Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1927-09-05
The Woman of Thirty-Eight
By CLYDE CALLISTER.

pied position as clerk in the Pat /
ent Office and had opportunity to see
the need there was for efficient nurs-
ing among the wounded and sick sol
diers. She was called to her New Eng.
land home by the serious illness Of her
aged father, and shortly before he
died she Confided to him her secret
ambition.
Go if 1t Is your duty to 60" he
said. II know soldiers, and they will
respect you and your errand" And
with these words in her heart she
went back to her great undertaking.
Arrangements for taking care of sick
and wounded were pitifully made
quate, and large number OF women,
more or less expert as nurses, attach
ed themselves in a disorganiZed way
to the Army in order to relieve the
suffering of the disabled men. Clara
Barton was one of these free-lance
nurses, furnishing her own supplies,
which she bought from her hard.earn.
cd savings, doing unimpeded what she
found to do. Although by. nature un.
duly sensitive and in a measure timid,
she fearlessly went to the front and
dressed the wounded of both armies.
1t has been said that her greatest
service to humanity at that time was
in establishing the right OF the wound.
ed soldier, despite the side for which
he had fought, and sometimes she met
opposition in this merciful work.
Clara Barton. who was a small wom-
an with abundant raven black hair
and very dark, bright eyes, looked
scarcely more than girl despite her
80 years. She was a woman who
never showed her age. When she was
So reporter. not knowing her age.
described her as a ''middle-aged wom-
an" Though she had never been es-
peCially robust, she retained her
Youthful vigor to an advanced age. and
at 50 years spoke forcefully from the
pulpit of large church.
| Eleanora Duse was SO when she met
! Gabrielle d'Annunzio. who was five
! years her junior Although certainly
/ not inexperienced in affairs of the
| heart, it has been said that her spir-
| itual development did not reach per-
| lection" until she met and loved
| d'Annunzio. He met her during an
entr'acte of Camille" which she was
| playing in Rome. He had been car
ried away with the emotion produced
! by her marvellous acting and was cry
| ing when he first spoke to her. The
next day red roses sent by d'Annun-
| zio filled her apartment, and it has
| been said that until that time the
great Duse had always preferred
white roses. Hereafter red roses were
her favorites.
Nine. Guizot, the celebrated French
writer on education, was married
when she was 80. Her husband. a
celebrated historian, was only %. But
the IA years difference in age did not
seem to stand in the way of their
happiness. 1.-The differences OF birth
and education" remarks her biog-
rapher, far more than that of age
often caused a diversity of opinion
which astonished and annoyed them"
Dinah Maria Muloch, a popular Eng
lish writer Of the last century, was
this age at the time of her marriage.
Cleopatra, still very charming. was a
woman just under 40 when she died.
Among present-day celebrities of this
age is Victoria Eugenia Christina,
Queen of Spain. who will not be 40
until October "a Her husband is
year and a half her senior.
(CopyriEht 1877