Evening star., 1915-03-27

Red Cross. Out of the suffering of the
wounded soldiers at the battle of Sol
ferino first came Dunants idea of the
Red Cross.
Cherish Mrs. Barton's Name.
americas participation in the Red
Cross treaty of Geneva was agitated
and induced by noble woman whose
sympathies had drawn her to the bat
tlefields of the civil war. To every SOL
dier 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 We're universal, her zeal
unf1agging. She nursed the wounded of
two wars on two continents. in our
civil war and in the Franco-Prussian
war. She directed the work of her as
soclatlon to the calamities of peace as
we'll as to the stricken fields of war.
She was in Cuba before the Spanish
War-Was on the Maine the day before
1t was blown UP and tended the wound
ed survivors in the hospital ashore.
Wherever humanity called for help-in
~
or IN Galveston--in Paris or on the
American battlefields of the sixties
there came the ministering hand of
Clara Barton.
Boardman the American Red Cross has
a leader splendid in energy, zeal and
judgment. Had it not been for her this
corner stone were not now laid These
Two women are noble champions Of
Woman's right--woman's universal and
most fundamental right--the right to
spend herself for others.
What Emblem Symbolizes.
"The meaning and significance that
underlies the development of the Red
Cross movement is fully symbolized in
its emblem. The Red Cross banner
symbolizes to America those qualities
that must be found in our nation if
the nation is to endure. The Red Cross
banner symbolizes for humanity the
qualifications that are prerequisite 10
sustained onward and upward march
of the human race.
The white field of purity and in it
set the cross of self-sacrifice blaZoned
with the deep red of courage aud
Dravery-th1s is the banner that the
Red Cross unfurls in the van of march
ing humanity. And to the degtee that
America approXimates the realization
of the ideals spread upon that banner,
to that degree will the nation endure
and persist in righteousness and in
strength.
In honoring the self-sacrifice and
conservation of its women and in rear
ing useful monument to the spirit
OF humanity. as exemplified in the Red
itself, but gives hopeful pledge and
assurance of the sound ideals that lie
at the basis OF American national life"
Worlds Debt to Women.
A beautiful word-picture of what the
world owes to women, and particularly
Of the noble work of the women of the
south during the days that their man
hood was being moved down in the
field and during the days of reconstruc-
tion. was presented by Justice Lamar,
as follows:
than the work of war and the work of
woman. 1t Is hers to beautify and pre-
serve. 1t is wars to deface and de-
stroy. Il is her supreme mission tc
bring men into the world. 1t is wars
grim purpose to send men out of it,.
from war; though what to men means
glory, to women means tragedy, yet
she more than any other ameliorates it's
horrors in cheering the living and COM
the OyluR.-.
But, strange to say, this work Of
women--though Infinitely appreciated
by men in every age--has rarely been
comlnemOrated in stone or brass. or in
any of the forms of art by which men
seek to give concrete expression to
their ideals of herosn. Innumerable
monuments testify to the worlds ad-
miratfon for men who have fought and
won. or fought and lost; but ! can now
recall but few such memorials to the
IL <.f
and SO adequate as will be this useful
and beautiful building. dedicated to the
Red Cross and intended to commence
rate the. service and the sacrifices of
the women of the United States. north
and south, for the sick and wounded in
war
Services in Present Day.
For a generation the American peo-
pie in the midst of peace have been
thinking of the heroic work of their
mothers in the civil war, and when
Congress authorized the construction
of this memorial We expected to erect
a building to commemorate heroism
that exists only in the memory and
record of those who lived in the days
of that tremendous conflict. But in d
moment the scene is changed; the
devastating war and this corner stone
Is laid when the wireless currents of
the air make us almost hear the sounds
of suffering. Daily We have before our
very eyes the part that woman is play
ing in this war, and thus we SO vividly
see what she did and suffered sixty
years ago that we might well inscribe
upon the corner stone the ancient say
ing. This day is this history fulfilled
in your midst ... ..-.
II was asked to speak especially of the
work of the women of the south during
the civil war, and | deem it a high
priyilege'to point to the hosts who-all
unconscious of their hero.sm-devoted
their treasures Of heart and hand TO the
relief of suffering. When Congress
authorized the construction of this build
ing it had in mind not only the heroines
who like Rizpah, guarded the bodies OF
their sons and those countless bereaved
Racllaels who wspt for their children
and would not be comforted be-
cause they were not but-niterpreting
the word in the noble sense which 2lori-
fies all sacrificial work-it recognized as
heroines those who gave son or father,
husband or brother to their country those
who nursed the sick In the hospitals
vast storehouses of pain-those who saw
their homes destroyed and the careful
labor Of years perish In night.
."It did more and commemorated the
H.