Part 11

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.

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.

CO-WORKERS WITH CLARA BARTON

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._