The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1915-12-05

nv Nv JAW" "''h
Mass, from which Clara Barton was
descended. Her ancestors escaped
none of the usual pioneer experiences.
They protested against witchcrait'
fought Indians, &c. II was u strong
vigorous, fearless race. Clara was
many years younger than her BROTH
crs and sisters and was the CHOSEN
comradc in spirit of her father. Cour-
age and activity she drew doubtless
from him; persistence. system and
ordcrliness from her mother. Her
education was solid and ample and her
training as n nurse came to her when
she was only II years Did. A favori.e
brother was injured In an accident
and for two years Clara Barton prhc-
tically never left his bedside bu Tor
one halliday. Her patient recovered,
but Clara had seriously impaired her
own health.
OF her earlier years Miss Barton
confesses that she remembers nothing
but fear. She was sent away to
boarding school to cure herself Of SEN
s%itiveness and bashfulness. but with
out avail. II was only after she TOOK
up her life work. and forgot herself
in IL that she overcaine this defect or
character. At fifteen she became u
teacher and for twenty years followed
that vocation. She says herself mat
something. she knows not what. drew
her to New Jersey. This State had
no public school. In Bordentown Miss
Barton found two hundred children in
school md four hundred on the street.
They had public school laws that were
not enforced. Miss Barton took a
house and at her own initiative opened
"A school with six bright renegade boys
in II. and at the end of "a year she
had "A new schoolhouse building which
had cost 81, 900 and six hundre" pu-
pills. Indeed IL was Miss Barton who
perfected the public school system OF
B~ordentown and she only left 1t In
1855 when her health broke down.
She became a clerk in the Patent
Office. and remained in Washington
until the outbreak OF the civil war.
The story OF how she refused to be
simply IA dispenser OF provisions at the
warehouse and went out to the docks
to meet the wounded soldiers return
ing from The swamps Of the Chicka-
hominy. to nurse and to feed. il the
most interesting part OF the whole
book.
Oddly enough il was no longer fear
tina stood in her way but a sense OF
propriety. Society at that time for
budc women at the front n practi-
Cally the only camp followers Of her
sex were women of loose life. but
when Miss Barton's dying father told
her, Go IL it's our duty to go: l
know soldiers and they will respect
YOU" she no longer hesitated. She
received passes from Quartermaster-
General Eutier and when the armies
fought on Cedar Mountain the daun'-
lees little woman broke shackles and
went out into the field. She describes
very vividly the battles of Bull Run
and Chantilly. Of Harpcr's Ferry and
South Mountain and Antietam. After
Auiivtain she was taken with fever
and was carried back to Washington.
though not until her stores were ex-
hausted. As soon as she was we'll
enough To- stan upon her feet she
made her way To Quartermaster-Gen-
eral Rutter again, and told him that
II she had had five wagons Of supplies.
she could have cared for all the
wounded at Antietam. She had
promisa az enough for the mex; time
/. and IN, next time was not long I'm COM
ing for with her ~exnedition Of drivers
teams. and sllnnlles clara BARRON over
took the army AT Harper's Ferry. and
for three weeks there was an engage
h. meut every Cav. She also attended the
, campaign before Charleston. the siege
r of Petersburg In Virginia and was in
, Richmond at the end OF the war. Thos.
] chapters describing Clara Bartuu's
: ministrations during the civil war arc
, nothIu- less than thrilling. At tie
! eud ~ the a President Lincoln sent
=. for Miss barton ana put upon hei
the work of locating Il possible for
d friends and relatives some eight
thousand mon who had disappeared n
= til" NN" years If struggle.
II was surely destiny that sent Miss
3 Barton To Europe II. 1862 IN broker
. health, for three years of ahsolut'
I rest, ana there she bore the Red Cross
? INTO the lrusslan firing line. II
. tWonty-four Years this fran and deli
] 1". -. 49, $50 80, 80, -