The weekly soliphone. (Paragould, Greene County, Ark.) 1907-1918, 1917-08-23

area.
The American Red Cross render
ed relief and assistance during the
Charleston earthquake. Its workers
are first upon the field where merci-
less flood waters have swept away
have not left vestige of property,
but where the pathway of ruin is
guarded by lonely sentinels of ruin
ed brick walls Wherever gaunt
pestilence walks causing the terror
stricken populace to flee, there you
will find the banner of the Red
Cross floating upon the breeze and
under that flag you will find as
devoted and as heroic soldiery
for the cause of humanity as those
who made the famous charge, char
acterized as the Charge. of the
Light Brigade.
In 1885 and in 1856 blight
ening drought struck Texas. e No
rain fell for eighteen months.
Hundreds of thousands of cattle
died for want of forage and water.
Families were deprived of the nee
essaries of life The American Red
Cross Association spent 500, 900 for
the relief of the distressed
On the memorable goth of May,
1889, the city of Johnstown, Penn.
was overwhelmed and destroyed by
the breaking of dam in Little
Conemaugh river. Nearly 5000
people lost their lives and over
$40, 900, GOO worth of property was
destroyed The news of this disaSe
ter had scarcely been wired over the
country before Clara Barton, togeth-
err with many workers, were on
the ground doing the work of the
Red Cross. For more than five
months Clara Barton and other
workers remained there amid scenes
of desolation, poverty and woe.
which no pen. however gifted, could
describe. The hungry We're fed, the
homeless sheltered, the Borrowing
comforted. To the sick, impover-
ished and despairing, Clara Barton
was a ministering angel. CLARA
Barton was the first to come and
the last to go" said one of the
Johnstown newspapers. The same
paper said: "She has indeed been
an elder sister TO us nursing,
soothing, tending, caring for the
stricken ones through season of
distress such as no other people
ever knew-such as, God grant, no
other people may ever know" The
American Red Cross Association, I'M
der Clara Barton, did a wonderful
work at Johnstown.
Four years after the great ca
tastrophe mentioned in the preced-
ing paragraph, or in 1898, occurred
the great hurricane in the Sea
Islands off the coast of South Caro-
lima. AS a calamity, possibly il
was second to none. On these
islands were a poor, ignorant class
of black people who, if it had not
BON for the work of the Red Cross,
would have persisted Clara Barton
loved humanity regardless of ma
tionality, caste or social standing.
Among these poor black people she
labored increasingly for months. She
distributed rations of food to thirty
thousand Sea Islanders. She gave
them material for clothing and
taught them how to make them in
to garments. She directed the
men in digging bitches, more than
200 miles of bitches, thus reclaim
ing thousands of acres of land, says
her biographer. She distributed
garden seed to each householder, be
sides seed corn and other grains.
She encouraged the discouraged to
rebuild their homes.
Clara Barton lived and worked
among these people nine months, !
until they were again a prosper
GUS and happy people. Writers say
that there are hundreds of girls in
the Sea Islands named "Clara Bar
ton" while many boys are named
"Red Cross"
DO you wonder?
The work of the Red Cross is to
be found in every place cursed by
war or afflicted with some great |
calamity. 1t is applied Christiani-
ty.
Up to 1898, the organization in
the United States was called the
Association of the American Red
Cross. It's work was very much
hampered for the lack of funds, |
and it's membership was limited.
In 1898 it was reorganized un-
der the name of the American Ma
tional Red Cross, but its member
ship until 1905. never exceeded |
three hundred persons. The war
with Spain gave the organization1