The New York herald., 1922-02-26

tered the Patent Office she was al
ready 81 years old, and she was 40
when the war came
III.
1t has often been asked why she
never married. and there is foolish
legend TO the effect that an unhappy
love affair led her to turn to her
great work for humanity at large.
Mr.. Barton effectively punctures
that in a sufficiently frank chapter.
The simple truth seems TO be that
she never married because she
never happened to meet the right
man, and was too intelligent to be
hurried into marriage with any
one only approximately right. She
was no hater OF man, as such, and
i there are indications in her diaries
OF her late twenties and early thir-
ties that she felt she was missing
something of prime importance. She
was always an eloquent advocate OF
motherhood and vigorously soornful
OF women who feared or tried to
shun 1t. Bat apparently she never
met any man whom she could love
enough 20 marry. II was from no
lack OF opportunity. as many sought
her. In three cases at least she
seems TO have hesitated. but MIR.
Bartons summary is probably ade.
quate. Says he:
For ten years after she began
to teach she was shut out from any
real opportunity for love.
Love hardly peeped in at her during
her teens or in her early twenties.
BY the time il came to her other in.
terests had gained long start. She
was ambitious; she was determined
to lind otit what she was good for
and To do something worth while Ia
life. Had some young man come
into her life as worthy as those
who made love to her and who was
also her equal or superior in ability
and education. she might have
learned to love him. As il was, she
decided wisely. Having TINS
chosen she did not mourn her fate
But there we're times when
her heart cried out for something
more. From her birth she
was too Isolated. Her public career
began before her shy childhood had
ended. She vas too solitary.
She could have welcomed the love
OF 4 strong. true man. She was al.
ways over sensitiye. She met
opposition. criticism. injustice with
calm demeanor. bat she bled within
hef arni"f. In some respects
she Nas peculiarly united 10 meet
the World alone But she met il
aud conquered a."
u "as perhaps fortunate for the
world ~ isrse fer tue millions Who
have benefited directly from her
aorh sad fnr ihe generations as vel
ani'srn sha vili benefit from n
that Size sgs condemned % s,,f.
iarf reiihaie lie aud was thus freer
70 iufn ihe tremendous dynamic
currents 81 her personality 10 the
single service al naakind The
Red Cruss is her child such births
IS that Do not come without saeri.
hce, often the eiVer og great gifts
must pay q great price for them.
Long after she became famous more
than oae man of eminenee. and of
mind and sogl that might have
matched her oNn sought her. but it
Was then too late.
\ necessarily brief review OF such
book as this may better touch
upon these personal. intimate mat
ters. the things that went 10 make
Clara Barton what she was. rather
than attempt an impossible outline
OF her actual work in the civil war
or her mighty constructive achieve.
mentS after it, Moreover. the aver.
age reader is not unaware OF her
public career: it is writ large Ia
any record of our own and OF the
Franco-PguSsifn war. in the many
histories aud "a the ever present