirs.
[Illustration:
© _Hartsook._
CHAMP CLARK
Clara Barton rendered her country and her kind great and noble
service.—CHAMP CLARK, of Missouri. Congress, 1893–1895; 1897–1921;
Speaker of the House, 1911–1921.
]
REPRESENTATIVE OF UNITED STATES CONGRESS
[Illustration:
CHARLES F. CURRY
]
[Illustration:
DENVER S. CHURCH
]
Clara Barton, one of the great characters of history; unselfish and
altruistic in her service for humanity; an American, intensely
patriotic, but with an international mind and sympathy that embraced
all humanity.—CHARLES F. CURRY, of California. Congress 1913—
I regard Clara Barton one of the greatest women that ever
lived.—DENVER S. CHURCH, of California. Congress, 1913–1919.
This will all sound very strange to you—you will wonder if I am “out
of my mind”—let me answer—no; and if you had only a glimpse of what is
put upon me to endure, you would not wonder, and in the goodness of
your heart, would hold the gate open to show me a mule-track to some
little mountain nook, where I might escape and wait in peace. Don’t
think this is _common_ talk with me, I have never said it to others;
and yet I think they, who know me best, may _mistrust_ that I cannot
endure _everything_ and will try in some way to relieve myself.
To think of sitting here through an “_investigation_” by the country I
have tried to serve,—“in the interest of _harmony_,” they say, when I
have never spoken a discordant word in my life, meaningly, but have
worked on in _silence_ under the fire of the entire press of the U. S.
for twelve months,—forgiven all, offered friendship,—and am still to
be “investigated,” for “inharmony,” “unbusinesslike methods,” and too
many years—all of these I cannot help. I am still unanimously bidden
to work on for “life,” bear the burden of an organization—meet its
costs myself—and am now threatened with the expenses of an
“investigation.”
Can you wonder that I ask a bridle track? And that some other country
might look inviting to me?
Mr. Young, this unhappy letter is a poor return to make for your
friendly courtesy, but _so long_ my dark thoughts have turned to you
that I cannot find myself with the privilege of communicating with you
without expressing them. I cannot think where I have found the courage
to do it, but I _have_.
I know how unwise a thing it seems but if the pressure is too great
the bands may break, that may be my case, and fearing that my better
judgment might bid me put these sheets in the fire—I send them without
once glancing over. You will glance them over and put them in the
fire. Forgive me. You need not forget, but kindly _remember_, rather,
that they are the wail of an aching heart and that is all. Nature has
provided a sure and final rest for all the heart aches that mortals
are called to endure.
If you are in the East again, and I am here, I pray you come to me.
Receive again my thanks and permit me to remain,
Your friend,
(Signed) CLARA BARTON.
Earth naught nobler knows
Than is the victim brave beneath his cross.
’Tis in the shadow that the dawn-light grows.
ARCHAG TCHOBANIAN.
SCHEMERS—DEFAMERS—PIRATES
Bakersfield Club,
Bakersfield, Cal., February 2, 1904.
My Dear Miss Barton:
Your favor of January 13 received, and read with exceeding interest.
Mr. and Mrs. Canfield appreciate your letter to them personally, as
well as your kind words sent through me, in recognition of their
slight token of high regard for you. While here a day or two ago, Mrs.
Canfield requested me to convey these sentiments to you.
Now, Miss Barton, why you have confided in obscure me is a mystery I
cannot solve; such a compliment is more than I can hope to deserve.
(Having written the above General W. R. Shafter came into the Library
and sat beside me at the table. I stopped writing and we entered into
a discussion of you and your affairs. He is exceedingly complimentary
to you and of your work. He especially requested me to extend to you
his greetings and sincerest good wishes.)
I have known for several years more of the secret plottings than you
think. From our mutual friends I have known also of your heart aches
and the causes, and a thousand times have wished that I might say
something, or do something, so that you might know that in my inmost
heart I was in sympathy with you and your struggle against the coterie
of schemers. I have also wished that I might have power long enough to
show you in what esteem you are held by the households in America;
what a charm attaches to your name wherever spoken,—such as neither
royalty possesses nor money buys.
Your defamers no more represent the American people than pirates upon
the high seas the country from which they spring.
The unanimous vote of confidence, last week by the Woman’s Club of
Bakersfield enthusiastically expressed by all present rising to their
feet, was but one manifestation among tens of thousands of similar
ones which would occur if the facts were known. I hope you will soon
hear of similar evidence of love for you and fidelity of your friends
from organizations elsewhere in California, including the State
Federation of Women soon to convene in Sacramento.
My Uncle, General Ross, never told me of any event in his military
career with so much pride as that of offering you his services, and
acting as your lieutenant in the ware-house of the Red Cross at
Havana. Likewise would I be proud of the distinction to serve you in
the most humble capacity, either for the cause you represent or for
yourself personally.
While I do not, and can not, take seriously even the remotest
suggestion that you might seek retirement and seclusion, I would
gladly volunteer to be your Kit Carson over any mountain trail leading
to happiness. I don’t think the American people will ever permit your
forced retirement, but in the event you should voluntarily withdraw
from public service, I would indeed be glad to suggest to some of my
friends, who I am sure would esteem it an honor and privilege, to
offer you a home in Los Angeles and a competence the rest of your
life.
I expect to be in the East again soon and hope to have the honor of
seeing you. I have in mind several things I would like to talk over
with you, and thank you kindly for the invitation to call at your home
in Glen Echo.
If in my humble way I can be of any service to you, you will please
remember that you have but to command me.
Believe me,
Sincerely your friend,
(Signed) C. S. YOUNG.
To
Miss Clara Barton,
Glen Echo, Maryland.
Whispering tongues can poison truth.
SAMUEL TAYLOR COLERIDGE.
The paths of charity are over roadways of ashes; and he who would
travel them must be prepared to meet opposition, misconstruction,
jealousy, and calumny. CLARA BARTON.
And when they had crucified him, they parted his garments, casting
lots upon them what every man should take. ST. MARK.
SHE READ THE ACTORS LIKE A BOOK
EXECUTIVE OFFICE
6 Beacon Street,
Boston, Mass.
July 11th, 1907.
Mr. C. S. Young,
Los Angeles, California.
My dear Mr. Young:
I wonder if I have ever said a word in reply to your comforting letter
of May. If I have or have not said anything on paper I have in my
heart answered it many times and bless both you and Mrs. Logan for
your kindliness and trust. I have never in my life had a moment’s
doubt of the loyalty of Mrs. Logan. She stood the brunt of the battle
while she could, and longer than I wished her to. She foresaw what was
coming with her keen knowledge of human nature and thorough political
training. She read the actors like a book. I well remember one night
when she made this remark, and it was comparatively early in the game.
Looking earnestly at me she said, calling me by name, “At first I
called this prosecution, then I called it persecution, but now I name
it crucifixion, and that is what they mean.” I knew it too but there
was no redress, no course but to wait the resurrection if it came.
The trust even of one’s best friends, under the circumstances, and
knowing nothing of the facts could not be expected to withstand it.
That it was physically withstood was beyond either the expectation or
the intention. But, my good friend, that is all passed. The press no
longer turns its arrows upon me. The harvest was not what the reapers
expected, and I suspect if it were all to be done over again in the
light of their newly gained experience it would not be done.
I would like to tell you some day of the newer work that occupies, and
will take pleasure in sending you a report issued at our second annual
meeting when it leaves the press. I am writing from Boston, where I am
spending a few days at our headquarters, but return soon to Glen Echo,
where I hope to see you whenever circumstances call you to the East.
Again thanking you most warmly for your letter, which brought me much
satisfaction, and wishing the best of all good things for you I am,
dear Mr. Young,
Most cordially yours,
(Signed) CLARA BARTON.
A TRIBUTE
And Marie of Logan; she went with them too,
A bride, scarcely more than a sweetheart, ’tis true,
Her young cheek grows pale when bold troopers ride
Where the “Black Eagle” soars she is close at his side.
CLARA BARTON.
The name of Clara Barton will forever shine among women who won
deathless fame in the days of war that called for loyal effort.
PHEBE A. HANAFORD, Author.
For patriotism, for national honor, I would stand by that at all cost.
CLARA BARTON.
If my life could have purchased the life of the patriot martyrs who
fell for their country and mine, how cheerfully and quickly would the
exchange have been made. CLARA BARTON.
What king so strong,
Can tie the gall up in the slanderous tongue?
SHAKESPEARE.
The following are excerpts from letters written to the author:
LOVED AND LOYALLY TRIED TO SERVE
In April, 1909, she writes as follows:
“Does ‘Mexico’ recall to your mind a request I once made of you that you
should see me across the border line of that strange country? However
much I needed it and whether well or ill I never knew. I only know I did
not go. But my own country seemed to me so hard that I thought I could
not live it through.
“The Government which I thought I loved and loyally tried to serve has
shut every door in my face and stared at me insultingly through its
windows. What wonder I want to leave?
“The locks have never turned, the doors are rusted in their hinges. The
old warders go out and the new ones come in, sworn faithfully to their
charge, with no knowledge of why they are charged to do it; ignorant of
every fact, simply enemies by transmission; and yet I stay represented
as of ‘doubtful integrity,’ ‘weak,’ ‘decrepit,’ ‘imbecile,’ but yet,
very ‘dangerous.’”
She then draws a picture of a Sultan of Turkey who was made a prisoner.
“He was locked in and I locked out, but my whole country seemed my
prison and I struggled to free myself of it. Pardon me, I never thought
to recall the disagreeable subject again, but like the boy’s whistle it
‘blew itself.’”
A time to keep silence, and a time to speak. ECCLESIASTES.
I am reminded of what Theodore Parker used to say so piteously of
himself—‘I can never talk but I talk too much.’
CLARA BARTON.
The following is an excerpt from a letter under date of Nov. 9, 1909:
THE STRICTEST SILENCE
“There has never been an occasion, nor a time, when I have so missed
my old time privilege of speaking in behalf of a friend. I never
before have so fully realized what a pleasure that privilege had been
to me through half a century. It is a change to me, to come to feel
that my only help must lie in the _strictest_ silence; an expressed
wish for any one would be fatal; not perhaps with President Taft
_personally_, for I am of small importance to him, if he even knows
me, but from the advice he would be sure to receive from those he does
know. So I wait and hope....”
Excerpts from letter written under date of Dec. 14, 1909:
OVER THE MEXICAN LINE
May 31st, the date runs, and I know I never answered that letter, for
I never in my life could have answered a letter like that, but still
more, I never even tried to. Discouraged at the onset and gave up the
encounter. A glimpse at the topics it handled were so far beyond any
reply from the “likes o’ me.” “Great services unnoticed”—“Future
remembrances when others are forgotten”—“To be told in story and sung
in other lands”—poor little me who has never seen the present Ruler of
her own country!
“Then let us hope, and although you may never escort me over the
Mexican line, I have never lost sight of the darkness of the day when
I proposed that you should.”
If it were not my firm belief in an overruling Providence.
A. LINCOLN.
Excerpts from a letter under date of November 21, 1910:
A GREATER POWER AND A WISER MIND
“How well I remember when I once asked you to escort me over! and I
never can understand _why_ I failed to go; a Greater Power and a Wiser
Mind were guiding me, no doubt——”
To God my life was an open page,
He knew what I would be;
He knew how the tyrant passions rage,
How wind swept was all my anchorage,
And why I would drift to sea.
He who hath a thousand friends hath none to spare.
ALI BEN ABOU TALEB.
I am never weary when meeting my friends. CLARA BARTON.
Clara Barton’s intellect was never keener, clearer nor more alert than
it is now (1911). STEPHEN E. BARTON.
The report which went out that I was ill set the country, nay the
world, by the ears and the letters came pouring in by the score, yes,
and more. CLARA BARTON.
Such beautiful letters! I have read them through tears.
CLARA BARTON.
WRITE NONE—SEE ONLY THOSE I MUST[12]
Oxford, Sept. 21, 1911.
Prof. Young,
My Dear friend:
I am trying to speak to your letter of yesterday, myself, but it is
from a very sick bed.
I write none—see only those I must.
I _must see you_. Come and see me though only a week. I had hoped to
see you under better conditions.
I replied to your dispatch. Come when you will; all times are alike to
me.
Yours sincerely and always,
(Signed) CLARA BARTON.
Footnote 12:
Her friends who were with her through her last illness say the letter
of which the above is a copy is the last letter written by Clara
Barton.
I did not err: there does a sable cloud
Turn forth her silver lining on the night.
Virtue may be assailed, but never hurt,
Surprised by unjust force, but not enthralled;
Yea, even that which Mischief meant most harm
Shall in the happy trial prove most glory
DATA AS TO THE TWENTY-FIRST MASSACHUSETTS REGIMENT
Number
Enlisted men leaving Worcester, August 23, 1861 1,001
Total enlisted men throughout the war 1,277
Number Ages
1 Emery G. Wilson, Co. K. 15 years
5 17 years
101 18 years
111 19 years
140 20 years
———
358 Total number under 21 years
170 at the age of 21 years
574 between 22 years and 30 years
120 between 30 years and 40 years
50 between 40 years and 48 years
2 at the age of 46 years
1 at the age of 47 years
2 at the age of 53 years
————
1277
Of this number 560 were killed or wounded in battle. The regiment was a
member of the ninth-army Corps under General Burnside, a corps that did
not lose a color nor a gun.
Membership of the Twenty-first Massachusetts Regiment Association August
23, 1921–61.
Carrie E. Cutter, Daughter, 1861–1862.
Clara Barton, Daughter, 1862–1912.
Flora S. Chapin, Secretary and Daughter, 1912——.
Miss Carrie E. Cutter, delicate and accomplished, was known as the
Florence Nightingale of the Twenty-first. She was the daughter of Calvin
E. Cutter, surgeon of the regiment; died in the service as nurse, March
24, 1862. Aged, nineteen years and eight months. Mrs. Flora S. Chapin is
the daughter of Reverend Charles E. Simmons Hospital Steward in the
Civil War, under Surgeons Calvin E. Cutter and James Oliver, of the
Twenty-first Massachusetts Regiment. Clara Barton was the daughter of
non-commissioned officer Stephen Barton. He enlisted in 1793, serving
three years in the Indian wars (1793–97), and later was known by his
friends as “Captain Barton.”
Clara Barton, then a war nurse and nearly forty-one years of age, was
made Daughter of the Regiment on the battlefield of Antietam, in
October, 1862. This was a few days after President Lincoln had reviewed
the Army of the Potomac, the review occurring October third. The army at
that time numbered about 145,000 men. It was towards nightfall, and the
regiment was on dress parade. “She made a little speech,” says Comrade
James Madison Stone, “and there was cemented a friendship begun under
fire which was destined to last to the end of the lives of all the
participants.”
Says Captain Charles F. Walcott of the Twenty-first Regiment (afterward
Brigadier-General), and the author of the history of the regiment: “Our
true friend, Miss Barton, a Twenty-first woman to the backbone, was now
permanently associated with the regiment and, with two four-mule covered
wagons which by her untiring efforts she kept well supplied with
delicacies in the way of food and articles of clothing, was a
ministering angel to our sick. General Sturgis kindly ordered a detail
from the regiment of drivers and assistants about her wagon. And this
true, noble woman, never sparing herself nor failing in her devotion to
our suffering men, always maintained her womanly dignity, and won the
lasting respect and love of our officers and men.”
Clara Barton’s last message to the regiment was delivered forty-five
years after the Civil War, through an address and original poem, she
then being eighty-nine years of age. The occasion was the annual reunion
of the regiment, the date August 23, 1910; the reunion held at
Worcester, Massachusetts.
[Illustration:
REUNION OF 21ST MASSACHUSETTS REGIMENT
]
Picture taken on the occasion of the annual reunion of the
Twenty-first Massachusetts Regiment Association—on August 23,
1921—Sixtieth anniversary of the day the Regiment left Worcester for
the field.
On Fame’s eternal camping-ground
Their silent tents are spread;
And Glory guards, with solemn round,
The bivouac of the dead.
THEODORE O’HARA.
I hear the loved survivors tell
How naught from death could save,
’Til every sound appears a knell
And every spot a grave.
ABRAHAM LINCOLN.
“I never made a secret of the fact that of all the glorious regiments
that marched to the music of the Union and cooled their heated brows
in the shadows of the Stars and Stripes, the Twenty-first
Massachusetts was peculiarly my own—nearest in my thoughts, and
deepest in my love, and there are many who know that more than once my
heart went down in agony under the blood-stained soil with the
lifeless forms of its bravest and its best. I would divide the last
half of the last loaf with any soldier in that regiment, though I had
never met him.”—CLARA BARTON.
Top, left hand corner—Clara Barton.
Top, right hand corner—Carrie E. Cutter.
Lower row, center—Flora S. Chapin.
But evil on itself shall back recoil,
And mix no more with goodness when, at last,
Gathered like scum, and settled to itself,
It shall be an eternal restless change,
Self-fed and self-consumed. If this fail
The pillared firmament is rottenness,
And earth’s base built on stubble.
XCVII
CLOSING INCIDENTS—THE BIOGRAPHY—OTHER CORRESPONDENCE
I am so glad to see you; I was afraid you wouldn’t get here in _time_.
CLARA BARTON. From “Notes” at Oxford, Massachusetts, Oct. 2, 1911.
AUTHORIZED TO SPEAK FOR CLARA BARTON
Accompanying the letter under date of December 14, 1909, came data from
Clara Barton to be used in her proposed biography, and which data the
author had previously promised to make use of as soon as his private
business would permit him to give the time necessary to do this literary
work. Commenting on the author’s final acceptance of her commission, in
her letter she said: “Your talent to writing a biography of me—of me!
Your talent and time for such as this! ‘Why was this waste made’?” The
object hoped for in her letter of September 21, 1911, wherein Clara
Barton says “_I must see you_” and therein the “dispatch” referred to,
was that she might consult the author on her biography and to make a
final request that after her passing he would protect her good name
which, continuously being assailed, she then thought to be in jeopardy.
Arriving at Oxford, Massachusetts, at the end of a special trip from
California for the final consultation as to the facts and motives
involved in her persecution, on October 3, 1911, in the sick room and at
the time when she thought that she had but a few hours to live, the
author made the promise. The further object of the visit at Oxford, on
the part of the author, was to try to stimulate her health, through a
possible sea voyage. That there had been in anticipation for several
months previous such sea voyage was well known in her household, and is
personally indicated by her in her Easter Greetings for 1911. In this
letter she writes: “And we may expect you in the East!! That is more
than I _dared_ hope. It would surely be a luxury to visit the old _old_
countries of the world. I should indeed be glad to see them with you.”
I may come to California this winter; will do so, if I am able.
CLARA BARTON.
From “Notes” of a visit in the sick room at
Glen Echo, Maryland, Oct. 20, 1911.
PROPOSED HOME IN CALIFORNIA
A few days after the consultation at Oxford she rallied, and on a
Pullman was taken to her Glen Echo home. Seriously ill and thinking this
would be her last ride, she expressed the wish to have for the party of
three, consisting of her physician, her nephew and herself, the Pullman
exclusively. The cost for the use of the car would be three hundred
dollars. This having been made known to her she protested the seeming
extravagance whereupon a friend, after having been refused such tender
by the Pullman office in New York, himself made the tender of the car,
without cost to her. Characteristic of her, she declined to accept the
courtesy, but said she would have accepted such courtesy from the
Pullman Company. She accepted, instead, a drawing room—to save the
proposed expense, even by another. Early on the way to Glen Echo, she is
reported to have said to those accompanying her: If he were here now I
would not leave the car until I shall have reached California, where I
would make my home with my friend as long as I live, thereby accepting
his invitation to become his guest permanently—in his home nearby and
overlooking the Pacific ocean.
She stood the journey so well, says her physician, that again she said
to us just before reaching Washington that she would be glad to remain
on the train and continue on to California, emphasizing “That’s what I’d
like to do.” The physician further comments: “Her faith in her friend’s
loyalty would have been sufficient tonic to make the journey easy and a
delight, and I feel sure now that had she taken the journey then, as she
expressed the wish, the end of the journey would have found her in an
_improved condition_, with constant-increasing physical strength.”
In the author’s diary for October 20, 1911, is found the following:
At ten A.M. visited Calumet Place. Mrs. John A. Logan and I then went
to Glen Echo on the street car. Visited Miss Clara Barton, who was in
a chair awaiting our presence. Spent an hour or so with her. She was
in good spirits, happy and much improved in health. Mrs. Logan and she
talked over personal matters. She received me most cordially, and said
she was most happy to see me; also said she would like to go to
California with me. Mrs. Logan, Dr. Hubbell, Stephen E. Barton and I
had a talk in the room downstairs on matters of personal interest to
Miss Barton, formulating a plan for her vindication.
FORECASTING THE BIOGRAPHY
In April, 1912, her physician, Dr. Julian B. Hubbell, wrote from Glen
Echo that a few hours before her passing Clara Barton expressed the wish
that, if not exclusively so, in any event the author _must be_
associated with her biographer. The protection of her “good name” by her
biographer was more to her than a recital of her deeds of valor. She had
in mind in selecting her biographer not what fame thereby might come to
him, not kinship nor the family name, not what profit there might be in
her biography. She had in mind her own “good name,” and the cause such
“good name” represents. These were to her vital; these to her were
dearer than life itself. Respect for the wish of the dying, and the
dead, is regarded sacred; such wish has been regarded sacred, and
binding, throughout the centuries, alike by Christian and Pagan. To do
violence to the sentiment and well known wish of Clara Barton, on the
part of the author, similarly would do violence to the sentiment of the
country which would protect her “good name,” a name historic and beloved
by the people—violence to the sentiment pervading all humanity.
As the financial executor had possession of, and control of, the
historic data prerequisite, for all practical purposes he could name the
biographer of the nation’s heroine;—could dictate what data and
sentiment must be, and must not be, included in the biography of his
Aunt. As soon after her passing as it could be written and reach
California there came from her nephew, Mr. Stephen E. Barton, of her
nearest of kin and by her made the Executor of her Estate, the following
letter:
ONE OF MY AUNT’S LAST REQUESTS
Boston, Mass.,
April 20, 1912.
Col. Charles Sumner Young,
Los Angeles, Cal.
My dear Col. Young:—
When the death of our beloved occurred at Glen Echo on the morning of
the 12th inst. Doctor Hubbell thought you were at the Palace Hotel in
San Francisco and I immediately wired you there, but I was notified
that you had left the city. I was exceedingly glad to receive your
beautiful message of the 13th from Los Angeles.
I followed your wishes by placing some beautiful flowers in your name
upon her bier at Oxford and I knew that the sympathy and tenderness of
your great heart were with us that day. I am sending you Worcester
newspapers, which will give an account of the last ceremonies, all of
which were carried out just as she desired them, both at Glen Echo and
Oxford....
I am sending you enclosed a copy of the tribute written by Mrs. Logan
and read at the Glen Echo services by her daughter.
Has it not the ring of eloquence, of justice and of fearless
friendship? I gave it to the Associated Press, but I believe it was
used only in a garbled form. You are at liberty to use it in any form
which you choose.
At this moment I have not time to say more, but I hope to hear from
you and to see you again. There is much to do and to say in the
future. I shall need the good advice and guidance of such friends as
your good self and one of my Aunt’s last requests was that I invite
you with a few other such friends to compose a committee to advise
with me in the future.
Very truly yours,
(Signed) STEPHEN E. BARTON.
EXCERPTS FROM OTHER LETTERS
Concerning the biography of my Aunt, she desired that I call to my
assistance several of her good friends, including your dear self.
STEPHEN E. BARTON.
From a letter to the author, and dated November 18, 1912.
I judge from your letter that you may not be aware that a preliminary
biography of my Aunt has been written by Reverend Percy H. Epler, of
Worcester, and published by the Macmillans.
I have organized a literary committee composed of Reverend William E.
Barton of Oak Park, Illinois, Reverend Percy H. Epler of Worcester,
Massachusetts, Honorable Francis Atwater of New Haven, Connecticut,
Dr. Julian B. Hubbell of Glen Echo, Maryland, and myself.
STEPHEN E. BARTON.
From a letter to the author, and dated February 29, 1916.
AUTHORIZED
Charles Sumner Young was authorized by Clara Barton to write the
history of her life and so far as I know the only person so
authorized.
JULIAN B. HUBBELL.
Clara Barton’s General Field Agent for the twenty-three years she was
President of the American Red Cross.
Glen Echo, Maryland,
July 8, 1922.
XCVIII
Last words of Clara Barton: Father, forgive them, for they know not
what they do. Let me go! Let me go!
PERCY H. EPLER, Author.
A diagnosis of Clara Barton’s illness was made a few months before she
passed. The report of the Doctors was that every organ in her body was
perfect—heart, lungs, stomach—every organ functioning as in her youth.
THE AUTHOR.
This morning’s papers (Tuesday, April 23, 1912) are filled with
startling stories to the effect that Miss Barton died of a broken
heart, caused by a clique of Washington politicians and ambitious
society people. That she died of a broken heart, so caused, is a fact.
W. H. SEARS, Secretary to Clara Barton.
Considerable comment was caused at the funeral of Clara Barton by the
absence of any representative of ——, or of the American National Red
Cross, the organization which Miss Barton founded; neither were there
any flowers from either the organization nor the White House in
evidence. Rockford (Ills.) _Register Gazette_.
Governments are but the voice of the people. CLARA BARTON.
The Government of my country _is_ my country, and the people of my
country are the government of my country as nearly as a representative
system will allow. CLARA BARTON.
The Government which I thought I loved, and loyally tried to serve,
has shut every door in my face, and stared at me insultingly through
its windows. CLARA BARTON.
The humanity of peoples is beyond that of Governments.
CLARA BARTON.
Ingratitude! Thou marble-hearted fiend, more hideous when thou showest
thee in a child than the sea monster.
SHAKESPEARE.
Of all the anguish our Heavenly Father calls us to endure—none pierces
more keenly, nor wounds more deeply, than the sting of ingratitude.
CLARA BARTON.
Dear Clara Barton! I hope that somewhere she is reaping a glorious
reward of her life-long heroism and self-sacrifice. MRS. LA SALLE
CORBELL PICKETT.
Clara Barton will still live as a potential force for good, and coming
centuries will see her labors carried on even as they were carried on
while she directed them in person.
Springfield (Illinois) _News_.
Sublime, O Life, when in Easter balms did cease,
When shadows of thy sunset hour bore thee “peace.”
E. May Glenn Toon.
A RECORD HISTORY AT THE FUNERAL
The funeral exercises for Clara Barton, who had served for 23 years as
President of the Red Cross, were held in her Red Cross home in Glen
Echo, Maryland. Flowers in profusion were there; her personal and _real_
friends, with moistened eyes and aching hearts, were there; hundreds of
telegrams of sympathy from all over the country were there; millions of
humanity-loving American men and women, in spirit, were there; her
devoted friend and immediate successor as President of the Red Cross,
Mrs. General John A. Logan, was there.
History will record that certain then acting officials of the Red Cross,
either personally or in sympathy, were _not_ there; that not a flower,
not a word of sympathy, from any Red Cross official was there; that not
national honors, not even Red Cross honors, were then bestowed lovingly
or at all upon the great and good Red Cross Mother, that made possible
officially the very existence of the then Red Cross officers.
And history will record that no good reason could be given why these
certain Red Cross officials were _not_ there; and history will further
record that the reason must be understood as that in the case of Another
when, on a similar occasion, no Pontius Pilate and no politicians were
there, but “many women were there beholding from afar.” And finally
history will again record that, centuries after the doer of “petty
politics” shall have been forgotten, the doer of humane deeds will shine
as a fixed star in humanity’s firmament, diffusing her beneficent rays
upon the millions, in generations as they successive come and go.
XCIX
Clara Barton saved too many lives to count.
Worcester (Mass.) _Telegram_.
The lives he had saved were enough to gain Heaven’s chiefest diadem.
CLARA BARTON.
God’s plans are known only to Himself. He alone knows what plan He is
working out. CLARA BARTON.
The grave is but a covered bridge, leading from light to light through
a brief darkness. LONGFELLOW.
The paths of glory lead but to the grave. GREY.
FROM LINCOLN’S FAVORITE POEM
Oh, why should the spirit of mortal be proud?
Like a swift-fleeing meteor, a fast flying cloud,
A flash of the lightning, a break of the wave,
He passeth from life to his rest in the grave.
WILLIAM COLLINS.
CLARA BARTON’S LAST RIDE
On her last ride from Glen Echo, Maryland, to Oxford, Massachusetts,
Clara Barton went by the Federal Express. She was accompanied by her
three friends, Stephen E. Barton, Doctor Julian B. Hubbell and Doctor
Eugene Underhill. Every consideration was shown her by her personal
friends and the railway company. Because of the fog on New York Bay and
certain formalities to be imposed by the New York City authorities, an
embarrassing delay was menacing the party. To circumvent the delay the
party ignored the advice of the railway authorities to take another
route from Jersey City, and continued on to New York.
At New York, to make connections with the outgoing train, the party
transferred themselves to a covered express wagon. It was nearly
midnight. The streets were wet and slippery from the fog. The busy
throng of human beings were in their slumbers. The streets were bereft
of all things living, save now and then a belated traveler; and silent,
except the tread of his footsteps on the sidewalk.
The party’s destination, Oxford, must be reached at a certain hour.
There must be no delay. The driver was urged to hurry. He became
impatient and, turning to one member of the party, asked: “Whom have you
got in this box anyway?” Then came the reply: “It’s the body of Miss
Clara Barton.” “You don’t mean the Civil War Nurse, the Red Cross
woman!” “Yes, that’s the one.”
Then there followed a scene pathetic, and most dramatic. Dropping his
lines and throwing up his hands the driver exclaimed: “My God! is it
possible? My father was a Confederate soldier and, at the battle of
Antietam, was wounded in the neck. Miss Barton found him on the
battlefield and bound up his wounds in time to save his life. And just
to think ‘the likes o’ me,’ a poor driver, is hauling her body across
the city tonight.”
C
Clara Barton has to her credit 72 achievements, every one of which
entitles her to a page in history.
W. H. SEARS, Secretary to Miss Barton.
Clara Barton,—this woman’s immortal work.
_Boston Transcript._
Not all the noblest songs are worth one noble deed.
ALFRED AUSTIN.
Clara Barton,—her work and her achievements,—wonders wrought by that
noble woman of New England.
Oakland (Cal.) _Tribune_.
Clara Barton,—no other whose achievements even approximate hers; her
allegiance ran the whole race of mankind.
Sacramento (Cal.) _Union_.
Clara Barton,—measured by any scale you may choose, was the most
useful woman of her day and generation.
Bangor (Me.) _News_.
By our deeds, and by our deeds alone—
God judges us—if righteous God there be,
Creeds are as thistle-down, wind-tossed and blown,
But deeds abide throughout eternity. GEORGE BARLOW.
All who work beneath its glorious folds (Red Cross) are coworkers not
only with the noblest spirits of all ages and all countries but, even
reverently be it spoken, co-workers with the Divine beneficence whose
blessed task we know will one day wipe every tear from every eye.
CLARA BARTON.
ACHIEVEMENT—WORLD RECOGNITION
Clara Barton was the recipient of twenty-seven decorations, medals of
honor, diplomas of honor, badges, jewels, flags, resolutions, votes of
thanks, and commendations from rulers of nations, legislative bodies,
Red Cross decorations, relief committees, and distinguished, or
titled, personages,—as testimonials of her great work for humanity.
THE AUTHOR.
Some day the full and complete history of Clara Barton and her
unparalleled achievements will be given to the world, and no library
on the face of the earth will be complete without a set of the volumes
of that history.
W. H. SEARS,
J. B. HUBBELL,
Ex-Secretaries to Clara Barton.
CHRONOLOGY OF THE LEADING ACHIEVEMENTS IN THE LIFE OF MISS CLARA BARTON
(Especially prepared for this volume by her ex-secretary, W. H. Sears)
ACHIEVEMENTS
1. Organized, conducted and popularized Free School System, Bordentown,
N. J., at her own expense. Commenced her school with six pupils, all
boys, and in one year had six hundred; secured five teachers to assist
and had promises of a new building, if she would continue. It was built
for her and is still in use. “Pauper Schools,” that is, Public Schools
at public expense, were ridiculed by the people. The six boys were
renegades from private schools. Third week, room filled and assistant
required. Such was the success that the private schools were
discontinued and a four thousand dollar school house, three stories of
brick, was built and Miss Barton inaugurated the _Free Public School of
Bordentown, N. J._ With six hundred pupils and eight teachers, impetus
was given to the cause of free education over the State, 1852–4.
2. First Woman Clerk in Government Office, Washington, D. C. A place of
trust at $1,400 per year, in charge of caveats, Patent Office, which
position she gave up at the opening of the Civil War to work in the
field. 1854–’61, under Mr. Charles Mason, Commissioner of Patents.
Discharged when Buchanan came in; but recalled under Lincoln; resigned
when war came on.
THE AMERICAN CIVIL WAR
3. Met and furnished relief at “Old Infirmary,” where Judiciary Square
Hospital now stands; first day and next day at Capitol, in Senate
Chamber (Senate not in session) to wounded soldiers of the 6th Mass.
Volunteers in Washington, on arrival from the Baltimore attack by mob,
April 19, 1861. _First Civil War Field._
4. Met and furnished relief to sick and wounded soldiers, brought from
the front on trains and boats to Washington, D. C., May 1, 1861 to July,
1862.
Afterwards she was on the following fields of battle and relief:
5. James Island, battlefield, July 7, 1862.
6. Cedar Mountain, battlefield, August 9, 1862, 3,700 killed and
wounded.
7. Second Bull Run, battlefield, August 30 to September 1, 1862. Found
seven of her old pupils, Massachusetts schools, in this field and each
had lost an arm or leg.
8. Chantilly, battlefield, August 31 to September 1, 1862.
9. Point of Rocks, Md., battlefield, September 4, 1862.
10. Point of Rocks, Md., battlefield, September, 1862.
11. Antietam, battlefield, September 16 and 17, 1862.
12. Falmouth battlefield, December 11 and 12, 1862.
13. Fredericksburg, battlefield, December 12 and 13, 1862. 18,000 killed
and wounded.
14. Folly Island, battlefield, April 10, 1863.
15. Morris Island, battlefield, July 10 to September 7, 1863.
16. Fort Wagner, battlefield, September 7, 1863.
17. Charleston, S. C., battlefield, September 8, 1863.
18. The Wilderness, battlefield, May 6–7, 1864.
19. Spotsylvania, battlefield, May 8 to 21, 1864.
20. Petersburg, battlefield, June 15 to 18, 1864.
21. Petersburg Mine, battlefield, July 30 to August 5, 1864.
22. Deep Bottom, battlefield, August and September, 1864.
23. Richmond Campaign, battlefield, January 1 to April 3, 1865.
24. Annapolis Hospital, 1865, met starving, sick and wounded returning
Federal prisoners and furnished relief.
[Illustration:
Lieutenant-General Nelson A. Miles, the chairman of the ceremonies,
with
the first shovel of dirt.
(The Chairman of the National Advisory Board, National First Aid
Association
of America)
]
THE MEMORIAL TREE PLANTING TO THE MEMORY OF CLARA BARTON
by the American Forestry Association at Glen Echo, Md., 3 P. M., Easter
Sunday, April 16, 1922. The occasion—to commemorate the tenth
anniversary of the passing of Clara Barton.
[Illustration:
Mrs. John A. Logan, with second shovel of dirt. Author of the
Congressional
measure creating May 30th a national holiday, known as Decoration
Day; and sponsored in Congress by U. S. Senator John A. Logan.
]
He who plants an oak looks forward to future ages, and plants for
posterity.
WASHINGTON IRVING.
[Illustration:
THE CLARA BARTON OAK
Registered in the Hall of Fame for Trees, Washington, D. C.
]
The American Flag
The Glen Echo Service Flag
The Red Cross Flag
The Clara Barton Red Cross Home
Pin Oak (Quercus Palustris), 8½ feet high, 5½ inches in circumference
at the base; 3½ inches in circumference, 4½ feet from the ground.
CLARA BARTON AND THE OAK
_The Memorial Address_
The tree is the longest lived of all the lives of earth. Trees are in
existence whose birth antedates that of our Christian civilization. The
Cedar of Lebanon of the Old World is a part of the religious sentiment
of the human race. The General Sherman Sequoia of the New World had
battled against the warring elements of Nature for thousands of years
before existed the warring forces of the Anglo-Saxons, on this
continent. If there “be tongues in trees” every historic tree might say:
“What I have seen and known is identified with the human race.”
Every country has its trees, historic, sacred through association with
an individual or with some great national event. Of the tree, historic,
the historian writes, the poet sings, and in delineating its beauties
the painter exhausts his art. He who plants an historic tree transmits
history and poetry and art to posterity. The tree becomes a part of a
country’s history.
England has her Parliament Oak, under whose branches King John held his
parliament; her Pilgrim Oak, associated with Lord Byron, her Falstaff
Tree, her Shakespeare Tree. The United States has her Penn Treaty Elm,
under whose possible inspiration, for once at least, faith was kept with
the North American Indian; her Charter Oak that became the guardian of
the parchment that held the liberties of the Puritans; her Cambridge Elm
within whose cooling shades George Washington took command of the
Colonial forces in the struggle for human liberty; her Liberty Tree,
whose very soil wherein it grew, said Lafayette, should be cherished
forever by the American people.
At the nation’s capital there are trees historic. On Capitol Hill there
is the great elm, said to have been planted by George Washington in
1794. On the grounds of the Woman’s National Foundation, near Dupont
Circle, is the tree known as the Treaty Oak. Its history is of pathos,
possibly in part of fiction, but whether of fact or of fiction, like the
wanderings of Ulysses the tree is of never-ceasing interest. In the
Botanic Gardens is the Peace Oak, said to have been planted by a
Southerner who tried desperately to prevent the Civil War, and died
broken-hearted over his failure. And near by this historic tree is the
picturesque oak that came from an acorn picked up by the grave of
Confucius, in far away Shantung.
Of all the trees of ancient and modern times the oak is the most
historic. The Ancient Greeks and Romans thought that the oak was
Jupiter’s own tree; the Ancient Britons, that it belonged to the God of
Thunder—groves of oaks were their temples. Among the Celts the oak was
an object of worship; the Yule log was invariably of oak.
We plant an oak to commemorate a career, sacred, sacred to one who loved
the world—to one whom all the world loves. As in Japan a certain tree is
sacred, in America every tree is sacred that is love-planted. Our act,
and sentiment, is in consonance with hers whose almost last wish was
that an oak sapling be planted at the shrine of her beloved horse; that
it might be his monument, and with the hope that the children would love
and protect it as Baba’s Tree.
“Sing low, green oak, thy summer rune,
Sing valor, love, and truth.”
In no other atmosphere of her native land as here is a place so
appropriate to plant this historic tree. Through this atmosphere, into
yonder edifice, came the cry “Come and Help Us”;—from Cuba that cruelty,
pestilence and starvation were the portions of thousands; from Galveston
that still other thousands of men, women and children had become victims
of disaster, on her storm-swept coast. In every instance to the cry for
help was there response, and on wings of love the Angel of Mercy sped
forth to minister with her own hands to suffering humanity.
It was here that she basked in the sunset rays, as they dipped gently
towards the west. Yonder are the trees which she planted with her own
hands; yonder the soil wherein grew her beautiful flowers; yonder
humanity’s centre from which flowed her charities to almost every part
of the known world; yonder the chamber from whose bed of sorrow she
cried: “Let me go; let me go”; yonder the window through whose casement
on Easter Morn, in 1912, her spirit flew to the Great Unknown.
Nature that springs from the soil decays and dies; deeds that spring
from the soul never die. Nature’s foliage that ornaments is destroyed by
the frosts of winter; the spiritual foliage that ornaments is perennial.
The American Red Cross whose bud, in 1881, opened to the sunlight in the
forests of Michigan is now the sheltering tree for the world’s millions;
the woman that planted the seed and nourished it with her tears, as
later she planted that other tree known as THE NATIONAL FIRST AID, is
now the spirit that stands sponsor for certain charities, charities the
most widely known of all the charities of earth.
Neither marble nor canvas is so venerated as the tree, from out of GOD’S
FIRST TEMPLES—a tree to commemorate the individual is the most venerated
memorial in the world. The world will little care, or note not at all,
what we say and do here and yet the spirit of these environments may
become the inspiration of future ages. The mound that soon must shut out
from view our mortality will be leveled and covered with earth’s
foliage, only to be forgotten or marked “UNKNOWN.” But let us pray that
the tree, whose sentiment is world-humanity, may take highest rank among
the world’s other historic trees; that through the centuries the
children of successive generations will love and protect THE CLARA
BARTON OAK, NATURE’S EASTER-TRIBUTE TO IMMORTALITY.
[Illustration:
Planting the “Clara Barton Rose”—Miss Carrie Harrison, Chairman Clara
Barton Centennial Committee of the National Woman’s Party.
]
MEMORIAL TREE PLANTING TO THE MEMORY OF CLARA BARTON
[Illustration:
Charles Sumner Young, while delivering the memorial address.
]
25. Summer of 1865 at Andersonville identifying the dead, and laying out
the first National Cemetery, by request of the Government. Raised the
first United States flag over Andersonville.
26. 1865–67 Searching for the 80,000 missing men of the army. Found
19,920 of them at an expense to herself without pay of $17,000. The
Government reimbursed $15,000 of this sum.
27. The Lecture Field. Delivered 300 at $100 per lecture on the
battlefields of the Civil War, 1867–8.
THE FRANCO-GERMAN WAR
Was on the following battlefield and relief fields during this war:—
28. Hagenau, battlefield.
29. Metz, battlefield.
30. Strasburg, battlefield (8 months) siege, and relief after siege.
31. Belfort, relief.
32. Woerth, relief.
33. Baden Hospitals.
34. Sedan, battlefields.
35. Montbelard, relief.
36. Paris, Fall of the Commune; relief.
37. Organizing and managing relief for sick and wounded soldiers and
sick and destitute people in France at close of war, 1871.
RED CROSS WORK
38. With the International Red Cross Committee in Europe, Switzerland,
Germany and France. 1869–71. 1872–73, ill in London.
39. Seven years’ effort to make Red Cross known to the United States and
asking for the treaty; 1875–1882. Secured adhesion of the United States
to the Treaty of Geneva, March 1, 1882, having organized the American
National Red Cross Association the year before, and was nominated to
first presidency by President Garfield, 1882; was the President for
twenty-three years; 1881–1904.
40. Author of American Amendment authorizing Red Cross to administer
relief in time of great National disasters, which was adopted by all
treaty nations.
41. Organized First Aid Department within the Red Cross; but when she
resigned in 1904 as President, it was discontinued by her successors,
1903.
42. Organized The National First Aid Association of America, independent
of the Red Cross, similar in its scope and object to the St. John
Ambulance Association of England. Five hundred and twenty-two classes
have been organized with ten thousand students and five thousand four
hundred graduates—January 1, 1922.
43. Conceived idea of a Rest Cure and School where people should be
taught to keep well.
(The cost of distributing the funds and other contributions entrusted to
Clara Barton, as President of the American Red Cross during her
twenty-three years of administration, did not exceed two per cent. of
the amounts contributed for the twenty fields of relief in this country
and the four fields in foreign countries. Signed: Julian B. Hubbell,
General Field Agent of the Red Cross during the twenty-three years of
Clara Barton’s Presidency.)
RED CROSS FIELDS
44. Michigan Forest Fire, 1881, expended $80,000.00
45. Mississippi River Floods, 1882, expended 8,000.00
46. Mississippi Cyclone, 1883, expended 1,000.00
47. Mississippi River Floods, 1883, expended 18,000.00
48. Balkan War; relief, 1883, expended 500.00
49. Ohio and Miss. River Floods, 1884, expended 175,000.00
50. Texas Famine, 1885, expended 100,000.00
51. Charleston Earthquake, 1886, expended 85,500.00
52. Mt. Vernon Illinois Cyclone, 1886, expended 85,000.00
53. Florida Yellow Fever, 1888, expended 15,000.00
54. Johnstown Flood, 1889, expended 250,000.00
55. Russian Famine, 1892, expended 125,000.00
56. Pomeroy, Iowa, Cyclone, 1893, expended 2,700.00
57. S. C. Islands Hurricane and Tidal Waves, 1893, 65,000.00
expended
58. Armenian Massacres, Turkey, Asia Minor, 1896, 116,325.00
expended
───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
59. Cuban Reconcentrado relief, Spring of 1898, expended 1,300,000.00
60. Spanish-American War at San Juan, battlefield, 1898
61. Cuban Orphan Asylums, Summer and Fall of 1898
───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
62. Galveston Storm, 1900, expended 130,000.00
63. Typhoid Fever Epidemic, Butler, Pa., 1904
—————————————
Total $2,557,025.00
64. Superintendent of the Massachusetts Reformatory for Criminal Women.
One year; appointed by General Butler, then governor of Massachusetts,
1884. _Represented United States Government at International Red Cross
Conferences, as follows_:—
65. At Geneva, Switzerland, in 1884.
66. At Carlsruhe, Germany, in 1887.
67. At Rome, Italy, in 1890.
68. At Vienna, Austria, in 1897.
69. At St. Petersburg, Russia, in 1902.
70. Author of books.
71. Author of lectures.
72. Author of poems.
CI
The press is the representative of the people.
GEN. JOSEPH R. HAWLEY.
The newspaper is the immediate recorder and interpreter of life.
HENRY IRVING.
Three Thousand newspapers voiced the public opinion of the nation;
thousands no doubt escaped us.
EDITOR—_Clara Barton In Memoriam_ (1912).
The press shapes the fortunes of the world and makes and unmakes with
a breath. CLARA BARTON.
The American press has been to me, to my assistants, and our work, a
band of faithful brotherhood. CLARA BARTON.
Human progress had evolved a “Press” whose lever moved the world.
CLARA BARTON.
Among the dark hours that came to us in the hopeless waste of work and
war on every side, the strong sustaining power has been the _Press_ of
the United States. CLARA BARTON.
I thank the press of my country for its unwavering and genuine
kindness for all the years it has dealt with my name.
CLARA BARTON.
Through all of good report or ill; contradictory, perplexing,
incomprehensible, the one thing that has not only sustained but
astonished me has been the loyalty of the American press.
CLARA BARTON.
THE PRESS AND THE INDIVIDUAL
THE PRESS
Clara Barton is to America what Florence Nightingale is to us. The
American Civil War created her, and determined the whole course of her
life. There is that which war, and nothing less, can do with a woman. It
can make her, right away, what we may without irreverence call
superwoman; and, having done that, it can set her to hard administrative
work, to reform and organize great matters of national welfare; and it
can keep her at that high level to the end of her days. Only, it must
have her all to itself; she must give up everything that she was doing.
It was a wonderful life. She was inspired to save lives. Providence,
very wisely, chose her for its purposes, not because she was an
intellectual woman but because she was a pure flame of sympathy. Not
peace, but war, made her what she was.
London (Eng.) Times,
January 27, 1916.
THE INDIVIDUAL
Among the countless thousands, in her lifetime, that Miss Barton
numbered as her friends, the following have been culled; and Miss Barton
had not only letters thanking her for her work from the following but
also enjoyed their personal friendship:
_Presidents of the United States_
Abraham Lincoln
Andrew Johnson
Ulysses S. Grant
Rutherford B. Hayes
James A. Garfield
Chester A. Arthur
Grover Cleveland
Benjamin Harrison
William McKinley
_Vice-Presidents of the United States_
John C. Breckinridge
Hannibal Hamlin
Schuyler Colfax
Henry Wilson
William A. Wheeler
Garret A. Hobart
_Secretaries of the Interior_
Zachariah Chandler
Henry M. Teller
John W. Noble
_Secretaries of the Navy_
Benjamin F. Tracey
Hillary A. Herbert
John D. Long
_Secretaries of the Treasury_
Salmon P. Chase
George B. Boutwell
William Windom
Charles J. Folger
_Secretaries of State_
William H. Seward
Elihu B. Washburn
Hamilton Fish
William M. Evarts
James G. Blaine
T. F. Frelinghuysen
Thomas F. Bayard
John W. Foster
Walter Q. Gresham
Richard Olney
John Sherman
William B. Day
John Hay
_Secretaries of War_
Edwin M. Stanton
John M. Schofield
William T. Sherman
Robert T. Lincoln
William C. Endicott
Redfield Proctor
Daniel S. Lamont
Russell A. Alger
_Secretaries of Agriculture_
Norman J. Coleman
Jeremiah M. Rusk
J. Sterling Morton
James Wilson
_Postmasters General_
James N. Tyner
John Wanamaker
Wilson S. Bissell
William L. Wilson
_Chief Justices U. S. Supreme Court_
Salmon P. Chase
Morrison R. Waite
Stanley Matthews
_The Army_
Maj. Gen. Nelson A. Miles
Maj. Gen. Wesley Merritt
Maj. Gen. John R. Brooke
Gen. Daniel E. Sickels
Brig. Gen. James F. Wade
Brig. Gen. M. I. Luddington
Brig. Gen. Adolphus W. Greely
Brig. Gen. John M. Wilson
Brig. Gen. Jos. C. Breckinridge
Brig. Gen. W. A. Hammond
Brig. Gen. H. D. Rucker
Lieut. Gen. John M. Schofield
_General Officers U. S. Volunteers_
Maj. Gen. William R. Shafter
Maj. Gen. Leonard Wood
Brig. Gen. James H. Wilson
Brig. Gen. Fitzhugh Lee
Brig. Gen. William Ludlow
Brig. Gen. Fred D. Grant
_The Navy_
Rear Admiral Winfield S. Schley
Rear Admiral William F. Sampson
_Sovereigns of Europe_
Francis Joseph, Emperor of Austria
Frederick, Grand Duke of Baden
Abdul-Hamid, Sultan of Turkey
William I., Emperor of Germany
Empress of Germany
Nathalie, Queen of Servia
Czar of Russia
Grand Duchess of Baden
_Miscellaneous_
Surg. Gen. Joseph K. Barnes, U.S.A.
Gen. Phil H. Sheridan
Gen. R. D. Mussey
Hon. George B. Loring
Hon. E. G. Lapham
Surg. Gen. George H. Crum, U.S.A.
Gen. Benjamin F. Butler
Sumner I. Kimball, General Superintendent U. S. Life Saving Corps
Walter Weymann, Surgeon General, Marine Hospital Service
CII
Time rolls rapidly—and the events we meet to revive are already
history. CLARA BARTON.
Clara Barton—before the growing strength and power of her sweet
spirit, the armies of the world shall some day halt and ground arms.
Madison (Wis.) _Journal_.
Worcester has even a tenderer affection than all humanity for Clara
Barton, the “Angel of the Battlefield.” She was in her Oxford birth a
Worcester County Contributor to the world’s upward move. Worcester
(Mass.) _Post_.
Her career as a nurse in the battlefields of the Civil War ranks high
among the achievements of women in human history. In the roll of the
centuries no other name will stand higher nor shine brighter than that
of the modest, the loving, the loyal, the world-wide patriot. Worcester
(Mass.) _Gazette_.
MILLIONS WILL REGARD THE SIMPLICITY OF THE END. Worcester (Mass.)
_Telegram_.
She lives whom we call dead. HENRY W. LONGFELLOW.
To die is to begin to live. RALPH WALDO EMERSON.
Death borders on our birth and our cradle stands in the grave.
BISHOP HALL—_Epistles_.
Death but entombs the body; life, the soul;—death is the crown of
life. YOUNG’S _Night Thoughts_.
How sleep the brave who sink to rest
By all their Country’s wishes blest!
WILLIAM COLLINS.
Nor shall your story be forgot,
While Fame her record keeps,
Or Honor points the hallowed spot
Where Valor proudly sleeps.
THEODORE O’HARA.
Resolutions have been adopted by the army nurses to provide for
perpetual decoration of Miss Barton’s resting place with the flag she
loved, and served under from 1861 to 1865, that its folds may wave,
summer and winter, in loving remembrance of the glorious work for
humanity accomplished during her long life. Boston (Mass.)
_Transcript_. April 17th, 1912.
THE CLARA BARTON CENTENARY
THE SIMPLICITY OF THE END
Memorial address delivered at the Annual Reunion of the Twenty-first
Massachusetts Regiment,—held at Worcester, Mass., August 23, 1921
By COMRADE CHARLES SUMNER YOUNG
(Honorary Member of the Regiment)
Comrades of the Twenty-first Massachusetts:
This year is the centenary of the birth of a Daughter of the Regiment.
Three score years today that regiment left Worcester for fields of
frightful carnage. Regiment and daughter shared in scenes tragic that
the Union might live.
At the close of the war the war-service of the regiment ended, but not
the public service of the daughter. Continuous thereafter she served the
human race. She served in disaster;—in fire and flood and famine and
[Illustration:
WILLIAM HOWARD TAFT
The President, March 4, 1909–March 4, 1913.
President American Red Cross Society, January 8, 1905–March 4, 1913
Chief Justice of the U. S. Supreme Court, 1921——.
]
cyclone and earthquake and yellow-fever and massacre. She served in two
succeeding wars. She served in the camp, in the hospital, and on the
firing-line. She was on the firing-line in the Civil War, in the
Franco-Prussian War, in the Spanish-American War;—she was on the
“firing-line” for half a century in the War of Human Woes.
It was fifty years after his passing that the American people fully
appreciated the heart and public services of Abraham Lincoln. Long
before half a century shall have lapsed into history world-recognized
will be the world-services of the Daughter of the Regiment. An oft
recital of her deeds is the best tribute that mortal man can pay to her.
But there are now of record tributes to her by powerful influences;
tributes by eleven American presidents, including ex-President Wilson
and President Harding; tributes to her by nine foreign rulers, by eleven
foreign nations, by several American States, and Cities, and by more
than fifteen hundred thousand American citizens. At the laying of the
corner stone of the Red Cross Building, in March, 1915, at Washington,
D. C., Acting Secretary of War Henry Breckinridge of her said: “Hers is
an immortal American destiny, the greatest an American woman has yet
produced.” General John J. Pershing, Commander-in-Chief of the American
Expeditionary Forces, in November, 1919, said, “The accomplishments of
the Red Cross during the past four years constitute an historical
monument to the memory of this noble woman.”
Autocracy cannot take precedence over heart; wealth cannot compensate
the loss of the spirit of love; wrong cannot win permanent victory over
right; official mandate cannot dim the glory of record achievements. The
highest achievement is the highest ideal, realized. In a nation the
highest ideal, realized, is not wealth, not the palace of wealth; it is
the individual. Eliminate the individual and there would be no history.
The history of the individual is the history of a nation. In Greece the
highest realized ideal is Homer; in Italy, Dante; in England,
Shakespeare; in American philanthropy it is the Founder of the American
Red Cross, of the National First Aid, and author of the American
Amendment.
As in the early sixties the Daughter of the Regiment lit the fires of
hope on the field and in the hospital of the Southland, in later years
through her “American Amendment” her service-system in alleviating human
suffering has become the system of forty civilized nations, comprising
four-fifths of the human race. Certain of fulfillment the prophecy of
our illustrious statesman, the late George F. Hoar of this city, who
said that countless millions and uncounted generations will profit
through the Founder of our American systems of philanthropy.
The achievements of the Daughter of the Regiment are the heritage of the
nation. But the fame of the daughter is indissolubly linked with that of
the regiment; the fame of the regiment, with that of the daughter.
Regiment and daughter were comrades in adversity, comrades when bullets
whizzed and death stalked. That comradeship was the most beautiful of
the humanities in the Civil War. Said a gallant son of the Twenty-first
Massachusetts: “We dearly loved her, and I do not think there was a man
in the regiment who would not have been willing to die for her.” Said
the Daughter of the Regiment: “If my life could have purchased the lives
of the patriot martyrs who fell for their country and mine, how
cheerfully and quickly would the exchange have been made.” That
sentiment reciprocal—willing to serve at the risk of life—is a sentiment
chivalric, unsurpassed by the belted and spurred knights of the sword in
Feudal Days.
The guns cease firing,—the battleground, a ghastly scene. Human ghouls
are lurking, preying upon the helpless. The “lone woman” is in their
midst, going in and coming out of houses where lay the dead and dying,
walking through the streets and alley ways, on her mission. A
knight-errant in his saddle, with hat in hand graciously bowing, gallops
up to her, admonishing that she is in great danger and offering her the
City’s protection. Pointing to the thousands of boys wearing the blue,
she answered: “No, Marshal, I think not; I am the best protected woman
in the United States.”
In the autumn of her life when war scenes were a misty memory, on a
public occasion, she again comments: “In all the world none is so dear
to me as the Old Guard who toiled by my side years ago.” As she is not
here to speak for herself, kindly permit me to echo her sentiments in
the very words the late daughter expressed to you at a former annual
reunion:
Ye have met to remember, may ye ever thus meet,
So long as two comrades can rise to their feet;
May their withered hands join, and clear to the last
May they live o’er again the great deeds of the past
Till summoned in victory, honor and love,
To stand in the ranks that are waiting above,
And on their cleared vision God’s glory shall burst,
Re-united in Heaven, the old Twenty-first.
The meek brown-eyed little maiden who, in 1836, left the scenes of her
childhood at the age of fifteen had returned crowned with laurel, in
1912, then seventy-six years a veteran in the service of humanity.
Impressive in its simplicity is that home coming which occurred at
Oxford. In Memorial Hall had assembled gray-haired men and women who had
known her from her youth. In that hall were the children, grandchildren
and great-grandchildren of the playmates of her childhood. The hall had
been decorated by loving hands; flowers of rare beauty gently had been
placed near the temporary altar. By her request her beloved pastor was
there to invoke Him who was highest in service to humanity; to speak
words of cheer and to bespeak immortality. Songs were sung, prayers were
said, eulogies of her real character pronounced, and the long line of
personal friends accompanied her to the Silent Home of her ancestors.
Still clad as from youth in her fair robes of charity, there she lives
and sleeps and sleeps and lives.
The Cradle and the Tomb
Alas! so nigh.
No bugle sound reached the ear, no crack of the soldier’s rifle rent the
air, no war hero’s honors were hers; hers were the honors of a gentle
maiden that came to save life, not to destroy it. Into the open earth
that received her, and on the grassy slope of the hill, lovingly were
dropped flowers of sentiment; among these the red rose, the flower she
loved best; the lily, symbol of immortality. There Valor proudly
sleeps,—there almost in sight of the birthplace; where her eyes greeted,
first, the Christmas Morn; where she was rocked in her rude wooden
cradle; where her baby fingers had pressed against the window pane and
her eyes looked out upon innocent nature; where she had romped with
other children in the wildwood, gathered wild flowers in the field,
ridden untamed horses, skated upon the smooth surface of frozen waters,
learned life’s early lessons at home and in the school-room; where she
had said “goodbye” to childhood, to enter public service. There, after
more than four score years and ten, death was still almost amidst her
baby playthings. Only a few steps from her cradle to the grave and yet,
on that short journey, she had taken millions of steps for humanity. At
the end of her journey is her memorial tribute to those she loved;
waving appreciative is the flag she served; looming significant is the
Memorial Red Cross, a memorial that gives expression to “a world of
memories, a world of deeds, a world of tears and a world of glories;”
and, as was said of another great American at his passing, Clara Barton
now belongs to the ages.
THE FINALE
After the ceremonies at the cemetery, concluding with the hymn
“Nearer, My God, to Thee,” the following conversation took place, at a
christening:
The Mother: My little girl was born in Clara Barton’s birthplace; in
the very room.
Reverend Barton: Bring her to me and I will christen her at once,
“Clara Barton.”
CIII
Honorable Charles Sumner Young’s address was an eulogy surpassing
anything ever heard in Oxford on the woman whom the town delights to
honor—Clara Barton. Worcester (Mass.) _Telegram_, May 31, 1917.
There is properly no history—only biography.
RALPH WALDO EMERSON.
CLARA BARTON
(Delivered by Charles Sumner Young, at Oxford, Massachusetts, Memorial
Day, 1917)
The inspiration of this historic day originated in the mind of woman. To
the credit of womanhood there is a woman at the beginning of every great
undertaking, sentimental and humanitarian. Today we pay the floral
tribute to the late soldier-patriot. Equally befitting is it, amidst
flowers of memory and at her birthplace, to pay tribute to the soldier’s
comrade, the greatest woman-patriot of the Civil War.
In ancient days woman was the cultivator of the soil, the guardian of
the fire, the creator of the home, the oracle of the Temple, and not
infrequently the leader of men. Countless women in closing their career
could similarly say as, according to Greek legend, said Semiramis:
“Nature gave me the form of a woman, my actions have raised me to the
level of the most valiant of men.” Artemisia was a heroine, wise in the
councils of war, and had Xerxes not scoffed her advice he would not have
gone down to eternal disgrace at Salamis. Cornelia, the mother of the
Gracchi, who of her two sons said “These are my jewels,” lives honored
as the highest type of Roman motherhood.
[Illustration:
THE OXFORD, MASSACHUSETTS, MEMORIAL BUILDING
“A memorial to the defenders of the Union from Oxford, Mass.”
The building in which were held the funeral ceremonies for Clara
Barton April 15, 1912, and the Clara Barton Memorial Exercises,
Memorial Day, 1917.
]
[Illustration:
THE INSIDE OF MEMORIAL BUILDING, OXFORD, MASSACHUSETTS
Scene on the stage, on the occasion of the Clara Barton Memorial
Exercises, Memorial Day, 1917; also where were held the funeral
exercises for Clara Barton, April 15, 1912.
]
To a woman Rome was indebted for her republic; to a woman, the legal
right of plebeians to become office-holders in the Roman Commonwealth;
to a woman, the inspiration of Dante in transmitting to the world the
Divine Comedy; to a woman, who pawned her jewels that she might finance
Columbus, must be accorded the discovery of America; to a woman, the
saving of the colonists of Jamestown and the colony’s future existence;
to a woman America owes the Treaty of Guadaloupe Hidalgo; to a woman,
the Sisters of Charity in the United States with its thousands of angels
of mercy; to a woman, the foundation of Christian Science to which is
anchored the hope of millions; to a woman, known as the “Grandmother of
the Revolution,” the revolt against tyranny by autocracy in Russia; to a
woman, the American Red Cross with its millions of humanists.
So vital to the human race is labor that in the centuries of the classic
past gods and goddesses supervised the various fields of human effort.
Such was the dignity of labor that even a toiling ox was regarded
sacred, and whoever killed this companion of toiling man was punishable
with death.
There is dignity in labor
Truer than e’er pomp arrayed.
In the presence of more than a hundred suitors, Penelope was daily
engaged in weaving while waiting the return of her Ulysses. The
celebrated Lucretia was not too proud to spin in the presence of her
attendants. In the days of Homer princesses did themselves the honor to
dip the water from the springs, and with their own hands to wash the
linen of the household. Augustus, the world sovereign, wore with pride
the clothes made by his wife and sister. The sisters of Alexander the
Great made the clothes worn by their distinguished brother. To the
request of her son to make Mt. Vernon her home during her declining
years Mary, the mother of Washington, replied: “My wants are few in this
world, and I feel perfectly competent to take care of myself.” Queen
Victoria became world-beloved because she rendered personal service to
her children, and to the children in families less fortunate than her
own.
Hypatia, the philosopher and teacher at Alexandria, refused the advances
of all would-be lovers that she might give instruction to her pupils.
Elizabeth accepted maidenhood rather than motherhood that she might
exclusively serve her subjects; Maria Theresa reproached herself for the
time she spent in sleep, as so much robbed of her people; Clara Barton,
with but a few hours of sleep daily, served not her people but
strangers. Wherever locating, Clara Barton was the directing spirit of a
swarm of workers where were permitted no drones, and among whom she was
the queen. She adopted as her rule of conduct, “hard work and low fare,”
sacrificed health without complaint, risked life without hope of reward.
Nations are the rising and falling tides of humanity; women, the fixed
beacon lights along the wave-borne highway of human progress. Fabiola,
the Roman Matron of the fourth century, who established the first
hospital and herself cared for human wrecks, set a precedent existent
through all succeeding centuries. All honor to Queen Isabella, the first
to appoint military surgeons and to originate what was known as the
“Queen’s Hospital” for the sick and wounded. As a nurse in her home, in
the plagues of her country and the wars of the fourteenth century,
Catherine Benincasa rose to the exalted position of Saint Catherine,
patron saint of Italy. As a nurse among the poor, sewing, cooking,
keeping the house clean indoors, and working with her brothers in the
harvest field—before she saw the vision of St. Michael—prepared Joan of
Arc to become the deliverer of France from Britain in the fifteenth
century, and in consequence the Maid of Orleans became a patron saint of
that period.
Maria Theresa provided hospitals for the wounded soldiery in the country
over which she ruled, until then a soldiery wholly neglected in their
sufferings on the battlefield. Ever green in memory should be kept the
name of Grace Darling, and that graphic picture of her as she hastens
down from the lighthouse on Farne Island, and through the mists of that
terrible night in 1838 goes to the rescue of the shipwrecked sailors.
Born in Florence, Italy, reared in England, a little girl caring for the
injured birds and animals in her improvised hospital at Lea Hurst, the
student nurse in Germany, the superintendent of nurses in the Crimean
War, Florence Nightingale became adored throughout Christendom,
diffusing rays of glory on the closing years of the nineteenth century.
Of England’s heroine, Longfellow sings:
A Lady with a Lamp shall stand
In the great history of the land;
A noble type of good,
Heroic Womanhood.
CLARA BARTON! The Babe of Oxford, a Christmas gift to humanity. In a
little corner room of a little farmhouse, her tiny eyes greeted, first,
the eyes of highly esteemed but not far-famed parents. From this
Huguenot Colony, with no prestige of birth and no power of wealth, the
meek, brown-eyed maiden went forth unheralded to carry her message of
love and service. No Star of Destiny had cast its rays aslant the
cradle, and no omen betokened her future as
Out of the quiet ways
Into the world’s broad track
she ventured.
Timid as a fawn, “the sweet voiced retiring little woman” emerged from
Youth’s environs. She had dreams romantic, but her romance was wrecked.
She had visions of a mission, but for her no mission materialized.
Things came to her “as if by a world controlling power.” In whatever her
field of service, she stumbled over opportunities to be brave and
good;—there seems to have been for her a decree of the Fates against
“how circumscribed is woman’s destiny.”
Having a wide vision, she laid the foundation for the superstructure.
She was a student of the best English writers; of the classics that gave
prestige to Aspasia, the mentor of Socrates and Pericles. She studied
sanitary methods at Jackson Sanitorium, and treatment of diseases with
Doctor Carpenter at London and with her co-worker, Doctor Hubbell. In
statesmanship she learned at the feet of Webster, Calhoun, Sumner and
Lincoln. In military tactics and military strategy, she studied Napoleon
at Ajaccio, his birth-place, and at Paris made by him “Paris Beautiful,”
whence the leader of men promulgated the Napoleon Code of Laws;—“Paris
Beautiful” and the Code, two services which of themselves entitle
Napoleon to lasting fame.
Of great versatility, she had varied accomplishments. She conversed in
French, and was a close student of Holy Writ. In crayon and painting,
she produced work highly commended by artists. In letter writing, as
evinced by letters which “excelled all others in literary merit that
come to the White House,” and by tens of thousands of other letters, she
must ever rank in a class with Cornelia, the Roman matron; and Abigail
Adams, the illustrious American. In poetry, as tokened in “Marmora,” “A
Christmas Carol,” “The Women Who Went to the Field,” and in many other
published and unpublished poems, she at times received real inspiration
from some gentle muse. In pedagogy, as through Pestalozzi in Switzerland
so through Clara Barton in New Jersey, “pauper schools” were transmuted
into public schools.
In oratory, through her six war lectures and many other public
addresses, she established her reputation as a public speaker. Speaking
from the same platform, receiving a like fee and being as great a
“drawing card” as John B. Gough, Charles Sumner, Wendell Phillips and
Henry Ward Beecher, she must rank for all time as one of the greatest
orators of a half century ago. Mr. W. J. Kehoe, having reported
thousands of speeches and for twenty-five years official reporter of
Congress, says: “Clara Barton evinced qualities of diction and oratory
hardly excelled by any other American.”
Separate and distinct from that of man is the inner machinery of woman’s
mind; distinctive also are the outward manifestations. Whether as the
ruler of a nation or the ruler of a cottage, a woman’s mind rules in its
own inimitable way. In the realm of heart, woman is the queen and in
that realm there can rule no king. Of our many great American heroes and
statesmen, only one has been honored in having had accorded to him the
heart of woman—all Americans worship at his shrine. Of a woman’s mind,
the inner workings and outward manifestations, no man has made
portrayal, none save perchance the Bard of Avon through his fifty
heroines. Having “the brain of a statesman, the command of a general and
the heart and hand of a woman” no man, as indicated by Lincoln, could
have become world-adored through services such as were rendered by Clara
Barton.
Equipped a leader among women, she became no Zenobia with thirst for
fame; no Cleopatra, with Cæsars and Anthonys at her beck and call; no
Catherine the Great, with political and military support; no Joan of
Arc, with a frenzied and despairing soldiery at her heels; no Elizabeth
nor Victoria, with an Empire to acclaim her reign; Clara Barton became
the self-termed “lonesomest-lone-woman-in-the-world”;—a woman “majestic
in simplicity,” who went about merely doing good and, in enduring
influence for good, surpassed them all.
She came not from a line of ancestors reliant mainly on social prestige.
Her inheritance from environments was a spirit intensely practical—the
puritan spirit.
[Illustration:
HENRY WILSON
To President Lincoln: Clara Barton is worthy of entire
confidence.—HENRY WILSON. U. S. Senate, 1855–1873; Chairman
Committee on Military Affairs, Civil War; Vice-President, 1873–1875.
Senator Henry Wilson was my always good friend.—CLARA BARTON.
See page 48.
]
REPRESENTATIVE MASSACHUSETTS STATESMEN
[Illustration:
CHARLES SUMNER
Clara Barton has the brain of a statesman, the command of a general,
and the heart and hand of a woman.—CHARLES SUMNER, U. S. Senate,
1851–1857; 1863–1869.
]
[Illustration:
GEORGE F. HOAR
Clara Barton is the greatest “man” in America. Where will you find a
man to equal her?—GEORGE F. HOAR, U. S. Senate, 1877–1901.
]
She achieved through nature’s endowments—a head to think, a heart to
feel and hands to work. From her hard-working Barton forbears she
inherited the sentiment in the Roman adage—“There is no easy way to the
stars from the earth”;—all things are conquered by labor. For her to
labor was to worship; to her the dignity of labor was greater than
queenly dignity; labor, “wide as earth,” became her passport from the
farm, the field of war, fire, flood, drouth, famine and pestilence, into
every country of earth; her “labor of love,”—the open sesame to the
White House, to the palaces of kings and emperors.
The illustrious author of “The True Grandeur of Nations,” a personal
friend of Clara Barton, says: “No true and permanent fame can be
founded, except in labors which promote the happiness of mankind.” Clara
Barton learned lessons in manual training before manual training became
a science; she learned to use her hands in the kitchen, in the garden,
in the factory, in the sick room. She not only knew how to sew and spin
and weave and cook and care for the sick, but she organized women for
such work throughout two continents. Labor organized by her among the
poor, the sick and wounded in Germany, France, Russia, Sea Islands,
Turkey, Armenia, Cuba and other countries, attesting her appreciation
Luise, the Grand Duchess of Baden, writes: “Clara Barton possesses the
ever powerful mind and ready love for suffering mankind;—faithful
gratitude follows her for ever.”
In person she was not a Queen of Sheba arrayed for kings to admire; not
a Cleopatra bejeweled in richest splendour to beguile military heroes;
not an Elizabeth with a new dress for every day in the year to impress
millions of subjects—she was a “working-woman.” Her raiment was homespun
or commonplace, by her ‘made over,’ raiment which would put to shame for
economy the average rural housewife, and yet she could but be envied for
her artistic taste by the heiress to millions. Simple in dress she lived
close to Nature, a Nature-child of perennial growth;—“a passion for
service,” she developed through the years an identity all her own. Her
identity thus developed, she became a landmark in her own country for
humanity, as in Switzerland became Dunant who first caught the spirit of
the Red Cross work on the bloody fields of Solferino.
Most unusual were Clara Barton’s physical and mental powers. If her
powers were portrayed by the imaginative mind of a Homer, Clara Barton
would be a composite being possessed of attributes as to the head, of a
Jupiter; as to the heart, of a Venus; as to the shoulders, of an Atlas;
as to the hands, of a Vulcan. But she was human, intensely human, a
“frail woman,”—in her own words, a “Poor little me.” Her weakness was
her strength; her courage, a woman’s heart.
She dwelt not on a Mount Olympus, not in a palace;—when on the
“firing-line,” “rolled in her blankets” she camped under the wagon, or
on the ground within a canvas tent. In the days of _rest_ through her
closing years, she “camped” in a warehouse of thirty-eight rooms, with
seventy-six closets; in her “house of rough hemlock boards,” a house
stored with food and clothing and she ready “to set in motion the wheels
of relief at a moment’s warning over the whole land.” She lived on the
banks of the quiet Potomac, in the midst of Nature’s foliage, in the
presence of the oak, the elm, the cedar, the poplar,—within “God’s first
temples,”
[Illustration:
© _Harris & Ewing_
CHARLES E. TOWNSEND
Michigan people have special reason to venerate the memory of Clara
Barton.—CHARLES E. TOWNSEND, of Michigan. Senate, 1911——.
]
UNITED STATES SENATORS WHO SAW THE WORK OF CLARA BARTON
[Illustration:
© _Harris & Ewing_
JACOB H. GALLINGER
In my investigations (in Cuba) I visited the orphanage under the care
of that sainted woman, Clara Barton. I wish I could command language
eloquent enough to pay just tribute to her,—a very angel of mercy,
and of human love and sympathy. God bless Clara Barton.—JACOB H.
GALLINGER, of New Hampshire. Senate 1891–1915.
]
[Illustration:
© _Harris & Ewing_
H. D. MONEY
Everybody knows Clara Barton’s work, and when I mention the name of
that lady, it is not only with respect but reverence, for I have
seen her work in foreign lands, in hospitals, and amid scenes of
suffering and distress.—H. D. MONEY, of Mississippi. Senate
1897–1911.
]
where birds sang to her beautiful songs, and where flourished sweetest
scented flowers.
Within that house on the Potomac, Clara Barton received from President
McKinley the command: “Go to the starving Cubans with your relief ship,
and distribute as only you know how.” In haste to carry out that
command, when nearing the point of service, she begged that she might
have the right of way. “Not so,” said the Admiral of the Navy; “I am
here to keep the supplies out of Cuba; I go first.” Clara Barton
replied: “I know my place is not to precede you. When you make an
opening, I will go in. You will go and do the horrible deed; I will
follow you, and out of the human wreckage restore what I can.” Having
herself achieved a place in unusual fields of public service, in this
war timely the advice of Clara Barton: “Woman, there is a place for
thee, my hitherto timid, shrinking child; go forth and fill it, that in
thee mankind may be doubly blessed.”
Following the precedent of him who was “first in war, first in peace,”
in war and in peace at her own expense and without salary, Clara Barton
served her country. Hers was the patriotism of a Washington, “What is
money without a country.” In the early days of the Civil War, as to the
probable capture of the City of Washington by the Confederates, she
exclaimed: “If it must be, let it come, and when there is no longer a
soldier’s arm to raise the Stars and Stripes above the Capitol, may God
give strength to mine.” In defiance of sentiment as to the propriety for
a “lone-woman” to go with the soldiers on the battlefield, she conformed
to her father’s patriot-sentiment, “Go, if it is your duty to go.”
Through the thousands of years of Pagan and Christian history there had
existed the sentiment “Humanity in war must stand aside.” Among men,
war-trained and war-sacrificed, rare the word of pity that reached the
Most High for the wounded soldier. On the battlefield there had been
seen no angel of mercy until was seen the angel nurse, with the candles
of her charity lighting up the gloom of suffering and death.
At the second Bull Run, in August, 1862, with a tallow candle in her
hand through the darkness, in tears the ministering angel moved gently
among the suffering thousands, putting socks and slippers on the
wounded, feeding the hungry, giving water to the thirsty. Her own life
then in peril, while on that field of carnage there came from her lips
the heroic words: “I should never leave a wounded man, if I were taken
prisoner forty times.” Was hers patriotism to country? Greater than
patriotism. Was hers woman’s love—woman’s love for her friend? It was
love divine, a woman’s love for all mankind.
On, on to Chantilly, mid darkness and gloom,
Fire, thunder and lightning, guns boom upon boom.
At Chantilly the rain came down in torrents, the darkness impenetrable
save when lit up by the lightning or the fitful flash of the guns. There
up the hill to her tent she goes, falling again and again from
exhaustion,—only to find a few moments’ rest on her bed of earth soaked
with water. From her tent at midnight, the dead grass and leaves
clinging to her, her hair and clothes dripping wet, she comes back to
heartrending scenes. Forgetful of self, she carries army crackers mixed
with wine, brandy and water for her compatriots, such work continuing
for more than one hundred consecutive hours, save two hours of dreamful
sleep.
[Illustration:
© _Harris & Ewing_
NELSON A. MILES
Clara Barton is the greatest humanitarian the world has ever
known.—NELSON A. MILES, Major-General Civil War, Commander American
Army, 1895–1903; made Lieutenant General, 1900.
]
It was on Sunday morning, September 14th, 1862, in plumed hats, costly
jewels, silken dresses and French-made shoes, that the ladies with their
equally well-attired escorts were on their way to church. Adown
Pennsylvania Avenue at the same time at our national capital, on an army
wagon, the wagon loaded with well filled boxes, bags and parcels for the
suffering—and seated with the driver—again there goes to the scene of
war-carnage a woman, the woman self-styled as to theoretical religion a
“well-disposed pagan.” For more than half a century past she has been,
and for centuries to come the woman who went to the front on that Sunday
morning—as to practical religion—will be known as the purest Christian
womanhood.
“Chaste and immaculate in very thought,” chosen from above “by
inspiration of celestial grace, to work exceeding miracles on earth!”
“Inspiration of celestial grace!” That inspiration carried Clara Barton
on an army wagon, through the night, past the sleeping artillery to the
front of the battlefield of Antietam. There with her own hands she
bandaged the wounds of the boys that were falling, falling and bleeding
to death, herself escaping with a bullet through her clothes; carried
her to another point on that battlefield, and there while supporting on
her arm and knee a soldier his head by a cannon ball was severed from
the body. That inspiration carried her with the soldiers under fire over
the pontoon bridge at Fredericksburg, amidst the hissing of bullets and
exploding of shells; across the Rappahannock where a cannon ball tore
away a part of the skirt of her dress and where a few moments later the
officer, who had assisted her off the bridge, was brought to her shot to
death.
It was that inspiration which gave her the strength with an axe to chop
the ice from around the wounded “boys in gray”; to carry them to a negro
cabin; to feed them gruel and to bind up their wounds; that nerved her
with a pocket knife on the field of battle to cut the bullet from the
face of a wounded soldier. It was that inspiration which gave her the
courage to assist in a hospital where amputated human limbs were stacked
in piles like cordwood. It was this scene to which General Butler
referred, and of her in her presence at a public reception in Boston, to
say, “I have seen those beautiful arms red with human blood to her
shoulders.” Inspiration! “Inspired to save lives,” says of her the
_London Times_.
“A great mind is an appreciative mind”; Clara Barton was appreciative.
Of a simple New Year’s greeting she says: “’Twere worth the passing of
the year to be so remembered.” At various periods in her life, from
those she served and whose minds could appreciate, upon her honors fell
thick and fast as fall the autumn leaves in your maple groves. As the
daughter of the twenty-first Massachusetts Regiment stood on the banks
at Aquia Creek by no divine command did the waters part that she might
cross on dry land; but by command of a chivalric officer, in an instant
and proud of the honor, on the left knees of that line of boys in blue
with the soldiers’ helping hand Clara Barton crosses over. With tears
streaming down her cheeks, she relates this incident and says “This is
the most beautiful tribute of love and devotion ever offered me in my
life.” On the three cheers given her as she entered Lincoln Hospital by
the seventy soldier boys, boys she had served on the battlefield of
Fredericksburg, she says “I would not exchange their memory for the
wildest applause that ever greeted conqueror or king.”
[Illustration:
© Harris & Ewing
JOHN J. PERSHING
It gives me sincere pleasure to add an expression of appreciation for
the inestimable services which Miss Clara Barton rendered to her
country and to mankind in founding and fostering the American Red
Cross, of which she was the President for twenty-three years, as
well as for her unselfish interest and splendid achievements during
a life devoted to public welfare work. The accomplishments of the
Red Cross during the past few years constitute an historical
monument to the memory of this noble woman.—JOHN J. PERSHING, (1919)
Commander-in-Chief of the American Expeditionary Forces in Europe;
made General of the Armies of the United States, September 4, 1919.
]
From the days of Benjamin Franklin honors in Europe have been showered
upon the dignity of the American office, on two ex-Presidents in private
life, but high and above office-holders and ex-Presidents in the list of
royal honors received stands Clara Barton. Her royal receptions, her
royal decorations in all history have not been equaled. Czar and
Czarina, Emperor and Empress, King and Queen, Prince and Princess, Duke
and Duchess, all royalty so poor as to do honor to the richest in
world-service. Paris, Madrid, Berlin, Geneva, Carlsruhe, Vienna,
Baden-Baden, St. Petersburg, Constantinople, Santiago,—no city too
great, no city too unchristian, to open her gates to welcome Clara
Barton.
At the great international sittings of the Red Cross in Geneva, in
Carlsruhe, in Vienna, in St. Petersburg,—Clara Barton, the only woman
officially representing any government among the representatives of
forty nations. As the unpretentious woman of five feet three comes
into the hall, the great men of the earth rise to their feet,—eyes
eager, handkerchiefs in air, then huzzas that echo the heart throbs of
a world humanity greet the ear and touch the heart of the
“lonesomest-lone-woman” as she walks down the aisle of the auditorium
to take her seat among the great world-humanitarians. Small in stature
but great in deeds, a galaxy of deeds!
Peasants,—Russians, German, Austrian, Turk, Greek, Swiss, Cuban,
Spaniard, Armenian, American soldier,—all so rich in gratitude as to
“God bless her,” the angel of the world’s battlefields. Was it mere
pastime that moved the famous generals of Europe to kneel in front of
her and kiss her hand, accompanied by greetings of the highest praise?
Did the Czar of all the Russians honor himself most or her when he
declined to permit her to kiss his hand, as is the custom in the
presence of royalty? Of Puritan origin, in _peasant_ attire, she was
recognized as royalty itself, American royalty, the highest type of
royalty.
As “fame comes only when deserved,” would you know Clara Barton? Follow
her into countless permanent and improvised hospitals, over nineteen
battlefields of the Civil War,—from Cedar Mountain in ’62 through the
Richmond Campaign in ’65; and I beg of you not to forget that
twenty-mile ride on one night in June, ’64, as on to Petersburg astride
her black horse in the darkness, in a rain storm amidst thunder and
lightning that “lonesomest-lone-woman” goes on her mission to the relief
of the thousands of victims of an explosion. Follow her into the
malarial climate through the “Campaign before Charleston,” water deadly
in character, on the barren sands under a tropic sun, sand granules
transforming brown eyes to eyes swollen and bloodshot, feet calloused
and blistered, where again she is seen under the fire of death-dealing
guns, serving the whites and blacks alike. Follow her through nineteen
national disasters,—from the Michigan forest fires in ’81 to the typhoid
fever epidemic in Butler, Pa., in 1904. Follow her as she accepts the
commission at the hands of President Lincoln and through the long,
mournful months, searches the records, and walks the cemetery in the
southland to identify the graves of the missing soldiers. Follow her
over four of the great battlefields of the Franco-Prussian War; and then
on the public highway as she walks into the city of stricken Paris.
Follow her again through numerous hospitals and on American relief
fields. Follow her as on the relief ship State of Texas, to the strains
of “My Country ’Tis of Thee” she leads the American navy into the
torpedo-mined Bay of Santiago, and from Santiago into the war-stricken
fields and the yellow fever camps of Cuba. Follow her as President of
the American Red Cross through a score of national calamities and as
President of the First Aid Association in untiring service. Follow her
into an American audience where she receives the official greetings of
Japan for her services in securing adhesion of the Japanese government
to the Red Cross International Treaty. Follow her, as the official
representative of our American nation, on four trips across the
Atlantic, thence into the halls of world conference where not hate but
love rules. Follow through half a century the woman whose deeds of love
are as lighted candles for vestal virgins to keep burning on the altar
in the Temple of Fame.
Of America’s heroine, Will Carleton sings:
A million thanks to one
Who hath a million plaudits won
For deeds of love to many millions done.
In having the fullest confidence of our Presidents, Clara Barton
expressed herself in 1909 as follows: “I never before have so fully
realized what a pleasure that privilege has been to me through half a
century.” That confidence, by the record, existed between her and
Lincoln, and Johnson, and Grant, and Hayes, and Garfield, and Arthur,
and Cleveland, and Harrison, and McKinley, a record with presidents
unequaled by any other American in public life. McKinley expressed the
sentiments of nine presidents when he said: “What Clara Barton says and
does is always honest and right.”
Nor might nor greatness in mortality
Can censure ’scape; back wounding calumny
The whitest virtue strikes.
All streams reach the ocean and calumny in the limpid streams of truth
is lost in the grand ocean of human thought. Whenever “back wounding
calumny” the nation’s heroine strikes, paraphrasing the words of
President Garfield to Secretary of State Blaine and relating to Clara
Barton, “Will the American people please hear the truth from the truly
great and good of America on the subject herein referred to?” General
Nelson A. Miles says: “Clara Barton is the greatest humanitarian the
world has ever known.” “Clara Barton rendered her country and her kind
great and noble service,” says Speaker Champ Clark. “The greatest of
American women, the whole world knew and loved her,” says Congressman
Joseph Taggart. Says Carrie Chapman Catt: “Clara Barton has won the
hearts of the women of the world.” Speaking of her, no less a scholar
and statesman than Senator George F. Hoar said: “Clara Barton is the
most illustrious citizen of Massachusetts, the greatest _man_ in
America.”
General W. R. Shafter says: “She was absolutely fearless. Miss Barton is
a wonder; the greatest, grandest woman I have ever known.” Mrs. General
John A. Logan, says of her: “One of the noblest, if not the noblest,
woman of her time—the greatest woman of the nineteenth century.” Says
Senator Charles E. Townsend: “The modest, unselfish and yet undaunted
Clara Barton did as much for the highest good of the world as any single
individual since the birth of civilization.” Says General Joe Wheeler:
“The good work done by Clara Barton will live forever and her memory
will be cherished wherever the Red Cross is known.” Mrs. General George
E. Pickett says of her: “A veteran of the ’60’s, with all the years
since filled with noble deeds, she is a marvel to the world; with all of
our executive women, social figures and ambitious Zenobias, we shall
never produce her like.”
Living at the same time, and serving in the same great struggle for
humanity, the two names alike adored and which for all time will be
associated in American history are ABRAHAM LINCOLN and CLARA BARTON.
Lincoln was born in obscurity, reared on the farm; so was Clara Barton.
Lincoln was inured to poverty, self-educated in mature years; similarly,
Clara Barton. Lincoln stands alone,—no type, no famed ancestors, no
successors; true of Clara Barton. Lincoln, in the opinion of Robert G.
Ingersoll, had the brain of a philosopher and the heart of a mother;
likewise Clara Barton. Lincoln was gracious to social aristocracy, but
did not court it; far from it, Clara Barton.
As was true of Lincoln, Vice-President Henry Wilson said of Clara
Barton: “She has the brain of a statesman, the heart of a woman.”
Lincoln was a many-sided man; Clara Barton a many-sided woman. Lincoln
had intellect without arrogance, genius without pride and religion
without cant; so had Clara Barton. Lincoln stood the test of power, the
supremest test of mortal; so did Clara Barton. Lincoln worked seventeen
years, paying in instalments a debt incurred in a mercantile adventure;
Clara Barton, while serving humanity, disbursed hundreds of thousands of
dollars without the appropriation of a penny to her personal use.
Oblivious of titles, epaulettes, clothes, rank and race, Lincoln saw
only the weak mortal; not less so Clara Barton. Lincoln was an
orator,—clear, sincere, natural, convincing. In her hundreds of lecture
engagements, made through the same literary bureau, speaking from the
same platform, Clara Barton was classed with Charles Sumner, Wendell
Phillips, John B. Gough, and Henry Ward Beecher, the greatest orators of
half a century ago.
Lincoln broke the shackles of the blacks in bondage; Clara Barton broke
the shackles of education in America, as Pestalozzi in Europe, and
transformed “pauper schools” into public schools. She broke the shackles
of her sex, and her name was placed on the payroll as the first woman in
the government’s service at the nation’s capital. She broke the shackles
of war-ethics, and was the first woman “angel” on the battlefield.
She broke the shackles as to national lines, and was the first woman to
traverse the ocean to minister to the war stricken of another continent.
She broke the shackles as to national disasters, and was the first human
being to organize a system to relieve human distress in times of peace,
this now the system of every Red Cross organization in the world. She
broke the shackles of women in educational life, in military life, in
social life, in humanitarian life. Through the centuries Clara Barton,
as Abraham Lincoln, will stand as the sentinel on the parapet between
the warring forces of humanity and inhumanity.
Lincoln advocated the admitting of “all whites to the right of suffrage
who pay taxes or bear arms, by no means excluding females.” Clara Barton
advocated “the admission of women of whatever race to all the rights and
privileges—social, religious and political—which as an intelligent being
belongs to her.” Lincoln directed the greatest political organization of
his time; Clara Barton, the greatest humanitarian organization. Lincoln
bore malice toward none,—charity for all; equally so Clara Barton.
Lincoln is the strongest tie that binds together all classes of
Americans; Clara Barton is the strongest, tenderest tie that binds
together humanitarians. Lincoln was the grandest man in the Civil War,
is now receiving the highest homage; Clara Barton, the grandest woman,
and now the most beloved.
Lincoln was denounced a failure, inefficient as an executive and
disloyal to the Union. Clara Barton was accused of “inharmony,
unbusinesslike methods and too many years.” Lincoln passed without
warning and could make no defense; in her own words Clara Barton says:
“When it becomes necessary for _me_ to defend _myself_ before the
_American people_, let me fall.”
Fleeing the scene of his crime, and referring to Lincoln, there emitted
from the lying tongue of the assassin: “_Sic semper tyrannis_”; in
answer from the regions of the dead to the woman with the serpent’s
tongue, Clara Barton replies: “Truth is eternal; evil conspiring and
their kindred are doomed to die at last—my own shall come to me.” If
Lincoln dead may yet do more for America and Americans than Lincoln
living, so Clara Barton dead may yet do more for America and world
humanity than Clara Barton living. Abraham Lincoln and Clara Barton,
humanity’s martyrs, the two immortals.
A score of “the Immortals” lost to memory in any nation and that nation
might well exclaim: “I have lost my reputation, I have lost the immortal
part of myself.” Efface from memory the twenty, or fewer, immortals of
Carthage, of Greece, of Rome, of Italy, of France, of Germany, of
England, of America, then in the centuries hence over the tomb of every
such nation only could be written “Nation Unknown.” In all the world
destroy a score of “the Immortals” respectively in religion, in
literature, in science, in art, in the heroic,—a hundred names and their
influence,—and wealth greater to the human race shall have been
destroyed than if were destroyed every public structure possessed by one
billion six hundred millions of people now living.
Whether real or imaginary, the heroes of Homer and Virgil are worth more
to the literature of that ancient period than all the physical wealth of
Greece and Rome. What legacy to a nation could be greater than to have
inherited the name and influence of a Homer, a Socrates, a Michael
Angelo, a Queen Victoria, a Washington, a Franklin, a Lincoln, a
Florence Nightingale, a Clara Barton? In the long centuries ago, of fame
it was decreed: “Fame (’tis all the dead can have) shall live.” Through
the centuries, Church and State have fought for their respective heroes
and heroines not unlike Peter the Hermit and his followers, in the cause
of Him on whom depended their future happiness. Now, as in all the past,
the chiefest of a nation’s enduring wealth are the immortal names that
were not born to die.
[Illustration:
ABRAHAM LINCOLN
(Picture taken in June, 1860)
The President, March 4, 1861–April 15, 1865
Miss Barton, I will help you. A. LINCOLN (in 1865).
President Lincoln was good and kind to me in whatever I tried to do
for the soldiers. CLARA BARTON.
]
As an inspiration to the millions yet to be, the name of America’s Angel
of Mercy will live—live heroic in the deathless songs of peace and of
war. There is Second Bull Run, and Chantilly, and Antietam, and
Fredericksburg, and Petersburg, and Strasburg, and Sedan, and Paris, and
Johnstown, and Santiago, and Galveston,—there on tablets of memory her
heroism is inscribed, there to remain forever. Neither will the millions
forget, nor cease to cherish, The American Red Cross and The American
Amendment and The National First Aid,—forever theirs and their
children’s, through the constructive genius of the American
philanthropist. If “gratitude is the fairest of flowers that springs
from the soul,” perennial must spring millions of fairest flowers over
her whose services to the millions are unending, and world-wide.
At Glen Echo on the Potomac when the world-humanist received her final
orders, sustained by an unfaltering trust, she exclaimed: “Let me go,
let me go!” Thence, as if by imperial summons called, the spirit of
Clara Barton arose triumphant and on Easter Morn winged its flight to
that undiscovered bourne amid the Islands of the Blest.
In yonder Silent City,
Pointing heavenward,
Stands a granite shaft;
Above that shaft of gray,
The granite Cross of Red,
and there a shrine for the human race till the end of time.
[Sidenote: CLARA BARTON]
_Clara Barton_
Born at Oxford, Massachusetts
Christmas Day, 1821
Died at Glen Echo, Maryland
Easter Morn, 1912
President of the American Red Cross Society
from
1881 to 1904
President of the National First Aid
Association of America
from
1905 to 1912; now, The President
In Memoriam.
[Sidenote: ABRAHAM LINCOLN]
Born at Hodgensville, Kentucky
February 12, 1809
Died at Washington, D. C.
April 15, 1865
President of the United States
from
1861 to 1865
[Illustration:
THE RED CROSS MONUMENT
Built by Stephen E. Barton, Executor of the Estate of Clara Barton in
the Cemetery at North Oxford, Massachusetts.
How peaceful and powerful is the grave. LORD BYRON.
Her memory deserves a monument. Nashville (Tenn.) _Banner_.
Her monument is the sign of the Red Cross. Sioux Falls (S. D.)
_Press_.
Clara Barton needs no monument, her fame is written on the world’s
battlefields. Albany _Press Knickerbocker_.
Congress should provide for the erection of a handsome monument to the
woman who has served the nation in war and in peace. Baltimore
_Sun_.
The Red Cross will serve as her monument and that is her work which,
we trust, will keep alive her merciful spirit through the oncoming
centuries.
Boston _Journal_.
Clara Barton needs no monument; her name will live in the hearts of
the people. Jackson (Mich.) _Patriot_.
The whole civilized world owes Clara Barton more than it can ever pay
in the form of tributes or material monuments.
Worcester (Mass.) _Telegram_.
Long after the funeral service, as we passed on the way home, pathways
were full of people coming from a distance; and next day hundreds
trod the worn by-path in the cemetery to the still-standing Red
Cross—a path that the feet of the world will tread to the end of
time.
_Clara Barton In Memoriam._
]
“Clara Barton joined the choir invisible
Of those immortal dead who live again
In minds made better by their presence; live
In pulses stirred to generosity,
In deeds of daring rectitude, in scorn
For miserable aims that end with self,
In thoughts sublime that pierce the night like stars,
And with their mild persistence urge man’s search
To vaster issues.
So has she joined the choir invisible
Whose music is the gladness of the world.”
------------------------------------------------------------------------
TRANSCRIBER’S NOTES
1. P. 40, changed “she would could and recount” to “she would count and
recount”.
2. P. 274, changed “responded to a Red Cross call for $ 00,000,000.” to
“responded to a Red Cross call for $100,000,000.”.
3. Silently corrected typographical errors and variations in spelling.
4. Archaic, non-standard, and uncertain spellings retained as printed.
5. Footnotes were re-indexed using numbers and moved to the bottom of
the paragraph.
6. Enclosed italics font in _underscores_.
*** End of this LibraryBlog Digital Book "Clara Barton a Centenary Tribute" ***
Copyright 2023 LibraryBlog. All rights reserved.