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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/30230-0.txt b/30230-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..95378b7 --- /dev/null +++ b/30230-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,4049 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 30230 *** + +A STORY OF THE RED CROSS + + +[Illustration: CLARA BARTON + +From a photograph taken in St. Petersburg in July, 1902, showing the +decorations conferred upon her by the Czar and the Empress Dowager] + + +A STORY OF THE RED CROSS + +GLIMPSES OF FIELD WORK + +BY + +CLARA BARTON + +FOUNDER OF THE AMERICAN NATIONAL RED CROSS AND PRESIDENT, 1881-1904 + +[Illustration: Logo] + + +NEW YORK +D. APPLETON AND COMPANY +MCMIV + + +COPYRIGHT, 1904, BY +D. APPLETON AND COMPANY + +_Published, June, 1904_ + + + + +PREFACE + + +Since the foundation of the Red Cross in America, many direful +calamities have afflicted the country. In each of these visitations the +Red Cross has acted in some degree as the Almoner--the distributer and +organizer--of the bountiful measures of relief that have been poured out +by the American people. + +Its work has been accomplished quietly and without ostentation. All the +relief has been administered--not as charity--but as God-sent succor to +our brothers and sisters who have been overwhelmed by some mighty +convulsion of the forces of nature. + +The wreckage has been cleared away, the stricken people have been +wisely, tenderly, and calmly guided out of panic and despair on to the +road of self-help and cooperative effort to restore their shattered +homes and broken fortunes; and then the Red Cross has retired as quietly +as it came, and few, outside of the people immediately concerned, have +realized the beneficent powers of help and healing that have fallen like +a benediction upon the stricken wherever that sacred symbol of humanity +has made its way. + +It is my thought that a brief account of the work of the Red Cross +during the past twenty-five years will be of interest to the American +people. In a volume of this size it must of necessity be but a brief +outline, sufficient, however, to convey a clear impression of what the +Red Cross really means to every individual in this great country of +ours. + +To the thousands of American men and women whose generous bounty has +made the work of the Red Cross possible, to the stricken and distressed +who because of it have been helped back to life and hope, and to all the +friends of the great, universal humanity which it typifies, this small +book is lovingly dedicated. + +CLARA BARTON. + +GLEN ECHO, MARYLAND, +_May 15, 1904._ + + + + +CONTENTS + + +I + PAGE +EARLY HISTORY. 1880-1884 1 + +II + +THE TEXAS FAMINE AND THE MOUNT VERNON CYCLONE. 1885-1888 30 + +III + +YELLOW FEVER IN FLORIDA. 1887 38 + +IV + +THE JOHNSTOWN FLOOD. 1889 54 + +V + +THE RUSSIAN FAMINE. 1891 70 + +VI + +THE SEA ISLAND RELIEF. 1893 77 + +VII + +ARMENIAN RELIEF. 1896 94 + +VIII + +CUBA. 1898 115 + +IX + +GALVESTON. 1900 164 + + + + +A STORY OF THE RED CROSS + + + + +I + +EARLY HISTORY + +1880-1884 + + "I have lived much that I have not written, but I have written + nothing that I have not lived." + + +It was a little blue-eyed girl of ten who sat on a low hassock at my +feet, slowly drawing the soft auburn curls between her fingers, when, +suddenly lifting her head and looking me earnestly in the face, she +exclaimed: "What is the Red Cross? Please tell me about it; I can not +understand it." + +There was a pleading earnestness in the tone not to be resisted, and +laying down my pen I commenced to explain to her the principles, +history, and uses of the Red Cross. She listened anxiously, the pretty +brow knitted; she seemed more and more perplexed, until, as if a light +had broken over her, she exclaimed, half impatiently: + +"Not that--not that, tell me something it _does_--it and you, I can +understand it better then." + +A light had broken over me. It was a story the child wanted to +illustrate the principle and bring it home to her. A story she must +have. + +In a half hour she felt that she knew it all and was an ardent devotee +even of its principles. But she had given me more than I had given her. +Here was food for thought. + +For twenty-five years I had labored to explain the principles and uses +of the Red Cross; had written enough for a modest library of what it was +and what it meant, but, lest I seem egotistical, not a page of what it +did. The child had given me an idea that I would for once put into +practice, and write a few pages of what the Red Cross had done, leaving +principles to present themselves. + +I will commence even back of itself. + +Forty years ago, before most of you were born, a great war had been +fought in America, in which thousands died from battle and hardship, and +thousands more still left alive were worn out in the untried and +unsystematized efforts at relief that had been made through nearly five +years of continuous war. Of these latter, many were women who dragged +out weary lives in their own homes, some went to hospitals and retreats +for rest and care, and some were sent abroad. One of these latter I knew +personally, for, as Patrick would say, "It was me-self." + +To me it seemed a hard sentence that our physicians imposed. I had grown +to love the country we had so toiled for, and did not want to leave it. +Its very woes had made it dear to me. It had quiet once more, and a +peace that was not all a peace. It had its early soldier homes, its +fast-filling cemeteries, and the tender memory of a martyred President +resting over us like a pall. These had come to seem like a heritage to +me, and in my weakness I clung to them. Still, the order was obeyed and +I went. + +Then followed travels in strange and foreign lands, other wars, illness +and suffering of my own, until eleven years later I came almost a +stranger again to our Government with another work, which I believed to +be for its good and the good of our people. + +This time I brought the idea of the treaty of Geneva, asking our +Government, at the request of other Governments, to examine and to unite +with it, if found desirable. This effort with the Government covers five +years of hard, continuous labor, during which was sought the aid of +friends known in other years. At the end of this time, by advice of our +second martyred President and three members of his historic +cabinet--James G. Blaine, William Windom, and Robert T. Lincoln--a +national society was formed, known as the Association of the American +Red Cross, and, by desire and nomination of President Garfield, I was +made its president, and requested to name my officers. + +The association was formed during the winter of 1880-'81, with the view +on the part of President Garfield of facilitating the adoption of the +treaty which he would name in his next message, which message was never +written. + +Before the message, he, too, had joined the martyred ranks, and his +gentle successor, Arthur, filled his chair and kept his promise, and +through action of his own executive department the treaty was adopted; +indorsed by action of the Senate; proclaimed by the President to our +people; later ratified by the International Powers in the Congress of +Berne, with the pledge to render relief to unfortunate victims of war, +and the privilege, by my request, of rendering similar relief to the +victims of great national calamities or disasters. + +All this had been accomplished by the kindly help of a few personal +friends, tireless and unrewarded, and while the news of the accession of +the Government of the United States, to the treaty of Geneva, lit +bonfires that night (for I cabled it by their request) in the streets of +Switzerland, France, Germany, and Spain, a little four-line paragraph in +the congressional doings of the day in the _Evening Star_, of +Washington, alone announced to the people of America that an +international treaty had been added to their rolls. + +No personal distinction had been bestowed, no one honored, no one +politically advanced, no money of the Government expended, and, like +other things of like nature and history, it was left in obscurity to +make its own way and live its own hard life. + +Thus the spring of 1882 found us--a few people, tired and weak, with +five years of costly service, a treaty gained, with no fund, no war nor +prospect of any, and no helpful connection with or acknowledgment by the +Government. + +Soon the news of "Half the State of Michigan on Fire" called us to +action on our own laws of civil relief. A little draft on the purse of +the new, inexperienced president of the association paved the way for an +agent to go to the field. Others generously joined, all reported to our +friend and advocate, Senator Omar D. Conger, of Michigan. Some supplies +were sent, a society or two formed to provide and forward them. The +agents remained until the suffering was relieved, and thus the first +field relief work of which we have any record in the United States was +commenced. + +Meanwhile, I had been asked by the Senate to write the history of the +Red Cross, and show the official action taken by our Government on the +acceptance of the treaty, which history the Senate would have printed at +the Government printing-office. This volume I prepared as requested. A +thousand copies were printed for information to the public, to be +circulated by the society; but with no frank or other means provided, +and with a postage of some ten cents a volume, we were compelled to +limit the circulation to the means. + +The following year, 1883, a disastrous rise in the Ohio River called for +our aid. Dr. J. B. Hubbell, who had been our agent the year before, was +called from Michigan University, where he was completing a course, to +examine the needs of the inhabitants and take such relief as we could +provide. There was little loss of life, and the destruction of property +lay largely in the loss of stock, and washing away of the soil, +vegetation, and the means of reproduction. + +A remarkable provision for this latter loss was made by the gift of Mr. +Hiram Sibley, the noted seed dealer of Rochester--who had become +associated with the Red Cross, being an old-time friend of the family of +its president--of ten thousand dollars' worth of seed, to replant the +washed-out lands adown the Mississippi. As the waters ran off the mud +immediately baked in the sunshine, making planting impossible after a +few days. Accordingly, Mr. Sibley's gift was sent with all haste to our +agent at Memphis, and in forty-eight hours, by train and boat, it was +distributed in the four States--Tennessee, Arkansas, Louisiana, and +Mississippi--and planted for the crops of the coming season. + +Besides this generous gift of material, a little money had been raised +and sent by the three societies of the Red Cross which had been formed, +viz.: Dansville and Syracuse, a few hundreds--something more from the +Red Cross at Rochester--always thoughtful and generous, which served to +help in the distribution of clothing and supplies promiscuously sent. +And at the finish of the work, when every donation had been carefully +acknowledged, one thousand dollars and some cents were left in the +treasury unexpended. + +A cyclone occurring within a few months in Louisiana and southern +Alabama, cutting a swath from New Orleans to Mobile, decided us to send +eight hundred dollars of this reserve to the secretary of the Red Cross +Society of New Orleans, which sum was forwarded by our vice-president, +Mr. A. S. Solomons. This left a sum of two hundred dollars and some +cents in the treasury with which to commence another field. + +This was the commencement of 1883. In May, at the solicitation of +General Butler, then Governor of Massachusetts, I took the +superintendence of the Massachusetts Woman's State Prison at Sherborn, +at the customary salary of fifteen hundred dollars a year. To this duty +the Legislature added, after my arrival, those of secretary and +treasurer, without increase of salary, discharging the former incumbent, +a man, at three thousand dollars a year. I accepted the new duties, +became my own bondsman for ten thousand dollars, by transfer of that +amount of bonds from my bankers, Brown Brothers, New York, to the +Massachusetts State Treasury at Boston--remaining in charge of the +prison until the close of the year, and the retirement of General Butler +as Governor. + +In the short and interrupted existence of our association--scarce two +years--our few official advisers had formed some general regulations, +relating to our course of procedure. Realizing that to be of any real +service as a body of relief for sudden disasters, we must not only be +independent of the slow, ordinary methods of soliciting relief, but in +its means of application as well, it was decided: + +_First._ To never solicit relief or ask for contributions. + +_Second._ Not to pay salaries to officers--paying out money only to +those whom we must employ for manual labor--and as our officers served +without compensation they should not be taxed for dues. + +_Third._ To keep ourselves always in possession of a stated sum of money +to commence a field of disaster--this sum to be independent even of the +closed doors of a bank which might prevent leaving for a field on a +Sunday or holiday. + +_Fourth._ To take this sum of our own, going directly to a field with +such help as needed, giving no notice until there, overlooking the +field, and learning the extent of the trouble and conditions of the +people, making immediate and reliable report to the country through the +Associated Press, some of whose officers were our own Red Cross officers +as well. These reports would be truthful, unexaggerated, and +non-sensational statements that could be relied upon. + +_Fifth._ That if, under these conditions, the people chose to make use +of us as distributers of the relief which they desired to contribute to +the sufferers, we would do our best to serve them while at the +field--make report directly to each and all contributors, so far as in +our power, and proceed to carry out any directions and apply the relief +at hand, in the wisest manner possible, among a dazed and afflicted +community. + +To inaugurate this method, I, as president, placed a sum of three +thousand dollars, free of bank or interest, upon momentary call, at the +service of the association. On more than one occasion it has been taken +on Sunday, when every bank in the country was closed and charitable +bodies were at their prayers. Even the relief of Johnstown was thus +commenced. This provision has never for a day been broken. It is as good +at this moment as it was in 1883, and from the same source. It may not +have been a "business-like" method nor one to be approved by stated +boards of directors nor squared by bank regulations. But the foes we had +to meet were not thus regulated, and had to be met as they came; and so +they always must be if any good is to be accomplished. + +Until the Government and society can control the elements, and regulate +a spring freshet, a whirlwind or a cyclone, they will find that red +tape is not strong enough to hold their ravages in check. + +It was well that these regulations had been formulated and their +provisions acted upon, as the state of our treasury and the conditions +immediately following will show. + +I returned to Washington upon my retirement from the superintendence of +the State Prison at Sherborn, accompanied by Dr. Hubbell, who, having +completed his university course, had come to the Red Cross for permanent +service. Before we had even time to unpack our trunks, the news of the +fearful rise of the Ohio River, of 1884, began to shock the country with +its loss of life and property. + +I had never been present at a disaster in civil life. It had never +occurred to me that they recurred so frequently. But if by virtue of my +office as president I was liable to be called every year to preside over +and provide for them, it was essential that I learn my duties +experimentally. I accordingly joined Dr. Hubbell, who had been appointed +general field agent, and proceeded to Pittsburg, the headwaters of the +rise. + +Telegraphing from there to our agents of the Associated Press, we +proceeded to Cincinnati, to find the city afloat. Its inhabitants were +being fed from boats, through the second-story windows. These conditions +were telegraphed. Supplies commenced to flow in, not only from our own +societies but from the people of the country. Warehouses were filled, in +spite of all we dispensed--but there were four hundred miles of this +distress--even to Cairo, where the Ohio, sometimes thirty miles in +width, discharged its swollen waters into the Mississippi. + +Recognizing this condition lower down the river as the greater need, we +transferred our supplies and distribution to Evansville, Ind. Scarcely +had we reached there when a cyclone struck the river below, and +traveling up its entire length, leveled every standing object upon its +banks, swept the houses along like cockle-shells, uprooted the greatest +trees and whirled them down its mighty current--catching here and there +its human victims, or leaving them with life only, houseless, homeless, +wringing their hands on a frozen, fireless shore--with every coal-pit +filled with water, and death from freezing more imminent than from +hunger. + +There were four hundred miles more of this, and no way of reaching them +by land. With all our tons of clothing, these people and their homeless +little children were freezing. There was but one way--the Government +boats had come with rations of food--we too must take to the water. + +At eight o'clock in the morning I chartered my first boat, with captain +and crew, at sixty dollars per day, to be at once laden to the water's +edge with coal--our own supplies to be stored on the upper deck--and at +four o'clock in the afternoon, as the murky sun was hiding its clouded +face, the bell of the "John V. Troop," in charge of her owner, announced +the departure of the first Red Cross relief-boat ever seen on American +waters. + +I found myself that night with a stanch crew of thirty men and a skilled +captain, and a boat under my command. I had never until then held such a +command. We wove the river diagonally from side to side--from village to +village--where the homeless, shivering people were gathered--called for +the most responsible person--a clergyman if one could be found, threw +off boxes of clothing, and hove off coal for a two weeks' supply, and +steamed away to the opposite side, leaving only gratitude, wonder at who +we were, where we came from, and what that strange flag meant? We +improved every opportunity to replenish our supply of coal, and reached +Cairo in five days. + +Waiting only to reload, we returned up the river, resupplied the revived +villages of people, too grateful for words, reaching Evansville at the +end of three weeks, where more supplies than we had taken awaited us. +St. Louis and Chicago had caught the fever of relief, had arranged +societies, and had asked permission to join our aid. Up to this time the +Mississippi had given no indication of trouble, but now its great June +rise commenced. + +The Government boats, by another appropriation, were sent to the +Mississippi, and we prepared to supplement them. Discharging our Ohio +River boat we went to St. Louis by rail and chartered the "Mattie Bell." +The Red Cross Societies of St. Louis and Chicago, under their respective +presidents and officers in charge of them and their funds, joined us, +and together we prepared to feed and rescue the perishing stock--as +well as people adown the Mississippi. The animals had never been saved +in an overflow; and besides the cruelty of letting them starve by +thousands, the loss to the people was irreparable, as the following year +must inevitably be replete with idleness and poverty till more stock +could be obtained to work with. + +We found as commissary at St. Louis, General Beckwith, the historic +commissary-general of the old civil war, who had personally +superintended the loading of my wagons in Washington, year after year, +for the battle-fields of Virginia. He came on board the "Mattie Bell" +and personally superintended the lading--clothing, corn, oats, salt, and +hay--besides putting upon the Government boats large quantities of +supplies which we could not take on at first, and giving us his +blessing, watched us steam out on our joint mission; they putting off +rations of meat and meal--we supplementing with clothing for the people +and feed for the stock. We purchased all we could at cities as we +passed, picked our course among the broken levees and roaring crevasses, +all the way to New Orleans. The hungry were fed, the naked clothed, and +the stock saved. The negro had his mule, and the planter his horses and +cattle to carry on his work when the flood should disappear. We had +lighter boats, still lighter purses, but lightest of all were the +grateful hearts that a kind Providence and a generous people had given +to us the privilege of serving. + +We discharged the "Mattie Bell" at St. Louis, bidding adieu to the +officers of the Red Cross Society, who had rendered most acceptable +service to the cause. They had brought their own funds and material--had +personally administered them from the decks of the "Mattie Bell," made +their own reports, and modestly retired to their home duties, there to +await the next call. + +Chicago, which had a new Red Cross Society, formed almost for the +occasion, through its most worthy and notable representative, Rev. E. I. +Galvin, did the same, performing the long journey with us, +superintending the distribution of his own relief and making his own +report with such convincing power, that societies of no less excellence +than the Lend-a-Hand were its outgrowth. + +I am thus particular to mention this from the loving gratitude +fervently cherished for strong, tender help in the day of small things. +Their contributions largely served to run our boat and keep our crew, +and with heads, hearts, and hands we struggled as one, to avert the +destruction so rife around us. + +From St. Louis we crossed over to Evansville, rechartered the "John V. +Troop," and put on accumulated supplies. The waters of the Ohio had +subsided and the people were returning to the old spots of earth that +once had been their home, but there was neither house to live in nor +tool to work the land with. We reloaded with pine lumber, ready-made +doors, windows, household utensils, stores and groceries, farming +utensils, and with a good force of carpenters proceeded up the Ohio once +more. The sight of the disconsolate, half-clad farmer waiting on the +bank told us where his home had been--and was not. + +Three hours' work of our carpenters would put up a one-room house, +meanwhile our efficient men and women helpers, among them the best +ladies of Evansville, would furnish it with beds, bedding, clothing, +provisions for the family, and farming tools ready to go on with the +season's work. + +Picture, if possible, this scene. A strange ship with a strange flag +steaming up the river. It halts, turns from its course, and draws up to +the nearest landing. Some persons disembark and speak a few minutes with +the family. Then, a half dozen strong mechanics man a small boat laden +with all material for constructing a one-room house--floor, roof, doors, +windows. The boat returns for furniture. Within three hours the strange +ship sails away, leaving a bewildered family in a new and clean house +with bed, bedding, clothing, table, chairs, dishes, candles, a little +cooking-stove with a blazing fire, all the common quota of cooking +utensils, and meat, meal, and groceries; a plow, rake, axe, hoe, shovel, +spade, hammer, and nails. We ask few questions. They ask none. The +whistle of the "Troop" is as welcome to their ears as the flag to their +eyes. + +At one of these wrecked villages the entire little hamlet of people +stood on our decks. Only four, they said, were left at home, and these +were sick. They had selected their lawyer to speak their thanks. No +words will ever do justice to the volume of native eloquence which +seemed to roll unbidden from his lips. He finished with these sentences: + +"At noon on that day we were in the blackness of despair--the whole +village in the power of the demon of waters--hemmed in by sleet and ice, +without fire enough to cook its little food. When the bell struck nine +that night, there were seventy-five families on their knees before their +blazing grates, thanking God for fire and light, and praying blessings +on the phantom ship with the unknown device that had come as silently as +the snow, they knew not whence, and gone, they knew not whither." + +When we finished the voyage of relief, we had covered the Ohio River +from Cincinnati to Cairo and back twice, and the Mississippi from St. +Louis to New Orleans, and return--four months on the rivers--traveled +over eight thousand miles, distributed in relief of money and estimated +material, one hundred and seventy-five thousand dollars--gathered as we +used it. + +We left at one point on the Ohio River a well-lettered cross-board, +"Little Six Red Cross Landing"--probably there to this day. The story of +The Little Six might be given in their own little letter: + + +WATERFORD, PA., _March_ 24, 1884. + +DEAR MISS BARTON: + +We read your nice letter in the Dispatch and we would like very much to +see that house called "The Little Six," and we little six are so glad +that we helped six other little children, and we thank you for going to +so much trouble in putting our money just where we would have put it +ourselves. Some time again when you want money to help you in your good +work call on "The Little Six." + + +JOE FARRAR, twelve years old. +FLORENCE HOWE, eleven years old. +MARY BARTON, eleven years old. +REED WHITE, eleven years old. +BERTIE AINSWORTH, ten years old. +LOYD BARTON, seven years old. + + +These children had given a public entertainment for the benefit of the +flood sufferers. They themselves suggested it, planned and carried it +out, and raised fifty-one dollars and twenty-five cents, which they +sent to the editor of the Eric Dispatch, asking him to send it "where it +would do the most good." The Dispatch forwarded it to the president of +the Red Cross, with an account of the entertainment given by "The Little +Six." + +The entire matter was too beautiful and withal unique, to meet only a +common fate in its results. I could not, for a moment, think to mingle +the gift of the little dramatists with the common fund for general +distribution, and sought through all these weeks for a fitting +disposition to make of it, where it would all go in some special manner +to relieve some special necessity. I wanted it to benefit some children +who had "wept on the banks" of the river, which in its madness had +devoured their home. + +As we neared that picturesque spot on the Illinois side of the Ohio, +known as "Cave-in Rock," we were hailed by a woman and her young +daughter. The boat "rounded to" and made the landing and they came on +board--a tall, thin, worn woman in tattered clothes, with a good but +inexpressibly sad face, who wished to tell us that a package which we +had left for her at the town on our way down had never reached her. She +was a widow--Mrs. Plew--whose husband, a good river pilot, had died from +overwork on a hard trip to New Orleans in the floods of the Mississippi +two years before, leaving her with six children dependent upon her, the +eldest a lad in his "teens," the youngest a little baby girl. They owned +their home, just on the brink of the river, a little "farm" of two or +three acres, two horses, three cows, thirty hogs, and a half hundred +fowls, and in spite of the bereavement, they had gone on bravely, +winning the esteem and commendation of all who knew them for thrift and +honest endeavor. Last year the floods came heavily upon them, driving +them from their home, and the two horses were lost. Next the cholera +came among the hogs and all but three died. Still they worked on; and +held the home. This spring came the third flood. The water climbed up +the bank, crept in at the door, and filled the lower story of the house. +They had nowhere to remove their household goods, and stored them in the +garret carefully packed, and went out to find a shelter in an old log +house near by, used for a corn-crib. Day by day they watched the house, +hailed passing boats for news of the rise and fall of the water above, +always trusting the house would stand--"and it would," the mother said, +"for it was a good, strong house, but for the storm." The winds came, +and the terrible gale that swept the valley like a tornado, with the +water at its height, leveling whole towns, descended and beat upon that +house, and it fell. In the morning there was no house there, and the +waves in their fury rushed madly on. Then these little children "stood +and wept on the banks of the river," and the desolation and fear in the +careful mother's heart, none but herself and her God can know. + +They lived on in the corn-crib, and it was from it they came to hail us +as we passed to-day. Something had been told us of them on our downward +trip, and a package had been left them at "Cave-in Rock," which they had +not received. We went over shoe-tops in mud to their rude home, to find +it one room of logs, an old stone chimney, with a cheerful fire of +drift-wood and a _clean_ hearth, two wrecks of beds, a table, and two +chairs which some kind neighbor had loaned. The Government boats had +left them rations. There was an air of thrift, even in their desolation, +a plank walk was laid about the door, the floor was cleanly swept, and +the twenty-five surviving hens, for an equal number were lost in the +storm, clucked and craiked comfortably about the door, and there were +two-and-a-half dozen fresh eggs to sell us at a higher rate than paid in +town. We stood, as we had done so many scores of times during the last +few weeks, and looked this pitiful scene in the face. There were +misfortune, poverty, sorrow, want, loneliness, dread of the future, but +fortitude, courage, integrity, and honest thrift. + +"Would she like to return to the childhood home in Indiana?" we asked +the mother, for we would help them go. + +"No," she said tenderly. "My husband lived and died here. He is buried +here, and I would not like to go away and leave him alone. It won't be +very long, and it is a comfort to the children to be able to visit his +grave. No, I reckon we will stay here, and out of the wreck of the old +house which sticks up out of the mud, we will put up another little +hut, higher up on the bank out of the way of the floods, and if it is +only a hut, it will be a home for us and we will get into it, and make +our crop this year." + +There were no dry eyes, but very still hearts, while we listened to this +sorrowful but brave little speech, made with a voice full of tears. + +Our thoughtful field agent, Dr. Hubbell, was the first to speak. + +"Here are six children," he said with an inquiring glance at me. + +No response was needed. The thing was done. We told the mother the story +of "The Little Six" of Waterford, and asked her if that money with +enough more to make up one hundred dollars would help her to get up her +house? It was _her_ turn to be speechless. At length with a struggling, +choking voice she managed to say--"God knows how much it would be to me. +Yes, with my good boys I can do it, and do it well." + +We put in her hands a check for this sum, and directed from the boat +clean boxes of clothing and bedding, to help restore the household, when +the house should have been completed. + +Before we left her, we asked if she would name her house when it should +be done? She thought a second, and caught the idea. + +"Yes," she replied quickly, with a really winsome smile on that worn and +weary face, "yes, I shall name it 'The Little Six.'" + +We came to Pittsburg, discharged our empty boat, bade a heart-breaking +good-by to our veteran volunteers from Evansville, who had shared our +toil and pain and who would return on the boat, we taking train once +more for Washington. We had been four months on the rivers, among fogs, +rain, damp, and malaria--run all manner of risks and dangers, but had +lost no life nor property, sunk no boat, and only that I was by this +time too weak to walk without help--all were well. + +Through the thoughtfulness of our new societies--St. Louis and +Chicago--we had been able to meet our share of the expenses, and to keep +good the little personal provision we started with, and were thus ready +to commence another field when it should come. + +On arriving home I found that I was notified by the International +Committee of Geneva, that the Fourth International Conference would be +held in that city in September, and I was requested to inform the +United States Government, and ask it to send delegates. With the aid of +a borrowed arm, I made my way up the steps of the Department of State +(that was before the luxury of elevators) and made my errand known to +Secretary Frelinghuysen, who had heard of it and was ready with his +reply: + +"Yes, Miss Barton, we will make the needful appointment of delegates to +the International Conference, and I appoint you as our delegate." + +"No, Mr. Frelinghuysen," I said, "I can not go. I have just returned +from field work. I am tired and ill. Furthermore, I have not had time to +make a report of our work." + +"There is no one else who sufficiently understands the Red Cross, and +the provisions of the treaty, that our Government can send, and we can +not afford to make a mistake in the matter of delegates to this first +conference in which our Government shall participate," answered the +Secretary. "As to the report, have you not acknowledged the +contributions to all those who have sent?" + +"Oh, yes; every dollar and every box of goods where the donor was +known," I replied. + +"Has any one complained?" he asked. + +"No; not a single person so far as is known. We have had only thanks." + +"Then to whom would you report?" + +"To you, Mr. Secretary, or to such person or in such manner as you shall +designate." + +"I don't want any report; no report is necessary," answered the +Secretary. "Our Government relief-boats have reported you officially, +and all the country knows what you have done and is more than satisfied. +Regarding your illness--you have had too much fresh water, Miss Barton, +I recommend salt--and shall appoint you." + +This was done, and the appropriation for expenses was made, and at my +request Judge Joseph Sheldon, and by invitation Mr. A. S. Solomon, our +vice-president, were also appointed to accompany me. The appropriation +sufficed for all. + +The conference was held at Geneva, September 17, 1884, and thus was had +the first official representation of the United States Government at an +International Conference of the Treaty of Geneva. There have since been +five. I have attended all but one. + + + + +II + +THE TEXAS FAMINE AND THE MT. VERNON CYCLONE + + +Before the close of the following year, 1885, came what was known as the +"Texas Famine." Thousands of miles of wild land, forming the Pan Handle, +had been suddenly opened by the building of a Southern Railroad. In the +speculative anxiety of the Road to people its newly acquired territory, +unwarranted inducements of climatic advantages had been unscrupulously +held out to the poor farmers of Mississippi, Alabama, and Georgia. + +Lured by the pictures presented them, some thousands of families had +been induced to leave their old, worn-out farms, and with the little +they could carry or drive, reach the new Eldorado, to find a new farm +that needed only the planting to make them rich, prosperous, and happy, +without labor. They planted. The first year brought some returns--the +second was a drought with no returns--the third the same. Hunger for +themselves and starvation for their stock stared them in the face. They +could not pick up and go back--the rivers were dry from the Rio Grande +to the Brazos--the earth was iron, and the heavens brass; cattle +wandered at will for water and feed, and their bones whitened the +plains. + +These were poor little peoples. They tried to make the great State know +of their distress, but the rich railroad proprietors held the _press_, +and no one knew their condition or could get correct information. At +length a faithful clergyman came to Washington, to President Cleveland, +and the Red Cross. + +We consulted with the President, who gave encouragement for us to go to +Texas and learn the facts. + +In mid-winter, 1886, accompanied by Dr. Hubbell, the journey was +undertaken. We proceeded to Albany, Texas, made headquarters--traveled +over the stricken counties, found wretchedness, hunger, thirst, cold, +heart-breaking discouragement. The third year of drought was upon them, +and the good people of that great State, misled by its press, its press +in turn misled by the speculators, innocently discredited every report +of distress, and amused themselves by little sly innuendoes and witty +jokes on the "Texas Famine." + +The condition was pitiful. To them it was hopeless. And yet not a dollar +or a pound was needed outside of Texas. They only required to know the +truth. This then was our task. We ceased to journey over arid fields of +suffering, and turned our steps resolutely to the editorial rooms of the +Dallas and Galveston News, at Dallas. Both editors were present; both +sat half-breathless while the flood of information rolled over them in +no uncertain terms. + +I shall never forget the tears in the mild blue eyes of General Belo, as +he learned what he had done, and was still doing. Twelve hours brought +another issue of the two papers. A column of editorial told the true +situation. A modest contribution of the Red Cross headed a subscription +list, General Belo following with his, and almost immediately the +legislature made an appropriation of one hundred thousand dollars for +food and supplies. + +The tender-hearted and conscience-smitten people sent their donations. +Our task was done. We had seen and conquered. + +In the midst of a cold rain in February we reached Washington. A concise +and full report was made to President Cleveland, saying in conclusion: +"I thank you with all my heart, Mr. President, for the encouragement at +the commencement, and for the privilege of writing you. We have done +this little bit of work faithfully and hope it may meet your approval." + +President Cleveland's letter of thanks still bears testimony of his care +for the people of the country, and his faith in its institutions. + +Not a dollar of outside help passed through our hands, but the little +permanent provision was equal to the occasion and we had still a half +left of our three thousand dollars. That was our first acquaintance with +Texas. Galveston followed many years later with the same firm accord and +good results. The bonds of affection had grown deep and strong between +the great thousand-mile State and the little Red Cross that loved to +serve her. + +In the following year, 1887, we were notified by the International +Committee of Geneva of the conference to be held at Carlsruhe, by +invitation of the Grand Duke and Grand Duchess of Baden. We were +directed to inform the Department of State of this fact. We did so, and +an appropriation was made by Congress to defray the expenses of three +delegates. + +It may be well to explain that in these appointments the Government does +not place the appropriation in the hands of the appointees, but simply +becomes a guaranty. The appointee provides his own funds. If, after +return, vouchers can be shown that the sum guaranteed has been spent +according to regulations, he is reimbursed in due course. + +Here was at least a contrast from a rough Mississippi River boat and the +crude homes of an unsettled Western State, to the royal carriage waiting +to convey one to the apartments reserved in a palace, the elegance and +culture of a court, the precision of a congress of representatives of +the nations of the world. The questions of humanity discussed by them, +the meeting of friends of other days, the regal bearing of the royal +host and hostess, the last parting from the dear old Emperor of +ninety-two, and his tenderly spoken, "It is the last time, good-by"; the +loving and last farewell of the beloved Empress Augusta, the patron +saint of the Red Cross; Bismarck and Moltke, in review, each with his +Red Cross insignia; the cordial hand grasp and the farewell never +repeated--and all of this attention to and interest in a subject that +the country I had gone to represent scarcely realized had an existence +beyond the receiving of some second-hand clothing, misfit shoes, and a +little money sent by some one to some place, where something bad had +happened. + +No one dreamed that it meant anything more, or that it needed anything +after this, and nothing more was done. + +It is only now, after almost two decades and within the last three +months, that we commence to awaken and wonder, with a mingled national +and personal sense of indignation, why our American Red Cross is not as +rich and great as in other nations? + +In February, 1888, occurred the Mt. Vernon, Ill., cyclone, cutting a +broad swath through one-half of the beautiful county-seat, tearing down +all heavy buildings, picking up the lighter ones and sweeping them +along like cardboard. + +In three minutes the work of destruction was over. Ten minutes later the +sun shone out brightly over the ruins of the town, the wails of the +maimed and dying, and the lifeless bodies of the dead. + +Fires broke out on every hand, and the victims pinned down under the +wreckage were subjects for the flames. Appeals for assistance went out, +but by unfortunate press representation failed to arouse the public, +till after several days, when we were reached, through their +representative in Congress, begging that in mercy we go to them. We +arrived in the night, found homes destroyed, hospitals full, scant +medical care, few nurses, food scarce and no money, a relief committee +of excellent men, but little to distribute. + +At daylight we looked over the situation and sent this simple message to +the Associated Press: + + +"The pitiless snow is falling on the heads of three thousand people, who +are without homes, without food or clothing, and without money. + +"AMERICAN NATIONAL RED CROSS, + +"Clara Barton, President." + + +This was all. We assisted their relief committee to arrange for the +receipt and distribution of funds, sent for experienced helpers to take +charge of supplies, to distribute clothing, and aid the hospital +service. We remained two weeks, and left them with more supplies than +they knew how to distribute, and the Citizens' Committee, with +accumulating cash in its treasury of ninety thousand dollars, full of +hope, life, and a gratitude they could not speak. + +As in the Texas famine, we paid our own expenses and no dollar but our +own had passed our hands. We were only glad to do this, in the hope that +we were building up an institution of self-help of the people, that +would one day win its way to their favor and aid. + + + + +III + +YELLOW FEVER IN FLORIDA + + +During the same year the yellow fever broke out in Jacksonville, Fla., +and was declared epidemic in September. + +An arrangement had been made between the National Association and the +Auxiliary Society of the Red Cross of New Orleans, which society +embraced the famous old "Howard Association," that, in case of an +outbreak of yellow fever, they would send their immune nurses from the +South, and we of the North would supply the money to support and pay +them. + +This arrangement was carried out so far as could be, under the very +natural differences of a medical department of active, professional men, +taking up the treatment of an epidemic of which they knew very little +experimentally, but filled with the enthusiasm of science and hope, and +the unprofessional, fearless, easy-going gait of the old Southern +nurses, white and black, whose whole lives had been spent in just that +work. + +The Red Cross sent no Northern nurses. But eighteen or twenty "Howard +nurses," mainly colored, went out from New Orleans under charge of Col. +Fred. F. Southmayd, their leader of twenty years in epidemics. A part of +his nurses were stationed at Macclenny, and a part went on to +Jacksonville. Under medical direction of their noted "yellow fever +doctor"--a tall Norwegian--Dr. Gill, they did their faithful work and +won their meed of grateful praise. + +Our place was in Washington, to receive, deal carefully with, and hold +back the tide of offered service from the hundreds of enthusiastic, +excited untrained volunteers, rushing on to danger and death. Their +fearless ignorance was a pitiful lesson. In all the hundreds there was +scarcely one who had ever seen a case of yellow fever, but all were sure +they were proof against it. Only three passed us, and two of these had +the fever in Jacksonville. + +When the scourge was ended we met our nurses personally at Camp Perry, +paid and sent them back to New Orleans. All that are living are at our +service still, faithful and true. + +During the fourth week in November a dispatch to national headquarters +announced that the last band of Red Cross nurses, known as the +"Macclenny Nurses," had finished their work at Enterprise, and would +come into Camp Perry to wait their ten days' quarantine and go home to +New Orleans for Thanksgiving. + +That would mean that seventy-nine days ago their little company of +eighteen, mainly women, steaming on to Jacksonville, under guidance of +their old-time trusted leader, Southmayd, of New Orleans, listened to +his announcement that the town of Macclenny, thirty-eight miles from +Jacksonville, Fla., and through which they would soon pass, was in a +fearful state of distress; a comparatively new town, of a few thousand, +largely Northern and Western people, suddenly-stricken down in scores; +poor, helpless, physicians all ill, and no nurses; quarantined on all +sides, no food, medicine, nor comforts for sick or well. + +"Nurses, shall I leave a part of you there; the train can not stop in, +nor near the town, but if I can manage to get it slowed up somewhere, +will you jump?" + +"We will do anything you say, colonel; we are here in God's name and +service to help His people; for Him, for you, and for the Red Cross, we +will do our best and our all." + +"Conductor, you had a hot box a few miles back; don't you think it +should be looked to after passing Macclenny?" + +"I will slow up and have it seen to, colonel, although it may cost me my +official head." And it did. + +One mile beyond town, the rain pouring in torrents, the ground soaked, +slippery, and caving, out into pitchy darkness, leaped three men and +seven women from a puffing, unsteady train, no physician with them, and +no instructions save the charge of their leader as the last leap was +made, and the train pushed on: "Nurses, you know what to do; go and do +your best, and God help you." Hand to hand, that none go astray in the +darkness, they hobbled back over a mile of slippery cross-ties to the +stricken town. Shelter was found, the wet clothes dried, and at midnight +the sick had been parceled out, each nurse had his or her quota of +patients, and were in for the issue, be it life or death. Those past +all help must be seen through, and lost, all that could be must be +saved. The next day a dispatch from Southmayd went back to New Orleans +for Dr. Gill to come and take charge of the sick and the nurses at +Macclenny. It was done, and under his wise direction they found again a +leader. Their labors and successes are matters for later and more +extended record. + +It is to be borne in mind that these nurses found no general table, no +table at all but such as they could provide, find the food for, and cook +for themselves, for the sick, the children, and the old and helpless who +had escaped the fever and must be cared for. No patient could be left +till the crisis was passed, and many are their records of seventy-two +hours without change or sleep or scarcely sitting down. As the disease +gradually succumbed to their watchful care, experience, and skill, they +reached out to other freshly attacked towns and hamlets. Sanderson and +Glen St. Mary's became their charge, and return their blessings for +lives preserved. + +On November 1st it was thought they could safely leave and go into camp +for quarantine; but no regular train would be permitted to take them. +The Red Cross secured and paid a special train for them, and, as if in +bold relief against the manner of their entry seven weeks before, the +entire town, saving its invalids, was assembled at the station at seven +o'clock in the morning to bid them good-by and God speed. + +But their fame had gone before them, and "Enterprise," a hundred miles +below, just stricken down among its flowers and fruits, reached out its +hands for aid, and with one accord, after two days in camp, all turned +back from the coveted home and needed rest and added another month of +toil to their already weary record. At length this was ended, and word +came again to us that they would go into quarantine. Their unselfish, +faithful, and successful record demanded something more than the mere +sending of money. It deserved the thanks of the Red Cross organization +in the best and highest manner in which they could be bestowed; it was +decided that its President, in person, should most fittingly do this, +and I accordingly left Washington on the morning of November 22d in +company with Dr. Hubbell, field agent, for Camp Perry, the quarantine +station of Florida. Two days and one night by rail, a few miles across +country by wagon, where trains were forbidden to stop, and another mile +or so over the trestles of St. Mary's on a dirt car with the workmen, +brought us into camp as the evening fires were lighted and the bugle +sounded supper. The genial surgeon in charge, Dr. Hutton, who carried a +knapsack and musket in an Illinois regiment in '62, met us cordially and +extended every possible hospitality. Soon there filed past us to supper +the tall doctor and his little flock; some light and fair-skinned, with +the easy step of a well-bred lady, others dark and bony-handed, but the +strong, kind faces below the turbans told at a glance that you could +trust your life there and find it again. They were not disturbed that +night, and no certain information of our arrival got among them. It was +cold and windy, and the evening short, as nine o'clock brought taps and +lights out. In spite of all caution the news of our coming had spread +over the surrounding country, and telegrams bringing both thanks for +what had been received and the needs for more, came from all sides, and +the good Mayor of Macclenny made his troubled way to reach and greet us +in person, and take again the faithful hands that had served and saved +his people. + +Surgeon Hutton's headquarter tent was politely tendered for the first +meeting, and as one could never, while memory lasts, forget this scene, +so no words can ever adequately describe it. The ample tent was filled. +Here on the right the Mayor, broad shouldered, kind faced and efficient, +officers of camp, and many visitors, wondering what it all meant; in the +center the tall doctor and his faithful band--Eliza Lanier, Lena Seymour +(mother and daughter), Elizabeth Eastman, Harriet Schmidt, Lizzie Louis, +Rebecca Vidal, Annie Evans, Arthur Duteil, Frederick Wilson, and Edward +Holyland. + +I give these names because they are worthy a place in the history of any +epidemic; but no country, race, nor creed could claim them as a body: +four Americans, one German, one French, one Irish, three Africans, part +Protestant, and part Catholic, but all from New Orleans, of grand old +_Howard_ stock, from Memphis down, nursing in every epidemic from the +bayous of the Mississippi to Tampa Bay; and hereafter we will know them +as the "_Old Guard_." + +Here, in the winds of approaching winter they stand in the light garb of +early September in New Orleans, thin, worn, longing for home, but +patient, grateful, and glad, some trifling "nubia" or turban about the +head, but only one distinguishing feature in common. A pitiful little +misshapen Red Cross, made by their own hands, of two bits of scarlet +ribbon, soiled, fringed, and tattered, pinned closely upon the left +breast of each, strove in mute appeal to say who they were, and what +they served. A friendly recognition and some words of thanks from their +President, opened the way for those anxious to follow. The rich, warm +eloquence of Mayor Watkins plainly told from how near his heart the +stream of gratitude was flowing, and his manly voice trembled as he +reverted to the condition of his stricken people, on that pitiless +night, when this little band of pilgrim strangers strayed back to them +in the rain and darkness. "I fear they often worked in hunger," he said, +"for then, as now, we had little for ourselves, our sick, or our well; +but they brought us to our feet, and the blessing of every man, woman, +and child in Macclenny is on them." + +It was with a kind of paternal pride that Dr. Gill advanced and placed +before us his matchless record of cases attended, and life preserved. +"This is the record of our work," he said. "I am proud of it, and glad +that I have been able to make it, but without the best efforts of these +faithful nurses I could not have done it; they have stood firm through +everything; not a word of complaint from, nor of, one of them, in all +these trying months, and I thank you, our President, for this +opportunity to testify to their merits in your presence." The full cups +overflowed, and as we took each brown calloused hand in ours, and felt +the warm tears dropping over them, we realized how far from calloused +were the hearts behind them. The silence that followed was a season of +prayer. + +Then came opportunity for some conversation, questions, and +explanations. "We wish to introduce to our President our chief nurse, +whom Colonel Southmayd placed in charge of us when we left the car, and +directed us to obey him; he is younger than any of us, Ed. Holyland." A +slight young man with clear, olive complexion, and dark-browed earnest +eyes that looked you straight in the face, came forward; his apparent +youthfulness gave rise to the first remark: + +"How old are you, Mr. Holyland?" + +"Twenty-nine, madam." + +"And you have taken charge of these nurses?" + +"I have done what I could for their comfort; I think that was what the +colonel desired; he knew they would need only care and advice, they +would do their best of themselves. During the few days that Colonel +Southmayd remained in Jacksonville," he continued, "he was able to send +us some such comforts as we needed for the sick, and some nourishing +food for ourselves; but this was only a few days, you know, and after +that we got on as well as we could without. I know that after he left +the nurses gave to the sick, the children, the old and the helpless, +what they needed for their own strength." + +"But you did not tell us this, Mr. Holyland." + +"No, we were dazed and frightened by the things we heard. We felt that +your organization was having enough to bear. We knew we must look to +you for our pay, and we thought, under the circumstances, that would be +your share. But permit me, please, to call your attention to Mr. Wilson +(a stout colored man advanced), who took charge of a little hospital of +six cases, and carried them all through, day and night, without an +hour's relief from any person, and never lost a single case." + +"And permit me," chimed in the clear-toned Irish voice of Lizzie Louis, +"to tell of Mr. Holyland himself, who found a neglected Italian family a +mile or more outside of the town. He went and nursed them alone, and +when the young son, a lad of thirteen or fourteen years, died, knowing +there was no one to bury him there, he wrapped him in a blanket and +brought him into town on his back, for burial." + +Holyland's face grew sad, and his eyes modestly sought the floor, as he +listened to this unexpected revelation. + +"I wish to speak of something else," added one of the men, "which we +were held back from doing, and for which we are now very glad. We should +not have thought of it ourselves. It is customary," he continued, "when +a patient dies in an epidemic, to give the nurse ten dollars for +preparing the body for burial; this was done in our first case, but Mr. +Holyland had the gift promptly returned with thanks, and the explanation +that we were employed by an organization which fully rewarded its +nurses, and was too high and too correct to accept tribute for +misfortune; it was enough that the patient was lost." + +By this time poor black Annie Evans, the "Mammy" of the group, could +hold quiet no longer, and broke silence with, "Missus President! whar is +de colonel? Colonel Southmayd; dey tells me all de time he's gone away +from New Orleans, and I can't b'l'eve 'em. He can't go away; he can't +lib anywhar else, he was always dar. I'se nursed in yellow fever and +cholera more'n twenty-five year, and I neber went for nobody but him; it +arn't no New Orleans for us widout him dar. I doesn't know de name of +dat place dey say he's gone to, and I doesn't want to; he'll be in New +Orleans when we gets dar." + +There were pitying glances among the group, at this little burst of +feeling, for in some way it was an echo of their own; and Lena Seymour +added tenderly: "We have been trying for these two months to convince +Mammy about this, but she is firm in her faith and sometimes refuses to +hear us." But the subject changed with "How many cases did you lose in +this epidemic, Mammy?" + +"I didn't lose no cases! Lor' bless you, honey, I doesn't lose cases if +dey hasn't been killed afore dey gets to me; folks needn't die of yellow +fever." + +We didn't suppose that "Mammy" intended any reflection upon the medical +fraternity. + +"But now, friends, we must turn to our settlement, which can not be +difficult. Three dollars a day for each nurse, for seventy-nine days, +till you are home on Thanksgiving morning. But here are only ten. There +are eighteen on our list who left with you and Colonel Southmayd; where +are your comrades?" Some eyes flashed and some moistened, as they +answered, "We do not know." "They remained in the car that night, and +went on to Jacksonville." Swift, dark glances swept from one to another +among them. Instinctively they drew closer to each other, and over +knitted brows and firmly set teeth, a silence fell dark and ominous +like a pall, which the future alone can lift. + +The bugle sounded dinner, and this ended our little camp-meeting, than +which few camp-meetings, we believe, ever came nearer to the heart of +Him who offered His life a ransom, and went about doing good. + +The winds blew cold across the camp; the fires shot out long angry +tongues of flame and drifts of smoke to every passer-by. The norther was +upon us. Night came down, and all were glad of shelter and sleep. The +morning, quiet, crisp, and white with frost, revealed the blessing which +had fallen upon a stricken land. + +Thanksgiving was there before its time. The hard rules relaxed. One day +more, and the quarantine was at an end. The north-bound train halted +below the camp, and all together, President and agent, tall doctor and +happy nurses, took places on it, the first for headquarters at +Washington, the last for New Orleans, and home for Thanksgiving morning, +full of the joys of a duty well done, rich in well-paid labor, in the +love of those they had befriended, and the approval of a whole people, +South and North, when once their work should be known to them. + +To the last, they clung to their little home-made Red Crosses as if they +had been gold and diamonds; and when at length the tracks diverged and +the parting must be made, it was with few words, low and softly spoken, +but meaning much, with a finger touch upon the little cross, "When you +want us, we are there." + +The supplies forwarded by us were estimated at ten thousand dollars. The +money received was $6,281.58. Out of this sum we paid our twenty nurses +three dollars a day, for seventy-nine days--their cost of living, and +their transportation when needed. We paid our doctor in charge twenty +dollars a day, the customary price, for the same period. We paid our +office rent, assistants, telegraphing, drayage for supplies sent on by +us (railroad transportation free), and all incidentals for a relief work +of over three months' duration. This ran our debit column over on the +other side over one thousand dollars. Our little part of the relief of +that misfortune was estimated at fifteen thousand dollars, and only +those relieved were more grateful than we. + + + + +IV + +THE JOHNSTOWN FLOOD + + +On Sunday afternoon, May 31, 1889, with the waters of the Potomac two +feet deep on Pennsylvania Avenue, a half dozen of us left Washington for +Johnstown, over washed-out ties and broken tracks, with every little +gully swollen to a raging torrent. After forty-eight hours of this, we +reached the scene, which no one need or could describe, but if ever a +people needed help it was these. + +Scarcely a house standing that was safe to enter, the wrecks piled in +rubbish thirty feet in height, four thousand dead in the river beds, +twenty thousand foodless but for Pittsburg bread rations, and a cold +rain which continued unbroken by sunshine for forty days. + +It was at the moment of supreme affliction when we arrived at Johnstown. +The waters had subsided, and those of the inhabitants who had escaped +the fate of their fellows were gazing over the scene of destruction and +trying to arouse themselves from the lethargy that had taken hold of +them when they were stunned by the realization of all the woe that had +been visited upon them. How nobly they responded to the call of duty! +How much of the heroic there is in our people when it is needed! No idle +murmurings of fate, but true to the god-like instincts of manhood and +fraternal love, they quickly banded together to do the best that the +wisest among them could suggest. + +For five weary months it was our portion to live amid the scenes of +destruction, desolation, poverty, want and woe; sometimes in tents, +sometimes without; and so much rain and mud, and such a lack of the +commonest comforts for a time, until we could build houses to shelter +ourselves and those around us. Without a safe and with a dry-goods box +for a desk, we conducted financial affairs in money and material to the +extent of nearly half a million dollars. + +I shall never lose the memory of my first walk on the first day--the +wading in mud, the climbing over broken engines, cars, heaps of iron +rollers, broken timbers, wrecks of houses; bent railway tracks tangled +with piles of iron wire; bands of workmen, squads of military, and +getting around the bodies of dead animals, and often people being borne +away; the smouldering fires and drizzling rain--all for the purpose of +officially announcing to the commanding general (for the place was under +martial law) that the Red Cross had arrived in the field. I could not +have puzzled General Hastings more if I had addressed him in Chinese; +and if ours had been truly an Oriental mission, the gallant soldier +could not have been more courteous and kind. He immediately set about +devising means for making as comfortable as possible a "poor, lone +woman," helpless, of course, upon such a field. It was with considerable +difficulty that I could convince him that the Red Cross had a way of +taking care of itself at least, and was not likely to suffer from +neglect. + +Not a business house or bank left, the safes all in the bottom of the +river; our little pocketbook was useless, there was nothing to buy, and +it would not bring back the dead. With the shelter of the tents of the +Philadelphia Red Cross, that joined us en route with supplies, when we +could find a cleared place to spread, or soil to hold them, with a +dry-goods box for a desk, our stenographer commenced to rescue the first +dispatches of any description that entered that desolate city. The +disturbed rivers lapped wearily back and forth, the people, dazed and +dumb, dug in the muddy banks for their dead. Hastings with his little +army of militia kept order. + +Soon supplies commenced to pour in from everywhere, to be received, +sheltered as best they could be from the incessant rain, and distributed +by human hands, for it was three weeks before even a cart could pass the +streets. + +But I am not here to describe Johnstown--the noble help that came to it, +nor the still more noble people that received it--but simply to say that +the little untried and unskilled Red Cross played its minor tune of a +single fife among the grand chorus of relief of the whole country, that +rose like an anthem, till over four millions in money, contributed to +its main body of relief, with the faithful Kreamer at its head, had +modestly taken the place of the twelve millions destroyed. But after all +it was largely the supplies that saved the people at first, as it always +is, and the distribution of which largely consumed the money that was +contributed later. + +From one mammoth tent which served as a warehouse, food and clothing +were given out to the waiting people through the hands of such volunteer +agents, both women and men, as I scarcely dare hope to ever see gathered +together in one work again. The great cry which had gone out had aroused +the entire country, and our old-time helpers, full of rich experience +and still richer love for the work, faithful to the cross of humanity as +the devotee to the cross of the Master, came up from every point--the +floods, the cyclones, the battle-fields--and kneeling before the shrine, +pledged heart and service anew to the work. Fair hands laying aside +their diamonds, and business men their cares, left homes of elegance and +luxury to open rough boxes and barrels, handle second-hand clothing, eat +coarse food at rough-board tables, sleep on cots under a dripping canvas +tent, all for the love of humanity symbolized in the little flag that +floated above them. + +Clergymen left their pulpits and laymen their charge to tramp over the +hillsides from house to house, to find who needed and suffered, and to +carry to them from our tents on their shoulders, like beasts of burden, +the huge bundles of relief, where no beast of burden could reach. + +We had been early requested by official resolution of the Finance +Committee of the City of Johnstown to aid them in the erection of +houses. We accepted the invitation, and at the same time proposed to aid +in furnishing the nucleus of a household for the home which should in +any way be made up. This aid seemed imperative, as nothing was left for +them to commence living with, neither beds, chairs, tables, nor cooking +utensils of any kind; and there were few if any stores open, and no +furniture in town. + +Of this labor we had our share. Six buildings of one hundred feet by +fifty, later known as "Red Cross Hotels," were quickly put up to shelter +the people, furnished, supplied, and kept like hotels, free of all cost +to them, while others were built by the general committee. Three +thousand of the latter were erected, and the Red Cross furnished every +one with substantial, newly purchased furniture, ready for occupancy. +The books of the "Titusville Manufacturing Company" will show one cash +order of ten thousand dollars for furniture. The three thousand houses +thus furnished each accommodated two families. + +A ponderous book of nearly two feet square shows the name, sex, and +number of persons of each family, and a list of every article received +by them. To-day one looks in wonder at such a display of clerical labor +and accuracy, under even favorable conditions. + +This was only accomplished by the hard, unpaid labor of every officer, +and the large amount of volunteer friendly aid that came to us. + +The great manufacturers of the country, and the heavy contributing +agents, on learning our intentions, sent, without a hint from us, many +of their articles, as, for instance, New Bedford, Mass., sent mattresses +and bedding; Sheboygan, Wis., sent furniture and enameled ironware; +Titusville, Pa., with a population of ten thousand, sent ten thousand +dollars' worth of its well-made bedsteads, springs, extension-tables, +chairs, stands and rockers; and the well-known New York newspaper, The +Mail and Express, sent a large lot of mattresses, feather pillows, +bedclothing, sheets, and pillow-slips by the thousand and cooking +utensils by the ten thousands. Six large teams were in constant service +delivering these goods. + +When the contributions slackened or ceased, and more material was +needed, we purchased of the same firms which had contributed, keeping +our stock good until all applications were filled. The record on our +books showed that over twenty-five thousand persons had been directly +served by us. They had received our help independently and without +begging. No child has learned to beg at the doors of the Red Cross. + +It is to be borne in mind that the fury of the deluge had swept almost +entirely the homes of the wealthy, the elegant, the cultured leaders of +society, and the fathers of the town. This class who were spared were +more painfully homeless than the indigent poor, who could still huddle +in together. They could not go away, for the suffering and demoralized +town needed their care and oversight more than ever before. There was no +home for them, nowhere to get a meal of food or to sleep. Still they +must work on, and the stranger coming to town on business must go +unfed, with no shelter at night, if he would sleep, or, indeed, escape +being picked up by the military guard. + +To meet these necessities, and being apprehensive that some good lives +might go out under the existing luck of accommodations, it was decided +to erect a building similar to our warehouse. The use of the former site +of the Episcopal Church was generously tendered us by the Bishop early +in June, for any purpose we might desire. This house, which was soon +erected, was known as the "Locust Street Red Cross Hotel"; it stood some +fifty rods from our warehouse, and was fifty by one hundred and sixteen +feet in dimensions, two stories in height, with lantern roof, built of +hemlock, single siding, papered inside with heavy building paper, and +heated by natural gas, as all our buildings were. It consisted of +thirty-four rooms, besides kitchen, laundry, bath-rooms with hot and +cold water, and one main dining-hall and sitting-room through the +center, sixteen feet in width by one hundred in length. + +It was fully furnished with excellent beds, bedding, bureaus, tables, +chairs, and all needful housekeeping furniture. A competent landlady, +who, like the rest, had a few weeks before floated down over the same +ground on the roof of her house in thirty feet of water, was placed in +charge, with instructions to keep a good house, make what she could rent +free, but charging no Johnstown person over twenty-five cents for a meal +of food. + +This was the first attempt at social life after that terrible +separation, and its success was something that I am very proud of. The +house was full of townspeople from the first day, and strangers no +longer looked in vain for accommodations. + +The conception of the need of this house, and the method of selecting +its inmates, and the manner of inducting them into their new home, were +somewhat unique and may be of interest to the reader. I had noticed +among the brave and true men, who were working in the mud and rain, many +refined-looking gentlemen, who were, before this great misfortune +carried away most of their belongings, the wealthiest and most +influential citizens. Never having had to struggle amid such hardships +and deprivations, their sufferings were more acute than those of the +poorer and more hardy people; and it did not require any great +foresight to know that they were physically incapable of such labor if +prolonged, nor to predict their early sickness and death if they were +not properly housed and fed. As the salvation of the town depended in a +great measure upon the efforts of these men, it was vitally necessary +that their lives should be preserved. Realizing all this, it occurred to +us that the most important thing to do, next to feeding the hungry, was +to provide proper shelter for these delicate men and their families. The +idea once conceived was soon communicated to my staff, and, after due +consideration, it was put in the way of realization. + +On the afternoon of July 27th hundreds of citizens called on us, and +congratulations and good wishes were the order of the day. As the +members of each family whom we had selected to occupy apartments in the +house arrived, they were quietly taken aside and requested to remain and +have dinner with us. After all the guests were departed except those who +had been requested to remain, dinner was announced, and the party was +seated by the members of the Red Cross. Beside the plate of each head +of a family were laid the keys to an apartment, with a card inviting the +family to take possession at once, and remain as long as they chose. + +I can not describe the scene that followed; there were tears and broken +voices; suffice to say, the members of that household were made happy +and comfortable for many long months; and I venture to assert that those +now living recall those days with the fondest recollections. + +The contributions to the general committee had been so liberal that it +was possible to erect and provide for the great burial-place of its +dead--"Grand View," that overlooks the city. It was also suggested that +a benevolent society, as a permanent institution, be formed by the +united action of the general committee and the Red Cross. This was +successfully accomplished by the generous provision of eight thousand +dollars from the committee on its part and the turning over of our +well-made and supplied hospital buildings, and the funds we had left +placed in charge of a faithful custodian under our pay for the following +six months. + +This is the present "Union Benevolent Society" of Johnstown to-day. + +I remained five months with these people without once visiting my own +home, only returning to it when the frost had killed the green I had +left in May. + +In that time, it was estimated, we had housed, handled, and distributed +$211,000 worth of supplies--new and old--for, by request of the weary +chairman of the general committee, at the last, we took up the close of +its distribution. It is our joy and pride to recall how closely we +worked in connection with that honored committee from first to last, and +how strong and unsullied that friendship has remained. + +The value of money that passed through our hands was $39,000, as stated +in the official report of the general committee, to which all required +returns were made, recorded, and published by the committee. + +Our usual quota of assistants was fifty persons, the higher grade of men +and women assistants largely volunteers. Two railroads brought our +supplies. To handle these the strongest men were required, and seven +two-horse teams ran daily for three and a half months in the +distribution, at customary rates of pay. These were the workingmen of +the town who had suffered with the rest. + +It was a joy that in all the uncertainties of that uncertain field not a +single complaint ever reached us of the non-acknowledgment of a dollar +entrusted to us. + +The paths of charity are over roadways of ashes; and he who would tread +them must be prepared to meet opposition, misconstruction, jealousy, and +calumny. Let his work be that of angels--still it will not satisfy all. + +In the light of recent events, I may perhaps be pardoned for quoting a +few lines from the official report of the Johnstown Flood Finance +Committee appointed by Governor Beaver, as showing how these gentlemen, +the foremost men in the community, regarded our efforts to give them a +helping hand: + +"In this matter of sheltering the people, as in others of like +importance, Miss Clara Barton, President of the Red Cross Association, +was most helpful. At a time when there was a doubt if the Flood +Commission could furnish houses of suitable character and with the +requisite promptness, she offered to assume charge, and she erected with +the funds of the Association three large apartment houses, which +afforded comfortable lodgings for many houseless people. She was among +the first to arrive on the scene of calamity, bringing with her Dr. +Hubbell, the Field Officer of the Red Cross Association, and a staff of +skilled assistants. She made her own organization for relief work in +every form, disposing of the large resources under her control with such +wisdom and tenderness that the charity of the Red Cross had no sting, +and its recipients are not Miss Barton's dependents, but her friends. +She was also the last of the ministering spirits to leave the scene of +her labors, and she left her apartment houses for use during the winter, +and turned over her warehouse with its store of furniture, bedding, and +clothing, and a well-equipped infirmary, to the Union Benevolent +Association of the Conemaugh Valley, the organization of which she +advised and helped to form; and its lady visitors have so well performed +their work that the dreaded winter has no terrors, mendicancy has been +repressed, and not a single case of unrelieved suffering is known to +have occurred in all the flooded district." + +Enterprising, industrious, and hopeful, the new Johnstown, +phoenix-like, rose from its ruins more beautiful than the old, with a +ceaseless throb of grateful memory for every kind act rendered, and +every thought of sympathy given her in her great hour of desolation and +woe. God bless her, and God bless all who helped save her! + + + + +V + +THE RUSSIAN FAMINE + + +As early as 1889, the foreign journals began to tell us of the +apprehension caused by an unusual failure of the crops in Central +Russia, extending from Moscow north and south, and east beyond the Ural +Mountains and into Siberia--embracing an era of a million square miles. +This failure was followed by another in 1890. + +Eighteen hundred and ninety-one found the old-time granaries empty, and +a total failure of the crops, and a population of thirty-five millions +of people, paralyzed with the dread of approaching famine. + +The American Red Cross had placed itself in communication with the +Secretary of State, Hon. James G. Blaine, whose name and memory it +treasures with reverence, and Mr. Alexander Gregor, the accomplished +Russian _Chargé d'Affaires_ at Washington, and ascertained that Russia +would gladly receive donations of relief from America. She would even +send her ships for any food that might be offered. This, America would +not permit and Congress was appealed to for ocean transportation. The +Senate voted a liberal appropriation, which was defeated in the House. + +Then the Red Cross, with the aid of the citizens of Washington, took up +the matter. They were joined by the Order of Elks, which contributed a +sum of seven hundred dollars, than which perhaps that liberal Order +never made a more timely gift. Funds were raised to charter a steamship +for the Red Cross. The spirit spread generally over the country. +Philadelphia sent a messenger to learn what Washington was doing, and +was advised to charter one of its own ships, which was done, and two +consignments were finally made by them. + +Minnesota had already acted, and later, by the advice and aid of the +extra provision of the Red Cross, the Christian Herald sent out its ship +cargo, under convoy of Rev. Dr. Talmage. + +But the State of Iowa led all others in active generosity. + +Under the supervision of Mr. B. F. Tillinghast, of Davenport, aided by +the able pen of Miss Alice French, that State alone raised, and sent in +trains across the country from Iowa to New York, one hundred and +seventeen thousand bushels of corn and one hundred thousand pounds of +flour, which was loaded onto the "Tynehead," a staunch British ship, and +consigned to the port of Riga. + +That year we had been notified of an International Conference to be held +in Rome. The customary appropriation was made by Congress, and again I +was appointed delegate. Too much occupied by the relief at home, Dr. +Hubbell, also a delegate, went in my place to Rome, and from there +reached Riga in time to receive and direct the distribution of the +immense cargo of grain throughout Russia. + +When Dr. Hubbell reached Riga he learned that two hundred and forty +peasants had been waiting on the dock two days, watching and waiting for +the ship from America. Not waiting for food, for Riga was not in a +famine province, but waiting that they might not miss the opportunity +and the honor of unloading the American ship that had brought food to +their unfortunate brothers in the interior. As soon as they could get +into the hold of the ship, one hundred and forty of them began the +unloading. They worked night and day, without rest, determined to unload +the entire cargo themselves, without help. But on the third night our +Consul, Mr. Bornholdt, insisted on their having a relief of twelve +hours, and when the twelve hours were up they were all in their places +again, and remained until the cargo was out, declining to take any pay +for their labor. Twelve women worked along with them in the same spirit, +in the ship and on the dock, with needles, sewing up the rents in the +bags, to prevent waste in handling, and cooking meals for the men. + +The Mayor of St. Petersburg, in an address on behalf of that city to +American donors, declared: + +"The Russian people know how to be grateful. If up to this day these two +great countries, Russia and the United States, have not only never +quarreled, but on the contrary wished each other prosperity and strength +always, these feelings of sympathy can grow only stronger in the future, +both countries being conscious that in the season of trial for either it +will find in the other cordial succor and support. And can true +friendship be tested if not in the hour of misfortune?" + +A peasant of Samara sent to a Russian editor, together with three +colored eggs, a letter which he asked to have forwarded to America. The +following is an extract from the letter: + +"Christ is risen! To the merciful benefactors, the protectors of the +poor, the feeders of the starving, the guardians of the orphans--Christ +is risen. + +"North Americans! May the Lord grant you a peaceful and long life and +prosperity to your land, and may your fields be filled with abundant +harvest--Christ is risen. Your mercifulness gives us a helping hand. +Through your charity you have satisfied the starving. And for your +magnificent alms accept from me this humble gift, which I send to the +entire American people for your great beneficence, from all the hearts +of the poor filled with feelings of joy." + +In the gratitude manifested by the Russian Government and people we were +glad to feel that a slight return had been made to Russia for past +favors in our own peril, and a friendship never broken. + +The Department of State at Washington, under date of January 11, 1894, +forwarded the following: + +"I have to inform you that on November 7, 1893, the American Minister at +St. Petersburg received from the nobility of that city, through their +Marshal, Count Alexis Bobrinskoy, an address to the people of the United +States. This address, which is in the English language, embodies in +terms fitly chosen the thanks of the Russian people to the American for +the aid sent to their country from our own during the famine period of +the past two years. It is beautifully engrossed and its illumination +embraces water-color drawings which render it a most attractive work of +art. + +"The document, which is superbly bound and enclosed in a fine case, was +duly forwarded to this city by the American Minister at St. Petersburg, +and will be given a conspicuous place in the library of this +department." + +In so general an uprising of relief no great sum in contributions could +be expected from any one source. The Red Cross felt that, if no more, it +was glad to be able to pay, by the generous help of the city of +Washington, the charter of a ship that conveyed its +corn--$12,500--besides several thousands distributed in Russia through +Tolstoi and American agents there. + +We paid the cost of loading, superintended by Mr. Tillinghast in person, +whose financial record shows the exact cost of transportation. All this +was done in connection with the State of Iowa. Our home record showed, +when all was finished, a field closed with a small balance in our favor, +which we had no active call for. By the advice of one of the best +personal advisers, bankers, and friends that the Red Cross has ever had, +this small sum was placed in bank, in readiness for the next call. + + + + +VI + +THE SEA ISLAND RELIEF + + +This little timely provision, advisedly made, was none too much or none +too soon. + +On the 28th of August, 1893, a hurricane and tidal wave from the +direction of the West Indies swept the coast of South Carolina, covering +its entire range of Port Royal Islands, sixteen feet below the sea. +These islands had thirty-five thousand inhabitants, mainly negroes. At +first, it was thought that all must have perished. Later, it was found +that only some four or five thousand had been drowned, and that thirty +thousand remained with no earthly possession of home, clothing, or food. +The few boats not swept away took them over to the mainland in +thousands, and calls went out for help. In this emergency Governor +Tillman called for the services of the Red Cross, and my note-book has +this passage: + +"The next night, in a dark, cheerless September mist, I closed my door +behind me for ten months, and with three assistants went to the station +to meet Senator Butler." + +At Columbia we were joined by Governor Tillman, and thus reinforced +proceeded to Beaufort. After due examination the work which had been +officially placed with us by the Governor was accepted October 1st, and +carried on until the following July. + +The submerged lands were drained, three hundred miles of ditches made, a +million feet of lumber purchased and houses built, fields and gardens +planted with the best seed in the United States, and the work all done +by the people themselves. The thousands of boxes of clothing received +were distributed among them, and we left them in July, 1894, supplies of +vegetables for the city of Beaufort. + +Free transportation for supplies continued till about March. No +provisions in kind were sent from any source after the first four weeks +of public excitement. After this all foodstuffs were purchased in +Charleston and distributed as rations. Men were compelled to work on the +building of their own homes in order to receive rations. + +We found them an industrious, grateful class of people, far above the +ordinary grade usually met. They largely owned their little homes, and +appreciated instruction in the way of improving them. The tender memory +of the childlike confidence and obedience of this ebony-faced population +is something that time cannot efface from either us or them. + +On the third day after our arrival at Beaufort four middle-aged colored +men came to the door of the room we had appropriated as an office, and +respectfully asked to see "Miss Clare." They were admitted, and I waited +to learn what request they would probably make of me. At length the +tallest and evidently the leader, said: + +"Miss Clare, we knows you doesn't remember us. But we never fo'gits you. +We has all of us got somethin' to show you." + +Slipping up a soiled, ragged shirtsleeve, he showed me an ugly scar +above the elbow, reaching to the shoulder. "Wagner?" I asked. + +"Yes, Miss Clare, and you drissed it for me that night, when I crawled +down the beach--'cause my leg was broke too," he replied. "And we was +all of us there, and you took care of us all and drissed our wounz. I +was with Colonel Shaw, and crawled out of the fote. The oth's nevah got +in. But we all got to you, Miss Clare. And now you's got to us. We's +talked about you a heap o' times, but we nevah 'spected to see you. We's +nevah fo'git it, Miss Clare." + +One by one they showed their scars. There was very little clothing to +hide them--bullet wound and sabre stroke. The memory, dark and sad, +stood out before us all. It was a moment not to be forgotten. + +Our purchases consisted of meat, mainly dry sides of pork, and grits, or +hominy, for eating. For planting, beside the seed contributed and the +nine hundred bushels of Irish potatoes, were eighteen hundred bushels of +Northern Flint seed corn. + +The contributions of food and clothing had been sent to Beaufort, and +were in the warehouses of the perplexed committee of its leading +citizens. This had naturally drawn all the inhabitants of the scores of +desolated islands for fifty miles to Beaufort, until, it is safe to say, +that fifteen to twenty thousand refugees had gathered there, living in +its streets and waiting to be fed from day to day. + +As the food was there they could not be induced to return to the +islands. Indeed, there was more often nothing on the islands to return +to. The description given by the heads of families and owners, for they +had largely owned their homes, gotten on the old-time plantations "'fo +de wah," was this: If all had been swept out to sea and nothing +remained, it was described as, "done gone." But if thrown down and parts +of the wreck still remained, it was described as "ractified." + +A few of the churches, being larger and more strongly built, still +remained standing. During the first ten days of our stay it would have +been impossible to drive through the principal streets of Beaufort. They +were a solid moving mass, crowding as near to the storehouses as +possible to get, in spite of the policeman, who kindly held them back. + +We sat daily in counsel with the local committee, until seeing that only +systematic measures and a decided change could relieve the conditions +and render the city safe. We then, on the first of October, decided to +accede to the request of the Governor made at first, and take sole +charge of the relief. + +Our first order was to close every storehouse, both of food and +clothing, and inform the people that all distributions would hereafter +be made from the islands. It is impossible to convey to the mind of the +reader the difficulty of getting into a few intelligent sentences the +idea of the means adopted to produce these changes and inaugurate a +system that was to restore to active habits of life a body of utterly +homeless, demoralized, and ignorant people, equal in numbers to a small +new State. + +If these little covers would admit the scores of pages of admirably +written reports of the officers and helpers on that field, every line +replete with interest, that lie here at my hand, it would be an easy and +a welcome task to reproduce them entire, and no more than deserved for +their faithful and gratuitous labor. + +Dr. Egan's report has this passage: + +"October 2d came my marching orders. Take charge of the warehouse and +stores, make an inventory of them, disperse these men, and rid the city +of the demoralizing influence of idle people. The doors are closed and +the inventory begun." + +The local committee had kindly pointed out the most suitable man to take +charge of each community, and to him would be consigned the rations to +be distributed to each family and person within his charge, for which +receipt and distribution he became as responsible as a merchant. + +The goods and rations were at once shipped across the bay to them, or +taken on their own boats, if so fortunate as to have one left from the +storm. It is needless to say that the multitude followed the food. + +In three days there were not people enough left in Beaufort, besides its +own, to be hired for a "job of work." Then followed the necessity for +material to rebuild the "done gone," and to repair the "ractified" +homes. + +A million feet of pine lumber was purchased of a leading lumber dealer, +shipped down the Combahee River, and delivered at the landings on the +islands most convenient of access to the points needed. Each man +received his lumber by order and receipt, and was under obligation to +build his own house. The work was all performed by themselves. A garden +was insisted upon. At first this proposition was resisted as +impracticable. + +"No use, Mistah--no use--'cause de pig eat it all up." + +It was suggested that a fence might be made enclosing at least a quarter +of an acre about the house to keep "de pig" out, as we should later +send, for planting, the best seed to be obtained in the country. + +To this moment our thanks go out to the Agricultural Department at +Washington, and the great seed houses of all the North, for the generous +donations that served to bring once more into self-sustaining relations +this destitute and well-disposed people. + +The fact that the building of the fence, and its subsequent keeping in +strict repair, had some bearing on the weekly issuance of rations, was +evidently not without its influence. There were no poor fences and "de +pig" did no damage. But there were such gardens, and of such varieties, +as those islands had never before seen. + +The earliest crop to strive for, beside the gardens, was the Irish +potato, which they had never raised. Nine hundred bushels were purchased +from Savannah for planting in February. The difficulty of distributing +the potatoes lay in the fact that they would be more likely to find +their way into the dinner pot than into the ground. To avoid this the +court-yard inside our headquarters was appropriated for the purpose of +preparing the potatoes for planting. + +Some forty women were hired to come over from the islands and cut +potatoes for seed--every "eye" of the potato making a sprout--these +distributed to them by the peck, like other seed. + +I recall a fine, bright morning in May, when I was told that a woman who +had come over from St. Helena in the night, waited at the door to see +me. I went to the door to find a tall, bright-looking woman in a clean +dress, with a basket on her head, which, after salutation, she lowered +and held out to me. There was something over a peck of Early Rose +potatoes in the basket--in size from a pigeon's to a pullet's egg. The +grateful woman could wait no longer for the potatoes to grow larger, +but had dug these, and had come ten miles over the sea, in the night, to +bring them to me as a first offering of food of her own raising. + +If the tears fell on the little gift as I looked and remembered, no one +will wonder or criticise. The potatoes were cooked for breakfast, and +"Susie Jane" was invited to partake. + +The shores of the mainland had not been exempt from the ravages of the +storm and in many instances had suffered like the islands. Some thirty +miles above Beaufort was a kind of plantation, with a community of sixty +or seventy families of colored people. The property was owned by two +elderly white ladies who had not returned since driven away by the +storm. + +This village was reported to us as in need and demoralized, with no +head, scant of food, and its "ractified" houses scarcely affording a +shelter. + +A representative mulatto man came to tell us. An inspection was made and +resulted in this man being put in charge to build up the community. +Lumber and food were provided and the people set to work under his +charge. From time to time word came to us, and after some months the +tall representative came again. He had been asked by the people to come +and bring their thanks to the Red Cross for "de home, de gard'n, de pig, +and de chick'n dey all has now." + +The thanks they had emphasized and proved by the heavy basket that +Jackson had carefully brought all the forty miles. It contained +seventy-one fresh eggs--the gift of seventy-one families--being a +contribution of one egg from each family, from the day or two previous +to his leaving on his mission. + +Domestic gardens were a new feature among these islanders, whose whole +attention had been always given to the raising of the renowned "Sea +Island Cotton," the pride of the market, and a just distinction to +themselves and the worthy planter. The result of this innovation was +that, when we left in July, it was nearly as difficult for a pedestrian +to make his way on the narrow sidewalks of Beaufort because of piled-up +vegetables for sale from the islands, as it had been in October to pass +through the streets because of hungry, idle men and women. + +Nothing better illustrates the native good heart of these people than +their kindly interest in and for each other. Often the young men, +without families, would club together and put up a house for some lone +old "auntie," who had neither family nor home, and occasionally there +seemed to develop among them an active philanthropist. Of this type was +Jack Owens, who rebuilt his own "done gone" premises. One day as the +field agent was driving out on some inspection he met Jack walking into +town. + +His decrepit neighbor's house had burned a few weeks before, and Jack +had gotten lumber and rebuilt the house himself. In describing the utter +devastation, Jack explained that "all de house and de well was +burned"--and he had built another house and was coming in on foot "for +funituh to funish it." Jack had lost his ox, "a big ox," he said, in the +storm, and now he "hadn't any nuther" to plow his ground. He pleaded for +another--if it was only "a lil' critter it would grow big"--and it would +help him so much. + +The appeal was not to be resisted. Dr. Hubbell treasures to this day the +satisfaction he felt in procuring something better than the "lil' +critter" as reward and encouragement for Jack's active philanthropy. + +If any practical woman reading this should try to comprehend what it +would be to undertake to clothe and keep clothed thirty thousand human +beings for a year, and to do this from the charitable gifts of the +people, which gifts had all done more or less service before--often +pretty thoroughly "ractified"--this woman will not wonder that sewing +societies suggested themselves to us at headquarters. + +The women were called together and this suggestion made to them, with +the result that an old time "sewing circle" was instituted in every +community. Its membership, officers, dues, and regulations were properly +established--one-half day in each week devoted by each member to the +work in its sewing-rooms, with a woman in charge to prepare it. The +clothing was given out to them as received by us. Many a basket came +proudly back to show us the difference between "den an' now"--good, +strong, firmly mended garments. Ragged coats and pants disappeared from +among the men, as no longer "'spectable fo' de fambly." + +Provision was also made that the little girls from ten years old should +attend and be taught to sew. Many a little dress was selected at +headquarters for them to make over or repair. + +I wish I could do fitting justice to the band of women volunteers who +stood by me through those long months. Some had commenced with me when +society belles, years before, now mistresses of their own palatial +homes; some had come from under the old historic elms of Boston, and +some from the hard-fought fields of Britain's Africa, and wearing the +Victoria Cross. To them, white and black were the same, and no toil too +hard or too menial. + +The money contributed and received for the entire relief of ten months +was thirty thousand five hundred, and a few additional dollars and cents +which I do not at this moment recall. It aggregated one dollar apiece +for the entire maintenance of thirty thousand persons for ten months. + +It is the general custom in this part of the country for the merchants +to furnish supplies to their patrons, and wait until the gathering of +the crops for their pay. But when we left these people at the beginning +of their harvest, not one family in twenty-five had contracted a debt +for supplies: an experience before unknown in their history. + +A report was made and passed into the hands of our legal counsellor, +who, on seeing that no change could be truthfully made in it, advised +that it be not published, as no one would believe it possible to be +done, and we would get only distrust and discredit. Having now come to a +pass where distrust and discredit are no longer to be feared by the Red +Cross, we ourselves are free to make the statement. But back of the hard +facts there is compensation. + +A half dozen years later, when our negro protégés of the Sea Islands +heard of the disaster that had fallen upon Galveston, they at once +gathered for aid and sent in their contributions. + +"'Cause dey suffers like we did, and de Red Cross is dar," they said. + +Of course I would not permit one dollar of this holy gift to Galveston +to go to other than the hands, hard, bony, and black--such as had raised +it in their penury. I also wanted it to do more. Searching for the most +reliable colored people in the city I found in the superintendent of the +colored schools a man who had occupied that place for many years, and +who had the respect and confidence of the people of Galveston. I asked +him to consult his foremost women teachers, and if it pleased them, to +form a society and fit themselves to receive a little money. + +In about a week he appeared with his deputation. I informed them that I +had a little money from their own people of the Sea Islands for them; +that they had been chosen to receive it, because as teachers of the +children they would have access to the needs and conditions of the +families. I told them that I had desired to do more than merely make a +gift for distribution. I wished to plant a tree. I could have given them +their peach, which they would eat, enjoy, and throw the pit away. But I +wished them to plant the pit, and let it raise other fruit for them, and +for that reason I had asked the formation of this society. + +They all sat quiet a few moments, the tears were on their faces. At +length their president, the school superintendent, spoke for them: + +"Miss Barton," he said, "we all appreciate this, and in the name of all +I promise you that the pit shall be reverently planted, and I trust the +time will come when I can tell you that our tree is not only bearing +fruit for ourselves, but for all suffering brethren, as theirs have done +for us." + +I then handed them the check for $397. The moment seemed sacred when +these poor dark figures, struggling toward the light, walked out of my +presence. The pit has been successfully planted in Galveston, and we are +from time to time informed of its bearing. + + + + +VII + +ARMENIAN RELIEF + +1896 + + +Leaving the Port Royal field past midsummer of 1894, after an absence of +nearly a year--at a day's notice--the remainder of the autumn and winter +was scarcely less occupied in the details which had been unavoidably +overlooked. Before spring our correspondence commenced to enlarge with +rumors of Armenian massacres, and so excited and rapid was the increase +that, so far as actual labor, consultation, and thought were concerned, +we might as well have been on a field of relief. + +Unfortunately, the suspicions of the Turkish Government had fallen upon +the resident missionaries, both English and American, as favoring the +views and efforts of its anarchistic population, or the "young Turks," +as they were designated. This had the effect of placing the missionaries +in danger, confining them strictly to their own quarters, preventing +all communication and the receiving of any funds sent them from abroad. + +England had a large waiting fund which it could not distribute, and +appealed to the American Missionary Boards of Boston and New York, to +find them equally powerless. The need of funds among the missionaries +throughout Turkey was getting painfully urgent, and as a last resort it +was suggested from Constantinople that the Red Cross be asked to open +the way. + +A written request from the Rev. Judson Smith, D.D., of Boston, was +nearly identical with one received by us from Mr. Spencer Trask, of New +York, who with others was about to form a national Armenian relief +committee, to be established in that city. + +Following these communications, both of these eminent gentlemen, Mr. +Smith and Mr. Trask, came in person to urge our compliance with their +request that the Red Cross accept the charge and personally undertake +the doubtful and dangerous task of distributing the waiting funds among +the missionaries in Turkey. + +As Mr. Trask was to take the lead in the formation of a committee for +the raising of funds, his interest was naturally paramount, and his +arguments in favor of our acceptance were wellnigh irresistible. +Immediate action on the part of some one was imperative. Human beings +were starving, and could not be reached. Thousands of towns and villages +had not been heard from since the massacres, and only the Red Cross +could have any hope of reaching them. No one else was prepared for field +work; it had its force of trained field workers. Turkey was one of the +signatory powers to the Red Cross Treaty. Thus it was hoped and believed +that she would the more readily accept its presence. + +These are mere examples of the reasons urged by the ardent advocates of +the proposed committee, until at length we came to consider its +acceptance, on conditions which must be clearly understood. First, we +must not be expected to take any part in, or to be made use of, in the +raising of funds--one of our fundamental rules being never to ask for +funds--we did not do it for ourselves. + +Second, there must be perfect unanimity between themselves. We must be +assured that every one wanted us to go. Our part would be hard enough +then; and finally we must be sure they had some funds to distribute. + +Of the amount of these funds no mention was made by us, and I remember a +feeling of good-natured amusement as I heard the officers of this +untried effort at raising funds speak of "millions." It was easy to +discern that they were more accustomed to the figures of a banking +establishment than a charity organization dependent on the raising of +funds. They were likely to be disappointed. In reality, the amount, so +there were something to go with, made very little difference to us, as +we were merely to place what was entrusted to us where most needed, and +when that was done we had but to return. We never named any amount as +preferable to us. + +The means resorted to in raising the funds were unfortunate. In the +great public meetings called for that purpose the utmost indiscretion +prevailed in regard to language applied to Turkey and the Turkish +Government. This aroused the indignation of the Turkish officials, who +very reasonably took measures to have our entrance into Turkey +forbidden. + +A date of sailing, however, had been given Mr. Trask, and his committee, +feeling that any change would be detrimental to their efforts, no change +was made, and we sailed on time, to find in England no permission, and +further efforts necessary. With time and patience the troublesome +effects of these mistakes were overcome, and Constantinople was reached, +and a heavenly welcome by the harassed missionaries awaited us. + +The first step was to procure an introduction to the Turkish Government, +which had in one sense refused to see me. Accompanied by the American +Minister, Hon. A. W. Terrell, and his premier interpreter, Gargiulo, one +of the most experienced diplomatic officers in Constantinople, I called +by appointment upon Tewfik Pasha, the Turkish Minister of Foreign +Affairs, or Minister of State. To those conversant with the personages +connected with Turkish affairs, I need not say that Tewfik Pasha is +probably the foremost man of the government--a manly man, with a kind, +fine face, and genial, polished manners. Educated abroad, with advanced +views on general subjects, he impresses one as a man who would sanction +no wrong it was in his power to avert. + +Mr. Terrell's introduction was most appropriate and well expressed, +bearing with strong emphasis upon the suffering condition of the people +of the interior, in consequence of the massacres, the great sympathy of +the people of America, and giving assurance that our objects were purely +humanitarian, having neither political, racial, nor religious +significance. + +The Pasha listened most attentively to Mr. Terrell, thanked him, and +said that this was well understood, that they knew the Red Cross and its +president. Turning to me he repeated: "We know you, Miss Barton; have +long known you and your work. We would like to hear your plans for +relief and what you desire." + +I proceeded to state our plans for relief, which, if not carried out at +this time, the suffering in Armenia, unless we had been misinformed, +would shock the entire civilized world. None of us knew from personal +observation, as yet, the full need of assistance, but had reason to +believe it very great. If my agents were permitted to go, such need as +they found they would be prompt to relieve. On the other hand, if they +did not find the need existing there, none would leave the field so +gladly as they. There would be no respecting of persons--humanity alone +would be their guide. "We have," I added, "brought only ourselves; no +correspondent has accompanied us, and we shall have none, and shall not +go home to write a book on Turkey. We are not here for that. Nothing +shall be done in any concealed manner. All dispatches which we send will +go openly through your own telegraph, and I should be glad if all that +we shall write could be seen by your government. I can not, of course, +say what its character will be, but can vouch for its truth, fairness, +and integrity, and for the conduct of every leading man who shall be +sent. I shall never counsel or permit a sly or underhand action with +your government, and you will pardon me, Pasha, if I say I shall expect +the same treatment in return--such as I give I shall expect to receive." + +Almost without a breath he replied: "And you shall have it. We honor +your position and your wishes shall be respected. Such aid and +protection as we are able, we shall render." + +I then asked if it were necessary for me to see other officials. "No," +he replied, "I speak for my government," and with cordial good wishes +our interview closed. + +I never spoke personally with this gentleman again, all further business +being officially transacted through the officers of our legation. Yet I +can truly say, as I have said of my first meeting with our matchless +band of missionary workers, that here commenced an acquaintance which +proved invaluable, and here were given pledges of mutual faith, of which +not a word was ever broken on either side. + +The Turkish Government, when once it came to understand American methods +and enthusiasm was forgiving and kind to us. No obstruction was ever +placed in our way. Our five expeditions passed through Armenian Turkey +from sea to sea, distributing whatever was needed, repairing the +destroyed machines, enabling the people to make tools to harvest their +grain, thus averting a famine; providing medical help and food as well +for thousands of sick; setting free the frightened inhabitants, and +returning them to the villages from which they had fled for their lives; +restoring all missionary freedom that had been interrupted; establishing +a more kindly feeling toward them on the part of the government; and +through all this, we had never one unpleasant transaction with any +person of whatever name or race. + +While our expeditions were getting ready to go out by the Black Sea, a +request was brought to me by Dr. Washburn, of Robert College, from Sir +Philip Currie, the British Ambassador at Constantinople, asking if I +could not be "persuaded" to turn my expedition through the +Mediterranean, rather than the Black Sea, in order to reach Mirash and +Zeitoun, where the foreign consuls were at the moment convened. They had +gotten word to him that ten thousand people in those two cities were +down with four distinct epidemics--typhoid and typhus fevers, dysentery +and smallpox--that the victims were dying in overwhelming numbers, and +that there was not a physician among them, all being either sick or +dead, with no medicine and little food. + +This was not a case for "persuasion," but of heartfelt thanks from us +all, that Sir Philip had remembered to call us, whom he had never met. +But here was a hindrance. The only means of conveyance from +Constantinople to Alexandretta were coasting boats, belonging to +different nationalities, which left only once in two weeks, and +irregularly at that. Transport for our goods was secured on the first +boat to leave, the goods taken to the wharf at Galata, and at the latest +moment, in order to give time, a request was made to the government for +_teskeres_, or traveling permits, for Dr. J. B. Hubbell and assistants. +To our surprise they were granted instantly, but by some delay on the +part of the messenger sent for them they reached a moment too late. The +boat left a little more promptly, taking with it our relief goods, and +leaving the men on the dock to receive their permits only when the boat +was beyond recall. It was really the fault of no one. + +With the least possible delay Dr. Hubbell secured passage by the first +boat at Smyrna, and a fortunate chance boat from there took him to +Alexandretta, via Beyrout and Tripoli, Syria. The goods arrived in +safety, and two other of our assistants, whom we had called by cable +from America--Edward M. Wistar and Charles King Wood--were also passed +over to the same point with more goods. There, caravans were fitted out +to leave over the--to them--unknown track to Aintab, as a first base. +From this point the reports of these three gentlemen made to me will be +living witnesses. They tell their own modest tales of exposure, severe +travel, hard work, and hardship, of which no word of complaint has ever +passed their lips. There have been only gratitude and joy, that they +could do something in a cause at once so great and so terrible. + +While this was in progress, a dispatch came to me at Constantinople from +Dr. Shepard of Aintab, whose tireless hands had done the work of a score +of men, saying that fevers, both typhoid and typhus, of the most +virulent nature, had broken out in Arabkir, two or three days north of +Harpoot; could I send doctors and help? Passing the word on to Dr. +Hubbell at Harpoot, prompt and courageous action was taken by him. It is +something to say that from a rising pestilence with a score of deaths +daily, in five weeks, himself and his assistants left the city in a +normally healthful condition, the mortality ceasing at once under their +care and treatment. + +During this time the medical relief for the cities of Zeitoun and Marash +was in charge of Dr. Ira Harris, of Tripoli, who reached there March +18th. The report of the consuls had placed the number of deaths from the +four contagious diseases at one hundred a day. This would be quite +probable when it is considered that ten thousand were smitten with the +prevailing diseases, and that added to this were the crowded condition +of the patients, the thousands of homeless refugees who had flocked from +their forsaken villages, the lack of all comforts, of air, cleanliness, +and a state of prolonged starvation. + +Dr. Harris's first report to me was that he was obliged to set the soup +kettles boiling and feed his patients before medicine could be retained. +My reply was a draft for two hundred liras (something over eight hundred +dollars) with the added dispatch: "Keep the pot boiling; let us know +your wants." The further reports show from this time an astonishingly +small number of deaths. The utmost care was taken by all our expeditions +to prevent the spread of the contagion and there is no record of its +ever having been carried out of the cities, where it was found, either +at Zeitoun, Marash, or Arabkir. Lacking this precaution, it might well +have spread throughout all Asia Minor, as was greatly feared by the +anxious people. + +On the twenty-fourth of May, Dr. Harris reported the disease as +overcome. His stay being no longer needed, he returned to his great +charge in Tripoli, with the record of a medical work and success behind +him never surpassed if ever equaled. The lives he had saved were enough +to gain Heaven's choicest diadem. Never has America cause to be more +justly proud and grateful than when its sons and daughters in foreign +lands perform deeds of worth like that. + +The closing of the medical fields threw our entire force into the +general relief of the vilayet of Harpoot, which the relieving +missionaries had well named their "bottomless pit." + +The apathy to which the state of utter nothingness, together with their +grief and fear, had reduced the inhabitants, was by no means the +smallest difficulty to be overcome. Here was realized the great danger +felt by all--that of continued alms-giving, lest they settle down into a +condition of pauperism, and thus finally starve, from the inability of +the world at large to feed them. The presence of a strange body of +friendly working people, coming thousands of miles to help them, +awakened a hope and stimulated the desire to help themselves. + +It was a new experience that these strangers _dared_ to come to them. +Although the aforetime home lay a heap of stone and sand, and nothing +belonging to it remained, still the land was there, and when seed to +plant the ground and the farming utensils and cattle were brought to +work it with, the faint spirit revived, the weak, hopeless hands +unclasped, and the farmer stood on his feet again. + +When the cities could no longer provide the spades, hoes, plows, picks +and shovels, and the crude iron and steel to make these was purchased +and taken to them, the blacksmith found again his fire and forge and +traveled weary miles with his bellows on his back. The carpenter again +swung his hammer and drew his saw. The broken and scattered +spinning-wheels and looms from under the storms and _débris_ of winter +again took form and motion, and the fresh bundles of wool, cotton, flax, +and hemp in the waiting widow's hand brought hopeful visions of the +revival of industries which should not only clothe but feed. + +At length, in early June, the great grain-fields of Diarbekir, Farkin, +and Harpoot valleys, planted the year before, grew golden and bowed +their heavy spear-crowned heads in waiting for the sickle. But no +sickles were there, no scythes, not even knives. It was a new and sorry +sight for our full-handed American farming men to see those poor, hard +Asiatic hands trying, by main strength, to break the tough straw or pull +it by the roots. This state of things could not continue, and their +sorrow and pity gave place to joy when they were able to drain the +cities of Harpoot and Diarbekir of harvest tools, and turned the work of +all the village blacksmiths on to the manufacture of sickles and +scythes, and of flint workers upon the rude threshing machines. + +They have told me since their return that the pleasantest memories left +to them were of those great valleys of golden grain, bending and falling +before the harvesters, men and women, each with the new, sharp sickle or +scythe, the crude threshing planks, the cattle trampling out the grain, +and the gleaners in the rear as in the days of Abraham and Moab. God +grant that somewhere among them was a kind-hearted king of the harvest +who gave orders to let some sheaves fall. + +Even while this saving process was going on another condition no less +imperative arose. These fields must be replanted or starvation must be +simply delayed. Only the strength of their old-time teams of oxen could +break up the hard sod and prepare for the fall sowing. Not an +animal--ox, cow, horse, goat, or sheep--had been left. All had been +driven to the Kourdish Mountains. When Mr. Wood's telegram came, calling +for a thousand oxen for the hundreds of villages, I thought of our not +rapidly swelling bank account, and all that was needed everywhere else, +and replied accordingly. + +When in return came the telegram from the Rev. Dr. Gates, president of +Harpoot College, the live, active, practical man of affairs, whose +judgment no one could question, saying that the need of oxen was +imperative, that unless the ground could be plowed before it dried and +hardened it could not be done at all, and the next harvest would be +lost, also that "Mr. Wood's estimate was moderate," the financial +secretary was directed to send a draft for five thousand liras +(twenty-two thousand dollars) to the care of the Rev. Dr. Gates, to be +divided among the three expeditions for the purchase of cattle and the +progress of the harvest of 1897. + +As the sum sent would be immediately applied, the active services of the +men would be no longer required, and directions went with the remittance +to report in person at Constantinople. + +Unheard-of toil, care, hard riding day and night, with risk of life, +were all involved in the carrying out of that order. Among the +uncivilized and robber bands of Kourds, the cattle that had been stolen +and driven off must be picked up, purchased, and brought back to the +waiting farmer's field. There were routes so dangerous that a brigand +chief was selected by those understanding the situation as the safest +escort for our men. Perhaps the greatest danger encountered was in the +region of Farkin, beyond Diarbekir, where the official escort had not +been waited for, and the leveled musket of the faithless guide told the +difference. + +At length the task was accomplished. One by one the expeditions closed +and withdrew, returning by Sivas and Samsoun, and coming out by the +Black Sea. With the return of the expeditions we closed the field. But +contributors would be glad to know that subsequent to this, before +leaving Constantinople, funds from both the New York and Boston +committees came to us amounting to about fifteen thousand dollars. This +was happily placed with Mr. W. W. Pect, treasurer of the Board of +Foreign Missions at Stamboul, to be used subject to our order; and with +our concurrence it was employed in the building of little houses in the +interior, as a winter shelter and protection, where all had been +destroyed. + +The appearance of our men on their arrival at Constantinople confirmed +the impression that they had not been recalled too soon. They had gone +out through the snows and ice of winter, and without change or rest had +come back through the scorching suns of midsummer--five months of rough, +uncivilized life, faring and sharing with their beasts of burden, +well-nigh out of communication with the civilized world, but never out +of danger. It seemed but just to themselves and to others who might need +them, that change and rest be given them. + +It would scarcely be permissible to express in words the obligation to +our American Minister, Hon. A. W. Terrell, at Constantinople, without +whose unremitting care and generous aid our work could not have been +accomplished. And, indeed, so many were the duties of that difficult and +delicate field that it seemed the help of no one hand or heart could be +spared. We felt that we had them all; from the palace of the Sultan to +beloved Robert College, from the American Legation to the busy rooms of +the American Board, with its masterly treasurer, Peet, were the same +outstretched hands of protection and care for our little band. + +They knew we had taken our lives in our hands to come to them, and with +no thought of ourselves. We had done the best we knew to accomplish the +mission so persistently sought of us in our own country. + +That our work had been acceptable to those who received its results, we +knew. They had never failed to _make_ us know. If also acceptable to Him +who gave us the courage, protection, and strength to perform it, we need +care for little more. + +Funds to the total amount of $116,326.01 were cabled us by Mr. Spencer +Trask's committee, all of which were placed in the hands of Mr. W. W. +Peet, treasurer of the missionary board at Constantinople. All proper +receipts were given and taken, and feeling that we had faithfully and +successfully accomplished the work we had been asked to perform, we +closed the field, and prepared to return to America. + +Some days of physical rest were needful for the men of the expeditions +after reaching Constantinople before commencing their journey of +thousands of miles for home, worn as they were by exposure and incessant +labor--physical and mental. I need not attempt to say with what +gratitude I welcomed back these weary, brown-faced men and officers +from a field so difficult and so perilous; none the less did the +gratitude go out to my faithful and capable secretary, who had toiled +early and late, never leaving for a day, striving with tender heart that +all should go well. + +And when the first greetings were over, the full chorus of manly +voices--"Home Again," "Sweet Land of Liberty," "Nearer My God to +Thee"--that rolled out through the open windows of the Red Cross +headquarters in Constantinople fell on the listening ears of Christian +and Moslem alike, and though the tones were new and strange, all felt +that to some one, somewhere, they meant more than the mere notes of +music. + + + + +VIII + +CUBA + +1898 + + +On our return to "civilization" we were rejoiced to find that as a +result of our three months' labors, the former tumult of Armenia had +died away into a peaceful echo, but a new murmur fast growing to clamor +had taken its place. Cuba had entered the ceaseless arena of American, +gladiatorial, humanitarian contest. The cruelties of the reconcentrado +system of warfare had become apparent, and methods of relief were +uppermost in the minds of all persons. + +These methods were twofold and might well be classed under two distinct +heads: those who for mere pity's sake sought simple relief; those who +with a further forecast sought the removal of a cause as well as its +effect, and "Cuba Libre" was its muffled cry. They asked money for arms +as well as bread, and the struggle between the two held the country in +a state of perplexed contradiction for months running into years. + +Our great-hearted President asked simple aid and was distressed at the +doubtful response. At length he suggested and we proffered the aid of +the Red Cross on a call to the country, and the establishment of the +"Central Cuban Relief Committee" in New York, within three days, was the +result. + +The activity and success of that committee are too fresh in the minds of +all our people to require the smallest description from me. Too much +praise can not be given to our Auxiliary Societies from the Atlantic to +the Pacific for the splendid work in the camps at home, in Cuba, Porto +Rico, and in the care of our soldiers in transit to the Philippines. +Their full and complete reports show the great work accomplished. The +memory of the work of the busy men and tireless women who joined heart +and hand in this Heaven-sent task still brings tears to the eyes of a +nation at its recall. + +The service assigned me by our anxious President, and gladly accepted, +was the distribution on the pitiful fields of Cuba. These scenes I +would not recall. The starving mothers and motherless babes, the +homelessness and squalor, the hopelessness and despair, are beyond all +words and all conception, save to those who saw and lived among them. It +is past and let it rest. + +Then followed the declaration of hostilities, the blockade, the fleets +of war, and the stately, glistening white ships of relief that dotted +the sea--our navy after forty years of peace again doing service in its +own waters--and among them one inconspicuous, black-hulled sea-going +craft, laden with food for the still famishing reconcentrados, when they +could be reached. + +Day after day, in its weary, waiting cruise, it watched out for an +opening to that closed-in suffering island, till at length the thunder +of the guns, Siboney, San Juan, opened the track, and the wounded troops +of our own army, hungering on their own fields, were the reconcentrados +of the hour. + +Tampa became the gathering-point of the army. Its camps filled like +magic, first with regulars, then volunteers, as if the fiery torch of +Duncraigen had spread over the hills and prairies of America. The great +ships gathered in the waters, the transports, with decks dark with human +life, passed in and out, and the battleships of the sea held ever their +commanding sway. It seemed a strange thing, this gathering for war. +Thirty years of peace had made it strange to all save the veterans of +the days of the old war, long passed into history. Could it be possible +that we were to learn this anew? Were men again to fall, and women weep? +Were the youth of this generation to gain that experience their fathers +had gained, to live the war-lives they had lived, and die the deaths +they had died? + +At length the fleet moved on, and we prepared to move with, or rather +after it. The quest on which it had gone, and the route it had taken, +bordered something on the mystery shrouding the days when Sherman +marched to the sea. Where were the Spanish ships? What would be the +result when found and met? Where were we to break that Cuban wall and +let us in? + +Always present in our minds were the food we carried, the willing hands +that waited, and the perishing thousands that needed. We knew the great +hospital ships were fitting for the care of the men of both Army and +Navy. Surely they could have no need of us. + +We had taken possession of our ship at Key West on the 29th of April. It +was now the 20th of June and the national records of two countries at +least will always give the history of those days. It is our part to keep +as clearly, truthfully, and kindly as possible, the record of the little +that fell to us to perform in this great drama. + +Weighing anchor at Key West the State of Texas steamed for the open +Caribbean, we having first taken the official advice of Commodore Remy +to find Admiral Sampson and report to him. + +Sunrise of the twenty-fifth gave us our first view of the water at +Santiago. Our transports and battle-ships were gathered there. The +advice of Admiral Sampson was that we proceed to Guantanamo, where the +marines had made a landing and were camped on the shore. There had been +some fighting at Guantanamo. The naval hospital ship Solace was there. + +Whoever has enjoyed this quiet, sheltered harbor, protected on three +sides by beautiful wooded hills, will not require to be reminded of it. +At six o'clock our anchor sunk in the deep, still waters and we had time +to look about and see the beginning of the war. The marines were camped +along the brow of a hill. On our right a camp of Cubans, and all about +us the great war-ships with their guns, which told of forthcoming +trouble. Captain McCalla, who was in command of Guantanamo, had sent his +compliments and a launch, leading us in to our place of anchorage. The +courtesies of the navy so early commenced at Key West were continued +throughout the war. + +By invitation of Commander Dunlap our entire company visited the Solace +the following day. If that beautiful ship or its management had left +room on the records of our country's meed of gratitude, for more words +of appreciative praise, I should be glad to speak them. Only those +familiar with the earliest history of the Red Cross in our country, and +the methods by which our navy alone--of all the Red Cross nations--had +gained even an approximately legal place, can judge what the sight of +that first naval relief ship in American waters was to me. It brought +back so vividly the memory of the day in 1881 when President Arthur +called me to him to carefully explain the conditions of the treaty which +he had just signed, and that, Congress having generously included the +navy in its treaty for war, he would provide to hold it carefully until +the probable widening of the original treaty would include the _navies_ +of the world, as well as the armies. + +Before the day closed news came to us of a serious character. The daring +Rough Riders had been hardly dealt by. Hamilton Fish and Allyn Capron +had been killed, and the wounded needed help. Wherever they might be, it +must be possible to reach them, and it was decided that no time be lost. +Our men commenced work in the hold of the ship to get at medical +supplies and dressings, and the captain took his orders. I find in my +diary at the close of that day the following paragraph: "It is the Rough +Riders we go to, and the relief may be also rough, but it will be +_ready_. A better body of helpers could scarcely be gotten together." + +Nine o'clock of the same night found us at Siboney, which can scarcely +be called a harbor, for it has no anchorage. The next morning at +daybreak we stood on deck to see the soldiers filing up over the hill, +in heavy marching order, forming in lines by ones and twos, winding up, +in and out among the hills, higher and higher. As we watched them they +were a moving line trailing on toward the clouds, till lost in the mist, +and we could only think, as we looked at them, on how many and on which, +is set the mark of death? He knew no more than we--poor fellow--and +with his swinging, steady gait, toils up and up and waits for--he knows +not what. + +The hospitals, both American and Cuban, located on the shore just to the +right of us, were visited by our men that same evening. Some of their +surgeons called on us. All seemed interested in the Red Cross, but none +thought that a woman nurse would be in place in a soldiers' +hospital--indeed, very much out of place. I suggested that that decision +was hard for me, for I had spent a great deal of time in soldiers' +hospitals myself. They appeared to understand that perfectly, but there +seemed to be a _later_ line which could not be crossed. + +The Cubans who had just come into camp expressed a desire for any +assistance we could give them. They would be glad to have the Red Cross +Sisters in their little hospital, but begged us to wait just a day until +it could be put in better order. The Sisters were not the persons to +grant that day of preparation. + +On the contrary they at once went to work, thoroughly cleaned the little +three-room building--Garcia's abandoned headquarters, to be used as a +hospital--and when the day closed the transformation showed clean rooms, +clean cots, and the grateful occupants wondering whether Heaven itself +could be more comfortable, or anything more desirable than the palatable +food prepared for them by the Sisters. + +Three days later the following letter was received: + + +"To MISS CLARA BARTON, President, + +"American National Red Cross: + +"I have the honor to request your assistance in caring for the patients +in a so-called hospital near the landing at this point. + +"The orders are to the effect that all patients now under treatment on +the shore shall be transferred to the Iroquois and Olivette, but the +facilities for carrying out this order are apparently inadequate. In +order that the division hospital may remain unhampered for the care of +the wounded in the engagement about to take place, it is necessary for +me to request this favor of you, and I trust that you may find it +possible to comply with said request. + +"Your obedient servant, + +"LOUIS A. LE GARDE, + +"Major and Surgeon, U. S. A., Commanding +Hospital." + + +To this the following reply was immediately returned: + + +"Steamship State of Texas, + +"SIBONEY, SANTIAGO DE CUBA, _June 30, 1898_. + +"DR. LOUIS A. LE GARDE, + +"Major and Surgeon, U. S. A., Commanding Hospital. + +"Major: Permit me to express the pleasure given me by your letter +inviting the assistance of the persons here under my direction in the +care of the sick and wounded of the engagement about to take place. +Although not here as a hospital ship by any means--not legitimately +fitted for the work--still we have some hospital supplies, a few +intelligent workers, skill, experience, the willingness to serve, the +readiness to obey, and I believe the true spirit of the Red Cross, that +seeks to help humanity wherever its needs exist. I send them to you in +the hope that they may be of service. + +"Cordially yours, + +"CLARA BARTON, + +"President, American National Red Cross." + + +Our surgeons and assistants went on shore, where Dr. Le Garde and Dr. +Lesser secured a small house, and in a few hours this had undergone the +same transformation and by the same hands as the Cuban hospital. The Red +Cross flag was hoisted, Dr. Lesser placed in charge, and scores of our +soldiers who had been lying on the filthy floors of an adjacent +building, with no food but army rations, were carried over, placed in +clean cots, and given proper food. From that on, no distinction was +made, the Red Cross flag floating over both the American and Cuban +hospitals. + +A few feet away, all the available army tents were put up as additional +accommodation for the "wounded in the engagement about to take place." +It did take place the following day, and, as will be well remembered, in +those two days, Friday and Saturday, the first and second of July, the +tents were more than filled with wounded in the battle of San Juan Hill. +Three of the five Sisters went into the operating tent, and with the +surgeons worked for thirty hours with only a few moments' rest now and +then for a cup of coffee and a cracker or piece of bread. We heard +nothing more about a woman nurse being out of place in a soldiers' +hospital. + +On Saturday evening, the second day of the San Juan battle, a slip of +paper with these penciled words was brought to the door of the hospital: + + +"Send food, medicines, anything. Seize wagons from the front for +transportation. + +"SHAFTER." + + +The call for help was at once sent over to the State of Texas, and we +worked all night getting out supplies and sending them ashore with a +force of Cubans, only too glad to work for food. + +I wish I could make apparent how difficult a thing it was to get +supplies from our ship to the shore in a surf which, after ten o'clock +in the morning, allowed no small boats to touch even the bit of a pier +that was run out without breaking either the one or the other, and +nothing in the form of a lighter save two dilapidated flat-boat +pontoons. These had been broken and cast away by the engineer corps, +picked up by ourselves, mended by the Cubans, and put in condition to +float alongside of our ship, and receive perhaps three or four tons of +material. This must then be rowed or floated out to the shore, run onto +the sand as far as possible, the men jumping into the water from knee to +waist deep, pulling the boat up from the surf, and getting the material +on land. And this was what was meant by loading the "seized wagons from +the front" and getting food to the wounded. After ten o'clock in the day +even this was impossible, and we must wait until the calm of three +o'clock next morning to commence work again and go through the same +struggle to get something to load the wagons for that day. Our supplies +had been gotten ashore, and among the last, rocking and tossing in our +little boat, went ourselves, landing on the pier, which by that time was +breaking in two, escaping a surf which every other moment threatened to +envelop one from feet to head, we reached the land. + +Our "seized" wagons had already gone on, loaded with our best hospital +supplies--meal, flour, condensed milk, malted milk, tea, coffee, sugar, +dried fruits, canned fruits, canned meats, and such other things as we +had been able to get out in the haste of packing--entirely filling the +two wagons already in advance. + +An ambulance had been spoken of. We waited a little while by the +roadside, but the ambulance did not appear. Then, halting a wagon loaded +with bales of hay, we begged a ride of the driver, and our little party, +Dr. and Mrs. Gardner, James McDowell, and myself, took our seats on the +hay and made our way to the front, Dr. Hubbell following afoot. Four +hours' ride brought us to the First Division Hospital of the Fifth Army +Corps--General Shafter's headquarters. + +The sight that met us on going into the so-called hospital grounds was +something indescribable. The land was perfectly level; no drainage +whatever; covered with long, tangled grass; skirted by trees, brush, +and shrubbery; a few little dog-tents not much larger than could have +been made of an ordinary table-cloth thrown over a short rail, and under +these lay huddled together the men fresh from the field or from the +operating-tables, with no covering over them save such as had clung to +them through their troubles, and in the majority of cases no blanket +under them. + +Those who had come from the tables, having been compelled to leave all +the clothing they had, as too wet, muddy, and bloody to be retained, +were entirely nude, lying on the stubble grass, the sun fitfully dealing +with them, sometimes clouding over and again streaming out in a blaze +above them. Fortunately, among our supplies were some bolts of +unbleached cotton, and this we cut in sheet lengths, and the men of our +party went about and covered the poor fellows, who lay there with no +shelter either from the elements or the eyes of the passers-by. + +A half dozen bricks laid about a yard apart, a couple of pieces of +wagon-tire laid across these, so low and so near the ground that no fire +of any strength or benefit could be made--the bits of wet wood put +under crosswise, with the smoke streaming a foot out on either side, two +kettles of coffee or soup, and a small frying-pan with some meat in +it--appeared to be the cook-house for these men. They told us there were +about eight hundred men under the tents and lying in the grass, and more +constantly coming in. + +After a few moments' consultation as to the best methods to be pursued, +we too gathered stones and bricks and constructed a longer, higher +fireplace, got more wagon-tires, found the water, and soon our great +agate kettles of seven and ten gallons were filled. + +The rain, that had been drizzling more or less all day, increased. Our +supplies were taken from the wagons, a piece of tarpaulin found to +protect them, and as the fire began to blaze and the water to heat, Mrs. +Gardner and I found the way into the bags and boxes of flour, salt, +milk, and meal, and got material for the first gallons of gruel. I had +not thought to ever make gruel again over a camp-fire. I can not say how +far it carried me back in the lapse of time, or really where, or who I +felt that I was. + +It did not seem to be me, and still I seemed to know how to do it. + +When the bubbling contents of our kettle thickened and grew white with +the condensed milk, and we began to give it out--putting it into the +hands of men detailed as nurses, and our own men, to take around to the +poor sufferers, shivering and naked in the rain--I felt that perhaps it +was not in vain that history had repeated itself. When the nurses came +back and told us of the surprise with which it was received, and the +tears that rolled down the sun-burned, often bloody face, into the cup +as the poor fellow drank his hot gruel, and asked where it came from, +who sent it, and said it was the first food he had tasted in three days +(for they had gone into the fight hungry), I felt that it was again the +same old story and wondered what gain there had been in the last thirty +years. + +The fires burned, the gruel steamed and boiled--bucket after bucket went +out--until those eight hundred men had each a cup of gruel and knew that +he could have another and as many as he wanted. The day waned, the +darkness came, and still the men were unsheltered, uncovered, naked, +and wet--scarcely a groan, no word of complaint--no man said he was not +well treated. + +The operating-tables were full of the wounded. Man after man was taken +off, brought on his litter and laid beside other men, and something +given him to keep the little life in his body that seemed fast oozing +out. All night it went on. It grew cold--for naked men bitter +cold--before morning. We had no blankets, nothing to cover them, only +the strips of cotton cloth. + +Early in the morning ambulances started, and such of the wounded as +could be loaded in were taken to be carried back over that rough, +pitiless road, down to Siboney, to the hospitals there--that we had done +the best we could toward fitting up--where our hundred cots, hundred and +fifty blankets had gone, cups, spoons, and delicacies, that would help +to strengthen these poor, fainting men, if they could get there, and +where also the Sisters would care for them. + +They brought man after man, stretcher after stretcher, to the waiting +ambulances, and they took out seventeen who had died in the night, +unattended, save by the nurse. + +More supplies arrived, and this time came large tarpaulins, more +utensils, more food, and more things to make it a little comfortable. We +removed our first kitchens across the road, up alongside the headquarter +tent of Major Wood, in charge of the camp. Words can not do justice to +his kind-hearted generosity. He strove in every way to do all that could +be done, and the night before had given us a small tent in which we had +huddled from the pouring rain, for a couple of hours, in the middle of +the night, the water rushing through like a rivulet. + +The tarpaulins were put over supplies, a new fireplace made near +us--magnificent in its dimensions--shelter given for boxes and barrels +that by this time had accumulated about us, and there was even something +that looked like a table, on which Mrs. Gardner prepared her delicacies. + +Early in the day there came to our improvised headquarters an officer in +khaki uniform showing hard service, and a bandanna handkerchief hanging +from his hat, to protect the back of his head and neck from the fierce +rays of the sun. + +It was Colonel Roosevelt, and we were very glad to meet the gallant +leader of the "Rough Riders." After a few moments conversation he said: + +"I have some sick men with the regiment who refuse to leave it. They +need such delicacies as you have here, which I am ready to pay for out +of my own pocket. Can I buy them from the Red Cross?" + +"Not for a million dollars," Dr. Gardner replied. + +"But my men need these things," he said, his tone and face expressing +anxiety. "I think a great deal of my men. I am proud of them." + +"And we know they are proud of you, Colonel. But we can't sell Red Cross +supplies," answered Dr. Gardner. + +"Then, how can I get them? I must have proper food for my sick men," he +said. + +"Just ask for them, Colonel," replied Dr. Gardner. + +"Oh," he said, his face suddenly lighting up with a bright smile; "then +I do ask for them." + +"All right, Colonel; what is your list?" + +The list included malted milk, condensed milk, oatmeal, cornmeal, canned +fruits, dried fruits, rice, tea, chocolate, and even prepared beefsteak +and vegetables, and other things good for men who could not eat army +rations. + +"Now, Colonel, when will you send for these supplies?" asked Dr. +Gardner. "They will be ready any time." + +"Lend me a sack and I'll take them right along," he answered with +characteristic decision. + +Mrs. Gardner at once looked up a sack, and when filled it must have held +a good many pounds of supplies. Before we had recovered from our +surprise, the incident was closed by the future President of the United +States slinging the big sack over his shoulders, striding off, and out +of sight through the jungle. + +The gruel still remained the staple, but malted milk, chocolate, rice, +and tea had come in, and little by little various things were added by +which our _menage_ quite resembled a hotel. The wounded were still being +taken away by ambulance and wagon, assorted and picked over like fruit. +Those who would bear transportation were taken away, the others left +where they were. By the third day our patients seemed strong enough that +we might risk giving them food as solid as rice, and the great kettles +were filled with that, cooked soft, mixed with condensed and malted +milk. The number of wounded grew less day by day, and better care could +be taken of them. + +At Siboney, the great needs of the hour were met by the little band of +surgeons and nurses, working night and day. The following is from a +letter in the Times-Herald, now Record-Herald, of Chicago, by Miss Janet +Jennings, who volunteered her service in the hospital. One gets from +this simple, direct picture, a better appreciation of that heroism which +lives after excitement, which survives the rush and shouting of assault, +which is sustained without comradeship: + + +"SIBONEY, _July 8, 1898_. + +"Above hospital tents Red Cross flags are flying, and here is the real +life--the suffering and heroism. Everybody who can do even so little as +carry a cup of water lends willing hands to help the wounded. Most of +the wounded are from the first day's engagement, when the infantry was +ordered to lead the attack on Santiago, instead of using the artillery. + +"And it all came at once--a quick blow--with little or no preparation +to meet it. I mentioned in a former letter the lack of preparation on +the part of the army to care for the sick. There was then almost +nothing--no cots, bedding or proper food, for less than one hundred sick +men. + +"Two days later, when the wounded came in, the needs of the hour were +overwhelming. The situation can not be described. Thousands of our men +had been hurried to the front to fight. It was well understood that it +would be a hard fight. The dead would need only burial, but the wounded +would need care. And yet, with the exception of a limited number of +stretchers, a medicine-chest and a few bandages, no preparation had been +made--neither cots nor food--practically no hospital supplies. + +"It is not strange that surgeons were desperate and nurses distressed. +The force of each was wholly inadequate. The exact number of wounded may +never be known. But the estimate at this time is about 1,000 +wounded--some 1,500 killed and wounded. + +"Wounded men who made their way down on foot eight miles over the rough, +hilly road will never know just how their strength held out. Others were +brought down in army wagons by the load, as few ambulances were at +hand. Fortunately, there were some tents here that had been used by +troops before going to the front. Under these hay was spread and covered +with blankets, and the improvised hospital was ready. One tent was taken +for operating-tables, and the work of surgeons and nurses began. They +worked night and day for forty-eight hours, with only brief intervals +for coffee and hard-tack. + +"Wounded men had to wait for hours before bullets could be extracted and +wounds dressed. But there was no word of complaint--only silent, patient +suffering, borne with a courage that was sublime. As the wounded +continued to come in, tent-room gave out, and hay with blankets were +placed outside, and to these 'beds' the less severely wounded were +assigned. It was evident that the medical department of the army had +failed absolutely to send hospital supplies, or by this time they would +have been landed. As it was, the surgeons turned to the Red Cross ship +'State of Texas' for help, and the supplies originally intended for the +starving Cubans were sent ashore for our wounded. + +"Miss Barton had been urged and advised to wait until the army opened +and made the way safe to land supplies for reconcentrados and refugees. +But she had foreseen the situation to a certain degree and followed the +army as quickly as possible--to wait for the emergency, rather than have +the emergency wait for her. The 'State of Texas' was here a week before +the attack on Santiago. + +"While surgeons and nurses were probing for bullets and dressing wounds, +a force of men on the Red Cross ship worked half the night getting out +cots and blankets, food and bandages, and at daylight next morning the +supplies were landed, taking advantage of the smooth sea between four +and nine o'clock, as later in the day the high surf makes it extremely +difficult for landings. There were six tables in the operating-tent and +eight surgeons. In twenty-four hours the surgeons had operated upon and +dressed the wounds of 475 men. Four Red Cross sisters, trained nurses, +assisted the surgeons. They were Sister Bettina, wife of Dr. Lesser, +surgeon-in-chief of the Red Cross; Sister Minna, Sister Isabel, and +Sister Blanche. Their knowledge of surgery, skill, and nerve were a +revelation to the army surgeons. These young women, all under thirty, +went from one operating-table to another, and, whatever was the nature +of the wound or complication, proved equal to the emergency. + +"In the Red Cross Hospital, across the way, Sister Anna was in charge +of the sick men, turned over to the Red Cross two days before, when army +surgeons with troops were all ordered to the front. With 475 wounded men +to feed there was not a camp-kettle to be found in which gruel could be +prepared, coffee made or anything cooked, not a kettle of any sort to be +furnished by the army. The whole camp outfit at Tampa in the way of +cooking utensils must have been left behind. + +"But there was an overruling Providence when the 'State of Texas' was +loaded for Cuba. So far everything needed has been found in the hold of +this old ship, which deserves to have and will have a credit page in the +history of the war in Cuba. There were kettles, charcoal braziers, and +cooking utensils carried over to the Red Cross Hospital. To prepare +gruel, rice, coffee, and various other proper and palatable dishes for +forty or fifty sick men by the slow process of a charcoal brazier, +tea-kettle, and boiler is by no means easy cooking. But to prepare food +for 475 wounded men, some of whom had had nothing to eat for twenty-four +hours, cooking over a little charcoal pot is something that one must +take a 'hand in' to fully appreciate. + +"There was the feeling as if one were dazed and unnatural to hear +American soldiers, men from comfortable homes, literally begging for +'just a spoonful of gruel.' The charcoal pot burned night and day, +gallons of gruel were made and quantities of rice cooked until the +greatest stress had passed. It was no time to stand on trained service, +and everybody, man or woman, was ready to lend a hand. + +"A striking feature of the first day's engagement was the number of men +wounded in the head, arm, and upper part of the body. Some of these +cases, the most serious, were taken into the Red Cross Hospital, where +they received the most skilful and gentle nursing. + +"Two days' steady strain began to show on the Sisters. + +"The strain had been the greater because there were no facilities for +anything like a regular meal short of the ship, reached by a long, hard +tramp in the sand, then a row over the tossing waves. But nobody thought +of meals. The one thing was to feed and nurse the 500 wounded and sick +men. Human endurance, however, has its limit, and unless the Sisters +could get a little rest they would give out. I went on duty for +twenty-four hours, at night, with the assistance of one man, taking care +of forty patients, fever, measles, and dysentery cases, and half a dozen +badly wounded men. Among the latter was Captain Mills, of the First +Cavalry, and William Clark, a colored private in the Twenty-fifth +Infantry, regulars. They were brought over from the hospital tents and +placed on cots out on the little porch, where there was just room to +pass between the cots. + +"Their wounds were very similar--in the head--and of such a character as +to require cool applications to the eyes constantly. Ice was scarce and +worth its weight in gold, for the lives of these men as well as others +depended chiefly on cool applications to the eyes, with as uniform +temperature as possible. We had one small piece of ice, carefully +wrapped in a blanket. There never was a small piece of ice that went so +far. If I were to tell the truth about it nobody would believe me. + +"Never in my whole life, I think, have I wished for anything so much as +I wished for plenty of ice that night. It was applied by chipping in +small bits, laid in thin, dry cotton cloth, folded over in just the +right size and flat, to place across the eyes and forehead, enough of it +to be cold, but not heavy, on the wounds. + +"The ears of the sick are strangely acute. Whenever the sick men heard +the sound of chipping ice they begged for ice-water; even the smallest +bit of ice in a cup of water was begged with an eagerness that was +pitiful. I felt conscience-smitten. But it was a question of saving the +eyes of the wounded men, and there was no other way. To make the ice +last till morning I stealthily chipped it off so the sick men would not +hear the sound. + +"At midnight a surgeon came over from his tent ward with a little piece +of ice not larger than his hand. I do not know his name, but it does not +matter, it is inscribed above. 'This is all we can spare,' he said. +'Take it. You must keep those wounds cool at all hazards. I have another +case very like these--a man wounded in the head. I want to bring him +over here, where he will be sure of exactly the same nursing. His life +depends on the care he gets in the next twenty-four hours. Have you a +vacant cot?' + +"There was not a vacant cot, but we could make room for one on the porch +if he could find the cot. He thought he could, and went back, taking the +precious piece of ice that he really needed more than we did. In the +course of a half hour the surgeon returned to say it was impossible to +get a cot anywhere, and the wounded man must be left where he was in the +tent, at least until morning. + +"And so it went on through the long night--the patient suffering of the +sick men, the heroism of the wounded, all fearing to give any trouble, +desiring not to do so, find grateful for the smallest attention. + +"The courage that faces death on the battlefield or calmly awaits it in +the hospital is not a courage of race or color. Two of the bravest men I +ever saw were here, almost side by side on the little porch--Captain +Mills and Private Clark--one white, the other black. They were wounded +almost at the same time, and in the same way. The patient suffering and +heroism of the black soldier was fully equal to that of the Anglo-Saxon. +It was quite the same, the gentleness and appreciation. They were a +study, these men so widely apart in life, but here strangely close and +alike on the common ground of duty and sacrifice. They received +precisely the same care; each fed like a child, for with their bandaged +eyes they were as helpless as blind men. When the ice pads were renewed +on Captain Mills's eyes the same change was made on Private Clark's +eyes. There was no difference in their beds or food. Neither uttered a +word of complaint. The nearest to a regret expressed by Captain Mills +was a heavy sigh, followed by the words: 'Oh, we were not ready. Our +army was not prepared.' + +"Of himself he talked cheerfully, strong, and hopeful. 'I think I shall +go home with the sight of one eye,' he said. That was all. + +"In the early part of the night he was restless, his brain was active, +cool, and brave as he might be. The moonlight was very bright, a flood +of silver, seen only in the tropics. Hoping to divert him I said: 'The +moonlight is too bright, captain. I will put up a paper screen so you +can get to sleep.' + +"He realized at once the absurdity and the ludicrous side, and with an +amused smile replied: 'But you know I can't see the moonlight.' + +"I said it was time to get more ice for his head and half stumbled +across the porch, blinded by tears. When told who his nearest neighbor +was, Captain Mills expressed great sympathy for Private Clark and paid a +high tribute to the bravery of the colored troops and their faithful +performance of duty. + +"Private Clark talked but little. He would lie apparently asleep until +the pain in his head became unbearable. Then he would try to sit up, +always careful to keep the ice-pad on his eyes over the bandage. + +"'What can I do for you, Clark?' I would ask, anxious to relieve his +pain. + +"'Nothing, thank you,' he would answer. 'It's very nice and comfortable +here. But it's only the misery in my head--the misery is awful.' + +"Poor fellow! there was never a moan, merely a little sigh now and +then, but always that wonderful patience that seemed to me not without a +touch of divine philosophy, complete acceptance. + +"I have mentioned these two men, not as exceptional in bravery, but to +illustrate the rule of heroism, and because they were among the patients +under my immediate care that night. It was a strange night picture--a +picture that could never be dimmed by time but live through all the +years of one's life. + +"After midnight a restful atmosphere pervaded the hospital and the +blessing of sleep fell upon the suffering men, one by one. In the little +interval of repose I dropped into an old chair on the porch, looked away +to the beautiful mountains sharply outlined in the moonlight, and the +sea like waves of silver, the camp on the shore; near by thirty or forty +horses standing motionless. Then the hospital tents, with now and then +the flickering light of a candle; in the background the cliffs, with +here and there a Spanish blockhouse. Over all the tragedy of life and +death, the pain and sorrow, there was the stillness of a peaceful +night--a stillness broken only by the sound of the surf brought back on +the cool breeze, the cool, refreshing breeze, for which we all thanked +God." + + +Later on, as will be remembered, Miss Jennings went North--a volunteer +nurse on the transport Seneca. The brave men whose lives hung in the +balance that night--with little hope that, if life were spared, they +would ever see again--recovered, but each with the loss of an eye. After +a long furlough Private Clark returned to his regiment. Captain Mills, +now General Mills, is the Superintendent of the West Point Military +Academy. + +Three times in the first week I went over those terrible roads from the +front to Siboney and return. Arriving at Siboney late one night, there +was no way I could get on board the State of Texas and I was obliged to +remain on shore. The Postmaster insisted that I occupy a room in the +building used for a post-office. Such a courtesy could not be refused, +and against all feeling of acquiescence, and with a dread as if there +were something wrong about it, I allowed myself to be helped out of the +wagon and entered the house. The Postmaster sat down and talked with me +a little while. I thought he seemed ill. I had never met him before, but +my heart went out in sympathy for him. I feared I was taking his room, +although he did not admit it. + +I was shown into a room where there was a cot, a table, and a candle +without a stick, burning upon the table. The men went outside and laid +down upon the steps for the night. I laid down upon the cot, but it was +impossible for me to remain there. Something constantly warned me to +leave it. I got up, went to the door, looked out upon the night and +darkness, and waited for the gray of the morning. I went out and stood +upon the beach beside the sea and waited more and more, until finally +some of the men appeared, and I went with them down to the water. + +Six days later they told me that the rightful occupant of the cot--the +Postmaster, who had seemed so ill--had died of a fever raging here that +they called "yellow fever." I had occupied his cot. I wonder who it was +that so continually warned me that night to keep away from that room, +away from the cot, away from all connected with it? "Yellow fever" was +not then talked of. Did some one tell me? I do not know--but something +told me. + +The negotiations between General Shafter and the Spanish army at +Santiago were going on. The flag of truce, that threatened every day to +come down, still floated. The Spanish soldiers had been led by their +officers to believe that every man who surrendered--and the people as +well--would be butchered whenever the city should fall and the American +troops should come in. But when General Shafter commenced to send back +convoys of captured Spanish officers, their wounds dressed, and +carefully placed on stretchers, borne under flags of truce to the +Spanish lines at Santiago, and set down at the feet of General Toral, +and when in astonishment that officer learned the object of the flag of +truce and sent companies of his soldiers to form in line and present +arms, while the cortege of wounded were borne through by American +troops, a lesson was learned that went far toward the surrender of that +city. + +I happen to know that it was not without some very natural home +criticism that General Shafter persisted in his course in the face of +the time-honored custom of "hostages." One can readily understand that +the voluntary giving up of prisoners--officers at that--in view of an +impending battle, might seem in the light of old-time army usages a +waste, to characterize it by no harder term. It is possible that none of +the officers in that field had ever read the Articles of the Treaty of +Geneva, or fully recalled that the treaty had become a law, or that +their commander was acting in full accord with its wise and humane +principles. + +By this time the main talk of the camp was "yellow fever." It was soon +discovered by the medical authorities that, from there having been at +first one case of fever, there were now one hundred and sixteen, and +that a fever camp would probably be made there, and the wounded gotten +away. It was advisable then that we return to our ship and attempt, as +far as possible, to hold that free from contagion. I was earnestly +solicited to do this, in view of what was expected of our ship, and of +what was expected of us, that we not only protect ourselves but our +cargo and ship from all contamination and even suspicion. + +I faithfully promised to do so, and again called for an army wagon, +leaving all supplies that were useful for the men in camp--sending to El +Caney what was most needed there--and taking only our personal effects, +started for Siboney. In less than twenty minutes the rain was pouring on +us and for two hours it fell as if from buckets. The water was from a +foot and a half to two feet deep in the road as we passed along. At one +time our wagon careened, the mules were held up, and we waited to see +whether it should go over or could be brought out, the water a few +inches only from the top of the lower side. It was scarcely possible for +us to stir, hemmed in as we were, but the men from the other wagons +sprang to our wheels, hanging in the air on the upper side, and we were +simply saved by an inch. + +But like other things, this cleared away. We came into Siboney about +three o'clock, in a bright glare of sunshine, to find the town entirely +burned--all buildings gone or smoking--and a "yellow fever" hospital +established a mile and a half out from Siboney. + +All effort was made to hold our ship free from suspicion. The process of +reasoning leading to the conclusion that a solid cargo, packed in tight +boxes in the hold of a ship, anchored at sea, could become infected in +a day from the land or a passing individual, is indeed an intricate +process. But we had some experience in this direction. Captain McCalla, +in his repeated humane attempts to feed the refugees around Guantanamo, +had called again for a hundred thousand rations, saying that if we could +bring them to him soon he could get them to the starving people in the +woods. We lost no time, but got the food out and started with it in the +night. On reaching Guantanamo we were met some distance out, called to, +and asked if any one on our ship had been on shore at Siboney within +four days; if so, our supplies could not be received. We took them away, +leaving the starving to perish. + +The constantly recurring news of the surrender of Santiago was so well +established that we drew anchor, came up to the flag-ship, and sent the +following letter to Admiral Sampson: + + +"State of Texas, + +"_July 16, 1898_. + +"ADMIRAL SAMPSON, Commanding U. S. Fleet off +Santiago, Flag-Ship New York. + +"Admiral: It is not necessary for me to explain to you my errand, nor +its necessity; both your good head and heart divine it more clearly +than any words of mine can represent. + +"I send this to you by one of our men who can tell all you wish to know. +Mr. John Elwell has resided and done mercantile and shipping business in +Santiago for the last seven years; is favorably known to all its people; +has in his possession the keys of the best warehouses and residences in +the city, to which he is given welcome by the owners. He is the person +appointed four months ago to help distribute this food, and did so with +me until the blockade. There seems to be nothing in the way of getting +our twelve hundred tons of food into a Santiago warehouse and giving it +intelligently to the thousands who _need_ and _own_ it. I have twenty +good helpers with me. The New York committee is urging the discharge of +the State of Texas, which has been raised in price to four hundred +dollars a day. + +"If there is still more explanation needed, I pray you, Admiral, let me +see you. + +"Respectfuly and cordially, + +"CLARA BARTON." + + +These were anxious days. While the world outside was making up war +history, we thought of little beyond the terrible needs about us; if +Santiago had any people left, they must be in sore distress; and El +Caney, with its thirty thousand homeless, perishing sufferers, how could +they be reached? + +On that Sunday morning, never to be forgotten, the Spanish fleet came +out of Santiago Harbor, to meet death and capture. That afternoon +Lieutenant Capehart, of the flag-ship, came on board with the courteous +reply of Admiral Sampson, that if we would come alongside the New York +he would put a pilot on board. This was done, and we moved on through +waters we had never traversed; past Morro Castle, long, low, silent, and +grim; past the wrecks of the Spanish ships on the right; past the +Merrimac in the channel. We began to realize that we were alone, of all +the ships about the harbor there were none with us. The stillness of the +Sabbath was over all. The gulls sailed and flapped and dipped about us. +The lowering summer sun shot long golden rays athwart the green hills on +either side and tinged the water calm and still. The silence grew +oppressive as we glided along with scarce a ripple. We saw on the right +as the only moving thing, a long, slim yacht dart out from among the +bushes and steal its way up half-hidden in the shadows. Suddenly it was +overtaken by either message or messenger, and like a collared hound +glided back as if it had never been. + +Leaning on the rail, half lost in reverie over the strange, quiet beauty +of the scene, the thought suddenly burst upon me--are we really going +into Santiago, and alone? Are we not to be run out, and wait aside, and +salute with dipping colors, while the great battle-ships come up with +music and banners and lead the way? + +As far as the eye could reach no ship was in sight. Was this to remain +so? Could it be possible that the commander who had captured a city +declined to be the first to enter, that he would hold back his flag-ship +and himself, and send forward and first a cargo of food on a plain ship, +under direction of a woman? Did our commands, military or naval, hold +men great enough of soul for such action? It must be true, for the +spires of Santiago rise before us, and turning to the score of +companions beside me I ask: "Is there any one here who will lead the +Doxology?" In an instant the full rich voice of Enola Gardner rang out: +"Praise God from whom all blessings flow." By that time the chorus was +full, and the tears on many a face told more plainly than words how +genuine was that praise, and when in response to a second suggestion "My +Country 'Tis of Thee" swelled out on the evening air in the farewell +rays of the setting sun, the State of Texas was nearing the dock, and +quietly dropping her anchor she lay there through the silence of the +night in undisputed possession, facing a bare wind-swept wharf and the +deserted city of Santiago. + +Daybreak brought quiet to an end. The silence was no longer oppressive. +A hundred and twenty stevedores lined up on the wharf for work and +breakfast. The dock had tracks, and trucks running to its open +warehouses. Boxes, barrels, and bales, pitched out of that ship, thrown +onto the trucks and wheeled away, told the story of better days to come. +It was something to see the lank, brawny little army of stevedores take +their first breakfast in line, alongside of the ship. + +Later in the day the flag-ship brought Admiral Sampson and Admiral +Schley, who spent several hours with us. They had every opportunity to +see how our work was done, and if we were equal to unloading our ship. +When they were about to leave Admiral Sampson was asked what orders or +directions he had for us. He replied: "You need no directions from me, +but if any one troubles you let me know." + +The amiable pleasantries of these two gallant officers during that visit +are a pleasure to recall. As I was, at an opportune moment, attempting +to express my appreciation and thanks to Admiral Sampson for the +courtesy of allowing us to precede him into Santiago, Admiral Schley, +with that _naïveté_ and apt turn of expression so characteristic of him, +in a half undertone side-remark, cautioned me with "Don't give him too +much credit, Miss Barton; he was not quite sure how clear the channel +might be. Remember that was a trial trip." + +How sadly the recollection of that pleasant, memorable day has since +recurred to me; brave, gallant brothers in arms, and in heart; knowing +only a soldier's duty; each holding his country's honor first, his own +last; its glory his glory, and for himself seeking nothing more. Ah, +people, press, and politics! How deal ye with your servants? + +A message was received from General Shafter, who telegraphed from his +headquarters; "The death rate at El Caney is terrible; can you send +food?" The answer was to send the thirty thousand refugees of El Caney +at once back to Santiago; we were there and could feed them; that the +State of Texas had still twelve hundred tons of supplies. + +The thirty thousand inhabitants of Santiago had been driven to El Caney, +a village designed for five hundred. In two days all were called back +and fed, ten thousand the first day, twenty thousand the second. Then +came our troops, and Santiago was lived and is remembered. Its +hospitals, the ante-chamber to Montauk, are never to be forgotten. + +A general committee was formed, the city districted into sections, with +a commissioner for each district, selected by the people themselves +living there. Every family or person residing within the city was +supplied by the commissioner of that district, and all transient +persons were fed at the kitchens, the food being provided by the Red +Cross. + +The discharge of the cargo of the State of Texas commenced at six +o'clock Monday morning, July 18th. One hundred and twenty-five +stevedores were employed and paid in food issued as rations. Four days +later the discharge was completed. + +Although the army had entered the city during the latter part of that +time, there had been no confusion, no groups of disorderly persons seen, +no hunger in the city more than in ordinary times. We had done all that +could be done to advantage at that time in Santiago. The United States +troops had mainly left. The Spanish soldiers were coming in to their +waiting ships, bringing with them all the diseases that unprovided and +uncleanly camps would be expected to hold in store. Five weeks before we +had brought into Santiago all the cargo of the State of Texas excepting +the hospital supplies, which had been used the month previous among our +own troops at Siboney, General Shafter's front, and El Caney during the +days of fighting. + +These were the last days of General Shafter in Santiago, who was, as he +had at all times been, the kind and courteous officer and gentleman. +General Wood, who was made Governor of the Province of Santiago upon the +day of surrender--alert, wise, and untiring, with an eye single to the +good of all--toiled day and night. + +The State of Texas steamed away to its northern home. Peace and plenty +came. The reconcentrados we went in search of were never reached. To +those who could not withstand, Heaven came. To those who could, _Cuba +Libre_. + +Later on, general efforts were made for the protection of the thousands +of orphans over the island, in which efforts the Red Cross joined. But +the people of Cuba solved the question themselves--by a general adoption +in their own homes--and orphanages in Cuba became a thing of the past. + +Thus our work on that distressful field closed, after nearly two years +of such effort as one would never desire to repeat. The financial +management of that field, so far as the Red Cross was concerned, was +done under the attorneyship of the Central Cuban Relief Committee of New +York, whose reports are models of accuracy and accountability, and to +which any person desiring information may be referred. + +Cuba was a hard field, full of heart-breaking memories. It gave the +first opportunity to test the cooperation between the government and its +supplemental handmaiden, the Red Cross. That these relations might not +have been clearly understood at this initial date may well be +appreciated, but that time and experience will remedy this may be +confidently hoped. + +Through all our discouragements the steady hand and calm approval of our +great head of the army and navy was our solace and our strength. And +when at length it was all over, his hand could trace for his message to +his people the following testimonial, what need had one even to remember +past discouragements, however great? It was as if the hand of the martyr +had set its undying seal upon the brow of the American Red Cross. What +greater justification could it have? What greater riches could it crave? + +"In this connection it is a pleasure for me to mention in terms of +cordial appreciation the timely and useful work of the American Red +Cross, both in relief measures preparatory to the campaigns, in sanitary +assistance at several of the camps of assemblage, and, later, under the +able and experienced leadership of the president of the society, Miss +Clara Barton, on the fields of battle and in the hospitals at the front +in Cuba. Working in conjunction with the governmental authorities and +under their sanction and approval, and with the enthusiastic cooperation +of many patriotic women and societies in the various States, the Red +Cross has fully maintained its already high reputation for intense +earnestness and ability to exercise the noble purposes of its +international organization, thus justifying the confidence and support +which it has received at the hands of the American people. To the +members and officers and all who aided them in their philanthropic +work, the sincere and lasting gratitude of the soldiers and the public +is due and freely accorded. + +"In tracing these events we are constantly reminded of our obligations +to the Divine Master for His watchful care over us, and His safe +guidance, for which the nation makes reverent acknowledgment and offers +humble prayers for the continuance of His favors."--FROM PRESIDENT +MCKINLEY'S MESSAGE TO CONGRESS, DECEMBER 6, 1898. + + + + +IX + +GALVESTON + +1900 + + +This time there was no murmur in the air, no warning of approaching +danger. Even the watchful press, that knows so much before it ever +happens, slumbered quiet and deep, till the hissing wires shrieked the +terrifying word--Galveston. + +Then we learned that, as at Port Royal, the sea had overleaped its +bounds and its victims by thousands were in its grasp. + +In all the land no one slept then. To us it was the clang of the +fire-bell, and the drop of the harness. The Red Cross clans commenced to +gather. + +In two days a little coterie of near a dozen left Washington under +escort of the competent agency of the New York World, which had on the +first day telegraphed that it would open a subscription for the relief +of Galveston, and would be glad to send all supplies and money received +to the Red Cross, if its president, Miss Clara Barton, would go and +distribute it. It was the acceptance of this generous offer that had +brought to the station in Washington the escort; and a palace-car, +provided with all comforts for the journey to Galveston, was under the +management of the World's efficient correspondent and agent, Robert +Adamson. + +The direfulness of the news gathered as we proceeded on our journey, and +delays were gotten over as quickly as possible. A detention of several +hours in New Orleans gave opportunity for consultation with the officers +of the Red Cross Society of that city, which had held its loyal ranks +unbroken since 1882, and became a tower of strength in this relief. A +day of waiting in Houston for a passage over the Gulf gave us a glimpse +of what the encroachment had been on the mainland. We found the passage +across to Galveston difficult, and with one night of waiting by the +shore in almost open cars, at Texas City, we at length arrived in +Galveston on the morning of the 15th of September. + +Here again no description could adequately serve its purpose. The sea, +with fury spent, had sullenly retired. The strongest buildings, half +standing, roofless and tottering, told what once had been the make-up of +a thriving city. But that cordon of wreckage skirting the shore for +miles it seemed, often twenty feet in height, and against which the high +tide still lapped and rolled! What did it tell? The tale is all too +dreadful to recall--the funeral pyre of at least five thousand human +beings. The uncoffined dead of the fifth part of a city lay there. The +lifeless bodies festering in the glaring heat of a September sun told +only too fatally what that meant to that portion of the city left alive. +The streets were well-nigh impassable, the animals largely drowned, the +working force of men diminished, dazed, and homeless. The men who had +been the fathers of the city, its business and its wealth, looked on +aghast at their overwhelmed possessions, ruined homes, and, worse than +all, mourned their own dead. + +Yet these men, to the number of thirty or more, had, as one may say, +pulled themselves together, and were even at that early date a relief +committee, holding their meetings at the wrecked and half-ruined hotel, +almost the only public house left standing. To this hotel we also went +and reported to the committee. To say that we were kindly and +gratefully received by them says nothing that would satisfy either +ourselves or them. + +The conditions were so new to them that it was a relief to meet persons +who had seen such things before. We were asked not only to act with +them, but to assume charge of the administration of relief. This, of +course, we would not do, but that we would meet with, counsel, and aid +them in every way in our power, is needless to affirm. That we did do +this, through every day of our stay of three months, not only our own +conviction, but the unasked and unexpected testimony of both Galveston +and the Legislature of the State of Texas, go to assure. + +On the third day after our arrival we were joined by Mr. Stephen E. +Barton, President of the former Central Cuban Relief Committee, and Mr. +Fred L. Ward, its competent secretary, who became our secretary from the +time of his arrival until the close of the field, continuing until after +our return to headquarters and settling the last account. Not only the +thanks of the Red Cross are due for his faithful, painstaking work, but +his name is still a household word through the score of counties +skirting the shore on the mainland of Texas. + +It may be interesting to readers to know what is done first, or just how +a relief party commence under circumstances like that. A few words will +give an outline. First the ground must be overlooked and conditions +learned. This is not easy when it is remembered that broken houses, +cars, wagons, church steeples, and grand pianos were liable to be +encountered in the middle of the leading streets, themselves buried +three feet in the coarse black sand, brought in by the great tidal wave. + +Nevertheless, a building must be found in which to store and distribute +the supplies that would immediately come. How needful these supplies +would be can be inferred when it is recalled that scores of persons came +alive out of that wreck, with simply the band of a shirt or a +night-dress held by its button about the neck as the only reminder that +ever a cover of clothing had been theirs. + +A little meeting of my assistants early held assigned each to his duty +and his place. A warehouse, fortunately still intact, was generously +supplied by Mr. John Sealy. Major James A. McDowell, with the +experience of this branch of Red Cross work from Johnstown down, and the +record of twenty-six battles in the old civil war, was placed in charge. +Here is one of the scenes given by a casual eye-witness: + +A poor feeble-looking man, with scant clothing, enters the warehouse and +waits. "Hello there," calls the observant major--with his Grand Army +button--overhauling clothes for the visitor. "But, major, I was a +Confederate soldier." "Lord bless your poor suffering soul, what +difference does that make? Here, this will suit you." + +It was thought advisable by some of the party to establish an orphanage, +which was done and carried through, regardless of the common-sense idea +that few children would survive, when the parents were drowned. And so +it proved, although the work was faithfully administered. + +Homes must be made, lumber obtained, and houses built. The Red Cross +sent out the appeal for lumber and aided in the work of shelter. + +Mrs. Fannie B. Ward was placed in charge of a special clothing +department. Need I remind thoughtful readers that in a disaster like +that, where people of affluence, culture, and position are in a night +bereft of all, one of the cruelest features might be to go to the open +boxes of a relief station for clothing, such as never before worn, and +could not be asked for through the choking tears. In all humanity these +cases must be properly, respectfully, and discreetly met, as one lady +could meet another in distress. + +No more vivid picture of the conditions by which we were surrounded can +be imagined than the following extract from Mrs. Ward's report: + + +"Just seven days after the storm we found ourselves stranded at Texas +City, on the mainland opposite Galveston Island, waiting for +transportation across the six-mile stretch of water. Bridges had been +swept away, and new sand-bars thrown up in the bay; floating roofs and +timbers impeded navigation, and the only method of communication between +the mainland and Galveston was one poor little ferry-boat, which had to +feel her now dangerous way very cautiously, by daylight only. She had +also to carry nearly a quarter of her capacity in soldiers to prevent +her being swamped by waiting crowds of people, frantic to learn the +fate of their friends on the island. Each trip to the mainland, the boat +came filled with refugees from the city of doom--the sick, the maimed, +the sorrowing--many with fearful bodily injuries inflicted by the storm, +and others with deeper wounds of grief;--mothers whose babies had been +torn from their arms, children whose parents were missing, fathers whose +entire families were lost--a dazed and tearless throng, such as Danté +might have met in his passage through Inferno. These were dumped by +thousands on the sandy beach at Texas City, and then conveyed by rail to +Houston, to be cared for by the good people of that city, who, +notwithstanding their own grievous losses, were doing noble work for +their stricken neighbors. + +"Of Texas City--a flourishing town of four or five thousand +houses--nothing remained but heaps of bricks and splintered wood, sodden +bales of cotton and bits of household furniture, scattered over the +plain; not a standing habitation within miles, nor any shelter for the +crowds above-mentioned, except two or three hospital-tents, hastily set +up for the sick and wounded, but inadequate for their accommodation. +What was our dismay when told that here we must remain at least +twenty-four hours, for the return of the boat! However, we were better +off, even physically, than most of the waiting crowd, though weariness +of the flesh amounted to actual suffering, after more than fifty hours' +travel. As a special courtesy to Miss Barton, the railway company left a +car to shelter her during the night. Luxurious Pullmans did not abound +at Texas City, and this was the shabbiest of day-coaches, equipped with +few 'modern conveniences.' But this was no time to think of personal +comfort, on the threshold of so much misery; and who could murmur when +the head of our little company set such an heroic example of patience. I +have seen her in many trying situations, that threatened the fortitude +and endurance of the strongest--and have yet to hear the first word of +complaint from her lips. She smilingly 'bunked' upon two seats laid +together--compared to which, for softness, the _penitente's_ slab of +stone would be as 'downy beds of ease'--and encouraged her companions to +do the same. Hunger and thirst would also have been our portion, had it +not been for a Salvation Army Corps encamped in the vicinity, and the +Relief Train of the Philadelphia North American, stranded like +ourselves. Thanks to those good Samaritans, we dined and breakfasted on +tinned beef, bread and coffee; and what more could good soldiers +require? + +"That night in Texas City will be long remembered. Sleep was out of the +question--stretched on those cross-bars, like St. Lawrence on his +gridiron. Soldiers patrolled the beach, not only to prevent a stampede +of the boat, but to protect both the quick and the dead from fiends in +human guise, who prowled the devastated region, committing atrocities +too horrible to name. All night the steady tramp, tramp, of the guard +sounded beneath the car-windows, while at either door stood two +sentinels, muskets on shoulders. Skies of inky blackness, studded with +stars of extraordinary brilliancy, seemed to bend much nearer the earth +than at the North; and the Great Dipper hung low on the horizon--for +only just across the Gulf it disappears to give place to the Southern +Cross. Myriads of big, bright fire-flies, resembling balls of flame, +flitted restlessly over the plain, like the disembodied souls whose +homes were here one short week before, searching for their scattered +treasures. Over on Galveston Island, a long line of flame, mounting to +the heavens, marked the burning of ruined homes and corpses; while other +fires, in all directions on the mainland, told of similar ghastly +cremations. At one time I counted twenty-three of these fires, not +including those on the island. Early in the morning a strange odor drew +attention to a fresh funeral-pyre, only a few rods away, around the +horse-shoe curve of the shore. We were told that thirty bodies, found +since daybreak in the immediate vicinity, were being consumed in it. +That peculiar smell of burning flesh, so sickening at first, became +horribly familiar within the next two months, when we lived in it and +breathed it, day after day. + +"We found the situation in Galveston infinitely worse than had been +described. The most sensational accounts of the yellowest journals fell +far short of the truth--simply because its full horror was beyond the +power of words to portray. Figures and statistics can give little idea +of the results of such an appalling calamity; and to this day, people +at a distance have no realization of the unutterable woe which our Red +Cross band of less than a dozen, strove to alleviate. We arrived on the +eighth day after the tragedy, in which upward of ten thousand lives went +suddenly out in storm and darkness; and the survivors were just +beginning to realize the extent of their losses. + +"At first they seemed stunned to partial insensibility by the very +magnitude of their grief--as a man who has been mangled almost unto +death in a railroad disaster is said to be oblivious to pain. Dead +citizens lay by thousands amid the wreck of their homes, and raving +maniacs searched the _débris_ for their loved ones, with the organized +gangs of workers. Corpses, dumped by barge-loads into the Gulf, came +floating back to menace the living; and the nights were lurid with +incinerations of putrefying bodies, piled like cord-wood, black and +white together, irrespective of age, sex, or previous condition. At +least four thousand dwellings had been swept away, with all their +contents, and fully half of the population of the city was without +shelter, food, clothes, or any of the necessaries of life. Of these, +some were living in tents; others crowded in with friends hardly less +unfortunate; many half-crazed, wandering aimlessly about the streets, +and the story of their sufferings, mental and physical, is past the +telling. Every house that remained was a house of mourning. Of many +families every member had been swept away. Even sadder were the numerous +cases where one or two were left out of recently happy households; and +saddest of all was the heart-breaking suspense of those whose friends +were numbered among the 'missing.' + +"We find it hard enough to lay away our dead in consecrated ground, with +all the care and tenderness that love can suggest, where we may water +the sacred spot with our tears and place upon it the flowers they loved +in life; but never to know whether their poor bodies were swallowed by +the merciless Gulf, or fed to the fishes with those grewsome +barge-loads, or left above ground to become an abomination in the +nostrils of the living, or burned in indiscriminate heaps with horses +and dogs and the mingled ashes scattered to the winds--must indeed have +been well-nigh unbearable. No wonder there were lunatics in Galveston, +and unnumbered cases of nervous prostration. + +"After weeks had passed and two thousand men, aided by several hundred +teams, had partially reduced the mountain of wreckage, cremation fires +yet burned continuously--fed not only by human bodies, but by thousands +of carcasses of domestic animals. By that time, in the hot, moist +atmosphere of the latitude, decomposition had so far advanced that the +corpses--which at first were decently carried in carts or on stretchers, +then shoveled upon boards or blankets--had finally to be scooped up with +pitchforks, in the hands of negroes, kept at their awful task by the +soldiers' bayonets. And still the 'finds' continued, at the average rate +of seventy a day. The once beautiful driving beach was strewn with +mounds and trenches, holding unrecognized and uncoffined victims of the +flood; and between this improvised cemetery and a ridge of _débris_, +three miles long and in places higher than the houses had been, a line +of cremation fires poisoned the air. + +"I think it was during our sixth week in Galveston, when, happening to +pass one of these primitive crematories, I stopped to interview the man +in charge. Boards, water-soaked mattresses, rags of blankets and +curtains, part of a piano, baby-carriages, and the framework of +sewing-machines, piled on top, gave it the appearance of a festive +bonfire, and only the familiar odor betrayed its purpose. + +"'Have you burned any bodies here?' I inquired. The custodian regarded +me with a stare that plainly said, 'Do you think I am doing this for +amusement?' and shifted his quid from cheek to cheek before replying. + +"'Ma'am,' said he, 'this 'ere fire's been goin' on more'n a month. To my +knowledge, upwards of sixty bodies have been burned in it--to say +nothin' of dogs, cats, hens, and three cows.' + +"'What is in there now?' I asked. + +"'Wa'al,' said he meditatively, 'it takes a corpse several days to burn +all up. I reckon thar's a couple of dozen of 'em--jest bones, you +know--down near the bottom. Yesterday we put seven on top of this 'ere +pile, and by now they are only what you might call baked. To-day we have +been working over there (pointing to other fires a quarter of a mile +distant), where we found a lot of 'em, 'leven under one house. We have +put only two in here to-day. Found 'em just now, right in that puddle.' + +"'Could you tell me who they are?' I asked. + +"'Lord! No,' was the answer. 'We don't look at 'em any more'n we have +to, else we'd been dead ourselves before to-day. One of these was a +colored man. They are all pretty black, now; but you can tell 'em by the +kinky hair. He had nothin' but an undershirt and one shoe. The other was +a woman; young, I reckon. 'Tenny rate she was tall and slim and had lots +of long brown hair. She wore a blue silk skirt and there was a rope tied +around her waist, as if somebody had tried to save her.' + +"Taking a long pole he prodded an air-hole near the center of the +smoldering heap, from which now issued a frightful smell, that caused a +hasty retreat to the windward side. The withdrawal of the pole was +followed by a shower of charred bits of bone and singed hair. I picked +up a curling, yellow lock and wondered, with tears, what mother's hand +had lately caressed it. + +"'That's nothin',' remarked the fireman. 'The other day we found part of +a brass chandelier, and wound all around it was a perfect mop of long, +silky hair--with a piece of skin, big as your two hands, at the end of +it. Some woman got tangled up that way in the flood and jest na'cherly +scalped.' + +"I mention these incidents merely to show some of the conditions that +had to be met. The most we could do for the grief-stricken survivors was +to mitigate in some degree their bodily distress. The world knows how +generously the whole country responded to the call--how contributions +came pouring in by trainloads and shiploads, consigned to the Red Cross. +To distribute all this bounty judiciously was a herculean task--and our +working force was very small. The ladies and gentlemen of Galveston who +had suffered less than their neighbors, formed themselves into +committees, which opened relief stations in the several wards; and +through these channels the bulk of supplies was issued. If mistakes were +made, it was not from lack of faithful endeavor on the part of the +distributers; and let us hope that the errors, if any, were all on the +side of too liberal giving. + +"Merely to sort over one carload of garments, so as to make them +immediately available--to put the infants' clothes in one department, +the shoes in another, grown-up dresses in another, coats and trousers in +another, underwear in another--was a work of time and strength; as the +writer, who for a while was 'Mistress of the Robes,' can testify. From 7 +A. M. till dark we toiled; and when at last we dragged ourselves back to +the hotel, too wearied for anything but bed, 'tired Nature's sweet +restorer' was hard to woo, because of aching feet and swollen muscles. +But the experience was well worth it! Besides the joy of administering +to the suffering, what we learned of human nature (mostly good, I am +glad to say) would fill volumes. To be sure, there were shadows, as well +as lights, in the picture. Greed and hypocrisy, jealousy, malice, and +the reverse of Christian charity, came sometimes unpleasantly to the +fore, to be offset by the magnificent generosity of the American nation, +and the knowledge that in most quarters our efforts were appreciated. +Most of us were unused to manual labor, and all had left comfortable +homes--some at considerable financial sacrifice of well-salaried +positions, not for earthly gain or self-aggrandizement, but from pure +love of the splendid cause of the Cross of Geneva. + +"In that Rag Fair department of old clothes, the ludicrous and pathetic +called for an equal blending of smiles and tears. It seemed as if every +household, from Maine to California, from the St. Lawrence to the Rio +Grande, had rummaged its attics for the flood sufferers. Merchants +delivered themselves of years' accumulations of shop-worn +goods--streaked, faded, of fashions long gone by--but a great deal +better than nothing for the destitute. There were at least a million +shirtwaists, all thin and summery, though cold winter was at hand, when +frequent 'northers' chill the very marrow in one's bones, and ice and +snow are not unknown on Galveston Island. There was another million of +'Mother Hubbard' wrappers, all of the sleaziest print and scrimpest +pattern, with inch-wide hems at bottom and no fastening to speak +of--wrappers enough to disfigure every female in Southern Texas. Fancy a +whole city full of women masquerading in those shapeless garments--the +poorest of their class; and then remember that, a few years ago, the +great and glorious State of Pennsylvania found it necessary to pass a +law--presumably for the peace of mind of her male citizens--forbidding +the wearing of 'Mother Hubbards' in the street! + +"One day there came to our warehouse a large case of beautiful, buttoned +shoes, of the kind called 'Sorosis.' 'What a bonanza!' we thought, when +that box was opened--and through our minds went trooping a procession of +the shoeless feet we had longed to comfort. But behold! every blessed +shoe of the one hundred and forty-four was for the left foot! + +"There was an enormous box from a city laundry, containing the unclaimed +'washings' of many years--hundreds of waiters' aprons and cooks' caps, +worn hotel towels and napkins, ragged shirts and collars--not a thing +worth the lumber in the box, except as old linen for the hospitals. +There was a great deal of bedraggled finery, than which nothing could +have been less appropriate, when nine out of every ten women who applied +for clothes, wanted plain black in which to mourn for their dead. And +the hats and bonnets were of every shape and style within the memory of +man! They were mostly so crushed in careless packing that to have +worshiped them would have been no sin, according to Scripture, as they +were no longer in the 'likeness of anything in the heavens above, or the +earth beneath, or the waters under the earth.' There were workmen's +blouses and overalls, evidently shed in haste, under a sudden impulse of +generosity--plastered with grease, paint, and mortar, and odoriferous of +that by which honest bread is said to be earned. + +"Occasionally a box or barrel was found to contain garments +disgracefully dirty and ragged, or dropping in pieces from the ravages +of moths. Possibly the sending of such worthless trash produced in the +hearts of the donors that comfortable feeling of lending to the +Lord--but it was no use at our end of the line. What to do with it was a +problem. The lowest plantation darky would regard the gift as an insult, +and to burn even the filthiest rags would give rise to stories of wanton +waste. So we hit upon an expedient which had been successfully employed +in other fields--that of putting worthless articles in nice, clean +barrels, rolling them out on the doorstep, and forgetting to bring them +in at night; and every morning the barrels were found empty. + +"In striking contrast to these few 'shadows' were such gifts as that of +the New England girl, who sent a large, carefully packed satchel, +accompanied by a letter, explaining that she was seventeen years of age, +and had taken from her own wardrobe an outfit, intended for a +flood-sufferer of about her own age, whom the clothes would fit. The +satchel contained three good suits complete, from hat to hose--all that +a girl would need--even veil, handkerchiefs and fan; and it is needless +to add that they soon found their way to a most grateful young +'sufferer.' Here a poor widow divided her well-worn 'mourning' with some +stranger sister-in-grief; there the bereaved mother brought out the +treasured garments her little one had worn, for some happier mother who +had lost only earthly possessions. + +"Letters by hundreds were found in the packages, pertinent and +impertinent, but all demanding answers. They were stuffed into old shoes +and the linings of hats, cracked tea-pots and boxes of soap, combs and +matches. Every small boys' knickerbockers contained a note--generally +of original spelling and laboriously written in large capitals, from +'Tommy' or 'Johnnie' or 'Charley,' asking a reply, telling all about the +storm, from the boy who should receive the gift. Sentimental epistles +from ladies were hidden in the pockets of coats and trousers, inviting +correspondence with the future wearers; and billet-doux from +disconsolate widowers, presumably beginning to 'take notice,' were +pinned to the raiment of deceased wives. Such manifold phases have our +poor human nature! Happily there was another and far more numerous class +of letters, from charitable men and women, offering to adopt children, +or to assist in any way in their power; from Sunday-school classes and +sewing societies and day-schools, enclosing small sums of money, or +telling of gifts to come. There was even a letter from an almshouse, +enclosing a check for eighty dollars, raised by thirty aged pensioners, +who gave up their only luxuries--coffee, sugar, and tobacco--to swell +the fund for Galveston's relief. Another came from the poor, forgotten +negroes of the Carolina sea islands, to whose assistance the Red Cross +went, after their disastrous floods a few years ago. Impelled by +gratitude for the benefits then received, those simple-minded people +contributed a surprising amount, considering their poverty. Truly, in +heaven's reckoning those unselfish 'mites' of the poor and lowly will +count for as much as the millions given by the great cities. + +"Notwithstanding the vast amount of old clothes that came to us, we were +always particularly short of the most important articles of an outfit, +such as underwear, respectable skirts and dresses, and shoes--except of +extraordinary sizes, sent because unsalable. It frequently happened +that, for days together, there was hardly a thing in stock fit for +people of the better class. It must be remembered that we were not +supplying tramps and beggars, nor the ordinary applicants for charity, +but ladies and gentlemen, accustomed to the luxuries of life, whose +possessions had been suddenly swept away. How could we offer those +dreadful wrappers, or bedraggled finery, or soiled and ragged garments +which our servants would despise, to ladies of taste, culture, and +refinement, whom we had come to assist in their misfortune, not to +insult? Therefore, in many cases, the only decent thing to do was to go +out and buy what was needed, with some of those blessed contributions +which bore the message, 'to be used at your own discretion.' That was +Christian charity, pure and simple, in its most practical form. For +example: A widow, of highest social standing and former wealth, lived +with her three daughters in one of those ill-fated cottages near the +beach, which was swept away with all its contents. Thus the four +helpless women were left entirely destitute, even the clothes on their +backs borrowed from neighbors a little less unfortunate. Friends in a +Northern city wrote, offering them a home. Transportation could be +easily provided, but the four must be fitted out for the journey. We +searched the Rag Fair over, but found few suitable articles. Perhaps +something better might come in by and by, next week, some other time; +but for every hoped-for article were a hundred waiting applicants--and +meanwhile those ladies must be supported until sent to their friends. To +say nothing of their own feelings, and ours, we could not disgrace the +Red Cross by sending that stately gray-haired mother and the three +delicate young ladies out into the world equipped by our alleged bounty +in scanty calico 'Mother Hubbards,' men's cow-hide brogans, and +scare-crow headgear. So we picked out what would answer--here and there +a garment which might be altered, the only pair of shoes in the place +that came near to fitting one of the ladies, a bolt of unbleached muslin +which they, themselves, could fashion into underclothes, and four +disreputable old hats. The latter we gave to a local milliner to remodel +and trim, simply but respectably. Then we went to the store and +purchased shoes and other necessary articles, including enough +inexpensive but serviceable cloth for four gowns and jackets, and +employed a woman to make them. + +"This was not extravagance, but good use of the money, all around:--for +the poor little milliner whose shop had been destroyed and business +ruined, whose children were then eating the bread of charity; and for +the customless dressmaker, who was also a grievous sufferer by the +flood, with younger sisters to support. We gave her the first work she +had had for weeks, and her gratitude was good to see. + +"As for merchants, who were all on the verge of failure, but making +heroic efforts to keep afloat--Heaven knows we did them injury enough +every day of our stay in Galveston, to be thankful for the privilege of +occasionally becoming their patrons. Not only had they suffered immense +losses by the storm, their stocks being practically ruined and customers +gone--but who would buy, so long as the Red Cross had food and clothes +to give away, without money and without price? Though ours is a noble +and necessary work, it is never to the advantage of the local merchants, +as a little reflection will show. + +"Another case was that of a young woman, who, with an aged relative, was +keeping a hotel in a near-by village, when the floods lifted their house +from its foundations and ruined everything in it. Its four walls stood, +however, and furnished shelter for all the houseless neighbors, who +flocked in, naked and hungry, and with whom the generous girl divided +her last garment and bit of food. Death also entered the family, twice +within a few weeks--the last time leaving a sister's four half-grown +children for this young woman to maintain. Take them she must, because +they had nowhere else to go. Finding her in terrible straits, without +even clothes to wear to her sister's funeral, were we not justified in +buying the heroic young woman a decent suit of black, besides sending +her a box of food supplies? Why were we there, if not to exercise +judgment in the matter of relief? If merely to distribute second-hand +articles, without discrimination, we might have saved ourselves much +peril and hardship by remaining at home, and sending the boxes down to +take care of themselves. + +"None of us will ever forget the grandniece of an ex-President of the +United States--a handsome and imposing woman of middle age, traveled, +educated, and evidently accustomed to the best society. She called one +day at headquarters, and although she did not ask for aid, the truth +came out in a heart-to-heart talk with Miss Barton that she had lost all +in the storm and had not where to lay her head, nor food for the morrow; +even the clothes she wore were not her own. Nobody living could put this +lady on the pauper list, and none with a spark of human feeling could +wish to wound her pride. Our honored President, who reads hearts as +others do open books, clasped this unfortunate sister's hand--and left +in it a bank-note--I do not know of what denomination, but let us hope +it was not a small one. The look of surprise and gratitude that flashed +over that woman's face was worth going far to see, as, speechless with +emotion, the tears streaming down her cheeks, she turned away. + +"One might go on multiplying incidents by the hour, did time permit. +There were teachers to be fitted out with suitable clothes before the +opening of the schools; boys and girls needing school-books and shoes, +caps, and jackets; new-born babes to be provided, whose wardrobes, +prepared in advance, had been swept away; mothers of families, destitute +of the commonest conveniences of life, to whom the gift of a pan or +kettle was a godsend; aged people, whose declining years must be +comforted; invalids to be cheered with little luxuries. My greatest +regret is that we had not hundreds of dollars to use for every one that +was expended in these directions." + + +My stenographer, Miss Agnes Coombs, found her post by me, and sixty to +eighty letters a day, taken from dictation, made up the clerical round +of the office of the president. This duty fell in between attending the +daily meetings of the relief committee and receiving constant calls both +in and out of the city. + +Our men made up their living-room at the warehouse. The few women +remained at the hotel, the only suitable place in the town. + +Later on arrived a shipload of supplies from the business people of New +York, which were stored with the Galveston committee, and we were asked +to aid in the distribution of these supplies, and to a certain extent we +did, but succeeded in organizing a committee of citizens, ladies and +gentlemen, to carry out and complete this distribution. + +From lack of knowledge of the real conditions of the disaster and its +geographical extent, this munificent donation had been assigned to the +"Relief of Galveston," and thus, technically, Galveston had no authority +to administer a pound or a dollar to any communities or persons outside +of the precincts of the city proper. This left at least twenty counties +on the mainland on the other side of the Gulf, some of which were as +badly wrecked and ruined as Galveston itself, without a possibility of +the slightest benefit from this great, generous gift. + +Seeing this pitiful and innocently unjust condition of affairs, the +result of ignorance of relief work, undertaken with much zeal but scant +knowledge and no experience, we sought a way to atone for the mistake, +so far as we might be able. + +Immediately closing our relief rooms in Galveston I had all Red Cross +supplies shipped to Houston, and relief for the mainland opened there. +These were farming districts, and I directed intelligent inquiry to be +made as to what was most needed by the devastated farm lands and their +owners. All was swept away--sometimes as far as forty miles back into +the level country; often the soil itself was washed away, the home and +all smaller animals destroyed, and no feed for the larger ones to +subsist on. The poor farmers walked their desolated fields and wrung +their hands. + +It proved that this was the strawberry section of Southern Texas, and +these were the strawberry growers that supplied the early berries to our +Northern market. For miles not a plant was left and no means to +replant. This was reported to me on the first day's investigation, and +also that if plants could be obtained and set within two weeks a half +crop could be grown this year and the industry restored. That seemed a +better occupation for these poor fellows than walking the ground and +wringing their hands. The messenger was sent back at daybreak to +ascertain how many plants would be needed to replant these lands, where +they were accustomed to procure them, and what varieties were best +adapted to their use. + +That night brought again the messenger to say that a million and a half +of plants would reset the lands and that their supply came from the +nurseries in North Carolina, Illinois, Arkansas, and Louisiana. +Directions were sent back to Mr. Ward to order the plants to be there in +two weeks. This was done. Only thirty-eight thousand plants were injured +in transit, and those were generously resupplied by the shippers. Within +the two weeks this million and a half of strawberry plants were set. It +was estimated that fully a third of a crop was realized that year, and +it is safe to predict that one-half the readers of this little sketch +will partake of the fruits of these Red Cross relief strawberry fields +this very springtime. + +Other needs to a large amount were supplied by Mr. Ward, and we left no +idle, wringing hands on the mainlands of Texas. + +I had never left Galveston. Some other thoughtful reader may pitifully +ask, what became of these miles of wreckage and the dead on the +Galveston seashore? + +At this distant day it may be safe to tell. I recall that at the time +much criticism was indulged in. + +All were burned. + +The heat grew greater and the stench stronger every day. They tried to +remove the _débris_ and get the bodies out for burial. No human being +could work in that putrefying mass. Previously had come the glorious +thought of getting them into boats and shipping them a mile out to sea. +With hopeful hearts this experiment was tried for one day. Alas! the +night tide brought them all back to shore. The elements of earth and +water had refused--what remained but fire? Openings in the long +continuous lines were cut through at given spaces, the fire engines set +to play on the open, and the torch applied to the end of sections; thus +a general conflagration of the city was prevented, and from day to day +the pile diminished. + +The stench of burning flesh permeated every foot of the city. Who could +long withstand this? Before the end of three months there was scarcely a +well person in Galveston. My helpers grew pale and ill, and even I, who +have resisted the effect of so many climates, needed the help of a +steadying hand as I walked to the waiting Pullman on the track, +courteously tendered free of charge to take us away. + +This is a tedious story; but if gone through, one has a little insight +into the labor of a Red Cross field of relief. There are twenty in my +recollection, and this was by no means the hardest or the most useful. +They have been lived, but never told. + +I beg my readers to bear in mind that this is not romance that I am +writing, where I can place my characters in the best light and shape +results at will, but history, with my personages still alive, ready to +attest the reality of this statement. That grand committee of Galveston +relief--than whom no nobler body of men I have ever met--are, I hope, +all yet alive to testify to the conditions and statements made. + +I have dedicated this little volume to the people with whom, and for +whom, have gone the willing labors of twenty-five years--initial labors, +untried methods, and object lessons. Well or ill, they have carried with +them the best intentions and the best judgment given for the purpose. +Whatever may betide or the future have in store for the little work so +simply commenced, so humbly carried on, merely a helper with no thought +of leadership, it bears along with it the memories of pain assuaged, +hope revived, endeavor strengthened, and lives saved. + +To the noble sympathies of generous hearts these results are due, and +yet it is not in its past that the glories or the benefits of the Red +Cross lie, but in the possibilities it has created for the future; in +the lessons it has taught; in the avenues to humane effort it has +opened, and in the union of beneficent action between people and +Government, when once comprehended and effected, that shall constitute +a bulwark against the mighty woes sure to come sooner or later to all +peoples and all nations. + +To you--the people of America--this sacred trust is committed, in your +hands the charge is laid. To none will your help ever be so precious as +it has been to me, for in its proud growth and strength none will ever +so need you. + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's A Story of the Red Cross, by Clara Barton + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 30230 *** diff --git a/30230-8.txt b/30230-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..fb6338e --- /dev/null +++ b/30230-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,4443 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of A Story of the Red Cross, by Clara Barton + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: A Story of the Red Cross + Glimpses of Field Work + +Author: Clara Barton + +Release Date: October 10, 2009 [EBook #30230] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A STORY OF THE RED CROSS *** + + + + +Produced by Chuck Greif, Martin Pettit and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This +book was produced from scanned images of public domain +material from the Google Print project.) + + + + + + +A STORY OF THE RED CROSS + + +[Illustration: CLARA BARTON + +From a photograph taken in St. Petersburg in July, 1902, showing the +decorations conferred upon her by the Czar and the Empress Dowager] + + +A STORY OF THE RED CROSS + +GLIMPSES OF FIELD WORK + +BY + +CLARA BARTON + +FOUNDER OF THE AMERICAN NATIONAL RED CROSS AND PRESIDENT, 1881-1904 + +[Illustration: Logo] + + +NEW YORK +D. APPLETON AND COMPANY +MCMIV + + +COPYRIGHT, 1904, BY +D. APPLETON AND COMPANY + +_Published, June, 1904_ + + + + +PREFACE + + +Since the foundation of the Red Cross in America, many direful +calamities have afflicted the country. In each of these visitations the +Red Cross has acted in some degree as the Almoner--the distributer and +organizer--of the bountiful measures of relief that have been poured out +by the American people. + +Its work has been accomplished quietly and without ostentation. All the +relief has been administered--not as charity--but as God-sent succor to +our brothers and sisters who have been overwhelmed by some mighty +convulsion of the forces of nature. + +The wreckage has been cleared away, the stricken people have been +wisely, tenderly, and calmly guided out of panic and despair on to the +road of self-help and cooperative effort to restore their shattered +homes and broken fortunes; and then the Red Cross has retired as quietly +as it came, and few, outside of the people immediately concerned, have +realized the beneficent powers of help and healing that have fallen like +a benediction upon the stricken wherever that sacred symbol of humanity +has made its way. + +It is my thought that a brief account of the work of the Red Cross +during the past twenty-five years will be of interest to the American +people. In a volume of this size it must of necessity be but a brief +outline, sufficient, however, to convey a clear impression of what the +Red Cross really means to every individual in this great country of +ours. + +To the thousands of American men and women whose generous bounty has +made the work of the Red Cross possible, to the stricken and distressed +who because of it have been helped back to life and hope, and to all the +friends of the great, universal humanity which it typifies, this small +book is lovingly dedicated. + +CLARA BARTON. + +GLEN ECHO, MARYLAND, +_May 15, 1904._ + + + + +CONTENTS + + +I + PAGE +EARLY HISTORY. 1880-1884 1 + +II + +THE TEXAS FAMINE AND THE MOUNT VERNON CYCLONE. 1885-1888 30 + +III + +YELLOW FEVER IN FLORIDA. 1887 38 + +IV + +THE JOHNSTOWN FLOOD. 1889 54 + +V + +THE RUSSIAN FAMINE. 1891 70 + +VI + +THE SEA ISLAND RELIEF. 1893 77 + +VII + +ARMENIAN RELIEF. 1896 94 + +VIII + +CUBA. 1898 115 + +IX + +GALVESTON. 1900 164 + + + + +A STORY OF THE RED CROSS + + + + +I + +EARLY HISTORY + +1880-1884 + + "I have lived much that I have not written, but I have written + nothing that I have not lived." + + +It was a little blue-eyed girl of ten who sat on a low hassock at my +feet, slowly drawing the soft auburn curls between her fingers, when, +suddenly lifting her head and looking me earnestly in the face, she +exclaimed: "What is the Red Cross? Please tell me about it; I can not +understand it." + +There was a pleading earnestness in the tone not to be resisted, and +laying down my pen I commenced to explain to her the principles, +history, and uses of the Red Cross. She listened anxiously, the pretty +brow knitted; she seemed more and more perplexed, until, as if a light +had broken over her, she exclaimed, half impatiently: + +"Not that--not that, tell me something it _does_--it and you, I can +understand it better then." + +A light had broken over me. It was a story the child wanted to +illustrate the principle and bring it home to her. A story she must +have. + +In a half hour she felt that she knew it all and was an ardent devotee +even of its principles. But she had given me more than I had given her. +Here was food for thought. + +For twenty-five years I had labored to explain the principles and uses +of the Red Cross; had written enough for a modest library of what it was +and what it meant, but, lest I seem egotistical, not a page of what it +did. The child had given me an idea that I would for once put into +practice, and write a few pages of what the Red Cross had done, leaving +principles to present themselves. + +I will commence even back of itself. + +Forty years ago, before most of you were born, a great war had been +fought in America, in which thousands died from battle and hardship, and +thousands more still left alive were worn out in the untried and +unsystematized efforts at relief that had been made through nearly five +years of continuous war. Of these latter, many were women who dragged +out weary lives in their own homes, some went to hospitals and retreats +for rest and care, and some were sent abroad. One of these latter I knew +personally, for, as Patrick would say, "It was me-self." + +To me it seemed a hard sentence that our physicians imposed. I had grown +to love the country we had so toiled for, and did not want to leave it. +Its very woes had made it dear to me. It had quiet once more, and a +peace that was not all a peace. It had its early soldier homes, its +fast-filling cemeteries, and the tender memory of a martyred President +resting over us like a pall. These had come to seem like a heritage to +me, and in my weakness I clung to them. Still, the order was obeyed and +I went. + +Then followed travels in strange and foreign lands, other wars, illness +and suffering of my own, until eleven years later I came almost a +stranger again to our Government with another work, which I believed to +be for its good and the good of our people. + +This time I brought the idea of the treaty of Geneva, asking our +Government, at the request of other Governments, to examine and to unite +with it, if found desirable. This effort with the Government covers five +years of hard, continuous labor, during which was sought the aid of +friends known in other years. At the end of this time, by advice of our +second martyred President and three members of his historic +cabinet--James G. Blaine, William Windom, and Robert T. Lincoln--a +national society was formed, known as the Association of the American +Red Cross, and, by desire and nomination of President Garfield, I was +made its president, and requested to name my officers. + +The association was formed during the winter of 1880-'81, with the view +on the part of President Garfield of facilitating the adoption of the +treaty which he would name in his next message, which message was never +written. + +Before the message, he, too, had joined the martyred ranks, and his +gentle successor, Arthur, filled his chair and kept his promise, and +through action of his own executive department the treaty was adopted; +indorsed by action of the Senate; proclaimed by the President to our +people; later ratified by the International Powers in the Congress of +Berne, with the pledge to render relief to unfortunate victims of war, +and the privilege, by my request, of rendering similar relief to the +victims of great national calamities or disasters. + +All this had been accomplished by the kindly help of a few personal +friends, tireless and unrewarded, and while the news of the accession of +the Government of the United States, to the treaty of Geneva, lit +bonfires that night (for I cabled it by their request) in the streets of +Switzerland, France, Germany, and Spain, a little four-line paragraph in +the congressional doings of the day in the _Evening Star_, of +Washington, alone announced to the people of America that an +international treaty had been added to their rolls. + +No personal distinction had been bestowed, no one honored, no one +politically advanced, no money of the Government expended, and, like +other things of like nature and history, it was left in obscurity to +make its own way and live its own hard life. + +Thus the spring of 1882 found us--a few people, tired and weak, with +five years of costly service, a treaty gained, with no fund, no war nor +prospect of any, and no helpful connection with or acknowledgment by the +Government. + +Soon the news of "Half the State of Michigan on Fire" called us to +action on our own laws of civil relief. A little draft on the purse of +the new, inexperienced president of the association paved the way for an +agent to go to the field. Others generously joined, all reported to our +friend and advocate, Senator Omar D. Conger, of Michigan. Some supplies +were sent, a society or two formed to provide and forward them. The +agents remained until the suffering was relieved, and thus the first +field relief work of which we have any record in the United States was +commenced. + +Meanwhile, I had been asked by the Senate to write the history of the +Red Cross, and show the official action taken by our Government on the +acceptance of the treaty, which history the Senate would have printed at +the Government printing-office. This volume I prepared as requested. A +thousand copies were printed for information to the public, to be +circulated by the society; but with no frank or other means provided, +and with a postage of some ten cents a volume, we were compelled to +limit the circulation to the means. + +The following year, 1883, a disastrous rise in the Ohio River called for +our aid. Dr. J. B. Hubbell, who had been our agent the year before, was +called from Michigan University, where he was completing a course, to +examine the needs of the inhabitants and take such relief as we could +provide. There was little loss of life, and the destruction of property +lay largely in the loss of stock, and washing away of the soil, +vegetation, and the means of reproduction. + +A remarkable provision for this latter loss was made by the gift of Mr. +Hiram Sibley, the noted seed dealer of Rochester--who had become +associated with the Red Cross, being an old-time friend of the family of +its president--of ten thousand dollars' worth of seed, to replant the +washed-out lands adown the Mississippi. As the waters ran off the mud +immediately baked in the sunshine, making planting impossible after a +few days. Accordingly, Mr. Sibley's gift was sent with all haste to our +agent at Memphis, and in forty-eight hours, by train and boat, it was +distributed in the four States--Tennessee, Arkansas, Louisiana, and +Mississippi--and planted for the crops of the coming season. + +Besides this generous gift of material, a little money had been raised +and sent by the three societies of the Red Cross which had been formed, +viz.: Dansville and Syracuse, a few hundreds--something more from the +Red Cross at Rochester--always thoughtful and generous, which served to +help in the distribution of clothing and supplies promiscuously sent. +And at the finish of the work, when every donation had been carefully +acknowledged, one thousand dollars and some cents were left in the +treasury unexpended. + +A cyclone occurring within a few months in Louisiana and southern +Alabama, cutting a swath from New Orleans to Mobile, decided us to send +eight hundred dollars of this reserve to the secretary of the Red Cross +Society of New Orleans, which sum was forwarded by our vice-president, +Mr. A. S. Solomons. This left a sum of two hundred dollars and some +cents in the treasury with which to commence another field. + +This was the commencement of 1883. In May, at the solicitation of +General Butler, then Governor of Massachusetts, I took the +superintendence of the Massachusetts Woman's State Prison at Sherborn, +at the customary salary of fifteen hundred dollars a year. To this duty +the Legislature added, after my arrival, those of secretary and +treasurer, without increase of salary, discharging the former incumbent, +a man, at three thousand dollars a year. I accepted the new duties, +became my own bondsman for ten thousand dollars, by transfer of that +amount of bonds from my bankers, Brown Brothers, New York, to the +Massachusetts State Treasury at Boston--remaining in charge of the +prison until the close of the year, and the retirement of General Butler +as Governor. + +In the short and interrupted existence of our association--scarce two +years--our few official advisers had formed some general regulations, +relating to our course of procedure. Realizing that to be of any real +service as a body of relief for sudden disasters, we must not only be +independent of the slow, ordinary methods of soliciting relief, but in +its means of application as well, it was decided: + +_First._ To never solicit relief or ask for contributions. + +_Second._ Not to pay salaries to officers--paying out money only to +those whom we must employ for manual labor--and as our officers served +without compensation they should not be taxed for dues. + +_Third._ To keep ourselves always in possession of a stated sum of money +to commence a field of disaster--this sum to be independent even of the +closed doors of a bank which might prevent leaving for a field on a +Sunday or holiday. + +_Fourth._ To take this sum of our own, going directly to a field with +such help as needed, giving no notice until there, overlooking the +field, and learning the extent of the trouble and conditions of the +people, making immediate and reliable report to the country through the +Associated Press, some of whose officers were our own Red Cross officers +as well. These reports would be truthful, unexaggerated, and +non-sensational statements that could be relied upon. + +_Fifth._ That if, under these conditions, the people chose to make use +of us as distributers of the relief which they desired to contribute to +the sufferers, we would do our best to serve them while at the +field--make report directly to each and all contributors, so far as in +our power, and proceed to carry out any directions and apply the relief +at hand, in the wisest manner possible, among a dazed and afflicted +community. + +To inaugurate this method, I, as president, placed a sum of three +thousand dollars, free of bank or interest, upon momentary call, at the +service of the association. On more than one occasion it has been taken +on Sunday, when every bank in the country was closed and charitable +bodies were at their prayers. Even the relief of Johnstown was thus +commenced. This provision has never for a day been broken. It is as good +at this moment as it was in 1883, and from the same source. It may not +have been a "business-like" method nor one to be approved by stated +boards of directors nor squared by bank regulations. But the foes we had +to meet were not thus regulated, and had to be met as they came; and so +they always must be if any good is to be accomplished. + +Until the Government and society can control the elements, and regulate +a spring freshet, a whirlwind or a cyclone, they will find that red +tape is not strong enough to hold their ravages in check. + +It was well that these regulations had been formulated and their +provisions acted upon, as the state of our treasury and the conditions +immediately following will show. + +I returned to Washington upon my retirement from the superintendence of +the State Prison at Sherborn, accompanied by Dr. Hubbell, who, having +completed his university course, had come to the Red Cross for permanent +service. Before we had even time to unpack our trunks, the news of the +fearful rise of the Ohio River, of 1884, began to shock the country with +its loss of life and property. + +I had never been present at a disaster in civil life. It had never +occurred to me that they recurred so frequently. But if by virtue of my +office as president I was liable to be called every year to preside over +and provide for them, it was essential that I learn my duties +experimentally. I accordingly joined Dr. Hubbell, who had been appointed +general field agent, and proceeded to Pittsburg, the headwaters of the +rise. + +Telegraphing from there to our agents of the Associated Press, we +proceeded to Cincinnati, to find the city afloat. Its inhabitants were +being fed from boats, through the second-story windows. These conditions +were telegraphed. Supplies commenced to flow in, not only from our own +societies but from the people of the country. Warehouses were filled, in +spite of all we dispensed--but there were four hundred miles of this +distress--even to Cairo, where the Ohio, sometimes thirty miles in +width, discharged its swollen waters into the Mississippi. + +Recognizing this condition lower down the river as the greater need, we +transferred our supplies and distribution to Evansville, Ind. Scarcely +had we reached there when a cyclone struck the river below, and +traveling up its entire length, leveled every standing object upon its +banks, swept the houses along like cockle-shells, uprooted the greatest +trees and whirled them down its mighty current--catching here and there +its human victims, or leaving them with life only, houseless, homeless, +wringing their hands on a frozen, fireless shore--with every coal-pit +filled with water, and death from freezing more imminent than from +hunger. + +There were four hundred miles more of this, and no way of reaching them +by land. With all our tons of clothing, these people and their homeless +little children were freezing. There was but one way--the Government +boats had come with rations of food--we too must take to the water. + +At eight o'clock in the morning I chartered my first boat, with captain +and crew, at sixty dollars per day, to be at once laden to the water's +edge with coal--our own supplies to be stored on the upper deck--and at +four o'clock in the afternoon, as the murky sun was hiding its clouded +face, the bell of the "John V. Troop," in charge of her owner, announced +the departure of the first Red Cross relief-boat ever seen on American +waters. + +I found myself that night with a stanch crew of thirty men and a skilled +captain, and a boat under my command. I had never until then held such a +command. We wove the river diagonally from side to side--from village to +village--where the homeless, shivering people were gathered--called for +the most responsible person--a clergyman if one could be found, threw +off boxes of clothing, and hove off coal for a two weeks' supply, and +steamed away to the opposite side, leaving only gratitude, wonder at who +we were, where we came from, and what that strange flag meant? We +improved every opportunity to replenish our supply of coal, and reached +Cairo in five days. + +Waiting only to reload, we returned up the river, resupplied the revived +villages of people, too grateful for words, reaching Evansville at the +end of three weeks, where more supplies than we had taken awaited us. +St. Louis and Chicago had caught the fever of relief, had arranged +societies, and had asked permission to join our aid. Up to this time the +Mississippi had given no indication of trouble, but now its great June +rise commenced. + +The Government boats, by another appropriation, were sent to the +Mississippi, and we prepared to supplement them. Discharging our Ohio +River boat we went to St. Louis by rail and chartered the "Mattie Bell." +The Red Cross Societies of St. Louis and Chicago, under their respective +presidents and officers in charge of them and their funds, joined us, +and together we prepared to feed and rescue the perishing stock--as +well as people adown the Mississippi. The animals had never been saved +in an overflow; and besides the cruelty of letting them starve by +thousands, the loss to the people was irreparable, as the following year +must inevitably be replete with idleness and poverty till more stock +could be obtained to work with. + +We found as commissary at St. Louis, General Beckwith, the historic +commissary-general of the old civil war, who had personally +superintended the loading of my wagons in Washington, year after year, +for the battle-fields of Virginia. He came on board the "Mattie Bell" +and personally superintended the lading--clothing, corn, oats, salt, and +hay--besides putting upon the Government boats large quantities of +supplies which we could not take on at first, and giving us his +blessing, watched us steam out on our joint mission; they putting off +rations of meat and meal--we supplementing with clothing for the people +and feed for the stock. We purchased all we could at cities as we +passed, picked our course among the broken levees and roaring crevasses, +all the way to New Orleans. The hungry were fed, the naked clothed, and +the stock saved. The negro had his mule, and the planter his horses and +cattle to carry on his work when the flood should disappear. We had +lighter boats, still lighter purses, but lightest of all were the +grateful hearts that a kind Providence and a generous people had given +to us the privilege of serving. + +We discharged the "Mattie Bell" at St. Louis, bidding adieu to the +officers of the Red Cross Society, who had rendered most acceptable +service to the cause. They had brought their own funds and material--had +personally administered them from the decks of the "Mattie Bell," made +their own reports, and modestly retired to their home duties, there to +await the next call. + +Chicago, which had a new Red Cross Society, formed almost for the +occasion, through its most worthy and notable representative, Rev. E. I. +Galvin, did the same, performing the long journey with us, +superintending the distribution of his own relief and making his own +report with such convincing power, that societies of no less excellence +than the Lend-a-Hand were its outgrowth. + +I am thus particular to mention this from the loving gratitude +fervently cherished for strong, tender help in the day of small things. +Their contributions largely served to run our boat and keep our crew, +and with heads, hearts, and hands we struggled as one, to avert the +destruction so rife around us. + +From St. Louis we crossed over to Evansville, rechartered the "John V. +Troop," and put on accumulated supplies. The waters of the Ohio had +subsided and the people were returning to the old spots of earth that +once had been their home, but there was neither house to live in nor +tool to work the land with. We reloaded with pine lumber, ready-made +doors, windows, household utensils, stores and groceries, farming +utensils, and with a good force of carpenters proceeded up the Ohio once +more. The sight of the disconsolate, half-clad farmer waiting on the +bank told us where his home had been--and was not. + +Three hours' work of our carpenters would put up a one-room house, +meanwhile our efficient men and women helpers, among them the best +ladies of Evansville, would furnish it with beds, bedding, clothing, +provisions for the family, and farming tools ready to go on with the +season's work. + +Picture, if possible, this scene. A strange ship with a strange flag +steaming up the river. It halts, turns from its course, and draws up to +the nearest landing. Some persons disembark and speak a few minutes with +the family. Then, a half dozen strong mechanics man a small boat laden +with all material for constructing a one-room house--floor, roof, doors, +windows. The boat returns for furniture. Within three hours the strange +ship sails away, leaving a bewildered family in a new and clean house +with bed, bedding, clothing, table, chairs, dishes, candles, a little +cooking-stove with a blazing fire, all the common quota of cooking +utensils, and meat, meal, and groceries; a plow, rake, axe, hoe, shovel, +spade, hammer, and nails. We ask few questions. They ask none. The +whistle of the "Troop" is as welcome to their ears as the flag to their +eyes. + +At one of these wrecked villages the entire little hamlet of people +stood on our decks. Only four, they said, were left at home, and these +were sick. They had selected their lawyer to speak their thanks. No +words will ever do justice to the volume of native eloquence which +seemed to roll unbidden from his lips. He finished with these sentences: + +"At noon on that day we were in the blackness of despair--the whole +village in the power of the demon of waters--hemmed in by sleet and ice, +without fire enough to cook its little food. When the bell struck nine +that night, there were seventy-five families on their knees before their +blazing grates, thanking God for fire and light, and praying blessings +on the phantom ship with the unknown device that had come as silently as +the snow, they knew not whence, and gone, they knew not whither." + +When we finished the voyage of relief, we had covered the Ohio River +from Cincinnati to Cairo and back twice, and the Mississippi from St. +Louis to New Orleans, and return--four months on the rivers--traveled +over eight thousand miles, distributed in relief of money and estimated +material, one hundred and seventy-five thousand dollars--gathered as we +used it. + +We left at one point on the Ohio River a well-lettered cross-board, +"Little Six Red Cross Landing"--probably there to this day. The story of +The Little Six might be given in their own little letter: + + +WATERFORD, PA., _March_ 24, 1884. + +DEAR MISS BARTON: + +We read your nice letter in the Dispatch and we would like very much to +see that house called "The Little Six," and we little six are so glad +that we helped six other little children, and we thank you for going to +so much trouble in putting our money just where we would have put it +ourselves. Some time again when you want money to help you in your good +work call on "The Little Six." + + +JOE FARRAR, twelve years old. +FLORENCE HOWE, eleven years old. +MARY BARTON, eleven years old. +REED WHITE, eleven years old. +BERTIE AINSWORTH, ten years old. +LOYD BARTON, seven years old. + + +These children had given a public entertainment for the benefit of the +flood sufferers. They themselves suggested it, planned and carried it +out, and raised fifty-one dollars and twenty-five cents, which they +sent to the editor of the Eric Dispatch, asking him to send it "where it +would do the most good." The Dispatch forwarded it to the president of +the Red Cross, with an account of the entertainment given by "The Little +Six." + +The entire matter was too beautiful and withal unique, to meet only a +common fate in its results. I could not, for a moment, think to mingle +the gift of the little dramatists with the common fund for general +distribution, and sought through all these weeks for a fitting +disposition to make of it, where it would all go in some special manner +to relieve some special necessity. I wanted it to benefit some children +who had "wept on the banks" of the river, which in its madness had +devoured their home. + +As we neared that picturesque spot on the Illinois side of the Ohio, +known as "Cave-in Rock," we were hailed by a woman and her young +daughter. The boat "rounded to" and made the landing and they came on +board--a tall, thin, worn woman in tattered clothes, with a good but +inexpressibly sad face, who wished to tell us that a package which we +had left for her at the town on our way down had never reached her. She +was a widow--Mrs. Plew--whose husband, a good river pilot, had died from +overwork on a hard trip to New Orleans in the floods of the Mississippi +two years before, leaving her with six children dependent upon her, the +eldest a lad in his "teens," the youngest a little baby girl. They owned +their home, just on the brink of the river, a little "farm" of two or +three acres, two horses, three cows, thirty hogs, and a half hundred +fowls, and in spite of the bereavement, they had gone on bravely, +winning the esteem and commendation of all who knew them for thrift and +honest endeavor. Last year the floods came heavily upon them, driving +them from their home, and the two horses were lost. Next the cholera +came among the hogs and all but three died. Still they worked on; and +held the home. This spring came the third flood. The water climbed up +the bank, crept in at the door, and filled the lower story of the house. +They had nowhere to remove their household goods, and stored them in the +garret carefully packed, and went out to find a shelter in an old log +house near by, used for a corn-crib. Day by day they watched the house, +hailed passing boats for news of the rise and fall of the water above, +always trusting the house would stand--"and it would," the mother said, +"for it was a good, strong house, but for the storm." The winds came, +and the terrible gale that swept the valley like a tornado, with the +water at its height, leveling whole towns, descended and beat upon that +house, and it fell. In the morning there was no house there, and the +waves in their fury rushed madly on. Then these little children "stood +and wept on the banks of the river," and the desolation and fear in the +careful mother's heart, none but herself and her God can know. + +They lived on in the corn-crib, and it was from it they came to hail us +as we passed to-day. Something had been told us of them on our downward +trip, and a package had been left them at "Cave-in Rock," which they had +not received. We went over shoe-tops in mud to their rude home, to find +it one room of logs, an old stone chimney, with a cheerful fire of +drift-wood and a _clean_ hearth, two wrecks of beds, a table, and two +chairs which some kind neighbor had loaned. The Government boats had +left them rations. There was an air of thrift, even in their desolation, +a plank walk was laid about the door, the floor was cleanly swept, and +the twenty-five surviving hens, for an equal number were lost in the +storm, clucked and craiked comfortably about the door, and there were +two-and-a-half dozen fresh eggs to sell us at a higher rate than paid in +town. We stood, as we had done so many scores of times during the last +few weeks, and looked this pitiful scene in the face. There were +misfortune, poverty, sorrow, want, loneliness, dread of the future, but +fortitude, courage, integrity, and honest thrift. + +"Would she like to return to the childhood home in Indiana?" we asked +the mother, for we would help them go. + +"No," she said tenderly. "My husband lived and died here. He is buried +here, and I would not like to go away and leave him alone. It won't be +very long, and it is a comfort to the children to be able to visit his +grave. No, I reckon we will stay here, and out of the wreck of the old +house which sticks up out of the mud, we will put up another little +hut, higher up on the bank out of the way of the floods, and if it is +only a hut, it will be a home for us and we will get into it, and make +our crop this year." + +There were no dry eyes, but very still hearts, while we listened to this +sorrowful but brave little speech, made with a voice full of tears. + +Our thoughtful field agent, Dr. Hubbell, was the first to speak. + +"Here are six children," he said with an inquiring glance at me. + +No response was needed. The thing was done. We told the mother the story +of "The Little Six" of Waterford, and asked her if that money with +enough more to make up one hundred dollars would help her to get up her +house? It was _her_ turn to be speechless. At length with a struggling, +choking voice she managed to say--"God knows how much it would be to me. +Yes, with my good boys I can do it, and do it well." + +We put in her hands a check for this sum, and directed from the boat +clean boxes of clothing and bedding, to help restore the household, when +the house should have been completed. + +Before we left her, we asked if she would name her house when it should +be done? She thought a second, and caught the idea. + +"Yes," she replied quickly, with a really winsome smile on that worn and +weary face, "yes, I shall name it 'The Little Six.'" + +We came to Pittsburg, discharged our empty boat, bade a heart-breaking +good-by to our veteran volunteers from Evansville, who had shared our +toil and pain and who would return on the boat, we taking train once +more for Washington. We had been four months on the rivers, among fogs, +rain, damp, and malaria--run all manner of risks and dangers, but had +lost no life nor property, sunk no boat, and only that I was by this +time too weak to walk without help--all were well. + +Through the thoughtfulness of our new societies--St. Louis and +Chicago--we had been able to meet our share of the expenses, and to keep +good the little personal provision we started with, and were thus ready +to commence another field when it should come. + +On arriving home I found that I was notified by the International +Committee of Geneva, that the Fourth International Conference would be +held in that city in September, and I was requested to inform the +United States Government, and ask it to send delegates. With the aid of +a borrowed arm, I made my way up the steps of the Department of State +(that was before the luxury of elevators) and made my errand known to +Secretary Frelinghuysen, who had heard of it and was ready with his +reply: + +"Yes, Miss Barton, we will make the needful appointment of delegates to +the International Conference, and I appoint you as our delegate." + +"No, Mr. Frelinghuysen," I said, "I can not go. I have just returned +from field work. I am tired and ill. Furthermore, I have not had time to +make a report of our work." + +"There is no one else who sufficiently understands the Red Cross, and +the provisions of the treaty, that our Government can send, and we can +not afford to make a mistake in the matter of delegates to this first +conference in which our Government shall participate," answered the +Secretary. "As to the report, have you not acknowledged the +contributions to all those who have sent?" + +"Oh, yes; every dollar and every box of goods where the donor was +known," I replied. + +"Has any one complained?" he asked. + +"No; not a single person so far as is known. We have had only thanks." + +"Then to whom would you report?" + +"To you, Mr. Secretary, or to such person or in such manner as you shall +designate." + +"I don't want any report; no report is necessary," answered the +Secretary. "Our Government relief-boats have reported you officially, +and all the country knows what you have done and is more than satisfied. +Regarding your illness--you have had too much fresh water, Miss Barton, +I recommend salt--and shall appoint you." + +This was done, and the appropriation for expenses was made, and at my +request Judge Joseph Sheldon, and by invitation Mr. A. S. Solomon, our +vice-president, were also appointed to accompany me. The appropriation +sufficed for all. + +The conference was held at Geneva, September 17, 1884, and thus was had +the first official representation of the United States Government at an +International Conference of the Treaty of Geneva. There have since been +five. I have attended all but one. + + + + +II + +THE TEXAS FAMINE AND THE MT. VERNON CYCLONE + + +Before the close of the following year, 1885, came what was known as the +"Texas Famine." Thousands of miles of wild land, forming the Pan Handle, +had been suddenly opened by the building of a Southern Railroad. In the +speculative anxiety of the Road to people its newly acquired territory, +unwarranted inducements of climatic advantages had been unscrupulously +held out to the poor farmers of Mississippi, Alabama, and Georgia. + +Lured by the pictures presented them, some thousands of families had +been induced to leave their old, worn-out farms, and with the little +they could carry or drive, reach the new Eldorado, to find a new farm +that needed only the planting to make them rich, prosperous, and happy, +without labor. They planted. The first year brought some returns--the +second was a drought with no returns--the third the same. Hunger for +themselves and starvation for their stock stared them in the face. They +could not pick up and go back--the rivers were dry from the Rio Grande +to the Brazos--the earth was iron, and the heavens brass; cattle +wandered at will for water and feed, and their bones whitened the +plains. + +These were poor little peoples. They tried to make the great State know +of their distress, but the rich railroad proprietors held the _press_, +and no one knew their condition or could get correct information. At +length a faithful clergyman came to Washington, to President Cleveland, +and the Red Cross. + +We consulted with the President, who gave encouragement for us to go to +Texas and learn the facts. + +In mid-winter, 1886, accompanied by Dr. Hubbell, the journey was +undertaken. We proceeded to Albany, Texas, made headquarters--traveled +over the stricken counties, found wretchedness, hunger, thirst, cold, +heart-breaking discouragement. The third year of drought was upon them, +and the good people of that great State, misled by its press, its press +in turn misled by the speculators, innocently discredited every report +of distress, and amused themselves by little sly innuendoes and witty +jokes on the "Texas Famine." + +The condition was pitiful. To them it was hopeless. And yet not a dollar +or a pound was needed outside of Texas. They only required to know the +truth. This then was our task. We ceased to journey over arid fields of +suffering, and turned our steps resolutely to the editorial rooms of the +Dallas and Galveston News, at Dallas. Both editors were present; both +sat half-breathless while the flood of information rolled over them in +no uncertain terms. + +I shall never forget the tears in the mild blue eyes of General Belo, as +he learned what he had done, and was still doing. Twelve hours brought +another issue of the two papers. A column of editorial told the true +situation. A modest contribution of the Red Cross headed a subscription +list, General Belo following with his, and almost immediately the +legislature made an appropriation of one hundred thousand dollars for +food and supplies. + +The tender-hearted and conscience-smitten people sent their donations. +Our task was done. We had seen and conquered. + +In the midst of a cold rain in February we reached Washington. A concise +and full report was made to President Cleveland, saying in conclusion: +"I thank you with all my heart, Mr. President, for the encouragement at +the commencement, and for the privilege of writing you. We have done +this little bit of work faithfully and hope it may meet your approval." + +President Cleveland's letter of thanks still bears testimony of his care +for the people of the country, and his faith in its institutions. + +Not a dollar of outside help passed through our hands, but the little +permanent provision was equal to the occasion and we had still a half +left of our three thousand dollars. That was our first acquaintance with +Texas. Galveston followed many years later with the same firm accord and +good results. The bonds of affection had grown deep and strong between +the great thousand-mile State and the little Red Cross that loved to +serve her. + +In the following year, 1887, we were notified by the International +Committee of Geneva of the conference to be held at Carlsruhe, by +invitation of the Grand Duke and Grand Duchess of Baden. We were +directed to inform the Department of State of this fact. We did so, and +an appropriation was made by Congress to defray the expenses of three +delegates. + +It may be well to explain that in these appointments the Government does +not place the appropriation in the hands of the appointees, but simply +becomes a guaranty. The appointee provides his own funds. If, after +return, vouchers can be shown that the sum guaranteed has been spent +according to regulations, he is reimbursed in due course. + +Here was at least a contrast from a rough Mississippi River boat and the +crude homes of an unsettled Western State, to the royal carriage waiting +to convey one to the apartments reserved in a palace, the elegance and +culture of a court, the precision of a congress of representatives of +the nations of the world. The questions of humanity discussed by them, +the meeting of friends of other days, the regal bearing of the royal +host and hostess, the last parting from the dear old Emperor of +ninety-two, and his tenderly spoken, "It is the last time, good-by"; the +loving and last farewell of the beloved Empress Augusta, the patron +saint of the Red Cross; Bismarck and Moltke, in review, each with his +Red Cross insignia; the cordial hand grasp and the farewell never +repeated--and all of this attention to and interest in a subject that +the country I had gone to represent scarcely realized had an existence +beyond the receiving of some second-hand clothing, misfit shoes, and a +little money sent by some one to some place, where something bad had +happened. + +No one dreamed that it meant anything more, or that it needed anything +after this, and nothing more was done. + +It is only now, after almost two decades and within the last three +months, that we commence to awaken and wonder, with a mingled national +and personal sense of indignation, why our American Red Cross is not as +rich and great as in other nations? + +In February, 1888, occurred the Mt. Vernon, Ill., cyclone, cutting a +broad swath through one-half of the beautiful county-seat, tearing down +all heavy buildings, picking up the lighter ones and sweeping them +along like cardboard. + +In three minutes the work of destruction was over. Ten minutes later the +sun shone out brightly over the ruins of the town, the wails of the +maimed and dying, and the lifeless bodies of the dead. + +Fires broke out on every hand, and the victims pinned down under the +wreckage were subjects for the flames. Appeals for assistance went out, +but by unfortunate press representation failed to arouse the public, +till after several days, when we were reached, through their +representative in Congress, begging that in mercy we go to them. We +arrived in the night, found homes destroyed, hospitals full, scant +medical care, few nurses, food scarce and no money, a relief committee +of excellent men, but little to distribute. + +At daylight we looked over the situation and sent this simple message to +the Associated Press: + + +"The pitiless snow is falling on the heads of three thousand people, who +are without homes, without food or clothing, and without money. + +"AMERICAN NATIONAL RED CROSS, + +"Clara Barton, President." + + +This was all. We assisted their relief committee to arrange for the +receipt and distribution of funds, sent for experienced helpers to take +charge of supplies, to distribute clothing, and aid the hospital +service. We remained two weeks, and left them with more supplies than +they knew how to distribute, and the Citizens' Committee, with +accumulating cash in its treasury of ninety thousand dollars, full of +hope, life, and a gratitude they could not speak. + +As in the Texas famine, we paid our own expenses and no dollar but our +own had passed our hands. We were only glad to do this, in the hope that +we were building up an institution of self-help of the people, that +would one day win its way to their favor and aid. + + + + +III + +YELLOW FEVER IN FLORIDA + + +During the same year the yellow fever broke out in Jacksonville, Fla., +and was declared epidemic in September. + +An arrangement had been made between the National Association and the +Auxiliary Society of the Red Cross of New Orleans, which society +embraced the famous old "Howard Association," that, in case of an +outbreak of yellow fever, they would send their immune nurses from the +South, and we of the North would supply the money to support and pay +them. + +This arrangement was carried out so far as could be, under the very +natural differences of a medical department of active, professional men, +taking up the treatment of an epidemic of which they knew very little +experimentally, but filled with the enthusiasm of science and hope, and +the unprofessional, fearless, easy-going gait of the old Southern +nurses, white and black, whose whole lives had been spent in just that +work. + +The Red Cross sent no Northern nurses. But eighteen or twenty "Howard +nurses," mainly colored, went out from New Orleans under charge of Col. +Fred. F. Southmayd, their leader of twenty years in epidemics. A part of +his nurses were stationed at Macclenny, and a part went on to +Jacksonville. Under medical direction of their noted "yellow fever +doctor"--a tall Norwegian--Dr. Gill, they did their faithful work and +won their meed of grateful praise. + +Our place was in Washington, to receive, deal carefully with, and hold +back the tide of offered service from the hundreds of enthusiastic, +excited untrained volunteers, rushing on to danger and death. Their +fearless ignorance was a pitiful lesson. In all the hundreds there was +scarcely one who had ever seen a case of yellow fever, but all were sure +they were proof against it. Only three passed us, and two of these had +the fever in Jacksonville. + +When the scourge was ended we met our nurses personally at Camp Perry, +paid and sent them back to New Orleans. All that are living are at our +service still, faithful and true. + +During the fourth week in November a dispatch to national headquarters +announced that the last band of Red Cross nurses, known as the +"Macclenny Nurses," had finished their work at Enterprise, and would +come into Camp Perry to wait their ten days' quarantine and go home to +New Orleans for Thanksgiving. + +That would mean that seventy-nine days ago their little company of +eighteen, mainly women, steaming on to Jacksonville, under guidance of +their old-time trusted leader, Southmayd, of New Orleans, listened to +his announcement that the town of Macclenny, thirty-eight miles from +Jacksonville, Fla., and through which they would soon pass, was in a +fearful state of distress; a comparatively new town, of a few thousand, +largely Northern and Western people, suddenly-stricken down in scores; +poor, helpless, physicians all ill, and no nurses; quarantined on all +sides, no food, medicine, nor comforts for sick or well. + +"Nurses, shall I leave a part of you there; the train can not stop in, +nor near the town, but if I can manage to get it slowed up somewhere, +will you jump?" + +"We will do anything you say, colonel; we are here in God's name and +service to help His people; for Him, for you, and for the Red Cross, we +will do our best and our all." + +"Conductor, you had a hot box a few miles back; don't you think it +should be looked to after passing Macclenny?" + +"I will slow up and have it seen to, colonel, although it may cost me my +official head." And it did. + +One mile beyond town, the rain pouring in torrents, the ground soaked, +slippery, and caving, out into pitchy darkness, leaped three men and +seven women from a puffing, unsteady train, no physician with them, and +no instructions save the charge of their leader as the last leap was +made, and the train pushed on: "Nurses, you know what to do; go and do +your best, and God help you." Hand to hand, that none go astray in the +darkness, they hobbled back over a mile of slippery cross-ties to the +stricken town. Shelter was found, the wet clothes dried, and at midnight +the sick had been parceled out, each nurse had his or her quota of +patients, and were in for the issue, be it life or death. Those past +all help must be seen through, and lost, all that could be must be +saved. The next day a dispatch from Southmayd went back to New Orleans +for Dr. Gill to come and take charge of the sick and the nurses at +Macclenny. It was done, and under his wise direction they found again a +leader. Their labors and successes are matters for later and more +extended record. + +It is to be borne in mind that these nurses found no general table, no +table at all but such as they could provide, find the food for, and cook +for themselves, for the sick, the children, and the old and helpless who +had escaped the fever and must be cared for. No patient could be left +till the crisis was passed, and many are their records of seventy-two +hours without change or sleep or scarcely sitting down. As the disease +gradually succumbed to their watchful care, experience, and skill, they +reached out to other freshly attacked towns and hamlets. Sanderson and +Glen St. Mary's became their charge, and return their blessings for +lives preserved. + +On November 1st it was thought they could safely leave and go into camp +for quarantine; but no regular train would be permitted to take them. +The Red Cross secured and paid a special train for them, and, as if in +bold relief against the manner of their entry seven weeks before, the +entire town, saving its invalids, was assembled at the station at seven +o'clock in the morning to bid them good-by and God speed. + +But their fame had gone before them, and "Enterprise," a hundred miles +below, just stricken down among its flowers and fruits, reached out its +hands for aid, and with one accord, after two days in camp, all turned +back from the coveted home and needed rest and added another month of +toil to their already weary record. At length this was ended, and word +came again to us that they would go into quarantine. Their unselfish, +faithful, and successful record demanded something more than the mere +sending of money. It deserved the thanks of the Red Cross organization +in the best and highest manner in which they could be bestowed; it was +decided that its President, in person, should most fittingly do this, +and I accordingly left Washington on the morning of November 22d in +company with Dr. Hubbell, field agent, for Camp Perry, the quarantine +station of Florida. Two days and one night by rail, a few miles across +country by wagon, where trains were forbidden to stop, and another mile +or so over the trestles of St. Mary's on a dirt car with the workmen, +brought us into camp as the evening fires were lighted and the bugle +sounded supper. The genial surgeon in charge, Dr. Hutton, who carried a +knapsack and musket in an Illinois regiment in '62, met us cordially and +extended every possible hospitality. Soon there filed past us to supper +the tall doctor and his little flock; some light and fair-skinned, with +the easy step of a well-bred lady, others dark and bony-handed, but the +strong, kind faces below the turbans told at a glance that you could +trust your life there and find it again. They were not disturbed that +night, and no certain information of our arrival got among them. It was +cold and windy, and the evening short, as nine o'clock brought taps and +lights out. In spite of all caution the news of our coming had spread +over the surrounding country, and telegrams bringing both thanks for +what had been received and the needs for more, came from all sides, and +the good Mayor of Macclenny made his troubled way to reach and greet us +in person, and take again the faithful hands that had served and saved +his people. + +Surgeon Hutton's headquarter tent was politely tendered for the first +meeting, and as one could never, while memory lasts, forget this scene, +so no words can ever adequately describe it. The ample tent was filled. +Here on the right the Mayor, broad shouldered, kind faced and efficient, +officers of camp, and many visitors, wondering what it all meant; in the +center the tall doctor and his faithful band--Eliza Lanier, Lena Seymour +(mother and daughter), Elizabeth Eastman, Harriet Schmidt, Lizzie Louis, +Rebecca Vidal, Annie Evans, Arthur Duteil, Frederick Wilson, and Edward +Holyland. + +I give these names because they are worthy a place in the history of any +epidemic; but no country, race, nor creed could claim them as a body: +four Americans, one German, one French, one Irish, three Africans, part +Protestant, and part Catholic, but all from New Orleans, of grand old +_Howard_ stock, from Memphis down, nursing in every epidemic from the +bayous of the Mississippi to Tampa Bay; and hereafter we will know them +as the "_Old Guard_." + +Here, in the winds of approaching winter they stand in the light garb of +early September in New Orleans, thin, worn, longing for home, but +patient, grateful, and glad, some trifling "nubia" or turban about the +head, but only one distinguishing feature in common. A pitiful little +misshapen Red Cross, made by their own hands, of two bits of scarlet +ribbon, soiled, fringed, and tattered, pinned closely upon the left +breast of each, strove in mute appeal to say who they were, and what +they served. A friendly recognition and some words of thanks from their +President, opened the way for those anxious to follow. The rich, warm +eloquence of Mayor Watkins plainly told from how near his heart the +stream of gratitude was flowing, and his manly voice trembled as he +reverted to the condition of his stricken people, on that pitiless +night, when this little band of pilgrim strangers strayed back to them +in the rain and darkness. "I fear they often worked in hunger," he said, +"for then, as now, we had little for ourselves, our sick, or our well; +but they brought us to our feet, and the blessing of every man, woman, +and child in Macclenny is on them." + +It was with a kind of paternal pride that Dr. Gill advanced and placed +before us his matchless record of cases attended, and life preserved. +"This is the record of our work," he said. "I am proud of it, and glad +that I have been able to make it, but without the best efforts of these +faithful nurses I could not have done it; they have stood firm through +everything; not a word of complaint from, nor of, one of them, in all +these trying months, and I thank you, our President, for this +opportunity to testify to their merits in your presence." The full cups +overflowed, and as we took each brown calloused hand in ours, and felt +the warm tears dropping over them, we realized how far from calloused +were the hearts behind them. The silence that followed was a season of +prayer. + +Then came opportunity for some conversation, questions, and +explanations. "We wish to introduce to our President our chief nurse, +whom Colonel Southmayd placed in charge of us when we left the car, and +directed us to obey him; he is younger than any of us, Ed. Holyland." A +slight young man with clear, olive complexion, and dark-browed earnest +eyes that looked you straight in the face, came forward; his apparent +youthfulness gave rise to the first remark: + +"How old are you, Mr. Holyland?" + +"Twenty-nine, madam." + +"And you have taken charge of these nurses?" + +"I have done what I could for their comfort; I think that was what the +colonel desired; he knew they would need only care and advice, they +would do their best of themselves. During the few days that Colonel +Southmayd remained in Jacksonville," he continued, "he was able to send +us some such comforts as we needed for the sick, and some nourishing +food for ourselves; but this was only a few days, you know, and after +that we got on as well as we could without. I know that after he left +the nurses gave to the sick, the children, the old and the helpless, +what they needed for their own strength." + +"But you did not tell us this, Mr. Holyland." + +"No, we were dazed and frightened by the things we heard. We felt that +your organization was having enough to bear. We knew we must look to +you for our pay, and we thought, under the circumstances, that would be +your share. But permit me, please, to call your attention to Mr. Wilson +(a stout colored man advanced), who took charge of a little hospital of +six cases, and carried them all through, day and night, without an +hour's relief from any person, and never lost a single case." + +"And permit me," chimed in the clear-toned Irish voice of Lizzie Louis, +"to tell of Mr. Holyland himself, who found a neglected Italian family a +mile or more outside of the town. He went and nursed them alone, and +when the young son, a lad of thirteen or fourteen years, died, knowing +there was no one to bury him there, he wrapped him in a blanket and +brought him into town on his back, for burial." + +Holyland's face grew sad, and his eyes modestly sought the floor, as he +listened to this unexpected revelation. + +"I wish to speak of something else," added one of the men, "which we +were held back from doing, and for which we are now very glad. We should +not have thought of it ourselves. It is customary," he continued, "when +a patient dies in an epidemic, to give the nurse ten dollars for +preparing the body for burial; this was done in our first case, but Mr. +Holyland had the gift promptly returned with thanks, and the explanation +that we were employed by an organization which fully rewarded its +nurses, and was too high and too correct to accept tribute for +misfortune; it was enough that the patient was lost." + +By this time poor black Annie Evans, the "Mammy" of the group, could +hold quiet no longer, and broke silence with, "Missus President! whar is +de colonel? Colonel Southmayd; dey tells me all de time he's gone away +from New Orleans, and I can't b'l'eve 'em. He can't go away; he can't +lib anywhar else, he was always dar. I'se nursed in yellow fever and +cholera more'n twenty-five year, and I neber went for nobody but him; it +arn't no New Orleans for us widout him dar. I doesn't know de name of +dat place dey say he's gone to, and I doesn't want to; he'll be in New +Orleans when we gets dar." + +There were pitying glances among the group, at this little burst of +feeling, for in some way it was an echo of their own; and Lena Seymour +added tenderly: "We have been trying for these two months to convince +Mammy about this, but she is firm in her faith and sometimes refuses to +hear us." But the subject changed with "How many cases did you lose in +this epidemic, Mammy?" + +"I didn't lose no cases! Lor' bless you, honey, I doesn't lose cases if +dey hasn't been killed afore dey gets to me; folks needn't die of yellow +fever." + +We didn't suppose that "Mammy" intended any reflection upon the medical +fraternity. + +"But now, friends, we must turn to our settlement, which can not be +difficult. Three dollars a day for each nurse, for seventy-nine days, +till you are home on Thanksgiving morning. But here are only ten. There +are eighteen on our list who left with you and Colonel Southmayd; where +are your comrades?" Some eyes flashed and some moistened, as they +answered, "We do not know." "They remained in the car that night, and +went on to Jacksonville." Swift, dark glances swept from one to another +among them. Instinctively they drew closer to each other, and over +knitted brows and firmly set teeth, a silence fell dark and ominous +like a pall, which the future alone can lift. + +The bugle sounded dinner, and this ended our little camp-meeting, than +which few camp-meetings, we believe, ever came nearer to the heart of +Him who offered His life a ransom, and went about doing good. + +The winds blew cold across the camp; the fires shot out long angry +tongues of flame and drifts of smoke to every passer-by. The norther was +upon us. Night came down, and all were glad of shelter and sleep. The +morning, quiet, crisp, and white with frost, revealed the blessing which +had fallen upon a stricken land. + +Thanksgiving was there before its time. The hard rules relaxed. One day +more, and the quarantine was at an end. The north-bound train halted +below the camp, and all together, President and agent, tall doctor and +happy nurses, took places on it, the first for headquarters at +Washington, the last for New Orleans, and home for Thanksgiving morning, +full of the joys of a duty well done, rich in well-paid labor, in the +love of those they had befriended, and the approval of a whole people, +South and North, when once their work should be known to them. + +To the last, they clung to their little home-made Red Crosses as if they +had been gold and diamonds; and when at length the tracks diverged and +the parting must be made, it was with few words, low and softly spoken, +but meaning much, with a finger touch upon the little cross, "When you +want us, we are there." + +The supplies forwarded by us were estimated at ten thousand dollars. The +money received was $6,281.58. Out of this sum we paid our twenty nurses +three dollars a day, for seventy-nine days--their cost of living, and +their transportation when needed. We paid our doctor in charge twenty +dollars a day, the customary price, for the same period. We paid our +office rent, assistants, telegraphing, drayage for supplies sent on by +us (railroad transportation free), and all incidentals for a relief work +of over three months' duration. This ran our debit column over on the +other side over one thousand dollars. Our little part of the relief of +that misfortune was estimated at fifteen thousand dollars, and only +those relieved were more grateful than we. + + + + +IV + +THE JOHNSTOWN FLOOD + + +On Sunday afternoon, May 31, 1889, with the waters of the Potomac two +feet deep on Pennsylvania Avenue, a half dozen of us left Washington for +Johnstown, over washed-out ties and broken tracks, with every little +gully swollen to a raging torrent. After forty-eight hours of this, we +reached the scene, which no one need or could describe, but if ever a +people needed help it was these. + +Scarcely a house standing that was safe to enter, the wrecks piled in +rubbish thirty feet in height, four thousand dead in the river beds, +twenty thousand foodless but for Pittsburg bread rations, and a cold +rain which continued unbroken by sunshine for forty days. + +It was at the moment of supreme affliction when we arrived at Johnstown. +The waters had subsided, and those of the inhabitants who had escaped +the fate of their fellows were gazing over the scene of destruction and +trying to arouse themselves from the lethargy that had taken hold of +them when they were stunned by the realization of all the woe that had +been visited upon them. How nobly they responded to the call of duty! +How much of the heroic there is in our people when it is needed! No idle +murmurings of fate, but true to the god-like instincts of manhood and +fraternal love, they quickly banded together to do the best that the +wisest among them could suggest. + +For five weary months it was our portion to live amid the scenes of +destruction, desolation, poverty, want and woe; sometimes in tents, +sometimes without; and so much rain and mud, and such a lack of the +commonest comforts for a time, until we could build houses to shelter +ourselves and those around us. Without a safe and with a dry-goods box +for a desk, we conducted financial affairs in money and material to the +extent of nearly half a million dollars. + +I shall never lose the memory of my first walk on the first day--the +wading in mud, the climbing over broken engines, cars, heaps of iron +rollers, broken timbers, wrecks of houses; bent railway tracks tangled +with piles of iron wire; bands of workmen, squads of military, and +getting around the bodies of dead animals, and often people being borne +away; the smouldering fires and drizzling rain--all for the purpose of +officially announcing to the commanding general (for the place was under +martial law) that the Red Cross had arrived in the field. I could not +have puzzled General Hastings more if I had addressed him in Chinese; +and if ours had been truly an Oriental mission, the gallant soldier +could not have been more courteous and kind. He immediately set about +devising means for making as comfortable as possible a "poor, lone +woman," helpless, of course, upon such a field. It was with considerable +difficulty that I could convince him that the Red Cross had a way of +taking care of itself at least, and was not likely to suffer from +neglect. + +Not a business house or bank left, the safes all in the bottom of the +river; our little pocketbook was useless, there was nothing to buy, and +it would not bring back the dead. With the shelter of the tents of the +Philadelphia Red Cross, that joined us en route with supplies, when we +could find a cleared place to spread, or soil to hold them, with a +dry-goods box for a desk, our stenographer commenced to rescue the first +dispatches of any description that entered that desolate city. The +disturbed rivers lapped wearily back and forth, the people, dazed and +dumb, dug in the muddy banks for their dead. Hastings with his little +army of militia kept order. + +Soon supplies commenced to pour in from everywhere, to be received, +sheltered as best they could be from the incessant rain, and distributed +by human hands, for it was three weeks before even a cart could pass the +streets. + +But I am not here to describe Johnstown--the noble help that came to it, +nor the still more noble people that received it--but simply to say that +the little untried and unskilled Red Cross played its minor tune of a +single fife among the grand chorus of relief of the whole country, that +rose like an anthem, till over four millions in money, contributed to +its main body of relief, with the faithful Kreamer at its head, had +modestly taken the place of the twelve millions destroyed. But after all +it was largely the supplies that saved the people at first, as it always +is, and the distribution of which largely consumed the money that was +contributed later. + +From one mammoth tent which served as a warehouse, food and clothing +were given out to the waiting people through the hands of such volunteer +agents, both women and men, as I scarcely dare hope to ever see gathered +together in one work again. The great cry which had gone out had aroused +the entire country, and our old-time helpers, full of rich experience +and still richer love for the work, faithful to the cross of humanity as +the devotee to the cross of the Master, came up from every point--the +floods, the cyclones, the battle-fields--and kneeling before the shrine, +pledged heart and service anew to the work. Fair hands laying aside +their diamonds, and business men their cares, left homes of elegance and +luxury to open rough boxes and barrels, handle second-hand clothing, eat +coarse food at rough-board tables, sleep on cots under a dripping canvas +tent, all for the love of humanity symbolized in the little flag that +floated above them. + +Clergymen left their pulpits and laymen their charge to tramp over the +hillsides from house to house, to find who needed and suffered, and to +carry to them from our tents on their shoulders, like beasts of burden, +the huge bundles of relief, where no beast of burden could reach. + +We had been early requested by official resolution of the Finance +Committee of the City of Johnstown to aid them in the erection of +houses. We accepted the invitation, and at the same time proposed to aid +in furnishing the nucleus of a household for the home which should in +any way be made up. This aid seemed imperative, as nothing was left for +them to commence living with, neither beds, chairs, tables, nor cooking +utensils of any kind; and there were few if any stores open, and no +furniture in town. + +Of this labor we had our share. Six buildings of one hundred feet by +fifty, later known as "Red Cross Hotels," were quickly put up to shelter +the people, furnished, supplied, and kept like hotels, free of all cost +to them, while others were built by the general committee. Three +thousand of the latter were erected, and the Red Cross furnished every +one with substantial, newly purchased furniture, ready for occupancy. +The books of the "Titusville Manufacturing Company" will show one cash +order of ten thousand dollars for furniture. The three thousand houses +thus furnished each accommodated two families. + +A ponderous book of nearly two feet square shows the name, sex, and +number of persons of each family, and a list of every article received +by them. To-day one looks in wonder at such a display of clerical labor +and accuracy, under even favorable conditions. + +This was only accomplished by the hard, unpaid labor of every officer, +and the large amount of volunteer friendly aid that came to us. + +The great manufacturers of the country, and the heavy contributing +agents, on learning our intentions, sent, without a hint from us, many +of their articles, as, for instance, New Bedford, Mass., sent mattresses +and bedding; Sheboygan, Wis., sent furniture and enameled ironware; +Titusville, Pa., with a population of ten thousand, sent ten thousand +dollars' worth of its well-made bedsteads, springs, extension-tables, +chairs, stands and rockers; and the well-known New York newspaper, The +Mail and Express, sent a large lot of mattresses, feather pillows, +bedclothing, sheets, and pillow-slips by the thousand and cooking +utensils by the ten thousands. Six large teams were in constant service +delivering these goods. + +When the contributions slackened or ceased, and more material was +needed, we purchased of the same firms which had contributed, keeping +our stock good until all applications were filled. The record on our +books showed that over twenty-five thousand persons had been directly +served by us. They had received our help independently and without +begging. No child has learned to beg at the doors of the Red Cross. + +It is to be borne in mind that the fury of the deluge had swept almost +entirely the homes of the wealthy, the elegant, the cultured leaders of +society, and the fathers of the town. This class who were spared were +more painfully homeless than the indigent poor, who could still huddle +in together. They could not go away, for the suffering and demoralized +town needed their care and oversight more than ever before. There was no +home for them, nowhere to get a meal of food or to sleep. Still they +must work on, and the stranger coming to town on business must go +unfed, with no shelter at night, if he would sleep, or, indeed, escape +being picked up by the military guard. + +To meet these necessities, and being apprehensive that some good lives +might go out under the existing luck of accommodations, it was decided +to erect a building similar to our warehouse. The use of the former site +of the Episcopal Church was generously tendered us by the Bishop early +in June, for any purpose we might desire. This house, which was soon +erected, was known as the "Locust Street Red Cross Hotel"; it stood some +fifty rods from our warehouse, and was fifty by one hundred and sixteen +feet in dimensions, two stories in height, with lantern roof, built of +hemlock, single siding, papered inside with heavy building paper, and +heated by natural gas, as all our buildings were. It consisted of +thirty-four rooms, besides kitchen, laundry, bath-rooms with hot and +cold water, and one main dining-hall and sitting-room through the +center, sixteen feet in width by one hundred in length. + +It was fully furnished with excellent beds, bedding, bureaus, tables, +chairs, and all needful housekeeping furniture. A competent landlady, +who, like the rest, had a few weeks before floated down over the same +ground on the roof of her house in thirty feet of water, was placed in +charge, with instructions to keep a good house, make what she could rent +free, but charging no Johnstown person over twenty-five cents for a meal +of food. + +This was the first attempt at social life after that terrible +separation, and its success was something that I am very proud of. The +house was full of townspeople from the first day, and strangers no +longer looked in vain for accommodations. + +The conception of the need of this house, and the method of selecting +its inmates, and the manner of inducting them into their new home, were +somewhat unique and may be of interest to the reader. I had noticed +among the brave and true men, who were working in the mud and rain, many +refined-looking gentlemen, who were, before this great misfortune +carried away most of their belongings, the wealthiest and most +influential citizens. Never having had to struggle amid such hardships +and deprivations, their sufferings were more acute than those of the +poorer and more hardy people; and it did not require any great +foresight to know that they were physically incapable of such labor if +prolonged, nor to predict their early sickness and death if they were +not properly housed and fed. As the salvation of the town depended in a +great measure upon the efforts of these men, it was vitally necessary +that their lives should be preserved. Realizing all this, it occurred to +us that the most important thing to do, next to feeding the hungry, was +to provide proper shelter for these delicate men and their families. The +idea once conceived was soon communicated to my staff, and, after due +consideration, it was put in the way of realization. + +On the afternoon of July 27th hundreds of citizens called on us, and +congratulations and good wishes were the order of the day. As the +members of each family whom we had selected to occupy apartments in the +house arrived, they were quietly taken aside and requested to remain and +have dinner with us. After all the guests were departed except those who +had been requested to remain, dinner was announced, and the party was +seated by the members of the Red Cross. Beside the plate of each head +of a family were laid the keys to an apartment, with a card inviting the +family to take possession at once, and remain as long as they chose. + +I can not describe the scene that followed; there were tears and broken +voices; suffice to say, the members of that household were made happy +and comfortable for many long months; and I venture to assert that those +now living recall those days with the fondest recollections. + +The contributions to the general committee had been so liberal that it +was possible to erect and provide for the great burial-place of its +dead--"Grand View," that overlooks the city. It was also suggested that +a benevolent society, as a permanent institution, be formed by the +united action of the general committee and the Red Cross. This was +successfully accomplished by the generous provision of eight thousand +dollars from the committee on its part and the turning over of our +well-made and supplied hospital buildings, and the funds we had left +placed in charge of a faithful custodian under our pay for the following +six months. + +This is the present "Union Benevolent Society" of Johnstown to-day. + +I remained five months with these people without once visiting my own +home, only returning to it when the frost had killed the green I had +left in May. + +In that time, it was estimated, we had housed, handled, and distributed +$211,000 worth of supplies--new and old--for, by request of the weary +chairman of the general committee, at the last, we took up the close of +its distribution. It is our joy and pride to recall how closely we +worked in connection with that honored committee from first to last, and +how strong and unsullied that friendship has remained. + +The value of money that passed through our hands was $39,000, as stated +in the official report of the general committee, to which all required +returns were made, recorded, and published by the committee. + +Our usual quota of assistants was fifty persons, the higher grade of men +and women assistants largely volunteers. Two railroads brought our +supplies. To handle these the strongest men were required, and seven +two-horse teams ran daily for three and a half months in the +distribution, at customary rates of pay. These were the workingmen of +the town who had suffered with the rest. + +It was a joy that in all the uncertainties of that uncertain field not a +single complaint ever reached us of the non-acknowledgment of a dollar +entrusted to us. + +The paths of charity are over roadways of ashes; and he who would tread +them must be prepared to meet opposition, misconstruction, jealousy, and +calumny. Let his work be that of angels--still it will not satisfy all. + +In the light of recent events, I may perhaps be pardoned for quoting a +few lines from the official report of the Johnstown Flood Finance +Committee appointed by Governor Beaver, as showing how these gentlemen, +the foremost men in the community, regarded our efforts to give them a +helping hand: + +"In this matter of sheltering the people, as in others of like +importance, Miss Clara Barton, President of the Red Cross Association, +was most helpful. At a time when there was a doubt if the Flood +Commission could furnish houses of suitable character and with the +requisite promptness, she offered to assume charge, and she erected with +the funds of the Association three large apartment houses, which +afforded comfortable lodgings for many houseless people. She was among +the first to arrive on the scene of calamity, bringing with her Dr. +Hubbell, the Field Officer of the Red Cross Association, and a staff of +skilled assistants. She made her own organization for relief work in +every form, disposing of the large resources under her control with such +wisdom and tenderness that the charity of the Red Cross had no sting, +and its recipients are not Miss Barton's dependents, but her friends. +She was also the last of the ministering spirits to leave the scene of +her labors, and she left her apartment houses for use during the winter, +and turned over her warehouse with its store of furniture, bedding, and +clothing, and a well-equipped infirmary, to the Union Benevolent +Association of the Conemaugh Valley, the organization of which she +advised and helped to form; and its lady visitors have so well performed +their work that the dreaded winter has no terrors, mendicancy has been +repressed, and not a single case of unrelieved suffering is known to +have occurred in all the flooded district." + +Enterprising, industrious, and hopeful, the new Johnstown, +phoenix-like, rose from its ruins more beautiful than the old, with a +ceaseless throb of grateful memory for every kind act rendered, and +every thought of sympathy given her in her great hour of desolation and +woe. God bless her, and God bless all who helped save her! + + + + +V + +THE RUSSIAN FAMINE + + +As early as 1889, the foreign journals began to tell us of the +apprehension caused by an unusual failure of the crops in Central +Russia, extending from Moscow north and south, and east beyond the Ural +Mountains and into Siberia--embracing an era of a million square miles. +This failure was followed by another in 1890. + +Eighteen hundred and ninety-one found the old-time granaries empty, and +a total failure of the crops, and a population of thirty-five millions +of people, paralyzed with the dread of approaching famine. + +The American Red Cross had placed itself in communication with the +Secretary of State, Hon. James G. Blaine, whose name and memory it +treasures with reverence, and Mr. Alexander Gregor, the accomplished +Russian _Chargé d'Affaires_ at Washington, and ascertained that Russia +would gladly receive donations of relief from America. She would even +send her ships for any food that might be offered. This, America would +not permit and Congress was appealed to for ocean transportation. The +Senate voted a liberal appropriation, which was defeated in the House. + +Then the Red Cross, with the aid of the citizens of Washington, took up +the matter. They were joined by the Order of Elks, which contributed a +sum of seven hundred dollars, than which perhaps that liberal Order +never made a more timely gift. Funds were raised to charter a steamship +for the Red Cross. The spirit spread generally over the country. +Philadelphia sent a messenger to learn what Washington was doing, and +was advised to charter one of its own ships, which was done, and two +consignments were finally made by them. + +Minnesota had already acted, and later, by the advice and aid of the +extra provision of the Red Cross, the Christian Herald sent out its ship +cargo, under convoy of Rev. Dr. Talmage. + +But the State of Iowa led all others in active generosity. + +Under the supervision of Mr. B. F. Tillinghast, of Davenport, aided by +the able pen of Miss Alice French, that State alone raised, and sent in +trains across the country from Iowa to New York, one hundred and +seventeen thousand bushels of corn and one hundred thousand pounds of +flour, which was loaded onto the "Tynehead," a staunch British ship, and +consigned to the port of Riga. + +That year we had been notified of an International Conference to be held +in Rome. The customary appropriation was made by Congress, and again I +was appointed delegate. Too much occupied by the relief at home, Dr. +Hubbell, also a delegate, went in my place to Rome, and from there +reached Riga in time to receive and direct the distribution of the +immense cargo of grain throughout Russia. + +When Dr. Hubbell reached Riga he learned that two hundred and forty +peasants had been waiting on the dock two days, watching and waiting for +the ship from America. Not waiting for food, for Riga was not in a +famine province, but waiting that they might not miss the opportunity +and the honor of unloading the American ship that had brought food to +their unfortunate brothers in the interior. As soon as they could get +into the hold of the ship, one hundred and forty of them began the +unloading. They worked night and day, without rest, determined to unload +the entire cargo themselves, without help. But on the third night our +Consul, Mr. Bornholdt, insisted on their having a relief of twelve +hours, and when the twelve hours were up they were all in their places +again, and remained until the cargo was out, declining to take any pay +for their labor. Twelve women worked along with them in the same spirit, +in the ship and on the dock, with needles, sewing up the rents in the +bags, to prevent waste in handling, and cooking meals for the men. + +The Mayor of St. Petersburg, in an address on behalf of that city to +American donors, declared: + +"The Russian people know how to be grateful. If up to this day these two +great countries, Russia and the United States, have not only never +quarreled, but on the contrary wished each other prosperity and strength +always, these feelings of sympathy can grow only stronger in the future, +both countries being conscious that in the season of trial for either it +will find in the other cordial succor and support. And can true +friendship be tested if not in the hour of misfortune?" + +A peasant of Samara sent to a Russian editor, together with three +colored eggs, a letter which he asked to have forwarded to America. The +following is an extract from the letter: + +"Christ is risen! To the merciful benefactors, the protectors of the +poor, the feeders of the starving, the guardians of the orphans--Christ +is risen. + +"North Americans! May the Lord grant you a peaceful and long life and +prosperity to your land, and may your fields be filled with abundant +harvest--Christ is risen. Your mercifulness gives us a helping hand. +Through your charity you have satisfied the starving. And for your +magnificent alms accept from me this humble gift, which I send to the +entire American people for your great beneficence, from all the hearts +of the poor filled with feelings of joy." + +In the gratitude manifested by the Russian Government and people we were +glad to feel that a slight return had been made to Russia for past +favors in our own peril, and a friendship never broken. + +The Department of State at Washington, under date of January 11, 1894, +forwarded the following: + +"I have to inform you that on November 7, 1893, the American Minister at +St. Petersburg received from the nobility of that city, through their +Marshal, Count Alexis Bobrinskoy, an address to the people of the United +States. This address, which is in the English language, embodies in +terms fitly chosen the thanks of the Russian people to the American for +the aid sent to their country from our own during the famine period of +the past two years. It is beautifully engrossed and its illumination +embraces water-color drawings which render it a most attractive work of +art. + +"The document, which is superbly bound and enclosed in a fine case, was +duly forwarded to this city by the American Minister at St. Petersburg, +and will be given a conspicuous place in the library of this +department." + +In so general an uprising of relief no great sum in contributions could +be expected from any one source. The Red Cross felt that, if no more, it +was glad to be able to pay, by the generous help of the city of +Washington, the charter of a ship that conveyed its +corn--$12,500--besides several thousands distributed in Russia through +Tolstoi and American agents there. + +We paid the cost of loading, superintended by Mr. Tillinghast in person, +whose financial record shows the exact cost of transportation. All this +was done in connection with the State of Iowa. Our home record showed, +when all was finished, a field closed with a small balance in our favor, +which we had no active call for. By the advice of one of the best +personal advisers, bankers, and friends that the Red Cross has ever had, +this small sum was placed in bank, in readiness for the next call. + + + + +VI + +THE SEA ISLAND RELIEF + + +This little timely provision, advisedly made, was none too much or none +too soon. + +On the 28th of August, 1893, a hurricane and tidal wave from the +direction of the West Indies swept the coast of South Carolina, covering +its entire range of Port Royal Islands, sixteen feet below the sea. +These islands had thirty-five thousand inhabitants, mainly negroes. At +first, it was thought that all must have perished. Later, it was found +that only some four or five thousand had been drowned, and that thirty +thousand remained with no earthly possession of home, clothing, or food. +The few boats not swept away took them over to the mainland in +thousands, and calls went out for help. In this emergency Governor +Tillman called for the services of the Red Cross, and my note-book has +this passage: + +"The next night, in a dark, cheerless September mist, I closed my door +behind me for ten months, and with three assistants went to the station +to meet Senator Butler." + +At Columbia we were joined by Governor Tillman, and thus reinforced +proceeded to Beaufort. After due examination the work which had been +officially placed with us by the Governor was accepted October 1st, and +carried on until the following July. + +The submerged lands were drained, three hundred miles of ditches made, a +million feet of lumber purchased and houses built, fields and gardens +planted with the best seed in the United States, and the work all done +by the people themselves. The thousands of boxes of clothing received +were distributed among them, and we left them in July, 1894, supplies of +vegetables for the city of Beaufort. + +Free transportation for supplies continued till about March. No +provisions in kind were sent from any source after the first four weeks +of public excitement. After this all foodstuffs were purchased in +Charleston and distributed as rations. Men were compelled to work on the +building of their own homes in order to receive rations. + +We found them an industrious, grateful class of people, far above the +ordinary grade usually met. They largely owned their little homes, and +appreciated instruction in the way of improving them. The tender memory +of the childlike confidence and obedience of this ebony-faced population +is something that time cannot efface from either us or them. + +On the third day after our arrival at Beaufort four middle-aged colored +men came to the door of the room we had appropriated as an office, and +respectfully asked to see "Miss Clare." They were admitted, and I waited +to learn what request they would probably make of me. At length the +tallest and evidently the leader, said: + +"Miss Clare, we knows you doesn't remember us. But we never fo'gits you. +We has all of us got somethin' to show you." + +Slipping up a soiled, ragged shirtsleeve, he showed me an ugly scar +above the elbow, reaching to the shoulder. "Wagner?" I asked. + +"Yes, Miss Clare, and you drissed it for me that night, when I crawled +down the beach--'cause my leg was broke too," he replied. "And we was +all of us there, and you took care of us all and drissed our wounz. I +was with Colonel Shaw, and crawled out of the fote. The oth's nevah got +in. But we all got to you, Miss Clare. And now you's got to us. We's +talked about you a heap o' times, but we nevah 'spected to see you. We's +nevah fo'git it, Miss Clare." + +One by one they showed their scars. There was very little clothing to +hide them--bullet wound and sabre stroke. The memory, dark and sad, +stood out before us all. It was a moment not to be forgotten. + +Our purchases consisted of meat, mainly dry sides of pork, and grits, or +hominy, for eating. For planting, beside the seed contributed and the +nine hundred bushels of Irish potatoes, were eighteen hundred bushels of +Northern Flint seed corn. + +The contributions of food and clothing had been sent to Beaufort, and +were in the warehouses of the perplexed committee of its leading +citizens. This had naturally drawn all the inhabitants of the scores of +desolated islands for fifty miles to Beaufort, until, it is safe to say, +that fifteen to twenty thousand refugees had gathered there, living in +its streets and waiting to be fed from day to day. + +As the food was there they could not be induced to return to the +islands. Indeed, there was more often nothing on the islands to return +to. The description given by the heads of families and owners, for they +had largely owned their homes, gotten on the old-time plantations "'fo +de wah," was this: If all had been swept out to sea and nothing +remained, it was described as, "done gone." But if thrown down and parts +of the wreck still remained, it was described as "ractified." + +A few of the churches, being larger and more strongly built, still +remained standing. During the first ten days of our stay it would have +been impossible to drive through the principal streets of Beaufort. They +were a solid moving mass, crowding as near to the storehouses as +possible to get, in spite of the policeman, who kindly held them back. + +We sat daily in counsel with the local committee, until seeing that only +systematic measures and a decided change could relieve the conditions +and render the city safe. We then, on the first of October, decided to +accede to the request of the Governor made at first, and take sole +charge of the relief. + +Our first order was to close every storehouse, both of food and +clothing, and inform the people that all distributions would hereafter +be made from the islands. It is impossible to convey to the mind of the +reader the difficulty of getting into a few intelligent sentences the +idea of the means adopted to produce these changes and inaugurate a +system that was to restore to active habits of life a body of utterly +homeless, demoralized, and ignorant people, equal in numbers to a small +new State. + +If these little covers would admit the scores of pages of admirably +written reports of the officers and helpers on that field, every line +replete with interest, that lie here at my hand, it would be an easy and +a welcome task to reproduce them entire, and no more than deserved for +their faithful and gratuitous labor. + +Dr. Egan's report has this passage: + +"October 2d came my marching orders. Take charge of the warehouse and +stores, make an inventory of them, disperse these men, and rid the city +of the demoralizing influence of idle people. The doors are closed and +the inventory begun." + +The local committee had kindly pointed out the most suitable man to take +charge of each community, and to him would be consigned the rations to +be distributed to each family and person within his charge, for which +receipt and distribution he became as responsible as a merchant. + +The goods and rations were at once shipped across the bay to them, or +taken on their own boats, if so fortunate as to have one left from the +storm. It is needless to say that the multitude followed the food. + +In three days there were not people enough left in Beaufort, besides its +own, to be hired for a "job of work." Then followed the necessity for +material to rebuild the "done gone," and to repair the "ractified" +homes. + +A million feet of pine lumber was purchased of a leading lumber dealer, +shipped down the Combahee River, and delivered at the landings on the +islands most convenient of access to the points needed. Each man +received his lumber by order and receipt, and was under obligation to +build his own house. The work was all performed by themselves. A garden +was insisted upon. At first this proposition was resisted as +impracticable. + +"No use, Mistah--no use--'cause de pig eat it all up." + +It was suggested that a fence might be made enclosing at least a quarter +of an acre about the house to keep "de pig" out, as we should later +send, for planting, the best seed to be obtained in the country. + +To this moment our thanks go out to the Agricultural Department at +Washington, and the great seed houses of all the North, for the generous +donations that served to bring once more into self-sustaining relations +this destitute and well-disposed people. + +The fact that the building of the fence, and its subsequent keeping in +strict repair, had some bearing on the weekly issuance of rations, was +evidently not without its influence. There were no poor fences and "de +pig" did no damage. But there were such gardens, and of such varieties, +as those islands had never before seen. + +The earliest crop to strive for, beside the gardens, was the Irish +potato, which they had never raised. Nine hundred bushels were purchased +from Savannah for planting in February. The difficulty of distributing +the potatoes lay in the fact that they would be more likely to find +their way into the dinner pot than into the ground. To avoid this the +court-yard inside our headquarters was appropriated for the purpose of +preparing the potatoes for planting. + +Some forty women were hired to come over from the islands and cut +potatoes for seed--every "eye" of the potato making a sprout--these +distributed to them by the peck, like other seed. + +I recall a fine, bright morning in May, when I was told that a woman who +had come over from St. Helena in the night, waited at the door to see +me. I went to the door to find a tall, bright-looking woman in a clean +dress, with a basket on her head, which, after salutation, she lowered +and held out to me. There was something over a peck of Early Rose +potatoes in the basket--in size from a pigeon's to a pullet's egg. The +grateful woman could wait no longer for the potatoes to grow larger, +but had dug these, and had come ten miles over the sea, in the night, to +bring them to me as a first offering of food of her own raising. + +If the tears fell on the little gift as I looked and remembered, no one +will wonder or criticise. The potatoes were cooked for breakfast, and +"Susie Jane" was invited to partake. + +The shores of the mainland had not been exempt from the ravages of the +storm and in many instances had suffered like the islands. Some thirty +miles above Beaufort was a kind of plantation, with a community of sixty +or seventy families of colored people. The property was owned by two +elderly white ladies who had not returned since driven away by the +storm. + +This village was reported to us as in need and demoralized, with no +head, scant of food, and its "ractified" houses scarcely affording a +shelter. + +A representative mulatto man came to tell us. An inspection was made and +resulted in this man being put in charge to build up the community. +Lumber and food were provided and the people set to work under his +charge. From time to time word came to us, and after some months the +tall representative came again. He had been asked by the people to come +and bring their thanks to the Red Cross for "de home, de gard'n, de pig, +and de chick'n dey all has now." + +The thanks they had emphasized and proved by the heavy basket that +Jackson had carefully brought all the forty miles. It contained +seventy-one fresh eggs--the gift of seventy-one families--being a +contribution of one egg from each family, from the day or two previous +to his leaving on his mission. + +Domestic gardens were a new feature among these islanders, whose whole +attention had been always given to the raising of the renowned "Sea +Island Cotton," the pride of the market, and a just distinction to +themselves and the worthy planter. The result of this innovation was +that, when we left in July, it was nearly as difficult for a pedestrian +to make his way on the narrow sidewalks of Beaufort because of piled-up +vegetables for sale from the islands, as it had been in October to pass +through the streets because of hungry, idle men and women. + +Nothing better illustrates the native good heart of these people than +their kindly interest in and for each other. Often the young men, +without families, would club together and put up a house for some lone +old "auntie," who had neither family nor home, and occasionally there +seemed to develop among them an active philanthropist. Of this type was +Jack Owens, who rebuilt his own "done gone" premises. One day as the +field agent was driving out on some inspection he met Jack walking into +town. + +His decrepit neighbor's house had burned a few weeks before, and Jack +had gotten lumber and rebuilt the house himself. In describing the utter +devastation, Jack explained that "all de house and de well was +burned"--and he had built another house and was coming in on foot "for +funituh to funish it." Jack had lost his ox, "a big ox," he said, in the +storm, and now he "hadn't any nuther" to plow his ground. He pleaded for +another--if it was only "a lil' critter it would grow big"--and it would +help him so much. + +The appeal was not to be resisted. Dr. Hubbell treasures to this day the +satisfaction he felt in procuring something better than the "lil' +critter" as reward and encouragement for Jack's active philanthropy. + +If any practical woman reading this should try to comprehend what it +would be to undertake to clothe and keep clothed thirty thousand human +beings for a year, and to do this from the charitable gifts of the +people, which gifts had all done more or less service before--often +pretty thoroughly "ractified"--this woman will not wonder that sewing +societies suggested themselves to us at headquarters. + +The women were called together and this suggestion made to them, with +the result that an old time "sewing circle" was instituted in every +community. Its membership, officers, dues, and regulations were properly +established--one-half day in each week devoted by each member to the +work in its sewing-rooms, with a woman in charge to prepare it. The +clothing was given out to them as received by us. Many a basket came +proudly back to show us the difference between "den an' now"--good, +strong, firmly mended garments. Ragged coats and pants disappeared from +among the men, as no longer "'spectable fo' de fambly." + +Provision was also made that the little girls from ten years old should +attend and be taught to sew. Many a little dress was selected at +headquarters for them to make over or repair. + +I wish I could do fitting justice to the band of women volunteers who +stood by me through those long months. Some had commenced with me when +society belles, years before, now mistresses of their own palatial +homes; some had come from under the old historic elms of Boston, and +some from the hard-fought fields of Britain's Africa, and wearing the +Victoria Cross. To them, white and black were the same, and no toil too +hard or too menial. + +The money contributed and received for the entire relief of ten months +was thirty thousand five hundred, and a few additional dollars and cents +which I do not at this moment recall. It aggregated one dollar apiece +for the entire maintenance of thirty thousand persons for ten months. + +It is the general custom in this part of the country for the merchants +to furnish supplies to their patrons, and wait until the gathering of +the crops for their pay. But when we left these people at the beginning +of their harvest, not one family in twenty-five had contracted a debt +for supplies: an experience before unknown in their history. + +A report was made and passed into the hands of our legal counsellor, +who, on seeing that no change could be truthfully made in it, advised +that it be not published, as no one would believe it possible to be +done, and we would get only distrust and discredit. Having now come to a +pass where distrust and discredit are no longer to be feared by the Red +Cross, we ourselves are free to make the statement. But back of the hard +facts there is compensation. + +A half dozen years later, when our negro protégés of the Sea Islands +heard of the disaster that had fallen upon Galveston, they at once +gathered for aid and sent in their contributions. + +"'Cause dey suffers like we did, and de Red Cross is dar," they said. + +Of course I would not permit one dollar of this holy gift to Galveston +to go to other than the hands, hard, bony, and black--such as had raised +it in their penury. I also wanted it to do more. Searching for the most +reliable colored people in the city I found in the superintendent of the +colored schools a man who had occupied that place for many years, and +who had the respect and confidence of the people of Galveston. I asked +him to consult his foremost women teachers, and if it pleased them, to +form a society and fit themselves to receive a little money. + +In about a week he appeared with his deputation. I informed them that I +had a little money from their own people of the Sea Islands for them; +that they had been chosen to receive it, because as teachers of the +children they would have access to the needs and conditions of the +families. I told them that I had desired to do more than merely make a +gift for distribution. I wished to plant a tree. I could have given them +their peach, which they would eat, enjoy, and throw the pit away. But I +wished them to plant the pit, and let it raise other fruit for them, and +for that reason I had asked the formation of this society. + +They all sat quiet a few moments, the tears were on their faces. At +length their president, the school superintendent, spoke for them: + +"Miss Barton," he said, "we all appreciate this, and in the name of all +I promise you that the pit shall be reverently planted, and I trust the +time will come when I can tell you that our tree is not only bearing +fruit for ourselves, but for all suffering brethren, as theirs have done +for us." + +I then handed them the check for $397. The moment seemed sacred when +these poor dark figures, struggling toward the light, walked out of my +presence. The pit has been successfully planted in Galveston, and we are +from time to time informed of its bearing. + + + + +VII + +ARMENIAN RELIEF + +1896 + + +Leaving the Port Royal field past midsummer of 1894, after an absence of +nearly a year--at a day's notice--the remainder of the autumn and winter +was scarcely less occupied in the details which had been unavoidably +overlooked. Before spring our correspondence commenced to enlarge with +rumors of Armenian massacres, and so excited and rapid was the increase +that, so far as actual labor, consultation, and thought were concerned, +we might as well have been on a field of relief. + +Unfortunately, the suspicions of the Turkish Government had fallen upon +the resident missionaries, both English and American, as favoring the +views and efforts of its anarchistic population, or the "young Turks," +as they were designated. This had the effect of placing the missionaries +in danger, confining them strictly to their own quarters, preventing +all communication and the receiving of any funds sent them from abroad. + +England had a large waiting fund which it could not distribute, and +appealed to the American Missionary Boards of Boston and New York, to +find them equally powerless. The need of funds among the missionaries +throughout Turkey was getting painfully urgent, and as a last resort it +was suggested from Constantinople that the Red Cross be asked to open +the way. + +A written request from the Rev. Judson Smith, D.D., of Boston, was +nearly identical with one received by us from Mr. Spencer Trask, of New +York, who with others was about to form a national Armenian relief +committee, to be established in that city. + +Following these communications, both of these eminent gentlemen, Mr. +Smith and Mr. Trask, came in person to urge our compliance with their +request that the Red Cross accept the charge and personally undertake +the doubtful and dangerous task of distributing the waiting funds among +the missionaries in Turkey. + +As Mr. Trask was to take the lead in the formation of a committee for +the raising of funds, his interest was naturally paramount, and his +arguments in favor of our acceptance were wellnigh irresistible. +Immediate action on the part of some one was imperative. Human beings +were starving, and could not be reached. Thousands of towns and villages +had not been heard from since the massacres, and only the Red Cross +could have any hope of reaching them. No one else was prepared for field +work; it had its force of trained field workers. Turkey was one of the +signatory powers to the Red Cross Treaty. Thus it was hoped and believed +that she would the more readily accept its presence. + +These are mere examples of the reasons urged by the ardent advocates of +the proposed committee, until at length we came to consider its +acceptance, on conditions which must be clearly understood. First, we +must not be expected to take any part in, or to be made use of, in the +raising of funds--one of our fundamental rules being never to ask for +funds--we did not do it for ourselves. + +Second, there must be perfect unanimity between themselves. We must be +assured that every one wanted us to go. Our part would be hard enough +then; and finally we must be sure they had some funds to distribute. + +Of the amount of these funds no mention was made by us, and I remember a +feeling of good-natured amusement as I heard the officers of this +untried effort at raising funds speak of "millions." It was easy to +discern that they were more accustomed to the figures of a banking +establishment than a charity organization dependent on the raising of +funds. They were likely to be disappointed. In reality, the amount, so +there were something to go with, made very little difference to us, as +we were merely to place what was entrusted to us where most needed, and +when that was done we had but to return. We never named any amount as +preferable to us. + +The means resorted to in raising the funds were unfortunate. In the +great public meetings called for that purpose the utmost indiscretion +prevailed in regard to language applied to Turkey and the Turkish +Government. This aroused the indignation of the Turkish officials, who +very reasonably took measures to have our entrance into Turkey +forbidden. + +A date of sailing, however, had been given Mr. Trask, and his committee, +feeling that any change would be detrimental to their efforts, no change +was made, and we sailed on time, to find in England no permission, and +further efforts necessary. With time and patience the troublesome +effects of these mistakes were overcome, and Constantinople was reached, +and a heavenly welcome by the harassed missionaries awaited us. + +The first step was to procure an introduction to the Turkish Government, +which had in one sense refused to see me. Accompanied by the American +Minister, Hon. A. W. Terrell, and his premier interpreter, Gargiulo, one +of the most experienced diplomatic officers in Constantinople, I called +by appointment upon Tewfik Pasha, the Turkish Minister of Foreign +Affairs, or Minister of State. To those conversant with the personages +connected with Turkish affairs, I need not say that Tewfik Pasha is +probably the foremost man of the government--a manly man, with a kind, +fine face, and genial, polished manners. Educated abroad, with advanced +views on general subjects, he impresses one as a man who would sanction +no wrong it was in his power to avert. + +Mr. Terrell's introduction was most appropriate and well expressed, +bearing with strong emphasis upon the suffering condition of the people +of the interior, in consequence of the massacres, the great sympathy of +the people of America, and giving assurance that our objects were purely +humanitarian, having neither political, racial, nor religious +significance. + +The Pasha listened most attentively to Mr. Terrell, thanked him, and +said that this was well understood, that they knew the Red Cross and its +president. Turning to me he repeated: "We know you, Miss Barton; have +long known you and your work. We would like to hear your plans for +relief and what you desire." + +I proceeded to state our plans for relief, which, if not carried out at +this time, the suffering in Armenia, unless we had been misinformed, +would shock the entire civilized world. None of us knew from personal +observation, as yet, the full need of assistance, but had reason to +believe it very great. If my agents were permitted to go, such need as +they found they would be prompt to relieve. On the other hand, if they +did not find the need existing there, none would leave the field so +gladly as they. There would be no respecting of persons--humanity alone +would be their guide. "We have," I added, "brought only ourselves; no +correspondent has accompanied us, and we shall have none, and shall not +go home to write a book on Turkey. We are not here for that. Nothing +shall be done in any concealed manner. All dispatches which we send will +go openly through your own telegraph, and I should be glad if all that +we shall write could be seen by your government. I can not, of course, +say what its character will be, but can vouch for its truth, fairness, +and integrity, and for the conduct of every leading man who shall be +sent. I shall never counsel or permit a sly or underhand action with +your government, and you will pardon me, Pasha, if I say I shall expect +the same treatment in return--such as I give I shall expect to receive." + +Almost without a breath he replied: "And you shall have it. We honor +your position and your wishes shall be respected. Such aid and +protection as we are able, we shall render." + +I then asked if it were necessary for me to see other officials. "No," +he replied, "I speak for my government," and with cordial good wishes +our interview closed. + +I never spoke personally with this gentleman again, all further business +being officially transacted through the officers of our legation. Yet I +can truly say, as I have said of my first meeting with our matchless +band of missionary workers, that here commenced an acquaintance which +proved invaluable, and here were given pledges of mutual faith, of which +not a word was ever broken on either side. + +The Turkish Government, when once it came to understand American methods +and enthusiasm was forgiving and kind to us. No obstruction was ever +placed in our way. Our five expeditions passed through Armenian Turkey +from sea to sea, distributing whatever was needed, repairing the +destroyed machines, enabling the people to make tools to harvest their +grain, thus averting a famine; providing medical help and food as well +for thousands of sick; setting free the frightened inhabitants, and +returning them to the villages from which they had fled for their lives; +restoring all missionary freedom that had been interrupted; establishing +a more kindly feeling toward them on the part of the government; and +through all this, we had never one unpleasant transaction with any +person of whatever name or race. + +While our expeditions were getting ready to go out by the Black Sea, a +request was brought to me by Dr. Washburn, of Robert College, from Sir +Philip Currie, the British Ambassador at Constantinople, asking if I +could not be "persuaded" to turn my expedition through the +Mediterranean, rather than the Black Sea, in order to reach Mirash and +Zeitoun, where the foreign consuls were at the moment convened. They had +gotten word to him that ten thousand people in those two cities were +down with four distinct epidemics--typhoid and typhus fevers, dysentery +and smallpox--that the victims were dying in overwhelming numbers, and +that there was not a physician among them, all being either sick or +dead, with no medicine and little food. + +This was not a case for "persuasion," but of heartfelt thanks from us +all, that Sir Philip had remembered to call us, whom he had never met. +But here was a hindrance. The only means of conveyance from +Constantinople to Alexandretta were coasting boats, belonging to +different nationalities, which left only once in two weeks, and +irregularly at that. Transport for our goods was secured on the first +boat to leave, the goods taken to the wharf at Galata, and at the latest +moment, in order to give time, a request was made to the government for +_teskeres_, or traveling permits, for Dr. J. B. Hubbell and assistants. +To our surprise they were granted instantly, but by some delay on the +part of the messenger sent for them they reached a moment too late. The +boat left a little more promptly, taking with it our relief goods, and +leaving the men on the dock to receive their permits only when the boat +was beyond recall. It was really the fault of no one. + +With the least possible delay Dr. Hubbell secured passage by the first +boat at Smyrna, and a fortunate chance boat from there took him to +Alexandretta, via Beyrout and Tripoli, Syria. The goods arrived in +safety, and two other of our assistants, whom we had called by cable +from America--Edward M. Wistar and Charles King Wood--were also passed +over to the same point with more goods. There, caravans were fitted out +to leave over the--to them--unknown track to Aintab, as a first base. +From this point the reports of these three gentlemen made to me will be +living witnesses. They tell their own modest tales of exposure, severe +travel, hard work, and hardship, of which no word of complaint has ever +passed their lips. There have been only gratitude and joy, that they +could do something in a cause at once so great and so terrible. + +While this was in progress, a dispatch came to me at Constantinople from +Dr. Shepard of Aintab, whose tireless hands had done the work of a score +of men, saying that fevers, both typhoid and typhus, of the most +virulent nature, had broken out in Arabkir, two or three days north of +Harpoot; could I send doctors and help? Passing the word on to Dr. +Hubbell at Harpoot, prompt and courageous action was taken by him. It is +something to say that from a rising pestilence with a score of deaths +daily, in five weeks, himself and his assistants left the city in a +normally healthful condition, the mortality ceasing at once under their +care and treatment. + +During this time the medical relief for the cities of Zeitoun and Marash +was in charge of Dr. Ira Harris, of Tripoli, who reached there March +18th. The report of the consuls had placed the number of deaths from the +four contagious diseases at one hundred a day. This would be quite +probable when it is considered that ten thousand were smitten with the +prevailing diseases, and that added to this were the crowded condition +of the patients, the thousands of homeless refugees who had flocked from +their forsaken villages, the lack of all comforts, of air, cleanliness, +and a state of prolonged starvation. + +Dr. Harris's first report to me was that he was obliged to set the soup +kettles boiling and feed his patients before medicine could be retained. +My reply was a draft for two hundred liras (something over eight hundred +dollars) with the added dispatch: "Keep the pot boiling; let us know +your wants." The further reports show from this time an astonishingly +small number of deaths. The utmost care was taken by all our expeditions +to prevent the spread of the contagion and there is no record of its +ever having been carried out of the cities, where it was found, either +at Zeitoun, Marash, or Arabkir. Lacking this precaution, it might well +have spread throughout all Asia Minor, as was greatly feared by the +anxious people. + +On the twenty-fourth of May, Dr. Harris reported the disease as +overcome. His stay being no longer needed, he returned to his great +charge in Tripoli, with the record of a medical work and success behind +him never surpassed if ever equaled. The lives he had saved were enough +to gain Heaven's choicest diadem. Never has America cause to be more +justly proud and grateful than when its sons and daughters in foreign +lands perform deeds of worth like that. + +The closing of the medical fields threw our entire force into the +general relief of the vilayet of Harpoot, which the relieving +missionaries had well named their "bottomless pit." + +The apathy to which the state of utter nothingness, together with their +grief and fear, had reduced the inhabitants, was by no means the +smallest difficulty to be overcome. Here was realized the great danger +felt by all--that of continued alms-giving, lest they settle down into a +condition of pauperism, and thus finally starve, from the inability of +the world at large to feed them. The presence of a strange body of +friendly working people, coming thousands of miles to help them, +awakened a hope and stimulated the desire to help themselves. + +It was a new experience that these strangers _dared_ to come to them. +Although the aforetime home lay a heap of stone and sand, and nothing +belonging to it remained, still the land was there, and when seed to +plant the ground and the farming utensils and cattle were brought to +work it with, the faint spirit revived, the weak, hopeless hands +unclasped, and the farmer stood on his feet again. + +When the cities could no longer provide the spades, hoes, plows, picks +and shovels, and the crude iron and steel to make these was purchased +and taken to them, the blacksmith found again his fire and forge and +traveled weary miles with his bellows on his back. The carpenter again +swung his hammer and drew his saw. The broken and scattered +spinning-wheels and looms from under the storms and _débris_ of winter +again took form and motion, and the fresh bundles of wool, cotton, flax, +and hemp in the waiting widow's hand brought hopeful visions of the +revival of industries which should not only clothe but feed. + +At length, in early June, the great grain-fields of Diarbekir, Farkin, +and Harpoot valleys, planted the year before, grew golden and bowed +their heavy spear-crowned heads in waiting for the sickle. But no +sickles were there, no scythes, not even knives. It was a new and sorry +sight for our full-handed American farming men to see those poor, hard +Asiatic hands trying, by main strength, to break the tough straw or pull +it by the roots. This state of things could not continue, and their +sorrow and pity gave place to joy when they were able to drain the +cities of Harpoot and Diarbekir of harvest tools, and turned the work of +all the village blacksmiths on to the manufacture of sickles and +scythes, and of flint workers upon the rude threshing machines. + +They have told me since their return that the pleasantest memories left +to them were of those great valleys of golden grain, bending and falling +before the harvesters, men and women, each with the new, sharp sickle or +scythe, the crude threshing planks, the cattle trampling out the grain, +and the gleaners in the rear as in the days of Abraham and Moab. God +grant that somewhere among them was a kind-hearted king of the harvest +who gave orders to let some sheaves fall. + +Even while this saving process was going on another condition no less +imperative arose. These fields must be replanted or starvation must be +simply delayed. Only the strength of their old-time teams of oxen could +break up the hard sod and prepare for the fall sowing. Not an +animal--ox, cow, horse, goat, or sheep--had been left. All had been +driven to the Kourdish Mountains. When Mr. Wood's telegram came, calling +for a thousand oxen for the hundreds of villages, I thought of our not +rapidly swelling bank account, and all that was needed everywhere else, +and replied accordingly. + +When in return came the telegram from the Rev. Dr. Gates, president of +Harpoot College, the live, active, practical man of affairs, whose +judgment no one could question, saying that the need of oxen was +imperative, that unless the ground could be plowed before it dried and +hardened it could not be done at all, and the next harvest would be +lost, also that "Mr. Wood's estimate was moderate," the financial +secretary was directed to send a draft for five thousand liras +(twenty-two thousand dollars) to the care of the Rev. Dr. Gates, to be +divided among the three expeditions for the purchase of cattle and the +progress of the harvest of 1897. + +As the sum sent would be immediately applied, the active services of the +men would be no longer required, and directions went with the remittance +to report in person at Constantinople. + +Unheard-of toil, care, hard riding day and night, with risk of life, +were all involved in the carrying out of that order. Among the +uncivilized and robber bands of Kourds, the cattle that had been stolen +and driven off must be picked up, purchased, and brought back to the +waiting farmer's field. There were routes so dangerous that a brigand +chief was selected by those understanding the situation as the safest +escort for our men. Perhaps the greatest danger encountered was in the +region of Farkin, beyond Diarbekir, where the official escort had not +been waited for, and the leveled musket of the faithless guide told the +difference. + +At length the task was accomplished. One by one the expeditions closed +and withdrew, returning by Sivas and Samsoun, and coming out by the +Black Sea. With the return of the expeditions we closed the field. But +contributors would be glad to know that subsequent to this, before +leaving Constantinople, funds from both the New York and Boston +committees came to us amounting to about fifteen thousand dollars. This +was happily placed with Mr. W. W. Pect, treasurer of the Board of +Foreign Missions at Stamboul, to be used subject to our order; and with +our concurrence it was employed in the building of little houses in the +interior, as a winter shelter and protection, where all had been +destroyed. + +The appearance of our men on their arrival at Constantinople confirmed +the impression that they had not been recalled too soon. They had gone +out through the snows and ice of winter, and without change or rest had +come back through the scorching suns of midsummer--five months of rough, +uncivilized life, faring and sharing with their beasts of burden, +well-nigh out of communication with the civilized world, but never out +of danger. It seemed but just to themselves and to others who might need +them, that change and rest be given them. + +It would scarcely be permissible to express in words the obligation to +our American Minister, Hon. A. W. Terrell, at Constantinople, without +whose unremitting care and generous aid our work could not have been +accomplished. And, indeed, so many were the duties of that difficult and +delicate field that it seemed the help of no one hand or heart could be +spared. We felt that we had them all; from the palace of the Sultan to +beloved Robert College, from the American Legation to the busy rooms of +the American Board, with its masterly treasurer, Peet, were the same +outstretched hands of protection and care for our little band. + +They knew we had taken our lives in our hands to come to them, and with +no thought of ourselves. We had done the best we knew to accomplish the +mission so persistently sought of us in our own country. + +That our work had been acceptable to those who received its results, we +knew. They had never failed to _make_ us know. If also acceptable to Him +who gave us the courage, protection, and strength to perform it, we need +care for little more. + +Funds to the total amount of $116,326.01 were cabled us by Mr. Spencer +Trask's committee, all of which were placed in the hands of Mr. W. W. +Peet, treasurer of the missionary board at Constantinople. All proper +receipts were given and taken, and feeling that we had faithfully and +successfully accomplished the work we had been asked to perform, we +closed the field, and prepared to return to America. + +Some days of physical rest were needful for the men of the expeditions +after reaching Constantinople before commencing their journey of +thousands of miles for home, worn as they were by exposure and incessant +labor--physical and mental. I need not attempt to say with what +gratitude I welcomed back these weary, brown-faced men and officers +from a field so difficult and so perilous; none the less did the +gratitude go out to my faithful and capable secretary, who had toiled +early and late, never leaving for a day, striving with tender heart that +all should go well. + +And when the first greetings were over, the full chorus of manly +voices--"Home Again," "Sweet Land of Liberty," "Nearer My God to +Thee"--that rolled out through the open windows of the Red Cross +headquarters in Constantinople fell on the listening ears of Christian +and Moslem alike, and though the tones were new and strange, all felt +that to some one, somewhere, they meant more than the mere notes of +music. + + + + +VIII + +CUBA + +1898 + + +On our return to "civilization" we were rejoiced to find that as a +result of our three months' labors, the former tumult of Armenia had +died away into a peaceful echo, but a new murmur fast growing to clamor +had taken its place. Cuba had entered the ceaseless arena of American, +gladiatorial, humanitarian contest. The cruelties of the reconcentrado +system of warfare had become apparent, and methods of relief were +uppermost in the minds of all persons. + +These methods were twofold and might well be classed under two distinct +heads: those who for mere pity's sake sought simple relief; those who +with a further forecast sought the removal of a cause as well as its +effect, and "Cuba Libre" was its muffled cry. They asked money for arms +as well as bread, and the struggle between the two held the country in +a state of perplexed contradiction for months running into years. + +Our great-hearted President asked simple aid and was distressed at the +doubtful response. At length he suggested and we proffered the aid of +the Red Cross on a call to the country, and the establishment of the +"Central Cuban Relief Committee" in New York, within three days, was the +result. + +The activity and success of that committee are too fresh in the minds of +all our people to require the smallest description from me. Too much +praise can not be given to our Auxiliary Societies from the Atlantic to +the Pacific for the splendid work in the camps at home, in Cuba, Porto +Rico, and in the care of our soldiers in transit to the Philippines. +Their full and complete reports show the great work accomplished. The +memory of the work of the busy men and tireless women who joined heart +and hand in this Heaven-sent task still brings tears to the eyes of a +nation at its recall. + +The service assigned me by our anxious President, and gladly accepted, +was the distribution on the pitiful fields of Cuba. These scenes I +would not recall. The starving mothers and motherless babes, the +homelessness and squalor, the hopelessness and despair, are beyond all +words and all conception, save to those who saw and lived among them. It +is past and let it rest. + +Then followed the declaration of hostilities, the blockade, the fleets +of war, and the stately, glistening white ships of relief that dotted +the sea--our navy after forty years of peace again doing service in its +own waters--and among them one inconspicuous, black-hulled sea-going +craft, laden with food for the still famishing reconcentrados, when they +could be reached. + +Day after day, in its weary, waiting cruise, it watched out for an +opening to that closed-in suffering island, till at length the thunder +of the guns, Siboney, San Juan, opened the track, and the wounded troops +of our own army, hungering on their own fields, were the reconcentrados +of the hour. + +Tampa became the gathering-point of the army. Its camps filled like +magic, first with regulars, then volunteers, as if the fiery torch of +Duncraigen had spread over the hills and prairies of America. The great +ships gathered in the waters, the transports, with decks dark with human +life, passed in and out, and the battleships of the sea held ever their +commanding sway. It seemed a strange thing, this gathering for war. +Thirty years of peace had made it strange to all save the veterans of +the days of the old war, long passed into history. Could it be possible +that we were to learn this anew? Were men again to fall, and women weep? +Were the youth of this generation to gain that experience their fathers +had gained, to live the war-lives they had lived, and die the deaths +they had died? + +At length the fleet moved on, and we prepared to move with, or rather +after it. The quest on which it had gone, and the route it had taken, +bordered something on the mystery shrouding the days when Sherman +marched to the sea. Where were the Spanish ships? What would be the +result when found and met? Where were we to break that Cuban wall and +let us in? + +Always present in our minds were the food we carried, the willing hands +that waited, and the perishing thousands that needed. We knew the great +hospital ships were fitting for the care of the men of both Army and +Navy. Surely they could have no need of us. + +We had taken possession of our ship at Key West on the 29th of April. It +was now the 20th of June and the national records of two countries at +least will always give the history of those days. It is our part to keep +as clearly, truthfully, and kindly as possible, the record of the little +that fell to us to perform in this great drama. + +Weighing anchor at Key West the State of Texas steamed for the open +Caribbean, we having first taken the official advice of Commodore Remy +to find Admiral Sampson and report to him. + +Sunrise of the twenty-fifth gave us our first view of the water at +Santiago. Our transports and battle-ships were gathered there. The +advice of Admiral Sampson was that we proceed to Guantanamo, where the +marines had made a landing and were camped on the shore. There had been +some fighting at Guantanamo. The naval hospital ship Solace was there. + +Whoever has enjoyed this quiet, sheltered harbor, protected on three +sides by beautiful wooded hills, will not require to be reminded of it. +At six o'clock our anchor sunk in the deep, still waters and we had time +to look about and see the beginning of the war. The marines were camped +along the brow of a hill. On our right a camp of Cubans, and all about +us the great war-ships with their guns, which told of forthcoming +trouble. Captain McCalla, who was in command of Guantanamo, had sent his +compliments and a launch, leading us in to our place of anchorage. The +courtesies of the navy so early commenced at Key West were continued +throughout the war. + +By invitation of Commander Dunlap our entire company visited the Solace +the following day. If that beautiful ship or its management had left +room on the records of our country's meed of gratitude, for more words +of appreciative praise, I should be glad to speak them. Only those +familiar with the earliest history of the Red Cross in our country, and +the methods by which our navy alone--of all the Red Cross nations--had +gained even an approximately legal place, can judge what the sight of +that first naval relief ship in American waters was to me. It brought +back so vividly the memory of the day in 1881 when President Arthur +called me to him to carefully explain the conditions of the treaty which +he had just signed, and that, Congress having generously included the +navy in its treaty for war, he would provide to hold it carefully until +the probable widening of the original treaty would include the _navies_ +of the world, as well as the armies. + +Before the day closed news came to us of a serious character. The daring +Rough Riders had been hardly dealt by. Hamilton Fish and Allyn Capron +had been killed, and the wounded needed help. Wherever they might be, it +must be possible to reach them, and it was decided that no time be lost. +Our men commenced work in the hold of the ship to get at medical +supplies and dressings, and the captain took his orders. I find in my +diary at the close of that day the following paragraph: "It is the Rough +Riders we go to, and the relief may be also rough, but it will be +_ready_. A better body of helpers could scarcely be gotten together." + +Nine o'clock of the same night found us at Siboney, which can scarcely +be called a harbor, for it has no anchorage. The next morning at +daybreak we stood on deck to see the soldiers filing up over the hill, +in heavy marching order, forming in lines by ones and twos, winding up, +in and out among the hills, higher and higher. As we watched them they +were a moving line trailing on toward the clouds, till lost in the mist, +and we could only think, as we looked at them, on how many and on which, +is set the mark of death? He knew no more than we--poor fellow--and +with his swinging, steady gait, toils up and up and waits for--he knows +not what. + +The hospitals, both American and Cuban, located on the shore just to the +right of us, were visited by our men that same evening. Some of their +surgeons called on us. All seemed interested in the Red Cross, but none +thought that a woman nurse would be in place in a soldiers' +hospital--indeed, very much out of place. I suggested that that decision +was hard for me, for I had spent a great deal of time in soldiers' +hospitals myself. They appeared to understand that perfectly, but there +seemed to be a _later_ line which could not be crossed. + +The Cubans who had just come into camp expressed a desire for any +assistance we could give them. They would be glad to have the Red Cross +Sisters in their little hospital, but begged us to wait just a day until +it could be put in better order. The Sisters were not the persons to +grant that day of preparation. + +On the contrary they at once went to work, thoroughly cleaned the little +three-room building--Garcia's abandoned headquarters, to be used as a +hospital--and when the day closed the transformation showed clean rooms, +clean cots, and the grateful occupants wondering whether Heaven itself +could be more comfortable, or anything more desirable than the palatable +food prepared for them by the Sisters. + +Three days later the following letter was received: + + +"To MISS CLARA BARTON, President, + +"American National Red Cross: + +"I have the honor to request your assistance in caring for the patients +in a so-called hospital near the landing at this point. + +"The orders are to the effect that all patients now under treatment on +the shore shall be transferred to the Iroquois and Olivette, but the +facilities for carrying out this order are apparently inadequate. In +order that the division hospital may remain unhampered for the care of +the wounded in the engagement about to take place, it is necessary for +me to request this favor of you, and I trust that you may find it +possible to comply with said request. + +"Your obedient servant, + +"LOUIS A. LE GARDE, + +"Major and Surgeon, U. S. A., Commanding +Hospital." + + +To this the following reply was immediately returned: + + +"Steamship State of Texas, + +"SIBONEY, SANTIAGO DE CUBA, _June 30, 1898_. + +"DR. LOUIS A. LE GARDE, + +"Major and Surgeon, U. S. A., Commanding Hospital. + +"Major: Permit me to express the pleasure given me by your letter +inviting the assistance of the persons here under my direction in the +care of the sick and wounded of the engagement about to take place. +Although not here as a hospital ship by any means--not legitimately +fitted for the work--still we have some hospital supplies, a few +intelligent workers, skill, experience, the willingness to serve, the +readiness to obey, and I believe the true spirit of the Red Cross, that +seeks to help humanity wherever its needs exist. I send them to you in +the hope that they may be of service. + +"Cordially yours, + +"CLARA BARTON, + +"President, American National Red Cross." + + +Our surgeons and assistants went on shore, where Dr. Le Garde and Dr. +Lesser secured a small house, and in a few hours this had undergone the +same transformation and by the same hands as the Cuban hospital. The Red +Cross flag was hoisted, Dr. Lesser placed in charge, and scores of our +soldiers who had been lying on the filthy floors of an adjacent +building, with no food but army rations, were carried over, placed in +clean cots, and given proper food. From that on, no distinction was +made, the Red Cross flag floating over both the American and Cuban +hospitals. + +A few feet away, all the available army tents were put up as additional +accommodation for the "wounded in the engagement about to take place." +It did take place the following day, and, as will be well remembered, in +those two days, Friday and Saturday, the first and second of July, the +tents were more than filled with wounded in the battle of San Juan Hill. +Three of the five Sisters went into the operating tent, and with the +surgeons worked for thirty hours with only a few moments' rest now and +then for a cup of coffee and a cracker or piece of bread. We heard +nothing more about a woman nurse being out of place in a soldiers' +hospital. + +On Saturday evening, the second day of the San Juan battle, a slip of +paper with these penciled words was brought to the door of the hospital: + + +"Send food, medicines, anything. Seize wagons from the front for +transportation. + +"SHAFTER." + + +The call for help was at once sent over to the State of Texas, and we +worked all night getting out supplies and sending them ashore with a +force of Cubans, only too glad to work for food. + +I wish I could make apparent how difficult a thing it was to get +supplies from our ship to the shore in a surf which, after ten o'clock +in the morning, allowed no small boats to touch even the bit of a pier +that was run out without breaking either the one or the other, and +nothing in the form of a lighter save two dilapidated flat-boat +pontoons. These had been broken and cast away by the engineer corps, +picked up by ourselves, mended by the Cubans, and put in condition to +float alongside of our ship, and receive perhaps three or four tons of +material. This must then be rowed or floated out to the shore, run onto +the sand as far as possible, the men jumping into the water from knee to +waist deep, pulling the boat up from the surf, and getting the material +on land. And this was what was meant by loading the "seized wagons from +the front" and getting food to the wounded. After ten o'clock in the day +even this was impossible, and we must wait until the calm of three +o'clock next morning to commence work again and go through the same +struggle to get something to load the wagons for that day. Our supplies +had been gotten ashore, and among the last, rocking and tossing in our +little boat, went ourselves, landing on the pier, which by that time was +breaking in two, escaping a surf which every other moment threatened to +envelop one from feet to head, we reached the land. + +Our "seized" wagons had already gone on, loaded with our best hospital +supplies--meal, flour, condensed milk, malted milk, tea, coffee, sugar, +dried fruits, canned fruits, canned meats, and such other things as we +had been able to get out in the haste of packing--entirely filling the +two wagons already in advance. + +An ambulance had been spoken of. We waited a little while by the +roadside, but the ambulance did not appear. Then, halting a wagon loaded +with bales of hay, we begged a ride of the driver, and our little party, +Dr. and Mrs. Gardner, James McDowell, and myself, took our seats on the +hay and made our way to the front, Dr. Hubbell following afoot. Four +hours' ride brought us to the First Division Hospital of the Fifth Army +Corps--General Shafter's headquarters. + +The sight that met us on going into the so-called hospital grounds was +something indescribable. The land was perfectly level; no drainage +whatever; covered with long, tangled grass; skirted by trees, brush, +and shrubbery; a few little dog-tents not much larger than could have +been made of an ordinary table-cloth thrown over a short rail, and under +these lay huddled together the men fresh from the field or from the +operating-tables, with no covering over them save such as had clung to +them through their troubles, and in the majority of cases no blanket +under them. + +Those who had come from the tables, having been compelled to leave all +the clothing they had, as too wet, muddy, and bloody to be retained, +were entirely nude, lying on the stubble grass, the sun fitfully dealing +with them, sometimes clouding over and again streaming out in a blaze +above them. Fortunately, among our supplies were some bolts of +unbleached cotton, and this we cut in sheet lengths, and the men of our +party went about and covered the poor fellows, who lay there with no +shelter either from the elements or the eyes of the passers-by. + +A half dozen bricks laid about a yard apart, a couple of pieces of +wagon-tire laid across these, so low and so near the ground that no fire +of any strength or benefit could be made--the bits of wet wood put +under crosswise, with the smoke streaming a foot out on either side, two +kettles of coffee or soup, and a small frying-pan with some meat in +it--appeared to be the cook-house for these men. They told us there were +about eight hundred men under the tents and lying in the grass, and more +constantly coming in. + +After a few moments' consultation as to the best methods to be pursued, +we too gathered stones and bricks and constructed a longer, higher +fireplace, got more wagon-tires, found the water, and soon our great +agate kettles of seven and ten gallons were filled. + +The rain, that had been drizzling more or less all day, increased. Our +supplies were taken from the wagons, a piece of tarpaulin found to +protect them, and as the fire began to blaze and the water to heat, Mrs. +Gardner and I found the way into the bags and boxes of flour, salt, +milk, and meal, and got material for the first gallons of gruel. I had +not thought to ever make gruel again over a camp-fire. I can not say how +far it carried me back in the lapse of time, or really where, or who I +felt that I was. + +It did not seem to be me, and still I seemed to know how to do it. + +When the bubbling contents of our kettle thickened and grew white with +the condensed milk, and we began to give it out--putting it into the +hands of men detailed as nurses, and our own men, to take around to the +poor sufferers, shivering and naked in the rain--I felt that perhaps it +was not in vain that history had repeated itself. When the nurses came +back and told us of the surprise with which it was received, and the +tears that rolled down the sun-burned, often bloody face, into the cup +as the poor fellow drank his hot gruel, and asked where it came from, +who sent it, and said it was the first food he had tasted in three days +(for they had gone into the fight hungry), I felt that it was again the +same old story and wondered what gain there had been in the last thirty +years. + +The fires burned, the gruel steamed and boiled--bucket after bucket went +out--until those eight hundred men had each a cup of gruel and knew that +he could have another and as many as he wanted. The day waned, the +darkness came, and still the men were unsheltered, uncovered, naked, +and wet--scarcely a groan, no word of complaint--no man said he was not +well treated. + +The operating-tables were full of the wounded. Man after man was taken +off, brought on his litter and laid beside other men, and something +given him to keep the little life in his body that seemed fast oozing +out. All night it went on. It grew cold--for naked men bitter +cold--before morning. We had no blankets, nothing to cover them, only +the strips of cotton cloth. + +Early in the morning ambulances started, and such of the wounded as +could be loaded in were taken to be carried back over that rough, +pitiless road, down to Siboney, to the hospitals there--that we had done +the best we could toward fitting up--where our hundred cots, hundred and +fifty blankets had gone, cups, spoons, and delicacies, that would help +to strengthen these poor, fainting men, if they could get there, and +where also the Sisters would care for them. + +They brought man after man, stretcher after stretcher, to the waiting +ambulances, and they took out seventeen who had died in the night, +unattended, save by the nurse. + +More supplies arrived, and this time came large tarpaulins, more +utensils, more food, and more things to make it a little comfortable. We +removed our first kitchens across the road, up alongside the headquarter +tent of Major Wood, in charge of the camp. Words can not do justice to +his kind-hearted generosity. He strove in every way to do all that could +be done, and the night before had given us a small tent in which we had +huddled from the pouring rain, for a couple of hours, in the middle of +the night, the water rushing through like a rivulet. + +The tarpaulins were put over supplies, a new fireplace made near +us--magnificent in its dimensions--shelter given for boxes and barrels +that by this time had accumulated about us, and there was even something +that looked like a table, on which Mrs. Gardner prepared her delicacies. + +Early in the day there came to our improvised headquarters an officer in +khaki uniform showing hard service, and a bandanna handkerchief hanging +from his hat, to protect the back of his head and neck from the fierce +rays of the sun. + +It was Colonel Roosevelt, and we were very glad to meet the gallant +leader of the "Rough Riders." After a few moments conversation he said: + +"I have some sick men with the regiment who refuse to leave it. They +need such delicacies as you have here, which I am ready to pay for out +of my own pocket. Can I buy them from the Red Cross?" + +"Not for a million dollars," Dr. Gardner replied. + +"But my men need these things," he said, his tone and face expressing +anxiety. "I think a great deal of my men. I am proud of them." + +"And we know they are proud of you, Colonel. But we can't sell Red Cross +supplies," answered Dr. Gardner. + +"Then, how can I get them? I must have proper food for my sick men," he +said. + +"Just ask for them, Colonel," replied Dr. Gardner. + +"Oh," he said, his face suddenly lighting up with a bright smile; "then +I do ask for them." + +"All right, Colonel; what is your list?" + +The list included malted milk, condensed milk, oatmeal, cornmeal, canned +fruits, dried fruits, rice, tea, chocolate, and even prepared beefsteak +and vegetables, and other things good for men who could not eat army +rations. + +"Now, Colonel, when will you send for these supplies?" asked Dr. +Gardner. "They will be ready any time." + +"Lend me a sack and I'll take them right along," he answered with +characteristic decision. + +Mrs. Gardner at once looked up a sack, and when filled it must have held +a good many pounds of supplies. Before we had recovered from our +surprise, the incident was closed by the future President of the United +States slinging the big sack over his shoulders, striding off, and out +of sight through the jungle. + +The gruel still remained the staple, but malted milk, chocolate, rice, +and tea had come in, and little by little various things were added by +which our _menage_ quite resembled a hotel. The wounded were still being +taken away by ambulance and wagon, assorted and picked over like fruit. +Those who would bear transportation were taken away, the others left +where they were. By the third day our patients seemed strong enough that +we might risk giving them food as solid as rice, and the great kettles +were filled with that, cooked soft, mixed with condensed and malted +milk. The number of wounded grew less day by day, and better care could +be taken of them. + +At Siboney, the great needs of the hour were met by the little band of +surgeons and nurses, working night and day. The following is from a +letter in the Times-Herald, now Record-Herald, of Chicago, by Miss Janet +Jennings, who volunteered her service in the hospital. One gets from +this simple, direct picture, a better appreciation of that heroism which +lives after excitement, which survives the rush and shouting of assault, +which is sustained without comradeship: + + +"SIBONEY, _July 8, 1898_. + +"Above hospital tents Red Cross flags are flying, and here is the real +life--the suffering and heroism. Everybody who can do even so little as +carry a cup of water lends willing hands to help the wounded. Most of +the wounded are from the first day's engagement, when the infantry was +ordered to lead the attack on Santiago, instead of using the artillery. + +"And it all came at once--a quick blow--with little or no preparation +to meet it. I mentioned in a former letter the lack of preparation on +the part of the army to care for the sick. There was then almost +nothing--no cots, bedding or proper food, for less than one hundred sick +men. + +"Two days later, when the wounded came in, the needs of the hour were +overwhelming. The situation can not be described. Thousands of our men +had been hurried to the front to fight. It was well understood that it +would be a hard fight. The dead would need only burial, but the wounded +would need care. And yet, with the exception of a limited number of +stretchers, a medicine-chest and a few bandages, no preparation had been +made--neither cots nor food--practically no hospital supplies. + +"It is not strange that surgeons were desperate and nurses distressed. +The force of each was wholly inadequate. The exact number of wounded may +never be known. But the estimate at this time is about 1,000 +wounded--some 1,500 killed and wounded. + +"Wounded men who made their way down on foot eight miles over the rough, +hilly road will never know just how their strength held out. Others were +brought down in army wagons by the load, as few ambulances were at +hand. Fortunately, there were some tents here that had been used by +troops before going to the front. Under these hay was spread and covered +with blankets, and the improvised hospital was ready. One tent was taken +for operating-tables, and the work of surgeons and nurses began. They +worked night and day for forty-eight hours, with only brief intervals +for coffee and hard-tack. + +"Wounded men had to wait for hours before bullets could be extracted and +wounds dressed. But there was no word of complaint--only silent, patient +suffering, borne with a courage that was sublime. As the wounded +continued to come in, tent-room gave out, and hay with blankets were +placed outside, and to these 'beds' the less severely wounded were +assigned. It was evident that the medical department of the army had +failed absolutely to send hospital supplies, or by this time they would +have been landed. As it was, the surgeons turned to the Red Cross ship +'State of Texas' for help, and the supplies originally intended for the +starving Cubans were sent ashore for our wounded. + +"Miss Barton had been urged and advised to wait until the army opened +and made the way safe to land supplies for reconcentrados and refugees. +But she had foreseen the situation to a certain degree and followed the +army as quickly as possible--to wait for the emergency, rather than have +the emergency wait for her. The 'State of Texas' was here a week before +the attack on Santiago. + +"While surgeons and nurses were probing for bullets and dressing wounds, +a force of men on the Red Cross ship worked half the night getting out +cots and blankets, food and bandages, and at daylight next morning the +supplies were landed, taking advantage of the smooth sea between four +and nine o'clock, as later in the day the high surf makes it extremely +difficult for landings. There were six tables in the operating-tent and +eight surgeons. In twenty-four hours the surgeons had operated upon and +dressed the wounds of 475 men. Four Red Cross sisters, trained nurses, +assisted the surgeons. They were Sister Bettina, wife of Dr. Lesser, +surgeon-in-chief of the Red Cross; Sister Minna, Sister Isabel, and +Sister Blanche. Their knowledge of surgery, skill, and nerve were a +revelation to the army surgeons. These young women, all under thirty, +went from one operating-table to another, and, whatever was the nature +of the wound or complication, proved equal to the emergency. + +"In the Red Cross Hospital, across the way, Sister Anna was in charge +of the sick men, turned over to the Red Cross two days before, when army +surgeons with troops were all ordered to the front. With 475 wounded men +to feed there was not a camp-kettle to be found in which gruel could be +prepared, coffee made or anything cooked, not a kettle of any sort to be +furnished by the army. The whole camp outfit at Tampa in the way of +cooking utensils must have been left behind. + +"But there was an overruling Providence when the 'State of Texas' was +loaded for Cuba. So far everything needed has been found in the hold of +this old ship, which deserves to have and will have a credit page in the +history of the war in Cuba. There were kettles, charcoal braziers, and +cooking utensils carried over to the Red Cross Hospital. To prepare +gruel, rice, coffee, and various other proper and palatable dishes for +forty or fifty sick men by the slow process of a charcoal brazier, +tea-kettle, and boiler is by no means easy cooking. But to prepare food +for 475 wounded men, some of whom had had nothing to eat for twenty-four +hours, cooking over a little charcoal pot is something that one must +take a 'hand in' to fully appreciate. + +"There was the feeling as if one were dazed and unnatural to hear +American soldiers, men from comfortable homes, literally begging for +'just a spoonful of gruel.' The charcoal pot burned night and day, +gallons of gruel were made and quantities of rice cooked until the +greatest stress had passed. It was no time to stand on trained service, +and everybody, man or woman, was ready to lend a hand. + +"A striking feature of the first day's engagement was the number of men +wounded in the head, arm, and upper part of the body. Some of these +cases, the most serious, were taken into the Red Cross Hospital, where +they received the most skilful and gentle nursing. + +"Two days' steady strain began to show on the Sisters. + +"The strain had been the greater because there were no facilities for +anything like a regular meal short of the ship, reached by a long, hard +tramp in the sand, then a row over the tossing waves. But nobody thought +of meals. The one thing was to feed and nurse the 500 wounded and sick +men. Human endurance, however, has its limit, and unless the Sisters +could get a little rest they would give out. I went on duty for +twenty-four hours, at night, with the assistance of one man, taking care +of forty patients, fever, measles, and dysentery cases, and half a dozen +badly wounded men. Among the latter was Captain Mills, of the First +Cavalry, and William Clark, a colored private in the Twenty-fifth +Infantry, regulars. They were brought over from the hospital tents and +placed on cots out on the little porch, where there was just room to +pass between the cots. + +"Their wounds were very similar--in the head--and of such a character as +to require cool applications to the eyes constantly. Ice was scarce and +worth its weight in gold, for the lives of these men as well as others +depended chiefly on cool applications to the eyes, with as uniform +temperature as possible. We had one small piece of ice, carefully +wrapped in a blanket. There never was a small piece of ice that went so +far. If I were to tell the truth about it nobody would believe me. + +"Never in my whole life, I think, have I wished for anything so much as +I wished for plenty of ice that night. It was applied by chipping in +small bits, laid in thin, dry cotton cloth, folded over in just the +right size and flat, to place across the eyes and forehead, enough of it +to be cold, but not heavy, on the wounds. + +"The ears of the sick are strangely acute. Whenever the sick men heard +the sound of chipping ice they begged for ice-water; even the smallest +bit of ice in a cup of water was begged with an eagerness that was +pitiful. I felt conscience-smitten. But it was a question of saving the +eyes of the wounded men, and there was no other way. To make the ice +last till morning I stealthily chipped it off so the sick men would not +hear the sound. + +"At midnight a surgeon came over from his tent ward with a little piece +of ice not larger than his hand. I do not know his name, but it does not +matter, it is inscribed above. 'This is all we can spare,' he said. +'Take it. You must keep those wounds cool at all hazards. I have another +case very like these--a man wounded in the head. I want to bring him +over here, where he will be sure of exactly the same nursing. His life +depends on the care he gets in the next twenty-four hours. Have you a +vacant cot?' + +"There was not a vacant cot, but we could make room for one on the porch +if he could find the cot. He thought he could, and went back, taking the +precious piece of ice that he really needed more than we did. In the +course of a half hour the surgeon returned to say it was impossible to +get a cot anywhere, and the wounded man must be left where he was in the +tent, at least until morning. + +"And so it went on through the long night--the patient suffering of the +sick men, the heroism of the wounded, all fearing to give any trouble, +desiring not to do so, find grateful for the smallest attention. + +"The courage that faces death on the battlefield or calmly awaits it in +the hospital is not a courage of race or color. Two of the bravest men I +ever saw were here, almost side by side on the little porch--Captain +Mills and Private Clark--one white, the other black. They were wounded +almost at the same time, and in the same way. The patient suffering and +heroism of the black soldier was fully equal to that of the Anglo-Saxon. +It was quite the same, the gentleness and appreciation. They were a +study, these men so widely apart in life, but here strangely close and +alike on the common ground of duty and sacrifice. They received +precisely the same care; each fed like a child, for with their bandaged +eyes they were as helpless as blind men. When the ice pads were renewed +on Captain Mills's eyes the same change was made on Private Clark's +eyes. There was no difference in their beds or food. Neither uttered a +word of complaint. The nearest to a regret expressed by Captain Mills +was a heavy sigh, followed by the words: 'Oh, we were not ready. Our +army was not prepared.' + +"Of himself he talked cheerfully, strong, and hopeful. 'I think I shall +go home with the sight of one eye,' he said. That was all. + +"In the early part of the night he was restless, his brain was active, +cool, and brave as he might be. The moonlight was very bright, a flood +of silver, seen only in the tropics. Hoping to divert him I said: 'The +moonlight is too bright, captain. I will put up a paper screen so you +can get to sleep.' + +"He realized at once the absurdity and the ludicrous side, and with an +amused smile replied: 'But you know I can't see the moonlight.' + +"I said it was time to get more ice for his head and half stumbled +across the porch, blinded by tears. When told who his nearest neighbor +was, Captain Mills expressed great sympathy for Private Clark and paid a +high tribute to the bravery of the colored troops and their faithful +performance of duty. + +"Private Clark talked but little. He would lie apparently asleep until +the pain in his head became unbearable. Then he would try to sit up, +always careful to keep the ice-pad on his eyes over the bandage. + +"'What can I do for you, Clark?' I would ask, anxious to relieve his +pain. + +"'Nothing, thank you,' he would answer. 'It's very nice and comfortable +here. But it's only the misery in my head--the misery is awful.' + +"Poor fellow! there was never a moan, merely a little sigh now and +then, but always that wonderful patience that seemed to me not without a +touch of divine philosophy, complete acceptance. + +"I have mentioned these two men, not as exceptional in bravery, but to +illustrate the rule of heroism, and because they were among the patients +under my immediate care that night. It was a strange night picture--a +picture that could never be dimmed by time but live through all the +years of one's life. + +"After midnight a restful atmosphere pervaded the hospital and the +blessing of sleep fell upon the suffering men, one by one. In the little +interval of repose I dropped into an old chair on the porch, looked away +to the beautiful mountains sharply outlined in the moonlight, and the +sea like waves of silver, the camp on the shore; near by thirty or forty +horses standing motionless. Then the hospital tents, with now and then +the flickering light of a candle; in the background the cliffs, with +here and there a Spanish blockhouse. Over all the tragedy of life and +death, the pain and sorrow, there was the stillness of a peaceful +night--a stillness broken only by the sound of the surf brought back on +the cool breeze, the cool, refreshing breeze, for which we all thanked +God." + + +Later on, as will be remembered, Miss Jennings went North--a volunteer +nurse on the transport Seneca. The brave men whose lives hung in the +balance that night--with little hope that, if life were spared, they +would ever see again--recovered, but each with the loss of an eye. After +a long furlough Private Clark returned to his regiment. Captain Mills, +now General Mills, is the Superintendent of the West Point Military +Academy. + +Three times in the first week I went over those terrible roads from the +front to Siboney and return. Arriving at Siboney late one night, there +was no way I could get on board the State of Texas and I was obliged to +remain on shore. The Postmaster insisted that I occupy a room in the +building used for a post-office. Such a courtesy could not be refused, +and against all feeling of acquiescence, and with a dread as if there +were something wrong about it, I allowed myself to be helped out of the +wagon and entered the house. The Postmaster sat down and talked with me +a little while. I thought he seemed ill. I had never met him before, but +my heart went out in sympathy for him. I feared I was taking his room, +although he did not admit it. + +I was shown into a room where there was a cot, a table, and a candle +without a stick, burning upon the table. The men went outside and laid +down upon the steps for the night. I laid down upon the cot, but it was +impossible for me to remain there. Something constantly warned me to +leave it. I got up, went to the door, looked out upon the night and +darkness, and waited for the gray of the morning. I went out and stood +upon the beach beside the sea and waited more and more, until finally +some of the men appeared, and I went with them down to the water. + +Six days later they told me that the rightful occupant of the cot--the +Postmaster, who had seemed so ill--had died of a fever raging here that +they called "yellow fever." I had occupied his cot. I wonder who it was +that so continually warned me that night to keep away from that room, +away from the cot, away from all connected with it? "Yellow fever" was +not then talked of. Did some one tell me? I do not know--but something +told me. + +The negotiations between General Shafter and the Spanish army at +Santiago were going on. The flag of truce, that threatened every day to +come down, still floated. The Spanish soldiers had been led by their +officers to believe that every man who surrendered--and the people as +well--would be butchered whenever the city should fall and the American +troops should come in. But when General Shafter commenced to send back +convoys of captured Spanish officers, their wounds dressed, and +carefully placed on stretchers, borne under flags of truce to the +Spanish lines at Santiago, and set down at the feet of General Toral, +and when in astonishment that officer learned the object of the flag of +truce and sent companies of his soldiers to form in line and present +arms, while the cortege of wounded were borne through by American +troops, a lesson was learned that went far toward the surrender of that +city. + +I happen to know that it was not without some very natural home +criticism that General Shafter persisted in his course in the face of +the time-honored custom of "hostages." One can readily understand that +the voluntary giving up of prisoners--officers at that--in view of an +impending battle, might seem in the light of old-time army usages a +waste, to characterize it by no harder term. It is possible that none of +the officers in that field had ever read the Articles of the Treaty of +Geneva, or fully recalled that the treaty had become a law, or that +their commander was acting in full accord with its wise and humane +principles. + +By this time the main talk of the camp was "yellow fever." It was soon +discovered by the medical authorities that, from there having been at +first one case of fever, there were now one hundred and sixteen, and +that a fever camp would probably be made there, and the wounded gotten +away. It was advisable then that we return to our ship and attempt, as +far as possible, to hold that free from contagion. I was earnestly +solicited to do this, in view of what was expected of our ship, and of +what was expected of us, that we not only protect ourselves but our +cargo and ship from all contamination and even suspicion. + +I faithfully promised to do so, and again called for an army wagon, +leaving all supplies that were useful for the men in camp--sending to El +Caney what was most needed there--and taking only our personal effects, +started for Siboney. In less than twenty minutes the rain was pouring on +us and for two hours it fell as if from buckets. The water was from a +foot and a half to two feet deep in the road as we passed along. At one +time our wagon careened, the mules were held up, and we waited to see +whether it should go over or could be brought out, the water a few +inches only from the top of the lower side. It was scarcely possible for +us to stir, hemmed in as we were, but the men from the other wagons +sprang to our wheels, hanging in the air on the upper side, and we were +simply saved by an inch. + +But like other things, this cleared away. We came into Siboney about +three o'clock, in a bright glare of sunshine, to find the town entirely +burned--all buildings gone or smoking--and a "yellow fever" hospital +established a mile and a half out from Siboney. + +All effort was made to hold our ship free from suspicion. The process of +reasoning leading to the conclusion that a solid cargo, packed in tight +boxes in the hold of a ship, anchored at sea, could become infected in +a day from the land or a passing individual, is indeed an intricate +process. But we had some experience in this direction. Captain McCalla, +in his repeated humane attempts to feed the refugees around Guantanamo, +had called again for a hundred thousand rations, saying that if we could +bring them to him soon he could get them to the starving people in the +woods. We lost no time, but got the food out and started with it in the +night. On reaching Guantanamo we were met some distance out, called to, +and asked if any one on our ship had been on shore at Siboney within +four days; if so, our supplies could not be received. We took them away, +leaving the starving to perish. + +The constantly recurring news of the surrender of Santiago was so well +established that we drew anchor, came up to the flag-ship, and sent the +following letter to Admiral Sampson: + + +"State of Texas, + +"_July 16, 1898_. + +"ADMIRAL SAMPSON, Commanding U. S. Fleet off +Santiago, Flag-Ship New York. + +"Admiral: It is not necessary for me to explain to you my errand, nor +its necessity; both your good head and heart divine it more clearly +than any words of mine can represent. + +"I send this to you by one of our men who can tell all you wish to know. +Mr. John Elwell has resided and done mercantile and shipping business in +Santiago for the last seven years; is favorably known to all its people; +has in his possession the keys of the best warehouses and residences in +the city, to which he is given welcome by the owners. He is the person +appointed four months ago to help distribute this food, and did so with +me until the blockade. There seems to be nothing in the way of getting +our twelve hundred tons of food into a Santiago warehouse and giving it +intelligently to the thousands who _need_ and _own_ it. I have twenty +good helpers with me. The New York committee is urging the discharge of +the State of Texas, which has been raised in price to four hundred +dollars a day. + +"If there is still more explanation needed, I pray you, Admiral, let me +see you. + +"Respectfuly and cordially, + +"CLARA BARTON." + + +These were anxious days. While the world outside was making up war +history, we thought of little beyond the terrible needs about us; if +Santiago had any people left, they must be in sore distress; and El +Caney, with its thirty thousand homeless, perishing sufferers, how could +they be reached? + +On that Sunday morning, never to be forgotten, the Spanish fleet came +out of Santiago Harbor, to meet death and capture. That afternoon +Lieutenant Capehart, of the flag-ship, came on board with the courteous +reply of Admiral Sampson, that if we would come alongside the New York +he would put a pilot on board. This was done, and we moved on through +waters we had never traversed; past Morro Castle, long, low, silent, and +grim; past the wrecks of the Spanish ships on the right; past the +Merrimac in the channel. We began to realize that we were alone, of all +the ships about the harbor there were none with us. The stillness of the +Sabbath was over all. The gulls sailed and flapped and dipped about us. +The lowering summer sun shot long golden rays athwart the green hills on +either side and tinged the water calm and still. The silence grew +oppressive as we glided along with scarce a ripple. We saw on the right +as the only moving thing, a long, slim yacht dart out from among the +bushes and steal its way up half-hidden in the shadows. Suddenly it was +overtaken by either message or messenger, and like a collared hound +glided back as if it had never been. + +Leaning on the rail, half lost in reverie over the strange, quiet beauty +of the scene, the thought suddenly burst upon me--are we really going +into Santiago, and alone? Are we not to be run out, and wait aside, and +salute with dipping colors, while the great battle-ships come up with +music and banners and lead the way? + +As far as the eye could reach no ship was in sight. Was this to remain +so? Could it be possible that the commander who had captured a city +declined to be the first to enter, that he would hold back his flag-ship +and himself, and send forward and first a cargo of food on a plain ship, +under direction of a woman? Did our commands, military or naval, hold +men great enough of soul for such action? It must be true, for the +spires of Santiago rise before us, and turning to the score of +companions beside me I ask: "Is there any one here who will lead the +Doxology?" In an instant the full rich voice of Enola Gardner rang out: +"Praise God from whom all blessings flow." By that time the chorus was +full, and the tears on many a face told more plainly than words how +genuine was that praise, and when in response to a second suggestion "My +Country 'Tis of Thee" swelled out on the evening air in the farewell +rays of the setting sun, the State of Texas was nearing the dock, and +quietly dropping her anchor she lay there through the silence of the +night in undisputed possession, facing a bare wind-swept wharf and the +deserted city of Santiago. + +Daybreak brought quiet to an end. The silence was no longer oppressive. +A hundred and twenty stevedores lined up on the wharf for work and +breakfast. The dock had tracks, and trucks running to its open +warehouses. Boxes, barrels, and bales, pitched out of that ship, thrown +onto the trucks and wheeled away, told the story of better days to come. +It was something to see the lank, brawny little army of stevedores take +their first breakfast in line, alongside of the ship. + +Later in the day the flag-ship brought Admiral Sampson and Admiral +Schley, who spent several hours with us. They had every opportunity to +see how our work was done, and if we were equal to unloading our ship. +When they were about to leave Admiral Sampson was asked what orders or +directions he had for us. He replied: "You need no directions from me, +but if any one troubles you let me know." + +The amiable pleasantries of these two gallant officers during that visit +are a pleasure to recall. As I was, at an opportune moment, attempting +to express my appreciation and thanks to Admiral Sampson for the +courtesy of allowing us to precede him into Santiago, Admiral Schley, +with that _naïveté_ and apt turn of expression so characteristic of him, +in a half undertone side-remark, cautioned me with "Don't give him too +much credit, Miss Barton; he was not quite sure how clear the channel +might be. Remember that was a trial trip." + +How sadly the recollection of that pleasant, memorable day has since +recurred to me; brave, gallant brothers in arms, and in heart; knowing +only a soldier's duty; each holding his country's honor first, his own +last; its glory his glory, and for himself seeking nothing more. Ah, +people, press, and politics! How deal ye with your servants? + +A message was received from General Shafter, who telegraphed from his +headquarters; "The death rate at El Caney is terrible; can you send +food?" The answer was to send the thirty thousand refugees of El Caney +at once back to Santiago; we were there and could feed them; that the +State of Texas had still twelve hundred tons of supplies. + +The thirty thousand inhabitants of Santiago had been driven to El Caney, +a village designed for five hundred. In two days all were called back +and fed, ten thousand the first day, twenty thousand the second. Then +came our troops, and Santiago was lived and is remembered. Its +hospitals, the ante-chamber to Montauk, are never to be forgotten. + +A general committee was formed, the city districted into sections, with +a commissioner for each district, selected by the people themselves +living there. Every family or person residing within the city was +supplied by the commissioner of that district, and all transient +persons were fed at the kitchens, the food being provided by the Red +Cross. + +The discharge of the cargo of the State of Texas commenced at six +o'clock Monday morning, July 18th. One hundred and twenty-five +stevedores were employed and paid in food issued as rations. Four days +later the discharge was completed. + +Although the army had entered the city during the latter part of that +time, there had been no confusion, no groups of disorderly persons seen, +no hunger in the city more than in ordinary times. We had done all that +could be done to advantage at that time in Santiago. The United States +troops had mainly left. The Spanish soldiers were coming in to their +waiting ships, bringing with them all the diseases that unprovided and +uncleanly camps would be expected to hold in store. Five weeks before we +had brought into Santiago all the cargo of the State of Texas excepting +the hospital supplies, which had been used the month previous among our +own troops at Siboney, General Shafter's front, and El Caney during the +days of fighting. + +These were the last days of General Shafter in Santiago, who was, as he +had at all times been, the kind and courteous officer and gentleman. +General Wood, who was made Governor of the Province of Santiago upon the +day of surrender--alert, wise, and untiring, with an eye single to the +good of all--toiled day and night. + +The State of Texas steamed away to its northern home. Peace and plenty +came. The reconcentrados we went in search of were never reached. To +those who could not withstand, Heaven came. To those who could, _Cuba +Libre_. + +Later on, general efforts were made for the protection of the thousands +of orphans over the island, in which efforts the Red Cross joined. But +the people of Cuba solved the question themselves--by a general adoption +in their own homes--and orphanages in Cuba became a thing of the past. + +Thus our work on that distressful field closed, after nearly two years +of such effort as one would never desire to repeat. The financial +management of that field, so far as the Red Cross was concerned, was +done under the attorneyship of the Central Cuban Relief Committee of New +York, whose reports are models of accuracy and accountability, and to +which any person desiring information may be referred. + +Cuba was a hard field, full of heart-breaking memories. It gave the +first opportunity to test the cooperation between the government and its +supplemental handmaiden, the Red Cross. That these relations might not +have been clearly understood at this initial date may well be +appreciated, but that time and experience will remedy this may be +confidently hoped. + +Through all our discouragements the steady hand and calm approval of our +great head of the army and navy was our solace and our strength. And +when at length it was all over, his hand could trace for his message to +his people the following testimonial, what need had one even to remember +past discouragements, however great? It was as if the hand of the martyr +had set its undying seal upon the brow of the American Red Cross. What +greater justification could it have? What greater riches could it crave? + +"In this connection it is a pleasure for me to mention in terms of +cordial appreciation the timely and useful work of the American Red +Cross, both in relief measures preparatory to the campaigns, in sanitary +assistance at several of the camps of assemblage, and, later, under the +able and experienced leadership of the president of the society, Miss +Clara Barton, on the fields of battle and in the hospitals at the front +in Cuba. Working in conjunction with the governmental authorities and +under their sanction and approval, and with the enthusiastic cooperation +of many patriotic women and societies in the various States, the Red +Cross has fully maintained its already high reputation for intense +earnestness and ability to exercise the noble purposes of its +international organization, thus justifying the confidence and support +which it has received at the hands of the American people. To the +members and officers and all who aided them in their philanthropic +work, the sincere and lasting gratitude of the soldiers and the public +is due and freely accorded. + +"In tracing these events we are constantly reminded of our obligations +to the Divine Master for His watchful care over us, and His safe +guidance, for which the nation makes reverent acknowledgment and offers +humble prayers for the continuance of His favors."--FROM PRESIDENT +MCKINLEY'S MESSAGE TO CONGRESS, DECEMBER 6, 1898. + + + + +IX + +GALVESTON + +1900 + + +This time there was no murmur in the air, no warning of approaching +danger. Even the watchful press, that knows so much before it ever +happens, slumbered quiet and deep, till the hissing wires shrieked the +terrifying word--Galveston. + +Then we learned that, as at Port Royal, the sea had overleaped its +bounds and its victims by thousands were in its grasp. + +In all the land no one slept then. To us it was the clang of the +fire-bell, and the drop of the harness. The Red Cross clans commenced to +gather. + +In two days a little coterie of near a dozen left Washington under +escort of the competent agency of the New York World, which had on the +first day telegraphed that it would open a subscription for the relief +of Galveston, and would be glad to send all supplies and money received +to the Red Cross, if its president, Miss Clara Barton, would go and +distribute it. It was the acceptance of this generous offer that had +brought to the station in Washington the escort; and a palace-car, +provided with all comforts for the journey to Galveston, was under the +management of the World's efficient correspondent and agent, Robert +Adamson. + +The direfulness of the news gathered as we proceeded on our journey, and +delays were gotten over as quickly as possible. A detention of several +hours in New Orleans gave opportunity for consultation with the officers +of the Red Cross Society of that city, which had held its loyal ranks +unbroken since 1882, and became a tower of strength in this relief. A +day of waiting in Houston for a passage over the Gulf gave us a glimpse +of what the encroachment had been on the mainland. We found the passage +across to Galveston difficult, and with one night of waiting by the +shore in almost open cars, at Texas City, we at length arrived in +Galveston on the morning of the 15th of September. + +Here again no description could adequately serve its purpose. The sea, +with fury spent, had sullenly retired. The strongest buildings, half +standing, roofless and tottering, told what once had been the make-up of +a thriving city. But that cordon of wreckage skirting the shore for +miles it seemed, often twenty feet in height, and against which the high +tide still lapped and rolled! What did it tell? The tale is all too +dreadful to recall--the funeral pyre of at least five thousand human +beings. The uncoffined dead of the fifth part of a city lay there. The +lifeless bodies festering in the glaring heat of a September sun told +only too fatally what that meant to that portion of the city left alive. +The streets were well-nigh impassable, the animals largely drowned, the +working force of men diminished, dazed, and homeless. The men who had +been the fathers of the city, its business and its wealth, looked on +aghast at their overwhelmed possessions, ruined homes, and, worse than +all, mourned their own dead. + +Yet these men, to the number of thirty or more, had, as one may say, +pulled themselves together, and were even at that early date a relief +committee, holding their meetings at the wrecked and half-ruined hotel, +almost the only public house left standing. To this hotel we also went +and reported to the committee. To say that we were kindly and +gratefully received by them says nothing that would satisfy either +ourselves or them. + +The conditions were so new to them that it was a relief to meet persons +who had seen such things before. We were asked not only to act with +them, but to assume charge of the administration of relief. This, of +course, we would not do, but that we would meet with, counsel, and aid +them in every way in our power, is needless to affirm. That we did do +this, through every day of our stay of three months, not only our own +conviction, but the unasked and unexpected testimony of both Galveston +and the Legislature of the State of Texas, go to assure. + +On the third day after our arrival we were joined by Mr. Stephen E. +Barton, President of the former Central Cuban Relief Committee, and Mr. +Fred L. Ward, its competent secretary, who became our secretary from the +time of his arrival until the close of the field, continuing until after +our return to headquarters and settling the last account. Not only the +thanks of the Red Cross are due for his faithful, painstaking work, but +his name is still a household word through the score of counties +skirting the shore on the mainland of Texas. + +It may be interesting to readers to know what is done first, or just how +a relief party commence under circumstances like that. A few words will +give an outline. First the ground must be overlooked and conditions +learned. This is not easy when it is remembered that broken houses, +cars, wagons, church steeples, and grand pianos were liable to be +encountered in the middle of the leading streets, themselves buried +three feet in the coarse black sand, brought in by the great tidal wave. + +Nevertheless, a building must be found in which to store and distribute +the supplies that would immediately come. How needful these supplies +would be can be inferred when it is recalled that scores of persons came +alive out of that wreck, with simply the band of a shirt or a +night-dress held by its button about the neck as the only reminder that +ever a cover of clothing had been theirs. + +A little meeting of my assistants early held assigned each to his duty +and his place. A warehouse, fortunately still intact, was generously +supplied by Mr. John Sealy. Major James A. McDowell, with the +experience of this branch of Red Cross work from Johnstown down, and the +record of twenty-six battles in the old civil war, was placed in charge. +Here is one of the scenes given by a casual eye-witness: + +A poor feeble-looking man, with scant clothing, enters the warehouse and +waits. "Hello there," calls the observant major--with his Grand Army +button--overhauling clothes for the visitor. "But, major, I was a +Confederate soldier." "Lord bless your poor suffering soul, what +difference does that make? Here, this will suit you." + +It was thought advisable by some of the party to establish an orphanage, +which was done and carried through, regardless of the common-sense idea +that few children would survive, when the parents were drowned. And so +it proved, although the work was faithfully administered. + +Homes must be made, lumber obtained, and houses built. The Red Cross +sent out the appeal for lumber and aided in the work of shelter. + +Mrs. Fannie B. Ward was placed in charge of a special clothing +department. Need I remind thoughtful readers that in a disaster like +that, where people of affluence, culture, and position are in a night +bereft of all, one of the cruelest features might be to go to the open +boxes of a relief station for clothing, such as never before worn, and +could not be asked for through the choking tears. In all humanity these +cases must be properly, respectfully, and discreetly met, as one lady +could meet another in distress. + +No more vivid picture of the conditions by which we were surrounded can +be imagined than the following extract from Mrs. Ward's report: + + +"Just seven days after the storm we found ourselves stranded at Texas +City, on the mainland opposite Galveston Island, waiting for +transportation across the six-mile stretch of water. Bridges had been +swept away, and new sand-bars thrown up in the bay; floating roofs and +timbers impeded navigation, and the only method of communication between +the mainland and Galveston was one poor little ferry-boat, which had to +feel her now dangerous way very cautiously, by daylight only. She had +also to carry nearly a quarter of her capacity in soldiers to prevent +her being swamped by waiting crowds of people, frantic to learn the +fate of their friends on the island. Each trip to the mainland, the boat +came filled with refugees from the city of doom--the sick, the maimed, +the sorrowing--many with fearful bodily injuries inflicted by the storm, +and others with deeper wounds of grief;--mothers whose babies had been +torn from their arms, children whose parents were missing, fathers whose +entire families were lost--a dazed and tearless throng, such as Danté +might have met in his passage through Inferno. These were dumped by +thousands on the sandy beach at Texas City, and then conveyed by rail to +Houston, to be cared for by the good people of that city, who, +notwithstanding their own grievous losses, were doing noble work for +their stricken neighbors. + +"Of Texas City--a flourishing town of four or five thousand +houses--nothing remained but heaps of bricks and splintered wood, sodden +bales of cotton and bits of household furniture, scattered over the +plain; not a standing habitation within miles, nor any shelter for the +crowds above-mentioned, except two or three hospital-tents, hastily set +up for the sick and wounded, but inadequate for their accommodation. +What was our dismay when told that here we must remain at least +twenty-four hours, for the return of the boat! However, we were better +off, even physically, than most of the waiting crowd, though weariness +of the flesh amounted to actual suffering, after more than fifty hours' +travel. As a special courtesy to Miss Barton, the railway company left a +car to shelter her during the night. Luxurious Pullmans did not abound +at Texas City, and this was the shabbiest of day-coaches, equipped with +few 'modern conveniences.' But this was no time to think of personal +comfort, on the threshold of so much misery; and who could murmur when +the head of our little company set such an heroic example of patience. I +have seen her in many trying situations, that threatened the fortitude +and endurance of the strongest--and have yet to hear the first word of +complaint from her lips. She smilingly 'bunked' upon two seats laid +together--compared to which, for softness, the _penitente's_ slab of +stone would be as 'downy beds of ease'--and encouraged her companions to +do the same. Hunger and thirst would also have been our portion, had it +not been for a Salvation Army Corps encamped in the vicinity, and the +Relief Train of the Philadelphia North American, stranded like +ourselves. Thanks to those good Samaritans, we dined and breakfasted on +tinned beef, bread and coffee; and what more could good soldiers +require? + +"That night in Texas City will be long remembered. Sleep was out of the +question--stretched on those cross-bars, like St. Lawrence on his +gridiron. Soldiers patrolled the beach, not only to prevent a stampede +of the boat, but to protect both the quick and the dead from fiends in +human guise, who prowled the devastated region, committing atrocities +too horrible to name. All night the steady tramp, tramp, of the guard +sounded beneath the car-windows, while at either door stood two +sentinels, muskets on shoulders. Skies of inky blackness, studded with +stars of extraordinary brilliancy, seemed to bend much nearer the earth +than at the North; and the Great Dipper hung low on the horizon--for +only just across the Gulf it disappears to give place to the Southern +Cross. Myriads of big, bright fire-flies, resembling balls of flame, +flitted restlessly over the plain, like the disembodied souls whose +homes were here one short week before, searching for their scattered +treasures. Over on Galveston Island, a long line of flame, mounting to +the heavens, marked the burning of ruined homes and corpses; while other +fires, in all directions on the mainland, told of similar ghastly +cremations. At one time I counted twenty-three of these fires, not +including those on the island. Early in the morning a strange odor drew +attention to a fresh funeral-pyre, only a few rods away, around the +horse-shoe curve of the shore. We were told that thirty bodies, found +since daybreak in the immediate vicinity, were being consumed in it. +That peculiar smell of burning flesh, so sickening at first, became +horribly familiar within the next two months, when we lived in it and +breathed it, day after day. + +"We found the situation in Galveston infinitely worse than had been +described. The most sensational accounts of the yellowest journals fell +far short of the truth--simply because its full horror was beyond the +power of words to portray. Figures and statistics can give little idea +of the results of such an appalling calamity; and to this day, people +at a distance have no realization of the unutterable woe which our Red +Cross band of less than a dozen, strove to alleviate. We arrived on the +eighth day after the tragedy, in which upward of ten thousand lives went +suddenly out in storm and darkness; and the survivors were just +beginning to realize the extent of their losses. + +"At first they seemed stunned to partial insensibility by the very +magnitude of their grief--as a man who has been mangled almost unto +death in a railroad disaster is said to be oblivious to pain. Dead +citizens lay by thousands amid the wreck of their homes, and raving +maniacs searched the _débris_ for their loved ones, with the organized +gangs of workers. Corpses, dumped by barge-loads into the Gulf, came +floating back to menace the living; and the nights were lurid with +incinerations of putrefying bodies, piled like cord-wood, black and +white together, irrespective of age, sex, or previous condition. At +least four thousand dwellings had been swept away, with all their +contents, and fully half of the population of the city was without +shelter, food, clothes, or any of the necessaries of life. Of these, +some were living in tents; others crowded in with friends hardly less +unfortunate; many half-crazed, wandering aimlessly about the streets, +and the story of their sufferings, mental and physical, is past the +telling. Every house that remained was a house of mourning. Of many +families every member had been swept away. Even sadder were the numerous +cases where one or two were left out of recently happy households; and +saddest of all was the heart-breaking suspense of those whose friends +were numbered among the 'missing.' + +"We find it hard enough to lay away our dead in consecrated ground, with +all the care and tenderness that love can suggest, where we may water +the sacred spot with our tears and place upon it the flowers they loved +in life; but never to know whether their poor bodies were swallowed by +the merciless Gulf, or fed to the fishes with those grewsome +barge-loads, or left above ground to become an abomination in the +nostrils of the living, or burned in indiscriminate heaps with horses +and dogs and the mingled ashes scattered to the winds--must indeed have +been well-nigh unbearable. No wonder there were lunatics in Galveston, +and unnumbered cases of nervous prostration. + +"After weeks had passed and two thousand men, aided by several hundred +teams, had partially reduced the mountain of wreckage, cremation fires +yet burned continuously--fed not only by human bodies, but by thousands +of carcasses of domestic animals. By that time, in the hot, moist +atmosphere of the latitude, decomposition had so far advanced that the +corpses--which at first were decently carried in carts or on stretchers, +then shoveled upon boards or blankets--had finally to be scooped up with +pitchforks, in the hands of negroes, kept at their awful task by the +soldiers' bayonets. And still the 'finds' continued, at the average rate +of seventy a day. The once beautiful driving beach was strewn with +mounds and trenches, holding unrecognized and uncoffined victims of the +flood; and between this improvised cemetery and a ridge of _débris_, +three miles long and in places higher than the houses had been, a line +of cremation fires poisoned the air. + +"I think it was during our sixth week in Galveston, when, happening to +pass one of these primitive crematories, I stopped to interview the man +in charge. Boards, water-soaked mattresses, rags of blankets and +curtains, part of a piano, baby-carriages, and the framework of +sewing-machines, piled on top, gave it the appearance of a festive +bonfire, and only the familiar odor betrayed its purpose. + +"'Have you burned any bodies here?' I inquired. The custodian regarded +me with a stare that plainly said, 'Do you think I am doing this for +amusement?' and shifted his quid from cheek to cheek before replying. + +"'Ma'am,' said he, 'this 'ere fire's been goin' on more'n a month. To my +knowledge, upwards of sixty bodies have been burned in it--to say +nothin' of dogs, cats, hens, and three cows.' + +"'What is in there now?' I asked. + +"'Wa'al,' said he meditatively, 'it takes a corpse several days to burn +all up. I reckon thar's a couple of dozen of 'em--jest bones, you +know--down near the bottom. Yesterday we put seven on top of this 'ere +pile, and by now they are only what you might call baked. To-day we have +been working over there (pointing to other fires a quarter of a mile +distant), where we found a lot of 'em, 'leven under one house. We have +put only two in here to-day. Found 'em just now, right in that puddle.' + +"'Could you tell me who they are?' I asked. + +"'Lord! No,' was the answer. 'We don't look at 'em any more'n we have +to, else we'd been dead ourselves before to-day. One of these was a +colored man. They are all pretty black, now; but you can tell 'em by the +kinky hair. He had nothin' but an undershirt and one shoe. The other was +a woman; young, I reckon. 'Tenny rate she was tall and slim and had lots +of long brown hair. She wore a blue silk skirt and there was a rope tied +around her waist, as if somebody had tried to save her.' + +"Taking a long pole he prodded an air-hole near the center of the +smoldering heap, from which now issued a frightful smell, that caused a +hasty retreat to the windward side. The withdrawal of the pole was +followed by a shower of charred bits of bone and singed hair. I picked +up a curling, yellow lock and wondered, with tears, what mother's hand +had lately caressed it. + +"'That's nothin',' remarked the fireman. 'The other day we found part of +a brass chandelier, and wound all around it was a perfect mop of long, +silky hair--with a piece of skin, big as your two hands, at the end of +it. Some woman got tangled up that way in the flood and jest na'cherly +scalped.' + +"I mention these incidents merely to show some of the conditions that +had to be met. The most we could do for the grief-stricken survivors was +to mitigate in some degree their bodily distress. The world knows how +generously the whole country responded to the call--how contributions +came pouring in by trainloads and shiploads, consigned to the Red Cross. +To distribute all this bounty judiciously was a herculean task--and our +working force was very small. The ladies and gentlemen of Galveston who +had suffered less than their neighbors, formed themselves into +committees, which opened relief stations in the several wards; and +through these channels the bulk of supplies was issued. If mistakes were +made, it was not from lack of faithful endeavor on the part of the +distributers; and let us hope that the errors, if any, were all on the +side of too liberal giving. + +"Merely to sort over one carload of garments, so as to make them +immediately available--to put the infants' clothes in one department, +the shoes in another, grown-up dresses in another, coats and trousers in +another, underwear in another--was a work of time and strength; as the +writer, who for a while was 'Mistress of the Robes,' can testify. From 7 +A. M. till dark we toiled; and when at last we dragged ourselves back to +the hotel, too wearied for anything but bed, 'tired Nature's sweet +restorer' was hard to woo, because of aching feet and swollen muscles. +But the experience was well worth it! Besides the joy of administering +to the suffering, what we learned of human nature (mostly good, I am +glad to say) would fill volumes. To be sure, there were shadows, as well +as lights, in the picture. Greed and hypocrisy, jealousy, malice, and +the reverse of Christian charity, came sometimes unpleasantly to the +fore, to be offset by the magnificent generosity of the American nation, +and the knowledge that in most quarters our efforts were appreciated. +Most of us were unused to manual labor, and all had left comfortable +homes--some at considerable financial sacrifice of well-salaried +positions, not for earthly gain or self-aggrandizement, but from pure +love of the splendid cause of the Cross of Geneva. + +"In that Rag Fair department of old clothes, the ludicrous and pathetic +called for an equal blending of smiles and tears. It seemed as if every +household, from Maine to California, from the St. Lawrence to the Rio +Grande, had rummaged its attics for the flood sufferers. Merchants +delivered themselves of years' accumulations of shop-worn +goods--streaked, faded, of fashions long gone by--but a great deal +better than nothing for the destitute. There were at least a million +shirtwaists, all thin and summery, though cold winter was at hand, when +frequent 'northers' chill the very marrow in one's bones, and ice and +snow are not unknown on Galveston Island. There was another million of +'Mother Hubbard' wrappers, all of the sleaziest print and scrimpest +pattern, with inch-wide hems at bottom and no fastening to speak +of--wrappers enough to disfigure every female in Southern Texas. Fancy a +whole city full of women masquerading in those shapeless garments--the +poorest of their class; and then remember that, a few years ago, the +great and glorious State of Pennsylvania found it necessary to pass a +law--presumably for the peace of mind of her male citizens--forbidding +the wearing of 'Mother Hubbards' in the street! + +"One day there came to our warehouse a large case of beautiful, buttoned +shoes, of the kind called 'Sorosis.' 'What a bonanza!' we thought, when +that box was opened--and through our minds went trooping a procession of +the shoeless feet we had longed to comfort. But behold! every blessed +shoe of the one hundred and forty-four was for the left foot! + +"There was an enormous box from a city laundry, containing the unclaimed +'washings' of many years--hundreds of waiters' aprons and cooks' caps, +worn hotel towels and napkins, ragged shirts and collars--not a thing +worth the lumber in the box, except as old linen for the hospitals. +There was a great deal of bedraggled finery, than which nothing could +have been less appropriate, when nine out of every ten women who applied +for clothes, wanted plain black in which to mourn for their dead. And +the hats and bonnets were of every shape and style within the memory of +man! They were mostly so crushed in careless packing that to have +worshiped them would have been no sin, according to Scripture, as they +were no longer in the 'likeness of anything in the heavens above, or the +earth beneath, or the waters under the earth.' There were workmen's +blouses and overalls, evidently shed in haste, under a sudden impulse of +generosity--plastered with grease, paint, and mortar, and odoriferous of +that by which honest bread is said to be earned. + +"Occasionally a box or barrel was found to contain garments +disgracefully dirty and ragged, or dropping in pieces from the ravages +of moths. Possibly the sending of such worthless trash produced in the +hearts of the donors that comfortable feeling of lending to the +Lord--but it was no use at our end of the line. What to do with it was a +problem. The lowest plantation darky would regard the gift as an insult, +and to burn even the filthiest rags would give rise to stories of wanton +waste. So we hit upon an expedient which had been successfully employed +in other fields--that of putting worthless articles in nice, clean +barrels, rolling them out on the doorstep, and forgetting to bring them +in at night; and every morning the barrels were found empty. + +"In striking contrast to these few 'shadows' were such gifts as that of +the New England girl, who sent a large, carefully packed satchel, +accompanied by a letter, explaining that she was seventeen years of age, +and had taken from her own wardrobe an outfit, intended for a +flood-sufferer of about her own age, whom the clothes would fit. The +satchel contained three good suits complete, from hat to hose--all that +a girl would need--even veil, handkerchiefs and fan; and it is needless +to add that they soon found their way to a most grateful young +'sufferer.' Here a poor widow divided her well-worn 'mourning' with some +stranger sister-in-grief; there the bereaved mother brought out the +treasured garments her little one had worn, for some happier mother who +had lost only earthly possessions. + +"Letters by hundreds were found in the packages, pertinent and +impertinent, but all demanding answers. They were stuffed into old shoes +and the linings of hats, cracked tea-pots and boxes of soap, combs and +matches. Every small boys' knickerbockers contained a note--generally +of original spelling and laboriously written in large capitals, from +'Tommy' or 'Johnnie' or 'Charley,' asking a reply, telling all about the +storm, from the boy who should receive the gift. Sentimental epistles +from ladies were hidden in the pockets of coats and trousers, inviting +correspondence with the future wearers; and billet-doux from +disconsolate widowers, presumably beginning to 'take notice,' were +pinned to the raiment of deceased wives. Such manifold phases have our +poor human nature! Happily there was another and far more numerous class +of letters, from charitable men and women, offering to adopt children, +or to assist in any way in their power; from Sunday-school classes and +sewing societies and day-schools, enclosing small sums of money, or +telling of gifts to come. There was even a letter from an almshouse, +enclosing a check for eighty dollars, raised by thirty aged pensioners, +who gave up their only luxuries--coffee, sugar, and tobacco--to swell +the fund for Galveston's relief. Another came from the poor, forgotten +negroes of the Carolina sea islands, to whose assistance the Red Cross +went, after their disastrous floods a few years ago. Impelled by +gratitude for the benefits then received, those simple-minded people +contributed a surprising amount, considering their poverty. Truly, in +heaven's reckoning those unselfish 'mites' of the poor and lowly will +count for as much as the millions given by the great cities. + +"Notwithstanding the vast amount of old clothes that came to us, we were +always particularly short of the most important articles of an outfit, +such as underwear, respectable skirts and dresses, and shoes--except of +extraordinary sizes, sent because unsalable. It frequently happened +that, for days together, there was hardly a thing in stock fit for +people of the better class. It must be remembered that we were not +supplying tramps and beggars, nor the ordinary applicants for charity, +but ladies and gentlemen, accustomed to the luxuries of life, whose +possessions had been suddenly swept away. How could we offer those +dreadful wrappers, or bedraggled finery, or soiled and ragged garments +which our servants would despise, to ladies of taste, culture, and +refinement, whom we had come to assist in their misfortune, not to +insult? Therefore, in many cases, the only decent thing to do was to go +out and buy what was needed, with some of those blessed contributions +which bore the message, 'to be used at your own discretion.' That was +Christian charity, pure and simple, in its most practical form. For +example: A widow, of highest social standing and former wealth, lived +with her three daughters in one of those ill-fated cottages near the +beach, which was swept away with all its contents. Thus the four +helpless women were left entirely destitute, even the clothes on their +backs borrowed from neighbors a little less unfortunate. Friends in a +Northern city wrote, offering them a home. Transportation could be +easily provided, but the four must be fitted out for the journey. We +searched the Rag Fair over, but found few suitable articles. Perhaps +something better might come in by and by, next week, some other time; +but for every hoped-for article were a hundred waiting applicants--and +meanwhile those ladies must be supported until sent to their friends. To +say nothing of their own feelings, and ours, we could not disgrace the +Red Cross by sending that stately gray-haired mother and the three +delicate young ladies out into the world equipped by our alleged bounty +in scanty calico 'Mother Hubbards,' men's cow-hide brogans, and +scare-crow headgear. So we picked out what would answer--here and there +a garment which might be altered, the only pair of shoes in the place +that came near to fitting one of the ladies, a bolt of unbleached muslin +which they, themselves, could fashion into underclothes, and four +disreputable old hats. The latter we gave to a local milliner to remodel +and trim, simply but respectably. Then we went to the store and +purchased shoes and other necessary articles, including enough +inexpensive but serviceable cloth for four gowns and jackets, and +employed a woman to make them. + +"This was not extravagance, but good use of the money, all around:--for +the poor little milliner whose shop had been destroyed and business +ruined, whose children were then eating the bread of charity; and for +the customless dressmaker, who was also a grievous sufferer by the +flood, with younger sisters to support. We gave her the first work she +had had for weeks, and her gratitude was good to see. + +"As for merchants, who were all on the verge of failure, but making +heroic efforts to keep afloat--Heaven knows we did them injury enough +every day of our stay in Galveston, to be thankful for the privilege of +occasionally becoming their patrons. Not only had they suffered immense +losses by the storm, their stocks being practically ruined and customers +gone--but who would buy, so long as the Red Cross had food and clothes +to give away, without money and without price? Though ours is a noble +and necessary work, it is never to the advantage of the local merchants, +as a little reflection will show. + +"Another case was that of a young woman, who, with an aged relative, was +keeping a hotel in a near-by village, when the floods lifted their house +from its foundations and ruined everything in it. Its four walls stood, +however, and furnished shelter for all the houseless neighbors, who +flocked in, naked and hungry, and with whom the generous girl divided +her last garment and bit of food. Death also entered the family, twice +within a few weeks--the last time leaving a sister's four half-grown +children for this young woman to maintain. Take them she must, because +they had nowhere else to go. Finding her in terrible straits, without +even clothes to wear to her sister's funeral, were we not justified in +buying the heroic young woman a decent suit of black, besides sending +her a box of food supplies? Why were we there, if not to exercise +judgment in the matter of relief? If merely to distribute second-hand +articles, without discrimination, we might have saved ourselves much +peril and hardship by remaining at home, and sending the boxes down to +take care of themselves. + +"None of us will ever forget the grandniece of an ex-President of the +United States--a handsome and imposing woman of middle age, traveled, +educated, and evidently accustomed to the best society. She called one +day at headquarters, and although she did not ask for aid, the truth +came out in a heart-to-heart talk with Miss Barton that she had lost all +in the storm and had not where to lay her head, nor food for the morrow; +even the clothes she wore were not her own. Nobody living could put this +lady on the pauper list, and none with a spark of human feeling could +wish to wound her pride. Our honored President, who reads hearts as +others do open books, clasped this unfortunate sister's hand--and left +in it a bank-note--I do not know of what denomination, but let us hope +it was not a small one. The look of surprise and gratitude that flashed +over that woman's face was worth going far to see, as, speechless with +emotion, the tears streaming down her cheeks, she turned away. + +"One might go on multiplying incidents by the hour, did time permit. +There were teachers to be fitted out with suitable clothes before the +opening of the schools; boys and girls needing school-books and shoes, +caps, and jackets; new-born babes to be provided, whose wardrobes, +prepared in advance, had been swept away; mothers of families, destitute +of the commonest conveniences of life, to whom the gift of a pan or +kettle was a godsend; aged people, whose declining years must be +comforted; invalids to be cheered with little luxuries. My greatest +regret is that we had not hundreds of dollars to use for every one that +was expended in these directions." + + +My stenographer, Miss Agnes Coombs, found her post by me, and sixty to +eighty letters a day, taken from dictation, made up the clerical round +of the office of the president. This duty fell in between attending the +daily meetings of the relief committee and receiving constant calls both +in and out of the city. + +Our men made up their living-room at the warehouse. The few women +remained at the hotel, the only suitable place in the town. + +Later on arrived a shipload of supplies from the business people of New +York, which were stored with the Galveston committee, and we were asked +to aid in the distribution of these supplies, and to a certain extent we +did, but succeeded in organizing a committee of citizens, ladies and +gentlemen, to carry out and complete this distribution. + +From lack of knowledge of the real conditions of the disaster and its +geographical extent, this munificent donation had been assigned to the +"Relief of Galveston," and thus, technically, Galveston had no authority +to administer a pound or a dollar to any communities or persons outside +of the precincts of the city proper. This left at least twenty counties +on the mainland on the other side of the Gulf, some of which were as +badly wrecked and ruined as Galveston itself, without a possibility of +the slightest benefit from this great, generous gift. + +Seeing this pitiful and innocently unjust condition of affairs, the +result of ignorance of relief work, undertaken with much zeal but scant +knowledge and no experience, we sought a way to atone for the mistake, +so far as we might be able. + +Immediately closing our relief rooms in Galveston I had all Red Cross +supplies shipped to Houston, and relief for the mainland opened there. +These were farming districts, and I directed intelligent inquiry to be +made as to what was most needed by the devastated farm lands and their +owners. All was swept away--sometimes as far as forty miles back into +the level country; often the soil itself was washed away, the home and +all smaller animals destroyed, and no feed for the larger ones to +subsist on. The poor farmers walked their desolated fields and wrung +their hands. + +It proved that this was the strawberry section of Southern Texas, and +these were the strawberry growers that supplied the early berries to our +Northern market. For miles not a plant was left and no means to +replant. This was reported to me on the first day's investigation, and +also that if plants could be obtained and set within two weeks a half +crop could be grown this year and the industry restored. That seemed a +better occupation for these poor fellows than walking the ground and +wringing their hands. The messenger was sent back at daybreak to +ascertain how many plants would be needed to replant these lands, where +they were accustomed to procure them, and what varieties were best +adapted to their use. + +That night brought again the messenger to say that a million and a half +of plants would reset the lands and that their supply came from the +nurseries in North Carolina, Illinois, Arkansas, and Louisiana. +Directions were sent back to Mr. Ward to order the plants to be there in +two weeks. This was done. Only thirty-eight thousand plants were injured +in transit, and those were generously resupplied by the shippers. Within +the two weeks this million and a half of strawberry plants were set. It +was estimated that fully a third of a crop was realized that year, and +it is safe to predict that one-half the readers of this little sketch +will partake of the fruits of these Red Cross relief strawberry fields +this very springtime. + +Other needs to a large amount were supplied by Mr. Ward, and we left no +idle, wringing hands on the mainlands of Texas. + +I had never left Galveston. Some other thoughtful reader may pitifully +ask, what became of these miles of wreckage and the dead on the +Galveston seashore? + +At this distant day it may be safe to tell. I recall that at the time +much criticism was indulged in. + +All were burned. + +The heat grew greater and the stench stronger every day. They tried to +remove the _débris_ and get the bodies out for burial. No human being +could work in that putrefying mass. Previously had come the glorious +thought of getting them into boats and shipping them a mile out to sea. +With hopeful hearts this experiment was tried for one day. Alas! the +night tide brought them all back to shore. The elements of earth and +water had refused--what remained but fire? Openings in the long +continuous lines were cut through at given spaces, the fire engines set +to play on the open, and the torch applied to the end of sections; thus +a general conflagration of the city was prevented, and from day to day +the pile diminished. + +The stench of burning flesh permeated every foot of the city. Who could +long withstand this? Before the end of three months there was scarcely a +well person in Galveston. My helpers grew pale and ill, and even I, who +have resisted the effect of so many climates, needed the help of a +steadying hand as I walked to the waiting Pullman on the track, +courteously tendered free of charge to take us away. + +This is a tedious story; but if gone through, one has a little insight +into the labor of a Red Cross field of relief. There are twenty in my +recollection, and this was by no means the hardest or the most useful. +They have been lived, but never told. + +I beg my readers to bear in mind that this is not romance that I am +writing, where I can place my characters in the best light and shape +results at will, but history, with my personages still alive, ready to +attest the reality of this statement. That grand committee of Galveston +relief--than whom no nobler body of men I have ever met--are, I hope, +all yet alive to testify to the conditions and statements made. + +I have dedicated this little volume to the people with whom, and for +whom, have gone the willing labors of twenty-five years--initial labors, +untried methods, and object lessons. Well or ill, they have carried with +them the best intentions and the best judgment given for the purpose. +Whatever may betide or the future have in store for the little work so +simply commenced, so humbly carried on, merely a helper with no thought +of leadership, it bears along with it the memories of pain assuaged, +hope revived, endeavor strengthened, and lives saved. + +To the noble sympathies of generous hearts these results are due, and +yet it is not in its past that the glories or the benefits of the Red +Cross lie, but in the possibilities it has created for the future; in +the lessons it has taught; in the avenues to humane effort it has +opened, and in the union of beneficent action between people and +Government, when once comprehended and effected, that shall constitute +a bulwark against the mighty woes sure to come sooner or later to all +peoples and all nations. + +To you--the people of America--this sacred trust is committed, in your +hands the charge is laid. To none will your help ever be so precious as +it has been to me, for in its proud growth and strength none will ever +so need you. + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's A Story of the Red Cross, by Clara Barton + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A STORY OF THE RED CROSS *** + +***** This file should be named 30230-8.txt or 30230-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/3/0/2/3/30230/ + +Produced by Chuck Greif, Martin Pettit and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This +book was produced from scanned images of public domain +material from the Google Print project.) + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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APPLETON AND COMPANY<br />MCMIV</h4> + +<hr /> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_iv" id="Page_iv">[Pg iv]</a></span></p> + +<p class="tbrk"> </p> + +<h4><span class="smcap">Copyright, 1904, by</span><br />D. APPLETON AND COMPANY</h4> + +<p class="tbrk"> </p> + +<h4><i>Published, June, 1904</i></h4> + +<p class="tbrk"> </p> + +<hr /> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_v" id="Page_v">[Pg v]</a></span></p> + +<h2>PREFACE</h2> + +<hr class="smler" /> + +<p>Since the foundation of the Red Cross in America, many direful +calamities have afflicted the country. In each of these visitations the +Red Cross has acted in some degree as the Almoner—the distributer and +organizer—of the bountiful measures of relief that have been poured out +by the American people.</p> + +<p>Its work has been accomplished quietly and without ostentation. All the +relief has been administered—not as charity—but as God-sent succor to +our brothers and sisters who have been overwhelmed by some mighty +convulsion of the forces of nature.</p> + +<p>The wreckage has been cleared away, the stricken people have been +wisely, tenderly, and calmly guided out of panic and despair on to the +road of self-help and cooperative effort to restore their shattered +homes and broken fortunes; and then the Red Cross has retired as quietly +as it came, and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_vi" id="Page_vi">[Pg vi]</a></span> few, outside of the people immediately concerned, have +realized the beneficent powers of help and healing that have fallen like +a benediction upon the stricken wherever that sacred symbol of humanity +has made its way.</p> + +<p>It is my thought that a brief account of the work of the Red Cross +during the past twenty-five years will be of interest to the American +people. In a volume of this size it must of necessity be but a brief +outline, sufficient, however, to convey a clear impression of what the +Red Cross really means to every individual in this great country of +ours.</p> + +<p>To the thousands of American men and women whose generous bounty has +made the work of the Red Cross possible, to the stricken and distressed +who because of it have been helped back to life and hope, and to all the +friends of the great, universal humanity which it typifies, this small +book is lovingly dedicated.</p> + +<p class="right"><span class="smcap">Clara Barton.</span></p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Glen Echo, Maryland,</span><br /> + <i>May 15, 1904.</i></p> + +<hr /> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_vii" id="Page_vii">[Pg vii]</a></span></p> + +<h2>CONTENTS</h2> + +<hr class="smler" /> + +<div class="index"> +<ul> +<li><a href="#I">I</a></li> +<li><span class="smcap">Early History.</span> 1880-1884</li> +<li><a href="#II">II</a></li> +<li><span class="smcap">The Texas Famine and the Mount Vernon Cyclone.</span> 1885-1888</li> +<li><a href="#III">III</a></li> +<li><span class="smcap">Yellow Fever in Florida.</span> 1887</li> +<li><a href="#IV">IV</a></li> +<li><span class="smcap">The Johnstown Flood.</span> 1889</li> +<li><a href="#V">V</a></li> +<li><span class="smcap">The Russian Famine.</span> 1891</li> +<li><a href="#VI">VI</a></li> +<li><span class="smcap">The Sea Island Relief.</span> 1893</li> +<li><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_viii" id="Page_viii">[Pg viii]</a></span><a href="#VII">VII</a></li> +<li><span class="smcap">Armenian Relief.</span> 1896</li> +<li><a href="#VIII">VIII</a></li> +<li><span class="smcap">Cuba.</span> 1898</li> +<li><a href="#IX">IX</a></li> +<li><span class="smcap">Galveston.</span> 1900</li> +</ul> +</div> + +<hr /> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1" id="Page_1">[Pg 1]</a></span></p> + +<h1>A STORY OF THE RED<br />CROSS</h1> + +<hr class="smler" /> + +<h2><a name="I" id="I"></a>I</h2> + +<h3>EARLY HISTORY</h3> + +<h3>1880-1884</h3> + +<blockquote><p class="center">"I have lived much that I have not written, but I have written +nothing that I have not lived."</p></blockquote> + +<p>It was a little blue-eyed girl of ten who sat on a low hassock at my +feet, slowly drawing the soft auburn curls between her fingers, when, +suddenly lifting her head and looking me earnestly in the face, she +exclaimed: "What is the Red Cross? Please tell me about it; I can not +understand it."</p> + +<p>There was a pleading earnestness in the tone not to be resisted, and +laying down my pen I commenced to explain to her the principles, +history, and uses of the Red Cross. She listened anxiously, the pretty +brow knitted; she seemed more and more perplexed, until, as if a light +had broken over her, she exclaimed, half impatiently:</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2" id="Page_2">[Pg 2]</a></span></p><p>"Not that—not that, tell me something it <i>does</i>—it and you, I can +understand it better then."</p> + +<p>A light had broken over me. It was a story the child wanted to +illustrate the principle and bring it home to her. A story she must have.</p> + +<p>In a half hour she felt that she knew it all and was an ardent devotee +even of its principles. But she had given me more than I had given her. +Here was food for thought.</p> + +<p>For twenty-five years I had labored to explain the principles and uses +of the Red Cross; had written enough for a modest library of what it was +and what it meant, but, lest I seem egotistical, not a page of what it +did. The child had given me an idea that I would for once put into +practice, and write a few pages of what the Red Cross had done, leaving +principles to present themselves.</p> + +<p>I will commence even back of itself.</p> + +<p>Forty years ago, before most of you were born, a great war had been +fought in America, in which thousands died from battle and hardship, and +thousands more still left alive were worn out in the untried and +unsystematized efforts at relief that had been made through nearly five +years of <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3" id="Page_3">[Pg 3]</a></span>continuous war. Of these latter, many were women who dragged +out weary lives in their own homes, some went to hospitals and retreats +for rest and care, and some were sent abroad. One of these latter I knew +personally, for, as Patrick would say, "It was me-self."</p> + +<p>To me it seemed a hard sentence that our physicians imposed. I had grown +to love the country we had so toiled for, and did not want to leave it. +Its very woes had made it dear to me. It had quiet once more, and a +peace that was not all a peace. It had its early soldier homes, its +fast-filling cemeteries, and the tender memory of a martyred President +resting over us like a pall. These had come to seem like a heritage to +me, and in my weakness I clung to them. Still, the order was obeyed and I went.</p> + +<p>Then followed travels in strange and foreign lands, other wars, illness +and suffering of my own, until eleven years later I came almost a +stranger again to our Government with another work, which I believed to +be for its good and the good of our people.</p> + +<p>This time I brought the idea of the treaty of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_4" id="Page_4">[Pg 4]</a></span> Geneva, asking our +Government, at the request of other Governments, to examine and to unite +with it, if found desirable. This effort with the Government covers five +years of hard, continuous labor, during which was sought the aid of +friends known in other years. At the end of this time, by advice of our +second martyred President and three members of his historic +cabinet—James G. Blaine, William Windom, and Robert T. Lincoln—a +national society was formed, known as the Association of the American +Red Cross, and, by desire and nomination of President Garfield, I was +made its president, and requested to name my officers.</p> + +<p>The association was formed during the winter of 1880-'81, with the view +on the part of President Garfield of facilitating the adoption of the +treaty which he would name in his next message, which message was never written.</p> + +<p>Before the message, he, too, had joined the martyred ranks, and his +gentle successor, Arthur, filled his chair and kept his promise, and +through action of his own executive department the treaty was adopted; +indorsed by action of the Senate; proclaimed by the President to our +people; later <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_5" id="Page_5">[Pg 5]</a></span>ratified by the International Powers in the Congress of +Berne, with the pledge to render relief to unfortunate victims of war, +and the privilege, by my request, of rendering similar relief to the +victims of great national calamities or disasters.</p> + +<p>All this had been accomplished by the kindly help of a few personal +friends, tireless and unrewarded, and while the news of the accession of +the Government of the United States, to the treaty of Geneva, lit +bonfires that night (for I cabled it by their request) in the streets of +Switzerland, France, Germany, and Spain, a little four-line paragraph in +the congressional doings of the day in the <i>Evening Star</i>, of +Washington, alone announced to the people of America that an +international treaty had been added to their rolls.</p> + +<p>No personal distinction had been bestowed, no one honored, no one +politically advanced, no money of the Government expended, and, like +other things of like nature and history, it was left in obscurity to +make its own way and live its own hard life.</p> + +<p>Thus the spring of 1882 found us—a few people, tired and weak, with +five years of costly service, a treaty gained, with no fund, no war nor<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_6" id="Page_6">[Pg 6]</a></span> +prospect of any, and no helpful connection with or acknowledgment by the Government.</p> + +<p>Soon the news of "Half the State of Michigan on Fire" called us to +action on our own laws of civil relief. A little draft on the purse of +the new, inexperienced president of the association paved the way for an +agent to go to the field. Others generously joined, all reported to our +friend and advocate, Senator Omar D. Conger, of Michigan. Some supplies +were sent, a society or two formed to provide and forward them. The +agents remained until the suffering was relieved, and thus the first +field relief work of which we have any record in the United States was commenced.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile, I had been asked by the Senate to write the history of the +Red Cross, and show the official action taken by our Government on the +acceptance of the treaty, which history the Senate would have printed at +the Government printing-office. This volume I prepared as requested. A +thousand copies were printed for information to the public, to be +circulated by the society; but with no frank or other means provided, +and with a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7">[Pg 7]</a></span> postage of some ten cents a volume, we were compelled to +limit the circulation to the means.</p> + +<p>The following year, 1883, a disastrous rise in the Ohio River called for +our aid. Dr. J. B. Hubbell, who had been our agent the year before, was +called from Michigan University, where he was completing a course, to +examine the needs of the inhabitants and take such relief as we could +provide. There was little loss of life, and the destruction of property +lay largely in the loss of stock, and washing away of the soil, +vegetation, and the means of reproduction.</p> + +<p>A remarkable provision for this latter loss was made by the gift of Mr. +Hiram Sibley, the noted seed dealer of Rochester—who had become +associated with the Red Cross, being an old-time friend of the family of +its president—of ten thousand dollars' worth of seed, to replant the +washed-out lands adown the Mississippi. As the waters ran off the mud +immediately baked in the sunshine, making planting impossible after a +few days. Accordingly, Mr. Sibley's gift was sent with all haste to our +agent at Memphis, and in forty-eight hours, by train and boat, it was +distributed in the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_8" id="Page_8">[Pg 8]</a></span> four States—Tennessee, Arkansas, Louisiana, and +Mississippi—and planted for the crops of the coming season.</p> + +<p>Besides this generous gift of material, a little money had been raised +and sent by the three societies of the Red Cross which had been formed, +viz.: Dansville and Syracuse, a few hundreds—something more from the +Red Cross at Rochester—always thoughtful and generous, which served to +help in the distribution of clothing and supplies promiscuously sent. +And at the finish of the work, when every donation had been carefully +acknowledged, one thousand dollars and some cents were left in the +treasury unexpended.</p> + +<p>A cyclone occurring within a few months in Louisiana and southern +Alabama, cutting a swath from New Orleans to Mobile, decided us to send +eight hundred dollars of this reserve to the secretary of the Red Cross +Society of New Orleans, which sum was forwarded by our vice-president, +Mr. A. S. Solomons. This left a sum of two hundred dollars and some +cents in the treasury with which to commence another field.</p> + +<p>This was the commencement of 1883. In May,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">[Pg 9]</a></span> at the solicitation of +General Butler, then Governor of Massachusetts, I took the +superintendence of the Massachusetts Woman's State Prison at Sherborn, +at the customary salary of fifteen hundred dollars a year. To this duty +the Legislature added, after my arrival, those of secretary and +treasurer, without increase of salary, discharging the former incumbent, +a man, at three thousand dollars a year. I accepted the new duties, +became my own bondsman for ten thousand dollars, by transfer of that +amount of bonds from my bankers, Brown Brothers, New York, to the +Massachusetts State Treasury at Boston—remaining in charge of the +prison until the close of the year, and the retirement of General Butler as Governor.</p> + +<p>In the short and interrupted existence of our association—scarce two +years—our few official advisers had formed some general regulations, +relating to our course of procedure. Realizing that to be of any real +service as a body of relief for sudden disasters, we must not only be +independent of the slow, ordinary methods of soliciting relief, but in +its means of application as well, it was decided:</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10">[Pg 10]</a></span></p><p><i>First.</i> To never solicit relief or ask for contributions.</p> + +<p><i>Second.</i> Not to pay salaries to officers—paying out money only to +those whom we must employ for manual labor—and as our officers served +without compensation they should not be taxed for dues.</p> + +<p><i>Third.</i> To keep ourselves always in possession of a stated sum of money +to commence a field of disaster—this sum to be independent even of the +closed doors of a bank which might prevent leaving for a field on a +Sunday or holiday.</p> + +<p><i>Fourth.</i> To take this sum of our own, going directly to a field with +such help as needed, giving no notice until there, overlooking the +field, and learning the extent of the trouble and conditions of the +people, making immediate and reliable report to the country through the +Associated Press, some of whose officers were our own Red Cross officers +as well. These reports would be truthful, unexaggerated, and +non-sensational statements that could be relied upon.</p> + +<p><i>Fifth.</i> That if, under these conditions, the people chose to make use +of us as distributers of the relief which they desired to contribute to +the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">[Pg 11]</a></span>sufferers, we would do our best to serve them while at the +field—make report directly to each and all contributors, so far as in +our power, and proceed to carry out any directions and apply the relief +at hand, in the wisest manner possible, among a dazed and afflicted community.</p> + +<p>To inaugurate this method, I, as president, placed a sum of three +thousand dollars, free of bank or interest, upon momentary call, at the +service of the association. On more than one occasion it has been taken +on Sunday, when every bank in the country was closed and charitable +bodies were at their prayers. Even the relief of Johnstown was thus +commenced. This provision has never for a day been broken. It is as good +at this moment as it was in 1883, and from the same source. It may not +have been a "business-like" method nor one to be approved by stated +boards of directors nor squared by bank regulations. But the foes we had +to meet were not thus regulated, and had to be met as they came; and so +they always must be if any good is to be accomplished.</p> + +<p>Until the Government and society can control the elements, and regulate +a spring freshet, a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">[Pg 12]</a></span> whirlwind or a cyclone, they will find that red +tape is not strong enough to hold their ravages in check.</p> + +<p>It was well that these regulations had been formulated and their +provisions acted upon, as the state of our treasury and the conditions +immediately following will show.</p> + +<p>I returned to Washington upon my retirement from the superintendence of +the State Prison at Sherborn, accompanied by Dr. Hubbell, who, having +completed his university course, had come to the Red Cross for permanent +service. Before we had even time to unpack our trunks, the news of the +fearful rise of the Ohio River, of 1884, began to shock the country with +its loss of life and property.</p> + +<p>I had never been present at a disaster in civil life. It had never +occurred to me that they recurred so frequently. But if by virtue of my +office as president I was liable to be called every year to preside over +and provide for them, it was essential that I learn my duties +experimentally. I accordingly joined Dr. Hubbell, who had been appointed +general field agent, and proceeded to Pittsburg, the headwaters of the rise.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[Pg 13]</a></span></p><p>Telegraphing from there to our agents of the Associated Press, we +proceeded to Cincinnati, to find the city afloat. Its inhabitants were +being fed from boats, through the second-story windows. These conditions +were telegraphed. Supplies commenced to flow in, not only from our own +societies but from the people of the country. Warehouses were filled, in +spite of all we dispensed—but there were four hundred miles of this +distress—even to Cairo, where the Ohio, sometimes thirty miles in +width, discharged its swollen waters into the Mississippi.</p> + +<p>Recognizing this condition lower down the river as the greater need, we +transferred our supplies and distribution to Evansville, Ind. Scarcely +had we reached there when a cyclone struck the river below, and +traveling up its entire length, leveled every standing object upon its +banks, swept the houses along like cockle-shells, uprooted the greatest +trees and whirled them down its mighty current—catching here and there +its human victims, or leaving them with life only, houseless, homeless, +wringing their hands on a frozen, fireless shore—with every coal-pit +filled with water,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[Pg 14]</a></span> and death from freezing more imminent than from +hunger.</p> + +<p>There were four hundred miles more of this, and no way of reaching them +by land. With all our tons of clothing, these people and their homeless +little children were freezing. There was but one way—the Government +boats had come with rations of food—we too must take to the water.</p> + +<p>At eight o'clock in the morning I chartered my first boat, with captain +and crew, at sixty dollars per day, to be at once laden to the water's +edge with coal—our own supplies to be stored on the upper deck—and at +four o'clock in the afternoon, as the murky sun was hiding its clouded +face, the bell of the "John V. Troop," in charge of her owner, announced +the departure of the first Red Cross relief-boat ever seen on American waters.</p> + +<p>I found myself that night with a stanch crew of thirty men and a skilled +captain, and a boat under my command. I had never until then held such a +command. We wove the river diagonally from side to side—from village to +village—where the homeless, shivering people were gathered—called for +the most responsible person—a <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[Pg 15]</a></span>clergyman if one could be found, threw +off boxes of clothing, and hove off coal for a two weeks' supply, and +steamed away to the opposite side, leaving only gratitude, wonder at who +we were, where we came from, and what that strange flag meant? We +improved every opportunity to replenish our supply of coal, and reached +Cairo in five days.</p> + +<p>Waiting only to reload, we returned up the river, resupplied the revived +villages of people, too grateful for words, reaching Evansville at the +end of three weeks, where more supplies than we had taken awaited us. +St. Louis and Chicago had caught the fever of relief, had arranged +societies, and had asked permission to join our aid. Up to this time the +Mississippi had given no indication of trouble, but now its great June +rise commenced.</p> + +<p>The Government boats, by another appropriation, were sent to the +Mississippi, and we prepared to supplement them. Discharging our Ohio +River boat we went to St. Louis by rail and chartered the "Mattie Bell." +The Red Cross Societies of St. Louis and Chicago, under their respective +presidents and officers in charge of them and their funds, joined us, +and together we prepared to feed<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[Pg 16]</a></span> and rescue the perishing stock—as +well as people adown the Mississippi. The animals had never been saved +in an overflow; and besides the cruelty of letting them starve by +thousands, the loss to the people was irreparable, as the following year +must inevitably be replete with idleness and poverty till more stock +could be obtained to work with.</p> + +<p>We found as commissary at St. Louis, General Beckwith, the historic +commissary-general of the old civil war, who had personally +superintended the loading of my wagons in Washington, year after year, +for the battle-fields of Virginia. He came on board the "Mattie Bell" +and personally superintended the lading—clothing, corn, oats, salt, and +hay—besides putting upon the Government boats large quantities of +supplies which we could not take on at first, and giving us his +blessing, watched us steam out on our joint mission; they putting off +rations of meat and meal—we supplementing with clothing for the people +and feed for the stock. We purchased all we could at cities as we +passed, picked our course among the broken levees and roaring crevasses, +all the way to New Orleans. The hungry were fed, the naked<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[Pg 17]</a></span> clothed, and +the stock saved. The negro had his mule, and the planter his horses and +cattle to carry on his work when the flood should disappear. We had +lighter boats, still lighter purses, but lightest of all were the +grateful hearts that a kind Providence and a generous people had given +to us the privilege of serving.</p> + +<p>We discharged the "Mattie Bell" at St. Louis, bidding adieu to the +officers of the Red Cross Society, who had rendered most acceptable +service to the cause. They had brought their own funds and material—had +personally administered them from the decks of the "Mattie Bell," made +their own reports, and modestly retired to their home duties, there to +await the next call.</p> + +<p>Chicago, which had a new Red Cross Society, formed almost for the +occasion, through its most worthy and notable representative, Rev. E. I. +Galvin, did the same, performing the long journey with us, +superintending the distribution of his own relief and making his own +report with such convincing power, that societies of no less excellence +than the Lend-a-Hand were its outgrowth.</p> + +<p>I am thus particular to mention this from the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[Pg 18]</a></span> loving gratitude +fervently cherished for strong, tender help in the day of small things. +Their contributions largely served to run our boat and keep our crew, +and with heads, hearts, and hands we struggled as one, to avert the +destruction so rife around us.</p> + +<p>From St. Louis we crossed over to Evansville, rechartered the "John V. +Troop," and put on accumulated supplies. The waters of the Ohio had +subsided and the people were returning to the old spots of earth that +once had been their home, but there was neither house to live in nor +tool to work the land with. We reloaded with pine lumber, ready-made +doors, windows, household utensils, stores and groceries, farming +utensils, and with a good force of carpenters proceeded up the Ohio once +more. The sight of the disconsolate, half-clad farmer waiting on the +bank told us where his home had been—and was not.</p> + +<p>Three hours' work of our carpenters would put up a one-room house, +meanwhile our efficient men and women helpers, among them the best +ladies of Evansville, would furnish it with beds, bedding, clothing, +provisions for the family, and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[Pg 19]</a></span> farming tools ready to go on with the +season's work.</p> + +<p>Picture, if possible, this scene. A strange ship with a strange flag +steaming up the river. It halts, turns from its course, and draws up to +the nearest landing. Some persons disembark and speak a few minutes with +the family. Then, a half dozen strong mechanics man a small boat laden +with all material for constructing a one-room house—floor, roof, doors, +windows. The boat returns for furniture. Within three hours the strange +ship sails away, leaving a bewildered family in a new and clean house +with bed, bedding, clothing, table, chairs, dishes, candles, a little +cooking-stove with a blazing fire, all the common quota of cooking +utensils, and meat, meal, and groceries; a plow, rake, axe, hoe, shovel, +spade, hammer, and nails. We ask few questions. They ask none. The +whistle of the "Troop" is as welcome to their ears as the flag to their eyes.</p> + +<p>At one of these wrecked villages the entire little hamlet of people +stood on our decks. Only four, they said, were left at home, and these +were sick. They had selected their lawyer to speak their<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[Pg 20]</a></span> thanks. No +words will ever do justice to the volume of native eloquence which +seemed to roll unbidden from his lips. He finished with these sentences:</p> + +<p>"At noon on that day we were in the blackness of despair—the whole +village in the power of the demon of waters—hemmed in by sleet and ice, +without fire enough to cook its little food. When the bell struck nine +that night, there were seventy-five families on their knees before their +blazing grates, thanking God for fire and light, and praying blessings +on the phantom ship with the unknown device that had come as silently as +the snow, they knew not whence, and gone, they knew not whither."</p> + +<p>When we finished the voyage of relief, we had covered the Ohio River +from Cincinnati to Cairo and back twice, and the Mississippi from St. +Louis to New Orleans, and return—four months on the rivers—traveled +over eight thousand miles, distributed in relief of money and estimated +material, one hundred and seventy-five thousand dollars—gathered as we used it.</p> + +<p>We left at one point on the Ohio River a <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[Pg 21]</a></span>well-lettered cross-board, +"Little Six Red Cross Landing"—probably there to this day. The story of +The Little Six might be given in their own little letter:</p> + +<p class="tbrk"> </p> + +<p class="right"><span class="smcap">Waterford, Pa.</span>, <i>March</i> 24, 1884.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Dear Miss Barton</span>:</p> + +<p>We read your nice letter in the Dispatch and we would like very much to +see that house called "The Little Six," and we little six are so glad +that we helped six other little children, and we thank you for going to +so much trouble in putting our money just where we would have put it +ourselves. Some time again when you want money to help you in your good +work call on "The Little Six."</p> + +<blockquote><p><span class="smcap">Joe Farrar</span>, twelve years old.<br /> +<span class="smcap">Florence Howe</span>, eleven years old.<br /> +<span class="smcap">Mary Barton</span>, eleven years old.<br /> +<span class="smcap">Reed White</span>, eleven years old.<br /> +<span class="smcap">Bertie Ainsworth</span>, ten years old.<br /> +<span class="smcap">Loyd Barton</span>, seven years old.</p></blockquote> + +<p class="tbrk"> </p> + +<p>These children had given a public entertainment for the benefit of the +flood sufferers. They themselves suggested it, planned and carried it +out, and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[Pg 22]</a></span> raised fifty-one dollars and twenty-five cents, which they +sent to the editor of the Eric Dispatch, asking him to send it "where it +would do the most good." The Dispatch forwarded it to the president of +the Red Cross, with an account of the entertainment given by "The Little Six."</p> + +<p>The entire matter was too beautiful and withal unique, to meet only a +common fate in its results. I could not, for a moment, think to mingle +the gift of the little dramatists with the common fund for general +distribution, and sought through all these weeks for a fitting +disposition to make of it, where it would all go in some special manner +to relieve some special necessity. I wanted it to benefit some children +who had "wept on the banks" of the river, which in its madness had +devoured their home.</p> + +<p>As we neared that picturesque spot on the Illinois side of the Ohio, +known as "Cave-in Rock," we were hailed by a woman and her young +daughter. The boat "rounded to" and made the landing and they came on +board—a tall, thin, worn woman in tattered clothes, with a good but +inexpressibly sad face, who wished to tell us that a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[Pg 23]</a></span> package which we +had left for her at the town on our way down had never reached her. She +was a widow—Mrs. Plew—whose husband, a good river pilot, had died from +overwork on a hard trip to New Orleans in the floods of the Mississippi +two years before, leaving her with six children dependent upon her, the +eldest a lad in his "teens," the youngest a little baby girl. They owned +their home, just on the brink of the river, a little "farm" of two or +three acres, two horses, three cows, thirty hogs, and a half hundred +fowls, and in spite of the bereavement, they had gone on bravely, +winning the esteem and commendation of all who knew them for thrift and +honest endeavor. Last year the floods came heavily upon them, driving +them from their home, and the two horses were lost. Next the cholera +came among the hogs and all but three died. Still they worked on; and +held the home. This spring came the third flood. The water climbed up +the bank, crept in at the door, and filled the lower story of the house. +They had nowhere to remove their household goods, and stored them in the +garret carefully packed, and went out to find a shelter in an old log +house near<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[Pg 24]</a></span> by, used for a corn-crib. Day by day they watched the house, +hailed passing boats for news of the rise and fall of the water above, +always trusting the house would stand—"and it would," the mother said, +"for it was a good, strong house, but for the storm." The winds came, +and the terrible gale that swept the valley like a tornado, with the +water at its height, leveling whole towns, descended and beat upon that +house, and it fell. In the morning there was no house there, and the +waves in their fury rushed madly on. Then these little children "stood +and wept on the banks of the river," and the desolation and fear in the +careful mother's heart, none but herself and her God can know.</p> + +<p>They lived on in the corn-crib, and it was from it they came to hail us +as we passed to-day. Something had been told us of them on our downward +trip, and a package had been left them at "Cave-in Rock," which they had +not received. We went over shoe-tops in mud to their rude home, to find +it one room of logs, an old stone chimney, with a cheerful fire of +drift-wood and a <i>clean</i> hearth, two wrecks of beds, a table, and two +chairs which some<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[Pg 25]</a></span> kind neighbor had loaned. The Government boats had +left them rations. There was an air of thrift, even in their desolation, +a plank walk was laid about the door, the floor was cleanly swept, and +the twenty-five surviving hens, for an equal number were lost in the +storm, clucked and craiked comfortably about the door, and there were +two-and-a-half dozen fresh eggs to sell us at a higher rate than paid in +town. We stood, as we had done so many scores of times during the last +few weeks, and looked this pitiful scene in the face. There were +misfortune, poverty, sorrow, want, loneliness, dread of the future, but +fortitude, courage, integrity, and honest thrift.</p> + +<p>"Would she like to return to the childhood home in Indiana?" we asked +the mother, for we would help them go.</p> + +<p>"No," she said tenderly. "My husband lived and died here. He is buried +here, and I would not like to go away and leave him alone. It won't be +very long, and it is a comfort to the children to be able to visit his +grave. No, I reckon we will stay here, and out of the wreck of the old +house which sticks up out of the mud, we will put up another<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[Pg 26]</a></span> little +hut, higher up on the bank out of the way of the floods, and if it is +only a hut, it will be a home for us and we will get into it, and make +our crop this year."</p> + +<p>There were no dry eyes, but very still hearts, while we listened to this +sorrowful but brave little speech, made with a voice full of tears.</p> + +<p>Our thoughtful field agent, Dr. Hubbell, was the first to speak.</p> + +<p>"Here are six children," he said with an inquiring glance at me.</p> + +<p>No response was needed. The thing was done. We told the mother the story +of "The Little Six" of Waterford, and asked her if that money with +enough more to make up one hundred dollars would help her to get up her +house? It was <i>her</i> turn to be speechless. At length with a struggling, +choking voice she managed to say—"God knows how much it would be to me. +Yes, with my good boys I can do it, and do it well."</p> + +<p>We put in her hands a check for this sum, and directed from the boat +clean boxes of clothing and bedding, to help restore the household, when +the house should have been completed.</p> + +<p>Before we left her, we asked if she would name<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[Pg 27]</a></span> her house when it should +be done? She thought a second, and caught the idea.</p> + +<p>"Yes," she replied quickly, with a really winsome smile on that worn and +weary face, "yes, I shall name it 'The Little Six.'"</p> + +<p>We came to Pittsburg, discharged our empty boat, bade a heart-breaking +good-by to our veteran volunteers from Evansville, who had shared our +toil and pain and who would return on the boat, we taking train once +more for Washington. We had been four months on the rivers, among fogs, +rain, damp, and malaria—run all manner of risks and dangers, but had +lost no life nor property, sunk no boat, and only that I was by this +time too weak to walk without help—all were well.</p> + +<p>Through the thoughtfulness of our new societies—St. Louis and +Chicago—we had been able to meet our share of the expenses, and to keep +good the little personal provision we started with, and were thus ready +to commence another field when it should come.</p> + +<p>On arriving home I found that I was notified by the International +Committee of Geneva, that the Fourth International Conference would be +held in that city in September, and I was requested to <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[Pg 28]</a></span>inform the +United States Government, and ask it to send delegates. With the aid of +a borrowed arm, I made my way up the steps of the Department of State +(that was before the luxury of elevators) and made my errand known to +Secretary Frelinghuysen, who had heard of it and was ready with his reply:</p> + +<p>"Yes, Miss Barton, we will make the needful appointment of delegates to +the International Conference, and I appoint you as our delegate."</p> + +<p>"No, Mr. Frelinghuysen," I said, "I can not go. I have just returned +from field work. I am tired and ill. Furthermore, I have not had time to +make a report of our work."</p> + +<p>"There is no one else who sufficiently understands the Red Cross, and +the provisions of the treaty, that our Government can send, and we can +not afford to make a mistake in the matter of delegates to this first +conference in which our Government shall participate," answered the +Secretary. "As to the report, have you not acknowledged the +contributions to all those who have sent?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, yes; every dollar and every box of goods where the donor was +known," I replied.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[Pg 29]</a></span></p><p>"Has any one complained?" he asked.</p> + +<p>"No; not a single person so far as is known. We have had only thanks."</p> + +<p>"Then to whom would you report?"</p> + +<p>"To you, Mr. Secretary, or to such person or in such manner as you shall designate."</p> + +<p>"I don't want any report; no report is necessary," answered the +Secretary. "Our Government relief-boats have reported you officially, +and all the country knows what you have done and is more than satisfied. +Regarding your illness—you have had too much fresh water, Miss Barton, +I recommend salt—and shall appoint you."</p> + +<p>This was done, and the appropriation for expenses was made, and at my +request Judge Joseph Sheldon, and by invitation Mr. A. S. Solomon, our +vice-president, were also appointed to accompany me. The appropriation +sufficed for all.</p> + +<p>The conference was held at Geneva, September 17, 1884, and thus was had +the first official representation of the United States Government at an +International Conference of the Treaty of Geneva. There have since been +five. I have attended all but one.</p> + +<hr /> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[Pg 30]</a></span></p> + +<h2><a name="II" id="II"></a>II</h2> + +<h3>THE TEXAS FAMINE AND THE MT. VERNON CYCLONE</h3> + +<p>Before the close of the following year, 1885, came what was known as the +"Texas Famine." Thousands of miles of wild land, forming the Pan Handle, +had been suddenly opened by the building of a Southern Railroad. In the +speculative anxiety of the Road to people its newly acquired territory, +unwarranted inducements of climatic advantages had been unscrupulously +held out to the poor farmers of Mississippi, Alabama, and Georgia.</p> + +<p>Lured by the pictures presented them, some thousands of families had +been induced to leave their old, worn-out farms, and with the little +they could carry or drive, reach the new Eldorado, to find a new farm +that needed only the planting to make them rich, prosperous, and happy, +without labor. They planted. The first year brought some returns—the +second was a drought with no returns—the third the same. Hunger for +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[Pg 31]</a></span>themselves and starvation for their stock stared them in the face. They +could not pick up and go back—the rivers were dry from the Rio Grande +to the Brazos—the earth was iron, and the heavens brass; cattle +wandered at will for water and feed, and their bones whitened the plains.</p> + +<p>These were poor little peoples. They tried to make the great State know +of their distress, but the rich railroad proprietors held the <i>press</i>, +and no one knew their condition or could get correct information. At +length a faithful clergyman came to Washington, to President Cleveland, +and the Red Cross.</p> + +<p>We consulted with the President, who gave encouragement for us to go to +Texas and learn the facts.</p> + +<p>In mid-winter, 1886, accompanied by Dr. Hubbell, the journey was +undertaken. We proceeded to Albany, Texas, made headquarters—traveled +over the stricken counties, found wretchedness, hunger, thirst, cold, +heart-breaking discouragement. The third year of drought was upon them, +and the good people of that great State, misled by its press, its press +in turn misled by the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">[Pg 32]</a></span>speculators, innocently discredited every report +of distress, and amused themselves by little sly innuendoes and witty +jokes on the "Texas Famine."</p> + +<p>The condition was pitiful. To them it was hopeless. And yet not a dollar +or a pound was needed outside of Texas. They only required to know the +truth. This then was our task. We ceased to journey over arid fields of +suffering, and turned our steps resolutely to the editorial rooms of the +Dallas and Galveston News, at Dallas. Both editors were present; both +sat half-breathless while the flood of information rolled over them in +no uncertain terms.</p> + +<p>I shall never forget the tears in the mild blue eyes of General Belo, as +he learned what he had done, and was still doing. Twelve hours brought +another issue of the two papers. A column of editorial told the true +situation. A modest contribution of the Red Cross headed a subscription +list, General Belo following with his, and almost immediately the +legislature made an appropriation of one hundred thousand dollars for +food and supplies.</p> + +<p>The tender-hearted and conscience-smitten <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">[Pg 33]</a></span>people sent their donations. +Our task was done. We had seen and conquered.</p> + +<p>In the midst of a cold rain in February we reached Washington. A concise +and full report was made to President Cleveland, saying in conclusion: +"I thank you with all my heart, Mr. President, for the encouragement at +the commencement, and for the privilege of writing you. We have done +this little bit of work faithfully and hope it may meet your approval."</p> + +<p>President Cleveland's letter of thanks still bears testimony of his care +for the people of the country, and his faith in its institutions.</p> + +<p>Not a dollar of outside help passed through our hands, but the little +permanent provision was equal to the occasion and we had still a half +left of our three thousand dollars. That was our first acquaintance with +Texas. Galveston followed many years later with the same firm accord and +good results. The bonds of affection had grown deep and strong between +the great thousand-mile State and the little Red Cross that loved to +serve her.</p> + +<p>In the following year, 1887, we were notified by the International +Committee of Geneva of the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">[Pg 34]</a></span>conference to be held at Carlsruhe, by +invitation of the Grand Duke and Grand Duchess of Baden. We were +directed to inform the Department of State of this fact. We did so, and +an appropriation was made by Congress to defray the expenses of three delegates.</p> + +<p>It may be well to explain that in these appointments the Government does +not place the appropriation in the hands of the appointees, but simply +becomes a guaranty. The appointee provides his own funds. If, after +return, vouchers can be shown that the sum guaranteed has been spent +according to regulations, he is reimbursed in due course.</p> + +<p>Here was at least a contrast from a rough Mississippi River boat and the +crude homes of an unsettled Western State, to the royal carriage waiting +to convey one to the apartments reserved in a palace, the elegance and +culture of a court, the precision of a congress of representatives of +the nations of the world. The questions of humanity discussed by them, +the meeting of friends of other days, the regal bearing of the royal +host and hostess, the last parting from the dear old <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">[Pg 35]</a></span>Emperor of +ninety-two, and his tenderly spoken, "It is the last time, good-by"; the +loving and last farewell of the beloved Empress Augusta, the patron +saint of the Red Cross; Bismarck and Moltke, in review, each with his +Red Cross insignia; the cordial hand grasp and the farewell never +repeated—and all of this attention to and interest in a subject that +the country I had gone to represent scarcely realized had an existence +beyond the receiving of some second-hand clothing, misfit shoes, and a +little money sent by some one to some place, where something bad had happened.</p> + +<p>No one dreamed that it meant anything more, or that it needed anything +after this, and nothing more was done.</p> + +<p>It is only now, after almost two decades and within the last three +months, that we commence to awaken and wonder, with a mingled national +and personal sense of indignation, why our American Red Cross is not as +rich and great as in other nations?</p> + +<p>In February, 1888, occurred the Mt. Vernon, Ill., cyclone, cutting a +broad swath through one-half of the beautiful county-seat, tearing down +all<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">[Pg 36]</a></span> heavy buildings, picking up the lighter ones and sweeping them +along like cardboard.</p> + +<p>In three minutes the work of destruction was over. Ten minutes later the +sun shone out brightly over the ruins of the town, the wails of the +maimed and dying, and the lifeless bodies of the dead.</p> + +<p>Fires broke out on every hand, and the victims pinned down under the +wreckage were subjects for the flames. Appeals for assistance went out, +but by unfortunate press representation failed to arouse the public, +till after several days, when we were reached, through their +representative in Congress, begging that in mercy we go to them. We +arrived in the night, found homes destroyed, hospitals full, scant +medical care, few nurses, food scarce and no money, a relief committee +of excellent men, but little to distribute.</p> + +<p>At daylight we looked over the situation and sent this simple message to +the Associated Press:</p> + +<p class="tbrk"> </p> + +<p>"The pitiless snow is falling on the heads of three thousand people, who +are without homes, without food or clothing, and without money.</p> + +<p class="right">"<span class="smcap">American National Red Cross</span>,<br /> +"Clara Barton, President."</p> + +<p class="tbrk"> </p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[Pg 37]</a></span></p><p>This was all. We assisted their relief committee to arrange for the +receipt and distribution of funds, sent for experienced helpers to take +charge of supplies, to distribute clothing, and aid the hospital +service. We remained two weeks, and left them with more supplies than +they knew how to distribute, and the Citizens' Committee, with +accumulating cash in its treasury of ninety thousand dollars, full of +hope, life, and a gratitude they could not speak.</p> + +<p>As in the Texas famine, we paid our own expenses and no dollar but our +own had passed our hands. We were only glad to do this, in the hope that +we were building up an institution of self-help of the people, that +would one day win its way to their favor and aid.</p> + +<hr /> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">[Pg 38]</a></span></p> + +<h2><a name="III" id="III"></a>III</h2> + +<h3>YELLOW FEVER IN FLORIDA</h3> + +<p>During the same year the yellow fever broke out in Jacksonville, Fla., +and was declared epidemic in September.</p> + +<p>An arrangement had been made between the National Association and the +Auxiliary Society of the Red Cross of New Orleans, which society +embraced the famous old "Howard Association," that, in case of an +outbreak of yellow fever, they would send their immune nurses from the +South, and we of the North would supply the money to support and pay them.</p> + +<p>This arrangement was carried out so far as could be, under the very +natural differences of a medical department of active, professional men, +taking up the treatment of an epidemic of which they knew very little +experimentally, but filled with the enthusiasm of science and hope, and +the unprofessional, fearless, easy-going gait of the old Southern +nurses, white and black, whose whole lives had been spent in just that work.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">[Pg 39]</a></span></p><p>The Red Cross sent no Northern nurses. But eighteen or twenty "Howard +nurses," mainly colored, went out from New Orleans under charge of Col. +Fred. F. Southmayd, their leader of twenty years in epidemics. A part of +his nurses were stationed at Macclenny, and a part went on to +Jacksonville. Under medical direction of their noted "yellow fever +doctor"—a tall Norwegian—Dr. Gill, they did their faithful work and +won their meed of grateful praise.</p> + +<p>Our place was in Washington, to receive, deal carefully with, and hold +back the tide of offered service from the hundreds of enthusiastic, +excited untrained volunteers, rushing on to danger and death. Their +fearless ignorance was a pitiful lesson. In all the hundreds there was +scarcely one who had ever seen a case of yellow fever, but all were sure +they were proof against it. Only three passed us, and two of these had +the fever in Jacksonville.</p> + +<p>When the scourge was ended we met our nurses personally at Camp Perry, +paid and sent them back to New Orleans. All that are living are at our +service still, faithful and true.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">[Pg 40]</a></span></p><p>During the fourth week in November a dispatch to national headquarters +announced that the last band of Red Cross nurses, known as the +"Macclenny Nurses," had finished their work at Enterprise, and would +come into Camp Perry to wait their ten days' quarantine and go home to +New Orleans for Thanksgiving.</p> + +<p>That would mean that seventy-nine days ago their little company of +eighteen, mainly women, steaming on to Jacksonville, under guidance of +their old-time trusted leader, Southmayd, of New Orleans, listened to +his announcement that the town of Macclenny, thirty-eight miles from +Jacksonville, Fla., and through which they would soon pass, was in a +fearful state of distress; a comparatively new town, of a few thousand, +largely Northern and Western people, suddenly-stricken down in scores; +poor, helpless, physicians all ill, and no nurses; quarantined on all +sides, no food, medicine, nor comforts for sick or well.</p> + +<p>"Nurses, shall I leave a part of you there; the train can not stop in, +nor near the town, but if I can manage to get it slowed up somewhere, +will you jump?"</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">[Pg 41]</a></span></p><p>"We will do anything you say, colonel; we are here in God's name and +service to help His people; for Him, for you, and for the Red Cross, we +will do our best and our all."</p> + +<p>"Conductor, you had a hot box a few miles back; don't you think it +should be looked to after passing Macclenny?"</p> + +<p>"I will slow up and have it seen to, colonel, although it may cost me my +official head." And it did.</p> + +<p>One mile beyond town, the rain pouring in torrents, the ground soaked, +slippery, and caving, out into pitchy darkness, leaped three men and +seven women from a puffing, unsteady train, no physician with them, and +no instructions save the charge of their leader as the last leap was +made, and the train pushed on: "Nurses, you know what to do; go and do +your best, and God help you." Hand to hand, that none go astray in the +darkness, they hobbled back over a mile of slippery cross-ties to the +stricken town. Shelter was found, the wet clothes dried, and at midnight +the sick had been parceled out, each nurse had his or her quota of +patients, and were in for the issue, be it life or<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">[Pg 42]</a></span> death. Those past +all help must be seen through, and lost, all that could be must be +saved. The next day a dispatch from Southmayd went back to New Orleans +for Dr. Gill to come and take charge of the sick and the nurses at +Macclenny. It was done, and under his wise direction they found again a +leader. Their labors and successes are matters for later and more +extended record.</p> + +<p>It is to be borne in mind that these nurses found no general table, no +table at all but such as they could provide, find the food for, and cook +for themselves, for the sick, the children, and the old and helpless who +had escaped the fever and must be cared for. No patient could be left +till the crisis was passed, and many are their records of seventy-two +hours without change or sleep or scarcely sitting down. As the disease +gradually succumbed to their watchful care, experience, and skill, they +reached out to other freshly attacked towns and hamlets. Sanderson and +Glen St. Mary's became their charge, and return their blessings for +lives preserved.</p> + +<p>On November 1st it was thought they could safely leave and go into camp +for quarantine; but<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">[Pg 43]</a></span> no regular train would be permitted to take them. +The Red Cross secured and paid a special train for them, and, as if in +bold relief against the manner of their entry seven weeks before, the +entire town, saving its invalids, was assembled at the station at seven +o'clock in the morning to bid them good-by and God speed.</p> + +<p>But their fame had gone before them, and "Enterprise," a hundred miles +below, just stricken down among its flowers and fruits, reached out its +hands for aid, and with one accord, after two days in camp, all turned +back from the coveted home and needed rest and added another month of +toil to their already weary record. At length this was ended, and word +came again to us that they would go into quarantine. Their unselfish, +faithful, and successful record demanded something more than the mere +sending of money. It deserved the thanks of the Red Cross organization +in the best and highest manner in which they could be bestowed; it was +decided that its President, in person, should most fittingly do this, +and I accordingly left Washington on the morning of November 22d in +company with Dr. Hubbell, field agent, for Camp<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">[Pg 44]</a></span> Perry, the quarantine +station of Florida. Two days and one night by rail, a few miles across +country by wagon, where trains were forbidden to stop, and another mile +or so over the trestles of St. Mary's on a dirt car with the workmen, +brought us into camp as the evening fires were lighted and the bugle +sounded supper. The genial surgeon in charge, Dr. Hutton, who carried a +knapsack and musket in an Illinois regiment in '62, met us cordially and +extended every possible hospitality. Soon there filed past us to supper +the tall doctor and his little flock; some light and fair-skinned, with +the easy step of a well-bred lady, others dark and bony-handed, but the +strong, kind faces below the turbans told at a glance that you could +trust your life there and find it again. They were not disturbed that +night, and no certain information of our arrival got among them. It was +cold and windy, and the evening short, as nine o'clock brought taps and +lights out. In spite of all caution the news of our coming had spread +over the surrounding country, and telegrams bringing both thanks for +what had been received and the needs for more, came from all sides, and +the good Mayor<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">[Pg 45]</a></span> of Macclenny made his troubled way to reach and greet us +in person, and take again the faithful hands that had served and saved his people.</p> + +<p>Surgeon Hutton's headquarter tent was politely tendered for the first +meeting, and as one could never, while memory lasts, forget this scene, +so no words can ever adequately describe it. The ample tent was filled. +Here on the right the Mayor, broad shouldered, kind faced and efficient, +officers of camp, and many visitors, wondering what it all meant; in the +center the tall doctor and his faithful band—Eliza Lanier, Lena Seymour +(mother and daughter), Elizabeth Eastman, Harriet Schmidt, Lizzie Louis, +Rebecca Vidal, Annie Evans, Arthur Duteil, Frederick Wilson, and Edward Holyland.</p> + +<p>I give these names because they are worthy a place in the history of any +epidemic; but no country, race, nor creed could claim them as a body: +four Americans, one German, one French, one Irish, three Africans, part +Protestant, and part Catholic, but all from New Orleans, of grand old +<i>Howard</i> stock, from Memphis down, nursing in every epidemic from the +bayous of the Mississippi<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">[Pg 46]</a></span> to Tampa Bay; and hereafter we will know them +as the "<i>Old Guard</i>."</p> + +<p>Here, in the winds of approaching winter they stand in the light garb of +early September in New Orleans, thin, worn, longing for home, but +patient, grateful, and glad, some trifling "nubia" or turban about the +head, but only one distinguishing feature in common. A pitiful little +misshapen Red Cross, made by their own hands, of two bits of scarlet +ribbon, soiled, fringed, and tattered, pinned closely upon the left +breast of each, strove in mute appeal to say who they were, and what +they served. A friendly recognition and some words of thanks from their +President, opened the way for those anxious to follow. The rich, warm +eloquence of Mayor Watkins plainly told from how near his heart the +stream of gratitude was flowing, and his manly voice trembled as he +reverted to the condition of his stricken people, on that pitiless +night, when this little band of pilgrim strangers strayed back to them +in the rain and darkness. "I fear they often worked in hunger," he said, +"for then, as now, we had little for ourselves, our sick, or our well; +but they brought us to our feet, and the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">[Pg 47]</a></span>blessing of every man, woman, +and child in Macclenny is on them."</p> + +<p>It was with a kind of paternal pride that Dr. Gill advanced and placed +before us his matchless record of cases attended, and life preserved. +"This is the record of our work," he said. "I am proud of it, and glad +that I have been able to make it, but without the best efforts of these +faithful nurses I could not have done it; they have stood firm through +everything; not a word of complaint from, nor of, one of them, in all +these trying months, and I thank you, our President, for this +opportunity to testify to their merits in your presence." The full cups +overflowed, and as we took each brown calloused hand in ours, and felt +the warm tears dropping over them, we realized how far from calloused +were the hearts behind them. The silence that followed was a season of prayer.</p> + +<p>Then came opportunity for some conversation, questions, and +explanations. "We wish to introduce to our President our chief nurse, +whom Colonel Southmayd placed in charge of us when we left the car, and +directed us to obey him; he is younger than any of us, Ed. Holyland." A +slight young<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">[Pg 48]</a></span> man with clear, olive complexion, and dark-browed earnest +eyes that looked you straight in the face, came forward; his apparent +youthfulness gave rise to the first remark:</p> + +<p>"How old are you, Mr. Holyland?"</p> + +<p>"Twenty-nine, madam."</p> + +<p>"And you have taken charge of these nurses?"</p> + +<p>"I have done what I could for their comfort; I think that was what the +colonel desired; he knew they would need only care and advice, they +would do their best of themselves. During the few days that Colonel +Southmayd remained in Jacksonville," he continued, "he was able to send +us some such comforts as we needed for the sick, and some nourishing +food for ourselves; but this was only a few days, you know, and after +that we got on as well as we could without. I know that after he left +the nurses gave to the sick, the children, the old and the helpless, +what they needed for their own strength."</p> + +<p>"But you did not tell us this, Mr. Holyland."</p> + +<p>"No, we were dazed and frightened by the things we heard. We felt that +your organization was having enough to bear. We knew we must<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">[Pg 49]</a></span> look to +you for our pay, and we thought, under the circumstances, that would be +your share. But permit me, please, to call your attention to Mr. Wilson +(a stout colored man advanced), who took charge of a little hospital of +six cases, and carried them all through, day and night, without an +hour's relief from any person, and never lost a single case."</p> + +<p>"And permit me," chimed in the clear-toned Irish voice of Lizzie Louis, +"to tell of Mr. Holyland himself, who found a neglected Italian family a +mile or more outside of the town. He went and nursed them alone, and +when the young son, a lad of thirteen or fourteen years, died, knowing +there was no one to bury him there, he wrapped him in a blanket and +brought him into town on his back, for burial."</p> + +<p>Holyland's face grew sad, and his eyes modestly sought the floor, as he +listened to this unexpected revelation.</p> + +<p>"I wish to speak of something else," added one of the men, "which we +were held back from doing, and for which we are now very glad. We should +not have thought of it ourselves. It is <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">[Pg 50]</a></span>customary," he continued, "when +a patient dies in an epidemic, to give the nurse ten dollars for +preparing the body for burial; this was done in our first case, but Mr. +Holyland had the gift promptly returned with thanks, and the explanation +that we were employed by an organization which fully rewarded its +nurses, and was too high and too correct to accept tribute for +misfortune; it was enough that the patient was lost."</p> + +<p>By this time poor black Annie Evans, the "Mammy" of the group, could +hold quiet no longer, and broke silence with, "Missus President! whar is +de colonel? Colonel Southmayd; dey tells me all de time he's gone away +from New Orleans, and I can't b'l'eve 'em. He can't go away; he can't +lib anywhar else, he was always dar. I'se nursed in yellow fever and +cholera more'n twenty-five year, and I neber went for nobody but him; it +arn't no New Orleans for us widout him dar. I doesn't know de name of +dat place dey say he's gone to, and I doesn't want to; he'll be in New +Orleans when we gets dar."</p> + +<p>There were pitying glances among the group, at this little burst of +feeling, for in some way it<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">[Pg 51]</a></span> was an echo of their own; and Lena Seymour +added tenderly: "We have been trying for these two months to convince +Mammy about this, but she is firm in her faith and sometimes refuses to +hear us." But the subject changed with "How many cases did you lose in +this epidemic, Mammy?"</p> + +<p>"I didn't lose no cases! Lor' bless you, honey, I doesn't lose cases if +dey hasn't been killed afore dey gets to me; folks needn't die of yellow fever."</p> + +<p>We didn't suppose that "Mammy" intended any reflection upon the medical fraternity.</p> + +<p>"But now, friends, we must turn to our settlement, which can not be +difficult. Three dollars a day for each nurse, for seventy-nine days, +till you are home on Thanksgiving morning. But here are only ten. There +are eighteen on our list who left with you and Colonel Southmayd; where +are your comrades?" Some eyes flashed and some moistened, as they +answered, "We do not know." "They remained in the car that night, and +went on to Jacksonville." Swift, dark glances swept from one to another +among them. Instinctively they drew closer to each other, and over +knitted brows and firmly set teeth, a silence fell dark and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">[Pg 52]</a></span> ominous +like a pall, which the future alone can lift.</p> + +<p>The bugle sounded dinner, and this ended our little camp-meeting, than +which few camp-meetings, we believe, ever came nearer to the heart of +Him who offered His life a ransom, and went about doing good.</p> + +<p>The winds blew cold across the camp; the fires shot out long angry +tongues of flame and drifts of smoke to every passer-by. The norther was +upon us. Night came down, and all were glad of shelter and sleep. The +morning, quiet, crisp, and white with frost, revealed the blessing which +had fallen upon a stricken land.</p> + +<p>Thanksgiving was there before its time. The hard rules relaxed. One day +more, and the quarantine was at an end. The north-bound train halted +below the camp, and all together, President and agent, tall doctor and +happy nurses, took places on it, the first for headquarters at +Washington, the last for New Orleans, and home for Thanksgiving morning, +full of the joys of a duty well done, rich in well-paid labor, in the +love of those they had befriended, and the approval of a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">[Pg 53]</a></span> whole people, +South and North, when once their work should be known to them.</p> + +<p>To the last, they clung to their little home-made Red Crosses as if they +had been gold and diamonds; and when at length the tracks diverged and +the parting must be made, it was with few words, low and softly spoken, +but meaning much, with a finger touch upon the little cross, "When you +want us, we are there."</p> + +<p>The supplies forwarded by us were estimated at ten thousand dollars. The +money received was $6,281.58. Out of this sum we paid our twenty nurses +three dollars a day, for seventy-nine days—their cost of living, and +their transportation when needed. We paid our doctor in charge twenty +dollars a day, the customary price, for the same period. We paid our +office rent, assistants, telegraphing, drayage for supplies sent on by +us (railroad transportation free), and all incidentals for a relief work +of over three months' duration. This ran our debit column over on the +other side over one thousand dollars. Our little part of the relief of +that misfortune was estimated at fifteen thousand dollars, and only +those relieved were more grateful than we.</p> + +<hr /> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">[Pg 54]</a></span></p> + +<h2><a name="IV" id="IV"></a>IV</h2> + +<h3>THE JOHNSTOWN FLOOD</h3> + +<p>On Sunday afternoon, May 31, 1889, with the waters of the Potomac two +feet deep on Pennsylvania Avenue, a half dozen of us left Washington for +Johnstown, over washed-out ties and broken tracks, with every little +gully swollen to a raging torrent. After forty-eight hours of this, we +reached the scene, which no one need or could describe, but if ever a +people needed help it was these.</p> + +<p>Scarcely a house standing that was safe to enter, the wrecks piled in +rubbish thirty feet in height, four thousand dead in the river beds, +twenty thousand foodless but for Pittsburg bread rations, and a cold +rain which continued unbroken by sunshine for forty days.</p> + +<p>It was at the moment of supreme affliction when we arrived at Johnstown. +The waters had subsided, and those of the inhabitants who had escaped +the fate of their fellows were gazing over the scene<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">[Pg 55]</a></span> of destruction and +trying to arouse themselves from the lethargy that had taken hold of +them when they were stunned by the realization of all the woe that had +been visited upon them. How nobly they responded to the call of duty! +How much of the heroic there is in our people when it is needed! No idle +murmurings of fate, but true to the god-like instincts of manhood and +fraternal love, they quickly banded together to do the best that the +wisest among them could suggest.</p> + +<p>For five weary months it was our portion to live amid the scenes of +destruction, desolation, poverty, want and woe; sometimes in tents, +sometimes without; and so much rain and mud, and such a lack of the +commonest comforts for a time, until we could build houses to shelter +ourselves and those around us. Without a safe and with a dry-goods box +for a desk, we conducted financial affairs in money and material to the +extent of nearly half a million dollars.</p> + +<p>I shall never lose the memory of my first walk on the first day—the +wading in mud, the climbing over broken engines, cars, heaps of iron +rollers, broken timbers, wrecks of houses; bent railway<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">[Pg 56]</a></span> tracks tangled +with piles of iron wire; bands of workmen, squads of military, and +getting around the bodies of dead animals, and often people being borne +away; the smouldering fires and drizzling rain—all for the purpose of +officially announcing to the commanding general (for the place was under +martial law) that the Red Cross had arrived in the field. I could not +have puzzled General Hastings more if I had addressed him in Chinese; +and if ours had been truly an Oriental mission, the gallant soldier +could not have been more courteous and kind. He immediately set about +devising means for making as comfortable as possible a "poor, lone +woman," helpless, of course, upon such a field. It was with considerable +difficulty that I could convince him that the Red Cross had a way of +taking care of itself at least, and was not likely to suffer from neglect.</p> + +<p>Not a business house or bank left, the safes all in the bottom of the +river; our little pocketbook was useless, there was nothing to buy, and +it would not bring back the dead. With the shelter of the tents of the +Philadelphia Red Cross, that joined us en route with supplies, when we +could find a cleared<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">[Pg 57]</a></span> place to spread, or soil to hold them, with a +dry-goods box for a desk, our stenographer commenced to rescue the first +dispatches of any description that entered that desolate city. The +disturbed rivers lapped wearily back and forth, the people, dazed and +dumb, dug in the muddy banks for their dead. Hastings with his little +army of militia kept order.</p> + +<p>Soon supplies commenced to pour in from everywhere, to be received, +sheltered as best they could be from the incessant rain, and distributed +by human hands, for it was three weeks before even a cart could pass the streets.</p> + +<p>But I am not here to describe Johnstown—the noble help that came to it, +nor the still more noble people that received it—but simply to say that +the little untried and unskilled Red Cross played its minor tune of a +single fife among the grand chorus of relief of the whole country, that +rose like an anthem, till over four millions in money, contributed to +its main body of relief, with the faithful Kreamer at its head, had +modestly taken the place of the twelve millions destroyed. But after all +it was largely the supplies that saved the people at first, as it always +is, and the distribution of which<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">[Pg 58]</a></span> largely consumed the money that was +contributed later.</p> + +<p>From one mammoth tent which served as a warehouse, food and clothing +were given out to the waiting people through the hands of such volunteer +agents, both women and men, as I scarcely dare hope to ever see gathered +together in one work again. The great cry which had gone out had aroused +the entire country, and our old-time helpers, full of rich experience +and still richer love for the work, faithful to the cross of humanity as +the devotee to the cross of the Master, came up from every point—the +floods, the cyclones, the battle-fields—and kneeling before the shrine, +pledged heart and service anew to the work. Fair hands laying aside +their diamonds, and business men their cares, left homes of elegance and +luxury to open rough boxes and barrels, handle second-hand clothing, eat +coarse food at rough-board tables, sleep on cots under a dripping canvas +tent, all for the love of humanity symbolized in the little flag that +floated above them.</p> + +<p>Clergymen left their pulpits and laymen their charge to tramp over the +hillsides from house to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">[Pg 59]</a></span> house, to find who needed and suffered, and to +carry to them from our tents on their shoulders, like beasts of burden, +the huge bundles of relief, where no beast of burden could reach.</p> + +<p>We had been early requested by official resolution of the Finance +Committee of the City of Johnstown to aid them in the erection of +houses. We accepted the invitation, and at the same time proposed to aid +in furnishing the nucleus of a household for the home which should in +any way be made up. This aid seemed imperative, as nothing was left for +them to commence living with, neither beds, chairs, tables, nor cooking +utensils of any kind; and there were few if any stores open, and no +furniture in town.</p> + +<p>Of this labor we had our share. Six buildings of one hundred feet by +fifty, later known as "Red Cross Hotels," were quickly put up to shelter +the people, furnished, supplied, and kept like hotels, free of all cost +to them, while others were built by the general committee. Three +thousand of the latter were erected, and the Red Cross furnished every +one with substantial, newly purchased furniture, ready for occupancy. +The books of the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">[Pg 60]</a></span> "Titusville Manufacturing Company" will show one cash +order of ten thousand dollars for furniture. The three thousand houses +thus furnished each accommodated two families.</p> + +<p>A ponderous book of nearly two feet square shows the name, sex, and +number of persons of each family, and a list of every article received +by them. To-day one looks in wonder at such a display of clerical labor +and accuracy, under even favorable conditions.</p> + +<p>This was only accomplished by the hard, unpaid labor of every officer, +and the large amount of volunteer friendly aid that came to us.</p> + +<p>The great manufacturers of the country, and the heavy contributing +agents, on learning our intentions, sent, without a hint from us, many +of their articles, as, for instance, New Bedford, Mass., sent mattresses +and bedding; Sheboygan, Wis., sent furniture and enameled ironware; +Titusville, Pa., with a population of ten thousand, sent ten thousand +dollars' worth of its well-made bedsteads, springs, extension-tables, +chairs, stands and rockers; and the well-known New York newspaper, The +Mail and Express, sent a large lot of <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">[Pg 61]</a></span>mattresses, feather pillows, +bedclothing, sheets, and pillow-slips by the thousand and cooking +utensils by the ten thousands. Six large teams were in constant service +delivering these goods.</p> + +<p>When the contributions slackened or ceased, and more material was +needed, we purchased of the same firms which had contributed, keeping +our stock good until all applications were filled. The record on our +books showed that over twenty-five thousand persons had been directly +served by us. They had received our help independently and without +begging. No child has learned to beg at the doors of the Red Cross.</p> + +<p>It is to be borne in mind that the fury of the deluge had swept almost +entirely the homes of the wealthy, the elegant, the cultured leaders of +society, and the fathers of the town. This class who were spared were +more painfully homeless than the indigent poor, who could still huddle +in together. They could not go away, for the suffering and demoralized +town needed their care and oversight more than ever before. There was no +home for them, nowhere to get a meal of food or to sleep. Still they +must work on, and the stranger coming<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">[Pg 62]</a></span> to town on business must go +unfed, with no shelter at night, if he would sleep, or, indeed, escape +being picked up by the military guard.</p> + +<p>To meet these necessities, and being apprehensive that some good lives +might go out under the existing luck of accommodations, it was decided +to erect a building similar to our warehouse. The use of the former site +of the Episcopal Church was generously tendered us by the Bishop early +in June, for any purpose we might desire. This house, which was soon +erected, was known as the "Locust Street Red Cross Hotel"; it stood some +fifty rods from our warehouse, and was fifty by one hundred and sixteen +feet in dimensions, two stories in height, with lantern roof, built of +hemlock, single siding, papered inside with heavy building paper, and +heated by natural gas, as all our buildings were. It consisted of +thirty-four rooms, besides kitchen, laundry, bath-rooms with hot and +cold water, and one main dining-hall and sitting-room through the +center, sixteen feet in width by one hundred in length.</p> + +<p>It was fully furnished with excellent beds, bedding, bureaus, tables, +chairs, and all needful <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">[Pg 63]</a></span>housekeeping furniture. A competent landlady, +who, like the rest, had a few weeks before floated down over the same +ground on the roof of her house in thirty feet of water, was placed in +charge, with instructions to keep a good house, make what she could rent +free, but charging no Johnstown person over twenty-five cents for a meal of food.</p> + +<p>This was the first attempt at social life after that terrible +separation, and its success was something that I am very proud of. The +house was full of townspeople from the first day, and strangers no +longer looked in vain for accommodations.</p> + +<p>The conception of the need of this house, and the method of selecting +its inmates, and the manner of inducting them into their new home, were +somewhat unique and may be of interest to the reader. I had noticed +among the brave and true men, who were working in the mud and rain, many +refined-looking gentlemen, who were, before this great misfortune +carried away most of their belongings, the wealthiest and most +influential citizens. Never having had to struggle amid such hardships +and deprivations, their sufferings were more acute than those of the +poorer and more<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">[Pg 64]</a></span> hardy people; and it did not require any great +foresight to know that they were physically incapable of such labor if +prolonged, nor to predict their early sickness and death if they were +not properly housed and fed. As the salvation of the town depended in a +great measure upon the efforts of these men, it was vitally necessary +that their lives should be preserved. Realizing all this, it occurred to +us that the most important thing to do, next to feeding the hungry, was +to provide proper shelter for these delicate men and their families. The +idea once conceived was soon communicated to my staff, and, after due +consideration, it was put in the way of realization.</p> + +<p>On the afternoon of July 27th hundreds of citizens called on us, and +congratulations and good wishes were the order of the day. As the +members of each family whom we had selected to occupy apartments in the +house arrived, they were quietly taken aside and requested to remain and +have dinner with us. After all the guests were departed except those who +had been requested to remain, dinner was announced, and the party was +seated by the members of the Red Cross. Beside the plate<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">[Pg 65]</a></span> of each head +of a family were laid the keys to an apartment, with a card inviting the +family to take possession at once, and remain as long as they chose.</p> + +<p>I can not describe the scene that followed; there were tears and broken +voices; suffice to say, the members of that household were made happy +and comfortable for many long months; and I venture to assert that those +now living recall those days with the fondest recollections.</p> + +<p>The contributions to the general committee had been so liberal that it +was possible to erect and provide for the great burial-place of its +dead—"Grand View," that overlooks the city. It was also suggested that +a benevolent society, as a permanent institution, be formed by the +united action of the general committee and the Red Cross. This was +successfully accomplished by the generous provision of eight thousand +dollars from the committee on its part and the turning over of our +well-made and supplied hospital buildings, and the funds we had left +placed in charge of a faithful custodian under our pay for the following six months.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">[Pg 66]</a></span></p><p>This is the present "Union Benevolent Society" of Johnstown to-day.</p> + +<p>I remained five months with these people without once visiting my own +home, only returning to it when the frost had killed the green I had left in May.</p> + +<p>In that time, it was estimated, we had housed, handled, and distributed +$211,000 worth of supplies—new and old—for, by request of the weary +chairman of the general committee, at the last, we took up the close of +its distribution. It is our joy and pride to recall how closely we +worked in connection with that honored committee from first to last, and +how strong and unsullied that friendship has remained.</p> + +<p>The value of money that passed through our hands was $39,000, as stated +in the official report of the general committee, to which all required +returns were made, recorded, and published by the committee.</p> + +<p>Our usual quota of assistants was fifty persons, the higher grade of men +and women assistants largely volunteers. Two railroads brought our +supplies. To handle these the strongest men were<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">[Pg 67]</a></span> required, and seven +two-horse teams ran daily for three and a half months in the +distribution, at customary rates of pay. These were the workingmen of +the town who had suffered with the rest.</p> + +<p>It was a joy that in all the uncertainties of that uncertain field not a +single complaint ever reached us of the non-acknowledgment of a dollar +entrusted to us.</p> + +<p>The paths of charity are over roadways of ashes; and he who would tread +them must be prepared to meet opposition, misconstruction, jealousy, and +calumny. Let his work be that of angels—still it will not satisfy all.</p> + +<p>In the light of recent events, I may perhaps be pardoned for quoting a +few lines from the official report of the Johnstown Flood Finance +Committee appointed by Governor Beaver, as showing how these gentlemen, +the foremost men in the community, regarded our efforts to give them a +helping hand:</p> + +<p>"In this matter of sheltering the people, as in others of like +importance, Miss Clara Barton, President of the Red Cross Association, +was most helpful. At a time when there was a doubt if the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">[Pg 68]</a></span> Flood +Commission could furnish houses of suitable character and with the +requisite promptness, she offered to assume charge, and she erected with +the funds of the Association three large apartment houses, which +afforded comfortable lodgings for many houseless people. She was among +the first to arrive on the scene of calamity, bringing with her Dr. +Hubbell, the Field Officer of the Red Cross Association, and a staff of +skilled assistants. She made her own organization for relief work in +every form, disposing of the large resources under her control with such +wisdom and tenderness that the charity of the Red Cross had no sting, +and its recipients are not Miss Barton's dependents, but her friends. +She was also the last of the ministering spirits to leave the scene of +her labors, and she left her apartment houses for use during the winter, +and turned over her warehouse with its store of furniture, bedding, and +clothing, and a well-equipped infirmary, to the Union Benevolent +Association of the Conemaugh Valley, the organization of which she +advised and helped to form; and its lady visitors have so well performed +their work that the dreaded winter has no terrors, mendicancy has<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">[Pg 69]</a></span> been +repressed, and not a single case of unrelieved suffering is known to +have occurred in all the flooded district."</p> + +<p>Enterprising, industrious, and hopeful, the new Johnstown, +ph[oe]nix-like, rose from its ruins more beautiful than the old, with a +ceaseless throb of grateful memory for every kind act rendered, and +every thought of sympathy given her in her great hour of desolation and +woe. God bless her, and God bless all who helped save her!</p> + +<hr /> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">[Pg 70]</a></span></p> + +<h2><a name="V" id="V"></a>V</h2> + +<h3>THE RUSSIAN FAMINE</h3> + +<p>As early as 1889, the foreign journals began to tell us of the +apprehension caused by an unusual failure of the crops in Central +Russia, extending from Moscow north and south, and east beyond the Ural +Mountains and into Siberia—embracing an era of a million square miles. +This failure was followed by another in 1890.</p> + +<p>Eighteen hundred and ninety-one found the old-time granaries empty, and +a total failure of the crops, and a population of thirty-five millions +of people, paralyzed with the dread of approaching famine.</p> + +<p>The American Red Cross had placed itself in communication with the +Secretary of State, Hon. James G. Blaine, whose name and memory it +treasures with reverence, and Mr. Alexander Gregor, the accomplished +Russian <i>Chargé d'Affaires</i> at Washington, and ascertained that Russia +would gladly receive donations of relief from<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">[Pg 71]</a></span> America. She would even +send her ships for any food that might be offered. This, America would +not permit and Congress was appealed to for ocean transportation. The +Senate voted a liberal appropriation, which was defeated in the House.</p> + +<p>Then the Red Cross, with the aid of the citizens of Washington, took up +the matter. They were joined by the Order of Elks, which contributed a +sum of seven hundred dollars, than which perhaps that liberal Order +never made a more timely gift. Funds were raised to charter a steamship +for the Red Cross. The spirit spread generally over the country. +Philadelphia sent a messenger to learn what Washington was doing, and +was advised to charter one of its own ships, which was done, and two +consignments were finally made by them.</p> + +<p>Minnesota had already acted, and later, by the advice and aid of the +extra provision of the Red Cross, the Christian Herald sent out its ship +cargo, under convoy of Rev. Dr. Talmage.</p> + +<p>But the State of Iowa led all others in active generosity.</p> + +<p>Under the supervision of Mr. B. F. Tillinghast,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">[Pg 72]</a></span> of Davenport, aided by +the able pen of Miss Alice French, that State alone raised, and sent in +trains across the country from Iowa to New York, one hundred and +seventeen thousand bushels of corn and one hundred thousand pounds of +flour, which was loaded onto the "Tynehead," a staunch British ship, and +consigned to the port of Riga.</p> + +<p>That year we had been notified of an International Conference to be held +in Rome. The customary appropriation was made by Congress, and again I +was appointed delegate. Too much occupied by the relief at home, Dr. +Hubbell, also a delegate, went in my place to Rome, and from there +reached Riga in time to receive and direct the distribution of the +immense cargo of grain throughout Russia.</p> + +<p>When Dr. Hubbell reached Riga he learned that two hundred and forty +peasants had been waiting on the dock two days, watching and waiting for +the ship from America. Not waiting for food, for Riga was not in a +famine province, but waiting that they might not miss the opportunity +and the honor of unloading the American ship that had brought food to +their unfortunate brothers in the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">[Pg 73]</a></span> interior. As soon as they could get +into the hold of the ship, one hundred and forty of them began the +unloading. They worked night and day, without rest, determined to unload +the entire cargo themselves, without help. But on the third night our +Consul, Mr. Bornholdt, insisted on their having a relief of twelve +hours, and when the twelve hours were up they were all in their places +again, and remained until the cargo was out, declining to take any pay +for their labor. Twelve women worked along with them in the same spirit, +in the ship and on the dock, with needles, sewing up the rents in the +bags, to prevent waste in handling, and cooking meals for the men.</p> + +<p>The Mayor of St. Petersburg, in an address on behalf of that city to +American donors, declared:</p> + +<p>"The Russian people know how to be grateful. If up to this day these two +great countries, Russia and the United States, have not only never +quarreled, but on the contrary wished each other prosperity and strength +always, these feelings of sympathy can grow only stronger in the future, +both countries being conscious that in the season of trial for either it +will find in the other cordial succor and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">[Pg 74]</a></span> support. And can true +friendship be tested if not in the hour of misfortune?"</p> + +<p>A peasant of Samara sent to a Russian editor, together with three +colored eggs, a letter which he asked to have forwarded to America. The +following is an extract from the letter:</p> + +<p>"Christ is risen! To the merciful benefactors, the protectors of the +poor, the feeders of the starving, the guardians of the orphans—Christ is risen.</p> + +<p>"North Americans! May the Lord grant you a peaceful and long life and +prosperity to your land, and may your fields be filled with abundant +harvest—Christ is risen. Your mercifulness gives us a helping hand. +Through your charity you have satisfied the starving. And for your +magnificent alms accept from me this humble gift, which I send to the +entire American people for your great beneficence, from all the hearts +of the poor filled with feelings of joy."</p> + +<p>In the gratitude manifested by the Russian Government and people we were +glad to feel that a slight return had been made to Russia for past +favors in our own peril, and a friendship never broken.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">[Pg 75]</a></span></p><p>The Department of State at Washington, under date of January 11, 1894, +forwarded the following:</p> + +<p>"I have to inform you that on November 7, 1893, the American Minister at +St. Petersburg received from the nobility of that city, through their +Marshal, Count Alexis Bobrinskoy, an address to the people of the United +States. This address, which is in the English language, embodies in +terms fitly chosen the thanks of the Russian people to the American for +the aid sent to their country from our own during the famine period of +the past two years. It is beautifully engrossed and its illumination +embraces water-color drawings which render it a most attractive work of art.</p> + +<p>"The document, which is superbly bound and enclosed in a fine case, was +duly forwarded to this city by the American Minister at St. Petersburg, +and will be given a conspicuous place in the library of this department."</p> + +<p>In so general an uprising of relief no great sum in contributions could +be expected from any one source. The Red Cross felt that, if no more, it +was glad to be able to pay, by the generous help of the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">[Pg 76]</a></span> city of +Washington, the charter of a ship that conveyed its +corn—$12,500—besides several thousands distributed in Russia through +Tolstoi and American agents there.</p> + +<p>We paid the cost of loading, superintended by Mr. Tillinghast in person, +whose financial record shows the exact cost of transportation. All this +was done in connection with the State of Iowa. Our home record showed, +when all was finished, a field closed with a small balance in our favor, +which we had no active call for. By the advice of one of the best +personal advisers, bankers, and friends that the Red Cross has ever had, +this small sum was placed in bank, in readiness for the next call.</p> + +<hr /> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">[Pg 77]</a></span></p> + +<h2><a name="VI" id="VI"></a>VI</h2> + +<h3>THE SEA ISLAND RELIEF</h3> + +<p>This little timely provision, advisedly made, was none too much or none +too soon.</p> + +<p>On the 28th of August, 1893, a hurricane and tidal wave from the +direction of the West Indies swept the coast of South Carolina, covering +its entire range of Port Royal Islands, sixteen feet below the sea. +These islands had thirty-five thousand inhabitants, mainly negroes. At +first, it was thought that all must have perished. Later, it was found +that only some four or five thousand had been drowned, and that thirty +thousand remained with no earthly possession of home, clothing, or food. +The few boats not swept away took them over to the mainland in +thousands, and calls went out for help. In this emergency Governor +Tillman called for the services of the Red Cross, and my note-book has this passage:</p> + +<p>"The next night, in a dark, cheerless September mist, I closed my door +behind me for ten months,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">[Pg 78]</a></span> and with three assistants went to the station +to meet Senator Butler."</p> + +<p>At Columbia we were joined by Governor Tillman, and thus reinforced +proceeded to Beaufort. After due examination the work which had been +officially placed with us by the Governor was accepted October 1st, and +carried on until the following July.</p> + +<p>The submerged lands were drained, three hundred miles of ditches made, a +million feet of lumber purchased and houses built, fields and gardens +planted with the best seed in the United States, and the work all done +by the people themselves. The thousands of boxes of clothing received +were distributed among them, and we left them in July, 1894, supplies of +vegetables for the city of Beaufort.</p> + +<p>Free transportation for supplies continued till about March. No +provisions in kind were sent from any source after the first four weeks +of public excitement. After this all foodstuffs were purchased in +Charleston and distributed as rations. Men were compelled to work on the +building of their own homes in order to receive rations.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">[Pg 79]</a></span></p><p>We found them an industrious, grateful class of people, far above the +ordinary grade usually met. They largely owned their little homes, and +appreciated instruction in the way of improving them. The tender memory +of the childlike confidence and obedience of this ebony-faced population +is something that time cannot efface from either us or them.</p> + +<p>On the third day after our arrival at Beaufort four middle-aged colored +men came to the door of the room we had appropriated as an office, and +respectfully asked to see "Miss Clare." They were admitted, and I waited +to learn what request they would probably make of me. At length the +tallest and evidently the leader, said:</p> + +<p>"Miss Clare, we knows you doesn't remember us. But we never fo'gits you. +We has all of us got somethin' to show you."</p> + +<p>Slipping up a soiled, ragged shirtsleeve, he showed me an ugly scar +above the elbow, reaching to the shoulder. "Wagner?" I asked.</p> + +<p>"Yes, Miss Clare, and you drissed it for me that night, when I crawled +down the beach—'cause my leg was broke too," he replied. "And we was +all<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">[Pg 80]</a></span> of us there, and you took care of us all and drissed our wounz. I +was with Colonel Shaw, and crawled out of the fote. The oth's nevah got +in. But we all got to you, Miss Clare. And now you's got to us. We's +talked about you a heap o' times, but we nevah 'spected to see you. We's +nevah fo'git it, Miss Clare."</p> + +<p>One by one they showed their scars. There was very little clothing to +hide them—bullet wound and sabre stroke. The memory, dark and sad, +stood out before us all. It was a moment not to be forgotten.</p> + +<p>Our purchases consisted of meat, mainly dry sides of pork, and grits, or +hominy, for eating. For planting, beside the seed contributed and the +nine hundred bushels of Irish potatoes, were eighteen hundred bushels of +Northern Flint seed corn.</p> + +<p>The contributions of food and clothing had been sent to Beaufort, and +were in the warehouses of the perplexed committee of its leading +citizens. This had naturally drawn all the inhabitants of the scores of +desolated islands for fifty miles to Beaufort, until, it is safe to say, +that fifteen to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">[Pg 81]</a></span> twenty thousand refugees had gathered there, living in +its streets and waiting to be fed from day to day.</p> + +<p>As the food was there they could not be induced to return to the +islands. Indeed, there was more often nothing on the islands to return +to. The description given by the heads of families and owners, for they +had largely owned their homes, gotten on the old-time plantations "'fo +de wah," was this: If all had been swept out to sea and nothing +remained, it was described as, "done gone." But if thrown down and parts +of the wreck still remained, it was described as "ractified."</p> + +<p>A few of the churches, being larger and more strongly built, still +remained standing. During the first ten days of our stay it would have +been impossible to drive through the principal streets of Beaufort. They +were a solid moving mass, crowding as near to the storehouses as +possible to get, in spite of the policeman, who kindly held them back.</p> + +<p>We sat daily in counsel with the local committee, until seeing that only +systematic measures and a decided change could relieve the conditions +and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">[Pg 82]</a></span> render the city safe. We then, on the first of October, decided to +accede to the request of the Governor made at first, and take sole +charge of the relief.</p> + +<p>Our first order was to close every storehouse, both of food and +clothing, and inform the people that all distributions would hereafter +be made from the islands. It is impossible to convey to the mind of the +reader the difficulty of getting into a few intelligent sentences the +idea of the means adopted to produce these changes and inaugurate a +system that was to restore to active habits of life a body of utterly +homeless, demoralized, and ignorant people, equal in numbers to a small new State.</p> + +<p>If these little covers would admit the scores of pages of admirably +written reports of the officers and helpers on that field, every line +replete with interest, that lie here at my hand, it would be an easy and +a welcome task to reproduce them entire, and no more than deserved for +their faithful and gratuitous labor.</p> + +<p>Dr. Egan's report has this passage:</p> + +<p>"October 2d came my marching orders. Take charge of the warehouse and +stores, make an <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">[Pg 83]</a></span>inventory of them, disperse these men, and rid the city +of the demoralizing influence of idle people. The doors are closed and +the inventory begun."</p> + +<p>The local committee had kindly pointed out the most suitable man to take +charge of each community, and to him would be consigned the rations to +be distributed to each family and person within his charge, for which +receipt and distribution he became as responsible as a merchant.</p> + +<p>The goods and rations were at once shipped across the bay to them, or +taken on their own boats, if so fortunate as to have one left from the +storm. It is needless to say that the multitude followed the food.</p> + +<p>In three days there were not people enough left in Beaufort, besides its +own, to be hired for a "job of work." Then followed the necessity for +material to rebuild the "done gone," and to repair the "ractified" homes.</p> + +<p>A million feet of pine lumber was purchased of a leading lumber dealer, +shipped down the Combahee River, and delivered at the landings on the +islands most convenient of access to the points needed. Each man +received his lumber by order<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">[Pg 84]</a></span> and receipt, and was under obligation to +build his own house. The work was all performed by themselves. A garden +was insisted upon. At first this proposition was resisted as impracticable.</p> + +<p>"No use, Mistah—no use—'cause de pig eat it all up."</p> + +<p>It was suggested that a fence might be made enclosing at least a quarter +of an acre about the house to keep "de pig" out, as we should later +send, for planting, the best seed to be obtained in the country.</p> + +<p>To this moment our thanks go out to the Agricultural Department at +Washington, and the great seed houses of all the North, for the generous +donations that served to bring once more into self-sustaining relations +this destitute and well-disposed people.</p> + +<p>The fact that the building of the fence, and its subsequent keeping in +strict repair, had some bearing on the weekly issuance of rations, was +evidently not without its influence. There were no poor fences and "de +pig" did no damage. But there were such gardens, and of such varieties, +as those islands had never before seen.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">[Pg 85]</a></span></p><p>The earliest crop to strive for, beside the gardens, was the Irish +potato, which they had never raised. Nine hundred bushels were purchased +from Savannah for planting in February. The difficulty of distributing +the potatoes lay in the fact that they would be more likely to find +their way into the dinner pot than into the ground. To avoid this the +court-yard inside our headquarters was appropriated for the purpose of +preparing the potatoes for planting.</p> + +<p>Some forty women were hired to come over from the islands and cut +potatoes for seed—every "eye" of the potato making a sprout—these +distributed to them by the peck, like other seed.</p> + +<p>I recall a fine, bright morning in May, when I was told that a woman who +had come over from St. Helena in the night, waited at the door to see +me. I went to the door to find a tall, bright-looking woman in a clean +dress, with a basket on her head, which, after salutation, she lowered +and held out to me. There was something over a peck of Early Rose +potatoes in the basket—in size from a pigeon's to a pullet's egg. The +grateful woman could wait no longer for the potatoes to grow<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">[Pg 86]</a></span> larger, +but had dug these, and had come ten miles over the sea, in the night, to +bring them to me as a first offering of food of her own raising.</p> + +<p>If the tears fell on the little gift as I looked and remembered, no one +will wonder or criticise. The potatoes were cooked for breakfast, and +"Susie Jane" was invited to partake.</p> + +<p>The shores of the mainland had not been exempt from the ravages of the +storm and in many instances had suffered like the islands. Some thirty +miles above Beaufort was a kind of plantation, with a community of sixty +or seventy families of colored people. The property was owned by two +elderly white ladies who had not returned since driven away by the storm.</p> + +<p>This village was reported to us as in need and demoralized, with no +head, scant of food, and its "ractified" houses scarcely affording a shelter.</p> + +<p>A representative mulatto man came to tell us. An inspection was made and +resulted in this man being put in charge to build up the community. +Lumber and food were provided and the people set to work under his +charge. From time to time word came to us, and after some months the +tall<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87">[Pg 87]</a></span> representative came again. He had been asked by the people to come +and bring their thanks to the Red Cross for "de home, de gard'n, de pig, +and de chick'n dey all has now."</p> + +<p>The thanks they had emphasized and proved by the heavy basket that +Jackson had carefully brought all the forty miles. It contained +seventy-one fresh eggs—the gift of seventy-one families—being a +contribution of one egg from each family, from the day or two previous +to his leaving on his mission.</p> + +<p>Domestic gardens were a new feature among these islanders, whose whole +attention had been always given to the raising of the renowned "Sea +Island Cotton," the pride of the market, and a just distinction to +themselves and the worthy planter. The result of this innovation was +that, when we left in July, it was nearly as difficult for a pedestrian +to make his way on the narrow sidewalks of Beaufort because of piled-up +vegetables for sale from the islands, as it had been in October to pass +through the streets because of hungry, idle men and women.</p> + +<p>Nothing better illustrates the native good heart<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88">[Pg 88]</a></span> of these people than +their kindly interest in and for each other. Often the young men, +without families, would club together and put up a house for some lone +old "auntie," who had neither family nor home, and occasionally there +seemed to develop among them an active philanthropist. Of this type was +Jack Owens, who rebuilt his own "done gone" premises. One day as the +field agent was driving out on some inspection he met Jack walking into town.</p> + +<p>His decrepit neighbor's house had burned a few weeks before, and Jack +had gotten lumber and rebuilt the house himself. In describing the utter +devastation, Jack explained that "all de house and de well was +burned"—and he had built another house and was coming in on foot "for +funituh to funish it." Jack had lost his ox, "a big ox," he said, in the +storm, and now he "hadn't any nuther" to plow his ground. He pleaded for +another—if it was only "a lil' critter it would grow big"—and it would +help him so much.</p> + +<p>The appeal was not to be resisted. Dr. Hubbell treasures to this day the +satisfaction he felt in procuring something better than the "lil' +critter"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">[Pg 89]</a></span> as reward and encouragement for Jack's active philanthropy.</p> + +<p>If any practical woman reading this should try to comprehend what it +would be to undertake to clothe and keep clothed thirty thousand human +beings for a year, and to do this from the charitable gifts of the +people, which gifts had all done more or less service before—often +pretty thoroughly "ractified"—this woman will not wonder that sewing +societies suggested themselves to us at headquarters.</p> + +<p>The women were called together and this suggestion made to them, with +the result that an old time "sewing circle" was instituted in every +community. Its membership, officers, dues, and regulations were properly +established—one-half day in each week devoted by each member to the +work in its sewing-rooms, with a woman in charge to prepare it. The +clothing was given out to them as received by us. Many a basket came +proudly back to show us the difference between "den an' now"—good, +strong, firmly mended garments. Ragged coats and pants disappeared from +among the men, as no longer "'spectable fo' de fambly."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">[Pg 90]</a></span></p><p>Provision was also made that the little girls from ten years old should +attend and be taught to sew. Many a little dress was selected at +headquarters for them to make over or repair.</p> + +<p>I wish I could do fitting justice to the band of women volunteers who +stood by me through those long months. Some had commenced with me when +society belles, years before, now mistresses of their own palatial +homes; some had come from under the old historic elms of Boston, and +some from the hard-fought fields of Britain's Africa, and wearing the +Victoria Cross. To them, white and black were the same, and no toil too +hard or too menial.</p> + +<p>The money contributed and received for the entire relief of ten months +was thirty thousand five hundred, and a few additional dollars and cents +which I do not at this moment recall. It aggregated one dollar apiece +for the entire maintenance of thirty thousand persons for ten months.</p> + +<p>It is the general custom in this part of the country for the merchants +to furnish supplies to their patrons, and wait until the gathering of +the crops for their pay. But when we left these people at the beginning +of their harvest, not one family in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91">[Pg 91]</a></span> twenty-five had contracted a debt +for supplies: an experience before unknown in their history.</p> + +<p>A report was made and passed into the hands of our legal counsellor, +who, on seeing that no change could be truthfully made in it, advised +that it be not published, as no one would believe it possible to be +done, and we would get only distrust and discredit. Having now come to a +pass where distrust and discredit are no longer to be feared by the Red +Cross, we ourselves are free to make the statement. But back of the hard +facts there is compensation.</p> + +<p>A half dozen years later, when our negro protégés of the Sea Islands +heard of the disaster that had fallen upon Galveston, they at once +gathered for aid and sent in their contributions.</p> + +<p>"'Cause dey suffers like we did, and de Red Cross is dar," they said.</p> + +<p>Of course I would not permit one dollar of this holy gift to Galveston +to go to other than the hands, hard, bony, and black—such as had raised +it in their penury. I also wanted it to do more. Searching for the most +reliable colored people in the city I found in the superintendent of the +colored schools a man who had occupied that place<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92">[Pg 92]</a></span> for many years, and +who had the respect and confidence of the people of Galveston. I asked +him to consult his foremost women teachers, and if it pleased them, to +form a society and fit themselves to receive a little money.</p> + +<p>In about a week he appeared with his deputation. I informed them that I +had a little money from their own people of the Sea Islands for them; +that they had been chosen to receive it, because as teachers of the +children they would have access to the needs and conditions of the +families. I told them that I had desired to do more than merely make a +gift for distribution. I wished to plant a tree. I could have given them +their peach, which they would eat, enjoy, and throw the pit away. But I +wished them to plant the pit, and let it raise other fruit for them, and +for that reason I had asked the formation of this society.</p> + +<p>They all sat quiet a few moments, the tears were on their faces. At +length their president, the school superintendent, spoke for them:</p> + +<p>"Miss Barton," he said, "we all appreciate this, and in the name of all +I promise you that the pit shall be reverently planted, and I trust the +time<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93">[Pg 93]</a></span> will come when I can tell you that our tree is not only bearing +fruit for ourselves, but for all suffering brethren, as theirs have done for us."</p> + +<p>I then handed them the check for $397. The moment seemed sacred when +these poor dark figures, struggling toward the light, walked out of my +presence. The pit has been successfully planted in Galveston, and we are +from time to time informed of its bearing.</p> + +<hr /> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94">[Pg 94]</a></span></p> + +<h2><a name="VII" id="VII"></a>VII</h2> + +<h3>ARMENIAN RELIEF</h3> + +<h3>1896</h3> + +<p>Leaving the Port Royal field past midsummer of 1894, after an absence of +nearly a year—at a day's notice—the remainder of the autumn and winter +was scarcely less occupied in the details which had been unavoidably +overlooked. Before spring our correspondence commenced to enlarge with +rumors of Armenian massacres, and so excited and rapid was the increase +that, so far as actual labor, consultation, and thought were concerned, +we might as well have been on a field of relief.</p> + +<p>Unfortunately, the suspicions of the Turkish Government had fallen upon +the resident missionaries, both English and American, as favoring the +views and efforts of its anarchistic population, or the "young Turks," +as they were designated. This had the effect of placing the missionaries +in danger, confining them strictly to their own <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95">[Pg 95]</a></span>quarters, preventing +all communication and the receiving of any funds sent them from abroad.</p> + +<p>England had a large waiting fund which it could not distribute, and +appealed to the American Missionary Boards of Boston and New York, to +find them equally powerless. The need of funds among the missionaries +throughout Turkey was getting painfully urgent, and as a last resort it +was suggested from Constantinople that the Red Cross be asked to open the way.</p> + +<p>A written request from the Rev. Judson Smith, D.D., of Boston, was +nearly identical with one received by us from Mr. Spencer Trask, of New +York, who with others was about to form a national Armenian relief +committee, to be established in that city.</p> + +<p>Following these communications, both of these eminent gentlemen, Mr. +Smith and Mr. Trask, came in person to urge our compliance with their +request that the Red Cross accept the charge and personally undertake +the doubtful and dangerous task of distributing the waiting funds among +the missionaries in Turkey.</p> + +<p>As Mr. Trask was to take the lead in the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96">[Pg 96]</a></span>formation of a committee for +the raising of funds, his interest was naturally paramount, and his +arguments in favor of our acceptance were wellnigh irresistible. +Immediate action on the part of some one was imperative. Human beings +were starving, and could not be reached. Thousands of towns and villages +had not been heard from since the massacres, and only the Red Cross +could have any hope of reaching them. No one else was prepared for field +work; it had its force of trained field workers. Turkey was one of the +signatory powers to the Red Cross Treaty. Thus it was hoped and believed +that she would the more readily accept its presence.</p> + +<p>These are mere examples of the reasons urged by the ardent advocates of +the proposed committee, until at length we came to consider its +acceptance, on conditions which must be clearly understood. First, we +must not be expected to take any part in, or to be made use of, in the +raising of funds—one of our fundamental rules being never to ask for +funds—we did not do it for ourselves.</p> + +<p>Second, there must be perfect unanimity <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97">[Pg 97]</a></span>between themselves. We must be +assured that every one wanted us to go. Our part would be hard enough +then; and finally we must be sure they had some funds to distribute.</p> + +<p>Of the amount of these funds no mention was made by us, and I remember a +feeling of good-natured amusement as I heard the officers of this +untried effort at raising funds speak of "millions." It was easy to +discern that they were more accustomed to the figures of a banking +establishment than a charity organization dependent on the raising of +funds. They were likely to be disappointed. In reality, the amount, so +there were something to go with, made very little difference to us, as +we were merely to place what was entrusted to us where most needed, and +when that was done we had but to return. We never named any amount as +preferable to us.</p> + +<p>The means resorted to in raising the funds were unfortunate. In the +great public meetings called for that purpose the utmost indiscretion +prevailed in regard to language applied to Turkey and the Turkish +Government. This aroused the indignation of the Turkish officials, who +very reasonably<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98">[Pg 98]</a></span> took measures to have our entrance into Turkey +forbidden.</p> + +<p>A date of sailing, however, had been given Mr. Trask, and his committee, +feeling that any change would be detrimental to their efforts, no change +was made, and we sailed on time, to find in England no permission, and +further efforts necessary. With time and patience the troublesome +effects of these mistakes were overcome, and Constantinople was reached, +and a heavenly welcome by the harassed missionaries awaited us.</p> + +<p>The first step was to procure an introduction to the Turkish Government, +which had in one sense refused to see me. Accompanied by the American +Minister, Hon. A. W. Terrell, and his premier interpreter, Gargiulo, one +of the most experienced diplomatic officers in Constantinople, I called +by appointment upon Tewfik Pasha, the Turkish Minister of Foreign +Affairs, or Minister of State. To those conversant with the personages +connected with Turkish affairs, I need not say that Tewfik Pasha is +probably the foremost man of the government—a manly man, with a kind, +fine face, and genial, polished manners. Educated abroad, with<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99">[Pg 99]</a></span> advanced +views on general subjects, he impresses one as a man who would sanction +no wrong it was in his power to avert.</p> + +<p>Mr. Terrell's introduction was most appropriate and well expressed, +bearing with strong emphasis upon the suffering condition of the people +of the interior, in consequence of the massacres, the great sympathy of +the people of America, and giving assurance that our objects were purely +humanitarian, having neither political, racial, nor religious significance.</p> + +<p>The Pasha listened most attentively to Mr. Terrell, thanked him, and +said that this was well understood, that they knew the Red Cross and its +president. Turning to me he repeated: "We know you, Miss Barton; have +long known you and your work. We would like to hear your plans for +relief and what you desire."</p> + +<p>I proceeded to state our plans for relief, which, if not carried out at +this time, the suffering in Armenia, unless we had been misinformed, +would shock the entire civilized world. None of us knew from personal +observation, as yet, the full need of assistance, but had reason to +believe it very great.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100">[Pg 100]</a></span> If my agents were permitted to go, such need as +they found they would be prompt to relieve. On the other hand, if they +did not find the need existing there, none would leave the field so +gladly as they. There would be no respecting of persons—humanity alone +would be their guide. "We have," I added, "brought only ourselves; no +correspondent has accompanied us, and we shall have none, and shall not +go home to write a book on Turkey. We are not here for that. Nothing +shall be done in any concealed manner. All dispatches which we send will +go openly through your own telegraph, and I should be glad if all that +we shall write could be seen by your government. I can not, of course, +say what its character will be, but can vouch for its truth, fairness, +and integrity, and for the conduct of every leading man who shall be +sent. I shall never counsel or permit a sly or underhand action with +your government, and you will pardon me, Pasha, if I say I shall expect +the same treatment in return—such as I give I shall expect to receive."</p> + +<p>Almost without a breath he replied: "And you shall have it. We honor +your position and your<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101">[Pg 101]</a></span> wishes shall be respected. Such aid and +protection as we are able, we shall render."</p> + +<p>I then asked if it were necessary for me to see other officials. "No," +he replied, "I speak for my government," and with cordial good wishes +our interview closed.</p> + +<p>I never spoke personally with this gentleman again, all further business +being officially transacted through the officers of our legation. Yet I +can truly say, as I have said of my first meeting with our matchless +band of missionary workers, that here commenced an acquaintance which +proved invaluable, and here were given pledges of mutual faith, of which +not a word was ever broken on either side.</p> + +<p>The Turkish Government, when once it came to understand American methods +and enthusiasm was forgiving and kind to us. No obstruction was ever +placed in our way. Our five expeditions passed through Armenian Turkey +from sea to sea, distributing whatever was needed, repairing the +destroyed machines, enabling the people to make tools to harvest their +grain, thus averting a famine; providing medical help and food as well +for<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102">[Pg 102]</a></span> thousands of sick; setting free the frightened inhabitants, and +returning them to the villages from which they had fled for their lives; +restoring all missionary freedom that had been interrupted; establishing +a more kindly feeling toward them on the part of the government; and +through all this, we had never one unpleasant transaction with any +person of whatever name or race.</p> + +<p>While our expeditions were getting ready to go out by the Black Sea, a +request was brought to me by Dr. Washburn, of Robert College, from Sir +Philip Currie, the British Ambassador at Constantinople, asking if I +could not be "persuaded" to turn my expedition through the +Mediterranean, rather than the Black Sea, in order to reach Mirash and +Zeitoun, where the foreign consuls were at the moment convened. They had +gotten word to him that ten thousand people in those two cities were +down with four distinct epidemics—typhoid and typhus fevers, dysentery +and smallpox—that the victims were dying in overwhelming numbers, and +that there was not a physician among them, all being either sick or +dead, with no medicine and little food.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103">[Pg 103]</a></span></p><p>This was not a case for "persuasion," but of heartfelt thanks from us +all, that Sir Philip had remembered to call us, whom he had never met. +But here was a hindrance. The only means of conveyance from +Constantinople to Alexandretta were coasting boats, belonging to +different nationalities, which left only once in two weeks, and +irregularly at that. Transport for our goods was secured on the first +boat to leave, the goods taken to the wharf at Galata, and at the latest +moment, in order to give time, a request was made to the government for +<i>teskeres</i>, or traveling permits, for Dr. J. B. Hubbell and assistants. +To our surprise they were granted instantly, but by some delay on the +part of the messenger sent for them they reached a moment too late. The +boat left a little more promptly, taking with it our relief goods, and +leaving the men on the dock to receive their permits only when the boat +was beyond recall. It was really the fault of no one.</p> + +<p>With the least possible delay Dr. Hubbell secured passage by the first +boat at Smyrna, and a fortunate chance boat from there took him to +Alexandretta, via Beyrout and Tripoli, Syria.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104">[Pg 104]</a></span> The goods arrived in +safety, and two other of our assistants, whom we had called by cable +from America—Edward M. Wistar and Charles King Wood—were also passed +over to the same point with more goods. There, caravans were fitted out +to leave over the—to them—unknown track to Aintab, as a first base. +From this point the reports of these three gentlemen made to me will be +living witnesses. They tell their own modest tales of exposure, severe +travel, hard work, and hardship, of which no word of complaint has ever +passed their lips. There have been only gratitude and joy, that they +could do something in a cause at once so great and so terrible.</p> + +<p>While this was in progress, a dispatch came to me at Constantinople from +Dr. Shepard of Aintab, whose tireless hands had done the work of a score +of men, saying that fevers, both typhoid and typhus, of the most +virulent nature, had broken out in Arabkir, two or three days north of +Harpoot; could I send doctors and help? Passing the word on to Dr. +Hubbell at Harpoot, prompt and courageous action was taken by him. It is +something to say that from a rising pestilence with a score of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105">[Pg 105]</a></span> deaths +daily, in five weeks, himself and his assistants left the city in a +normally healthful condition, the mortality ceasing at once under their +care and treatment.</p> + +<p>During this time the medical relief for the cities of Zeitoun and Marash +was in charge of Dr. Ira Harris, of Tripoli, who reached there March +18th. The report of the consuls had placed the number of deaths from the +four contagious diseases at one hundred a day. This would be quite +probable when it is considered that ten thousand were smitten with the +prevailing diseases, and that added to this were the crowded condition +of the patients, the thousands of homeless refugees who had flocked from +their forsaken villages, the lack of all comforts, of air, cleanliness, +and a state of prolonged starvation.</p> + +<p>Dr. Harris's first report to me was that he was obliged to set the soup +kettles boiling and feed his patients before medicine could be retained. +My reply was a draft for two hundred liras (something over eight hundred +dollars) with the added dispatch: "Keep the pot boiling; let us know +your wants." The further reports show from this time<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106">[Pg 106]</a></span> an astonishingly +small number of deaths. The utmost care was taken by all our expeditions +to prevent the spread of the contagion and there is no record of its +ever having been carried out of the cities, where it was found, either +at Zeitoun, Marash, or Arabkir. Lacking this precaution, it might well +have spread throughout all Asia Minor, as was greatly feared by the anxious people.</p> + +<p>On the twenty-fourth of May, Dr. Harris reported the disease as +overcome. His stay being no longer needed, he returned to his great +charge in Tripoli, with the record of a medical work and success behind +him never surpassed if ever equaled. The lives he had saved were enough +to gain Heaven's choicest diadem. Never has America cause to be more +justly proud and grateful than when its sons and daughters in foreign +lands perform deeds of worth like that.</p> + +<p>The closing of the medical fields threw our entire force into the +general relief of the vilayet of Harpoot, which the relieving +missionaries had well named their "bottomless pit."</p> + +<p>The apathy to which the state of utter nothingness, together with their +grief and fear, had <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107">[Pg 107]</a></span>reduced the inhabitants, was by no means the +smallest difficulty to be overcome. Here was realized the great danger +felt by all—that of continued alms-giving, lest they settle down into a +condition of pauperism, and thus finally starve, from the inability of +the world at large to feed them. The presence of a strange body of +friendly working people, coming thousands of miles to help them, +awakened a hope and stimulated the desire to help themselves.</p> + +<p>It was a new experience that these strangers <i>dared</i> to come to them. +Although the aforetime home lay a heap of stone and sand, and nothing +belonging to it remained, still the land was there, and when seed to +plant the ground and the farming utensils and cattle were brought to +work it with, the faint spirit revived, the weak, hopeless hands +unclasped, and the farmer stood on his feet again.</p> + +<p>When the cities could no longer provide the spades, hoes, plows, picks +and shovels, and the crude iron and steel to make these was purchased +and taken to them, the blacksmith found again his fire and forge and +traveled weary miles with his bellows on his back. The carpenter again +swung his<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108">[Pg 108]</a></span> hammer and drew his saw. The broken and scattered +spinning-wheels and looms from under the storms and <i>débris</i> of winter +again took form and motion, and the fresh bundles of wool, cotton, flax, +and hemp in the waiting widow's hand brought hopeful visions of the +revival of industries which should not only clothe but feed.</p> + +<p>At length, in early June, the great grain-fields of Diarbekir, Farkin, +and Harpoot valleys, planted the year before, grew golden and bowed +their heavy spear-crowned heads in waiting for the sickle. But no +sickles were there, no scythes, not even knives. It was a new and sorry +sight for our full-handed American farming men to see those poor, hard +Asiatic hands trying, by main strength, to break the tough straw or pull +it by the roots. This state of things could not continue, and their +sorrow and pity gave place to joy when they were able to drain the +cities of Harpoot and Diarbekir of harvest tools, and turned the work of +all the village blacksmiths on to the manufacture of sickles and +scythes, and of flint workers upon the rude threshing machines.</p> + +<p>They have told me since their return that the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109">[Pg 109]</a></span> pleasantest memories left +to them were of those great valleys of golden grain, bending and falling +before the harvesters, men and women, each with the new, sharp sickle or +scythe, the crude threshing planks, the cattle trampling out the grain, +and the gleaners in the rear as in the days of Abraham and Moab. God +grant that somewhere among them was a kind-hearted king of the harvest +who gave orders to let some sheaves fall.</p> + +<p>Even while this saving process was going on another condition no less +imperative arose. These fields must be replanted or starvation must be +simply delayed. Only the strength of their old-time teams of oxen could +break up the hard sod and prepare for the fall sowing. Not an +animal—ox, cow, horse, goat, or sheep—had been left. All had been +driven to the Kourdish Mountains. When Mr. Wood's telegram came, calling +for a thousand oxen for the hundreds of villages, I thought of our not +rapidly swelling bank account, and all that was needed everywhere else, +and replied accordingly.</p> + +<p>When in return came the telegram from the Rev. Dr. Gates, president of +Harpoot College, the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110">[Pg 110]</a></span> live, active, practical man of affairs, whose +judgment no one could question, saying that the need of oxen was +imperative, that unless the ground could be plowed before it dried and +hardened it could not be done at all, and the next harvest would be +lost, also that "Mr. Wood's estimate was moderate," the financial +secretary was directed to send a draft for five thousand liras +(twenty-two thousand dollars) to the care of the Rev. Dr. Gates, to be +divided among the three expeditions for the purchase of cattle and the +progress of the harvest of 1897.</p> + +<p>As the sum sent would be immediately applied, the active services of the +men would be no longer required, and directions went with the remittance +to report in person at Constantinople.</p> + +<p>Unheard-of toil, care, hard riding day and night, with risk of life, +were all involved in the carrying out of that order. Among the +uncivilized and robber bands of Kourds, the cattle that had been stolen +and driven off must be picked up, purchased, and brought back to the +waiting farmer's field. There were routes so dangerous that a brigand +chief was selected by those understanding<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111">[Pg 111]</a></span> the situation as the safest +escort for our men. Perhaps the greatest danger encountered was in the +region of Farkin, beyond Diarbekir, where the official escort had not +been waited for, and the leveled musket of the faithless guide told the difference.</p> + +<p>At length the task was accomplished. One by one the expeditions closed +and withdrew, returning by Sivas and Samsoun, and coming out by the +Black Sea. With the return of the expeditions we closed the field. But +contributors would be glad to know that subsequent to this, before +leaving Constantinople, funds from both the New York and Boston +committees came to us amounting to about fifteen thousand dollars. This +was happily placed with Mr. W. W. Pect, treasurer of the Board of +Foreign Missions at Stamboul, to be used subject to our order; and with +our concurrence it was employed in the building of little houses in the +interior, as a winter shelter and protection, where all had been destroyed.</p> + +<p>The appearance of our men on their arrival at Constantinople confirmed +the impression that they had not been recalled too soon. They had gone<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112">[Pg 112]</a></span> +out through the snows and ice of winter, and without change or rest had +come back through the scorching suns of midsummer—five months of rough, +uncivilized life, faring and sharing with their beasts of burden, +well-nigh out of communication with the civilized world, but never out +of danger. It seemed but just to themselves and to others who might need +them, that change and rest be given them.</p> + +<p>It would scarcely be permissible to express in words the obligation to +our American Minister, Hon. A. W. Terrell, at Constantinople, without +whose unremitting care and generous aid our work could not have been +accomplished. And, indeed, so many were the duties of that difficult and +delicate field that it seemed the help of no one hand or heart could be +spared. We felt that we had them all; from the palace of the Sultan to +beloved Robert College, from the American Legation to the busy rooms of +the American Board, with its masterly treasurer, Peet, were the same +outstretched hands of protection and care for our little band.</p> + +<p>They knew we had taken our lives in our hands<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113">[Pg 113]</a></span> to come to them, and with +no thought of ourselves. We had done the best we knew to accomplish the +mission so persistently sought of us in our own country.</p> + +<p>That our work had been acceptable to those who received its results, we +knew. They had never failed to <i>make</i> us know. If also acceptable to Him +who gave us the courage, protection, and strength to perform it, we need +care for little more.</p> + +<p>Funds to the total amount of $116,326.01 were cabled us by Mr. Spencer +Trask's committee, all of which were placed in the hands of Mr. W. W. +Peet, treasurer of the missionary board at Constantinople. All proper +receipts were given and taken, and feeling that we had faithfully and +successfully accomplished the work we had been asked to perform, we +closed the field, and prepared to return to America.</p> + +<p>Some days of physical rest were needful for the men of the expeditions +after reaching Constantinople before commencing their journey of +thousands of miles for home, worn as they were by exposure and incessant +labor—physical and mental. I need not attempt to say with what +gratitude I<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114">[Pg 114]</a></span> welcomed back these weary, brown-faced men and officers +from a field so difficult and so perilous; none the less did the +gratitude go out to my faithful and capable secretary, who had toiled +early and late, never leaving for a day, striving with tender heart that +all should go well.</p> + +<p>And when the first greetings were over, the full chorus of manly +voices—"Home Again," "Sweet Land of Liberty," "Nearer My God to +Thee"—that rolled out through the open windows of the Red Cross +headquarters in Constantinople fell on the listening ears of Christian +and Moslem alike, and though the tones were new and strange, all felt +that to some one, somewhere, they meant more than the mere notes of music.</p> + +<hr /> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115">[Pg 115]</a></span></p> + +<h2><a name="VIII" id="VIII"></a>VIII</h2> + +<h3>CUBA</h3> + +<h3>1898</h3> + +<p>On our return to "civilization" we were rejoiced to find that as a +result of our three months' labors, the former tumult of Armenia had +died away into a peaceful echo, but a new murmur fast growing to clamor +had taken its place. Cuba had entered the ceaseless arena of American, +gladiatorial, humanitarian contest. The cruelties of the reconcentrado +system of warfare had become apparent, and methods of relief were +uppermost in the minds of all persons.</p> + +<p>These methods were twofold and might well be classed under two distinct +heads: those who for mere pity's sake sought simple relief; those who +with a further forecast sought the removal of a cause as well as its +effect, and "Cuba Libre" was its muffled cry. They asked money for arms +as well as bread, and the struggle between the two<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_116" id="Page_116">[Pg 116]</a></span> held the country in +a state of perplexed contradiction for months running into years.</p> + +<p>Our great-hearted President asked simple aid and was distressed at the +doubtful response. At length he suggested and we proffered the aid of +the Red Cross on a call to the country, and the establishment of the +"Central Cuban Relief Committee" in New York, within three days, was the result.</p> + +<p>The activity and success of that committee are too fresh in the minds of +all our people to require the smallest description from me. Too much +praise can not be given to our Auxiliary Societies from the Atlantic to +the Pacific for the splendid work in the camps at home, in Cuba, Porto +Rico, and in the care of our soldiers in transit to the Philippines. +Their full and complete reports show the great work accomplished. The +memory of the work of the busy men and tireless women who joined heart +and hand in this Heaven-sent task still brings tears to the eyes of a +nation at its recall.</p> + +<p>The service assigned me by our anxious President, and gladly accepted, +was the distribution<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117">[Pg 117]</a></span> on the pitiful fields of Cuba. These scenes I +would not recall. The starving mothers and motherless babes, the +homelessness and squalor, the hopelessness and despair, are beyond all +words and all conception, save to those who saw and lived among them. It +is past and let it rest.</p> + +<p>Then followed the declaration of hostilities, the blockade, the fleets +of war, and the stately, glistening white ships of relief that dotted +the sea—our navy after forty years of peace again doing service in its +own waters—and among them one inconspicuous, black-hulled sea-going +craft, laden with food for the still famishing reconcentrados, when they +could be reached.</p> + +<p>Day after day, in its weary, waiting cruise, it watched out for an +opening to that closed-in suffering island, till at length the thunder +of the guns, Siboney, San Juan, opened the track, and the wounded troops +of our own army, hungering on their own fields, were the reconcentrados +of the hour.</p> + +<p>Tampa became the gathering-point of the army. Its camps filled like +magic, first with regulars, then volunteers, as if the fiery torch of +Duncraigen had<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_118" id="Page_118">[Pg 118]</a></span> spread over the hills and prairies of America. The great +ships gathered in the waters, the transports, with decks dark with human +life, passed in and out, and the battleships of the sea held ever their +commanding sway. It seemed a strange thing, this gathering for war. +Thirty years of peace had made it strange to all save the veterans of +the days of the old war, long passed into history. Could it be possible +that we were to learn this anew? Were men again to fall, and women weep? +Were the youth of this generation to gain that experience their fathers +had gained, to live the war-lives they had lived, and die the deaths +they had died?</p> + +<p>At length the fleet moved on, and we prepared to move with, or rather +after it. The quest on which it had gone, and the route it had taken, +bordered something on the mystery shrouding the days when Sherman +marched to the sea. Where were the Spanish ships? What would be the +result when found and met? Where were we to break that Cuban wall and +let us in?</p> + +<p>Always present in our minds were the food we carried, the willing hands +that waited, and the perishing thousands that needed. We knew the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_119" id="Page_119">[Pg 119]</a></span> great +hospital ships were fitting for the care of the men of both Army and +Navy. Surely they could have no need of us.</p> + +<p>We had taken possession of our ship at Key West on the 29th of April. It +was now the 20th of June and the national records of two countries at +least will always give the history of those days. It is our part to keep +as clearly, truthfully, and kindly as possible, the record of the little +that fell to us to perform in this great drama.</p> + +<p>Weighing anchor at Key West the State of Texas steamed for the open +Caribbean, we having first taken the official advice of Commodore Remy +to find Admiral Sampson and report to him.</p> + +<p>Sunrise of the twenty-fifth gave us our first view of the water at +Santiago. Our transports and battle-ships were gathered there. The +advice of Admiral Sampson was that we proceed to Guantanamo, where the +marines had made a landing and were camped on the shore. There had been +some fighting at Guantanamo. The naval hospital ship Solace was there.</p> + +<p>Whoever has enjoyed this quiet, sheltered harbor, protected on three +sides by beautiful<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_120" id="Page_120">[Pg 120]</a></span> wooded hills, will not require to be reminded of it. +At six o'clock our anchor sunk in the deep, still waters and we had time +to look about and see the beginning of the war. The marines were camped +along the brow of a hill. On our right a camp of Cubans, and all about +us the great war-ships with their guns, which told of forthcoming +trouble. Captain McCalla, who was in command of Guantanamo, had sent his +compliments and a launch, leading us in to our place of anchorage. The +courtesies of the navy so early commenced at Key West were continued +throughout the war.</p> + +<p>By invitation of Commander Dunlap our entire company visited the Solace +the following day. If that beautiful ship or its management had left +room on the records of our country's meed of gratitude, for more words +of appreciative praise, I should be glad to speak them. Only those +familiar with the earliest history of the Red Cross in our country, and +the methods by which our navy alone—of all the Red Cross nations—had +gained even an approximately legal place, can judge what the sight of +that first naval relief ship in American waters was to me. It brought +back<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_121" id="Page_121">[Pg 121]</a></span> so vividly the memory of the day in 1881 when President Arthur +called me to him to carefully explain the conditions of the treaty which +he had just signed, and that, Congress having generously included the +navy in its treaty for war, he would provide to hold it carefully until +the probable widening of the original treaty would include the <i>navies</i> +of the world, as well as the armies.</p> + +<p>Before the day closed news came to us of a serious character. The daring +Rough Riders had been hardly dealt by. Hamilton Fish and Allyn Capron +had been killed, and the wounded needed help. Wherever they might be, it +must be possible to reach them, and it was decided that no time be lost. +Our men commenced work in the hold of the ship to get at medical +supplies and dressings, and the captain took his orders. I find in my +diary at the close of that day the following paragraph: "It is the Rough +Riders we go to, and the relief may be also rough, but it will be +<i>ready</i>. A better body of helpers could scarcely be gotten together."</p> + +<p>Nine o'clock of the same night found us at Siboney, which can scarcely +be called a harbor, for it has no anchorage. The next morning at +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_122" id="Page_122">[Pg 122]</a></span>daybreak we stood on deck to see the soldiers filing up over the hill, +in heavy marching order, forming in lines by ones and twos, winding up, +in and out among the hills, higher and higher. As we watched them they +were a moving line trailing on toward the clouds, till lost in the mist, +and we could only think, as we looked at them, on how many and on which, +is set the mark of death? He knew no more than we—poor fellow—and +with his swinging, steady gait, toils up and up and waits for—he knows not what.</p> + +<p>The hospitals, both American and Cuban, located on the shore just to the +right of us, were visited by our men that same evening. Some of their +surgeons called on us. All seemed interested in the Red Cross, but none +thought that a woman nurse would be in place in a soldiers' +hospital—indeed, very much out of place. I suggested that that decision +was hard for me, for I had spent a great deal of time in soldiers' +hospitals myself. They appeared to understand that perfectly, but there +seemed to be a <i>later</i> line which could not be crossed.</p> + +<p>The Cubans who had just come into camp <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_123" id="Page_123">[Pg 123]</a></span>expressed a desire for any +assistance we could give them. They would be glad to have the Red Cross +Sisters in their little hospital, but begged us to wait just a day until +it could be put in better order. The Sisters were not the persons to +grant that day of preparation.</p> + +<p>On the contrary they at once went to work, thoroughly cleaned the little +three-room building—Garcia's abandoned headquarters, to be used as a +hospital—and when the day closed the transformation showed clean rooms, +clean cots, and the grateful occupants wondering whether Heaven itself +could be more comfortable, or anything more desirable than the palatable +food prepared for them by the Sisters.</p> + +<p>Three days later the following letter was received:</p> + +<p class="tbrk"> </p> + +<p>"To <span class="smcap">Miss Clara Barton</span>, President,<br /> + "American National Red Cross:</p> + +<p>"I have the honor to request your assistance in caring for the patients +in a so-called hospital near the landing at this point.</p> + +<p>"The orders are to the effect that all patients now under treatment on +the shore shall be <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_124" id="Page_124">[Pg 124]</a></span>transferred to the Iroquois and Olivette, but the +facilities for carrying out this order are apparently inadequate. In +order that the division hospital may remain unhampered for the care of +the wounded in the engagement about to take place, it is necessary for +me to request this favor of you, and I trust that you may find it +possible to comply with said request.</p> + +<p class="right">"Your obedient servant, <br /> +"<span class="smcap">Louis A. Le Garde</span>,</p> + +<p>"Major and Surgeon, U. S. A., Commanding Hospital."</p> + +<p class="tbrk"> </p> + +<p>To this the following reply was immediately returned:</p> + +<p class="tbrk"> </p> + +<p class="center">"Steamship State of Texas,</p> + +<p>"<span class="smcap">Siboney, Santiago de Cuba</span>, <i>June 30, 1898</i>.</p> + +<p>"<span class="smcap">Dr. Louis A. Le Garde</span>,</p> + +<p>"Major and Surgeon, U. S. A., Commanding Hospital.</p> + +<p>"Major: Permit me to express the pleasure given me by your letter +inviting the assistance of the persons here under my direction in the +care of the sick and wounded of the engagement about to take place. +Although not here as a hospital ship by any means—not legitimately +fitted for the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_125" id="Page_125">[Pg 125]</a></span>work—still we have some hospital supplies, a few +intelligent workers, skill, experience, the willingness to serve, the +readiness to obey, and I believe the true spirit of the Red Cross, that +seeks to help humanity wherever its needs exist. I send them to you in +the hope that they may be of service.</p> + +<p class="center">"Cordially yours,</p> + +<p class="right">"<span class="smcap">Clara Barton</span>, </p> + +<p class="center">"President, American National Red Cross."</p> + +<p class="tbrk"> </p> + +<p>Our surgeons and assistants went on shore, where Dr. Le Garde and Dr. +Lesser secured a small house, and in a few hours this had undergone the +same transformation and by the same hands as the Cuban hospital. The Red +Cross flag was hoisted, Dr. Lesser placed in charge, and scores of our +soldiers who had been lying on the filthy floors of an adjacent +building, with no food but army rations, were carried over, placed in +clean cots, and given proper food. From that on, no distinction was +made, the Red Cross flag floating over both the American and Cuban hospitals.</p> + +<p>A few feet away, all the available army tents were put up as additional +accommodation for the "wounded in the engagement about to take place."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_126" id="Page_126">[Pg 126]</a></span> +It did take place the following day, and, as will be well remembered, in +those two days, Friday and Saturday, the first and second of July, the +tents were more than filled with wounded in the battle of San Juan Hill. +Three of the five Sisters went into the operating tent, and with the +surgeons worked for thirty hours with only a few moments' rest now and +then for a cup of coffee and a cracker or piece of bread. We heard +nothing more about a woman nurse being out of place in a soldiers' hospital.</p> + +<p>On Saturday evening, the second day of the San Juan battle, a slip of +paper with these penciled words was brought to the door of the hospital:</p> + +<p class="tbrk"> </p> + +<p>"Send food, medicines, anything. Seize wagons from the front for transportation.</p> + +<p class="right">"<span class="smcap">Shafter.</span>"</p> + +<p class="tbrk"> </p> + +<p>The call for help was at once sent over to the State of Texas, and we +worked all night getting out supplies and sending them ashore with a +force of Cubans, only too glad to work for food.</p> + +<p>I wish I could make apparent how difficult a thing it was to get +supplies from our ship to the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_127" id="Page_127">[Pg 127]</a></span> shore in a surf which, after ten o'clock +in the morning, allowed no small boats to touch even the bit of a pier +that was run out without breaking either the one or the other, and +nothing in the form of a lighter save two dilapidated flat-boat +pontoons. These had been broken and cast away by the engineer corps, +picked up by ourselves, mended by the Cubans, and put in condition to +float alongside of our ship, and receive perhaps three or four tons of +material. This must then be rowed or floated out to the shore, run onto +the sand as far as possible, the men jumping into the water from knee to +waist deep, pulling the boat up from the surf, and getting the material +on land. And this was what was meant by loading the "seized wagons from +the front" and getting food to the wounded. After ten o'clock in the day +even this was impossible, and we must wait until the calm of three +o'clock next morning to commence work again and go through the same +struggle to get something to load the wagons for that day. Our supplies +had been gotten ashore, and among the last, rocking and tossing in our +little boat, went ourselves, landing on the pier, which by that time was +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_128" id="Page_128">[Pg 128]</a></span>breaking in two, escaping a surf which every other moment threatened to +envelop one from feet to head, we reached the land.</p> + +<p>Our "seized" wagons had already gone on, loaded with our best hospital +supplies—meal, flour, condensed milk, malted milk, tea, coffee, sugar, +dried fruits, canned fruits, canned meats, and such other things as we +had been able to get out in the haste of packing—entirely filling the +two wagons already in advance.</p> + +<p>An ambulance had been spoken of. We waited a little while by the +roadside, but the ambulance did not appear. Then, halting a wagon loaded +with bales of hay, we begged a ride of the driver, and our little party, +Dr. and Mrs. Gardner, James McDowell, and myself, took our seats on the +hay and made our way to the front, Dr. Hubbell following afoot. Four +hours' ride brought us to the First Division Hospital of the Fifth Army +Corps—General Shafter's headquarters.</p> + +<p>The sight that met us on going into the so-called hospital grounds was +something indescribable. The land was perfectly level; no drainage +whatever; covered with long, tangled grass; skirted by<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_129" id="Page_129">[Pg 129]</a></span> trees, brush, +and shrubbery; a few little dog-tents not much larger than could have +been made of an ordinary table-cloth thrown over a short rail, and under +these lay huddled together the men fresh from the field or from the +operating-tables, with no covering over them save such as had clung to +them through their troubles, and in the majority of cases no blanket under them.</p> + +<p>Those who had come from the tables, having been compelled to leave all +the clothing they had, as too wet, muddy, and bloody to be retained, +were entirely nude, lying on the stubble grass, the sun fitfully dealing +with them, sometimes clouding over and again streaming out in a blaze +above them. Fortunately, among our supplies were some bolts of +unbleached cotton, and this we cut in sheet lengths, and the men of our +party went about and covered the poor fellows, who lay there with no +shelter either from the elements or the eyes of the passers-by.</p> + +<p>A half dozen bricks laid about a yard apart, a couple of pieces of +wagon-tire laid across these, so low and so near the ground that no fire +of any strength or benefit could be made—the bits<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_130" id="Page_130">[Pg 130]</a></span> of wet wood put +under crosswise, with the smoke streaming a foot out on either side, two +kettles of coffee or soup, and a small frying-pan with some meat in +it—appeared to be the cook-house for these men. They told us there were +about eight hundred men under the tents and lying in the grass, and more +constantly coming in.</p> + +<p>After a few moments' consultation as to the best methods to be pursued, +we too gathered stones and bricks and constructed a longer, higher +fireplace, got more wagon-tires, found the water, and soon our great +agate kettles of seven and ten gallons were filled.</p> + +<p>The rain, that had been drizzling more or less all day, increased. Our +supplies were taken from the wagons, a piece of tarpaulin found to +protect them, and as the fire began to blaze and the water to heat, Mrs. +Gardner and I found the way into the bags and boxes of flour, salt, +milk, and meal, and got material for the first gallons of gruel. I had +not thought to ever make gruel again over a camp-fire. I can not say how +far it carried me back in the lapse of time, or really where, or who I +felt that I was.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_131" id="Page_131">[Pg 131]</a></span></p><p>It did not seem to be me, and still I seemed to know how to do it.</p> + +<p>When the bubbling contents of our kettle thickened and grew white with +the condensed milk, and we began to give it out—putting it into the +hands of men detailed as nurses, and our own men, to take around to the +poor sufferers, shivering and naked in the rain—I felt that perhaps it +was not in vain that history had repeated itself. When the nurses came +back and told us of the surprise with which it was received, and the +tears that rolled down the sun-burned, often bloody face, into the cup +as the poor fellow drank his hot gruel, and asked where it came from, +who sent it, and said it was the first food he had tasted in three days +(for they had gone into the fight hungry), I felt that it was again the +same old story and wondered what gain there had been in the last thirty years.</p> + +<p>The fires burned, the gruel steamed and boiled—bucket after bucket went +out—until those eight hundred men had each a cup of gruel and knew that +he could have another and as many as he wanted. The day waned, the +darkness came, and still the men were unsheltered, uncovered, naked,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_132" id="Page_132">[Pg 132]</a></span> +and wet—scarcely a groan, no word of complaint—no man said he was not +well treated.</p> + +<p>The operating-tables were full of the wounded. Man after man was taken +off, brought on his litter and laid beside other men, and something +given him to keep the little life in his body that seemed fast oozing +out. All night it went on. It grew cold—for naked men bitter +cold—before morning. We had no blankets, nothing to cover them, only +the strips of cotton cloth.</p> + +<p>Early in the morning ambulances started, and such of the wounded as +could be loaded in were taken to be carried back over that rough, +pitiless road, down to Siboney, to the hospitals there—that we had done +the best we could toward fitting up—where our hundred cots, hundred and +fifty blankets had gone, cups, spoons, and delicacies, that would help +to strengthen these poor, fainting men, if they could get there, and +where also the Sisters would care for them.</p> + +<p>They brought man after man, stretcher after stretcher, to the waiting +ambulances, and they took out seventeen who had died in the night, +unattended, save by the nurse.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_133" id="Page_133">[Pg 133]</a></span></p><p>More supplies arrived, and this time came large tarpaulins, more +utensils, more food, and more things to make it a little comfortable. We +removed our first kitchens across the road, up alongside the headquarter +tent of Major Wood, in charge of the camp. Words can not do justice to +his kind-hearted generosity. He strove in every way to do all that could +be done, and the night before had given us a small tent in which we had +huddled from the pouring rain, for a couple of hours, in the middle of +the night, the water rushing through like a rivulet.</p> + +<p>The tarpaulins were put over supplies, a new fireplace made near +us—magnificent in its dimensions—shelter given for boxes and barrels +that by this time had accumulated about us, and there was even something +that looked like a table, on which Mrs. Gardner prepared her delicacies.</p> + +<p>Early in the day there came to our improvised headquarters an officer in +khaki uniform showing hard service, and a bandanna handkerchief hanging +from his hat, to protect the back of his head and neck from the fierce +rays of the sun.</p> + +<p>It was Colonel Roosevelt, and we were very glad<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_134" id="Page_134">[Pg 134]</a></span> to meet the gallant +leader of the "Rough Riders." After a few moments conversation he said:</p> + +<p>"I have some sick men with the regiment who refuse to leave it. They +need such delicacies as you have here, which I am ready to pay for out +of my own pocket. Can I buy them from the Red Cross?"</p> + +<p>"Not for a million dollars," Dr. Gardner replied.</p> + +<p>"But my men need these things," he said, his tone and face expressing +anxiety. "I think a great deal of my men. I am proud of them."</p> + +<p>"And we know they are proud of you, Colonel. But we can't sell Red Cross +supplies," answered Dr. Gardner.</p> + +<p>"Then, how can I get them? I must have proper food for my sick men," he said.</p> + +<p>"Just ask for them, Colonel," replied Dr. Gardner.</p> + +<p>"Oh," he said, his face suddenly lighting up with a bright smile; "then +I do ask for them."</p> + +<p>"All right, Colonel; what is your list?"</p> + +<p>The list included malted milk, condensed milk, oatmeal, cornmeal, canned +fruits, dried fruits, rice,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_135" id="Page_135">[Pg 135]</a></span> tea, chocolate, and even prepared beefsteak +and vegetables, and other things good for men who could not eat army rations.</p> + +<p>"Now, Colonel, when will you send for these supplies?" asked Dr. +Gardner. "They will be ready any time."</p> + +<p>"Lend me a sack and I'll take them right along," he answered with +characteristic decision.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Gardner at once looked up a sack, and when filled it must have held +a good many pounds of supplies. Before we had recovered from our +surprise, the incident was closed by the future President of the United +States slinging the big sack over his shoulders, striding off, and out +of sight through the jungle.</p> + +<p>The gruel still remained the staple, but malted milk, chocolate, rice, +and tea had come in, and little by little various things were added by +which our <i>menage</i> quite resembled a hotel. The wounded were still being +taken away by ambulance and wagon, assorted and picked over like fruit. +Those who would bear transportation were taken away, the others left +where they were. By the third day our patients seemed strong enough that +we might<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_136" id="Page_136">[Pg 136]</a></span> risk giving them food as solid as rice, and the great kettles +were filled with that, cooked soft, mixed with condensed and malted +milk. The number of wounded grew less day by day, and better care could +be taken of them.</p> + +<p>At Siboney, the great needs of the hour were met by the little band of +surgeons and nurses, working night and day. The following is from a +letter in the Times-Herald, now Record-Herald, of Chicago, by Miss Janet +Jennings, who volunteered her service in the hospital. One gets from +this simple, direct picture, a better appreciation of that heroism which +lives after excitement, which survives the rush and shouting of assault, +which is sustained without comradeship:</p> + +<p class="tbrk"> </p> + +<p class="right">"<span class="smcap">Siboney</span>, <i>July 8, 1898</i>.</p> + +<p>"Above hospital tents Red Cross flags are flying, and here is the real +life—the suffering and heroism. Everybody who can do even so little as +carry a cup of water lends willing hands to help the wounded. Most of +the wounded are from the first day's engagement, when the infantry was +ordered to lead the attack on Santiago, instead of using the artillery.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_137" id="Page_137">[Pg 137]</a></span></p><p>"And it all came at once—a quick blow—with little or no preparation +to meet it. I mentioned in a former letter the lack of preparation on +the part of the army to care for the sick. There was then almost +nothing—no cots, bedding or proper food, for less than one hundred sick men.</p> + +<p>"Two days later, when the wounded came in, the needs of the hour were +overwhelming. The situation can not be described. Thousands of our men +had been hurried to the front to fight. It was well understood that it +would be a hard fight. The dead would need only burial, but the wounded +would need care. And yet, with the exception of a limited number of +stretchers, a medicine-chest and a few bandages, no preparation had been +made—neither cots nor food—practically no hospital supplies.</p> + +<p>"It is not strange that surgeons were desperate and nurses distressed. +The force of each was wholly inadequate. The exact number of wounded may +never be known. But the estimate at this time is about 1,000 +wounded—some 1,500 killed and wounded.</p> + +<p>"Wounded men who made their way down on foot eight miles over the rough, +hilly road will never know just how their strength held out. Others were +brought down in army wagons by<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_138" id="Page_138">[Pg 138]</a></span> the load, as few ambulances were at +hand. Fortunately, there were some tents here that had been used by +troops before going to the front. Under these hay was spread and covered +with blankets, and the improvised hospital was ready. One tent was taken +for operating-tables, and the work of surgeons and nurses began. They +worked night and day for forty-eight hours, with only brief intervals +for coffee and hard-tack.</p> + +<p>"Wounded men had to wait for hours before bullets could be extracted and +wounds dressed. But there was no word of complaint—only silent, patient +suffering, borne with a courage that was sublime. As the wounded +continued to come in, tent-room gave out, and hay with blankets were +placed outside, and to these 'beds' the less severely wounded were +assigned. It was evident that the medical department of the army had +failed absolutely to send hospital supplies, or by this time they would +have been landed. As it was, the surgeons turned to the Red Cross ship +'State of Texas' for help, and the supplies originally intended for the +starving Cubans were sent ashore for our wounded.</p> + +<p>"Miss Barton had been urged and advised to wait until the army opened +and made the way safe to land supplies for reconcentrados and refugees.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_139" id="Page_139">[Pg 139]</a></span> +But she had foreseen the situation to a certain degree and followed the +army as quickly as possible—to wait for the emergency, rather than have +the emergency wait for her. The 'State of Texas' was here a week before +the attack on Santiago.</p> + +<p>"While surgeons and nurses were probing for bullets and dressing wounds, +a force of men on the Red Cross ship worked half the night getting out +cots and blankets, food and bandages, and at daylight next morning the +supplies were landed, taking advantage of the smooth sea between four +and nine o'clock, as later in the day the high surf makes it extremely +difficult for landings. There were six tables in the operating-tent and +eight surgeons. In twenty-four hours the surgeons had operated upon and +dressed the wounds of 475 men. Four Red Cross sisters, trained nurses, +assisted the surgeons. They were Sister Bettina, wife of Dr. Lesser, +surgeon-in-chief of the Red Cross; Sister Minna, Sister Isabel, and +Sister Blanche. Their knowledge of surgery, skill, and nerve were a +revelation to the army surgeons. These young women, all under thirty, +went from one operating-table to another, and, whatever was the nature +of the wound or complication, proved equal to the emergency.</p> + +<p>"In the Red Cross Hospital, across the way,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_140" id="Page_140">[Pg 140]</a></span> Sister Anna was in charge +of the sick men, turned over to the Red Cross two days before, when army +surgeons with troops were all ordered to the front. With 475 wounded men +to feed there was not a camp-kettle to be found in which gruel could be +prepared, coffee made or anything cooked, not a kettle of any sort to be +furnished by the army. The whole camp outfit at Tampa in the way of +cooking utensils must have been left behind.</p> + +<p>"But there was an overruling Providence when the 'State of Texas' was +loaded for Cuba. So far everything needed has been found in the hold of +this old ship, which deserves to have and will have a credit page in the +history of the war in Cuba. There were kettles, charcoal braziers, and +cooking utensils carried over to the Red Cross Hospital. To prepare +gruel, rice, coffee, and various other proper and palatable dishes for +forty or fifty sick men by the slow process of a charcoal brazier, +tea-kettle, and boiler is by no means easy cooking. But to prepare food +for 475 wounded men, some of whom had had nothing to eat for twenty-four +hours, cooking over a little charcoal pot is something that one must +take a 'hand in' to fully appreciate.</p> + +<p>"There was the feeling as if one were dazed and unnatural to hear +American soldiers, men from<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_141" id="Page_141">[Pg 141]</a></span> comfortable homes, literally begging for +'just a spoonful of gruel.' The charcoal pot burned night and day, +gallons of gruel were made and quantities of rice cooked until the +greatest stress had passed. It was no time to stand on trained service, +and everybody, man or woman, was ready to lend a hand.</p> + +<p>"A striking feature of the first day's engagement was the number of men +wounded in the head, arm, and upper part of the body. Some of these +cases, the most serious, were taken into the Red Cross Hospital, where +they received the most skilful and gentle nursing.</p> + +<p>"Two days' steady strain began to show on the Sisters.</p> + +<p>"The strain had been the greater because there were no facilities for +anything like a regular meal short of the ship, reached by a long, hard +tramp in the sand, then a row over the tossing waves. But nobody thought +of meals. The one thing was to feed and nurse the 500 wounded and sick +men. Human endurance, however, has its limit, and unless the Sisters +could get a little rest they would give out. I went on duty for +twenty-four hours, at night, with the assistance of one man, taking care +of forty patients, fever, measles, and dysentery cases, and half a dozen +badly wounded men.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_142" id="Page_142">[Pg 142]</a></span> Among the latter was Captain Mills, of the First +Cavalry, and William Clark, a colored private in the Twenty-fifth +Infantry, regulars. They were brought over from the hospital tents and +placed on cots out on the little porch, where there was just room to +pass between the cots.</p> + +<p>"Their wounds were very similar—in the head—and of such a character as +to require cool applications to the eyes constantly. Ice was scarce and +worth its weight in gold, for the lives of these men as well as others +depended chiefly on cool applications to the eyes, with as uniform +temperature as possible. We had one small piece of ice, carefully +wrapped in a blanket. There never was a small piece of ice that went so +far. If I were to tell the truth about it nobody would believe me.</p> + +<p>"Never in my whole life, I think, have I wished for anything so much as +I wished for plenty of ice that night. It was applied by chipping in +small bits, laid in thin, dry cotton cloth, folded over in just the +right size and flat, to place across the eyes and forehead, enough of it +to be cold, but not heavy, on the wounds.</p> + +<p>"The ears of the sick are strangely acute. Whenever the sick men heard +the sound of chipping ice they begged for ice-water; even the smallest +bit of ice in a cup of water was begged with an<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_143" id="Page_143">[Pg 143]</a></span> eagerness that was +pitiful. I felt conscience-smitten. But it was a question of saving the +eyes of the wounded men, and there was no other way. To make the ice +last till morning I stealthily chipped it off so the sick men would not +hear the sound.</p> + +<p>"At midnight a surgeon came over from his tent ward with a little piece +of ice not larger than his hand. I do not know his name, but it does not +matter, it is inscribed above. 'This is all we can spare,' he said. +'Take it. You must keep those wounds cool at all hazards. I have another +case very like these—a man wounded in the head. I want to bring him +over here, where he will be sure of exactly the same nursing. His life +depends on the care he gets in the next twenty-four hours. Have you a vacant cot?'</p> + +<p>"There was not a vacant cot, but we could make room for one on the porch +if he could find the cot. He thought he could, and went back, taking the +precious piece of ice that he really needed more than we did. In the +course of a half hour the surgeon returned to say it was impossible to +get a cot anywhere, and the wounded man must be left where he was in the +tent, at least until morning.</p> + +<p>"And so it went on through the long night—the patient suffering of the +sick men, the heroism of the wounded, all fearing to give any trouble,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_144" id="Page_144">[Pg 144]</a></span> +desiring not to do so, find grateful for the smallest attention.</p> + +<p>"The courage that faces death on the battlefield or calmly awaits it in +the hospital is not a courage of race or color. Two of the bravest men I +ever saw were here, almost side by side on the little porch—Captain +Mills and Private Clark—one white, the other black. They were wounded +almost at the same time, and in the same way. The patient suffering and +heroism of the black soldier was fully equal to that of the Anglo-Saxon. +It was quite the same, the gentleness and appreciation. They were a +study, these men so widely apart in life, but here strangely close and +alike on the common ground of duty and sacrifice. They received +precisely the same care; each fed like a child, for with their bandaged +eyes they were as helpless as blind men. When the ice pads were renewed +on Captain Mills's eyes the same change was made on Private Clark's +eyes. There was no difference in their beds or food. Neither uttered a +word of complaint. The nearest to a regret expressed by Captain Mills +was a heavy sigh, followed by the words: 'Oh, we were not ready. Our +army was not prepared.'</p> + +<p>"Of himself he talked cheerfully, strong, and hopeful. 'I think I shall +go home with the sight of one eye,' he said. That was all.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_145" id="Page_145">[Pg 145]</a></span></p><p>"In the early part of the night he was restless, his brain was active, +cool, and brave as he might be. The moonlight was very bright, a flood +of silver, seen only in the tropics. Hoping to divert him I said: 'The +moonlight is too bright, captain. I will put up a paper screen so you +can get to sleep.'</p> + +<p>"He realized at once the absurdity and the ludicrous side, and with an +amused smile replied: 'But you know I can't see the moonlight.'</p> + +<p>"I said it was time to get more ice for his head and half stumbled +across the porch, blinded by tears. When told who his nearest neighbor +was, Captain Mills expressed great sympathy for Private Clark and paid a +high tribute to the bravery of the colored troops and their faithful +performance of duty.</p> + +<p>"Private Clark talked but little. He would lie apparently asleep until +the pain in his head became unbearable. Then he would try to sit up, +always careful to keep the ice-pad on his eyes over the bandage.</p> + +<p>"'What can I do for you, Clark?' I would ask, anxious to relieve his pain.</p> + +<p>"'Nothing, thank you,' he would answer. 'It's very nice and comfortable +here. But it's only the misery in my head—the misery is awful.'</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_146" id="Page_146">[Pg 146]</a></span></p><p>"Poor fellow! there was never a moan, merely a little sigh now and +then, but always that wonderful patience that seemed to me not without a +touch of divine philosophy, complete acceptance.</p> + +<p>"I have mentioned these two men, not as exceptional in bravery, but to +illustrate the rule of heroism, and because they were among the patients +under my immediate care that night. It was a strange night picture—a +picture that could never be dimmed by time but live through all the +years of one's life.</p> + +<p>"After midnight a restful atmosphere pervaded the hospital and the +blessing of sleep fell upon the suffering men, one by one. In the little +interval of repose I dropped into an old chair on the porch, looked away +to the beautiful mountains sharply outlined in the moonlight, and the +sea like waves of silver, the camp on the shore; near by thirty or forty +horses standing motionless. Then the hospital tents, with now and then +the flickering light of a candle; in the background the cliffs, with +here and there a Spanish blockhouse. Over all the tragedy of life and +death, the pain and sorrow, there was the stillness of a peaceful +night—a stillness broken only by the sound of the surf brought back on +the cool breeze, the cool, refreshing breeze, for which we all thanked God."</p> + +<p class="tbrk"> </p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_147" id="Page_147">[Pg 147]</a></span></p><p>Later on, as will be remembered, Miss Jennings went North—a volunteer +nurse on the transport Seneca. The brave men whose lives hung in the +balance that night—with little hope that, if life were spared, they +would ever see again—recovered, but each with the loss of an eye. After +a long furlough Private Clark returned to his regiment. Captain Mills, +now General Mills, is the Superintendent of the West Point Military Academy.</p> + +<p>Three times in the first week I went over those terrible roads from the +front to Siboney and return. Arriving at Siboney late one night, there +was no way I could get on board the State of Texas and I was obliged to +remain on shore. The Postmaster insisted that I occupy a room in the +building used for a post-office. Such a courtesy could not be refused, +and against all feeling of acquiescence, and with a dread as if there +were something wrong about it, I allowed myself to be helped out of the +wagon and entered the house. The Postmaster sat down and talked with me +a little while. I thought he seemed ill. I had never met him before, but +my heart went out in sympathy<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_148" id="Page_148">[Pg 148]</a></span> for him. I feared I was taking his room, +although he did not admit it.</p> + +<p>I was shown into a room where there was a cot, a table, and a candle +without a stick, burning upon the table. The men went outside and laid +down upon the steps for the night. I laid down upon the cot, but it was +impossible for me to remain there. Something constantly warned me to +leave it. I got up, went to the door, looked out upon the night and +darkness, and waited for the gray of the morning. I went out and stood +upon the beach beside the sea and waited more and more, until finally +some of the men appeared, and I went with them down to the water.</p> + +<p>Six days later they told me that the rightful occupant of the cot—the +Postmaster, who had seemed so ill—had died of a fever raging here that +they called "yellow fever." I had occupied his cot. I wonder who it was +that so continually warned me that night to keep away from that room, +away from the cot, away from all connected with it? "Yellow fever" was +not then talked of. Did some one tell me? I do not know—but something told me.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_149" id="Page_149">[Pg 149]</a></span></p><p>The negotiations between General Shafter and the Spanish army at +Santiago were going on. The flag of truce, that threatened every day to +come down, still floated. The Spanish soldiers had been led by their +officers to believe that every man who surrendered—and the people as +well—would be butchered whenever the city should fall and the American +troops should come in. But when General Shafter commenced to send back +convoys of captured Spanish officers, their wounds dressed, and +carefully placed on stretchers, borne under flags of truce to the +Spanish lines at Santiago, and set down at the feet of General Toral, +and when in astonishment that officer learned the object of the flag of +truce and sent companies of his soldiers to form in line and present +arms, while the cortege of wounded were borne through by American +troops, a lesson was learned that went far toward the surrender of that city.</p> + +<p>I happen to know that it was not without some very natural home +criticism that General Shafter persisted in his course in the face of +the time-honored custom of "hostages." One can readily understand that +the voluntary giving up of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_150" id="Page_150">[Pg 150]</a></span> prisoners—officers at that—in view of an +impending battle, might seem in the light of old-time army usages a +waste, to characterize it by no harder term. It is possible that none of +the officers in that field had ever read the Articles of the Treaty of +Geneva, or fully recalled that the treaty had become a law, or that +their commander was acting in full accord with its wise and humane principles.</p> + +<p>By this time the main talk of the camp was "yellow fever." It was soon +discovered by the medical authorities that, from there having been at +first one case of fever, there were now one hundred and sixteen, and +that a fever camp would probably be made there, and the wounded gotten +away. It was advisable then that we return to our ship and attempt, as +far as possible, to hold that free from contagion. I was earnestly +solicited to do this, in view of what was expected of our ship, and of +what was expected of us, that we not only protect ourselves but our +cargo and ship from all contamination and even suspicion.</p> + +<p>I faithfully promised to do so, and again called for an army wagon, +leaving all supplies that were useful for the men in camp—sending to El +Caney<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_151" id="Page_151">[Pg 151]</a></span> what was most needed there—and taking only our personal effects, +started for Siboney. In less than twenty minutes the rain was pouring on +us and for two hours it fell as if from buckets. The water was from a +foot and a half to two feet deep in the road as we passed along. At one +time our wagon careened, the mules were held up, and we waited to see +whether it should go over or could be brought out, the water a few +inches only from the top of the lower side. It was scarcely possible for +us to stir, hemmed in as we were, but the men from the other wagons +sprang to our wheels, hanging in the air on the upper side, and we were +simply saved by an inch.</p> + +<p>But like other things, this cleared away. We came into Siboney about +three o'clock, in a bright glare of sunshine, to find the town entirely +burned—all buildings gone or smoking—and a "yellow fever" hospital +established a mile and a half out from Siboney.</p> + +<p>All effort was made to hold our ship free from suspicion. The process of +reasoning leading to the conclusion that a solid cargo, packed in tight +boxes in the hold of a ship, anchored at sea, could<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_152" id="Page_152">[Pg 152]</a></span> become infected in +a day from the land or a passing individual, is indeed an intricate +process. But we had some experience in this direction. Captain McCalla, +in his repeated humane attempts to feed the refugees around Guantanamo, +had called again for a hundred thousand rations, saying that if we could +bring them to him soon he could get them to the starving people in the +woods. We lost no time, but got the food out and started with it in the +night. On reaching Guantanamo we were met some distance out, called to, +and asked if any one on our ship had been on shore at Siboney within +four days; if so, our supplies could not be received. We took them away, +leaving the starving to perish.</p> + +<p>The constantly recurring news of the surrender of Santiago was so well +established that we drew anchor, came up to the flag-ship, and sent the +following letter to Admiral Sampson:</p> + +<p class="tbrk"> </p> + +<p class="center">"State of Texas,</p> + +<p class="right">"<i>July 16, 1898</i>.</p> + +<p>"<span class="smcap">Admiral Sampson</span>, Commanding U. S. Fleet off +Santiago, Flag-Ship New York.</p> + +<p>"Admiral: It is not necessary for me to explain to you my errand, nor +its necessity; both your good<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_153" id="Page_153">[Pg 153]</a></span> head and heart divine it more clearly +than any words of mine can represent.</p> + +<p>"I send this to you by one of our men who can tell all you wish to know. +Mr. John Elwell has resided and done mercantile and shipping business in +Santiago for the last seven years; is favorably known to all its people; +has in his possession the keys of the best warehouses and residences in +the city, to which he is given welcome by the owners. He is the person +appointed four months ago to help distribute this food, and did so with +me until the blockade. There seems to be nothing in the way of getting +our twelve hundred tons of food into a Santiago warehouse and giving it +intelligently to the thousands who <i>need</i> and <i>own</i> it. I have twenty +good helpers with me. The New York committee is urging the discharge of +the State of Texas, which has been raised in price to four hundred +dollars a day.</p> + +<p>"If there is still more explanation needed, I pray you, Admiral, let me +see you.</p> + +<p class="center">"Respectfuly and cordially,</p> + +<p class="right">"<span class="smcap">Clara Barton</span>."</p> + +<p class="tbrk"> </p> + +<p>These were anxious days. While the world outside was making up war +history, we thought of little beyond the terrible needs about us; if +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_154" id="Page_154">[Pg 154]</a></span>Santiago had any people left, they must be in sore distress; and El +Caney, with its thirty thousand homeless, perishing sufferers, how could +they be reached?</p> + +<p>On that Sunday morning, never to be forgotten, the Spanish fleet came +out of Santiago Harbor, to meet death and capture. That afternoon +Lieutenant Capehart, of the flag-ship, came on board with the courteous +reply of Admiral Sampson, that if we would come alongside the New York +he would put a pilot on board. This was done, and we moved on through +waters we had never traversed; past Morro Castle, long, low, silent, and +grim; past the wrecks of the Spanish ships on the right; past the +Merrimac in the channel. We began to realize that we were alone, of all +the ships about the harbor there were none with us. The stillness of the +Sabbath was over all. The gulls sailed and flapped and dipped about us. +The lowering summer sun shot long golden rays athwart the green hills on +either side and tinged the water calm and still. The silence grew +oppressive as we glided along with scarce a ripple. We saw on the right +as the only moving thing, a long, slim<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_155" id="Page_155">[Pg 155]</a></span> yacht dart out from among the +bushes and steal its way up half-hidden in the shadows. Suddenly it was +overtaken by either message or messenger, and like a collared hound +glided back as if it had never been.</p> + +<p>Leaning on the rail, half lost in reverie over the strange, quiet beauty +of the scene, the thought suddenly burst upon me—are we really going +into Santiago, and alone? Are we not to be run out, and wait aside, and +salute with dipping colors, while the great battle-ships come up with +music and banners and lead the way?</p> + +<p>As far as the eye could reach no ship was in sight. Was this to remain +so? Could it be possible that the commander who had captured a city +declined to be the first to enter, that he would hold back his flag-ship +and himself, and send forward and first a cargo of food on a plain ship, +under direction of a woman? Did our commands, military or naval, hold +men great enough of soul for such action? It must be true, for the +spires of Santiago rise before us, and turning to the score of +companions beside me I ask: "Is there any one here who will lead the +Doxology?" In an instant<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_156" id="Page_156">[Pg 156]</a></span> the full rich voice of Enola Gardner rang out: +"Praise God from whom all blessings flow." By that time the chorus was +full, and the tears on many a face told more plainly than words how +genuine was that praise, and when in response to a second suggestion "My +Country 'Tis of Thee" swelled out on the evening air in the farewell +rays of the setting sun, the State of Texas was nearing the dock, and +quietly dropping her anchor she lay there through the silence of the +night in undisputed possession, facing a bare wind-swept wharf and the +deserted city of Santiago.</p> + +<p>Daybreak brought quiet to an end. The silence was no longer oppressive. +A hundred and twenty stevedores lined up on the wharf for work and +breakfast. The dock had tracks, and trucks running to its open +warehouses. Boxes, barrels, and bales, pitched out of that ship, thrown +onto the trucks and wheeled away, told the story of better days to come. +It was something to see the lank, brawny little army of stevedores take +their first breakfast in line, alongside of the ship.</p> + +<p>Later in the day the flag-ship brought Admiral Sampson and Admiral +Schley, who spent several<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_157" id="Page_157">[Pg 157]</a></span> hours with us. They had every opportunity to +see how our work was done, and if we were equal to unloading our ship. +When they were about to leave Admiral Sampson was asked what orders or +directions he had for us. He replied: "You need no directions from me, +but if any one troubles you let me know."</p> + +<p>The amiable pleasantries of these two gallant officers during that visit +are a pleasure to recall. As I was, at an opportune moment, attempting +to express my appreciation and thanks to Admiral Sampson for the +courtesy of allowing us to precede him into Santiago, Admiral Schley, +with that <i>naïveté</i> and apt turn of expression so characteristic of him, +in a half undertone side-remark, cautioned me with "Don't give him too +much credit, Miss Barton; he was not quite sure how clear the channel +might be. Remember that was a trial trip."</p> + +<p>How sadly the recollection of that pleasant, memorable day has since +recurred to me; brave, gallant brothers in arms, and in heart; knowing +only a soldier's duty; each holding his country's honor first, his own +last; its glory his glory, and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_158" id="Page_158">[Pg 158]</a></span> for himself seeking nothing more. Ah, +people, press, and politics! How deal ye with your servants?</p> + +<p>A message was received from General Shafter, who telegraphed from his +headquarters; "The death rate at El Caney is terrible; can you send +food?" The answer was to send the thirty thousand refugees of El Caney +at once back to Santiago; we were there and could feed them; that the +State of Texas had still twelve hundred tons of supplies.</p> + +<p>The thirty thousand inhabitants of Santiago had been driven to El Caney, +a village designed for five hundred. In two days all were called back +and fed, ten thousand the first day, twenty thousand the second. Then +came our troops, and Santiago was lived and is remembered. Its +hospitals, the ante-chamber to Montauk, are never to be forgotten.</p> + +<p>A general committee was formed, the city districted into sections, with +a commissioner for each district, selected by the people themselves +living there. Every family or person residing within the city was +supplied by the commissioner of that <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_159" id="Page_159">[Pg 159]</a></span>district, and all transient +persons were fed at the kitchens, the food being provided by the Red Cross.</p> + +<p>The discharge of the cargo of the State of Texas commenced at six +o'clock Monday morning, July 18th. One hundred and twenty-five +stevedores were employed and paid in food issued as rations. Four days +later the discharge was completed.</p> + +<p>Although the army had entered the city during the latter part of that +time, there had been no confusion, no groups of disorderly persons seen, +no hunger in the city more than in ordinary times. We had done all that +could be done to advantage at that time in Santiago. The United States +troops had mainly left. The Spanish soldiers were coming in to their +waiting ships, bringing with them all the diseases that unprovided and +uncleanly camps would be expected to hold in store. Five weeks before we +had brought into Santiago all the cargo of the State of Texas excepting +the hospital supplies, which had been used the month previous among our +own troops at Siboney, General Shafter's front, and El Caney during the +days of fighting.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_160" id="Page_160">[Pg 160]</a></span></p><p>These were the last days of General Shafter in Santiago, who was, as he +had at all times been, the kind and courteous officer and gentleman. +General Wood, who was made Governor of the Province of Santiago upon the +day of surrender—alert, wise, and untiring, with an eye single to the +good of all—toiled day and night.</p> + +<p>The State of Texas steamed away to its northern home. Peace and plenty +came. The reconcentrados we went in search of were never reached. To +those who could not withstand, Heaven came. To those who could, <i>Cuba Libre</i>.</p> + +<p>Later on, general efforts were made for the protection of the thousands +of orphans over the island, in which efforts the Red Cross joined. But +the people of Cuba solved the question themselves—by a general adoption +in their own homes—and orphanages in Cuba became a thing of the past.</p> + +<p>Thus our work on that distressful field closed, after nearly two years +of such effort as one would never desire to repeat. The financial +management of that field, so far as the Red Cross was concerned, was +done under the attorneyship of the Central Cuban Relief Committee of New +York, whose <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_161" id="Page_161">[Pg 161]</a></span>reports are models of accuracy and accountability, and to +which any person desiring information may be referred.</p> + +<p>Cuba was a hard field, full of heart-breaking memories. It gave the +first opportunity to test the cooperation between the government and its +supplemental handmaiden, the Red Cross. That these relations might not +have been clearly understood at this initial date may well be +appreciated, but that time and experience will remedy this may be +confidently hoped.</p> + +<p>Through all our discouragements the steady hand and calm approval of our +great head of the army and navy was our solace and our strength. And +when at length it was all over, his hand could trace for his message to +his people the following testimonial, what need had one even to remember +past discouragements, however great? It was as if the hand of the martyr +had set its undying seal upon the brow of the American Red Cross. What +greater justification could it have? What greater riches could it crave?</p> + +<p class="tbrk"> </p> + +<p>"In this connection it is a pleasure for<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_162" id="Page_162">[Pg 162]</a></span> me to mention in terms of +cordial appreciation the timely and useful work of the American Red +Cross, both in relief measures preparatory to the campaigns, in sanitary +assistance at several of the camps of assemblage, and, later, under the +able and experienced leadership of the president of the society, Miss +Clara Barton, on the fields of battle and in the hospitals at the front +in Cuba. Working in conjunction with the governmental authorities and +under their sanction and approval, and with the enthusiastic cooperation +of many patriotic women and societies in the various States, the Red +Cross has fully maintained its already high reputation for intense +earnestness and ability to exercise the noble purposes of its +international organization, thus justifying the confidence and support +which it has received at the hands of the American people. To the +members and officers and all who aided them in their philanthropic<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_163" id="Page_163">[Pg 163]</a></span> +work, the sincere and lasting gratitude of the soldiers and the public +is due and freely accorded.</p> + +<p>"In tracing these events we are constantly reminded of our obligations +to the Divine Master for His watchful care over us, and His safe +guidance, for which the nation makes reverent acknowledgment and offers +humble prayers for the continuance of His favors."—<span class="smcap">From President +McKinley's message to Congress, December</span> 6, 1898.</p> + +<hr /> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_164" id="Page_164">[Pg 164]</a></span></p> + +<h2><a name="IX" id="IX"></a>IX</h2> + +<h3>GALVESTON</h3> + +<h3>1900</h3> + +<p>This time there was no murmur in the air, no warning of approaching +danger. Even the watchful press, that knows so much before it ever +happens, slumbered quiet and deep, till the hissing wires shrieked the +terrifying word—Galveston.</p> + +<p>Then we learned that, as at Port Royal, the sea had overleaped its +bounds and its victims by thousands were in its grasp.</p> + +<p>In all the land no one slept then. To us it was the clang of the +fire-bell, and the drop of the harness. The Red Cross clans commenced to gather.</p> + +<p>In two days a little coterie of near a dozen left Washington under +escort of the competent agency of the New York World, which had on the +first day telegraphed that it would open a subscription for the relief +of Galveston, and would be glad to send all supplies and money received +to the Red Cross,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_165" id="Page_165">[Pg 165]</a></span> if its president, Miss Clara Barton, would go and +distribute it. It was the acceptance of this generous offer that had +brought to the station in Washington the escort; and a palace-car, +provided with all comforts for the journey to Galveston, was under the +management of the World's efficient correspondent and agent, Robert Adamson.</p> + +<p>The direfulness of the news gathered as we proceeded on our journey, and +delays were gotten over as quickly as possible. A detention of several +hours in New Orleans gave opportunity for consultation with the officers +of the Red Cross Society of that city, which had held its loyal ranks +unbroken since 1882, and became a tower of strength in this relief. A +day of waiting in Houston for a passage over the Gulf gave us a glimpse +of what the encroachment had been on the mainland. We found the passage +across to Galveston difficult, and with one night of waiting by the +shore in almost open cars, at Texas City, we at length arrived in +Galveston on the morning of the 15th of September.</p> + +<p>Here again no description could adequately serve its purpose. The sea, +with fury spent, had sullenly retired. The strongest buildings, half<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_166" id="Page_166">[Pg 166]</a></span> +standing, roofless and tottering, told what once had been the make-up of +a thriving city. But that cordon of wreckage skirting the shore for +miles it seemed, often twenty feet in height, and against which the high +tide still lapped and rolled! What did it tell? The tale is all too +dreadful to recall—the funeral pyre of at least five thousand human +beings. The uncoffined dead of the fifth part of a city lay there. The +lifeless bodies festering in the glaring heat of a September sun told +only too fatally what that meant to that portion of the city left alive. +The streets were well-nigh impassable, the animals largely drowned, the +working force of men diminished, dazed, and homeless. The men who had +been the fathers of the city, its business and its wealth, looked on +aghast at their overwhelmed possessions, ruined homes, and, worse than +all, mourned their own dead.</p> + +<p>Yet these men, to the number of thirty or more, had, as one may say, +pulled themselves together, and were even at that early date a relief +committee, holding their meetings at the wrecked and half-ruined hotel, +almost the only public house left standing. To this hotel we also went +and <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_167" id="Page_167">[Pg 167]</a></span>reported to the committee. To say that we were kindly and +gratefully received by them says nothing that would satisfy either +ourselves or them.</p> + +<p>The conditions were so new to them that it was a relief to meet persons +who had seen such things before. We were asked not only to act with +them, but to assume charge of the administration of relief. This, of +course, we would not do, but that we would meet with, counsel, and aid +them in every way in our power, is needless to affirm. That we did do +this, through every day of our stay of three months, not only our own +conviction, but the unasked and unexpected testimony of both Galveston +and the Legislature of the State of Texas, go to assure.</p> + +<p>On the third day after our arrival we were joined by Mr. Stephen E. +Barton, President of the former Central Cuban Relief Committee, and Mr. +Fred L. Ward, its competent secretary, who became our secretary from the +time of his arrival until the close of the field, continuing until after +our return to headquarters and settling the last account. Not only the +thanks of the Red Cross are due for his faithful, painstaking work, but +his<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_168" id="Page_168">[Pg 168]</a></span> name is still a household word through the score of counties +skirting the shore on the mainland of Texas.</p> + +<p>It may be interesting to readers to know what is done first, or just how +a relief party commence under circumstances like that. A few words will +give an outline. First the ground must be overlooked and conditions +learned. This is not easy when it is remembered that broken houses, +cars, wagons, church steeples, and grand pianos were liable to be +encountered in the middle of the leading streets, themselves buried +three feet in the coarse black sand, brought in by the great tidal wave.</p> + +<p>Nevertheless, a building must be found in which to store and distribute +the supplies that would immediately come. How needful these supplies +would be can be inferred when it is recalled that scores of persons came +alive out of that wreck, with simply the band of a shirt or a +night-dress held by its button about the neck as the only reminder that +ever a cover of clothing had been theirs.</p> + +<p>A little meeting of my assistants early held assigned each to his duty +and his place. A warehouse, fortunately still intact, was generously +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_169" id="Page_169">[Pg 169]</a></span>supplied by Mr. John Sealy. Major James A. McDowell, with the +experience of this branch of Red Cross work from Johnstown down, and the +record of twenty-six battles in the old civil war, was placed in charge. +Here is one of the scenes given by a casual eye-witness:</p> + +<p>A poor feeble-looking man, with scant clothing, enters the warehouse and +waits. "Hello there," calls the observant major—with his Grand Army +button—overhauling clothes for the visitor. "But, major, I was a +Confederate soldier." "Lord bless your poor suffering soul, what +difference does that make? Here, this will suit you."</p> + +<p>It was thought advisable by some of the party to establish an orphanage, +which was done and carried through, regardless of the common-sense idea +that few children would survive, when the parents were drowned. And so +it proved, although the work was faithfully administered.</p> + +<p>Homes must be made, lumber obtained, and houses built. The Red Cross +sent out the appeal for lumber and aided in the work of shelter.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Fannie B. Ward was placed in charge of a special clothing +department. Need I remind<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_170" id="Page_170">[Pg 170]</a></span> thoughtful readers that in a disaster like +that, where people of affluence, culture, and position are in a night +bereft of all, one of the cruelest features might be to go to the open +boxes of a relief station for clothing, such as never before worn, and +could not be asked for through the choking tears. In all humanity these +cases must be properly, respectfully, and discreetly met, as one lady +could meet another in distress.</p> + +<p>No more vivid picture of the conditions by which we were surrounded can +be imagined than the following extract from Mrs. Ward's report:</p> + +<p>"Just seven days after the storm we found ourselves stranded at Texas +City, on the mainland opposite Galveston Island, waiting for +transportation across the six-mile stretch of water. Bridges had been +swept away, and new sand-bars thrown up in the bay; floating roofs and +timbers impeded navigation, and the only method of communication between +the mainland and Galveston was one poor little ferry-boat, which had to +feel her now dangerous way very cautiously, by daylight only. She had +also to carry nearly a quarter of her capacity in soldiers to prevent +her being swamped by <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_171" id="Page_171">[Pg 171]</a></span>waiting crowds of people, frantic to learn the +fate of their friends on the island. Each trip to the mainland, the boat +came filled with refugees from the city of doom—the sick, the maimed, +the sorrowing—many with fearful bodily injuries inflicted by the storm, +and others with deeper wounds of grief;—mothers whose babies had been +torn from their arms, children whose parents were missing, fathers whose +entire families were lost—a dazed and tearless throng, such as Danté +might have met in his passage through Inferno. These were dumped by +thousands on the sandy beach at Texas City, and then conveyed by rail to +Houston, to be cared for by the good people of that city, who, +notwithstanding their own grievous losses, were doing noble work for +their stricken neighbors.</p> + +<p>"Of Texas City—a flourishing town of four or five thousand +houses—nothing remained but heaps of bricks and splintered wood, sodden +bales of cotton and bits of household furniture, scattered over the +plain; not a standing habitation within miles, nor any shelter for the +crowds above-mentioned, except two or three hospital-tents, hastily set +up for the sick and wounded, but inadequate for their<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_172" id="Page_172">[Pg 172]</a></span> accommodation. +What was our dismay when told that here we must remain at least +twenty-four hours, for the return of the boat! However, we were better +off, even physically, than most of the waiting crowd, though weariness +of the flesh amounted to actual suffering, after more than fifty hours' +travel. As a special courtesy to Miss Barton, the railway company left a +car to shelter her during the night. Luxurious Pullmans did not abound +at Texas City, and this was the shabbiest of day-coaches, equipped with +few 'modern conveniences.' But this was no time to think of personal +comfort, on the threshold of so much misery; and who could murmur when +the head of our little company set such an heroic example of patience. I +have seen her in many trying situations, that threatened the fortitude +and endurance of the strongest—and have yet to hear the first word of +complaint from her lips. She smilingly 'bunked' upon two seats laid +together—compared to which, for softness, the <i>penitente's</i> slab of +stone would be as 'downy beds of ease'—and encouraged her companions to +do the same. Hunger and thirst would also have been our portion, had it +not been<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_173" id="Page_173">[Pg 173]</a></span> for a Salvation Army Corps encamped in the vicinity, and the +Relief Train of the Philadelphia North American, stranded like +ourselves. Thanks to those good Samaritans, we dined and breakfasted on +tinned beef, bread and coffee; and what more could good soldiers require?</p> + +<p>"That night in Texas City will be long remembered. Sleep was out of the +question—stretched on those cross-bars, like St. Lawrence on his +gridiron. Soldiers patrolled the beach, not only to prevent a stampede +of the boat, but to protect both the quick and the dead from fiends in +human guise, who prowled the devastated region, committing atrocities +too horrible to name. All night the steady tramp, tramp, of the guard +sounded beneath the car-windows, while at either door stood two +sentinels, muskets on shoulders. Skies of inky blackness, studded with +stars of extraordinary brilliancy, seemed to bend much nearer the earth +than at the North; and the Great Dipper hung low on the horizon—for +only just across the Gulf it disappears to give place to the Southern +Cross. Myriads of big, bright fire-flies, resembling balls of flame, +flitted restlessly over the plain, like the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_174" id="Page_174">[Pg 174]</a></span> disembodied souls whose +homes were here one short week before, searching for their scattered +treasures. Over on Galveston Island, a long line of flame, mounting to +the heavens, marked the burning of ruined homes and corpses; while other +fires, in all directions on the mainland, told of similar ghastly +cremations. At one time I counted twenty-three of these fires, not +including those on the island. Early in the morning a strange odor drew +attention to a fresh funeral-pyre, only a few rods away, around the +horse-shoe curve of the shore. We were told that thirty bodies, found +since daybreak in the immediate vicinity, were being consumed in it. +That peculiar smell of burning flesh, so sickening at first, became +horribly familiar within the next two months, when we lived in it and +breathed it, day after day.</p> + +<p>"We found the situation in Galveston infinitely worse than had been +described. The most sensational accounts of the yellowest journals fell +far short of the truth—simply because its full horror was beyond the +power of words to portray. Figures and statistics can give little idea +of the results of such an appalling calamity; and to this day,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_175" id="Page_175">[Pg 175]</a></span> people +at a distance have no realization of the unutterable woe which our Red +Cross band of less than a dozen, strove to alleviate. We arrived on the +eighth day after the tragedy, in which upward of ten thousand lives went +suddenly out in storm and darkness; and the survivors were just +beginning to realize the extent of their losses.</p> + +<p>"At first they seemed stunned to partial insensibility by the very +magnitude of their grief—as a man who has been mangled almost unto +death in a railroad disaster is said to be oblivious to pain. Dead +citizens lay by thousands amid the wreck of their homes, and raving +maniacs searched the <i>débris</i> for their loved ones, with the organized +gangs of workers. Corpses, dumped by barge-loads into the Gulf, came +floating back to menace the living; and the nights were lurid with +incinerations of putrefying bodies, piled like cord-wood, black and +white together, irrespective of age, sex, or previous condition. At +least four thousand dwellings had been swept away, with all their +contents, and fully half of the population of the city was without +shelter, food, clothes, or any of the necessaries of life. Of these, +some were living in tents; others crowded in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_176" id="Page_176">[Pg 176]</a></span> with friends hardly less +unfortunate; many half-crazed, wandering aimlessly about the streets, +and the story of their sufferings, mental and physical, is past the +telling. Every house that remained was a house of mourning. Of many +families every member had been swept away. Even sadder were the numerous +cases where one or two were left out of recently happy households; and +saddest of all was the heart-breaking suspense of those whose friends +were numbered among the 'missing.'</p> + +<p>"We find it hard enough to lay away our dead in consecrated ground, with +all the care and tenderness that love can suggest, where we may water +the sacred spot with our tears and place upon it the flowers they loved +in life; but never to know whether their poor bodies were swallowed by +the merciless Gulf, or fed to the fishes with those grewsome +barge-loads, or left above ground to become an abomination in the +nostrils of the living, or burned in indiscriminate heaps with horses +and dogs and the mingled ashes scattered to the winds—must indeed have +been well-nigh unbearable. No wonder there were lunatics in Galveston, +and unnumbered cases of nervous prostration.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_177" id="Page_177">[Pg 177]</a></span></p><p>"After weeks had passed and two thousand men, aided by several hundred +teams, had partially reduced the mountain of wreckage, cremation fires +yet burned continuously—fed not only by human bodies, but by thousands +of carcasses of domestic animals. By that time, in the hot, moist +atmosphere of the latitude, decomposition had so far advanced that the +corpses—which at first were decently carried in carts or on stretchers, +then shoveled upon boards or blankets—had finally to be scooped up with +pitchforks, in the hands of negroes, kept at their awful task by the +soldiers' bayonets. And still the 'finds' continued, at the average rate +of seventy a day. The once beautiful driving beach was strewn with +mounds and trenches, holding unrecognized and uncoffined victims of the +flood; and between this improvised cemetery and a ridge of <i>débris</i>, +three miles long and in places higher than the houses had been, a line +of cremation fires poisoned the air.</p> + +<p>"I think it was during our sixth week in Galveston, when, happening to +pass one of these primitive crematories, I stopped to interview the man +in charge. Boards, water-soaked mattresses,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_178" id="Page_178">[Pg 178]</a></span> rags of blankets and +curtains, part of a piano, baby-carriages, and the framework of +sewing-machines, piled on top, gave it the appearance of a festive +bonfire, and only the familiar odor betrayed its purpose.</p> + +<p>"'Have you burned any bodies here?' I inquired. The custodian regarded +me with a stare that plainly said, 'Do you think I am doing this for +amusement?' and shifted his quid from cheek to cheek before replying.</p> + +<p>"'Ma'am,' said he, 'this 'ere fire's been goin' on more'n a month. To my +knowledge, upwards of sixty bodies have been burned in it—to say +nothin' of dogs, cats, hens, and three cows.'</p> + +<p>"'What is in there now?' I asked.</p> + +<p>"'Wa'al,' said he meditatively, 'it takes a corpse several days to burn +all up. I reckon thar's a couple of dozen of 'em—jest bones, you +know—down near the bottom. Yesterday we put seven on top of this 'ere +pile, and by now they are only what you might call baked. To-day we have +been working over there (pointing to other fires a quarter of a mile +distant), where we found a lot of 'em, 'leven under one house. We have +put only two in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_179" id="Page_179">[Pg 179]</a></span> here to-day. Found 'em just now, right in that puddle.'</p> + +<p>"'Could you tell me who they are?' I asked.</p> + +<p>"'Lord! No,' was the answer. 'We don't look at 'em any more'n we have +to, else we'd been dead ourselves before to-day. One of these was a +colored man. They are all pretty black, now; but you can tell 'em by the +kinky hair. He had nothin' but an undershirt and one shoe. The other was +a woman; young, I reckon. 'Tenny rate she was tall and slim and had lots +of long brown hair. She wore a blue silk skirt and there was a rope tied +around her waist, as if somebody had tried to save her.'</p> + +<p>"Taking a long pole he prodded an air-hole near the center of the +smoldering heap, from which now issued a frightful smell, that caused a +hasty retreat to the windward side. The withdrawal of the pole was +followed by a shower of charred bits of bone and singed hair. I picked +up a curling, yellow lock and wondered, with tears, what mother's hand +had lately caressed it.</p> + +<p>"'That's nothin',' remarked the fireman. 'The other day we found part of +a brass chandelier, and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_180" id="Page_180">[Pg 180]</a></span> wound all around it was a perfect mop of long, +silky hair—with a piece of skin, big as your two hands, at the end of +it. Some woman got tangled up that way in the flood and jest na'cherly scalped.'</p> + +<p>"I mention these incidents merely to show some of the conditions that +had to be met. The most we could do for the grief-stricken survivors was +to mitigate in some degree their bodily distress. The world knows how +generously the whole country responded to the call—how contributions +came pouring in by trainloads and shiploads, consigned to the Red Cross. +To distribute all this bounty judiciously was a herculean task—and our +working force was very small. The ladies and gentlemen of Galveston who +had suffered less than their neighbors, formed themselves into +committees, which opened relief stations in the several wards; and +through these channels the bulk of supplies was issued. If mistakes were +made, it was not from lack of faithful endeavor on the part of the +distributers; and let us hope that the errors, if any, were all on the +side of too liberal giving.</p> + +<p>"Merely to sort over one carload of garments, so<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_181" id="Page_181">[Pg 181]</a></span> as to make them +immediately available—to put the infants' clothes in one department, +the shoes in another, grown-up dresses in another, coats and trousers in +another, underwear in another—was a work of time and strength; as the +writer, who for a while was 'Mistress of the Robes,' can testify. From 7 +<span class="smaller">A. M.</span> till dark we toiled; and when at last we dragged ourselves back to +the hotel, too wearied for anything but bed, 'tired Nature's sweet +restorer' was hard to woo, because of aching feet and swollen muscles. +But the experience was well worth it! Besides the joy of administering +to the suffering, what we learned of human nature (mostly good, I am +glad to say) would fill volumes. To be sure, there were shadows, as well +as lights, in the picture. Greed and hypocrisy, jealousy, malice, and +the reverse of Christian charity, came sometimes unpleasantly to the +fore, to be offset by the magnificent generosity of the American nation, +and the knowledge that in most quarters our efforts were appreciated. +Most of us were unused to manual labor, and all had left comfortable +homes—some at considerable financial sacrifice of well-salaried +positions, not for earthly gain or <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_182" id="Page_182">[Pg 182]</a></span>self-aggrandizement, but from pure +love of the splendid cause of the Cross of Geneva.</p> + +<p>"In that Rag Fair department of old clothes, the ludicrous and pathetic +called for an equal blending of smiles and tears. It seemed as if every +household, from Maine to California, from the St. Lawrence to the Rio +Grande, had rummaged its attics for the flood sufferers. Merchants +delivered themselves of years' accumulations of shop-worn +goods—streaked, faded, of fashions long gone by—but a great deal +better than nothing for the destitute. There were at least a million +shirtwaists, all thin and summery, though cold winter was at hand, when +frequent 'northers' chill the very marrow in one's bones, and ice and +snow are not unknown on Galveston Island. There was another million of +'Mother Hubbard' wrappers, all of the sleaziest print and scrimpest +pattern, with inch-wide hems at bottom and no fastening to speak +of—wrappers enough to disfigure every female in Southern Texas. Fancy a +whole city full of women masquerading in those shapeless garments—the +poorest of their class; and then remember that, a few years ago, the +great and glorious State of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_183" id="Page_183">[Pg 183]</a></span> Pennsylvania found it necessary to pass a +law—presumably for the peace of mind of her male citizens—forbidding +the wearing of 'Mother Hubbards' in the street!</p> + +<p>"One day there came to our warehouse a large case of beautiful, buttoned +shoes, of the kind called 'Sorosis.' 'What a bonanza!' we thought, when +that box was opened—and through our minds went trooping a procession of +the shoeless feet we had longed to comfort. But behold! every blessed +shoe of the one hundred and forty-four was for the left foot!</p> + +<p>"There was an enormous box from a city laundry, containing the unclaimed +'washings' of many years—hundreds of waiters' aprons and cooks' caps, +worn hotel towels and napkins, ragged shirts and collars—not a thing +worth the lumber in the box, except as old linen for the hospitals. +There was a great deal of bedraggled finery, than which nothing could +have been less appropriate, when nine out of every ten women who applied +for clothes, wanted plain black in which to mourn for their dead. And +the hats and bonnets were of every shape and style within the memory of +man! They<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_184" id="Page_184">[Pg 184]</a></span> were mostly so crushed in careless packing that to have +worshiped them would have been no sin, according to Scripture, as they +were no longer in the 'likeness of anything in the heavens above, or the +earth beneath, or the waters under the earth.' There were workmen's +blouses and overalls, evidently shed in haste, under a sudden impulse of +generosity—plastered with grease, paint, and mortar, and odoriferous of +that by which honest bread is said to be earned.</p> + +<p>"Occasionally a box or barrel was found to contain garments +disgracefully dirty and ragged, or dropping in pieces from the ravages +of moths. Possibly the sending of such worthless trash produced in the +hearts of the donors that comfortable feeling of lending to the +Lord—but it was no use at our end of the line. What to do with it was a +problem. The lowest plantation darky would regard the gift as an insult, +and to burn even the filthiest rags would give rise to stories of wanton +waste. So we hit upon an expedient which had been successfully employed +in other fields—that of putting worthless articles in nice, clean +barrels, rolling them out on the doorstep, and forgetting<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_185" id="Page_185">[Pg 185]</a></span> to bring them +in at night; and every morning the barrels were found empty.</p> + +<p>"In striking contrast to these few 'shadows' were such gifts as that of +the New England girl, who sent a large, carefully packed satchel, +accompanied by a letter, explaining that she was seventeen years of age, +and had taken from her own wardrobe an outfit, intended for a +flood-sufferer of about her own age, whom the clothes would fit. The +satchel contained three good suits complete, from hat to hose—all that +a girl would need—even veil, handkerchiefs and fan; and it is needless +to add that they soon found their way to a most grateful young +'sufferer.' Here a poor widow divided her well-worn 'mourning' with some +stranger sister-in-grief; there the bereaved mother brought out the +treasured garments her little one had worn, for some happier mother who +had lost only earthly possessions.</p> + +<p>"Letters by hundreds were found in the packages, pertinent and +impertinent, but all demanding answers. They were stuffed into old shoes +and the linings of hats, cracked tea-pots and boxes of soap, combs and +matches. Every small boys'<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_186" id="Page_186">[Pg 186]</a></span> knickerbockers contained a note—generally +of original spelling and laboriously written in large capitals, from +'Tommy' or 'Johnnie' or 'Charley,' asking a reply, telling all about the +storm, from the boy who should receive the gift. Sentimental epistles +from ladies were hidden in the pockets of coats and trousers, inviting +correspondence with the future wearers; and billet-doux from +disconsolate widowers, presumably beginning to 'take notice,' were +pinned to the raiment of deceased wives. Such manifold phases have our +poor human nature! Happily there was another and far more numerous class +of letters, from charitable men and women, offering to adopt children, +or to assist in any way in their power; from Sunday-school classes and +sewing societies and day-schools, enclosing small sums of money, or +telling of gifts to come. There was even a letter from an almshouse, +enclosing a check for eighty dollars, raised by thirty aged pensioners, +who gave up their only luxuries—coffee, sugar, and tobacco—to swell +the fund for Galveston's relief. Another came from the poor, forgotten +negroes of the Carolina sea islands, to whose assistance the Red Cross +went,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_187" id="Page_187">[Pg 187]</a></span> after their disastrous floods a few years ago. Impelled by +gratitude for the benefits then received, those simple-minded people +contributed a surprising amount, considering their poverty. Truly, in +heaven's reckoning those unselfish 'mites' of the poor and lowly will +count for as much as the millions given by the great cities.</p> + +<p>"Notwithstanding the vast amount of old clothes that came to us, we were +always particularly short of the most important articles of an outfit, +such as underwear, respectable skirts and dresses, and shoes—except of +extraordinary sizes, sent because unsalable. It frequently happened +that, for days together, there was hardly a thing in stock fit for +people of the better class. It must be remembered that we were not +supplying tramps and beggars, nor the ordinary applicants for charity, +but ladies and gentlemen, accustomed to the luxuries of life, whose +possessions had been suddenly swept away. How could we offer those +dreadful wrappers, or bedraggled finery, or soiled and ragged garments +which our servants would despise, to ladies of taste, culture, and +refinement, whom we had come to assist in their misfortune, not to +insult? Therefore,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_188" id="Page_188">[Pg 188]</a></span> in many cases, the only decent thing to do was to go +out and buy what was needed, with some of those blessed contributions +which bore the message, 'to be used at your own discretion.' That was +Christian charity, pure and simple, in its most practical form. For +example: A widow, of highest social standing and former wealth, lived +with her three daughters in one of those ill-fated cottages near the +beach, which was swept away with all its contents. Thus the four +helpless women were left entirely destitute, even the clothes on their +backs borrowed from neighbors a little less unfortunate. Friends in a +Northern city wrote, offering them a home. Transportation could be +easily provided, but the four must be fitted out for the journey. We +searched the Rag Fair over, but found few suitable articles. Perhaps +something better might come in by and by, next week, some other time; +but for every hoped-for article were a hundred waiting applicants—and +meanwhile those ladies must be supported until sent to their friends. To +say nothing of their own feelings, and ours, we could not disgrace the +Red Cross by sending that stately gray-haired mother and the three +delicate young<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_189" id="Page_189">[Pg 189]</a></span> ladies out into the world equipped by our alleged bounty +in scanty calico 'Mother Hubbards,' men's cow-hide brogans, and +scare-crow headgear. So we picked out what would answer—here and there +a garment which might be altered, the only pair of shoes in the place +that came near to fitting one of the ladies, a bolt of unbleached muslin +which they, themselves, could fashion into underclothes, and four +disreputable old hats. The latter we gave to a local milliner to remodel +and trim, simply but respectably. Then we went to the store and +purchased shoes and other necessary articles, including enough +inexpensive but serviceable cloth for four gowns and jackets, and +employed a woman to make them.</p> + +<p>"This was not extravagance, but good use of the money, all around:—for +the poor little milliner whose shop had been destroyed and business +ruined, whose children were then eating the bread of charity; and for +the customless dressmaker, who was also a grievous sufferer by the +flood, with younger sisters to support. We gave her the first work she +had had for weeks, and her gratitude was good to see.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_190" id="Page_190">[Pg 190]</a></span></p><p>"As for merchants, who were all on the verge of failure, but making +heroic efforts to keep afloat—Heaven knows we did them injury enough +every day of our stay in Galveston, to be thankful for the privilege of +occasionally becoming their patrons. Not only had they suffered immense +losses by the storm, their stocks being practically ruined and customers +gone—but who would buy, so long as the Red Cross had food and clothes +to give away, without money and without price? Though ours is a noble +and necessary work, it is never to the advantage of the local merchants, +as a little reflection will show.</p> + +<p>"Another case was that of a young woman, who, with an aged relative, was +keeping a hotel in a near-by village, when the floods lifted their house +from its foundations and ruined everything in it. Its four walls stood, +however, and furnished shelter for all the houseless neighbors, who +flocked in, naked and hungry, and with whom the generous girl divided +her last garment and bit of food. Death also entered the family, twice +within a few weeks—the last time leaving a sister's four half-grown +children for this young woman to maintain.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_191" id="Page_191">[Pg 191]</a></span> Take them she must, because +they had nowhere else to go. Finding her in terrible straits, without +even clothes to wear to her sister's funeral, were we not justified in +buying the heroic young woman a decent suit of black, besides sending +her a box of food supplies? Why were we there, if not to exercise +judgment in the matter of relief? If merely to distribute second-hand +articles, without discrimination, we might have saved ourselves much +peril and hardship by remaining at home, and sending the boxes down to +take care of themselves.</p> + +<p>"None of us will ever forget the grandniece of an ex-President of the +United States—a handsome and imposing woman of middle age, traveled, +educated, and evidently accustomed to the best society. She called one +day at headquarters, and although she did not ask for aid, the truth +came out in a heart-to-heart talk with Miss Barton that she had lost all +in the storm and had not where to lay her head, nor food for the morrow; +even the clothes she wore were not her own. Nobody living could put this +lady on the pauper list, and none with a spark of human feeling could +wish to wound her pride. Our honored President, who reads<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_192" id="Page_192">[Pg 192]</a></span> hearts as +others do open books, clasped this unfortunate sister's hand—and left +in it a bank-note—I do not know of what denomination, but let us hope +it was not a small one. The look of surprise and gratitude that flashed +over that woman's face was worth going far to see, as, speechless with +emotion, the tears streaming down her cheeks, she turned away.</p> + +<p>"One might go on multiplying incidents by the hour, did time permit. +There were teachers to be fitted out with suitable clothes before the +opening of the schools; boys and girls needing school-books and shoes, +caps, and jackets; new-born babes to be provided, whose wardrobes, +prepared in advance, had been swept away; mothers of families, destitute +of the commonest conveniences of life, to whom the gift of a pan or +kettle was a godsend; aged people, whose declining years must be +comforted; invalids to be cheered with little luxuries. My greatest +regret is that we had not hundreds of dollars to use for every one that +was expended in these directions."</p> + +<p>My stenographer, Miss Agnes Coombs, found her post by me, and sixty to +eighty letters a day,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_193" id="Page_193">[Pg 193]</a></span> taken from dictation, made up the clerical round +of the office of the president. This duty fell in between attending the +daily meetings of the relief committee and receiving constant calls both +in and out of the city.</p> + +<p>Our men made up their living-room at the warehouse. The few women +remained at the hotel, the only suitable place in the town.</p> + +<p>Later on arrived a shipload of supplies from the business people of New +York, which were stored with the Galveston committee, and we were asked +to aid in the distribution of these supplies, and to a certain extent we +did, but succeeded in organizing a committee of citizens, ladies and +gentlemen, to carry out and complete this distribution.</p> + +<p>From lack of knowledge of the real conditions of the disaster and its +geographical extent, this munificent donation had been assigned to the +"Relief of Galveston," and thus, technically, Galveston had no authority +to administer a pound or a dollar to any communities or persons outside +of the precincts of the city proper. This left at least twenty counties +on the mainland on the other side of the Gulf, some of which were as +badly wrecked and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_194" id="Page_194">[Pg 194]</a></span> ruined as Galveston itself, without a possibility of +the slightest benefit from this great, generous gift.</p> + +<p>Seeing this pitiful and innocently unjust condition of affairs, the +result of ignorance of relief work, undertaken with much zeal but scant +knowledge and no experience, we sought a way to atone for the mistake, +so far as we might be able.</p> + +<p>Immediately closing our relief rooms in Galveston I had all Red Cross +supplies shipped to Houston, and relief for the mainland opened there. +These were farming districts, and I directed intelligent inquiry to be +made as to what was most needed by the devastated farm lands and their +owners. All was swept away—sometimes as far as forty miles back into +the level country; often the soil itself was washed away, the home and +all smaller animals destroyed, and no feed for the larger ones to +subsist on. The poor farmers walked their desolated fields and wrung their hands.</p> + +<p>It proved that this was the strawberry section of Southern Texas, and +these were the strawberry growers that supplied the early berries to our +Northern market. For miles not a plant was left<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_195" id="Page_195">[Pg 195]</a></span> and no means to +replant. This was reported to me on the first day's investigation, and +also that if plants could be obtained and set within two weeks a half +crop could be grown this year and the industry restored. That seemed a +better occupation for these poor fellows than walking the ground and +wringing their hands. The messenger was sent back at daybreak to +ascertain how many plants would be needed to replant these lands, where +they were accustomed to procure them, and what varieties were best +adapted to their use.</p> + +<p>That night brought again the messenger to say that a million and a half +of plants would reset the lands and that their supply came from the +nurseries in North Carolina, Illinois, Arkansas, and Louisiana. +Directions were sent back to Mr. Ward to order the plants to be there in +two weeks. This was done. Only thirty-eight thousand plants were injured +in transit, and those were generously resupplied by the shippers. Within +the two weeks this million and a half of strawberry plants were set. It +was estimated that fully a third of a crop was realized that year, and +it is safe to predict that one-half the readers of this little sketch +will<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_196" id="Page_196">[Pg 196]</a></span> partake of the fruits of these Red Cross relief strawberry fields +this very springtime.</p> + +<p>Other needs to a large amount were supplied by Mr. Ward, and we left no +idle, wringing hands on the mainlands of Texas.</p> + +<p>I had never left Galveston. Some other thoughtful reader may pitifully +ask, what became of these miles of wreckage and the dead on the Galveston seashore?</p> + +<p>At this distant day it may be safe to tell. I recall that at the time +much criticism was indulged in.</p> + +<p>All were burned.</p> + +<p>The heat grew greater and the stench stronger every day. They tried to +remove the <i>débris</i> and get the bodies out for burial. No human being +could work in that putrefying mass. Previously had come the glorious +thought of getting them into boats and shipping them a mile out to sea. +With hopeful hearts this experiment was tried for one day. Alas! the +night tide brought them all back to shore. The elements of earth and +water had refused—what remained but fire? Openings in the long +continuous lines were cut<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_197" id="Page_197">[Pg 197]</a></span> through at given spaces, the fire engines set +to play on the open, and the torch applied to the end of sections; thus +a general conflagration of the city was prevented, and from day to day +the pile diminished.</p> + +<p>The stench of burning flesh permeated every foot of the city. Who could +long withstand this? Before the end of three months there was scarcely a +well person in Galveston. My helpers grew pale and ill, and even I, who +have resisted the effect of so many climates, needed the help of a +steadying hand as I walked to the waiting Pullman on the track, +courteously tendered free of charge to take us away.</p> + +<p>This is a tedious story; but if gone through, one has a little insight +into the labor of a Red Cross field of relief. There are twenty in my +recollection, and this was by no means the hardest or the most useful. +They have been lived, but never told.</p> + +<p>I beg my readers to bear in mind that this is not romance that I am +writing, where I can place my characters in the best light and shape +results at will, but history, with my personages still alive, ready to +attest the reality of this statement. That<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_198" id="Page_198">[Pg 198]</a></span> grand committee of Galveston +relief—than whom no nobler body of men I have ever met—are, I hope, +all yet alive to testify to the conditions and statements made.</p> + +<p>I have dedicated this little volume to the people with whom, and for +whom, have gone the willing labors of twenty-five years—initial labors, +untried methods, and object lessons. Well or ill, they have carried with +them the best intentions and the best judgment given for the purpose. +Whatever may betide or the future have in store for the little work so +simply commenced, so humbly carried on, merely a helper with no thought +of leadership, it bears along with it the memories of pain assuaged, +hope revived, endeavor strengthened, and lives saved.</p> + +<p>To the noble sympathies of generous hearts these results are due, and +yet it is not in its past that the glories or the benefits of the Red +Cross lie, but in the possibilities it has created for the future; in +the lessons it has taught; in the avenues to humane effort it has +opened, and in the union of beneficent action between people and +Government, when once comprehended and effected, that shall constitute +a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_199" id="Page_199">[Pg 199]</a></span> bulwark against the mighty woes sure to come sooner or later to all +peoples and all nations.</p> + +<p>To you—the people of America—this sacred trust is committed, in your +hands the charge is laid. To none will your help ever be so precious as +it has been to me, for in its proud growth and strength none will ever so need you.</p> + +<div>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 30230 ***</div> +</body> +</html> diff --git a/30230-h/images/i001.jpg b/30230-h/images/i001.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..f4eadce --- /dev/null +++ b/30230-h/images/i001.jpg diff --git a/30230-h/images/i003.jpg b/30230-h/images/i003.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..67ee232 --- /dev/null +++ b/30230-h/images/i003.jpg diff --git a/30230.txt b/30230.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..e19a7ff --- /dev/null +++ b/30230.txt @@ -0,0 +1,4443 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of A Story of the Red Cross, by Clara Barton + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: A Story of the Red Cross + Glimpses of Field Work + +Author: Clara Barton + +Release Date: October 10, 2009 [EBook #30230] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A STORY OF THE RED CROSS *** + + + + +Produced by Chuck Greif, Martin Pettit and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This +book was produced from scanned images of public domain +material from the Google Print project.) + + + + + + +A STORY OF THE RED CROSS + + +[Illustration: CLARA BARTON + +From a photograph taken in St. Petersburg in July, 1902, showing the +decorations conferred upon her by the Czar and the Empress Dowager] + + +A STORY OF THE RED CROSS + +GLIMPSES OF FIELD WORK + +BY + +CLARA BARTON + +FOUNDER OF THE AMERICAN NATIONAL RED CROSS AND PRESIDENT, 1881-1904 + +[Illustration: Logo] + + +NEW YORK +D. APPLETON AND COMPANY +MCMIV + + +COPYRIGHT, 1904, BY +D. APPLETON AND COMPANY + +_Published, June, 1904_ + + + + +PREFACE + + +Since the foundation of the Red Cross in America, many direful +calamities have afflicted the country. In each of these visitations the +Red Cross has acted in some degree as the Almoner--the distributer and +organizer--of the bountiful measures of relief that have been poured out +by the American people. + +Its work has been accomplished quietly and without ostentation. All the +relief has been administered--not as charity--but as God-sent succor to +our brothers and sisters who have been overwhelmed by some mighty +convulsion of the forces of nature. + +The wreckage has been cleared away, the stricken people have been +wisely, tenderly, and calmly guided out of panic and despair on to the +road of self-help and cooperative effort to restore their shattered +homes and broken fortunes; and then the Red Cross has retired as quietly +as it came, and few, outside of the people immediately concerned, have +realized the beneficent powers of help and healing that have fallen like +a benediction upon the stricken wherever that sacred symbol of humanity +has made its way. + +It is my thought that a brief account of the work of the Red Cross +during the past twenty-five years will be of interest to the American +people. In a volume of this size it must of necessity be but a brief +outline, sufficient, however, to convey a clear impression of what the +Red Cross really means to every individual in this great country of +ours. + +To the thousands of American men and women whose generous bounty has +made the work of the Red Cross possible, to the stricken and distressed +who because of it have been helped back to life and hope, and to all the +friends of the great, universal humanity which it typifies, this small +book is lovingly dedicated. + +CLARA BARTON. + +GLEN ECHO, MARYLAND, +_May 15, 1904._ + + + + +CONTENTS + + +I + PAGE +EARLY HISTORY. 1880-1884 1 + +II + +THE TEXAS FAMINE AND THE MOUNT VERNON CYCLONE. 1885-1888 30 + +III + +YELLOW FEVER IN FLORIDA. 1887 38 + +IV + +THE JOHNSTOWN FLOOD. 1889 54 + +V + +THE RUSSIAN FAMINE. 1891 70 + +VI + +THE SEA ISLAND RELIEF. 1893 77 + +VII + +ARMENIAN RELIEF. 1896 94 + +VIII + +CUBA. 1898 115 + +IX + +GALVESTON. 1900 164 + + + + +A STORY OF THE RED CROSS + + + + +I + +EARLY HISTORY + +1880-1884 + + "I have lived much that I have not written, but I have written + nothing that I have not lived." + + +It was a little blue-eyed girl of ten who sat on a low hassock at my +feet, slowly drawing the soft auburn curls between her fingers, when, +suddenly lifting her head and looking me earnestly in the face, she +exclaimed: "What is the Red Cross? Please tell me about it; I can not +understand it." + +There was a pleading earnestness in the tone not to be resisted, and +laying down my pen I commenced to explain to her the principles, +history, and uses of the Red Cross. She listened anxiously, the pretty +brow knitted; she seemed more and more perplexed, until, as if a light +had broken over her, she exclaimed, half impatiently: + +"Not that--not that, tell me something it _does_--it and you, I can +understand it better then." + +A light had broken over me. It was a story the child wanted to +illustrate the principle and bring it home to her. A story she must +have. + +In a half hour she felt that she knew it all and was an ardent devotee +even of its principles. But she had given me more than I had given her. +Here was food for thought. + +For twenty-five years I had labored to explain the principles and uses +of the Red Cross; had written enough for a modest library of what it was +and what it meant, but, lest I seem egotistical, not a page of what it +did. The child had given me an idea that I would for once put into +practice, and write a few pages of what the Red Cross had done, leaving +principles to present themselves. + +I will commence even back of itself. + +Forty years ago, before most of you were born, a great war had been +fought in America, in which thousands died from battle and hardship, and +thousands more still left alive were worn out in the untried and +unsystematized efforts at relief that had been made through nearly five +years of continuous war. Of these latter, many were women who dragged +out weary lives in their own homes, some went to hospitals and retreats +for rest and care, and some were sent abroad. One of these latter I knew +personally, for, as Patrick would say, "It was me-self." + +To me it seemed a hard sentence that our physicians imposed. I had grown +to love the country we had so toiled for, and did not want to leave it. +Its very woes had made it dear to me. It had quiet once more, and a +peace that was not all a peace. It had its early soldier homes, its +fast-filling cemeteries, and the tender memory of a martyred President +resting over us like a pall. These had come to seem like a heritage to +me, and in my weakness I clung to them. Still, the order was obeyed and +I went. + +Then followed travels in strange and foreign lands, other wars, illness +and suffering of my own, until eleven years later I came almost a +stranger again to our Government with another work, which I believed to +be for its good and the good of our people. + +This time I brought the idea of the treaty of Geneva, asking our +Government, at the request of other Governments, to examine and to unite +with it, if found desirable. This effort with the Government covers five +years of hard, continuous labor, during which was sought the aid of +friends known in other years. At the end of this time, by advice of our +second martyred President and three members of his historic +cabinet--James G. Blaine, William Windom, and Robert T. Lincoln--a +national society was formed, known as the Association of the American +Red Cross, and, by desire and nomination of President Garfield, I was +made its president, and requested to name my officers. + +The association was formed during the winter of 1880-'81, with the view +on the part of President Garfield of facilitating the adoption of the +treaty which he would name in his next message, which message was never +written. + +Before the message, he, too, had joined the martyred ranks, and his +gentle successor, Arthur, filled his chair and kept his promise, and +through action of his own executive department the treaty was adopted; +indorsed by action of the Senate; proclaimed by the President to our +people; later ratified by the International Powers in the Congress of +Berne, with the pledge to render relief to unfortunate victims of war, +and the privilege, by my request, of rendering similar relief to the +victims of great national calamities or disasters. + +All this had been accomplished by the kindly help of a few personal +friends, tireless and unrewarded, and while the news of the accession of +the Government of the United States, to the treaty of Geneva, lit +bonfires that night (for I cabled it by their request) in the streets of +Switzerland, France, Germany, and Spain, a little four-line paragraph in +the congressional doings of the day in the _Evening Star_, of +Washington, alone announced to the people of America that an +international treaty had been added to their rolls. + +No personal distinction had been bestowed, no one honored, no one +politically advanced, no money of the Government expended, and, like +other things of like nature and history, it was left in obscurity to +make its own way and live its own hard life. + +Thus the spring of 1882 found us--a few people, tired and weak, with +five years of costly service, a treaty gained, with no fund, no war nor +prospect of any, and no helpful connection with or acknowledgment by the +Government. + +Soon the news of "Half the State of Michigan on Fire" called us to +action on our own laws of civil relief. A little draft on the purse of +the new, inexperienced president of the association paved the way for an +agent to go to the field. Others generously joined, all reported to our +friend and advocate, Senator Omar D. Conger, of Michigan. Some supplies +were sent, a society or two formed to provide and forward them. The +agents remained until the suffering was relieved, and thus the first +field relief work of which we have any record in the United States was +commenced. + +Meanwhile, I had been asked by the Senate to write the history of the +Red Cross, and show the official action taken by our Government on the +acceptance of the treaty, which history the Senate would have printed at +the Government printing-office. This volume I prepared as requested. A +thousand copies were printed for information to the public, to be +circulated by the society; but with no frank or other means provided, +and with a postage of some ten cents a volume, we were compelled to +limit the circulation to the means. + +The following year, 1883, a disastrous rise in the Ohio River called for +our aid. Dr. J. B. Hubbell, who had been our agent the year before, was +called from Michigan University, where he was completing a course, to +examine the needs of the inhabitants and take such relief as we could +provide. There was little loss of life, and the destruction of property +lay largely in the loss of stock, and washing away of the soil, +vegetation, and the means of reproduction. + +A remarkable provision for this latter loss was made by the gift of Mr. +Hiram Sibley, the noted seed dealer of Rochester--who had become +associated with the Red Cross, being an old-time friend of the family of +its president--of ten thousand dollars' worth of seed, to replant the +washed-out lands adown the Mississippi. As the waters ran off the mud +immediately baked in the sunshine, making planting impossible after a +few days. Accordingly, Mr. Sibley's gift was sent with all haste to our +agent at Memphis, and in forty-eight hours, by train and boat, it was +distributed in the four States--Tennessee, Arkansas, Louisiana, and +Mississippi--and planted for the crops of the coming season. + +Besides this generous gift of material, a little money had been raised +and sent by the three societies of the Red Cross which had been formed, +viz.: Dansville and Syracuse, a few hundreds--something more from the +Red Cross at Rochester--always thoughtful and generous, which served to +help in the distribution of clothing and supplies promiscuously sent. +And at the finish of the work, when every donation had been carefully +acknowledged, one thousand dollars and some cents were left in the +treasury unexpended. + +A cyclone occurring within a few months in Louisiana and southern +Alabama, cutting a swath from New Orleans to Mobile, decided us to send +eight hundred dollars of this reserve to the secretary of the Red Cross +Society of New Orleans, which sum was forwarded by our vice-president, +Mr. A. S. Solomons. This left a sum of two hundred dollars and some +cents in the treasury with which to commence another field. + +This was the commencement of 1883. In May, at the solicitation of +General Butler, then Governor of Massachusetts, I took the +superintendence of the Massachusetts Woman's State Prison at Sherborn, +at the customary salary of fifteen hundred dollars a year. To this duty +the Legislature added, after my arrival, those of secretary and +treasurer, without increase of salary, discharging the former incumbent, +a man, at three thousand dollars a year. I accepted the new duties, +became my own bondsman for ten thousand dollars, by transfer of that +amount of bonds from my bankers, Brown Brothers, New York, to the +Massachusetts State Treasury at Boston--remaining in charge of the +prison until the close of the year, and the retirement of General Butler +as Governor. + +In the short and interrupted existence of our association--scarce two +years--our few official advisers had formed some general regulations, +relating to our course of procedure. Realizing that to be of any real +service as a body of relief for sudden disasters, we must not only be +independent of the slow, ordinary methods of soliciting relief, but in +its means of application as well, it was decided: + +_First._ To never solicit relief or ask for contributions. + +_Second._ Not to pay salaries to officers--paying out money only to +those whom we must employ for manual labor--and as our officers served +without compensation they should not be taxed for dues. + +_Third._ To keep ourselves always in possession of a stated sum of money +to commence a field of disaster--this sum to be independent even of the +closed doors of a bank which might prevent leaving for a field on a +Sunday or holiday. + +_Fourth._ To take this sum of our own, going directly to a field with +such help as needed, giving no notice until there, overlooking the +field, and learning the extent of the trouble and conditions of the +people, making immediate and reliable report to the country through the +Associated Press, some of whose officers were our own Red Cross officers +as well. These reports would be truthful, unexaggerated, and +non-sensational statements that could be relied upon. + +_Fifth._ That if, under these conditions, the people chose to make use +of us as distributers of the relief which they desired to contribute to +the sufferers, we would do our best to serve them while at the +field--make report directly to each and all contributors, so far as in +our power, and proceed to carry out any directions and apply the relief +at hand, in the wisest manner possible, among a dazed and afflicted +community. + +To inaugurate this method, I, as president, placed a sum of three +thousand dollars, free of bank or interest, upon momentary call, at the +service of the association. On more than one occasion it has been taken +on Sunday, when every bank in the country was closed and charitable +bodies were at their prayers. Even the relief of Johnstown was thus +commenced. This provision has never for a day been broken. It is as good +at this moment as it was in 1883, and from the same source. It may not +have been a "business-like" method nor one to be approved by stated +boards of directors nor squared by bank regulations. But the foes we had +to meet were not thus regulated, and had to be met as they came; and so +they always must be if any good is to be accomplished. + +Until the Government and society can control the elements, and regulate +a spring freshet, a whirlwind or a cyclone, they will find that red +tape is not strong enough to hold their ravages in check. + +It was well that these regulations had been formulated and their +provisions acted upon, as the state of our treasury and the conditions +immediately following will show. + +I returned to Washington upon my retirement from the superintendence of +the State Prison at Sherborn, accompanied by Dr. Hubbell, who, having +completed his university course, had come to the Red Cross for permanent +service. Before we had even time to unpack our trunks, the news of the +fearful rise of the Ohio River, of 1884, began to shock the country with +its loss of life and property. + +I had never been present at a disaster in civil life. It had never +occurred to me that they recurred so frequently. But if by virtue of my +office as president I was liable to be called every year to preside over +and provide for them, it was essential that I learn my duties +experimentally. I accordingly joined Dr. Hubbell, who had been appointed +general field agent, and proceeded to Pittsburg, the headwaters of the +rise. + +Telegraphing from there to our agents of the Associated Press, we +proceeded to Cincinnati, to find the city afloat. Its inhabitants were +being fed from boats, through the second-story windows. These conditions +were telegraphed. Supplies commenced to flow in, not only from our own +societies but from the people of the country. Warehouses were filled, in +spite of all we dispensed--but there were four hundred miles of this +distress--even to Cairo, where the Ohio, sometimes thirty miles in +width, discharged its swollen waters into the Mississippi. + +Recognizing this condition lower down the river as the greater need, we +transferred our supplies and distribution to Evansville, Ind. Scarcely +had we reached there when a cyclone struck the river below, and +traveling up its entire length, leveled every standing object upon its +banks, swept the houses along like cockle-shells, uprooted the greatest +trees and whirled them down its mighty current--catching here and there +its human victims, or leaving them with life only, houseless, homeless, +wringing their hands on a frozen, fireless shore--with every coal-pit +filled with water, and death from freezing more imminent than from +hunger. + +There were four hundred miles more of this, and no way of reaching them +by land. With all our tons of clothing, these people and their homeless +little children were freezing. There was but one way--the Government +boats had come with rations of food--we too must take to the water. + +At eight o'clock in the morning I chartered my first boat, with captain +and crew, at sixty dollars per day, to be at once laden to the water's +edge with coal--our own supplies to be stored on the upper deck--and at +four o'clock in the afternoon, as the murky sun was hiding its clouded +face, the bell of the "John V. Troop," in charge of her owner, announced +the departure of the first Red Cross relief-boat ever seen on American +waters. + +I found myself that night with a stanch crew of thirty men and a skilled +captain, and a boat under my command. I had never until then held such a +command. We wove the river diagonally from side to side--from village to +village--where the homeless, shivering people were gathered--called for +the most responsible person--a clergyman if one could be found, threw +off boxes of clothing, and hove off coal for a two weeks' supply, and +steamed away to the opposite side, leaving only gratitude, wonder at who +we were, where we came from, and what that strange flag meant? We +improved every opportunity to replenish our supply of coal, and reached +Cairo in five days. + +Waiting only to reload, we returned up the river, resupplied the revived +villages of people, too grateful for words, reaching Evansville at the +end of three weeks, where more supplies than we had taken awaited us. +St. Louis and Chicago had caught the fever of relief, had arranged +societies, and had asked permission to join our aid. Up to this time the +Mississippi had given no indication of trouble, but now its great June +rise commenced. + +The Government boats, by another appropriation, were sent to the +Mississippi, and we prepared to supplement them. Discharging our Ohio +River boat we went to St. Louis by rail and chartered the "Mattie Bell." +The Red Cross Societies of St. Louis and Chicago, under their respective +presidents and officers in charge of them and their funds, joined us, +and together we prepared to feed and rescue the perishing stock--as +well as people adown the Mississippi. The animals had never been saved +in an overflow; and besides the cruelty of letting them starve by +thousands, the loss to the people was irreparable, as the following year +must inevitably be replete with idleness and poverty till more stock +could be obtained to work with. + +We found as commissary at St. Louis, General Beckwith, the historic +commissary-general of the old civil war, who had personally +superintended the loading of my wagons in Washington, year after year, +for the battle-fields of Virginia. He came on board the "Mattie Bell" +and personally superintended the lading--clothing, corn, oats, salt, and +hay--besides putting upon the Government boats large quantities of +supplies which we could not take on at first, and giving us his +blessing, watched us steam out on our joint mission; they putting off +rations of meat and meal--we supplementing with clothing for the people +and feed for the stock. We purchased all we could at cities as we +passed, picked our course among the broken levees and roaring crevasses, +all the way to New Orleans. The hungry were fed, the naked clothed, and +the stock saved. The negro had his mule, and the planter his horses and +cattle to carry on his work when the flood should disappear. We had +lighter boats, still lighter purses, but lightest of all were the +grateful hearts that a kind Providence and a generous people had given +to us the privilege of serving. + +We discharged the "Mattie Bell" at St. Louis, bidding adieu to the +officers of the Red Cross Society, who had rendered most acceptable +service to the cause. They had brought their own funds and material--had +personally administered them from the decks of the "Mattie Bell," made +their own reports, and modestly retired to their home duties, there to +await the next call. + +Chicago, which had a new Red Cross Society, formed almost for the +occasion, through its most worthy and notable representative, Rev. E. I. +Galvin, did the same, performing the long journey with us, +superintending the distribution of his own relief and making his own +report with such convincing power, that societies of no less excellence +than the Lend-a-Hand were its outgrowth. + +I am thus particular to mention this from the loving gratitude +fervently cherished for strong, tender help in the day of small things. +Their contributions largely served to run our boat and keep our crew, +and with heads, hearts, and hands we struggled as one, to avert the +destruction so rife around us. + +From St. Louis we crossed over to Evansville, rechartered the "John V. +Troop," and put on accumulated supplies. The waters of the Ohio had +subsided and the people were returning to the old spots of earth that +once had been their home, but there was neither house to live in nor +tool to work the land with. We reloaded with pine lumber, ready-made +doors, windows, household utensils, stores and groceries, farming +utensils, and with a good force of carpenters proceeded up the Ohio once +more. The sight of the disconsolate, half-clad farmer waiting on the +bank told us where his home had been--and was not. + +Three hours' work of our carpenters would put up a one-room house, +meanwhile our efficient men and women helpers, among them the best +ladies of Evansville, would furnish it with beds, bedding, clothing, +provisions for the family, and farming tools ready to go on with the +season's work. + +Picture, if possible, this scene. A strange ship with a strange flag +steaming up the river. It halts, turns from its course, and draws up to +the nearest landing. Some persons disembark and speak a few minutes with +the family. Then, a half dozen strong mechanics man a small boat laden +with all material for constructing a one-room house--floor, roof, doors, +windows. The boat returns for furniture. Within three hours the strange +ship sails away, leaving a bewildered family in a new and clean house +with bed, bedding, clothing, table, chairs, dishes, candles, a little +cooking-stove with a blazing fire, all the common quota of cooking +utensils, and meat, meal, and groceries; a plow, rake, axe, hoe, shovel, +spade, hammer, and nails. We ask few questions. They ask none. The +whistle of the "Troop" is as welcome to their ears as the flag to their +eyes. + +At one of these wrecked villages the entire little hamlet of people +stood on our decks. Only four, they said, were left at home, and these +were sick. They had selected their lawyer to speak their thanks. No +words will ever do justice to the volume of native eloquence which +seemed to roll unbidden from his lips. He finished with these sentences: + +"At noon on that day we were in the blackness of despair--the whole +village in the power of the demon of waters--hemmed in by sleet and ice, +without fire enough to cook its little food. When the bell struck nine +that night, there were seventy-five families on their knees before their +blazing grates, thanking God for fire and light, and praying blessings +on the phantom ship with the unknown device that had come as silently as +the snow, they knew not whence, and gone, they knew not whither." + +When we finished the voyage of relief, we had covered the Ohio River +from Cincinnati to Cairo and back twice, and the Mississippi from St. +Louis to New Orleans, and return--four months on the rivers--traveled +over eight thousand miles, distributed in relief of money and estimated +material, one hundred and seventy-five thousand dollars--gathered as we +used it. + +We left at one point on the Ohio River a well-lettered cross-board, +"Little Six Red Cross Landing"--probably there to this day. The story of +The Little Six might be given in their own little letter: + + +WATERFORD, PA., _March_ 24, 1884. + +DEAR MISS BARTON: + +We read your nice letter in the Dispatch and we would like very much to +see that house called "The Little Six," and we little six are so glad +that we helped six other little children, and we thank you for going to +so much trouble in putting our money just where we would have put it +ourselves. Some time again when you want money to help you in your good +work call on "The Little Six." + + +JOE FARRAR, twelve years old. +FLORENCE HOWE, eleven years old. +MARY BARTON, eleven years old. +REED WHITE, eleven years old. +BERTIE AINSWORTH, ten years old. +LOYD BARTON, seven years old. + + +These children had given a public entertainment for the benefit of the +flood sufferers. They themselves suggested it, planned and carried it +out, and raised fifty-one dollars and twenty-five cents, which they +sent to the editor of the Eric Dispatch, asking him to send it "where it +would do the most good." The Dispatch forwarded it to the president of +the Red Cross, with an account of the entertainment given by "The Little +Six." + +The entire matter was too beautiful and withal unique, to meet only a +common fate in its results. I could not, for a moment, think to mingle +the gift of the little dramatists with the common fund for general +distribution, and sought through all these weeks for a fitting +disposition to make of it, where it would all go in some special manner +to relieve some special necessity. I wanted it to benefit some children +who had "wept on the banks" of the river, which in its madness had +devoured their home. + +As we neared that picturesque spot on the Illinois side of the Ohio, +known as "Cave-in Rock," we were hailed by a woman and her young +daughter. The boat "rounded to" and made the landing and they came on +board--a tall, thin, worn woman in tattered clothes, with a good but +inexpressibly sad face, who wished to tell us that a package which we +had left for her at the town on our way down had never reached her. She +was a widow--Mrs. Plew--whose husband, a good river pilot, had died from +overwork on a hard trip to New Orleans in the floods of the Mississippi +two years before, leaving her with six children dependent upon her, the +eldest a lad in his "teens," the youngest a little baby girl. They owned +their home, just on the brink of the river, a little "farm" of two or +three acres, two horses, three cows, thirty hogs, and a half hundred +fowls, and in spite of the bereavement, they had gone on bravely, +winning the esteem and commendation of all who knew them for thrift and +honest endeavor. Last year the floods came heavily upon them, driving +them from their home, and the two horses were lost. Next the cholera +came among the hogs and all but three died. Still they worked on; and +held the home. This spring came the third flood. The water climbed up +the bank, crept in at the door, and filled the lower story of the house. +They had nowhere to remove their household goods, and stored them in the +garret carefully packed, and went out to find a shelter in an old log +house near by, used for a corn-crib. Day by day they watched the house, +hailed passing boats for news of the rise and fall of the water above, +always trusting the house would stand--"and it would," the mother said, +"for it was a good, strong house, but for the storm." The winds came, +and the terrible gale that swept the valley like a tornado, with the +water at its height, leveling whole towns, descended and beat upon that +house, and it fell. In the morning there was no house there, and the +waves in their fury rushed madly on. Then these little children "stood +and wept on the banks of the river," and the desolation and fear in the +careful mother's heart, none but herself and her God can know. + +They lived on in the corn-crib, and it was from it they came to hail us +as we passed to-day. Something had been told us of them on our downward +trip, and a package had been left them at "Cave-in Rock," which they had +not received. We went over shoe-tops in mud to their rude home, to find +it one room of logs, an old stone chimney, with a cheerful fire of +drift-wood and a _clean_ hearth, two wrecks of beds, a table, and two +chairs which some kind neighbor had loaned. The Government boats had +left them rations. There was an air of thrift, even in their desolation, +a plank walk was laid about the door, the floor was cleanly swept, and +the twenty-five surviving hens, for an equal number were lost in the +storm, clucked and craiked comfortably about the door, and there were +two-and-a-half dozen fresh eggs to sell us at a higher rate than paid in +town. We stood, as we had done so many scores of times during the last +few weeks, and looked this pitiful scene in the face. There were +misfortune, poverty, sorrow, want, loneliness, dread of the future, but +fortitude, courage, integrity, and honest thrift. + +"Would she like to return to the childhood home in Indiana?" we asked +the mother, for we would help them go. + +"No," she said tenderly. "My husband lived and died here. He is buried +here, and I would not like to go away and leave him alone. It won't be +very long, and it is a comfort to the children to be able to visit his +grave. No, I reckon we will stay here, and out of the wreck of the old +house which sticks up out of the mud, we will put up another little +hut, higher up on the bank out of the way of the floods, and if it is +only a hut, it will be a home for us and we will get into it, and make +our crop this year." + +There were no dry eyes, but very still hearts, while we listened to this +sorrowful but brave little speech, made with a voice full of tears. + +Our thoughtful field agent, Dr. Hubbell, was the first to speak. + +"Here are six children," he said with an inquiring glance at me. + +No response was needed. The thing was done. We told the mother the story +of "The Little Six" of Waterford, and asked her if that money with +enough more to make up one hundred dollars would help her to get up her +house? It was _her_ turn to be speechless. At length with a struggling, +choking voice she managed to say--"God knows how much it would be to me. +Yes, with my good boys I can do it, and do it well." + +We put in her hands a check for this sum, and directed from the boat +clean boxes of clothing and bedding, to help restore the household, when +the house should have been completed. + +Before we left her, we asked if she would name her house when it should +be done? She thought a second, and caught the idea. + +"Yes," she replied quickly, with a really winsome smile on that worn and +weary face, "yes, I shall name it 'The Little Six.'" + +We came to Pittsburg, discharged our empty boat, bade a heart-breaking +good-by to our veteran volunteers from Evansville, who had shared our +toil and pain and who would return on the boat, we taking train once +more for Washington. We had been four months on the rivers, among fogs, +rain, damp, and malaria--run all manner of risks and dangers, but had +lost no life nor property, sunk no boat, and only that I was by this +time too weak to walk without help--all were well. + +Through the thoughtfulness of our new societies--St. Louis and +Chicago--we had been able to meet our share of the expenses, and to keep +good the little personal provision we started with, and were thus ready +to commence another field when it should come. + +On arriving home I found that I was notified by the International +Committee of Geneva, that the Fourth International Conference would be +held in that city in September, and I was requested to inform the +United States Government, and ask it to send delegates. With the aid of +a borrowed arm, I made my way up the steps of the Department of State +(that was before the luxury of elevators) and made my errand known to +Secretary Frelinghuysen, who had heard of it and was ready with his +reply: + +"Yes, Miss Barton, we will make the needful appointment of delegates to +the International Conference, and I appoint you as our delegate." + +"No, Mr. Frelinghuysen," I said, "I can not go. I have just returned +from field work. I am tired and ill. Furthermore, I have not had time to +make a report of our work." + +"There is no one else who sufficiently understands the Red Cross, and +the provisions of the treaty, that our Government can send, and we can +not afford to make a mistake in the matter of delegates to this first +conference in which our Government shall participate," answered the +Secretary. "As to the report, have you not acknowledged the +contributions to all those who have sent?" + +"Oh, yes; every dollar and every box of goods where the donor was +known," I replied. + +"Has any one complained?" he asked. + +"No; not a single person so far as is known. We have had only thanks." + +"Then to whom would you report?" + +"To you, Mr. Secretary, or to such person or in such manner as you shall +designate." + +"I don't want any report; no report is necessary," answered the +Secretary. "Our Government relief-boats have reported you officially, +and all the country knows what you have done and is more than satisfied. +Regarding your illness--you have had too much fresh water, Miss Barton, +I recommend salt--and shall appoint you." + +This was done, and the appropriation for expenses was made, and at my +request Judge Joseph Sheldon, and by invitation Mr. A. S. Solomon, our +vice-president, were also appointed to accompany me. The appropriation +sufficed for all. + +The conference was held at Geneva, September 17, 1884, and thus was had +the first official representation of the United States Government at an +International Conference of the Treaty of Geneva. There have since been +five. I have attended all but one. + + + + +II + +THE TEXAS FAMINE AND THE MT. VERNON CYCLONE + + +Before the close of the following year, 1885, came what was known as the +"Texas Famine." Thousands of miles of wild land, forming the Pan Handle, +had been suddenly opened by the building of a Southern Railroad. In the +speculative anxiety of the Road to people its newly acquired territory, +unwarranted inducements of climatic advantages had been unscrupulously +held out to the poor farmers of Mississippi, Alabama, and Georgia. + +Lured by the pictures presented them, some thousands of families had +been induced to leave their old, worn-out farms, and with the little +they could carry or drive, reach the new Eldorado, to find a new farm +that needed only the planting to make them rich, prosperous, and happy, +without labor. They planted. The first year brought some returns--the +second was a drought with no returns--the third the same. Hunger for +themselves and starvation for their stock stared them in the face. They +could not pick up and go back--the rivers were dry from the Rio Grande +to the Brazos--the earth was iron, and the heavens brass; cattle +wandered at will for water and feed, and their bones whitened the +plains. + +These were poor little peoples. They tried to make the great State know +of their distress, but the rich railroad proprietors held the _press_, +and no one knew their condition or could get correct information. At +length a faithful clergyman came to Washington, to President Cleveland, +and the Red Cross. + +We consulted with the President, who gave encouragement for us to go to +Texas and learn the facts. + +In mid-winter, 1886, accompanied by Dr. Hubbell, the journey was +undertaken. We proceeded to Albany, Texas, made headquarters--traveled +over the stricken counties, found wretchedness, hunger, thirst, cold, +heart-breaking discouragement. The third year of drought was upon them, +and the good people of that great State, misled by its press, its press +in turn misled by the speculators, innocently discredited every report +of distress, and amused themselves by little sly innuendoes and witty +jokes on the "Texas Famine." + +The condition was pitiful. To them it was hopeless. And yet not a dollar +or a pound was needed outside of Texas. They only required to know the +truth. This then was our task. We ceased to journey over arid fields of +suffering, and turned our steps resolutely to the editorial rooms of the +Dallas and Galveston News, at Dallas. Both editors were present; both +sat half-breathless while the flood of information rolled over them in +no uncertain terms. + +I shall never forget the tears in the mild blue eyes of General Belo, as +he learned what he had done, and was still doing. Twelve hours brought +another issue of the two papers. A column of editorial told the true +situation. A modest contribution of the Red Cross headed a subscription +list, General Belo following with his, and almost immediately the +legislature made an appropriation of one hundred thousand dollars for +food and supplies. + +The tender-hearted and conscience-smitten people sent their donations. +Our task was done. We had seen and conquered. + +In the midst of a cold rain in February we reached Washington. A concise +and full report was made to President Cleveland, saying in conclusion: +"I thank you with all my heart, Mr. President, for the encouragement at +the commencement, and for the privilege of writing you. We have done +this little bit of work faithfully and hope it may meet your approval." + +President Cleveland's letter of thanks still bears testimony of his care +for the people of the country, and his faith in its institutions. + +Not a dollar of outside help passed through our hands, but the little +permanent provision was equal to the occasion and we had still a half +left of our three thousand dollars. That was our first acquaintance with +Texas. Galveston followed many years later with the same firm accord and +good results. The bonds of affection had grown deep and strong between +the great thousand-mile State and the little Red Cross that loved to +serve her. + +In the following year, 1887, we were notified by the International +Committee of Geneva of the conference to be held at Carlsruhe, by +invitation of the Grand Duke and Grand Duchess of Baden. We were +directed to inform the Department of State of this fact. We did so, and +an appropriation was made by Congress to defray the expenses of three +delegates. + +It may be well to explain that in these appointments the Government does +not place the appropriation in the hands of the appointees, but simply +becomes a guaranty. The appointee provides his own funds. If, after +return, vouchers can be shown that the sum guaranteed has been spent +according to regulations, he is reimbursed in due course. + +Here was at least a contrast from a rough Mississippi River boat and the +crude homes of an unsettled Western State, to the royal carriage waiting +to convey one to the apartments reserved in a palace, the elegance and +culture of a court, the precision of a congress of representatives of +the nations of the world. The questions of humanity discussed by them, +the meeting of friends of other days, the regal bearing of the royal +host and hostess, the last parting from the dear old Emperor of +ninety-two, and his tenderly spoken, "It is the last time, good-by"; the +loving and last farewell of the beloved Empress Augusta, the patron +saint of the Red Cross; Bismarck and Moltke, in review, each with his +Red Cross insignia; the cordial hand grasp and the farewell never +repeated--and all of this attention to and interest in a subject that +the country I had gone to represent scarcely realized had an existence +beyond the receiving of some second-hand clothing, misfit shoes, and a +little money sent by some one to some place, where something bad had +happened. + +No one dreamed that it meant anything more, or that it needed anything +after this, and nothing more was done. + +It is only now, after almost two decades and within the last three +months, that we commence to awaken and wonder, with a mingled national +and personal sense of indignation, why our American Red Cross is not as +rich and great as in other nations? + +In February, 1888, occurred the Mt. Vernon, Ill., cyclone, cutting a +broad swath through one-half of the beautiful county-seat, tearing down +all heavy buildings, picking up the lighter ones and sweeping them +along like cardboard. + +In three minutes the work of destruction was over. Ten minutes later the +sun shone out brightly over the ruins of the town, the wails of the +maimed and dying, and the lifeless bodies of the dead. + +Fires broke out on every hand, and the victims pinned down under the +wreckage were subjects for the flames. Appeals for assistance went out, +but by unfortunate press representation failed to arouse the public, +till after several days, when we were reached, through their +representative in Congress, begging that in mercy we go to them. We +arrived in the night, found homes destroyed, hospitals full, scant +medical care, few nurses, food scarce and no money, a relief committee +of excellent men, but little to distribute. + +At daylight we looked over the situation and sent this simple message to +the Associated Press: + + +"The pitiless snow is falling on the heads of three thousand people, who +are without homes, without food or clothing, and without money. + +"AMERICAN NATIONAL RED CROSS, + +"Clara Barton, President." + + +This was all. We assisted their relief committee to arrange for the +receipt and distribution of funds, sent for experienced helpers to take +charge of supplies, to distribute clothing, and aid the hospital +service. We remained two weeks, and left them with more supplies than +they knew how to distribute, and the Citizens' Committee, with +accumulating cash in its treasury of ninety thousand dollars, full of +hope, life, and a gratitude they could not speak. + +As in the Texas famine, we paid our own expenses and no dollar but our +own had passed our hands. We were only glad to do this, in the hope that +we were building up an institution of self-help of the people, that +would one day win its way to their favor and aid. + + + + +III + +YELLOW FEVER IN FLORIDA + + +During the same year the yellow fever broke out in Jacksonville, Fla., +and was declared epidemic in September. + +An arrangement had been made between the National Association and the +Auxiliary Society of the Red Cross of New Orleans, which society +embraced the famous old "Howard Association," that, in case of an +outbreak of yellow fever, they would send their immune nurses from the +South, and we of the North would supply the money to support and pay +them. + +This arrangement was carried out so far as could be, under the very +natural differences of a medical department of active, professional men, +taking up the treatment of an epidemic of which they knew very little +experimentally, but filled with the enthusiasm of science and hope, and +the unprofessional, fearless, easy-going gait of the old Southern +nurses, white and black, whose whole lives had been spent in just that +work. + +The Red Cross sent no Northern nurses. But eighteen or twenty "Howard +nurses," mainly colored, went out from New Orleans under charge of Col. +Fred. F. Southmayd, their leader of twenty years in epidemics. A part of +his nurses were stationed at Macclenny, and a part went on to +Jacksonville. Under medical direction of their noted "yellow fever +doctor"--a tall Norwegian--Dr. Gill, they did their faithful work and +won their meed of grateful praise. + +Our place was in Washington, to receive, deal carefully with, and hold +back the tide of offered service from the hundreds of enthusiastic, +excited untrained volunteers, rushing on to danger and death. Their +fearless ignorance was a pitiful lesson. In all the hundreds there was +scarcely one who had ever seen a case of yellow fever, but all were sure +they were proof against it. Only three passed us, and two of these had +the fever in Jacksonville. + +When the scourge was ended we met our nurses personally at Camp Perry, +paid and sent them back to New Orleans. All that are living are at our +service still, faithful and true. + +During the fourth week in November a dispatch to national headquarters +announced that the last band of Red Cross nurses, known as the +"Macclenny Nurses," had finished their work at Enterprise, and would +come into Camp Perry to wait their ten days' quarantine and go home to +New Orleans for Thanksgiving. + +That would mean that seventy-nine days ago their little company of +eighteen, mainly women, steaming on to Jacksonville, under guidance of +their old-time trusted leader, Southmayd, of New Orleans, listened to +his announcement that the town of Macclenny, thirty-eight miles from +Jacksonville, Fla., and through which they would soon pass, was in a +fearful state of distress; a comparatively new town, of a few thousand, +largely Northern and Western people, suddenly-stricken down in scores; +poor, helpless, physicians all ill, and no nurses; quarantined on all +sides, no food, medicine, nor comforts for sick or well. + +"Nurses, shall I leave a part of you there; the train can not stop in, +nor near the town, but if I can manage to get it slowed up somewhere, +will you jump?" + +"We will do anything you say, colonel; we are here in God's name and +service to help His people; for Him, for you, and for the Red Cross, we +will do our best and our all." + +"Conductor, you had a hot box a few miles back; don't you think it +should be looked to after passing Macclenny?" + +"I will slow up and have it seen to, colonel, although it may cost me my +official head." And it did. + +One mile beyond town, the rain pouring in torrents, the ground soaked, +slippery, and caving, out into pitchy darkness, leaped three men and +seven women from a puffing, unsteady train, no physician with them, and +no instructions save the charge of their leader as the last leap was +made, and the train pushed on: "Nurses, you know what to do; go and do +your best, and God help you." Hand to hand, that none go astray in the +darkness, they hobbled back over a mile of slippery cross-ties to the +stricken town. Shelter was found, the wet clothes dried, and at midnight +the sick had been parceled out, each nurse had his or her quota of +patients, and were in for the issue, be it life or death. Those past +all help must be seen through, and lost, all that could be must be +saved. The next day a dispatch from Southmayd went back to New Orleans +for Dr. Gill to come and take charge of the sick and the nurses at +Macclenny. It was done, and under his wise direction they found again a +leader. Their labors and successes are matters for later and more +extended record. + +It is to be borne in mind that these nurses found no general table, no +table at all but such as they could provide, find the food for, and cook +for themselves, for the sick, the children, and the old and helpless who +had escaped the fever and must be cared for. No patient could be left +till the crisis was passed, and many are their records of seventy-two +hours without change or sleep or scarcely sitting down. As the disease +gradually succumbed to their watchful care, experience, and skill, they +reached out to other freshly attacked towns and hamlets. Sanderson and +Glen St. Mary's became their charge, and return their blessings for +lives preserved. + +On November 1st it was thought they could safely leave and go into camp +for quarantine; but no regular train would be permitted to take them. +The Red Cross secured and paid a special train for them, and, as if in +bold relief against the manner of their entry seven weeks before, the +entire town, saving its invalids, was assembled at the station at seven +o'clock in the morning to bid them good-by and God speed. + +But their fame had gone before them, and "Enterprise," a hundred miles +below, just stricken down among its flowers and fruits, reached out its +hands for aid, and with one accord, after two days in camp, all turned +back from the coveted home and needed rest and added another month of +toil to their already weary record. At length this was ended, and word +came again to us that they would go into quarantine. Their unselfish, +faithful, and successful record demanded something more than the mere +sending of money. It deserved the thanks of the Red Cross organization +in the best and highest manner in which they could be bestowed; it was +decided that its President, in person, should most fittingly do this, +and I accordingly left Washington on the morning of November 22d in +company with Dr. Hubbell, field agent, for Camp Perry, the quarantine +station of Florida. Two days and one night by rail, a few miles across +country by wagon, where trains were forbidden to stop, and another mile +or so over the trestles of St. Mary's on a dirt car with the workmen, +brought us into camp as the evening fires were lighted and the bugle +sounded supper. The genial surgeon in charge, Dr. Hutton, who carried a +knapsack and musket in an Illinois regiment in '62, met us cordially and +extended every possible hospitality. Soon there filed past us to supper +the tall doctor and his little flock; some light and fair-skinned, with +the easy step of a well-bred lady, others dark and bony-handed, but the +strong, kind faces below the turbans told at a glance that you could +trust your life there and find it again. They were not disturbed that +night, and no certain information of our arrival got among them. It was +cold and windy, and the evening short, as nine o'clock brought taps and +lights out. In spite of all caution the news of our coming had spread +over the surrounding country, and telegrams bringing both thanks for +what had been received and the needs for more, came from all sides, and +the good Mayor of Macclenny made his troubled way to reach and greet us +in person, and take again the faithful hands that had served and saved +his people. + +Surgeon Hutton's headquarter tent was politely tendered for the first +meeting, and as one could never, while memory lasts, forget this scene, +so no words can ever adequately describe it. The ample tent was filled. +Here on the right the Mayor, broad shouldered, kind faced and efficient, +officers of camp, and many visitors, wondering what it all meant; in the +center the tall doctor and his faithful band--Eliza Lanier, Lena Seymour +(mother and daughter), Elizabeth Eastman, Harriet Schmidt, Lizzie Louis, +Rebecca Vidal, Annie Evans, Arthur Duteil, Frederick Wilson, and Edward +Holyland. + +I give these names because they are worthy a place in the history of any +epidemic; but no country, race, nor creed could claim them as a body: +four Americans, one German, one French, one Irish, three Africans, part +Protestant, and part Catholic, but all from New Orleans, of grand old +_Howard_ stock, from Memphis down, nursing in every epidemic from the +bayous of the Mississippi to Tampa Bay; and hereafter we will know them +as the "_Old Guard_." + +Here, in the winds of approaching winter they stand in the light garb of +early September in New Orleans, thin, worn, longing for home, but +patient, grateful, and glad, some trifling "nubia" or turban about the +head, but only one distinguishing feature in common. A pitiful little +misshapen Red Cross, made by their own hands, of two bits of scarlet +ribbon, soiled, fringed, and tattered, pinned closely upon the left +breast of each, strove in mute appeal to say who they were, and what +they served. A friendly recognition and some words of thanks from their +President, opened the way for those anxious to follow. The rich, warm +eloquence of Mayor Watkins plainly told from how near his heart the +stream of gratitude was flowing, and his manly voice trembled as he +reverted to the condition of his stricken people, on that pitiless +night, when this little band of pilgrim strangers strayed back to them +in the rain and darkness. "I fear they often worked in hunger," he said, +"for then, as now, we had little for ourselves, our sick, or our well; +but they brought us to our feet, and the blessing of every man, woman, +and child in Macclenny is on them." + +It was with a kind of paternal pride that Dr. Gill advanced and placed +before us his matchless record of cases attended, and life preserved. +"This is the record of our work," he said. "I am proud of it, and glad +that I have been able to make it, but without the best efforts of these +faithful nurses I could not have done it; they have stood firm through +everything; not a word of complaint from, nor of, one of them, in all +these trying months, and I thank you, our President, for this +opportunity to testify to their merits in your presence." The full cups +overflowed, and as we took each brown calloused hand in ours, and felt +the warm tears dropping over them, we realized how far from calloused +were the hearts behind them. The silence that followed was a season of +prayer. + +Then came opportunity for some conversation, questions, and +explanations. "We wish to introduce to our President our chief nurse, +whom Colonel Southmayd placed in charge of us when we left the car, and +directed us to obey him; he is younger than any of us, Ed. Holyland." A +slight young man with clear, olive complexion, and dark-browed earnest +eyes that looked you straight in the face, came forward; his apparent +youthfulness gave rise to the first remark: + +"How old are you, Mr. Holyland?" + +"Twenty-nine, madam." + +"And you have taken charge of these nurses?" + +"I have done what I could for their comfort; I think that was what the +colonel desired; he knew they would need only care and advice, they +would do their best of themselves. During the few days that Colonel +Southmayd remained in Jacksonville," he continued, "he was able to send +us some such comforts as we needed for the sick, and some nourishing +food for ourselves; but this was only a few days, you know, and after +that we got on as well as we could without. I know that after he left +the nurses gave to the sick, the children, the old and the helpless, +what they needed for their own strength." + +"But you did not tell us this, Mr. Holyland." + +"No, we were dazed and frightened by the things we heard. We felt that +your organization was having enough to bear. We knew we must look to +you for our pay, and we thought, under the circumstances, that would be +your share. But permit me, please, to call your attention to Mr. Wilson +(a stout colored man advanced), who took charge of a little hospital of +six cases, and carried them all through, day and night, without an +hour's relief from any person, and never lost a single case." + +"And permit me," chimed in the clear-toned Irish voice of Lizzie Louis, +"to tell of Mr. Holyland himself, who found a neglected Italian family a +mile or more outside of the town. He went and nursed them alone, and +when the young son, a lad of thirteen or fourteen years, died, knowing +there was no one to bury him there, he wrapped him in a blanket and +brought him into town on his back, for burial." + +Holyland's face grew sad, and his eyes modestly sought the floor, as he +listened to this unexpected revelation. + +"I wish to speak of something else," added one of the men, "which we +were held back from doing, and for which we are now very glad. We should +not have thought of it ourselves. It is customary," he continued, "when +a patient dies in an epidemic, to give the nurse ten dollars for +preparing the body for burial; this was done in our first case, but Mr. +Holyland had the gift promptly returned with thanks, and the explanation +that we were employed by an organization which fully rewarded its +nurses, and was too high and too correct to accept tribute for +misfortune; it was enough that the patient was lost." + +By this time poor black Annie Evans, the "Mammy" of the group, could +hold quiet no longer, and broke silence with, "Missus President! whar is +de colonel? Colonel Southmayd; dey tells me all de time he's gone away +from New Orleans, and I can't b'l'eve 'em. He can't go away; he can't +lib anywhar else, he was always dar. I'se nursed in yellow fever and +cholera more'n twenty-five year, and I neber went for nobody but him; it +arn't no New Orleans for us widout him dar. I doesn't know de name of +dat place dey say he's gone to, and I doesn't want to; he'll be in New +Orleans when we gets dar." + +There were pitying glances among the group, at this little burst of +feeling, for in some way it was an echo of their own; and Lena Seymour +added tenderly: "We have been trying for these two months to convince +Mammy about this, but she is firm in her faith and sometimes refuses to +hear us." But the subject changed with "How many cases did you lose in +this epidemic, Mammy?" + +"I didn't lose no cases! Lor' bless you, honey, I doesn't lose cases if +dey hasn't been killed afore dey gets to me; folks needn't die of yellow +fever." + +We didn't suppose that "Mammy" intended any reflection upon the medical +fraternity. + +"But now, friends, we must turn to our settlement, which can not be +difficult. Three dollars a day for each nurse, for seventy-nine days, +till you are home on Thanksgiving morning. But here are only ten. There +are eighteen on our list who left with you and Colonel Southmayd; where +are your comrades?" Some eyes flashed and some moistened, as they +answered, "We do not know." "They remained in the car that night, and +went on to Jacksonville." Swift, dark glances swept from one to another +among them. Instinctively they drew closer to each other, and over +knitted brows and firmly set teeth, a silence fell dark and ominous +like a pall, which the future alone can lift. + +The bugle sounded dinner, and this ended our little camp-meeting, than +which few camp-meetings, we believe, ever came nearer to the heart of +Him who offered His life a ransom, and went about doing good. + +The winds blew cold across the camp; the fires shot out long angry +tongues of flame and drifts of smoke to every passer-by. The norther was +upon us. Night came down, and all were glad of shelter and sleep. The +morning, quiet, crisp, and white with frost, revealed the blessing which +had fallen upon a stricken land. + +Thanksgiving was there before its time. The hard rules relaxed. One day +more, and the quarantine was at an end. The north-bound train halted +below the camp, and all together, President and agent, tall doctor and +happy nurses, took places on it, the first for headquarters at +Washington, the last for New Orleans, and home for Thanksgiving morning, +full of the joys of a duty well done, rich in well-paid labor, in the +love of those they had befriended, and the approval of a whole people, +South and North, when once their work should be known to them. + +To the last, they clung to their little home-made Red Crosses as if they +had been gold and diamonds; and when at length the tracks diverged and +the parting must be made, it was with few words, low and softly spoken, +but meaning much, with a finger touch upon the little cross, "When you +want us, we are there." + +The supplies forwarded by us were estimated at ten thousand dollars. The +money received was $6,281.58. Out of this sum we paid our twenty nurses +three dollars a day, for seventy-nine days--their cost of living, and +their transportation when needed. We paid our doctor in charge twenty +dollars a day, the customary price, for the same period. We paid our +office rent, assistants, telegraphing, drayage for supplies sent on by +us (railroad transportation free), and all incidentals for a relief work +of over three months' duration. This ran our debit column over on the +other side over one thousand dollars. Our little part of the relief of +that misfortune was estimated at fifteen thousand dollars, and only +those relieved were more grateful than we. + + + + +IV + +THE JOHNSTOWN FLOOD + + +On Sunday afternoon, May 31, 1889, with the waters of the Potomac two +feet deep on Pennsylvania Avenue, a half dozen of us left Washington for +Johnstown, over washed-out ties and broken tracks, with every little +gully swollen to a raging torrent. After forty-eight hours of this, we +reached the scene, which no one need or could describe, but if ever a +people needed help it was these. + +Scarcely a house standing that was safe to enter, the wrecks piled in +rubbish thirty feet in height, four thousand dead in the river beds, +twenty thousand foodless but for Pittsburg bread rations, and a cold +rain which continued unbroken by sunshine for forty days. + +It was at the moment of supreme affliction when we arrived at Johnstown. +The waters had subsided, and those of the inhabitants who had escaped +the fate of their fellows were gazing over the scene of destruction and +trying to arouse themselves from the lethargy that had taken hold of +them when they were stunned by the realization of all the woe that had +been visited upon them. How nobly they responded to the call of duty! +How much of the heroic there is in our people when it is needed! No idle +murmurings of fate, but true to the god-like instincts of manhood and +fraternal love, they quickly banded together to do the best that the +wisest among them could suggest. + +For five weary months it was our portion to live amid the scenes of +destruction, desolation, poverty, want and woe; sometimes in tents, +sometimes without; and so much rain and mud, and such a lack of the +commonest comforts for a time, until we could build houses to shelter +ourselves and those around us. Without a safe and with a dry-goods box +for a desk, we conducted financial affairs in money and material to the +extent of nearly half a million dollars. + +I shall never lose the memory of my first walk on the first day--the +wading in mud, the climbing over broken engines, cars, heaps of iron +rollers, broken timbers, wrecks of houses; bent railway tracks tangled +with piles of iron wire; bands of workmen, squads of military, and +getting around the bodies of dead animals, and often people being borne +away; the smouldering fires and drizzling rain--all for the purpose of +officially announcing to the commanding general (for the place was under +martial law) that the Red Cross had arrived in the field. I could not +have puzzled General Hastings more if I had addressed him in Chinese; +and if ours had been truly an Oriental mission, the gallant soldier +could not have been more courteous and kind. He immediately set about +devising means for making as comfortable as possible a "poor, lone +woman," helpless, of course, upon such a field. It was with considerable +difficulty that I could convince him that the Red Cross had a way of +taking care of itself at least, and was not likely to suffer from +neglect. + +Not a business house or bank left, the safes all in the bottom of the +river; our little pocketbook was useless, there was nothing to buy, and +it would not bring back the dead. With the shelter of the tents of the +Philadelphia Red Cross, that joined us en route with supplies, when we +could find a cleared place to spread, or soil to hold them, with a +dry-goods box for a desk, our stenographer commenced to rescue the first +dispatches of any description that entered that desolate city. The +disturbed rivers lapped wearily back and forth, the people, dazed and +dumb, dug in the muddy banks for their dead. Hastings with his little +army of militia kept order. + +Soon supplies commenced to pour in from everywhere, to be received, +sheltered as best they could be from the incessant rain, and distributed +by human hands, for it was three weeks before even a cart could pass the +streets. + +But I am not here to describe Johnstown--the noble help that came to it, +nor the still more noble people that received it--but simply to say that +the little untried and unskilled Red Cross played its minor tune of a +single fife among the grand chorus of relief of the whole country, that +rose like an anthem, till over four millions in money, contributed to +its main body of relief, with the faithful Kreamer at its head, had +modestly taken the place of the twelve millions destroyed. But after all +it was largely the supplies that saved the people at first, as it always +is, and the distribution of which largely consumed the money that was +contributed later. + +From one mammoth tent which served as a warehouse, food and clothing +were given out to the waiting people through the hands of such volunteer +agents, both women and men, as I scarcely dare hope to ever see gathered +together in one work again. The great cry which had gone out had aroused +the entire country, and our old-time helpers, full of rich experience +and still richer love for the work, faithful to the cross of humanity as +the devotee to the cross of the Master, came up from every point--the +floods, the cyclones, the battle-fields--and kneeling before the shrine, +pledged heart and service anew to the work. Fair hands laying aside +their diamonds, and business men their cares, left homes of elegance and +luxury to open rough boxes and barrels, handle second-hand clothing, eat +coarse food at rough-board tables, sleep on cots under a dripping canvas +tent, all for the love of humanity symbolized in the little flag that +floated above them. + +Clergymen left their pulpits and laymen their charge to tramp over the +hillsides from house to house, to find who needed and suffered, and to +carry to them from our tents on their shoulders, like beasts of burden, +the huge bundles of relief, where no beast of burden could reach. + +We had been early requested by official resolution of the Finance +Committee of the City of Johnstown to aid them in the erection of +houses. We accepted the invitation, and at the same time proposed to aid +in furnishing the nucleus of a household for the home which should in +any way be made up. This aid seemed imperative, as nothing was left for +them to commence living with, neither beds, chairs, tables, nor cooking +utensils of any kind; and there were few if any stores open, and no +furniture in town. + +Of this labor we had our share. Six buildings of one hundred feet by +fifty, later known as "Red Cross Hotels," were quickly put up to shelter +the people, furnished, supplied, and kept like hotels, free of all cost +to them, while others were built by the general committee. Three +thousand of the latter were erected, and the Red Cross furnished every +one with substantial, newly purchased furniture, ready for occupancy. +The books of the "Titusville Manufacturing Company" will show one cash +order of ten thousand dollars for furniture. The three thousand houses +thus furnished each accommodated two families. + +A ponderous book of nearly two feet square shows the name, sex, and +number of persons of each family, and a list of every article received +by them. To-day one looks in wonder at such a display of clerical labor +and accuracy, under even favorable conditions. + +This was only accomplished by the hard, unpaid labor of every officer, +and the large amount of volunteer friendly aid that came to us. + +The great manufacturers of the country, and the heavy contributing +agents, on learning our intentions, sent, without a hint from us, many +of their articles, as, for instance, New Bedford, Mass., sent mattresses +and bedding; Sheboygan, Wis., sent furniture and enameled ironware; +Titusville, Pa., with a population of ten thousand, sent ten thousand +dollars' worth of its well-made bedsteads, springs, extension-tables, +chairs, stands and rockers; and the well-known New York newspaper, The +Mail and Express, sent a large lot of mattresses, feather pillows, +bedclothing, sheets, and pillow-slips by the thousand and cooking +utensils by the ten thousands. Six large teams were in constant service +delivering these goods. + +When the contributions slackened or ceased, and more material was +needed, we purchased of the same firms which had contributed, keeping +our stock good until all applications were filled. The record on our +books showed that over twenty-five thousand persons had been directly +served by us. They had received our help independently and without +begging. No child has learned to beg at the doors of the Red Cross. + +It is to be borne in mind that the fury of the deluge had swept almost +entirely the homes of the wealthy, the elegant, the cultured leaders of +society, and the fathers of the town. This class who were spared were +more painfully homeless than the indigent poor, who could still huddle +in together. They could not go away, for the suffering and demoralized +town needed their care and oversight more than ever before. There was no +home for them, nowhere to get a meal of food or to sleep. Still they +must work on, and the stranger coming to town on business must go +unfed, with no shelter at night, if he would sleep, or, indeed, escape +being picked up by the military guard. + +To meet these necessities, and being apprehensive that some good lives +might go out under the existing luck of accommodations, it was decided +to erect a building similar to our warehouse. The use of the former site +of the Episcopal Church was generously tendered us by the Bishop early +in June, for any purpose we might desire. This house, which was soon +erected, was known as the "Locust Street Red Cross Hotel"; it stood some +fifty rods from our warehouse, and was fifty by one hundred and sixteen +feet in dimensions, two stories in height, with lantern roof, built of +hemlock, single siding, papered inside with heavy building paper, and +heated by natural gas, as all our buildings were. It consisted of +thirty-four rooms, besides kitchen, laundry, bath-rooms with hot and +cold water, and one main dining-hall and sitting-room through the +center, sixteen feet in width by one hundred in length. + +It was fully furnished with excellent beds, bedding, bureaus, tables, +chairs, and all needful housekeeping furniture. A competent landlady, +who, like the rest, had a few weeks before floated down over the same +ground on the roof of her house in thirty feet of water, was placed in +charge, with instructions to keep a good house, make what she could rent +free, but charging no Johnstown person over twenty-five cents for a meal +of food. + +This was the first attempt at social life after that terrible +separation, and its success was something that I am very proud of. The +house was full of townspeople from the first day, and strangers no +longer looked in vain for accommodations. + +The conception of the need of this house, and the method of selecting +its inmates, and the manner of inducting them into their new home, were +somewhat unique and may be of interest to the reader. I had noticed +among the brave and true men, who were working in the mud and rain, many +refined-looking gentlemen, who were, before this great misfortune +carried away most of their belongings, the wealthiest and most +influential citizens. Never having had to struggle amid such hardships +and deprivations, their sufferings were more acute than those of the +poorer and more hardy people; and it did not require any great +foresight to know that they were physically incapable of such labor if +prolonged, nor to predict their early sickness and death if they were +not properly housed and fed. As the salvation of the town depended in a +great measure upon the efforts of these men, it was vitally necessary +that their lives should be preserved. Realizing all this, it occurred to +us that the most important thing to do, next to feeding the hungry, was +to provide proper shelter for these delicate men and their families. The +idea once conceived was soon communicated to my staff, and, after due +consideration, it was put in the way of realization. + +On the afternoon of July 27th hundreds of citizens called on us, and +congratulations and good wishes were the order of the day. As the +members of each family whom we had selected to occupy apartments in the +house arrived, they were quietly taken aside and requested to remain and +have dinner with us. After all the guests were departed except those who +had been requested to remain, dinner was announced, and the party was +seated by the members of the Red Cross. Beside the plate of each head +of a family were laid the keys to an apartment, with a card inviting the +family to take possession at once, and remain as long as they chose. + +I can not describe the scene that followed; there were tears and broken +voices; suffice to say, the members of that household were made happy +and comfortable for many long months; and I venture to assert that those +now living recall those days with the fondest recollections. + +The contributions to the general committee had been so liberal that it +was possible to erect and provide for the great burial-place of its +dead--"Grand View," that overlooks the city. It was also suggested that +a benevolent society, as a permanent institution, be formed by the +united action of the general committee and the Red Cross. This was +successfully accomplished by the generous provision of eight thousand +dollars from the committee on its part and the turning over of our +well-made and supplied hospital buildings, and the funds we had left +placed in charge of a faithful custodian under our pay for the following +six months. + +This is the present "Union Benevolent Society" of Johnstown to-day. + +I remained five months with these people without once visiting my own +home, only returning to it when the frost had killed the green I had +left in May. + +In that time, it was estimated, we had housed, handled, and distributed +$211,000 worth of supplies--new and old--for, by request of the weary +chairman of the general committee, at the last, we took up the close of +its distribution. It is our joy and pride to recall how closely we +worked in connection with that honored committee from first to last, and +how strong and unsullied that friendship has remained. + +The value of money that passed through our hands was $39,000, as stated +in the official report of the general committee, to which all required +returns were made, recorded, and published by the committee. + +Our usual quota of assistants was fifty persons, the higher grade of men +and women assistants largely volunteers. Two railroads brought our +supplies. To handle these the strongest men were required, and seven +two-horse teams ran daily for three and a half months in the +distribution, at customary rates of pay. These were the workingmen of +the town who had suffered with the rest. + +It was a joy that in all the uncertainties of that uncertain field not a +single complaint ever reached us of the non-acknowledgment of a dollar +entrusted to us. + +The paths of charity are over roadways of ashes; and he who would tread +them must be prepared to meet opposition, misconstruction, jealousy, and +calumny. Let his work be that of angels--still it will not satisfy all. + +In the light of recent events, I may perhaps be pardoned for quoting a +few lines from the official report of the Johnstown Flood Finance +Committee appointed by Governor Beaver, as showing how these gentlemen, +the foremost men in the community, regarded our efforts to give them a +helping hand: + +"In this matter of sheltering the people, as in others of like +importance, Miss Clara Barton, President of the Red Cross Association, +was most helpful. At a time when there was a doubt if the Flood +Commission could furnish houses of suitable character and with the +requisite promptness, she offered to assume charge, and she erected with +the funds of the Association three large apartment houses, which +afforded comfortable lodgings for many houseless people. She was among +the first to arrive on the scene of calamity, bringing with her Dr. +Hubbell, the Field Officer of the Red Cross Association, and a staff of +skilled assistants. She made her own organization for relief work in +every form, disposing of the large resources under her control with such +wisdom and tenderness that the charity of the Red Cross had no sting, +and its recipients are not Miss Barton's dependents, but her friends. +She was also the last of the ministering spirits to leave the scene of +her labors, and she left her apartment houses for use during the winter, +and turned over her warehouse with its store of furniture, bedding, and +clothing, and a well-equipped infirmary, to the Union Benevolent +Association of the Conemaugh Valley, the organization of which she +advised and helped to form; and its lady visitors have so well performed +their work that the dreaded winter has no terrors, mendicancy has been +repressed, and not a single case of unrelieved suffering is known to +have occurred in all the flooded district." + +Enterprising, industrious, and hopeful, the new Johnstown, +phoenix-like, rose from its ruins more beautiful than the old, with a +ceaseless throb of grateful memory for every kind act rendered, and +every thought of sympathy given her in her great hour of desolation and +woe. God bless her, and God bless all who helped save her! + + + + +V + +THE RUSSIAN FAMINE + + +As early as 1889, the foreign journals began to tell us of the +apprehension caused by an unusual failure of the crops in Central +Russia, extending from Moscow north and south, and east beyond the Ural +Mountains and into Siberia--embracing an era of a million square miles. +This failure was followed by another in 1890. + +Eighteen hundred and ninety-one found the old-time granaries empty, and +a total failure of the crops, and a population of thirty-five millions +of people, paralyzed with the dread of approaching famine. + +The American Red Cross had placed itself in communication with the +Secretary of State, Hon. James G. Blaine, whose name and memory it +treasures with reverence, and Mr. Alexander Gregor, the accomplished +Russian _Charge d'Affaires_ at Washington, and ascertained that Russia +would gladly receive donations of relief from America. She would even +send her ships for any food that might be offered. This, America would +not permit and Congress was appealed to for ocean transportation. The +Senate voted a liberal appropriation, which was defeated in the House. + +Then the Red Cross, with the aid of the citizens of Washington, took up +the matter. They were joined by the Order of Elks, which contributed a +sum of seven hundred dollars, than which perhaps that liberal Order +never made a more timely gift. Funds were raised to charter a steamship +for the Red Cross. The spirit spread generally over the country. +Philadelphia sent a messenger to learn what Washington was doing, and +was advised to charter one of its own ships, which was done, and two +consignments were finally made by them. + +Minnesota had already acted, and later, by the advice and aid of the +extra provision of the Red Cross, the Christian Herald sent out its ship +cargo, under convoy of Rev. Dr. Talmage. + +But the State of Iowa led all others in active generosity. + +Under the supervision of Mr. B. F. Tillinghast, of Davenport, aided by +the able pen of Miss Alice French, that State alone raised, and sent in +trains across the country from Iowa to New York, one hundred and +seventeen thousand bushels of corn and one hundred thousand pounds of +flour, which was loaded onto the "Tynehead," a staunch British ship, and +consigned to the port of Riga. + +That year we had been notified of an International Conference to be held +in Rome. The customary appropriation was made by Congress, and again I +was appointed delegate. Too much occupied by the relief at home, Dr. +Hubbell, also a delegate, went in my place to Rome, and from there +reached Riga in time to receive and direct the distribution of the +immense cargo of grain throughout Russia. + +When Dr. Hubbell reached Riga he learned that two hundred and forty +peasants had been waiting on the dock two days, watching and waiting for +the ship from America. Not waiting for food, for Riga was not in a +famine province, but waiting that they might not miss the opportunity +and the honor of unloading the American ship that had brought food to +their unfortunate brothers in the interior. As soon as they could get +into the hold of the ship, one hundred and forty of them began the +unloading. They worked night and day, without rest, determined to unload +the entire cargo themselves, without help. But on the third night our +Consul, Mr. Bornholdt, insisted on their having a relief of twelve +hours, and when the twelve hours were up they were all in their places +again, and remained until the cargo was out, declining to take any pay +for their labor. Twelve women worked along with them in the same spirit, +in the ship and on the dock, with needles, sewing up the rents in the +bags, to prevent waste in handling, and cooking meals for the men. + +The Mayor of St. Petersburg, in an address on behalf of that city to +American donors, declared: + +"The Russian people know how to be grateful. If up to this day these two +great countries, Russia and the United States, have not only never +quarreled, but on the contrary wished each other prosperity and strength +always, these feelings of sympathy can grow only stronger in the future, +both countries being conscious that in the season of trial for either it +will find in the other cordial succor and support. And can true +friendship be tested if not in the hour of misfortune?" + +A peasant of Samara sent to a Russian editor, together with three +colored eggs, a letter which he asked to have forwarded to America. The +following is an extract from the letter: + +"Christ is risen! To the merciful benefactors, the protectors of the +poor, the feeders of the starving, the guardians of the orphans--Christ +is risen. + +"North Americans! May the Lord grant you a peaceful and long life and +prosperity to your land, and may your fields be filled with abundant +harvest--Christ is risen. Your mercifulness gives us a helping hand. +Through your charity you have satisfied the starving. And for your +magnificent alms accept from me this humble gift, which I send to the +entire American people for your great beneficence, from all the hearts +of the poor filled with feelings of joy." + +In the gratitude manifested by the Russian Government and people we were +glad to feel that a slight return had been made to Russia for past +favors in our own peril, and a friendship never broken. + +The Department of State at Washington, under date of January 11, 1894, +forwarded the following: + +"I have to inform you that on November 7, 1893, the American Minister at +St. Petersburg received from the nobility of that city, through their +Marshal, Count Alexis Bobrinskoy, an address to the people of the United +States. This address, which is in the English language, embodies in +terms fitly chosen the thanks of the Russian people to the American for +the aid sent to their country from our own during the famine period of +the past two years. It is beautifully engrossed and its illumination +embraces water-color drawings which render it a most attractive work of +art. + +"The document, which is superbly bound and enclosed in a fine case, was +duly forwarded to this city by the American Minister at St. Petersburg, +and will be given a conspicuous place in the library of this +department." + +In so general an uprising of relief no great sum in contributions could +be expected from any one source. The Red Cross felt that, if no more, it +was glad to be able to pay, by the generous help of the city of +Washington, the charter of a ship that conveyed its +corn--$12,500--besides several thousands distributed in Russia through +Tolstoi and American agents there. + +We paid the cost of loading, superintended by Mr. Tillinghast in person, +whose financial record shows the exact cost of transportation. All this +was done in connection with the State of Iowa. Our home record showed, +when all was finished, a field closed with a small balance in our favor, +which we had no active call for. By the advice of one of the best +personal advisers, bankers, and friends that the Red Cross has ever had, +this small sum was placed in bank, in readiness for the next call. + + + + +VI + +THE SEA ISLAND RELIEF + + +This little timely provision, advisedly made, was none too much or none +too soon. + +On the 28th of August, 1893, a hurricane and tidal wave from the +direction of the West Indies swept the coast of South Carolina, covering +its entire range of Port Royal Islands, sixteen feet below the sea. +These islands had thirty-five thousand inhabitants, mainly negroes. At +first, it was thought that all must have perished. Later, it was found +that only some four or five thousand had been drowned, and that thirty +thousand remained with no earthly possession of home, clothing, or food. +The few boats not swept away took them over to the mainland in +thousands, and calls went out for help. In this emergency Governor +Tillman called for the services of the Red Cross, and my note-book has +this passage: + +"The next night, in a dark, cheerless September mist, I closed my door +behind me for ten months, and with three assistants went to the station +to meet Senator Butler." + +At Columbia we were joined by Governor Tillman, and thus reinforced +proceeded to Beaufort. After due examination the work which had been +officially placed with us by the Governor was accepted October 1st, and +carried on until the following July. + +The submerged lands were drained, three hundred miles of ditches made, a +million feet of lumber purchased and houses built, fields and gardens +planted with the best seed in the United States, and the work all done +by the people themselves. The thousands of boxes of clothing received +were distributed among them, and we left them in July, 1894, supplies of +vegetables for the city of Beaufort. + +Free transportation for supplies continued till about March. No +provisions in kind were sent from any source after the first four weeks +of public excitement. After this all foodstuffs were purchased in +Charleston and distributed as rations. Men were compelled to work on the +building of their own homes in order to receive rations. + +We found them an industrious, grateful class of people, far above the +ordinary grade usually met. They largely owned their little homes, and +appreciated instruction in the way of improving them. The tender memory +of the childlike confidence and obedience of this ebony-faced population +is something that time cannot efface from either us or them. + +On the third day after our arrival at Beaufort four middle-aged colored +men came to the door of the room we had appropriated as an office, and +respectfully asked to see "Miss Clare." They were admitted, and I waited +to learn what request they would probably make of me. At length the +tallest and evidently the leader, said: + +"Miss Clare, we knows you doesn't remember us. But we never fo'gits you. +We has all of us got somethin' to show you." + +Slipping up a soiled, ragged shirtsleeve, he showed me an ugly scar +above the elbow, reaching to the shoulder. "Wagner?" I asked. + +"Yes, Miss Clare, and you drissed it for me that night, when I crawled +down the beach--'cause my leg was broke too," he replied. "And we was +all of us there, and you took care of us all and drissed our wounz. I +was with Colonel Shaw, and crawled out of the fote. The oth's nevah got +in. But we all got to you, Miss Clare. And now you's got to us. We's +talked about you a heap o' times, but we nevah 'spected to see you. We's +nevah fo'git it, Miss Clare." + +One by one they showed their scars. There was very little clothing to +hide them--bullet wound and sabre stroke. The memory, dark and sad, +stood out before us all. It was a moment not to be forgotten. + +Our purchases consisted of meat, mainly dry sides of pork, and grits, or +hominy, for eating. For planting, beside the seed contributed and the +nine hundred bushels of Irish potatoes, were eighteen hundred bushels of +Northern Flint seed corn. + +The contributions of food and clothing had been sent to Beaufort, and +were in the warehouses of the perplexed committee of its leading +citizens. This had naturally drawn all the inhabitants of the scores of +desolated islands for fifty miles to Beaufort, until, it is safe to say, +that fifteen to twenty thousand refugees had gathered there, living in +its streets and waiting to be fed from day to day. + +As the food was there they could not be induced to return to the +islands. Indeed, there was more often nothing on the islands to return +to. The description given by the heads of families and owners, for they +had largely owned their homes, gotten on the old-time plantations "'fo +de wah," was this: If all had been swept out to sea and nothing +remained, it was described as, "done gone." But if thrown down and parts +of the wreck still remained, it was described as "ractified." + +A few of the churches, being larger and more strongly built, still +remained standing. During the first ten days of our stay it would have +been impossible to drive through the principal streets of Beaufort. They +were a solid moving mass, crowding as near to the storehouses as +possible to get, in spite of the policeman, who kindly held them back. + +We sat daily in counsel with the local committee, until seeing that only +systematic measures and a decided change could relieve the conditions +and render the city safe. We then, on the first of October, decided to +accede to the request of the Governor made at first, and take sole +charge of the relief. + +Our first order was to close every storehouse, both of food and +clothing, and inform the people that all distributions would hereafter +be made from the islands. It is impossible to convey to the mind of the +reader the difficulty of getting into a few intelligent sentences the +idea of the means adopted to produce these changes and inaugurate a +system that was to restore to active habits of life a body of utterly +homeless, demoralized, and ignorant people, equal in numbers to a small +new State. + +If these little covers would admit the scores of pages of admirably +written reports of the officers and helpers on that field, every line +replete with interest, that lie here at my hand, it would be an easy and +a welcome task to reproduce them entire, and no more than deserved for +their faithful and gratuitous labor. + +Dr. Egan's report has this passage: + +"October 2d came my marching orders. Take charge of the warehouse and +stores, make an inventory of them, disperse these men, and rid the city +of the demoralizing influence of idle people. The doors are closed and +the inventory begun." + +The local committee had kindly pointed out the most suitable man to take +charge of each community, and to him would be consigned the rations to +be distributed to each family and person within his charge, for which +receipt and distribution he became as responsible as a merchant. + +The goods and rations were at once shipped across the bay to them, or +taken on their own boats, if so fortunate as to have one left from the +storm. It is needless to say that the multitude followed the food. + +In three days there were not people enough left in Beaufort, besides its +own, to be hired for a "job of work." Then followed the necessity for +material to rebuild the "done gone," and to repair the "ractified" +homes. + +A million feet of pine lumber was purchased of a leading lumber dealer, +shipped down the Combahee River, and delivered at the landings on the +islands most convenient of access to the points needed. Each man +received his lumber by order and receipt, and was under obligation to +build his own house. The work was all performed by themselves. A garden +was insisted upon. At first this proposition was resisted as +impracticable. + +"No use, Mistah--no use--'cause de pig eat it all up." + +It was suggested that a fence might be made enclosing at least a quarter +of an acre about the house to keep "de pig" out, as we should later +send, for planting, the best seed to be obtained in the country. + +To this moment our thanks go out to the Agricultural Department at +Washington, and the great seed houses of all the North, for the generous +donations that served to bring once more into self-sustaining relations +this destitute and well-disposed people. + +The fact that the building of the fence, and its subsequent keeping in +strict repair, had some bearing on the weekly issuance of rations, was +evidently not without its influence. There were no poor fences and "de +pig" did no damage. But there were such gardens, and of such varieties, +as those islands had never before seen. + +The earliest crop to strive for, beside the gardens, was the Irish +potato, which they had never raised. Nine hundred bushels were purchased +from Savannah for planting in February. The difficulty of distributing +the potatoes lay in the fact that they would be more likely to find +their way into the dinner pot than into the ground. To avoid this the +court-yard inside our headquarters was appropriated for the purpose of +preparing the potatoes for planting. + +Some forty women were hired to come over from the islands and cut +potatoes for seed--every "eye" of the potato making a sprout--these +distributed to them by the peck, like other seed. + +I recall a fine, bright morning in May, when I was told that a woman who +had come over from St. Helena in the night, waited at the door to see +me. I went to the door to find a tall, bright-looking woman in a clean +dress, with a basket on her head, which, after salutation, she lowered +and held out to me. There was something over a peck of Early Rose +potatoes in the basket--in size from a pigeon's to a pullet's egg. The +grateful woman could wait no longer for the potatoes to grow larger, +but had dug these, and had come ten miles over the sea, in the night, to +bring them to me as a first offering of food of her own raising. + +If the tears fell on the little gift as I looked and remembered, no one +will wonder or criticise. The potatoes were cooked for breakfast, and +"Susie Jane" was invited to partake. + +The shores of the mainland had not been exempt from the ravages of the +storm and in many instances had suffered like the islands. Some thirty +miles above Beaufort was a kind of plantation, with a community of sixty +or seventy families of colored people. The property was owned by two +elderly white ladies who had not returned since driven away by the +storm. + +This village was reported to us as in need and demoralized, with no +head, scant of food, and its "ractified" houses scarcely affording a +shelter. + +A representative mulatto man came to tell us. An inspection was made and +resulted in this man being put in charge to build up the community. +Lumber and food were provided and the people set to work under his +charge. From time to time word came to us, and after some months the +tall representative came again. He had been asked by the people to come +and bring their thanks to the Red Cross for "de home, de gard'n, de pig, +and de chick'n dey all has now." + +The thanks they had emphasized and proved by the heavy basket that +Jackson had carefully brought all the forty miles. It contained +seventy-one fresh eggs--the gift of seventy-one families--being a +contribution of one egg from each family, from the day or two previous +to his leaving on his mission. + +Domestic gardens were a new feature among these islanders, whose whole +attention had been always given to the raising of the renowned "Sea +Island Cotton," the pride of the market, and a just distinction to +themselves and the worthy planter. The result of this innovation was +that, when we left in July, it was nearly as difficult for a pedestrian +to make his way on the narrow sidewalks of Beaufort because of piled-up +vegetables for sale from the islands, as it had been in October to pass +through the streets because of hungry, idle men and women. + +Nothing better illustrates the native good heart of these people than +their kindly interest in and for each other. Often the young men, +without families, would club together and put up a house for some lone +old "auntie," who had neither family nor home, and occasionally there +seemed to develop among them an active philanthropist. Of this type was +Jack Owens, who rebuilt his own "done gone" premises. One day as the +field agent was driving out on some inspection he met Jack walking into +town. + +His decrepit neighbor's house had burned a few weeks before, and Jack +had gotten lumber and rebuilt the house himself. In describing the utter +devastation, Jack explained that "all de house and de well was +burned"--and he had built another house and was coming in on foot "for +funituh to funish it." Jack had lost his ox, "a big ox," he said, in the +storm, and now he "hadn't any nuther" to plow his ground. He pleaded for +another--if it was only "a lil' critter it would grow big"--and it would +help him so much. + +The appeal was not to be resisted. Dr. Hubbell treasures to this day the +satisfaction he felt in procuring something better than the "lil' +critter" as reward and encouragement for Jack's active philanthropy. + +If any practical woman reading this should try to comprehend what it +would be to undertake to clothe and keep clothed thirty thousand human +beings for a year, and to do this from the charitable gifts of the +people, which gifts had all done more or less service before--often +pretty thoroughly "ractified"--this woman will not wonder that sewing +societies suggested themselves to us at headquarters. + +The women were called together and this suggestion made to them, with +the result that an old time "sewing circle" was instituted in every +community. Its membership, officers, dues, and regulations were properly +established--one-half day in each week devoted by each member to the +work in its sewing-rooms, with a woman in charge to prepare it. The +clothing was given out to them as received by us. Many a basket came +proudly back to show us the difference between "den an' now"--good, +strong, firmly mended garments. Ragged coats and pants disappeared from +among the men, as no longer "'spectable fo' de fambly." + +Provision was also made that the little girls from ten years old should +attend and be taught to sew. Many a little dress was selected at +headquarters for them to make over or repair. + +I wish I could do fitting justice to the band of women volunteers who +stood by me through those long months. Some had commenced with me when +society belles, years before, now mistresses of their own palatial +homes; some had come from under the old historic elms of Boston, and +some from the hard-fought fields of Britain's Africa, and wearing the +Victoria Cross. To them, white and black were the same, and no toil too +hard or too menial. + +The money contributed and received for the entire relief of ten months +was thirty thousand five hundred, and a few additional dollars and cents +which I do not at this moment recall. It aggregated one dollar apiece +for the entire maintenance of thirty thousand persons for ten months. + +It is the general custom in this part of the country for the merchants +to furnish supplies to their patrons, and wait until the gathering of +the crops for their pay. But when we left these people at the beginning +of their harvest, not one family in twenty-five had contracted a debt +for supplies: an experience before unknown in their history. + +A report was made and passed into the hands of our legal counsellor, +who, on seeing that no change could be truthfully made in it, advised +that it be not published, as no one would believe it possible to be +done, and we would get only distrust and discredit. Having now come to a +pass where distrust and discredit are no longer to be feared by the Red +Cross, we ourselves are free to make the statement. But back of the hard +facts there is compensation. + +A half dozen years later, when our negro proteges of the Sea Islands +heard of the disaster that had fallen upon Galveston, they at once +gathered for aid and sent in their contributions. + +"'Cause dey suffers like we did, and de Red Cross is dar," they said. + +Of course I would not permit one dollar of this holy gift to Galveston +to go to other than the hands, hard, bony, and black--such as had raised +it in their penury. I also wanted it to do more. Searching for the most +reliable colored people in the city I found in the superintendent of the +colored schools a man who had occupied that place for many years, and +who had the respect and confidence of the people of Galveston. I asked +him to consult his foremost women teachers, and if it pleased them, to +form a society and fit themselves to receive a little money. + +In about a week he appeared with his deputation. I informed them that I +had a little money from their own people of the Sea Islands for them; +that they had been chosen to receive it, because as teachers of the +children they would have access to the needs and conditions of the +families. I told them that I had desired to do more than merely make a +gift for distribution. I wished to plant a tree. I could have given them +their peach, which they would eat, enjoy, and throw the pit away. But I +wished them to plant the pit, and let it raise other fruit for them, and +for that reason I had asked the formation of this society. + +They all sat quiet a few moments, the tears were on their faces. At +length their president, the school superintendent, spoke for them: + +"Miss Barton," he said, "we all appreciate this, and in the name of all +I promise you that the pit shall be reverently planted, and I trust the +time will come when I can tell you that our tree is not only bearing +fruit for ourselves, but for all suffering brethren, as theirs have done +for us." + +I then handed them the check for $397. The moment seemed sacred when +these poor dark figures, struggling toward the light, walked out of my +presence. The pit has been successfully planted in Galveston, and we are +from time to time informed of its bearing. + + + + +VII + +ARMENIAN RELIEF + +1896 + + +Leaving the Port Royal field past midsummer of 1894, after an absence of +nearly a year--at a day's notice--the remainder of the autumn and winter +was scarcely less occupied in the details which had been unavoidably +overlooked. Before spring our correspondence commenced to enlarge with +rumors of Armenian massacres, and so excited and rapid was the increase +that, so far as actual labor, consultation, and thought were concerned, +we might as well have been on a field of relief. + +Unfortunately, the suspicions of the Turkish Government had fallen upon +the resident missionaries, both English and American, as favoring the +views and efforts of its anarchistic population, or the "young Turks," +as they were designated. This had the effect of placing the missionaries +in danger, confining them strictly to their own quarters, preventing +all communication and the receiving of any funds sent them from abroad. + +England had a large waiting fund which it could not distribute, and +appealed to the American Missionary Boards of Boston and New York, to +find them equally powerless. The need of funds among the missionaries +throughout Turkey was getting painfully urgent, and as a last resort it +was suggested from Constantinople that the Red Cross be asked to open +the way. + +A written request from the Rev. Judson Smith, D.D., of Boston, was +nearly identical with one received by us from Mr. Spencer Trask, of New +York, who with others was about to form a national Armenian relief +committee, to be established in that city. + +Following these communications, both of these eminent gentlemen, Mr. +Smith and Mr. Trask, came in person to urge our compliance with their +request that the Red Cross accept the charge and personally undertake +the doubtful and dangerous task of distributing the waiting funds among +the missionaries in Turkey. + +As Mr. Trask was to take the lead in the formation of a committee for +the raising of funds, his interest was naturally paramount, and his +arguments in favor of our acceptance were wellnigh irresistible. +Immediate action on the part of some one was imperative. Human beings +were starving, and could not be reached. Thousands of towns and villages +had not been heard from since the massacres, and only the Red Cross +could have any hope of reaching them. No one else was prepared for field +work; it had its force of trained field workers. Turkey was one of the +signatory powers to the Red Cross Treaty. Thus it was hoped and believed +that she would the more readily accept its presence. + +These are mere examples of the reasons urged by the ardent advocates of +the proposed committee, until at length we came to consider its +acceptance, on conditions which must be clearly understood. First, we +must not be expected to take any part in, or to be made use of, in the +raising of funds--one of our fundamental rules being never to ask for +funds--we did not do it for ourselves. + +Second, there must be perfect unanimity between themselves. We must be +assured that every one wanted us to go. Our part would be hard enough +then; and finally we must be sure they had some funds to distribute. + +Of the amount of these funds no mention was made by us, and I remember a +feeling of good-natured amusement as I heard the officers of this +untried effort at raising funds speak of "millions." It was easy to +discern that they were more accustomed to the figures of a banking +establishment than a charity organization dependent on the raising of +funds. They were likely to be disappointed. In reality, the amount, so +there were something to go with, made very little difference to us, as +we were merely to place what was entrusted to us where most needed, and +when that was done we had but to return. We never named any amount as +preferable to us. + +The means resorted to in raising the funds were unfortunate. In the +great public meetings called for that purpose the utmost indiscretion +prevailed in regard to language applied to Turkey and the Turkish +Government. This aroused the indignation of the Turkish officials, who +very reasonably took measures to have our entrance into Turkey +forbidden. + +A date of sailing, however, had been given Mr. Trask, and his committee, +feeling that any change would be detrimental to their efforts, no change +was made, and we sailed on time, to find in England no permission, and +further efforts necessary. With time and patience the troublesome +effects of these mistakes were overcome, and Constantinople was reached, +and a heavenly welcome by the harassed missionaries awaited us. + +The first step was to procure an introduction to the Turkish Government, +which had in one sense refused to see me. Accompanied by the American +Minister, Hon. A. W. Terrell, and his premier interpreter, Gargiulo, one +of the most experienced diplomatic officers in Constantinople, I called +by appointment upon Tewfik Pasha, the Turkish Minister of Foreign +Affairs, or Minister of State. To those conversant with the personages +connected with Turkish affairs, I need not say that Tewfik Pasha is +probably the foremost man of the government--a manly man, with a kind, +fine face, and genial, polished manners. Educated abroad, with advanced +views on general subjects, he impresses one as a man who would sanction +no wrong it was in his power to avert. + +Mr. Terrell's introduction was most appropriate and well expressed, +bearing with strong emphasis upon the suffering condition of the people +of the interior, in consequence of the massacres, the great sympathy of +the people of America, and giving assurance that our objects were purely +humanitarian, having neither political, racial, nor religious +significance. + +The Pasha listened most attentively to Mr. Terrell, thanked him, and +said that this was well understood, that they knew the Red Cross and its +president. Turning to me he repeated: "We know you, Miss Barton; have +long known you and your work. We would like to hear your plans for +relief and what you desire." + +I proceeded to state our plans for relief, which, if not carried out at +this time, the suffering in Armenia, unless we had been misinformed, +would shock the entire civilized world. None of us knew from personal +observation, as yet, the full need of assistance, but had reason to +believe it very great. If my agents were permitted to go, such need as +they found they would be prompt to relieve. On the other hand, if they +did not find the need existing there, none would leave the field so +gladly as they. There would be no respecting of persons--humanity alone +would be their guide. "We have," I added, "brought only ourselves; no +correspondent has accompanied us, and we shall have none, and shall not +go home to write a book on Turkey. We are not here for that. Nothing +shall be done in any concealed manner. All dispatches which we send will +go openly through your own telegraph, and I should be glad if all that +we shall write could be seen by your government. I can not, of course, +say what its character will be, but can vouch for its truth, fairness, +and integrity, and for the conduct of every leading man who shall be +sent. I shall never counsel or permit a sly or underhand action with +your government, and you will pardon me, Pasha, if I say I shall expect +the same treatment in return--such as I give I shall expect to receive." + +Almost without a breath he replied: "And you shall have it. We honor +your position and your wishes shall be respected. Such aid and +protection as we are able, we shall render." + +I then asked if it were necessary for me to see other officials. "No," +he replied, "I speak for my government," and with cordial good wishes +our interview closed. + +I never spoke personally with this gentleman again, all further business +being officially transacted through the officers of our legation. Yet I +can truly say, as I have said of my first meeting with our matchless +band of missionary workers, that here commenced an acquaintance which +proved invaluable, and here were given pledges of mutual faith, of which +not a word was ever broken on either side. + +The Turkish Government, when once it came to understand American methods +and enthusiasm was forgiving and kind to us. No obstruction was ever +placed in our way. Our five expeditions passed through Armenian Turkey +from sea to sea, distributing whatever was needed, repairing the +destroyed machines, enabling the people to make tools to harvest their +grain, thus averting a famine; providing medical help and food as well +for thousands of sick; setting free the frightened inhabitants, and +returning them to the villages from which they had fled for their lives; +restoring all missionary freedom that had been interrupted; establishing +a more kindly feeling toward them on the part of the government; and +through all this, we had never one unpleasant transaction with any +person of whatever name or race. + +While our expeditions were getting ready to go out by the Black Sea, a +request was brought to me by Dr. Washburn, of Robert College, from Sir +Philip Currie, the British Ambassador at Constantinople, asking if I +could not be "persuaded" to turn my expedition through the +Mediterranean, rather than the Black Sea, in order to reach Mirash and +Zeitoun, where the foreign consuls were at the moment convened. They had +gotten word to him that ten thousand people in those two cities were +down with four distinct epidemics--typhoid and typhus fevers, dysentery +and smallpox--that the victims were dying in overwhelming numbers, and +that there was not a physician among them, all being either sick or +dead, with no medicine and little food. + +This was not a case for "persuasion," but of heartfelt thanks from us +all, that Sir Philip had remembered to call us, whom he had never met. +But here was a hindrance. The only means of conveyance from +Constantinople to Alexandretta were coasting boats, belonging to +different nationalities, which left only once in two weeks, and +irregularly at that. Transport for our goods was secured on the first +boat to leave, the goods taken to the wharf at Galata, and at the latest +moment, in order to give time, a request was made to the government for +_teskeres_, or traveling permits, for Dr. J. B. Hubbell and assistants. +To our surprise they were granted instantly, but by some delay on the +part of the messenger sent for them they reached a moment too late. The +boat left a little more promptly, taking with it our relief goods, and +leaving the men on the dock to receive their permits only when the boat +was beyond recall. It was really the fault of no one. + +With the least possible delay Dr. Hubbell secured passage by the first +boat at Smyrna, and a fortunate chance boat from there took him to +Alexandretta, via Beyrout and Tripoli, Syria. The goods arrived in +safety, and two other of our assistants, whom we had called by cable +from America--Edward M. Wistar and Charles King Wood--were also passed +over to the same point with more goods. There, caravans were fitted out +to leave over the--to them--unknown track to Aintab, as a first base. +From this point the reports of these three gentlemen made to me will be +living witnesses. They tell their own modest tales of exposure, severe +travel, hard work, and hardship, of which no word of complaint has ever +passed their lips. There have been only gratitude and joy, that they +could do something in a cause at once so great and so terrible. + +While this was in progress, a dispatch came to me at Constantinople from +Dr. Shepard of Aintab, whose tireless hands had done the work of a score +of men, saying that fevers, both typhoid and typhus, of the most +virulent nature, had broken out in Arabkir, two or three days north of +Harpoot; could I send doctors and help? Passing the word on to Dr. +Hubbell at Harpoot, prompt and courageous action was taken by him. It is +something to say that from a rising pestilence with a score of deaths +daily, in five weeks, himself and his assistants left the city in a +normally healthful condition, the mortality ceasing at once under their +care and treatment. + +During this time the medical relief for the cities of Zeitoun and Marash +was in charge of Dr. Ira Harris, of Tripoli, who reached there March +18th. The report of the consuls had placed the number of deaths from the +four contagious diseases at one hundred a day. This would be quite +probable when it is considered that ten thousand were smitten with the +prevailing diseases, and that added to this were the crowded condition +of the patients, the thousands of homeless refugees who had flocked from +their forsaken villages, the lack of all comforts, of air, cleanliness, +and a state of prolonged starvation. + +Dr. Harris's first report to me was that he was obliged to set the soup +kettles boiling and feed his patients before medicine could be retained. +My reply was a draft for two hundred liras (something over eight hundred +dollars) with the added dispatch: "Keep the pot boiling; let us know +your wants." The further reports show from this time an astonishingly +small number of deaths. The utmost care was taken by all our expeditions +to prevent the spread of the contagion and there is no record of its +ever having been carried out of the cities, where it was found, either +at Zeitoun, Marash, or Arabkir. Lacking this precaution, it might well +have spread throughout all Asia Minor, as was greatly feared by the +anxious people. + +On the twenty-fourth of May, Dr. Harris reported the disease as +overcome. His stay being no longer needed, he returned to his great +charge in Tripoli, with the record of a medical work and success behind +him never surpassed if ever equaled. The lives he had saved were enough +to gain Heaven's choicest diadem. Never has America cause to be more +justly proud and grateful than when its sons and daughters in foreign +lands perform deeds of worth like that. + +The closing of the medical fields threw our entire force into the +general relief of the vilayet of Harpoot, which the relieving +missionaries had well named their "bottomless pit." + +The apathy to which the state of utter nothingness, together with their +grief and fear, had reduced the inhabitants, was by no means the +smallest difficulty to be overcome. Here was realized the great danger +felt by all--that of continued alms-giving, lest they settle down into a +condition of pauperism, and thus finally starve, from the inability of +the world at large to feed them. The presence of a strange body of +friendly working people, coming thousands of miles to help them, +awakened a hope and stimulated the desire to help themselves. + +It was a new experience that these strangers _dared_ to come to them. +Although the aforetime home lay a heap of stone and sand, and nothing +belonging to it remained, still the land was there, and when seed to +plant the ground and the farming utensils and cattle were brought to +work it with, the faint spirit revived, the weak, hopeless hands +unclasped, and the farmer stood on his feet again. + +When the cities could no longer provide the spades, hoes, plows, picks +and shovels, and the crude iron and steel to make these was purchased +and taken to them, the blacksmith found again his fire and forge and +traveled weary miles with his bellows on his back. The carpenter again +swung his hammer and drew his saw. The broken and scattered +spinning-wheels and looms from under the storms and _debris_ of winter +again took form and motion, and the fresh bundles of wool, cotton, flax, +and hemp in the waiting widow's hand brought hopeful visions of the +revival of industries which should not only clothe but feed. + +At length, in early June, the great grain-fields of Diarbekir, Farkin, +and Harpoot valleys, planted the year before, grew golden and bowed +their heavy spear-crowned heads in waiting for the sickle. But no +sickles were there, no scythes, not even knives. It was a new and sorry +sight for our full-handed American farming men to see those poor, hard +Asiatic hands trying, by main strength, to break the tough straw or pull +it by the roots. This state of things could not continue, and their +sorrow and pity gave place to joy when they were able to drain the +cities of Harpoot and Diarbekir of harvest tools, and turned the work of +all the village blacksmiths on to the manufacture of sickles and +scythes, and of flint workers upon the rude threshing machines. + +They have told me since their return that the pleasantest memories left +to them were of those great valleys of golden grain, bending and falling +before the harvesters, men and women, each with the new, sharp sickle or +scythe, the crude threshing planks, the cattle trampling out the grain, +and the gleaners in the rear as in the days of Abraham and Moab. God +grant that somewhere among them was a kind-hearted king of the harvest +who gave orders to let some sheaves fall. + +Even while this saving process was going on another condition no less +imperative arose. These fields must be replanted or starvation must be +simply delayed. Only the strength of their old-time teams of oxen could +break up the hard sod and prepare for the fall sowing. Not an +animal--ox, cow, horse, goat, or sheep--had been left. All had been +driven to the Kourdish Mountains. When Mr. Wood's telegram came, calling +for a thousand oxen for the hundreds of villages, I thought of our not +rapidly swelling bank account, and all that was needed everywhere else, +and replied accordingly. + +When in return came the telegram from the Rev. Dr. Gates, president of +Harpoot College, the live, active, practical man of affairs, whose +judgment no one could question, saying that the need of oxen was +imperative, that unless the ground could be plowed before it dried and +hardened it could not be done at all, and the next harvest would be +lost, also that "Mr. Wood's estimate was moderate," the financial +secretary was directed to send a draft for five thousand liras +(twenty-two thousand dollars) to the care of the Rev. Dr. Gates, to be +divided among the three expeditions for the purchase of cattle and the +progress of the harvest of 1897. + +As the sum sent would be immediately applied, the active services of the +men would be no longer required, and directions went with the remittance +to report in person at Constantinople. + +Unheard-of toil, care, hard riding day and night, with risk of life, +were all involved in the carrying out of that order. Among the +uncivilized and robber bands of Kourds, the cattle that had been stolen +and driven off must be picked up, purchased, and brought back to the +waiting farmer's field. There were routes so dangerous that a brigand +chief was selected by those understanding the situation as the safest +escort for our men. Perhaps the greatest danger encountered was in the +region of Farkin, beyond Diarbekir, where the official escort had not +been waited for, and the leveled musket of the faithless guide told the +difference. + +At length the task was accomplished. One by one the expeditions closed +and withdrew, returning by Sivas and Samsoun, and coming out by the +Black Sea. With the return of the expeditions we closed the field. But +contributors would be glad to know that subsequent to this, before +leaving Constantinople, funds from both the New York and Boston +committees came to us amounting to about fifteen thousand dollars. This +was happily placed with Mr. W. W. Pect, treasurer of the Board of +Foreign Missions at Stamboul, to be used subject to our order; and with +our concurrence it was employed in the building of little houses in the +interior, as a winter shelter and protection, where all had been +destroyed. + +The appearance of our men on their arrival at Constantinople confirmed +the impression that they had not been recalled too soon. They had gone +out through the snows and ice of winter, and without change or rest had +come back through the scorching suns of midsummer--five months of rough, +uncivilized life, faring and sharing with their beasts of burden, +well-nigh out of communication with the civilized world, but never out +of danger. It seemed but just to themselves and to others who might need +them, that change and rest be given them. + +It would scarcely be permissible to express in words the obligation to +our American Minister, Hon. A. W. Terrell, at Constantinople, without +whose unremitting care and generous aid our work could not have been +accomplished. And, indeed, so many were the duties of that difficult and +delicate field that it seemed the help of no one hand or heart could be +spared. We felt that we had them all; from the palace of the Sultan to +beloved Robert College, from the American Legation to the busy rooms of +the American Board, with its masterly treasurer, Peet, were the same +outstretched hands of protection and care for our little band. + +They knew we had taken our lives in our hands to come to them, and with +no thought of ourselves. We had done the best we knew to accomplish the +mission so persistently sought of us in our own country. + +That our work had been acceptable to those who received its results, we +knew. They had never failed to _make_ us know. If also acceptable to Him +who gave us the courage, protection, and strength to perform it, we need +care for little more. + +Funds to the total amount of $116,326.01 were cabled us by Mr. Spencer +Trask's committee, all of which were placed in the hands of Mr. W. W. +Peet, treasurer of the missionary board at Constantinople. All proper +receipts were given and taken, and feeling that we had faithfully and +successfully accomplished the work we had been asked to perform, we +closed the field, and prepared to return to America. + +Some days of physical rest were needful for the men of the expeditions +after reaching Constantinople before commencing their journey of +thousands of miles for home, worn as they were by exposure and incessant +labor--physical and mental. I need not attempt to say with what +gratitude I welcomed back these weary, brown-faced men and officers +from a field so difficult and so perilous; none the less did the +gratitude go out to my faithful and capable secretary, who had toiled +early and late, never leaving for a day, striving with tender heart that +all should go well. + +And when the first greetings were over, the full chorus of manly +voices--"Home Again," "Sweet Land of Liberty," "Nearer My God to +Thee"--that rolled out through the open windows of the Red Cross +headquarters in Constantinople fell on the listening ears of Christian +and Moslem alike, and though the tones were new and strange, all felt +that to some one, somewhere, they meant more than the mere notes of +music. + + + + +VIII + +CUBA + +1898 + + +On our return to "civilization" we were rejoiced to find that as a +result of our three months' labors, the former tumult of Armenia had +died away into a peaceful echo, but a new murmur fast growing to clamor +had taken its place. Cuba had entered the ceaseless arena of American, +gladiatorial, humanitarian contest. The cruelties of the reconcentrado +system of warfare had become apparent, and methods of relief were +uppermost in the minds of all persons. + +These methods were twofold and might well be classed under two distinct +heads: those who for mere pity's sake sought simple relief; those who +with a further forecast sought the removal of a cause as well as its +effect, and "Cuba Libre" was its muffled cry. They asked money for arms +as well as bread, and the struggle between the two held the country in +a state of perplexed contradiction for months running into years. + +Our great-hearted President asked simple aid and was distressed at the +doubtful response. At length he suggested and we proffered the aid of +the Red Cross on a call to the country, and the establishment of the +"Central Cuban Relief Committee" in New York, within three days, was the +result. + +The activity and success of that committee are too fresh in the minds of +all our people to require the smallest description from me. Too much +praise can not be given to our Auxiliary Societies from the Atlantic to +the Pacific for the splendid work in the camps at home, in Cuba, Porto +Rico, and in the care of our soldiers in transit to the Philippines. +Their full and complete reports show the great work accomplished. The +memory of the work of the busy men and tireless women who joined heart +and hand in this Heaven-sent task still brings tears to the eyes of a +nation at its recall. + +The service assigned me by our anxious President, and gladly accepted, +was the distribution on the pitiful fields of Cuba. These scenes I +would not recall. The starving mothers and motherless babes, the +homelessness and squalor, the hopelessness and despair, are beyond all +words and all conception, save to those who saw and lived among them. It +is past and let it rest. + +Then followed the declaration of hostilities, the blockade, the fleets +of war, and the stately, glistening white ships of relief that dotted +the sea--our navy after forty years of peace again doing service in its +own waters--and among them one inconspicuous, black-hulled sea-going +craft, laden with food for the still famishing reconcentrados, when they +could be reached. + +Day after day, in its weary, waiting cruise, it watched out for an +opening to that closed-in suffering island, till at length the thunder +of the guns, Siboney, San Juan, opened the track, and the wounded troops +of our own army, hungering on their own fields, were the reconcentrados +of the hour. + +Tampa became the gathering-point of the army. Its camps filled like +magic, first with regulars, then volunteers, as if the fiery torch of +Duncraigen had spread over the hills and prairies of America. The great +ships gathered in the waters, the transports, with decks dark with human +life, passed in and out, and the battleships of the sea held ever their +commanding sway. It seemed a strange thing, this gathering for war. +Thirty years of peace had made it strange to all save the veterans of +the days of the old war, long passed into history. Could it be possible +that we were to learn this anew? Were men again to fall, and women weep? +Were the youth of this generation to gain that experience their fathers +had gained, to live the war-lives they had lived, and die the deaths +they had died? + +At length the fleet moved on, and we prepared to move with, or rather +after it. The quest on which it had gone, and the route it had taken, +bordered something on the mystery shrouding the days when Sherman +marched to the sea. Where were the Spanish ships? What would be the +result when found and met? Where were we to break that Cuban wall and +let us in? + +Always present in our minds were the food we carried, the willing hands +that waited, and the perishing thousands that needed. We knew the great +hospital ships were fitting for the care of the men of both Army and +Navy. Surely they could have no need of us. + +We had taken possession of our ship at Key West on the 29th of April. It +was now the 20th of June and the national records of two countries at +least will always give the history of those days. It is our part to keep +as clearly, truthfully, and kindly as possible, the record of the little +that fell to us to perform in this great drama. + +Weighing anchor at Key West the State of Texas steamed for the open +Caribbean, we having first taken the official advice of Commodore Remy +to find Admiral Sampson and report to him. + +Sunrise of the twenty-fifth gave us our first view of the water at +Santiago. Our transports and battle-ships were gathered there. The +advice of Admiral Sampson was that we proceed to Guantanamo, where the +marines had made a landing and were camped on the shore. There had been +some fighting at Guantanamo. The naval hospital ship Solace was there. + +Whoever has enjoyed this quiet, sheltered harbor, protected on three +sides by beautiful wooded hills, will not require to be reminded of it. +At six o'clock our anchor sunk in the deep, still waters and we had time +to look about and see the beginning of the war. The marines were camped +along the brow of a hill. On our right a camp of Cubans, and all about +us the great war-ships with their guns, which told of forthcoming +trouble. Captain McCalla, who was in command of Guantanamo, had sent his +compliments and a launch, leading us in to our place of anchorage. The +courtesies of the navy so early commenced at Key West were continued +throughout the war. + +By invitation of Commander Dunlap our entire company visited the Solace +the following day. If that beautiful ship or its management had left +room on the records of our country's meed of gratitude, for more words +of appreciative praise, I should be glad to speak them. Only those +familiar with the earliest history of the Red Cross in our country, and +the methods by which our navy alone--of all the Red Cross nations--had +gained even an approximately legal place, can judge what the sight of +that first naval relief ship in American waters was to me. It brought +back so vividly the memory of the day in 1881 when President Arthur +called me to him to carefully explain the conditions of the treaty which +he had just signed, and that, Congress having generously included the +navy in its treaty for war, he would provide to hold it carefully until +the probable widening of the original treaty would include the _navies_ +of the world, as well as the armies. + +Before the day closed news came to us of a serious character. The daring +Rough Riders had been hardly dealt by. Hamilton Fish and Allyn Capron +had been killed, and the wounded needed help. Wherever they might be, it +must be possible to reach them, and it was decided that no time be lost. +Our men commenced work in the hold of the ship to get at medical +supplies and dressings, and the captain took his orders. I find in my +diary at the close of that day the following paragraph: "It is the Rough +Riders we go to, and the relief may be also rough, but it will be +_ready_. A better body of helpers could scarcely be gotten together." + +Nine o'clock of the same night found us at Siboney, which can scarcely +be called a harbor, for it has no anchorage. The next morning at +daybreak we stood on deck to see the soldiers filing up over the hill, +in heavy marching order, forming in lines by ones and twos, winding up, +in and out among the hills, higher and higher. As we watched them they +were a moving line trailing on toward the clouds, till lost in the mist, +and we could only think, as we looked at them, on how many and on which, +is set the mark of death? He knew no more than we--poor fellow--and +with his swinging, steady gait, toils up and up and waits for--he knows +not what. + +The hospitals, both American and Cuban, located on the shore just to the +right of us, were visited by our men that same evening. Some of their +surgeons called on us. All seemed interested in the Red Cross, but none +thought that a woman nurse would be in place in a soldiers' +hospital--indeed, very much out of place. I suggested that that decision +was hard for me, for I had spent a great deal of time in soldiers' +hospitals myself. They appeared to understand that perfectly, but there +seemed to be a _later_ line which could not be crossed. + +The Cubans who had just come into camp expressed a desire for any +assistance we could give them. They would be glad to have the Red Cross +Sisters in their little hospital, but begged us to wait just a day until +it could be put in better order. The Sisters were not the persons to +grant that day of preparation. + +On the contrary they at once went to work, thoroughly cleaned the little +three-room building--Garcia's abandoned headquarters, to be used as a +hospital--and when the day closed the transformation showed clean rooms, +clean cots, and the grateful occupants wondering whether Heaven itself +could be more comfortable, or anything more desirable than the palatable +food prepared for them by the Sisters. + +Three days later the following letter was received: + + +"To MISS CLARA BARTON, President, + +"American National Red Cross: + +"I have the honor to request your assistance in caring for the patients +in a so-called hospital near the landing at this point. + +"The orders are to the effect that all patients now under treatment on +the shore shall be transferred to the Iroquois and Olivette, but the +facilities for carrying out this order are apparently inadequate. In +order that the division hospital may remain unhampered for the care of +the wounded in the engagement about to take place, it is necessary for +me to request this favor of you, and I trust that you may find it +possible to comply with said request. + +"Your obedient servant, + +"LOUIS A. LE GARDE, + +"Major and Surgeon, U. S. A., Commanding +Hospital." + + +To this the following reply was immediately returned: + + +"Steamship State of Texas, + +"SIBONEY, SANTIAGO DE CUBA, _June 30, 1898_. + +"DR. LOUIS A. LE GARDE, + +"Major and Surgeon, U. S. A., Commanding Hospital. + +"Major: Permit me to express the pleasure given me by your letter +inviting the assistance of the persons here under my direction in the +care of the sick and wounded of the engagement about to take place. +Although not here as a hospital ship by any means--not legitimately +fitted for the work--still we have some hospital supplies, a few +intelligent workers, skill, experience, the willingness to serve, the +readiness to obey, and I believe the true spirit of the Red Cross, that +seeks to help humanity wherever its needs exist. I send them to you in +the hope that they may be of service. + +"Cordially yours, + +"CLARA BARTON, + +"President, American National Red Cross." + + +Our surgeons and assistants went on shore, where Dr. Le Garde and Dr. +Lesser secured a small house, and in a few hours this had undergone the +same transformation and by the same hands as the Cuban hospital. The Red +Cross flag was hoisted, Dr. Lesser placed in charge, and scores of our +soldiers who had been lying on the filthy floors of an adjacent +building, with no food but army rations, were carried over, placed in +clean cots, and given proper food. From that on, no distinction was +made, the Red Cross flag floating over both the American and Cuban +hospitals. + +A few feet away, all the available army tents were put up as additional +accommodation for the "wounded in the engagement about to take place." +It did take place the following day, and, as will be well remembered, in +those two days, Friday and Saturday, the first and second of July, the +tents were more than filled with wounded in the battle of San Juan Hill. +Three of the five Sisters went into the operating tent, and with the +surgeons worked for thirty hours with only a few moments' rest now and +then for a cup of coffee and a cracker or piece of bread. We heard +nothing more about a woman nurse being out of place in a soldiers' +hospital. + +On Saturday evening, the second day of the San Juan battle, a slip of +paper with these penciled words was brought to the door of the hospital: + + +"Send food, medicines, anything. Seize wagons from the front for +transportation. + +"SHAFTER." + + +The call for help was at once sent over to the State of Texas, and we +worked all night getting out supplies and sending them ashore with a +force of Cubans, only too glad to work for food. + +I wish I could make apparent how difficult a thing it was to get +supplies from our ship to the shore in a surf which, after ten o'clock +in the morning, allowed no small boats to touch even the bit of a pier +that was run out without breaking either the one or the other, and +nothing in the form of a lighter save two dilapidated flat-boat +pontoons. These had been broken and cast away by the engineer corps, +picked up by ourselves, mended by the Cubans, and put in condition to +float alongside of our ship, and receive perhaps three or four tons of +material. This must then be rowed or floated out to the shore, run onto +the sand as far as possible, the men jumping into the water from knee to +waist deep, pulling the boat up from the surf, and getting the material +on land. And this was what was meant by loading the "seized wagons from +the front" and getting food to the wounded. After ten o'clock in the day +even this was impossible, and we must wait until the calm of three +o'clock next morning to commence work again and go through the same +struggle to get something to load the wagons for that day. Our supplies +had been gotten ashore, and among the last, rocking and tossing in our +little boat, went ourselves, landing on the pier, which by that time was +breaking in two, escaping a surf which every other moment threatened to +envelop one from feet to head, we reached the land. + +Our "seized" wagons had already gone on, loaded with our best hospital +supplies--meal, flour, condensed milk, malted milk, tea, coffee, sugar, +dried fruits, canned fruits, canned meats, and such other things as we +had been able to get out in the haste of packing--entirely filling the +two wagons already in advance. + +An ambulance had been spoken of. We waited a little while by the +roadside, but the ambulance did not appear. Then, halting a wagon loaded +with bales of hay, we begged a ride of the driver, and our little party, +Dr. and Mrs. Gardner, James McDowell, and myself, took our seats on the +hay and made our way to the front, Dr. Hubbell following afoot. Four +hours' ride brought us to the First Division Hospital of the Fifth Army +Corps--General Shafter's headquarters. + +The sight that met us on going into the so-called hospital grounds was +something indescribable. The land was perfectly level; no drainage +whatever; covered with long, tangled grass; skirted by trees, brush, +and shrubbery; a few little dog-tents not much larger than could have +been made of an ordinary table-cloth thrown over a short rail, and under +these lay huddled together the men fresh from the field or from the +operating-tables, with no covering over them save such as had clung to +them through their troubles, and in the majority of cases no blanket +under them. + +Those who had come from the tables, having been compelled to leave all +the clothing they had, as too wet, muddy, and bloody to be retained, +were entirely nude, lying on the stubble grass, the sun fitfully dealing +with them, sometimes clouding over and again streaming out in a blaze +above them. Fortunately, among our supplies were some bolts of +unbleached cotton, and this we cut in sheet lengths, and the men of our +party went about and covered the poor fellows, who lay there with no +shelter either from the elements or the eyes of the passers-by. + +A half dozen bricks laid about a yard apart, a couple of pieces of +wagon-tire laid across these, so low and so near the ground that no fire +of any strength or benefit could be made--the bits of wet wood put +under crosswise, with the smoke streaming a foot out on either side, two +kettles of coffee or soup, and a small frying-pan with some meat in +it--appeared to be the cook-house for these men. They told us there were +about eight hundred men under the tents and lying in the grass, and more +constantly coming in. + +After a few moments' consultation as to the best methods to be pursued, +we too gathered stones and bricks and constructed a longer, higher +fireplace, got more wagon-tires, found the water, and soon our great +agate kettles of seven and ten gallons were filled. + +The rain, that had been drizzling more or less all day, increased. Our +supplies were taken from the wagons, a piece of tarpaulin found to +protect them, and as the fire began to blaze and the water to heat, Mrs. +Gardner and I found the way into the bags and boxes of flour, salt, +milk, and meal, and got material for the first gallons of gruel. I had +not thought to ever make gruel again over a camp-fire. I can not say how +far it carried me back in the lapse of time, or really where, or who I +felt that I was. + +It did not seem to be me, and still I seemed to know how to do it. + +When the bubbling contents of our kettle thickened and grew white with +the condensed milk, and we began to give it out--putting it into the +hands of men detailed as nurses, and our own men, to take around to the +poor sufferers, shivering and naked in the rain--I felt that perhaps it +was not in vain that history had repeated itself. When the nurses came +back and told us of the surprise with which it was received, and the +tears that rolled down the sun-burned, often bloody face, into the cup +as the poor fellow drank his hot gruel, and asked where it came from, +who sent it, and said it was the first food he had tasted in three days +(for they had gone into the fight hungry), I felt that it was again the +same old story and wondered what gain there had been in the last thirty +years. + +The fires burned, the gruel steamed and boiled--bucket after bucket went +out--until those eight hundred men had each a cup of gruel and knew that +he could have another and as many as he wanted. The day waned, the +darkness came, and still the men were unsheltered, uncovered, naked, +and wet--scarcely a groan, no word of complaint--no man said he was not +well treated. + +The operating-tables were full of the wounded. Man after man was taken +off, brought on his litter and laid beside other men, and something +given him to keep the little life in his body that seemed fast oozing +out. All night it went on. It grew cold--for naked men bitter +cold--before morning. We had no blankets, nothing to cover them, only +the strips of cotton cloth. + +Early in the morning ambulances started, and such of the wounded as +could be loaded in were taken to be carried back over that rough, +pitiless road, down to Siboney, to the hospitals there--that we had done +the best we could toward fitting up--where our hundred cots, hundred and +fifty blankets had gone, cups, spoons, and delicacies, that would help +to strengthen these poor, fainting men, if they could get there, and +where also the Sisters would care for them. + +They brought man after man, stretcher after stretcher, to the waiting +ambulances, and they took out seventeen who had died in the night, +unattended, save by the nurse. + +More supplies arrived, and this time came large tarpaulins, more +utensils, more food, and more things to make it a little comfortable. We +removed our first kitchens across the road, up alongside the headquarter +tent of Major Wood, in charge of the camp. Words can not do justice to +his kind-hearted generosity. He strove in every way to do all that could +be done, and the night before had given us a small tent in which we had +huddled from the pouring rain, for a couple of hours, in the middle of +the night, the water rushing through like a rivulet. + +The tarpaulins were put over supplies, a new fireplace made near +us--magnificent in its dimensions--shelter given for boxes and barrels +that by this time had accumulated about us, and there was even something +that looked like a table, on which Mrs. Gardner prepared her delicacies. + +Early in the day there came to our improvised headquarters an officer in +khaki uniform showing hard service, and a bandanna handkerchief hanging +from his hat, to protect the back of his head and neck from the fierce +rays of the sun. + +It was Colonel Roosevelt, and we were very glad to meet the gallant +leader of the "Rough Riders." After a few moments conversation he said: + +"I have some sick men with the regiment who refuse to leave it. They +need such delicacies as you have here, which I am ready to pay for out +of my own pocket. Can I buy them from the Red Cross?" + +"Not for a million dollars," Dr. Gardner replied. + +"But my men need these things," he said, his tone and face expressing +anxiety. "I think a great deal of my men. I am proud of them." + +"And we know they are proud of you, Colonel. But we can't sell Red Cross +supplies," answered Dr. Gardner. + +"Then, how can I get them? I must have proper food for my sick men," he +said. + +"Just ask for them, Colonel," replied Dr. Gardner. + +"Oh," he said, his face suddenly lighting up with a bright smile; "then +I do ask for them." + +"All right, Colonel; what is your list?" + +The list included malted milk, condensed milk, oatmeal, cornmeal, canned +fruits, dried fruits, rice, tea, chocolate, and even prepared beefsteak +and vegetables, and other things good for men who could not eat army +rations. + +"Now, Colonel, when will you send for these supplies?" asked Dr. +Gardner. "They will be ready any time." + +"Lend me a sack and I'll take them right along," he answered with +characteristic decision. + +Mrs. Gardner at once looked up a sack, and when filled it must have held +a good many pounds of supplies. Before we had recovered from our +surprise, the incident was closed by the future President of the United +States slinging the big sack over his shoulders, striding off, and out +of sight through the jungle. + +The gruel still remained the staple, but malted milk, chocolate, rice, +and tea had come in, and little by little various things were added by +which our _menage_ quite resembled a hotel. The wounded were still being +taken away by ambulance and wagon, assorted and picked over like fruit. +Those who would bear transportation were taken away, the others left +where they were. By the third day our patients seemed strong enough that +we might risk giving them food as solid as rice, and the great kettles +were filled with that, cooked soft, mixed with condensed and malted +milk. The number of wounded grew less day by day, and better care could +be taken of them. + +At Siboney, the great needs of the hour were met by the little band of +surgeons and nurses, working night and day. The following is from a +letter in the Times-Herald, now Record-Herald, of Chicago, by Miss Janet +Jennings, who volunteered her service in the hospital. One gets from +this simple, direct picture, a better appreciation of that heroism which +lives after excitement, which survives the rush and shouting of assault, +which is sustained without comradeship: + + +"SIBONEY, _July 8, 1898_. + +"Above hospital tents Red Cross flags are flying, and here is the real +life--the suffering and heroism. Everybody who can do even so little as +carry a cup of water lends willing hands to help the wounded. Most of +the wounded are from the first day's engagement, when the infantry was +ordered to lead the attack on Santiago, instead of using the artillery. + +"And it all came at once--a quick blow--with little or no preparation +to meet it. I mentioned in a former letter the lack of preparation on +the part of the army to care for the sick. There was then almost +nothing--no cots, bedding or proper food, for less than one hundred sick +men. + +"Two days later, when the wounded came in, the needs of the hour were +overwhelming. The situation can not be described. Thousands of our men +had been hurried to the front to fight. It was well understood that it +would be a hard fight. The dead would need only burial, but the wounded +would need care. And yet, with the exception of a limited number of +stretchers, a medicine-chest and a few bandages, no preparation had been +made--neither cots nor food--practically no hospital supplies. + +"It is not strange that surgeons were desperate and nurses distressed. +The force of each was wholly inadequate. The exact number of wounded may +never be known. But the estimate at this time is about 1,000 +wounded--some 1,500 killed and wounded. + +"Wounded men who made their way down on foot eight miles over the rough, +hilly road will never know just how their strength held out. Others were +brought down in army wagons by the load, as few ambulances were at +hand. Fortunately, there were some tents here that had been used by +troops before going to the front. Under these hay was spread and covered +with blankets, and the improvised hospital was ready. One tent was taken +for operating-tables, and the work of surgeons and nurses began. They +worked night and day for forty-eight hours, with only brief intervals +for coffee and hard-tack. + +"Wounded men had to wait for hours before bullets could be extracted and +wounds dressed. But there was no word of complaint--only silent, patient +suffering, borne with a courage that was sublime. As the wounded +continued to come in, tent-room gave out, and hay with blankets were +placed outside, and to these 'beds' the less severely wounded were +assigned. It was evident that the medical department of the army had +failed absolutely to send hospital supplies, or by this time they would +have been landed. As it was, the surgeons turned to the Red Cross ship +'State of Texas' for help, and the supplies originally intended for the +starving Cubans were sent ashore for our wounded. + +"Miss Barton had been urged and advised to wait until the army opened +and made the way safe to land supplies for reconcentrados and refugees. +But she had foreseen the situation to a certain degree and followed the +army as quickly as possible--to wait for the emergency, rather than have +the emergency wait for her. The 'State of Texas' was here a week before +the attack on Santiago. + +"While surgeons and nurses were probing for bullets and dressing wounds, +a force of men on the Red Cross ship worked half the night getting out +cots and blankets, food and bandages, and at daylight next morning the +supplies were landed, taking advantage of the smooth sea between four +and nine o'clock, as later in the day the high surf makes it extremely +difficult for landings. There were six tables in the operating-tent and +eight surgeons. In twenty-four hours the surgeons had operated upon and +dressed the wounds of 475 men. Four Red Cross sisters, trained nurses, +assisted the surgeons. They were Sister Bettina, wife of Dr. Lesser, +surgeon-in-chief of the Red Cross; Sister Minna, Sister Isabel, and +Sister Blanche. Their knowledge of surgery, skill, and nerve were a +revelation to the army surgeons. These young women, all under thirty, +went from one operating-table to another, and, whatever was the nature +of the wound or complication, proved equal to the emergency. + +"In the Red Cross Hospital, across the way, Sister Anna was in charge +of the sick men, turned over to the Red Cross two days before, when army +surgeons with troops were all ordered to the front. With 475 wounded men +to feed there was not a camp-kettle to be found in which gruel could be +prepared, coffee made or anything cooked, not a kettle of any sort to be +furnished by the army. The whole camp outfit at Tampa in the way of +cooking utensils must have been left behind. + +"But there was an overruling Providence when the 'State of Texas' was +loaded for Cuba. So far everything needed has been found in the hold of +this old ship, which deserves to have and will have a credit page in the +history of the war in Cuba. There were kettles, charcoal braziers, and +cooking utensils carried over to the Red Cross Hospital. To prepare +gruel, rice, coffee, and various other proper and palatable dishes for +forty or fifty sick men by the slow process of a charcoal brazier, +tea-kettle, and boiler is by no means easy cooking. But to prepare food +for 475 wounded men, some of whom had had nothing to eat for twenty-four +hours, cooking over a little charcoal pot is something that one must +take a 'hand in' to fully appreciate. + +"There was the feeling as if one were dazed and unnatural to hear +American soldiers, men from comfortable homes, literally begging for +'just a spoonful of gruel.' The charcoal pot burned night and day, +gallons of gruel were made and quantities of rice cooked until the +greatest stress had passed. It was no time to stand on trained service, +and everybody, man or woman, was ready to lend a hand. + +"A striking feature of the first day's engagement was the number of men +wounded in the head, arm, and upper part of the body. Some of these +cases, the most serious, were taken into the Red Cross Hospital, where +they received the most skilful and gentle nursing. + +"Two days' steady strain began to show on the Sisters. + +"The strain had been the greater because there were no facilities for +anything like a regular meal short of the ship, reached by a long, hard +tramp in the sand, then a row over the tossing waves. But nobody thought +of meals. The one thing was to feed and nurse the 500 wounded and sick +men. Human endurance, however, has its limit, and unless the Sisters +could get a little rest they would give out. I went on duty for +twenty-four hours, at night, with the assistance of one man, taking care +of forty patients, fever, measles, and dysentery cases, and half a dozen +badly wounded men. Among the latter was Captain Mills, of the First +Cavalry, and William Clark, a colored private in the Twenty-fifth +Infantry, regulars. They were brought over from the hospital tents and +placed on cots out on the little porch, where there was just room to +pass between the cots. + +"Their wounds were very similar--in the head--and of such a character as +to require cool applications to the eyes constantly. Ice was scarce and +worth its weight in gold, for the lives of these men as well as others +depended chiefly on cool applications to the eyes, with as uniform +temperature as possible. We had one small piece of ice, carefully +wrapped in a blanket. There never was a small piece of ice that went so +far. If I were to tell the truth about it nobody would believe me. + +"Never in my whole life, I think, have I wished for anything so much as +I wished for plenty of ice that night. It was applied by chipping in +small bits, laid in thin, dry cotton cloth, folded over in just the +right size and flat, to place across the eyes and forehead, enough of it +to be cold, but not heavy, on the wounds. + +"The ears of the sick are strangely acute. Whenever the sick men heard +the sound of chipping ice they begged for ice-water; even the smallest +bit of ice in a cup of water was begged with an eagerness that was +pitiful. I felt conscience-smitten. But it was a question of saving the +eyes of the wounded men, and there was no other way. To make the ice +last till morning I stealthily chipped it off so the sick men would not +hear the sound. + +"At midnight a surgeon came over from his tent ward with a little piece +of ice not larger than his hand. I do not know his name, but it does not +matter, it is inscribed above. 'This is all we can spare,' he said. +'Take it. You must keep those wounds cool at all hazards. I have another +case very like these--a man wounded in the head. I want to bring him +over here, where he will be sure of exactly the same nursing. His life +depends on the care he gets in the next twenty-four hours. Have you a +vacant cot?' + +"There was not a vacant cot, but we could make room for one on the porch +if he could find the cot. He thought he could, and went back, taking the +precious piece of ice that he really needed more than we did. In the +course of a half hour the surgeon returned to say it was impossible to +get a cot anywhere, and the wounded man must be left where he was in the +tent, at least until morning. + +"And so it went on through the long night--the patient suffering of the +sick men, the heroism of the wounded, all fearing to give any trouble, +desiring not to do so, find grateful for the smallest attention. + +"The courage that faces death on the battlefield or calmly awaits it in +the hospital is not a courage of race or color. Two of the bravest men I +ever saw were here, almost side by side on the little porch--Captain +Mills and Private Clark--one white, the other black. They were wounded +almost at the same time, and in the same way. The patient suffering and +heroism of the black soldier was fully equal to that of the Anglo-Saxon. +It was quite the same, the gentleness and appreciation. They were a +study, these men so widely apart in life, but here strangely close and +alike on the common ground of duty and sacrifice. They received +precisely the same care; each fed like a child, for with their bandaged +eyes they were as helpless as blind men. When the ice pads were renewed +on Captain Mills's eyes the same change was made on Private Clark's +eyes. There was no difference in their beds or food. Neither uttered a +word of complaint. The nearest to a regret expressed by Captain Mills +was a heavy sigh, followed by the words: 'Oh, we were not ready. Our +army was not prepared.' + +"Of himself he talked cheerfully, strong, and hopeful. 'I think I shall +go home with the sight of one eye,' he said. That was all. + +"In the early part of the night he was restless, his brain was active, +cool, and brave as he might be. The moonlight was very bright, a flood +of silver, seen only in the tropics. Hoping to divert him I said: 'The +moonlight is too bright, captain. I will put up a paper screen so you +can get to sleep.' + +"He realized at once the absurdity and the ludicrous side, and with an +amused smile replied: 'But you know I can't see the moonlight.' + +"I said it was time to get more ice for his head and half stumbled +across the porch, blinded by tears. When told who his nearest neighbor +was, Captain Mills expressed great sympathy for Private Clark and paid a +high tribute to the bravery of the colored troops and their faithful +performance of duty. + +"Private Clark talked but little. He would lie apparently asleep until +the pain in his head became unbearable. Then he would try to sit up, +always careful to keep the ice-pad on his eyes over the bandage. + +"'What can I do for you, Clark?' I would ask, anxious to relieve his +pain. + +"'Nothing, thank you,' he would answer. 'It's very nice and comfortable +here. But it's only the misery in my head--the misery is awful.' + +"Poor fellow! there was never a moan, merely a little sigh now and +then, but always that wonderful patience that seemed to me not without a +touch of divine philosophy, complete acceptance. + +"I have mentioned these two men, not as exceptional in bravery, but to +illustrate the rule of heroism, and because they were among the patients +under my immediate care that night. It was a strange night picture--a +picture that could never be dimmed by time but live through all the +years of one's life. + +"After midnight a restful atmosphere pervaded the hospital and the +blessing of sleep fell upon the suffering men, one by one. In the little +interval of repose I dropped into an old chair on the porch, looked away +to the beautiful mountains sharply outlined in the moonlight, and the +sea like waves of silver, the camp on the shore; near by thirty or forty +horses standing motionless. Then the hospital tents, with now and then +the flickering light of a candle; in the background the cliffs, with +here and there a Spanish blockhouse. Over all the tragedy of life and +death, the pain and sorrow, there was the stillness of a peaceful +night--a stillness broken only by the sound of the surf brought back on +the cool breeze, the cool, refreshing breeze, for which we all thanked +God." + + +Later on, as will be remembered, Miss Jennings went North--a volunteer +nurse on the transport Seneca. The brave men whose lives hung in the +balance that night--with little hope that, if life were spared, they +would ever see again--recovered, but each with the loss of an eye. After +a long furlough Private Clark returned to his regiment. Captain Mills, +now General Mills, is the Superintendent of the West Point Military +Academy. + +Three times in the first week I went over those terrible roads from the +front to Siboney and return. Arriving at Siboney late one night, there +was no way I could get on board the State of Texas and I was obliged to +remain on shore. The Postmaster insisted that I occupy a room in the +building used for a post-office. Such a courtesy could not be refused, +and against all feeling of acquiescence, and with a dread as if there +were something wrong about it, I allowed myself to be helped out of the +wagon and entered the house. The Postmaster sat down and talked with me +a little while. I thought he seemed ill. I had never met him before, but +my heart went out in sympathy for him. I feared I was taking his room, +although he did not admit it. + +I was shown into a room where there was a cot, a table, and a candle +without a stick, burning upon the table. The men went outside and laid +down upon the steps for the night. I laid down upon the cot, but it was +impossible for me to remain there. Something constantly warned me to +leave it. I got up, went to the door, looked out upon the night and +darkness, and waited for the gray of the morning. I went out and stood +upon the beach beside the sea and waited more and more, until finally +some of the men appeared, and I went with them down to the water. + +Six days later they told me that the rightful occupant of the cot--the +Postmaster, who had seemed so ill--had died of a fever raging here that +they called "yellow fever." I had occupied his cot. I wonder who it was +that so continually warned me that night to keep away from that room, +away from the cot, away from all connected with it? "Yellow fever" was +not then talked of. Did some one tell me? I do not know--but something +told me. + +The negotiations between General Shafter and the Spanish army at +Santiago were going on. The flag of truce, that threatened every day to +come down, still floated. The Spanish soldiers had been led by their +officers to believe that every man who surrendered--and the people as +well--would be butchered whenever the city should fall and the American +troops should come in. But when General Shafter commenced to send back +convoys of captured Spanish officers, their wounds dressed, and +carefully placed on stretchers, borne under flags of truce to the +Spanish lines at Santiago, and set down at the feet of General Toral, +and when in astonishment that officer learned the object of the flag of +truce and sent companies of his soldiers to form in line and present +arms, while the cortege of wounded were borne through by American +troops, a lesson was learned that went far toward the surrender of that +city. + +I happen to know that it was not without some very natural home +criticism that General Shafter persisted in his course in the face of +the time-honored custom of "hostages." One can readily understand that +the voluntary giving up of prisoners--officers at that--in view of an +impending battle, might seem in the light of old-time army usages a +waste, to characterize it by no harder term. It is possible that none of +the officers in that field had ever read the Articles of the Treaty of +Geneva, or fully recalled that the treaty had become a law, or that +their commander was acting in full accord with its wise and humane +principles. + +By this time the main talk of the camp was "yellow fever." It was soon +discovered by the medical authorities that, from there having been at +first one case of fever, there were now one hundred and sixteen, and +that a fever camp would probably be made there, and the wounded gotten +away. It was advisable then that we return to our ship and attempt, as +far as possible, to hold that free from contagion. I was earnestly +solicited to do this, in view of what was expected of our ship, and of +what was expected of us, that we not only protect ourselves but our +cargo and ship from all contamination and even suspicion. + +I faithfully promised to do so, and again called for an army wagon, +leaving all supplies that were useful for the men in camp--sending to El +Caney what was most needed there--and taking only our personal effects, +started for Siboney. In less than twenty minutes the rain was pouring on +us and for two hours it fell as if from buckets. The water was from a +foot and a half to two feet deep in the road as we passed along. At one +time our wagon careened, the mules were held up, and we waited to see +whether it should go over or could be brought out, the water a few +inches only from the top of the lower side. It was scarcely possible for +us to stir, hemmed in as we were, but the men from the other wagons +sprang to our wheels, hanging in the air on the upper side, and we were +simply saved by an inch. + +But like other things, this cleared away. We came into Siboney about +three o'clock, in a bright glare of sunshine, to find the town entirely +burned--all buildings gone or smoking--and a "yellow fever" hospital +established a mile and a half out from Siboney. + +All effort was made to hold our ship free from suspicion. The process of +reasoning leading to the conclusion that a solid cargo, packed in tight +boxes in the hold of a ship, anchored at sea, could become infected in +a day from the land or a passing individual, is indeed an intricate +process. But we had some experience in this direction. Captain McCalla, +in his repeated humane attempts to feed the refugees around Guantanamo, +had called again for a hundred thousand rations, saying that if we could +bring them to him soon he could get them to the starving people in the +woods. We lost no time, but got the food out and started with it in the +night. On reaching Guantanamo we were met some distance out, called to, +and asked if any one on our ship had been on shore at Siboney within +four days; if so, our supplies could not be received. We took them away, +leaving the starving to perish. + +The constantly recurring news of the surrender of Santiago was so well +established that we drew anchor, came up to the flag-ship, and sent the +following letter to Admiral Sampson: + + +"State of Texas, + +"_July 16, 1898_. + +"ADMIRAL SAMPSON, Commanding U. S. Fleet off +Santiago, Flag-Ship New York. + +"Admiral: It is not necessary for me to explain to you my errand, nor +its necessity; both your good head and heart divine it more clearly +than any words of mine can represent. + +"I send this to you by one of our men who can tell all you wish to know. +Mr. John Elwell has resided and done mercantile and shipping business in +Santiago for the last seven years; is favorably known to all its people; +has in his possession the keys of the best warehouses and residences in +the city, to which he is given welcome by the owners. He is the person +appointed four months ago to help distribute this food, and did so with +me until the blockade. There seems to be nothing in the way of getting +our twelve hundred tons of food into a Santiago warehouse and giving it +intelligently to the thousands who _need_ and _own_ it. I have twenty +good helpers with me. The New York committee is urging the discharge of +the State of Texas, which has been raised in price to four hundred +dollars a day. + +"If there is still more explanation needed, I pray you, Admiral, let me +see you. + +"Respectfuly and cordially, + +"CLARA BARTON." + + +These were anxious days. While the world outside was making up war +history, we thought of little beyond the terrible needs about us; if +Santiago had any people left, they must be in sore distress; and El +Caney, with its thirty thousand homeless, perishing sufferers, how could +they be reached? + +On that Sunday morning, never to be forgotten, the Spanish fleet came +out of Santiago Harbor, to meet death and capture. That afternoon +Lieutenant Capehart, of the flag-ship, came on board with the courteous +reply of Admiral Sampson, that if we would come alongside the New York +he would put a pilot on board. This was done, and we moved on through +waters we had never traversed; past Morro Castle, long, low, silent, and +grim; past the wrecks of the Spanish ships on the right; past the +Merrimac in the channel. We began to realize that we were alone, of all +the ships about the harbor there were none with us. The stillness of the +Sabbath was over all. The gulls sailed and flapped and dipped about us. +The lowering summer sun shot long golden rays athwart the green hills on +either side and tinged the water calm and still. The silence grew +oppressive as we glided along with scarce a ripple. We saw on the right +as the only moving thing, a long, slim yacht dart out from among the +bushes and steal its way up half-hidden in the shadows. Suddenly it was +overtaken by either message or messenger, and like a collared hound +glided back as if it had never been. + +Leaning on the rail, half lost in reverie over the strange, quiet beauty +of the scene, the thought suddenly burst upon me--are we really going +into Santiago, and alone? Are we not to be run out, and wait aside, and +salute with dipping colors, while the great battle-ships come up with +music and banners and lead the way? + +As far as the eye could reach no ship was in sight. Was this to remain +so? Could it be possible that the commander who had captured a city +declined to be the first to enter, that he would hold back his flag-ship +and himself, and send forward and first a cargo of food on a plain ship, +under direction of a woman? Did our commands, military or naval, hold +men great enough of soul for such action? It must be true, for the +spires of Santiago rise before us, and turning to the score of +companions beside me I ask: "Is there any one here who will lead the +Doxology?" In an instant the full rich voice of Enola Gardner rang out: +"Praise God from whom all blessings flow." By that time the chorus was +full, and the tears on many a face told more plainly than words how +genuine was that praise, and when in response to a second suggestion "My +Country 'Tis of Thee" swelled out on the evening air in the farewell +rays of the setting sun, the State of Texas was nearing the dock, and +quietly dropping her anchor she lay there through the silence of the +night in undisputed possession, facing a bare wind-swept wharf and the +deserted city of Santiago. + +Daybreak brought quiet to an end. The silence was no longer oppressive. +A hundred and twenty stevedores lined up on the wharf for work and +breakfast. The dock had tracks, and trucks running to its open +warehouses. Boxes, barrels, and bales, pitched out of that ship, thrown +onto the trucks and wheeled away, told the story of better days to come. +It was something to see the lank, brawny little army of stevedores take +their first breakfast in line, alongside of the ship. + +Later in the day the flag-ship brought Admiral Sampson and Admiral +Schley, who spent several hours with us. They had every opportunity to +see how our work was done, and if we were equal to unloading our ship. +When they were about to leave Admiral Sampson was asked what orders or +directions he had for us. He replied: "You need no directions from me, +but if any one troubles you let me know." + +The amiable pleasantries of these two gallant officers during that visit +are a pleasure to recall. As I was, at an opportune moment, attempting +to express my appreciation and thanks to Admiral Sampson for the +courtesy of allowing us to precede him into Santiago, Admiral Schley, +with that _naivete_ and apt turn of expression so characteristic of him, +in a half undertone side-remark, cautioned me with "Don't give him too +much credit, Miss Barton; he was not quite sure how clear the channel +might be. Remember that was a trial trip." + +How sadly the recollection of that pleasant, memorable day has since +recurred to me; brave, gallant brothers in arms, and in heart; knowing +only a soldier's duty; each holding his country's honor first, his own +last; its glory his glory, and for himself seeking nothing more. Ah, +people, press, and politics! How deal ye with your servants? + +A message was received from General Shafter, who telegraphed from his +headquarters; "The death rate at El Caney is terrible; can you send +food?" The answer was to send the thirty thousand refugees of El Caney +at once back to Santiago; we were there and could feed them; that the +State of Texas had still twelve hundred tons of supplies. + +The thirty thousand inhabitants of Santiago had been driven to El Caney, +a village designed for five hundred. In two days all were called back +and fed, ten thousand the first day, twenty thousand the second. Then +came our troops, and Santiago was lived and is remembered. Its +hospitals, the ante-chamber to Montauk, are never to be forgotten. + +A general committee was formed, the city districted into sections, with +a commissioner for each district, selected by the people themselves +living there. Every family or person residing within the city was +supplied by the commissioner of that district, and all transient +persons were fed at the kitchens, the food being provided by the Red +Cross. + +The discharge of the cargo of the State of Texas commenced at six +o'clock Monday morning, July 18th. One hundred and twenty-five +stevedores were employed and paid in food issued as rations. Four days +later the discharge was completed. + +Although the army had entered the city during the latter part of that +time, there had been no confusion, no groups of disorderly persons seen, +no hunger in the city more than in ordinary times. We had done all that +could be done to advantage at that time in Santiago. The United States +troops had mainly left. The Spanish soldiers were coming in to their +waiting ships, bringing with them all the diseases that unprovided and +uncleanly camps would be expected to hold in store. Five weeks before we +had brought into Santiago all the cargo of the State of Texas excepting +the hospital supplies, which had been used the month previous among our +own troops at Siboney, General Shafter's front, and El Caney during the +days of fighting. + +These were the last days of General Shafter in Santiago, who was, as he +had at all times been, the kind and courteous officer and gentleman. +General Wood, who was made Governor of the Province of Santiago upon the +day of surrender--alert, wise, and untiring, with an eye single to the +good of all--toiled day and night. + +The State of Texas steamed away to its northern home. Peace and plenty +came. The reconcentrados we went in search of were never reached. To +those who could not withstand, Heaven came. To those who could, _Cuba +Libre_. + +Later on, general efforts were made for the protection of the thousands +of orphans over the island, in which efforts the Red Cross joined. But +the people of Cuba solved the question themselves--by a general adoption +in their own homes--and orphanages in Cuba became a thing of the past. + +Thus our work on that distressful field closed, after nearly two years +of such effort as one would never desire to repeat. The financial +management of that field, so far as the Red Cross was concerned, was +done under the attorneyship of the Central Cuban Relief Committee of New +York, whose reports are models of accuracy and accountability, and to +which any person desiring information may be referred. + +Cuba was a hard field, full of heart-breaking memories. It gave the +first opportunity to test the cooperation between the government and its +supplemental handmaiden, the Red Cross. That these relations might not +have been clearly understood at this initial date may well be +appreciated, but that time and experience will remedy this may be +confidently hoped. + +Through all our discouragements the steady hand and calm approval of our +great head of the army and navy was our solace and our strength. And +when at length it was all over, his hand could trace for his message to +his people the following testimonial, what need had one even to remember +past discouragements, however great? It was as if the hand of the martyr +had set its undying seal upon the brow of the American Red Cross. What +greater justification could it have? What greater riches could it crave? + +"In this connection it is a pleasure for me to mention in terms of +cordial appreciation the timely and useful work of the American Red +Cross, both in relief measures preparatory to the campaigns, in sanitary +assistance at several of the camps of assemblage, and, later, under the +able and experienced leadership of the president of the society, Miss +Clara Barton, on the fields of battle and in the hospitals at the front +in Cuba. Working in conjunction with the governmental authorities and +under their sanction and approval, and with the enthusiastic cooperation +of many patriotic women and societies in the various States, the Red +Cross has fully maintained its already high reputation for intense +earnestness and ability to exercise the noble purposes of its +international organization, thus justifying the confidence and support +which it has received at the hands of the American people. To the +members and officers and all who aided them in their philanthropic +work, the sincere and lasting gratitude of the soldiers and the public +is due and freely accorded. + +"In tracing these events we are constantly reminded of our obligations +to the Divine Master for His watchful care over us, and His safe +guidance, for which the nation makes reverent acknowledgment and offers +humble prayers for the continuance of His favors."--FROM PRESIDENT +MCKINLEY'S MESSAGE TO CONGRESS, DECEMBER 6, 1898. + + + + +IX + +GALVESTON + +1900 + + +This time there was no murmur in the air, no warning of approaching +danger. Even the watchful press, that knows so much before it ever +happens, slumbered quiet and deep, till the hissing wires shrieked the +terrifying word--Galveston. + +Then we learned that, as at Port Royal, the sea had overleaped its +bounds and its victims by thousands were in its grasp. + +In all the land no one slept then. To us it was the clang of the +fire-bell, and the drop of the harness. The Red Cross clans commenced to +gather. + +In two days a little coterie of near a dozen left Washington under +escort of the competent agency of the New York World, which had on the +first day telegraphed that it would open a subscription for the relief +of Galveston, and would be glad to send all supplies and money received +to the Red Cross, if its president, Miss Clara Barton, would go and +distribute it. It was the acceptance of this generous offer that had +brought to the station in Washington the escort; and a palace-car, +provided with all comforts for the journey to Galveston, was under the +management of the World's efficient correspondent and agent, Robert +Adamson. + +The direfulness of the news gathered as we proceeded on our journey, and +delays were gotten over as quickly as possible. A detention of several +hours in New Orleans gave opportunity for consultation with the officers +of the Red Cross Society of that city, which had held its loyal ranks +unbroken since 1882, and became a tower of strength in this relief. A +day of waiting in Houston for a passage over the Gulf gave us a glimpse +of what the encroachment had been on the mainland. We found the passage +across to Galveston difficult, and with one night of waiting by the +shore in almost open cars, at Texas City, we at length arrived in +Galveston on the morning of the 15th of September. + +Here again no description could adequately serve its purpose. The sea, +with fury spent, had sullenly retired. The strongest buildings, half +standing, roofless and tottering, told what once had been the make-up of +a thriving city. But that cordon of wreckage skirting the shore for +miles it seemed, often twenty feet in height, and against which the high +tide still lapped and rolled! What did it tell? The tale is all too +dreadful to recall--the funeral pyre of at least five thousand human +beings. The uncoffined dead of the fifth part of a city lay there. The +lifeless bodies festering in the glaring heat of a September sun told +only too fatally what that meant to that portion of the city left alive. +The streets were well-nigh impassable, the animals largely drowned, the +working force of men diminished, dazed, and homeless. The men who had +been the fathers of the city, its business and its wealth, looked on +aghast at their overwhelmed possessions, ruined homes, and, worse than +all, mourned their own dead. + +Yet these men, to the number of thirty or more, had, as one may say, +pulled themselves together, and were even at that early date a relief +committee, holding their meetings at the wrecked and half-ruined hotel, +almost the only public house left standing. To this hotel we also went +and reported to the committee. To say that we were kindly and +gratefully received by them says nothing that would satisfy either +ourselves or them. + +The conditions were so new to them that it was a relief to meet persons +who had seen such things before. We were asked not only to act with +them, but to assume charge of the administration of relief. This, of +course, we would not do, but that we would meet with, counsel, and aid +them in every way in our power, is needless to affirm. That we did do +this, through every day of our stay of three months, not only our own +conviction, but the unasked and unexpected testimony of both Galveston +and the Legislature of the State of Texas, go to assure. + +On the third day after our arrival we were joined by Mr. Stephen E. +Barton, President of the former Central Cuban Relief Committee, and Mr. +Fred L. Ward, its competent secretary, who became our secretary from the +time of his arrival until the close of the field, continuing until after +our return to headquarters and settling the last account. Not only the +thanks of the Red Cross are due for his faithful, painstaking work, but +his name is still a household word through the score of counties +skirting the shore on the mainland of Texas. + +It may be interesting to readers to know what is done first, or just how +a relief party commence under circumstances like that. A few words will +give an outline. First the ground must be overlooked and conditions +learned. This is not easy when it is remembered that broken houses, +cars, wagons, church steeples, and grand pianos were liable to be +encountered in the middle of the leading streets, themselves buried +three feet in the coarse black sand, brought in by the great tidal wave. + +Nevertheless, a building must be found in which to store and distribute +the supplies that would immediately come. How needful these supplies +would be can be inferred when it is recalled that scores of persons came +alive out of that wreck, with simply the band of a shirt or a +night-dress held by its button about the neck as the only reminder that +ever a cover of clothing had been theirs. + +A little meeting of my assistants early held assigned each to his duty +and his place. A warehouse, fortunately still intact, was generously +supplied by Mr. John Sealy. Major James A. McDowell, with the +experience of this branch of Red Cross work from Johnstown down, and the +record of twenty-six battles in the old civil war, was placed in charge. +Here is one of the scenes given by a casual eye-witness: + +A poor feeble-looking man, with scant clothing, enters the warehouse and +waits. "Hello there," calls the observant major--with his Grand Army +button--overhauling clothes for the visitor. "But, major, I was a +Confederate soldier." "Lord bless your poor suffering soul, what +difference does that make? Here, this will suit you." + +It was thought advisable by some of the party to establish an orphanage, +which was done and carried through, regardless of the common-sense idea +that few children would survive, when the parents were drowned. And so +it proved, although the work was faithfully administered. + +Homes must be made, lumber obtained, and houses built. The Red Cross +sent out the appeal for lumber and aided in the work of shelter. + +Mrs. Fannie B. Ward was placed in charge of a special clothing +department. Need I remind thoughtful readers that in a disaster like +that, where people of affluence, culture, and position are in a night +bereft of all, one of the cruelest features might be to go to the open +boxes of a relief station for clothing, such as never before worn, and +could not be asked for through the choking tears. In all humanity these +cases must be properly, respectfully, and discreetly met, as one lady +could meet another in distress. + +No more vivid picture of the conditions by which we were surrounded can +be imagined than the following extract from Mrs. Ward's report: + + +"Just seven days after the storm we found ourselves stranded at Texas +City, on the mainland opposite Galveston Island, waiting for +transportation across the six-mile stretch of water. Bridges had been +swept away, and new sand-bars thrown up in the bay; floating roofs and +timbers impeded navigation, and the only method of communication between +the mainland and Galveston was one poor little ferry-boat, which had to +feel her now dangerous way very cautiously, by daylight only. She had +also to carry nearly a quarter of her capacity in soldiers to prevent +her being swamped by waiting crowds of people, frantic to learn the +fate of their friends on the island. Each trip to the mainland, the boat +came filled with refugees from the city of doom--the sick, the maimed, +the sorrowing--many with fearful bodily injuries inflicted by the storm, +and others with deeper wounds of grief;--mothers whose babies had been +torn from their arms, children whose parents were missing, fathers whose +entire families were lost--a dazed and tearless throng, such as Dante +might have met in his passage through Inferno. These were dumped by +thousands on the sandy beach at Texas City, and then conveyed by rail to +Houston, to be cared for by the good people of that city, who, +notwithstanding their own grievous losses, were doing noble work for +their stricken neighbors. + +"Of Texas City--a flourishing town of four or five thousand +houses--nothing remained but heaps of bricks and splintered wood, sodden +bales of cotton and bits of household furniture, scattered over the +plain; not a standing habitation within miles, nor any shelter for the +crowds above-mentioned, except two or three hospital-tents, hastily set +up for the sick and wounded, but inadequate for their accommodation. +What was our dismay when told that here we must remain at least +twenty-four hours, for the return of the boat! However, we were better +off, even physically, than most of the waiting crowd, though weariness +of the flesh amounted to actual suffering, after more than fifty hours' +travel. As a special courtesy to Miss Barton, the railway company left a +car to shelter her during the night. Luxurious Pullmans did not abound +at Texas City, and this was the shabbiest of day-coaches, equipped with +few 'modern conveniences.' But this was no time to think of personal +comfort, on the threshold of so much misery; and who could murmur when +the head of our little company set such an heroic example of patience. I +have seen her in many trying situations, that threatened the fortitude +and endurance of the strongest--and have yet to hear the first word of +complaint from her lips. She smilingly 'bunked' upon two seats laid +together--compared to which, for softness, the _penitente's_ slab of +stone would be as 'downy beds of ease'--and encouraged her companions to +do the same. Hunger and thirst would also have been our portion, had it +not been for a Salvation Army Corps encamped in the vicinity, and the +Relief Train of the Philadelphia North American, stranded like +ourselves. Thanks to those good Samaritans, we dined and breakfasted on +tinned beef, bread and coffee; and what more could good soldiers +require? + +"That night in Texas City will be long remembered. Sleep was out of the +question--stretched on those cross-bars, like St. Lawrence on his +gridiron. Soldiers patrolled the beach, not only to prevent a stampede +of the boat, but to protect both the quick and the dead from fiends in +human guise, who prowled the devastated region, committing atrocities +too horrible to name. All night the steady tramp, tramp, of the guard +sounded beneath the car-windows, while at either door stood two +sentinels, muskets on shoulders. Skies of inky blackness, studded with +stars of extraordinary brilliancy, seemed to bend much nearer the earth +than at the North; and the Great Dipper hung low on the horizon--for +only just across the Gulf it disappears to give place to the Southern +Cross. Myriads of big, bright fire-flies, resembling balls of flame, +flitted restlessly over the plain, like the disembodied souls whose +homes were here one short week before, searching for their scattered +treasures. Over on Galveston Island, a long line of flame, mounting to +the heavens, marked the burning of ruined homes and corpses; while other +fires, in all directions on the mainland, told of similar ghastly +cremations. At one time I counted twenty-three of these fires, not +including those on the island. Early in the morning a strange odor drew +attention to a fresh funeral-pyre, only a few rods away, around the +horse-shoe curve of the shore. We were told that thirty bodies, found +since daybreak in the immediate vicinity, were being consumed in it. +That peculiar smell of burning flesh, so sickening at first, became +horribly familiar within the next two months, when we lived in it and +breathed it, day after day. + +"We found the situation in Galveston infinitely worse than had been +described. The most sensational accounts of the yellowest journals fell +far short of the truth--simply because its full horror was beyond the +power of words to portray. Figures and statistics can give little idea +of the results of such an appalling calamity; and to this day, people +at a distance have no realization of the unutterable woe which our Red +Cross band of less than a dozen, strove to alleviate. We arrived on the +eighth day after the tragedy, in which upward of ten thousand lives went +suddenly out in storm and darkness; and the survivors were just +beginning to realize the extent of their losses. + +"At first they seemed stunned to partial insensibility by the very +magnitude of their grief--as a man who has been mangled almost unto +death in a railroad disaster is said to be oblivious to pain. Dead +citizens lay by thousands amid the wreck of their homes, and raving +maniacs searched the _debris_ for their loved ones, with the organized +gangs of workers. Corpses, dumped by barge-loads into the Gulf, came +floating back to menace the living; and the nights were lurid with +incinerations of putrefying bodies, piled like cord-wood, black and +white together, irrespective of age, sex, or previous condition. At +least four thousand dwellings had been swept away, with all their +contents, and fully half of the population of the city was without +shelter, food, clothes, or any of the necessaries of life. Of these, +some were living in tents; others crowded in with friends hardly less +unfortunate; many half-crazed, wandering aimlessly about the streets, +and the story of their sufferings, mental and physical, is past the +telling. Every house that remained was a house of mourning. Of many +families every member had been swept away. Even sadder were the numerous +cases where one or two were left out of recently happy households; and +saddest of all was the heart-breaking suspense of those whose friends +were numbered among the 'missing.' + +"We find it hard enough to lay away our dead in consecrated ground, with +all the care and tenderness that love can suggest, where we may water +the sacred spot with our tears and place upon it the flowers they loved +in life; but never to know whether their poor bodies were swallowed by +the merciless Gulf, or fed to the fishes with those grewsome +barge-loads, or left above ground to become an abomination in the +nostrils of the living, or burned in indiscriminate heaps with horses +and dogs and the mingled ashes scattered to the winds--must indeed have +been well-nigh unbearable. No wonder there were lunatics in Galveston, +and unnumbered cases of nervous prostration. + +"After weeks had passed and two thousand men, aided by several hundred +teams, had partially reduced the mountain of wreckage, cremation fires +yet burned continuously--fed not only by human bodies, but by thousands +of carcasses of domestic animals. By that time, in the hot, moist +atmosphere of the latitude, decomposition had so far advanced that the +corpses--which at first were decently carried in carts or on stretchers, +then shoveled upon boards or blankets--had finally to be scooped up with +pitchforks, in the hands of negroes, kept at their awful task by the +soldiers' bayonets. And still the 'finds' continued, at the average rate +of seventy a day. The once beautiful driving beach was strewn with +mounds and trenches, holding unrecognized and uncoffined victims of the +flood; and between this improvised cemetery and a ridge of _debris_, +three miles long and in places higher than the houses had been, a line +of cremation fires poisoned the air. + +"I think it was during our sixth week in Galveston, when, happening to +pass one of these primitive crematories, I stopped to interview the man +in charge. Boards, water-soaked mattresses, rags of blankets and +curtains, part of a piano, baby-carriages, and the framework of +sewing-machines, piled on top, gave it the appearance of a festive +bonfire, and only the familiar odor betrayed its purpose. + +"'Have you burned any bodies here?' I inquired. The custodian regarded +me with a stare that plainly said, 'Do you think I am doing this for +amusement?' and shifted his quid from cheek to cheek before replying. + +"'Ma'am,' said he, 'this 'ere fire's been goin' on more'n a month. To my +knowledge, upwards of sixty bodies have been burned in it--to say +nothin' of dogs, cats, hens, and three cows.' + +"'What is in there now?' I asked. + +"'Wa'al,' said he meditatively, 'it takes a corpse several days to burn +all up. I reckon thar's a couple of dozen of 'em--jest bones, you +know--down near the bottom. Yesterday we put seven on top of this 'ere +pile, and by now they are only what you might call baked. To-day we have +been working over there (pointing to other fires a quarter of a mile +distant), where we found a lot of 'em, 'leven under one house. We have +put only two in here to-day. Found 'em just now, right in that puddle.' + +"'Could you tell me who they are?' I asked. + +"'Lord! No,' was the answer. 'We don't look at 'em any more'n we have +to, else we'd been dead ourselves before to-day. One of these was a +colored man. They are all pretty black, now; but you can tell 'em by the +kinky hair. He had nothin' but an undershirt and one shoe. The other was +a woman; young, I reckon. 'Tenny rate she was tall and slim and had lots +of long brown hair. She wore a blue silk skirt and there was a rope tied +around her waist, as if somebody had tried to save her.' + +"Taking a long pole he prodded an air-hole near the center of the +smoldering heap, from which now issued a frightful smell, that caused a +hasty retreat to the windward side. The withdrawal of the pole was +followed by a shower of charred bits of bone and singed hair. I picked +up a curling, yellow lock and wondered, with tears, what mother's hand +had lately caressed it. + +"'That's nothin',' remarked the fireman. 'The other day we found part of +a brass chandelier, and wound all around it was a perfect mop of long, +silky hair--with a piece of skin, big as your two hands, at the end of +it. Some woman got tangled up that way in the flood and jest na'cherly +scalped.' + +"I mention these incidents merely to show some of the conditions that +had to be met. The most we could do for the grief-stricken survivors was +to mitigate in some degree their bodily distress. The world knows how +generously the whole country responded to the call--how contributions +came pouring in by trainloads and shiploads, consigned to the Red Cross. +To distribute all this bounty judiciously was a herculean task--and our +working force was very small. The ladies and gentlemen of Galveston who +had suffered less than their neighbors, formed themselves into +committees, which opened relief stations in the several wards; and +through these channels the bulk of supplies was issued. If mistakes were +made, it was not from lack of faithful endeavor on the part of the +distributers; and let us hope that the errors, if any, were all on the +side of too liberal giving. + +"Merely to sort over one carload of garments, so as to make them +immediately available--to put the infants' clothes in one department, +the shoes in another, grown-up dresses in another, coats and trousers in +another, underwear in another--was a work of time and strength; as the +writer, who for a while was 'Mistress of the Robes,' can testify. From 7 +A. M. till dark we toiled; and when at last we dragged ourselves back to +the hotel, too wearied for anything but bed, 'tired Nature's sweet +restorer' was hard to woo, because of aching feet and swollen muscles. +But the experience was well worth it! Besides the joy of administering +to the suffering, what we learned of human nature (mostly good, I am +glad to say) would fill volumes. To be sure, there were shadows, as well +as lights, in the picture. Greed and hypocrisy, jealousy, malice, and +the reverse of Christian charity, came sometimes unpleasantly to the +fore, to be offset by the magnificent generosity of the American nation, +and the knowledge that in most quarters our efforts were appreciated. +Most of us were unused to manual labor, and all had left comfortable +homes--some at considerable financial sacrifice of well-salaried +positions, not for earthly gain or self-aggrandizement, but from pure +love of the splendid cause of the Cross of Geneva. + +"In that Rag Fair department of old clothes, the ludicrous and pathetic +called for an equal blending of smiles and tears. It seemed as if every +household, from Maine to California, from the St. Lawrence to the Rio +Grande, had rummaged its attics for the flood sufferers. Merchants +delivered themselves of years' accumulations of shop-worn +goods--streaked, faded, of fashions long gone by--but a great deal +better than nothing for the destitute. There were at least a million +shirtwaists, all thin and summery, though cold winter was at hand, when +frequent 'northers' chill the very marrow in one's bones, and ice and +snow are not unknown on Galveston Island. There was another million of +'Mother Hubbard' wrappers, all of the sleaziest print and scrimpest +pattern, with inch-wide hems at bottom and no fastening to speak +of--wrappers enough to disfigure every female in Southern Texas. Fancy a +whole city full of women masquerading in those shapeless garments--the +poorest of their class; and then remember that, a few years ago, the +great and glorious State of Pennsylvania found it necessary to pass a +law--presumably for the peace of mind of her male citizens--forbidding +the wearing of 'Mother Hubbards' in the street! + +"One day there came to our warehouse a large case of beautiful, buttoned +shoes, of the kind called 'Sorosis.' 'What a bonanza!' we thought, when +that box was opened--and through our minds went trooping a procession of +the shoeless feet we had longed to comfort. But behold! every blessed +shoe of the one hundred and forty-four was for the left foot! + +"There was an enormous box from a city laundry, containing the unclaimed +'washings' of many years--hundreds of waiters' aprons and cooks' caps, +worn hotel towels and napkins, ragged shirts and collars--not a thing +worth the lumber in the box, except as old linen for the hospitals. +There was a great deal of bedraggled finery, than which nothing could +have been less appropriate, when nine out of every ten women who applied +for clothes, wanted plain black in which to mourn for their dead. And +the hats and bonnets were of every shape and style within the memory of +man! They were mostly so crushed in careless packing that to have +worshiped them would have been no sin, according to Scripture, as they +were no longer in the 'likeness of anything in the heavens above, or the +earth beneath, or the waters under the earth.' There were workmen's +blouses and overalls, evidently shed in haste, under a sudden impulse of +generosity--plastered with grease, paint, and mortar, and odoriferous of +that by which honest bread is said to be earned. + +"Occasionally a box or barrel was found to contain garments +disgracefully dirty and ragged, or dropping in pieces from the ravages +of moths. Possibly the sending of such worthless trash produced in the +hearts of the donors that comfortable feeling of lending to the +Lord--but it was no use at our end of the line. What to do with it was a +problem. The lowest plantation darky would regard the gift as an insult, +and to burn even the filthiest rags would give rise to stories of wanton +waste. So we hit upon an expedient which had been successfully employed +in other fields--that of putting worthless articles in nice, clean +barrels, rolling them out on the doorstep, and forgetting to bring them +in at night; and every morning the barrels were found empty. + +"In striking contrast to these few 'shadows' were such gifts as that of +the New England girl, who sent a large, carefully packed satchel, +accompanied by a letter, explaining that she was seventeen years of age, +and had taken from her own wardrobe an outfit, intended for a +flood-sufferer of about her own age, whom the clothes would fit. The +satchel contained three good suits complete, from hat to hose--all that +a girl would need--even veil, handkerchiefs and fan; and it is needless +to add that they soon found their way to a most grateful young +'sufferer.' Here a poor widow divided her well-worn 'mourning' with some +stranger sister-in-grief; there the bereaved mother brought out the +treasured garments her little one had worn, for some happier mother who +had lost only earthly possessions. + +"Letters by hundreds were found in the packages, pertinent and +impertinent, but all demanding answers. They were stuffed into old shoes +and the linings of hats, cracked tea-pots and boxes of soap, combs and +matches. Every small boys' knickerbockers contained a note--generally +of original spelling and laboriously written in large capitals, from +'Tommy' or 'Johnnie' or 'Charley,' asking a reply, telling all about the +storm, from the boy who should receive the gift. Sentimental epistles +from ladies were hidden in the pockets of coats and trousers, inviting +correspondence with the future wearers; and billet-doux from +disconsolate widowers, presumably beginning to 'take notice,' were +pinned to the raiment of deceased wives. Such manifold phases have our +poor human nature! Happily there was another and far more numerous class +of letters, from charitable men and women, offering to adopt children, +or to assist in any way in their power; from Sunday-school classes and +sewing societies and day-schools, enclosing small sums of money, or +telling of gifts to come. There was even a letter from an almshouse, +enclosing a check for eighty dollars, raised by thirty aged pensioners, +who gave up their only luxuries--coffee, sugar, and tobacco--to swell +the fund for Galveston's relief. Another came from the poor, forgotten +negroes of the Carolina sea islands, to whose assistance the Red Cross +went, after their disastrous floods a few years ago. Impelled by +gratitude for the benefits then received, those simple-minded people +contributed a surprising amount, considering their poverty. Truly, in +heaven's reckoning those unselfish 'mites' of the poor and lowly will +count for as much as the millions given by the great cities. + +"Notwithstanding the vast amount of old clothes that came to us, we were +always particularly short of the most important articles of an outfit, +such as underwear, respectable skirts and dresses, and shoes--except of +extraordinary sizes, sent because unsalable. It frequently happened +that, for days together, there was hardly a thing in stock fit for +people of the better class. It must be remembered that we were not +supplying tramps and beggars, nor the ordinary applicants for charity, +but ladies and gentlemen, accustomed to the luxuries of life, whose +possessions had been suddenly swept away. How could we offer those +dreadful wrappers, or bedraggled finery, or soiled and ragged garments +which our servants would despise, to ladies of taste, culture, and +refinement, whom we had come to assist in their misfortune, not to +insult? Therefore, in many cases, the only decent thing to do was to go +out and buy what was needed, with some of those blessed contributions +which bore the message, 'to be used at your own discretion.' That was +Christian charity, pure and simple, in its most practical form. For +example: A widow, of highest social standing and former wealth, lived +with her three daughters in one of those ill-fated cottages near the +beach, which was swept away with all its contents. Thus the four +helpless women were left entirely destitute, even the clothes on their +backs borrowed from neighbors a little less unfortunate. Friends in a +Northern city wrote, offering them a home. Transportation could be +easily provided, but the four must be fitted out for the journey. We +searched the Rag Fair over, but found few suitable articles. Perhaps +something better might come in by and by, next week, some other time; +but for every hoped-for article were a hundred waiting applicants--and +meanwhile those ladies must be supported until sent to their friends. To +say nothing of their own feelings, and ours, we could not disgrace the +Red Cross by sending that stately gray-haired mother and the three +delicate young ladies out into the world equipped by our alleged bounty +in scanty calico 'Mother Hubbards,' men's cow-hide brogans, and +scare-crow headgear. So we picked out what would answer--here and there +a garment which might be altered, the only pair of shoes in the place +that came near to fitting one of the ladies, a bolt of unbleached muslin +which they, themselves, could fashion into underclothes, and four +disreputable old hats. The latter we gave to a local milliner to remodel +and trim, simply but respectably. Then we went to the store and +purchased shoes and other necessary articles, including enough +inexpensive but serviceable cloth for four gowns and jackets, and +employed a woman to make them. + +"This was not extravagance, but good use of the money, all around:--for +the poor little milliner whose shop had been destroyed and business +ruined, whose children were then eating the bread of charity; and for +the customless dressmaker, who was also a grievous sufferer by the +flood, with younger sisters to support. We gave her the first work she +had had for weeks, and her gratitude was good to see. + +"As for merchants, who were all on the verge of failure, but making +heroic efforts to keep afloat--Heaven knows we did them injury enough +every day of our stay in Galveston, to be thankful for the privilege of +occasionally becoming their patrons. Not only had they suffered immense +losses by the storm, their stocks being practically ruined and customers +gone--but who would buy, so long as the Red Cross had food and clothes +to give away, without money and without price? Though ours is a noble +and necessary work, it is never to the advantage of the local merchants, +as a little reflection will show. + +"Another case was that of a young woman, who, with an aged relative, was +keeping a hotel in a near-by village, when the floods lifted their house +from its foundations and ruined everything in it. Its four walls stood, +however, and furnished shelter for all the houseless neighbors, who +flocked in, naked and hungry, and with whom the generous girl divided +her last garment and bit of food. Death also entered the family, twice +within a few weeks--the last time leaving a sister's four half-grown +children for this young woman to maintain. Take them she must, because +they had nowhere else to go. Finding her in terrible straits, without +even clothes to wear to her sister's funeral, were we not justified in +buying the heroic young woman a decent suit of black, besides sending +her a box of food supplies? Why were we there, if not to exercise +judgment in the matter of relief? If merely to distribute second-hand +articles, without discrimination, we might have saved ourselves much +peril and hardship by remaining at home, and sending the boxes down to +take care of themselves. + +"None of us will ever forget the grandniece of an ex-President of the +United States--a handsome and imposing woman of middle age, traveled, +educated, and evidently accustomed to the best society. She called one +day at headquarters, and although she did not ask for aid, the truth +came out in a heart-to-heart talk with Miss Barton that she had lost all +in the storm and had not where to lay her head, nor food for the morrow; +even the clothes she wore were not her own. Nobody living could put this +lady on the pauper list, and none with a spark of human feeling could +wish to wound her pride. Our honored President, who reads hearts as +others do open books, clasped this unfortunate sister's hand--and left +in it a bank-note--I do not know of what denomination, but let us hope +it was not a small one. The look of surprise and gratitude that flashed +over that woman's face was worth going far to see, as, speechless with +emotion, the tears streaming down her cheeks, she turned away. + +"One might go on multiplying incidents by the hour, did time permit. +There were teachers to be fitted out with suitable clothes before the +opening of the schools; boys and girls needing school-books and shoes, +caps, and jackets; new-born babes to be provided, whose wardrobes, +prepared in advance, had been swept away; mothers of families, destitute +of the commonest conveniences of life, to whom the gift of a pan or +kettle was a godsend; aged people, whose declining years must be +comforted; invalids to be cheered with little luxuries. My greatest +regret is that we had not hundreds of dollars to use for every one that +was expended in these directions." + + +My stenographer, Miss Agnes Coombs, found her post by me, and sixty to +eighty letters a day, taken from dictation, made up the clerical round +of the office of the president. This duty fell in between attending the +daily meetings of the relief committee and receiving constant calls both +in and out of the city. + +Our men made up their living-room at the warehouse. The few women +remained at the hotel, the only suitable place in the town. + +Later on arrived a shipload of supplies from the business people of New +York, which were stored with the Galveston committee, and we were asked +to aid in the distribution of these supplies, and to a certain extent we +did, but succeeded in organizing a committee of citizens, ladies and +gentlemen, to carry out and complete this distribution. + +From lack of knowledge of the real conditions of the disaster and its +geographical extent, this munificent donation had been assigned to the +"Relief of Galveston," and thus, technically, Galveston had no authority +to administer a pound or a dollar to any communities or persons outside +of the precincts of the city proper. This left at least twenty counties +on the mainland on the other side of the Gulf, some of which were as +badly wrecked and ruined as Galveston itself, without a possibility of +the slightest benefit from this great, generous gift. + +Seeing this pitiful and innocently unjust condition of affairs, the +result of ignorance of relief work, undertaken with much zeal but scant +knowledge and no experience, we sought a way to atone for the mistake, +so far as we might be able. + +Immediately closing our relief rooms in Galveston I had all Red Cross +supplies shipped to Houston, and relief for the mainland opened there. +These were farming districts, and I directed intelligent inquiry to be +made as to what was most needed by the devastated farm lands and their +owners. All was swept away--sometimes as far as forty miles back into +the level country; often the soil itself was washed away, the home and +all smaller animals destroyed, and no feed for the larger ones to +subsist on. The poor farmers walked their desolated fields and wrung +their hands. + +It proved that this was the strawberry section of Southern Texas, and +these were the strawberry growers that supplied the early berries to our +Northern market. For miles not a plant was left and no means to +replant. This was reported to me on the first day's investigation, and +also that if plants could be obtained and set within two weeks a half +crop could be grown this year and the industry restored. That seemed a +better occupation for these poor fellows than walking the ground and +wringing their hands. The messenger was sent back at daybreak to +ascertain how many plants would be needed to replant these lands, where +they were accustomed to procure them, and what varieties were best +adapted to their use. + +That night brought again the messenger to say that a million and a half +of plants would reset the lands and that their supply came from the +nurseries in North Carolina, Illinois, Arkansas, and Louisiana. +Directions were sent back to Mr. Ward to order the plants to be there in +two weeks. This was done. Only thirty-eight thousand plants were injured +in transit, and those were generously resupplied by the shippers. Within +the two weeks this million and a half of strawberry plants were set. It +was estimated that fully a third of a crop was realized that year, and +it is safe to predict that one-half the readers of this little sketch +will partake of the fruits of these Red Cross relief strawberry fields +this very springtime. + +Other needs to a large amount were supplied by Mr. Ward, and we left no +idle, wringing hands on the mainlands of Texas. + +I had never left Galveston. Some other thoughtful reader may pitifully +ask, what became of these miles of wreckage and the dead on the +Galveston seashore? + +At this distant day it may be safe to tell. I recall that at the time +much criticism was indulged in. + +All were burned. + +The heat grew greater and the stench stronger every day. They tried to +remove the _debris_ and get the bodies out for burial. No human being +could work in that putrefying mass. Previously had come the glorious +thought of getting them into boats and shipping them a mile out to sea. +With hopeful hearts this experiment was tried for one day. Alas! the +night tide brought them all back to shore. The elements of earth and +water had refused--what remained but fire? Openings in the long +continuous lines were cut through at given spaces, the fire engines set +to play on the open, and the torch applied to the end of sections; thus +a general conflagration of the city was prevented, and from day to day +the pile diminished. + +The stench of burning flesh permeated every foot of the city. Who could +long withstand this? Before the end of three months there was scarcely a +well person in Galveston. My helpers grew pale and ill, and even I, who +have resisted the effect of so many climates, needed the help of a +steadying hand as I walked to the waiting Pullman on the track, +courteously tendered free of charge to take us away. + +This is a tedious story; but if gone through, one has a little insight +into the labor of a Red Cross field of relief. There are twenty in my +recollection, and this was by no means the hardest or the most useful. +They have been lived, but never told. + +I beg my readers to bear in mind that this is not romance that I am +writing, where I can place my characters in the best light and shape +results at will, but history, with my personages still alive, ready to +attest the reality of this statement. That grand committee of Galveston +relief--than whom no nobler body of men I have ever met--are, I hope, +all yet alive to testify to the conditions and statements made. + +I have dedicated this little volume to the people with whom, and for +whom, have gone the willing labors of twenty-five years--initial labors, +untried methods, and object lessons. Well or ill, they have carried with +them the best intentions and the best judgment given for the purpose. +Whatever may betide or the future have in store for the little work so +simply commenced, so humbly carried on, merely a helper with no thought +of leadership, it bears along with it the memories of pain assuaged, +hope revived, endeavor strengthened, and lives saved. + +To the noble sympathies of generous hearts these results are due, and +yet it is not in its past that the glories or the benefits of the Red +Cross lie, but in the possibilities it has created for the future; in +the lessons it has taught; in the avenues to humane effort it has +opened, and in the union of beneficent action between people and +Government, when once comprehended and effected, that shall constitute +a bulwark against the mighty woes sure to come sooner or later to all +peoples and all nations. + +To you--the people of America--this sacred trust is committed, in your +hands the charge is laid. To none will your help ever be so precious as +it has been to me, for in its proud growth and strength none will ever +so need you. + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's A Story of the Red Cross, by Clara Barton + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A STORY OF THE RED CROSS *** + +***** This file should be named 30230.txt or 30230.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/3/0/2/3/30230/ + +Produced by Chuck Greif, Martin Pettit and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This +book was produced from scanned images of public domain +material from the Google Print project.) + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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Anyone seeking to utilize +this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright +status under the laws that apply to them. diff --git a/README.md b/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..bd10b21 --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #30230 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/30230) diff --git a/old/30230-8.txt b/old/30230-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..fb6338e --- /dev/null +++ b/old/30230-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,4443 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of A Story of the Red Cross, by Clara Barton + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: A Story of the Red Cross + Glimpses of Field Work + +Author: Clara Barton + +Release Date: October 10, 2009 [EBook #30230] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A STORY OF THE RED CROSS *** + + + + +Produced by Chuck Greif, Martin Pettit and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This +book was produced from scanned images of public domain +material from the Google Print project.) + + + + + + +A STORY OF THE RED CROSS + + +[Illustration: CLARA BARTON + +From a photograph taken in St. Petersburg in July, 1902, showing the +decorations conferred upon her by the Czar and the Empress Dowager] + + +A STORY OF THE RED CROSS + +GLIMPSES OF FIELD WORK + +BY + +CLARA BARTON + +FOUNDER OF THE AMERICAN NATIONAL RED CROSS AND PRESIDENT, 1881-1904 + +[Illustration: Logo] + + +NEW YORK +D. APPLETON AND COMPANY +MCMIV + + +COPYRIGHT, 1904, BY +D. APPLETON AND COMPANY + +_Published, June, 1904_ + + + + +PREFACE + + +Since the foundation of the Red Cross in America, many direful +calamities have afflicted the country. In each of these visitations the +Red Cross has acted in some degree as the Almoner--the distributer and +organizer--of the bountiful measures of relief that have been poured out +by the American people. + +Its work has been accomplished quietly and without ostentation. All the +relief has been administered--not as charity--but as God-sent succor to +our brothers and sisters who have been overwhelmed by some mighty +convulsion of the forces of nature. + +The wreckage has been cleared away, the stricken people have been +wisely, tenderly, and calmly guided out of panic and despair on to the +road of self-help and cooperative effort to restore their shattered +homes and broken fortunes; and then the Red Cross has retired as quietly +as it came, and few, outside of the people immediately concerned, have +realized the beneficent powers of help and healing that have fallen like +a benediction upon the stricken wherever that sacred symbol of humanity +has made its way. + +It is my thought that a brief account of the work of the Red Cross +during the past twenty-five years will be of interest to the American +people. In a volume of this size it must of necessity be but a brief +outline, sufficient, however, to convey a clear impression of what the +Red Cross really means to every individual in this great country of +ours. + +To the thousands of American men and women whose generous bounty has +made the work of the Red Cross possible, to the stricken and distressed +who because of it have been helped back to life and hope, and to all the +friends of the great, universal humanity which it typifies, this small +book is lovingly dedicated. + +CLARA BARTON. + +GLEN ECHO, MARYLAND, +_May 15, 1904._ + + + + +CONTENTS + + +I + PAGE +EARLY HISTORY. 1880-1884 1 + +II + +THE TEXAS FAMINE AND THE MOUNT VERNON CYCLONE. 1885-1888 30 + +III + +YELLOW FEVER IN FLORIDA. 1887 38 + +IV + +THE JOHNSTOWN FLOOD. 1889 54 + +V + +THE RUSSIAN FAMINE. 1891 70 + +VI + +THE SEA ISLAND RELIEF. 1893 77 + +VII + +ARMENIAN RELIEF. 1896 94 + +VIII + +CUBA. 1898 115 + +IX + +GALVESTON. 1900 164 + + + + +A STORY OF THE RED CROSS + + + + +I + +EARLY HISTORY + +1880-1884 + + "I have lived much that I have not written, but I have written + nothing that I have not lived." + + +It was a little blue-eyed girl of ten who sat on a low hassock at my +feet, slowly drawing the soft auburn curls between her fingers, when, +suddenly lifting her head and looking me earnestly in the face, she +exclaimed: "What is the Red Cross? Please tell me about it; I can not +understand it." + +There was a pleading earnestness in the tone not to be resisted, and +laying down my pen I commenced to explain to her the principles, +history, and uses of the Red Cross. She listened anxiously, the pretty +brow knitted; she seemed more and more perplexed, until, as if a light +had broken over her, she exclaimed, half impatiently: + +"Not that--not that, tell me something it _does_--it and you, I can +understand it better then." + +A light had broken over me. It was a story the child wanted to +illustrate the principle and bring it home to her. A story she must +have. + +In a half hour she felt that she knew it all and was an ardent devotee +even of its principles. But she had given me more than I had given her. +Here was food for thought. + +For twenty-five years I had labored to explain the principles and uses +of the Red Cross; had written enough for a modest library of what it was +and what it meant, but, lest I seem egotistical, not a page of what it +did. The child had given me an idea that I would for once put into +practice, and write a few pages of what the Red Cross had done, leaving +principles to present themselves. + +I will commence even back of itself. + +Forty years ago, before most of you were born, a great war had been +fought in America, in which thousands died from battle and hardship, and +thousands more still left alive were worn out in the untried and +unsystematized efforts at relief that had been made through nearly five +years of continuous war. Of these latter, many were women who dragged +out weary lives in their own homes, some went to hospitals and retreats +for rest and care, and some were sent abroad. One of these latter I knew +personally, for, as Patrick would say, "It was me-self." + +To me it seemed a hard sentence that our physicians imposed. I had grown +to love the country we had so toiled for, and did not want to leave it. +Its very woes had made it dear to me. It had quiet once more, and a +peace that was not all a peace. It had its early soldier homes, its +fast-filling cemeteries, and the tender memory of a martyred President +resting over us like a pall. These had come to seem like a heritage to +me, and in my weakness I clung to them. Still, the order was obeyed and +I went. + +Then followed travels in strange and foreign lands, other wars, illness +and suffering of my own, until eleven years later I came almost a +stranger again to our Government with another work, which I believed to +be for its good and the good of our people. + +This time I brought the idea of the treaty of Geneva, asking our +Government, at the request of other Governments, to examine and to unite +with it, if found desirable. This effort with the Government covers five +years of hard, continuous labor, during which was sought the aid of +friends known in other years. At the end of this time, by advice of our +second martyred President and three members of his historic +cabinet--James G. Blaine, William Windom, and Robert T. Lincoln--a +national society was formed, known as the Association of the American +Red Cross, and, by desire and nomination of President Garfield, I was +made its president, and requested to name my officers. + +The association was formed during the winter of 1880-'81, with the view +on the part of President Garfield of facilitating the adoption of the +treaty which he would name in his next message, which message was never +written. + +Before the message, he, too, had joined the martyred ranks, and his +gentle successor, Arthur, filled his chair and kept his promise, and +through action of his own executive department the treaty was adopted; +indorsed by action of the Senate; proclaimed by the President to our +people; later ratified by the International Powers in the Congress of +Berne, with the pledge to render relief to unfortunate victims of war, +and the privilege, by my request, of rendering similar relief to the +victims of great national calamities or disasters. + +All this had been accomplished by the kindly help of a few personal +friends, tireless and unrewarded, and while the news of the accession of +the Government of the United States, to the treaty of Geneva, lit +bonfires that night (for I cabled it by their request) in the streets of +Switzerland, France, Germany, and Spain, a little four-line paragraph in +the congressional doings of the day in the _Evening Star_, of +Washington, alone announced to the people of America that an +international treaty had been added to their rolls. + +No personal distinction had been bestowed, no one honored, no one +politically advanced, no money of the Government expended, and, like +other things of like nature and history, it was left in obscurity to +make its own way and live its own hard life. + +Thus the spring of 1882 found us--a few people, tired and weak, with +five years of costly service, a treaty gained, with no fund, no war nor +prospect of any, and no helpful connection with or acknowledgment by the +Government. + +Soon the news of "Half the State of Michigan on Fire" called us to +action on our own laws of civil relief. A little draft on the purse of +the new, inexperienced president of the association paved the way for an +agent to go to the field. Others generously joined, all reported to our +friend and advocate, Senator Omar D. Conger, of Michigan. Some supplies +were sent, a society or two formed to provide and forward them. The +agents remained until the suffering was relieved, and thus the first +field relief work of which we have any record in the United States was +commenced. + +Meanwhile, I had been asked by the Senate to write the history of the +Red Cross, and show the official action taken by our Government on the +acceptance of the treaty, which history the Senate would have printed at +the Government printing-office. This volume I prepared as requested. A +thousand copies were printed for information to the public, to be +circulated by the society; but with no frank or other means provided, +and with a postage of some ten cents a volume, we were compelled to +limit the circulation to the means. + +The following year, 1883, a disastrous rise in the Ohio River called for +our aid. Dr. J. B. Hubbell, who had been our agent the year before, was +called from Michigan University, where he was completing a course, to +examine the needs of the inhabitants and take such relief as we could +provide. There was little loss of life, and the destruction of property +lay largely in the loss of stock, and washing away of the soil, +vegetation, and the means of reproduction. + +A remarkable provision for this latter loss was made by the gift of Mr. +Hiram Sibley, the noted seed dealer of Rochester--who had become +associated with the Red Cross, being an old-time friend of the family of +its president--of ten thousand dollars' worth of seed, to replant the +washed-out lands adown the Mississippi. As the waters ran off the mud +immediately baked in the sunshine, making planting impossible after a +few days. Accordingly, Mr. Sibley's gift was sent with all haste to our +agent at Memphis, and in forty-eight hours, by train and boat, it was +distributed in the four States--Tennessee, Arkansas, Louisiana, and +Mississippi--and planted for the crops of the coming season. + +Besides this generous gift of material, a little money had been raised +and sent by the three societies of the Red Cross which had been formed, +viz.: Dansville and Syracuse, a few hundreds--something more from the +Red Cross at Rochester--always thoughtful and generous, which served to +help in the distribution of clothing and supplies promiscuously sent. +And at the finish of the work, when every donation had been carefully +acknowledged, one thousand dollars and some cents were left in the +treasury unexpended. + +A cyclone occurring within a few months in Louisiana and southern +Alabama, cutting a swath from New Orleans to Mobile, decided us to send +eight hundred dollars of this reserve to the secretary of the Red Cross +Society of New Orleans, which sum was forwarded by our vice-president, +Mr. A. S. Solomons. This left a sum of two hundred dollars and some +cents in the treasury with which to commence another field. + +This was the commencement of 1883. In May, at the solicitation of +General Butler, then Governor of Massachusetts, I took the +superintendence of the Massachusetts Woman's State Prison at Sherborn, +at the customary salary of fifteen hundred dollars a year. To this duty +the Legislature added, after my arrival, those of secretary and +treasurer, without increase of salary, discharging the former incumbent, +a man, at three thousand dollars a year. I accepted the new duties, +became my own bondsman for ten thousand dollars, by transfer of that +amount of bonds from my bankers, Brown Brothers, New York, to the +Massachusetts State Treasury at Boston--remaining in charge of the +prison until the close of the year, and the retirement of General Butler +as Governor. + +In the short and interrupted existence of our association--scarce two +years--our few official advisers had formed some general regulations, +relating to our course of procedure. Realizing that to be of any real +service as a body of relief for sudden disasters, we must not only be +independent of the slow, ordinary methods of soliciting relief, but in +its means of application as well, it was decided: + +_First._ To never solicit relief or ask for contributions. + +_Second._ Not to pay salaries to officers--paying out money only to +those whom we must employ for manual labor--and as our officers served +without compensation they should not be taxed for dues. + +_Third._ To keep ourselves always in possession of a stated sum of money +to commence a field of disaster--this sum to be independent even of the +closed doors of a bank which might prevent leaving for a field on a +Sunday or holiday. + +_Fourth._ To take this sum of our own, going directly to a field with +such help as needed, giving no notice until there, overlooking the +field, and learning the extent of the trouble and conditions of the +people, making immediate and reliable report to the country through the +Associated Press, some of whose officers were our own Red Cross officers +as well. These reports would be truthful, unexaggerated, and +non-sensational statements that could be relied upon. + +_Fifth._ That if, under these conditions, the people chose to make use +of us as distributers of the relief which they desired to contribute to +the sufferers, we would do our best to serve them while at the +field--make report directly to each and all contributors, so far as in +our power, and proceed to carry out any directions and apply the relief +at hand, in the wisest manner possible, among a dazed and afflicted +community. + +To inaugurate this method, I, as president, placed a sum of three +thousand dollars, free of bank or interest, upon momentary call, at the +service of the association. On more than one occasion it has been taken +on Sunday, when every bank in the country was closed and charitable +bodies were at their prayers. Even the relief of Johnstown was thus +commenced. This provision has never for a day been broken. It is as good +at this moment as it was in 1883, and from the same source. It may not +have been a "business-like" method nor one to be approved by stated +boards of directors nor squared by bank regulations. But the foes we had +to meet were not thus regulated, and had to be met as they came; and so +they always must be if any good is to be accomplished. + +Until the Government and society can control the elements, and regulate +a spring freshet, a whirlwind or a cyclone, they will find that red +tape is not strong enough to hold their ravages in check. + +It was well that these regulations had been formulated and their +provisions acted upon, as the state of our treasury and the conditions +immediately following will show. + +I returned to Washington upon my retirement from the superintendence of +the State Prison at Sherborn, accompanied by Dr. Hubbell, who, having +completed his university course, had come to the Red Cross for permanent +service. Before we had even time to unpack our trunks, the news of the +fearful rise of the Ohio River, of 1884, began to shock the country with +its loss of life and property. + +I had never been present at a disaster in civil life. It had never +occurred to me that they recurred so frequently. But if by virtue of my +office as president I was liable to be called every year to preside over +and provide for them, it was essential that I learn my duties +experimentally. I accordingly joined Dr. Hubbell, who had been appointed +general field agent, and proceeded to Pittsburg, the headwaters of the +rise. + +Telegraphing from there to our agents of the Associated Press, we +proceeded to Cincinnati, to find the city afloat. Its inhabitants were +being fed from boats, through the second-story windows. These conditions +were telegraphed. Supplies commenced to flow in, not only from our own +societies but from the people of the country. Warehouses were filled, in +spite of all we dispensed--but there were four hundred miles of this +distress--even to Cairo, where the Ohio, sometimes thirty miles in +width, discharged its swollen waters into the Mississippi. + +Recognizing this condition lower down the river as the greater need, we +transferred our supplies and distribution to Evansville, Ind. Scarcely +had we reached there when a cyclone struck the river below, and +traveling up its entire length, leveled every standing object upon its +banks, swept the houses along like cockle-shells, uprooted the greatest +trees and whirled them down its mighty current--catching here and there +its human victims, or leaving them with life only, houseless, homeless, +wringing their hands on a frozen, fireless shore--with every coal-pit +filled with water, and death from freezing more imminent than from +hunger. + +There were four hundred miles more of this, and no way of reaching them +by land. With all our tons of clothing, these people and their homeless +little children were freezing. There was but one way--the Government +boats had come with rations of food--we too must take to the water. + +At eight o'clock in the morning I chartered my first boat, with captain +and crew, at sixty dollars per day, to be at once laden to the water's +edge with coal--our own supplies to be stored on the upper deck--and at +four o'clock in the afternoon, as the murky sun was hiding its clouded +face, the bell of the "John V. Troop," in charge of her owner, announced +the departure of the first Red Cross relief-boat ever seen on American +waters. + +I found myself that night with a stanch crew of thirty men and a skilled +captain, and a boat under my command. I had never until then held such a +command. We wove the river diagonally from side to side--from village to +village--where the homeless, shivering people were gathered--called for +the most responsible person--a clergyman if one could be found, threw +off boxes of clothing, and hove off coal for a two weeks' supply, and +steamed away to the opposite side, leaving only gratitude, wonder at who +we were, where we came from, and what that strange flag meant? We +improved every opportunity to replenish our supply of coal, and reached +Cairo in five days. + +Waiting only to reload, we returned up the river, resupplied the revived +villages of people, too grateful for words, reaching Evansville at the +end of three weeks, where more supplies than we had taken awaited us. +St. Louis and Chicago had caught the fever of relief, had arranged +societies, and had asked permission to join our aid. Up to this time the +Mississippi had given no indication of trouble, but now its great June +rise commenced. + +The Government boats, by another appropriation, were sent to the +Mississippi, and we prepared to supplement them. Discharging our Ohio +River boat we went to St. Louis by rail and chartered the "Mattie Bell." +The Red Cross Societies of St. Louis and Chicago, under their respective +presidents and officers in charge of them and their funds, joined us, +and together we prepared to feed and rescue the perishing stock--as +well as people adown the Mississippi. The animals had never been saved +in an overflow; and besides the cruelty of letting them starve by +thousands, the loss to the people was irreparable, as the following year +must inevitably be replete with idleness and poverty till more stock +could be obtained to work with. + +We found as commissary at St. Louis, General Beckwith, the historic +commissary-general of the old civil war, who had personally +superintended the loading of my wagons in Washington, year after year, +for the battle-fields of Virginia. He came on board the "Mattie Bell" +and personally superintended the lading--clothing, corn, oats, salt, and +hay--besides putting upon the Government boats large quantities of +supplies which we could not take on at first, and giving us his +blessing, watched us steam out on our joint mission; they putting off +rations of meat and meal--we supplementing with clothing for the people +and feed for the stock. We purchased all we could at cities as we +passed, picked our course among the broken levees and roaring crevasses, +all the way to New Orleans. The hungry were fed, the naked clothed, and +the stock saved. The negro had his mule, and the planter his horses and +cattle to carry on his work when the flood should disappear. We had +lighter boats, still lighter purses, but lightest of all were the +grateful hearts that a kind Providence and a generous people had given +to us the privilege of serving. + +We discharged the "Mattie Bell" at St. Louis, bidding adieu to the +officers of the Red Cross Society, who had rendered most acceptable +service to the cause. They had brought their own funds and material--had +personally administered them from the decks of the "Mattie Bell," made +their own reports, and modestly retired to their home duties, there to +await the next call. + +Chicago, which had a new Red Cross Society, formed almost for the +occasion, through its most worthy and notable representative, Rev. E. I. +Galvin, did the same, performing the long journey with us, +superintending the distribution of his own relief and making his own +report with such convincing power, that societies of no less excellence +than the Lend-a-Hand were its outgrowth. + +I am thus particular to mention this from the loving gratitude +fervently cherished for strong, tender help in the day of small things. +Their contributions largely served to run our boat and keep our crew, +and with heads, hearts, and hands we struggled as one, to avert the +destruction so rife around us. + +From St. Louis we crossed over to Evansville, rechartered the "John V. +Troop," and put on accumulated supplies. The waters of the Ohio had +subsided and the people were returning to the old spots of earth that +once had been their home, but there was neither house to live in nor +tool to work the land with. We reloaded with pine lumber, ready-made +doors, windows, household utensils, stores and groceries, farming +utensils, and with a good force of carpenters proceeded up the Ohio once +more. The sight of the disconsolate, half-clad farmer waiting on the +bank told us where his home had been--and was not. + +Three hours' work of our carpenters would put up a one-room house, +meanwhile our efficient men and women helpers, among them the best +ladies of Evansville, would furnish it with beds, bedding, clothing, +provisions for the family, and farming tools ready to go on with the +season's work. + +Picture, if possible, this scene. A strange ship with a strange flag +steaming up the river. It halts, turns from its course, and draws up to +the nearest landing. Some persons disembark and speak a few minutes with +the family. Then, a half dozen strong mechanics man a small boat laden +with all material for constructing a one-room house--floor, roof, doors, +windows. The boat returns for furniture. Within three hours the strange +ship sails away, leaving a bewildered family in a new and clean house +with bed, bedding, clothing, table, chairs, dishes, candles, a little +cooking-stove with a blazing fire, all the common quota of cooking +utensils, and meat, meal, and groceries; a plow, rake, axe, hoe, shovel, +spade, hammer, and nails. We ask few questions. They ask none. The +whistle of the "Troop" is as welcome to their ears as the flag to their +eyes. + +At one of these wrecked villages the entire little hamlet of people +stood on our decks. Only four, they said, were left at home, and these +were sick. They had selected their lawyer to speak their thanks. No +words will ever do justice to the volume of native eloquence which +seemed to roll unbidden from his lips. He finished with these sentences: + +"At noon on that day we were in the blackness of despair--the whole +village in the power of the demon of waters--hemmed in by sleet and ice, +without fire enough to cook its little food. When the bell struck nine +that night, there were seventy-five families on their knees before their +blazing grates, thanking God for fire and light, and praying blessings +on the phantom ship with the unknown device that had come as silently as +the snow, they knew not whence, and gone, they knew not whither." + +When we finished the voyage of relief, we had covered the Ohio River +from Cincinnati to Cairo and back twice, and the Mississippi from St. +Louis to New Orleans, and return--four months on the rivers--traveled +over eight thousand miles, distributed in relief of money and estimated +material, one hundred and seventy-five thousand dollars--gathered as we +used it. + +We left at one point on the Ohio River a well-lettered cross-board, +"Little Six Red Cross Landing"--probably there to this day. The story of +The Little Six might be given in their own little letter: + + +WATERFORD, PA., _March_ 24, 1884. + +DEAR MISS BARTON: + +We read your nice letter in the Dispatch and we would like very much to +see that house called "The Little Six," and we little six are so glad +that we helped six other little children, and we thank you for going to +so much trouble in putting our money just where we would have put it +ourselves. Some time again when you want money to help you in your good +work call on "The Little Six." + + +JOE FARRAR, twelve years old. +FLORENCE HOWE, eleven years old. +MARY BARTON, eleven years old. +REED WHITE, eleven years old. +BERTIE AINSWORTH, ten years old. +LOYD BARTON, seven years old. + + +These children had given a public entertainment for the benefit of the +flood sufferers. They themselves suggested it, planned and carried it +out, and raised fifty-one dollars and twenty-five cents, which they +sent to the editor of the Eric Dispatch, asking him to send it "where it +would do the most good." The Dispatch forwarded it to the president of +the Red Cross, with an account of the entertainment given by "The Little +Six." + +The entire matter was too beautiful and withal unique, to meet only a +common fate in its results. I could not, for a moment, think to mingle +the gift of the little dramatists with the common fund for general +distribution, and sought through all these weeks for a fitting +disposition to make of it, where it would all go in some special manner +to relieve some special necessity. I wanted it to benefit some children +who had "wept on the banks" of the river, which in its madness had +devoured their home. + +As we neared that picturesque spot on the Illinois side of the Ohio, +known as "Cave-in Rock," we were hailed by a woman and her young +daughter. The boat "rounded to" and made the landing and they came on +board--a tall, thin, worn woman in tattered clothes, with a good but +inexpressibly sad face, who wished to tell us that a package which we +had left for her at the town on our way down had never reached her. She +was a widow--Mrs. Plew--whose husband, a good river pilot, had died from +overwork on a hard trip to New Orleans in the floods of the Mississippi +two years before, leaving her with six children dependent upon her, the +eldest a lad in his "teens," the youngest a little baby girl. They owned +their home, just on the brink of the river, a little "farm" of two or +three acres, two horses, three cows, thirty hogs, and a half hundred +fowls, and in spite of the bereavement, they had gone on bravely, +winning the esteem and commendation of all who knew them for thrift and +honest endeavor. Last year the floods came heavily upon them, driving +them from their home, and the two horses were lost. Next the cholera +came among the hogs and all but three died. Still they worked on; and +held the home. This spring came the third flood. The water climbed up +the bank, crept in at the door, and filled the lower story of the house. +They had nowhere to remove their household goods, and stored them in the +garret carefully packed, and went out to find a shelter in an old log +house near by, used for a corn-crib. Day by day they watched the house, +hailed passing boats for news of the rise and fall of the water above, +always trusting the house would stand--"and it would," the mother said, +"for it was a good, strong house, but for the storm." The winds came, +and the terrible gale that swept the valley like a tornado, with the +water at its height, leveling whole towns, descended and beat upon that +house, and it fell. In the morning there was no house there, and the +waves in their fury rushed madly on. Then these little children "stood +and wept on the banks of the river," and the desolation and fear in the +careful mother's heart, none but herself and her God can know. + +They lived on in the corn-crib, and it was from it they came to hail us +as we passed to-day. Something had been told us of them on our downward +trip, and a package had been left them at "Cave-in Rock," which they had +not received. We went over shoe-tops in mud to their rude home, to find +it one room of logs, an old stone chimney, with a cheerful fire of +drift-wood and a _clean_ hearth, two wrecks of beds, a table, and two +chairs which some kind neighbor had loaned. The Government boats had +left them rations. There was an air of thrift, even in their desolation, +a plank walk was laid about the door, the floor was cleanly swept, and +the twenty-five surviving hens, for an equal number were lost in the +storm, clucked and craiked comfortably about the door, and there were +two-and-a-half dozen fresh eggs to sell us at a higher rate than paid in +town. We stood, as we had done so many scores of times during the last +few weeks, and looked this pitiful scene in the face. There were +misfortune, poverty, sorrow, want, loneliness, dread of the future, but +fortitude, courage, integrity, and honest thrift. + +"Would she like to return to the childhood home in Indiana?" we asked +the mother, for we would help them go. + +"No," she said tenderly. "My husband lived and died here. He is buried +here, and I would not like to go away and leave him alone. It won't be +very long, and it is a comfort to the children to be able to visit his +grave. No, I reckon we will stay here, and out of the wreck of the old +house which sticks up out of the mud, we will put up another little +hut, higher up on the bank out of the way of the floods, and if it is +only a hut, it will be a home for us and we will get into it, and make +our crop this year." + +There were no dry eyes, but very still hearts, while we listened to this +sorrowful but brave little speech, made with a voice full of tears. + +Our thoughtful field agent, Dr. Hubbell, was the first to speak. + +"Here are six children," he said with an inquiring glance at me. + +No response was needed. The thing was done. We told the mother the story +of "The Little Six" of Waterford, and asked her if that money with +enough more to make up one hundred dollars would help her to get up her +house? It was _her_ turn to be speechless. At length with a struggling, +choking voice she managed to say--"God knows how much it would be to me. +Yes, with my good boys I can do it, and do it well." + +We put in her hands a check for this sum, and directed from the boat +clean boxes of clothing and bedding, to help restore the household, when +the house should have been completed. + +Before we left her, we asked if she would name her house when it should +be done? She thought a second, and caught the idea. + +"Yes," she replied quickly, with a really winsome smile on that worn and +weary face, "yes, I shall name it 'The Little Six.'" + +We came to Pittsburg, discharged our empty boat, bade a heart-breaking +good-by to our veteran volunteers from Evansville, who had shared our +toil and pain and who would return on the boat, we taking train once +more for Washington. We had been four months on the rivers, among fogs, +rain, damp, and malaria--run all manner of risks and dangers, but had +lost no life nor property, sunk no boat, and only that I was by this +time too weak to walk without help--all were well. + +Through the thoughtfulness of our new societies--St. Louis and +Chicago--we had been able to meet our share of the expenses, and to keep +good the little personal provision we started with, and were thus ready +to commence another field when it should come. + +On arriving home I found that I was notified by the International +Committee of Geneva, that the Fourth International Conference would be +held in that city in September, and I was requested to inform the +United States Government, and ask it to send delegates. With the aid of +a borrowed arm, I made my way up the steps of the Department of State +(that was before the luxury of elevators) and made my errand known to +Secretary Frelinghuysen, who had heard of it and was ready with his +reply: + +"Yes, Miss Barton, we will make the needful appointment of delegates to +the International Conference, and I appoint you as our delegate." + +"No, Mr. Frelinghuysen," I said, "I can not go. I have just returned +from field work. I am tired and ill. Furthermore, I have not had time to +make a report of our work." + +"There is no one else who sufficiently understands the Red Cross, and +the provisions of the treaty, that our Government can send, and we can +not afford to make a mistake in the matter of delegates to this first +conference in which our Government shall participate," answered the +Secretary. "As to the report, have you not acknowledged the +contributions to all those who have sent?" + +"Oh, yes; every dollar and every box of goods where the donor was +known," I replied. + +"Has any one complained?" he asked. + +"No; not a single person so far as is known. We have had only thanks." + +"Then to whom would you report?" + +"To you, Mr. Secretary, or to such person or in such manner as you shall +designate." + +"I don't want any report; no report is necessary," answered the +Secretary. "Our Government relief-boats have reported you officially, +and all the country knows what you have done and is more than satisfied. +Regarding your illness--you have had too much fresh water, Miss Barton, +I recommend salt--and shall appoint you." + +This was done, and the appropriation for expenses was made, and at my +request Judge Joseph Sheldon, and by invitation Mr. A. S. Solomon, our +vice-president, were also appointed to accompany me. The appropriation +sufficed for all. + +The conference was held at Geneva, September 17, 1884, and thus was had +the first official representation of the United States Government at an +International Conference of the Treaty of Geneva. There have since been +five. I have attended all but one. + + + + +II + +THE TEXAS FAMINE AND THE MT. VERNON CYCLONE + + +Before the close of the following year, 1885, came what was known as the +"Texas Famine." Thousands of miles of wild land, forming the Pan Handle, +had been suddenly opened by the building of a Southern Railroad. In the +speculative anxiety of the Road to people its newly acquired territory, +unwarranted inducements of climatic advantages had been unscrupulously +held out to the poor farmers of Mississippi, Alabama, and Georgia. + +Lured by the pictures presented them, some thousands of families had +been induced to leave their old, worn-out farms, and with the little +they could carry or drive, reach the new Eldorado, to find a new farm +that needed only the planting to make them rich, prosperous, and happy, +without labor. They planted. The first year brought some returns--the +second was a drought with no returns--the third the same. Hunger for +themselves and starvation for their stock stared them in the face. They +could not pick up and go back--the rivers were dry from the Rio Grande +to the Brazos--the earth was iron, and the heavens brass; cattle +wandered at will for water and feed, and their bones whitened the +plains. + +These were poor little peoples. They tried to make the great State know +of their distress, but the rich railroad proprietors held the _press_, +and no one knew their condition or could get correct information. At +length a faithful clergyman came to Washington, to President Cleveland, +and the Red Cross. + +We consulted with the President, who gave encouragement for us to go to +Texas and learn the facts. + +In mid-winter, 1886, accompanied by Dr. Hubbell, the journey was +undertaken. We proceeded to Albany, Texas, made headquarters--traveled +over the stricken counties, found wretchedness, hunger, thirst, cold, +heart-breaking discouragement. The third year of drought was upon them, +and the good people of that great State, misled by its press, its press +in turn misled by the speculators, innocently discredited every report +of distress, and amused themselves by little sly innuendoes and witty +jokes on the "Texas Famine." + +The condition was pitiful. To them it was hopeless. And yet not a dollar +or a pound was needed outside of Texas. They only required to know the +truth. This then was our task. We ceased to journey over arid fields of +suffering, and turned our steps resolutely to the editorial rooms of the +Dallas and Galveston News, at Dallas. Both editors were present; both +sat half-breathless while the flood of information rolled over them in +no uncertain terms. + +I shall never forget the tears in the mild blue eyes of General Belo, as +he learned what he had done, and was still doing. Twelve hours brought +another issue of the two papers. A column of editorial told the true +situation. A modest contribution of the Red Cross headed a subscription +list, General Belo following with his, and almost immediately the +legislature made an appropriation of one hundred thousand dollars for +food and supplies. + +The tender-hearted and conscience-smitten people sent their donations. +Our task was done. We had seen and conquered. + +In the midst of a cold rain in February we reached Washington. A concise +and full report was made to President Cleveland, saying in conclusion: +"I thank you with all my heart, Mr. President, for the encouragement at +the commencement, and for the privilege of writing you. We have done +this little bit of work faithfully and hope it may meet your approval." + +President Cleveland's letter of thanks still bears testimony of his care +for the people of the country, and his faith in its institutions. + +Not a dollar of outside help passed through our hands, but the little +permanent provision was equal to the occasion and we had still a half +left of our three thousand dollars. That was our first acquaintance with +Texas. Galveston followed many years later with the same firm accord and +good results. The bonds of affection had grown deep and strong between +the great thousand-mile State and the little Red Cross that loved to +serve her. + +In the following year, 1887, we were notified by the International +Committee of Geneva of the conference to be held at Carlsruhe, by +invitation of the Grand Duke and Grand Duchess of Baden. We were +directed to inform the Department of State of this fact. We did so, and +an appropriation was made by Congress to defray the expenses of three +delegates. + +It may be well to explain that in these appointments the Government does +not place the appropriation in the hands of the appointees, but simply +becomes a guaranty. The appointee provides his own funds. If, after +return, vouchers can be shown that the sum guaranteed has been spent +according to regulations, he is reimbursed in due course. + +Here was at least a contrast from a rough Mississippi River boat and the +crude homes of an unsettled Western State, to the royal carriage waiting +to convey one to the apartments reserved in a palace, the elegance and +culture of a court, the precision of a congress of representatives of +the nations of the world. The questions of humanity discussed by them, +the meeting of friends of other days, the regal bearing of the royal +host and hostess, the last parting from the dear old Emperor of +ninety-two, and his tenderly spoken, "It is the last time, good-by"; the +loving and last farewell of the beloved Empress Augusta, the patron +saint of the Red Cross; Bismarck and Moltke, in review, each with his +Red Cross insignia; the cordial hand grasp and the farewell never +repeated--and all of this attention to and interest in a subject that +the country I had gone to represent scarcely realized had an existence +beyond the receiving of some second-hand clothing, misfit shoes, and a +little money sent by some one to some place, where something bad had +happened. + +No one dreamed that it meant anything more, or that it needed anything +after this, and nothing more was done. + +It is only now, after almost two decades and within the last three +months, that we commence to awaken and wonder, with a mingled national +and personal sense of indignation, why our American Red Cross is not as +rich and great as in other nations? + +In February, 1888, occurred the Mt. Vernon, Ill., cyclone, cutting a +broad swath through one-half of the beautiful county-seat, tearing down +all heavy buildings, picking up the lighter ones and sweeping them +along like cardboard. + +In three minutes the work of destruction was over. Ten minutes later the +sun shone out brightly over the ruins of the town, the wails of the +maimed and dying, and the lifeless bodies of the dead. + +Fires broke out on every hand, and the victims pinned down under the +wreckage were subjects for the flames. Appeals for assistance went out, +but by unfortunate press representation failed to arouse the public, +till after several days, when we were reached, through their +representative in Congress, begging that in mercy we go to them. We +arrived in the night, found homes destroyed, hospitals full, scant +medical care, few nurses, food scarce and no money, a relief committee +of excellent men, but little to distribute. + +At daylight we looked over the situation and sent this simple message to +the Associated Press: + + +"The pitiless snow is falling on the heads of three thousand people, who +are without homes, without food or clothing, and without money. + +"AMERICAN NATIONAL RED CROSS, + +"Clara Barton, President." + + +This was all. We assisted their relief committee to arrange for the +receipt and distribution of funds, sent for experienced helpers to take +charge of supplies, to distribute clothing, and aid the hospital +service. We remained two weeks, and left them with more supplies than +they knew how to distribute, and the Citizens' Committee, with +accumulating cash in its treasury of ninety thousand dollars, full of +hope, life, and a gratitude they could not speak. + +As in the Texas famine, we paid our own expenses and no dollar but our +own had passed our hands. We were only glad to do this, in the hope that +we were building up an institution of self-help of the people, that +would one day win its way to their favor and aid. + + + + +III + +YELLOW FEVER IN FLORIDA + + +During the same year the yellow fever broke out in Jacksonville, Fla., +and was declared epidemic in September. + +An arrangement had been made between the National Association and the +Auxiliary Society of the Red Cross of New Orleans, which society +embraced the famous old "Howard Association," that, in case of an +outbreak of yellow fever, they would send their immune nurses from the +South, and we of the North would supply the money to support and pay +them. + +This arrangement was carried out so far as could be, under the very +natural differences of a medical department of active, professional men, +taking up the treatment of an epidemic of which they knew very little +experimentally, but filled with the enthusiasm of science and hope, and +the unprofessional, fearless, easy-going gait of the old Southern +nurses, white and black, whose whole lives had been spent in just that +work. + +The Red Cross sent no Northern nurses. But eighteen or twenty "Howard +nurses," mainly colored, went out from New Orleans under charge of Col. +Fred. F. Southmayd, their leader of twenty years in epidemics. A part of +his nurses were stationed at Macclenny, and a part went on to +Jacksonville. Under medical direction of their noted "yellow fever +doctor"--a tall Norwegian--Dr. Gill, they did their faithful work and +won their meed of grateful praise. + +Our place was in Washington, to receive, deal carefully with, and hold +back the tide of offered service from the hundreds of enthusiastic, +excited untrained volunteers, rushing on to danger and death. Their +fearless ignorance was a pitiful lesson. In all the hundreds there was +scarcely one who had ever seen a case of yellow fever, but all were sure +they were proof against it. Only three passed us, and two of these had +the fever in Jacksonville. + +When the scourge was ended we met our nurses personally at Camp Perry, +paid and sent them back to New Orleans. All that are living are at our +service still, faithful and true. + +During the fourth week in November a dispatch to national headquarters +announced that the last band of Red Cross nurses, known as the +"Macclenny Nurses," had finished their work at Enterprise, and would +come into Camp Perry to wait their ten days' quarantine and go home to +New Orleans for Thanksgiving. + +That would mean that seventy-nine days ago their little company of +eighteen, mainly women, steaming on to Jacksonville, under guidance of +their old-time trusted leader, Southmayd, of New Orleans, listened to +his announcement that the town of Macclenny, thirty-eight miles from +Jacksonville, Fla., and through which they would soon pass, was in a +fearful state of distress; a comparatively new town, of a few thousand, +largely Northern and Western people, suddenly-stricken down in scores; +poor, helpless, physicians all ill, and no nurses; quarantined on all +sides, no food, medicine, nor comforts for sick or well. + +"Nurses, shall I leave a part of you there; the train can not stop in, +nor near the town, but if I can manage to get it slowed up somewhere, +will you jump?" + +"We will do anything you say, colonel; we are here in God's name and +service to help His people; for Him, for you, and for the Red Cross, we +will do our best and our all." + +"Conductor, you had a hot box a few miles back; don't you think it +should be looked to after passing Macclenny?" + +"I will slow up and have it seen to, colonel, although it may cost me my +official head." And it did. + +One mile beyond town, the rain pouring in torrents, the ground soaked, +slippery, and caving, out into pitchy darkness, leaped three men and +seven women from a puffing, unsteady train, no physician with them, and +no instructions save the charge of their leader as the last leap was +made, and the train pushed on: "Nurses, you know what to do; go and do +your best, and God help you." Hand to hand, that none go astray in the +darkness, they hobbled back over a mile of slippery cross-ties to the +stricken town. Shelter was found, the wet clothes dried, and at midnight +the sick had been parceled out, each nurse had his or her quota of +patients, and were in for the issue, be it life or death. Those past +all help must be seen through, and lost, all that could be must be +saved. The next day a dispatch from Southmayd went back to New Orleans +for Dr. Gill to come and take charge of the sick and the nurses at +Macclenny. It was done, and under his wise direction they found again a +leader. Their labors and successes are matters for later and more +extended record. + +It is to be borne in mind that these nurses found no general table, no +table at all but such as they could provide, find the food for, and cook +for themselves, for the sick, the children, and the old and helpless who +had escaped the fever and must be cared for. No patient could be left +till the crisis was passed, and many are their records of seventy-two +hours without change or sleep or scarcely sitting down. As the disease +gradually succumbed to their watchful care, experience, and skill, they +reached out to other freshly attacked towns and hamlets. Sanderson and +Glen St. Mary's became their charge, and return their blessings for +lives preserved. + +On November 1st it was thought they could safely leave and go into camp +for quarantine; but no regular train would be permitted to take them. +The Red Cross secured and paid a special train for them, and, as if in +bold relief against the manner of their entry seven weeks before, the +entire town, saving its invalids, was assembled at the station at seven +o'clock in the morning to bid them good-by and God speed. + +But their fame had gone before them, and "Enterprise," a hundred miles +below, just stricken down among its flowers and fruits, reached out its +hands for aid, and with one accord, after two days in camp, all turned +back from the coveted home and needed rest and added another month of +toil to their already weary record. At length this was ended, and word +came again to us that they would go into quarantine. Their unselfish, +faithful, and successful record demanded something more than the mere +sending of money. It deserved the thanks of the Red Cross organization +in the best and highest manner in which they could be bestowed; it was +decided that its President, in person, should most fittingly do this, +and I accordingly left Washington on the morning of November 22d in +company with Dr. Hubbell, field agent, for Camp Perry, the quarantine +station of Florida. Two days and one night by rail, a few miles across +country by wagon, where trains were forbidden to stop, and another mile +or so over the trestles of St. Mary's on a dirt car with the workmen, +brought us into camp as the evening fires were lighted and the bugle +sounded supper. The genial surgeon in charge, Dr. Hutton, who carried a +knapsack and musket in an Illinois regiment in '62, met us cordially and +extended every possible hospitality. Soon there filed past us to supper +the tall doctor and his little flock; some light and fair-skinned, with +the easy step of a well-bred lady, others dark and bony-handed, but the +strong, kind faces below the turbans told at a glance that you could +trust your life there and find it again. They were not disturbed that +night, and no certain information of our arrival got among them. It was +cold and windy, and the evening short, as nine o'clock brought taps and +lights out. In spite of all caution the news of our coming had spread +over the surrounding country, and telegrams bringing both thanks for +what had been received and the needs for more, came from all sides, and +the good Mayor of Macclenny made his troubled way to reach and greet us +in person, and take again the faithful hands that had served and saved +his people. + +Surgeon Hutton's headquarter tent was politely tendered for the first +meeting, and as one could never, while memory lasts, forget this scene, +so no words can ever adequately describe it. The ample tent was filled. +Here on the right the Mayor, broad shouldered, kind faced and efficient, +officers of camp, and many visitors, wondering what it all meant; in the +center the tall doctor and his faithful band--Eliza Lanier, Lena Seymour +(mother and daughter), Elizabeth Eastman, Harriet Schmidt, Lizzie Louis, +Rebecca Vidal, Annie Evans, Arthur Duteil, Frederick Wilson, and Edward +Holyland. + +I give these names because they are worthy a place in the history of any +epidemic; but no country, race, nor creed could claim them as a body: +four Americans, one German, one French, one Irish, three Africans, part +Protestant, and part Catholic, but all from New Orleans, of grand old +_Howard_ stock, from Memphis down, nursing in every epidemic from the +bayous of the Mississippi to Tampa Bay; and hereafter we will know them +as the "_Old Guard_." + +Here, in the winds of approaching winter they stand in the light garb of +early September in New Orleans, thin, worn, longing for home, but +patient, grateful, and glad, some trifling "nubia" or turban about the +head, but only one distinguishing feature in common. A pitiful little +misshapen Red Cross, made by their own hands, of two bits of scarlet +ribbon, soiled, fringed, and tattered, pinned closely upon the left +breast of each, strove in mute appeal to say who they were, and what +they served. A friendly recognition and some words of thanks from their +President, opened the way for those anxious to follow. The rich, warm +eloquence of Mayor Watkins plainly told from how near his heart the +stream of gratitude was flowing, and his manly voice trembled as he +reverted to the condition of his stricken people, on that pitiless +night, when this little band of pilgrim strangers strayed back to them +in the rain and darkness. "I fear they often worked in hunger," he said, +"for then, as now, we had little for ourselves, our sick, or our well; +but they brought us to our feet, and the blessing of every man, woman, +and child in Macclenny is on them." + +It was with a kind of paternal pride that Dr. Gill advanced and placed +before us his matchless record of cases attended, and life preserved. +"This is the record of our work," he said. "I am proud of it, and glad +that I have been able to make it, but without the best efforts of these +faithful nurses I could not have done it; they have stood firm through +everything; not a word of complaint from, nor of, one of them, in all +these trying months, and I thank you, our President, for this +opportunity to testify to their merits in your presence." The full cups +overflowed, and as we took each brown calloused hand in ours, and felt +the warm tears dropping over them, we realized how far from calloused +were the hearts behind them. The silence that followed was a season of +prayer. + +Then came opportunity for some conversation, questions, and +explanations. "We wish to introduce to our President our chief nurse, +whom Colonel Southmayd placed in charge of us when we left the car, and +directed us to obey him; he is younger than any of us, Ed. Holyland." A +slight young man with clear, olive complexion, and dark-browed earnest +eyes that looked you straight in the face, came forward; his apparent +youthfulness gave rise to the first remark: + +"How old are you, Mr. Holyland?" + +"Twenty-nine, madam." + +"And you have taken charge of these nurses?" + +"I have done what I could for their comfort; I think that was what the +colonel desired; he knew they would need only care and advice, they +would do their best of themselves. During the few days that Colonel +Southmayd remained in Jacksonville," he continued, "he was able to send +us some such comforts as we needed for the sick, and some nourishing +food for ourselves; but this was only a few days, you know, and after +that we got on as well as we could without. I know that after he left +the nurses gave to the sick, the children, the old and the helpless, +what they needed for their own strength." + +"But you did not tell us this, Mr. Holyland." + +"No, we were dazed and frightened by the things we heard. We felt that +your organization was having enough to bear. We knew we must look to +you for our pay, and we thought, under the circumstances, that would be +your share. But permit me, please, to call your attention to Mr. Wilson +(a stout colored man advanced), who took charge of a little hospital of +six cases, and carried them all through, day and night, without an +hour's relief from any person, and never lost a single case." + +"And permit me," chimed in the clear-toned Irish voice of Lizzie Louis, +"to tell of Mr. Holyland himself, who found a neglected Italian family a +mile or more outside of the town. He went and nursed them alone, and +when the young son, a lad of thirteen or fourteen years, died, knowing +there was no one to bury him there, he wrapped him in a blanket and +brought him into town on his back, for burial." + +Holyland's face grew sad, and his eyes modestly sought the floor, as he +listened to this unexpected revelation. + +"I wish to speak of something else," added one of the men, "which we +were held back from doing, and for which we are now very glad. We should +not have thought of it ourselves. It is customary," he continued, "when +a patient dies in an epidemic, to give the nurse ten dollars for +preparing the body for burial; this was done in our first case, but Mr. +Holyland had the gift promptly returned with thanks, and the explanation +that we were employed by an organization which fully rewarded its +nurses, and was too high and too correct to accept tribute for +misfortune; it was enough that the patient was lost." + +By this time poor black Annie Evans, the "Mammy" of the group, could +hold quiet no longer, and broke silence with, "Missus President! whar is +de colonel? Colonel Southmayd; dey tells me all de time he's gone away +from New Orleans, and I can't b'l'eve 'em. He can't go away; he can't +lib anywhar else, he was always dar. I'se nursed in yellow fever and +cholera more'n twenty-five year, and I neber went for nobody but him; it +arn't no New Orleans for us widout him dar. I doesn't know de name of +dat place dey say he's gone to, and I doesn't want to; he'll be in New +Orleans when we gets dar." + +There were pitying glances among the group, at this little burst of +feeling, for in some way it was an echo of their own; and Lena Seymour +added tenderly: "We have been trying for these two months to convince +Mammy about this, but she is firm in her faith and sometimes refuses to +hear us." But the subject changed with "How many cases did you lose in +this epidemic, Mammy?" + +"I didn't lose no cases! Lor' bless you, honey, I doesn't lose cases if +dey hasn't been killed afore dey gets to me; folks needn't die of yellow +fever." + +We didn't suppose that "Mammy" intended any reflection upon the medical +fraternity. + +"But now, friends, we must turn to our settlement, which can not be +difficult. Three dollars a day for each nurse, for seventy-nine days, +till you are home on Thanksgiving morning. But here are only ten. There +are eighteen on our list who left with you and Colonel Southmayd; where +are your comrades?" Some eyes flashed and some moistened, as they +answered, "We do not know." "They remained in the car that night, and +went on to Jacksonville." Swift, dark glances swept from one to another +among them. Instinctively they drew closer to each other, and over +knitted brows and firmly set teeth, a silence fell dark and ominous +like a pall, which the future alone can lift. + +The bugle sounded dinner, and this ended our little camp-meeting, than +which few camp-meetings, we believe, ever came nearer to the heart of +Him who offered His life a ransom, and went about doing good. + +The winds blew cold across the camp; the fires shot out long angry +tongues of flame and drifts of smoke to every passer-by. The norther was +upon us. Night came down, and all were glad of shelter and sleep. The +morning, quiet, crisp, and white with frost, revealed the blessing which +had fallen upon a stricken land. + +Thanksgiving was there before its time. The hard rules relaxed. One day +more, and the quarantine was at an end. The north-bound train halted +below the camp, and all together, President and agent, tall doctor and +happy nurses, took places on it, the first for headquarters at +Washington, the last for New Orleans, and home for Thanksgiving morning, +full of the joys of a duty well done, rich in well-paid labor, in the +love of those they had befriended, and the approval of a whole people, +South and North, when once their work should be known to them. + +To the last, they clung to their little home-made Red Crosses as if they +had been gold and diamonds; and when at length the tracks diverged and +the parting must be made, it was with few words, low and softly spoken, +but meaning much, with a finger touch upon the little cross, "When you +want us, we are there." + +The supplies forwarded by us were estimated at ten thousand dollars. The +money received was $6,281.58. Out of this sum we paid our twenty nurses +three dollars a day, for seventy-nine days--their cost of living, and +their transportation when needed. We paid our doctor in charge twenty +dollars a day, the customary price, for the same period. We paid our +office rent, assistants, telegraphing, drayage for supplies sent on by +us (railroad transportation free), and all incidentals for a relief work +of over three months' duration. This ran our debit column over on the +other side over one thousand dollars. Our little part of the relief of +that misfortune was estimated at fifteen thousand dollars, and only +those relieved were more grateful than we. + + + + +IV + +THE JOHNSTOWN FLOOD + + +On Sunday afternoon, May 31, 1889, with the waters of the Potomac two +feet deep on Pennsylvania Avenue, a half dozen of us left Washington for +Johnstown, over washed-out ties and broken tracks, with every little +gully swollen to a raging torrent. After forty-eight hours of this, we +reached the scene, which no one need or could describe, but if ever a +people needed help it was these. + +Scarcely a house standing that was safe to enter, the wrecks piled in +rubbish thirty feet in height, four thousand dead in the river beds, +twenty thousand foodless but for Pittsburg bread rations, and a cold +rain which continued unbroken by sunshine for forty days. + +It was at the moment of supreme affliction when we arrived at Johnstown. +The waters had subsided, and those of the inhabitants who had escaped +the fate of their fellows were gazing over the scene of destruction and +trying to arouse themselves from the lethargy that had taken hold of +them when they were stunned by the realization of all the woe that had +been visited upon them. How nobly they responded to the call of duty! +How much of the heroic there is in our people when it is needed! No idle +murmurings of fate, but true to the god-like instincts of manhood and +fraternal love, they quickly banded together to do the best that the +wisest among them could suggest. + +For five weary months it was our portion to live amid the scenes of +destruction, desolation, poverty, want and woe; sometimes in tents, +sometimes without; and so much rain and mud, and such a lack of the +commonest comforts for a time, until we could build houses to shelter +ourselves and those around us. Without a safe and with a dry-goods box +for a desk, we conducted financial affairs in money and material to the +extent of nearly half a million dollars. + +I shall never lose the memory of my first walk on the first day--the +wading in mud, the climbing over broken engines, cars, heaps of iron +rollers, broken timbers, wrecks of houses; bent railway tracks tangled +with piles of iron wire; bands of workmen, squads of military, and +getting around the bodies of dead animals, and often people being borne +away; the smouldering fires and drizzling rain--all for the purpose of +officially announcing to the commanding general (for the place was under +martial law) that the Red Cross had arrived in the field. I could not +have puzzled General Hastings more if I had addressed him in Chinese; +and if ours had been truly an Oriental mission, the gallant soldier +could not have been more courteous and kind. He immediately set about +devising means for making as comfortable as possible a "poor, lone +woman," helpless, of course, upon such a field. It was with considerable +difficulty that I could convince him that the Red Cross had a way of +taking care of itself at least, and was not likely to suffer from +neglect. + +Not a business house or bank left, the safes all in the bottom of the +river; our little pocketbook was useless, there was nothing to buy, and +it would not bring back the dead. With the shelter of the tents of the +Philadelphia Red Cross, that joined us en route with supplies, when we +could find a cleared place to spread, or soil to hold them, with a +dry-goods box for a desk, our stenographer commenced to rescue the first +dispatches of any description that entered that desolate city. The +disturbed rivers lapped wearily back and forth, the people, dazed and +dumb, dug in the muddy banks for their dead. Hastings with his little +army of militia kept order. + +Soon supplies commenced to pour in from everywhere, to be received, +sheltered as best they could be from the incessant rain, and distributed +by human hands, for it was three weeks before even a cart could pass the +streets. + +But I am not here to describe Johnstown--the noble help that came to it, +nor the still more noble people that received it--but simply to say that +the little untried and unskilled Red Cross played its minor tune of a +single fife among the grand chorus of relief of the whole country, that +rose like an anthem, till over four millions in money, contributed to +its main body of relief, with the faithful Kreamer at its head, had +modestly taken the place of the twelve millions destroyed. But after all +it was largely the supplies that saved the people at first, as it always +is, and the distribution of which largely consumed the money that was +contributed later. + +From one mammoth tent which served as a warehouse, food and clothing +were given out to the waiting people through the hands of such volunteer +agents, both women and men, as I scarcely dare hope to ever see gathered +together in one work again. The great cry which had gone out had aroused +the entire country, and our old-time helpers, full of rich experience +and still richer love for the work, faithful to the cross of humanity as +the devotee to the cross of the Master, came up from every point--the +floods, the cyclones, the battle-fields--and kneeling before the shrine, +pledged heart and service anew to the work. Fair hands laying aside +their diamonds, and business men their cares, left homes of elegance and +luxury to open rough boxes and barrels, handle second-hand clothing, eat +coarse food at rough-board tables, sleep on cots under a dripping canvas +tent, all for the love of humanity symbolized in the little flag that +floated above them. + +Clergymen left their pulpits and laymen their charge to tramp over the +hillsides from house to house, to find who needed and suffered, and to +carry to them from our tents on their shoulders, like beasts of burden, +the huge bundles of relief, where no beast of burden could reach. + +We had been early requested by official resolution of the Finance +Committee of the City of Johnstown to aid them in the erection of +houses. We accepted the invitation, and at the same time proposed to aid +in furnishing the nucleus of a household for the home which should in +any way be made up. This aid seemed imperative, as nothing was left for +them to commence living with, neither beds, chairs, tables, nor cooking +utensils of any kind; and there were few if any stores open, and no +furniture in town. + +Of this labor we had our share. Six buildings of one hundred feet by +fifty, later known as "Red Cross Hotels," were quickly put up to shelter +the people, furnished, supplied, and kept like hotels, free of all cost +to them, while others were built by the general committee. Three +thousand of the latter were erected, and the Red Cross furnished every +one with substantial, newly purchased furniture, ready for occupancy. +The books of the "Titusville Manufacturing Company" will show one cash +order of ten thousand dollars for furniture. The three thousand houses +thus furnished each accommodated two families. + +A ponderous book of nearly two feet square shows the name, sex, and +number of persons of each family, and a list of every article received +by them. To-day one looks in wonder at such a display of clerical labor +and accuracy, under even favorable conditions. + +This was only accomplished by the hard, unpaid labor of every officer, +and the large amount of volunteer friendly aid that came to us. + +The great manufacturers of the country, and the heavy contributing +agents, on learning our intentions, sent, without a hint from us, many +of their articles, as, for instance, New Bedford, Mass., sent mattresses +and bedding; Sheboygan, Wis., sent furniture and enameled ironware; +Titusville, Pa., with a population of ten thousand, sent ten thousand +dollars' worth of its well-made bedsteads, springs, extension-tables, +chairs, stands and rockers; and the well-known New York newspaper, The +Mail and Express, sent a large lot of mattresses, feather pillows, +bedclothing, sheets, and pillow-slips by the thousand and cooking +utensils by the ten thousands. Six large teams were in constant service +delivering these goods. + +When the contributions slackened or ceased, and more material was +needed, we purchased of the same firms which had contributed, keeping +our stock good until all applications were filled. The record on our +books showed that over twenty-five thousand persons had been directly +served by us. They had received our help independently and without +begging. No child has learned to beg at the doors of the Red Cross. + +It is to be borne in mind that the fury of the deluge had swept almost +entirely the homes of the wealthy, the elegant, the cultured leaders of +society, and the fathers of the town. This class who were spared were +more painfully homeless than the indigent poor, who could still huddle +in together. They could not go away, for the suffering and demoralized +town needed their care and oversight more than ever before. There was no +home for them, nowhere to get a meal of food or to sleep. Still they +must work on, and the stranger coming to town on business must go +unfed, with no shelter at night, if he would sleep, or, indeed, escape +being picked up by the military guard. + +To meet these necessities, and being apprehensive that some good lives +might go out under the existing luck of accommodations, it was decided +to erect a building similar to our warehouse. The use of the former site +of the Episcopal Church was generously tendered us by the Bishop early +in June, for any purpose we might desire. This house, which was soon +erected, was known as the "Locust Street Red Cross Hotel"; it stood some +fifty rods from our warehouse, and was fifty by one hundred and sixteen +feet in dimensions, two stories in height, with lantern roof, built of +hemlock, single siding, papered inside with heavy building paper, and +heated by natural gas, as all our buildings were. It consisted of +thirty-four rooms, besides kitchen, laundry, bath-rooms with hot and +cold water, and one main dining-hall and sitting-room through the +center, sixteen feet in width by one hundred in length. + +It was fully furnished with excellent beds, bedding, bureaus, tables, +chairs, and all needful housekeeping furniture. A competent landlady, +who, like the rest, had a few weeks before floated down over the same +ground on the roof of her house in thirty feet of water, was placed in +charge, with instructions to keep a good house, make what she could rent +free, but charging no Johnstown person over twenty-five cents for a meal +of food. + +This was the first attempt at social life after that terrible +separation, and its success was something that I am very proud of. The +house was full of townspeople from the first day, and strangers no +longer looked in vain for accommodations. + +The conception of the need of this house, and the method of selecting +its inmates, and the manner of inducting them into their new home, were +somewhat unique and may be of interest to the reader. I had noticed +among the brave and true men, who were working in the mud and rain, many +refined-looking gentlemen, who were, before this great misfortune +carried away most of their belongings, the wealthiest and most +influential citizens. Never having had to struggle amid such hardships +and deprivations, their sufferings were more acute than those of the +poorer and more hardy people; and it did not require any great +foresight to know that they were physically incapable of such labor if +prolonged, nor to predict their early sickness and death if they were +not properly housed and fed. As the salvation of the town depended in a +great measure upon the efforts of these men, it was vitally necessary +that their lives should be preserved. Realizing all this, it occurred to +us that the most important thing to do, next to feeding the hungry, was +to provide proper shelter for these delicate men and their families. The +idea once conceived was soon communicated to my staff, and, after due +consideration, it was put in the way of realization. + +On the afternoon of July 27th hundreds of citizens called on us, and +congratulations and good wishes were the order of the day. As the +members of each family whom we had selected to occupy apartments in the +house arrived, they were quietly taken aside and requested to remain and +have dinner with us. After all the guests were departed except those who +had been requested to remain, dinner was announced, and the party was +seated by the members of the Red Cross. Beside the plate of each head +of a family were laid the keys to an apartment, with a card inviting the +family to take possession at once, and remain as long as they chose. + +I can not describe the scene that followed; there were tears and broken +voices; suffice to say, the members of that household were made happy +and comfortable for many long months; and I venture to assert that those +now living recall those days with the fondest recollections. + +The contributions to the general committee had been so liberal that it +was possible to erect and provide for the great burial-place of its +dead--"Grand View," that overlooks the city. It was also suggested that +a benevolent society, as a permanent institution, be formed by the +united action of the general committee and the Red Cross. This was +successfully accomplished by the generous provision of eight thousand +dollars from the committee on its part and the turning over of our +well-made and supplied hospital buildings, and the funds we had left +placed in charge of a faithful custodian under our pay for the following +six months. + +This is the present "Union Benevolent Society" of Johnstown to-day. + +I remained five months with these people without once visiting my own +home, only returning to it when the frost had killed the green I had +left in May. + +In that time, it was estimated, we had housed, handled, and distributed +$211,000 worth of supplies--new and old--for, by request of the weary +chairman of the general committee, at the last, we took up the close of +its distribution. It is our joy and pride to recall how closely we +worked in connection with that honored committee from first to last, and +how strong and unsullied that friendship has remained. + +The value of money that passed through our hands was $39,000, as stated +in the official report of the general committee, to which all required +returns were made, recorded, and published by the committee. + +Our usual quota of assistants was fifty persons, the higher grade of men +and women assistants largely volunteers. Two railroads brought our +supplies. To handle these the strongest men were required, and seven +two-horse teams ran daily for three and a half months in the +distribution, at customary rates of pay. These were the workingmen of +the town who had suffered with the rest. + +It was a joy that in all the uncertainties of that uncertain field not a +single complaint ever reached us of the non-acknowledgment of a dollar +entrusted to us. + +The paths of charity are over roadways of ashes; and he who would tread +them must be prepared to meet opposition, misconstruction, jealousy, and +calumny. Let his work be that of angels--still it will not satisfy all. + +In the light of recent events, I may perhaps be pardoned for quoting a +few lines from the official report of the Johnstown Flood Finance +Committee appointed by Governor Beaver, as showing how these gentlemen, +the foremost men in the community, regarded our efforts to give them a +helping hand: + +"In this matter of sheltering the people, as in others of like +importance, Miss Clara Barton, President of the Red Cross Association, +was most helpful. At a time when there was a doubt if the Flood +Commission could furnish houses of suitable character and with the +requisite promptness, she offered to assume charge, and she erected with +the funds of the Association three large apartment houses, which +afforded comfortable lodgings for many houseless people. She was among +the first to arrive on the scene of calamity, bringing with her Dr. +Hubbell, the Field Officer of the Red Cross Association, and a staff of +skilled assistants. She made her own organization for relief work in +every form, disposing of the large resources under her control with such +wisdom and tenderness that the charity of the Red Cross had no sting, +and its recipients are not Miss Barton's dependents, but her friends. +She was also the last of the ministering spirits to leave the scene of +her labors, and she left her apartment houses for use during the winter, +and turned over her warehouse with its store of furniture, bedding, and +clothing, and a well-equipped infirmary, to the Union Benevolent +Association of the Conemaugh Valley, the organization of which she +advised and helped to form; and its lady visitors have so well performed +their work that the dreaded winter has no terrors, mendicancy has been +repressed, and not a single case of unrelieved suffering is known to +have occurred in all the flooded district." + +Enterprising, industrious, and hopeful, the new Johnstown, +phoenix-like, rose from its ruins more beautiful than the old, with a +ceaseless throb of grateful memory for every kind act rendered, and +every thought of sympathy given her in her great hour of desolation and +woe. God bless her, and God bless all who helped save her! + + + + +V + +THE RUSSIAN FAMINE + + +As early as 1889, the foreign journals began to tell us of the +apprehension caused by an unusual failure of the crops in Central +Russia, extending from Moscow north and south, and east beyond the Ural +Mountains and into Siberia--embracing an era of a million square miles. +This failure was followed by another in 1890. + +Eighteen hundred and ninety-one found the old-time granaries empty, and +a total failure of the crops, and a population of thirty-five millions +of people, paralyzed with the dread of approaching famine. + +The American Red Cross had placed itself in communication with the +Secretary of State, Hon. James G. Blaine, whose name and memory it +treasures with reverence, and Mr. Alexander Gregor, the accomplished +Russian _Chargé d'Affaires_ at Washington, and ascertained that Russia +would gladly receive donations of relief from America. She would even +send her ships for any food that might be offered. This, America would +not permit and Congress was appealed to for ocean transportation. The +Senate voted a liberal appropriation, which was defeated in the House. + +Then the Red Cross, with the aid of the citizens of Washington, took up +the matter. They were joined by the Order of Elks, which contributed a +sum of seven hundred dollars, than which perhaps that liberal Order +never made a more timely gift. Funds were raised to charter a steamship +for the Red Cross. The spirit spread generally over the country. +Philadelphia sent a messenger to learn what Washington was doing, and +was advised to charter one of its own ships, which was done, and two +consignments were finally made by them. + +Minnesota had already acted, and later, by the advice and aid of the +extra provision of the Red Cross, the Christian Herald sent out its ship +cargo, under convoy of Rev. Dr. Talmage. + +But the State of Iowa led all others in active generosity. + +Under the supervision of Mr. B. F. Tillinghast, of Davenport, aided by +the able pen of Miss Alice French, that State alone raised, and sent in +trains across the country from Iowa to New York, one hundred and +seventeen thousand bushels of corn and one hundred thousand pounds of +flour, which was loaded onto the "Tynehead," a staunch British ship, and +consigned to the port of Riga. + +That year we had been notified of an International Conference to be held +in Rome. The customary appropriation was made by Congress, and again I +was appointed delegate. Too much occupied by the relief at home, Dr. +Hubbell, also a delegate, went in my place to Rome, and from there +reached Riga in time to receive and direct the distribution of the +immense cargo of grain throughout Russia. + +When Dr. Hubbell reached Riga he learned that two hundred and forty +peasants had been waiting on the dock two days, watching and waiting for +the ship from America. Not waiting for food, for Riga was not in a +famine province, but waiting that they might not miss the opportunity +and the honor of unloading the American ship that had brought food to +their unfortunate brothers in the interior. As soon as they could get +into the hold of the ship, one hundred and forty of them began the +unloading. They worked night and day, without rest, determined to unload +the entire cargo themselves, without help. But on the third night our +Consul, Mr. Bornholdt, insisted on their having a relief of twelve +hours, and when the twelve hours were up they were all in their places +again, and remained until the cargo was out, declining to take any pay +for their labor. Twelve women worked along with them in the same spirit, +in the ship and on the dock, with needles, sewing up the rents in the +bags, to prevent waste in handling, and cooking meals for the men. + +The Mayor of St. Petersburg, in an address on behalf of that city to +American donors, declared: + +"The Russian people know how to be grateful. If up to this day these two +great countries, Russia and the United States, have not only never +quarreled, but on the contrary wished each other prosperity and strength +always, these feelings of sympathy can grow only stronger in the future, +both countries being conscious that in the season of trial for either it +will find in the other cordial succor and support. And can true +friendship be tested if not in the hour of misfortune?" + +A peasant of Samara sent to a Russian editor, together with three +colored eggs, a letter which he asked to have forwarded to America. The +following is an extract from the letter: + +"Christ is risen! To the merciful benefactors, the protectors of the +poor, the feeders of the starving, the guardians of the orphans--Christ +is risen. + +"North Americans! May the Lord grant you a peaceful and long life and +prosperity to your land, and may your fields be filled with abundant +harvest--Christ is risen. Your mercifulness gives us a helping hand. +Through your charity you have satisfied the starving. And for your +magnificent alms accept from me this humble gift, which I send to the +entire American people for your great beneficence, from all the hearts +of the poor filled with feelings of joy." + +In the gratitude manifested by the Russian Government and people we were +glad to feel that a slight return had been made to Russia for past +favors in our own peril, and a friendship never broken. + +The Department of State at Washington, under date of January 11, 1894, +forwarded the following: + +"I have to inform you that on November 7, 1893, the American Minister at +St. Petersburg received from the nobility of that city, through their +Marshal, Count Alexis Bobrinskoy, an address to the people of the United +States. This address, which is in the English language, embodies in +terms fitly chosen the thanks of the Russian people to the American for +the aid sent to their country from our own during the famine period of +the past two years. It is beautifully engrossed and its illumination +embraces water-color drawings which render it a most attractive work of +art. + +"The document, which is superbly bound and enclosed in a fine case, was +duly forwarded to this city by the American Minister at St. Petersburg, +and will be given a conspicuous place in the library of this +department." + +In so general an uprising of relief no great sum in contributions could +be expected from any one source. The Red Cross felt that, if no more, it +was glad to be able to pay, by the generous help of the city of +Washington, the charter of a ship that conveyed its +corn--$12,500--besides several thousands distributed in Russia through +Tolstoi and American agents there. + +We paid the cost of loading, superintended by Mr. Tillinghast in person, +whose financial record shows the exact cost of transportation. All this +was done in connection with the State of Iowa. Our home record showed, +when all was finished, a field closed with a small balance in our favor, +which we had no active call for. By the advice of one of the best +personal advisers, bankers, and friends that the Red Cross has ever had, +this small sum was placed in bank, in readiness for the next call. + + + + +VI + +THE SEA ISLAND RELIEF + + +This little timely provision, advisedly made, was none too much or none +too soon. + +On the 28th of August, 1893, a hurricane and tidal wave from the +direction of the West Indies swept the coast of South Carolina, covering +its entire range of Port Royal Islands, sixteen feet below the sea. +These islands had thirty-five thousand inhabitants, mainly negroes. At +first, it was thought that all must have perished. Later, it was found +that only some four or five thousand had been drowned, and that thirty +thousand remained with no earthly possession of home, clothing, or food. +The few boats not swept away took them over to the mainland in +thousands, and calls went out for help. In this emergency Governor +Tillman called for the services of the Red Cross, and my note-book has +this passage: + +"The next night, in a dark, cheerless September mist, I closed my door +behind me for ten months, and with three assistants went to the station +to meet Senator Butler." + +At Columbia we were joined by Governor Tillman, and thus reinforced +proceeded to Beaufort. After due examination the work which had been +officially placed with us by the Governor was accepted October 1st, and +carried on until the following July. + +The submerged lands were drained, three hundred miles of ditches made, a +million feet of lumber purchased and houses built, fields and gardens +planted with the best seed in the United States, and the work all done +by the people themselves. The thousands of boxes of clothing received +were distributed among them, and we left them in July, 1894, supplies of +vegetables for the city of Beaufort. + +Free transportation for supplies continued till about March. No +provisions in kind were sent from any source after the first four weeks +of public excitement. After this all foodstuffs were purchased in +Charleston and distributed as rations. Men were compelled to work on the +building of their own homes in order to receive rations. + +We found them an industrious, grateful class of people, far above the +ordinary grade usually met. They largely owned their little homes, and +appreciated instruction in the way of improving them. The tender memory +of the childlike confidence and obedience of this ebony-faced population +is something that time cannot efface from either us or them. + +On the third day after our arrival at Beaufort four middle-aged colored +men came to the door of the room we had appropriated as an office, and +respectfully asked to see "Miss Clare." They were admitted, and I waited +to learn what request they would probably make of me. At length the +tallest and evidently the leader, said: + +"Miss Clare, we knows you doesn't remember us. But we never fo'gits you. +We has all of us got somethin' to show you." + +Slipping up a soiled, ragged shirtsleeve, he showed me an ugly scar +above the elbow, reaching to the shoulder. "Wagner?" I asked. + +"Yes, Miss Clare, and you drissed it for me that night, when I crawled +down the beach--'cause my leg was broke too," he replied. "And we was +all of us there, and you took care of us all and drissed our wounz. I +was with Colonel Shaw, and crawled out of the fote. The oth's nevah got +in. But we all got to you, Miss Clare. And now you's got to us. We's +talked about you a heap o' times, but we nevah 'spected to see you. We's +nevah fo'git it, Miss Clare." + +One by one they showed their scars. There was very little clothing to +hide them--bullet wound and sabre stroke. The memory, dark and sad, +stood out before us all. It was a moment not to be forgotten. + +Our purchases consisted of meat, mainly dry sides of pork, and grits, or +hominy, for eating. For planting, beside the seed contributed and the +nine hundred bushels of Irish potatoes, were eighteen hundred bushels of +Northern Flint seed corn. + +The contributions of food and clothing had been sent to Beaufort, and +were in the warehouses of the perplexed committee of its leading +citizens. This had naturally drawn all the inhabitants of the scores of +desolated islands for fifty miles to Beaufort, until, it is safe to say, +that fifteen to twenty thousand refugees had gathered there, living in +its streets and waiting to be fed from day to day. + +As the food was there they could not be induced to return to the +islands. Indeed, there was more often nothing on the islands to return +to. The description given by the heads of families and owners, for they +had largely owned their homes, gotten on the old-time plantations "'fo +de wah," was this: If all had been swept out to sea and nothing +remained, it was described as, "done gone." But if thrown down and parts +of the wreck still remained, it was described as "ractified." + +A few of the churches, being larger and more strongly built, still +remained standing. During the first ten days of our stay it would have +been impossible to drive through the principal streets of Beaufort. They +were a solid moving mass, crowding as near to the storehouses as +possible to get, in spite of the policeman, who kindly held them back. + +We sat daily in counsel with the local committee, until seeing that only +systematic measures and a decided change could relieve the conditions +and render the city safe. We then, on the first of October, decided to +accede to the request of the Governor made at first, and take sole +charge of the relief. + +Our first order was to close every storehouse, both of food and +clothing, and inform the people that all distributions would hereafter +be made from the islands. It is impossible to convey to the mind of the +reader the difficulty of getting into a few intelligent sentences the +idea of the means adopted to produce these changes and inaugurate a +system that was to restore to active habits of life a body of utterly +homeless, demoralized, and ignorant people, equal in numbers to a small +new State. + +If these little covers would admit the scores of pages of admirably +written reports of the officers and helpers on that field, every line +replete with interest, that lie here at my hand, it would be an easy and +a welcome task to reproduce them entire, and no more than deserved for +their faithful and gratuitous labor. + +Dr. Egan's report has this passage: + +"October 2d came my marching orders. Take charge of the warehouse and +stores, make an inventory of them, disperse these men, and rid the city +of the demoralizing influence of idle people. The doors are closed and +the inventory begun." + +The local committee had kindly pointed out the most suitable man to take +charge of each community, and to him would be consigned the rations to +be distributed to each family and person within his charge, for which +receipt and distribution he became as responsible as a merchant. + +The goods and rations were at once shipped across the bay to them, or +taken on their own boats, if so fortunate as to have one left from the +storm. It is needless to say that the multitude followed the food. + +In three days there were not people enough left in Beaufort, besides its +own, to be hired for a "job of work." Then followed the necessity for +material to rebuild the "done gone," and to repair the "ractified" +homes. + +A million feet of pine lumber was purchased of a leading lumber dealer, +shipped down the Combahee River, and delivered at the landings on the +islands most convenient of access to the points needed. Each man +received his lumber by order and receipt, and was under obligation to +build his own house. The work was all performed by themselves. A garden +was insisted upon. At first this proposition was resisted as +impracticable. + +"No use, Mistah--no use--'cause de pig eat it all up." + +It was suggested that a fence might be made enclosing at least a quarter +of an acre about the house to keep "de pig" out, as we should later +send, for planting, the best seed to be obtained in the country. + +To this moment our thanks go out to the Agricultural Department at +Washington, and the great seed houses of all the North, for the generous +donations that served to bring once more into self-sustaining relations +this destitute and well-disposed people. + +The fact that the building of the fence, and its subsequent keeping in +strict repair, had some bearing on the weekly issuance of rations, was +evidently not without its influence. There were no poor fences and "de +pig" did no damage. But there were such gardens, and of such varieties, +as those islands had never before seen. + +The earliest crop to strive for, beside the gardens, was the Irish +potato, which they had never raised. Nine hundred bushels were purchased +from Savannah for planting in February. The difficulty of distributing +the potatoes lay in the fact that they would be more likely to find +their way into the dinner pot than into the ground. To avoid this the +court-yard inside our headquarters was appropriated for the purpose of +preparing the potatoes for planting. + +Some forty women were hired to come over from the islands and cut +potatoes for seed--every "eye" of the potato making a sprout--these +distributed to them by the peck, like other seed. + +I recall a fine, bright morning in May, when I was told that a woman who +had come over from St. Helena in the night, waited at the door to see +me. I went to the door to find a tall, bright-looking woman in a clean +dress, with a basket on her head, which, after salutation, she lowered +and held out to me. There was something over a peck of Early Rose +potatoes in the basket--in size from a pigeon's to a pullet's egg. The +grateful woman could wait no longer for the potatoes to grow larger, +but had dug these, and had come ten miles over the sea, in the night, to +bring them to me as a first offering of food of her own raising. + +If the tears fell on the little gift as I looked and remembered, no one +will wonder or criticise. The potatoes were cooked for breakfast, and +"Susie Jane" was invited to partake. + +The shores of the mainland had not been exempt from the ravages of the +storm and in many instances had suffered like the islands. Some thirty +miles above Beaufort was a kind of plantation, with a community of sixty +or seventy families of colored people. The property was owned by two +elderly white ladies who had not returned since driven away by the +storm. + +This village was reported to us as in need and demoralized, with no +head, scant of food, and its "ractified" houses scarcely affording a +shelter. + +A representative mulatto man came to tell us. An inspection was made and +resulted in this man being put in charge to build up the community. +Lumber and food were provided and the people set to work under his +charge. From time to time word came to us, and after some months the +tall representative came again. He had been asked by the people to come +and bring their thanks to the Red Cross for "de home, de gard'n, de pig, +and de chick'n dey all has now." + +The thanks they had emphasized and proved by the heavy basket that +Jackson had carefully brought all the forty miles. It contained +seventy-one fresh eggs--the gift of seventy-one families--being a +contribution of one egg from each family, from the day or two previous +to his leaving on his mission. + +Domestic gardens were a new feature among these islanders, whose whole +attention had been always given to the raising of the renowned "Sea +Island Cotton," the pride of the market, and a just distinction to +themselves and the worthy planter. The result of this innovation was +that, when we left in July, it was nearly as difficult for a pedestrian +to make his way on the narrow sidewalks of Beaufort because of piled-up +vegetables for sale from the islands, as it had been in October to pass +through the streets because of hungry, idle men and women. + +Nothing better illustrates the native good heart of these people than +their kindly interest in and for each other. Often the young men, +without families, would club together and put up a house for some lone +old "auntie," who had neither family nor home, and occasionally there +seemed to develop among them an active philanthropist. Of this type was +Jack Owens, who rebuilt his own "done gone" premises. One day as the +field agent was driving out on some inspection he met Jack walking into +town. + +His decrepit neighbor's house had burned a few weeks before, and Jack +had gotten lumber and rebuilt the house himself. In describing the utter +devastation, Jack explained that "all de house and de well was +burned"--and he had built another house and was coming in on foot "for +funituh to funish it." Jack had lost his ox, "a big ox," he said, in the +storm, and now he "hadn't any nuther" to plow his ground. He pleaded for +another--if it was only "a lil' critter it would grow big"--and it would +help him so much. + +The appeal was not to be resisted. Dr. Hubbell treasures to this day the +satisfaction he felt in procuring something better than the "lil' +critter" as reward and encouragement for Jack's active philanthropy. + +If any practical woman reading this should try to comprehend what it +would be to undertake to clothe and keep clothed thirty thousand human +beings for a year, and to do this from the charitable gifts of the +people, which gifts had all done more or less service before--often +pretty thoroughly "ractified"--this woman will not wonder that sewing +societies suggested themselves to us at headquarters. + +The women were called together and this suggestion made to them, with +the result that an old time "sewing circle" was instituted in every +community. Its membership, officers, dues, and regulations were properly +established--one-half day in each week devoted by each member to the +work in its sewing-rooms, with a woman in charge to prepare it. The +clothing was given out to them as received by us. Many a basket came +proudly back to show us the difference between "den an' now"--good, +strong, firmly mended garments. Ragged coats and pants disappeared from +among the men, as no longer "'spectable fo' de fambly." + +Provision was also made that the little girls from ten years old should +attend and be taught to sew. Many a little dress was selected at +headquarters for them to make over or repair. + +I wish I could do fitting justice to the band of women volunteers who +stood by me through those long months. Some had commenced with me when +society belles, years before, now mistresses of their own palatial +homes; some had come from under the old historic elms of Boston, and +some from the hard-fought fields of Britain's Africa, and wearing the +Victoria Cross. To them, white and black were the same, and no toil too +hard or too menial. + +The money contributed and received for the entire relief of ten months +was thirty thousand five hundred, and a few additional dollars and cents +which I do not at this moment recall. It aggregated one dollar apiece +for the entire maintenance of thirty thousand persons for ten months. + +It is the general custom in this part of the country for the merchants +to furnish supplies to their patrons, and wait until the gathering of +the crops for their pay. But when we left these people at the beginning +of their harvest, not one family in twenty-five had contracted a debt +for supplies: an experience before unknown in their history. + +A report was made and passed into the hands of our legal counsellor, +who, on seeing that no change could be truthfully made in it, advised +that it be not published, as no one would believe it possible to be +done, and we would get only distrust and discredit. Having now come to a +pass where distrust and discredit are no longer to be feared by the Red +Cross, we ourselves are free to make the statement. But back of the hard +facts there is compensation. + +A half dozen years later, when our negro protégés of the Sea Islands +heard of the disaster that had fallen upon Galveston, they at once +gathered for aid and sent in their contributions. + +"'Cause dey suffers like we did, and de Red Cross is dar," they said. + +Of course I would not permit one dollar of this holy gift to Galveston +to go to other than the hands, hard, bony, and black--such as had raised +it in their penury. I also wanted it to do more. Searching for the most +reliable colored people in the city I found in the superintendent of the +colored schools a man who had occupied that place for many years, and +who had the respect and confidence of the people of Galveston. I asked +him to consult his foremost women teachers, and if it pleased them, to +form a society and fit themselves to receive a little money. + +In about a week he appeared with his deputation. I informed them that I +had a little money from their own people of the Sea Islands for them; +that they had been chosen to receive it, because as teachers of the +children they would have access to the needs and conditions of the +families. I told them that I had desired to do more than merely make a +gift for distribution. I wished to plant a tree. I could have given them +their peach, which they would eat, enjoy, and throw the pit away. But I +wished them to plant the pit, and let it raise other fruit for them, and +for that reason I had asked the formation of this society. + +They all sat quiet a few moments, the tears were on their faces. At +length their president, the school superintendent, spoke for them: + +"Miss Barton," he said, "we all appreciate this, and in the name of all +I promise you that the pit shall be reverently planted, and I trust the +time will come when I can tell you that our tree is not only bearing +fruit for ourselves, but for all suffering brethren, as theirs have done +for us." + +I then handed them the check for $397. The moment seemed sacred when +these poor dark figures, struggling toward the light, walked out of my +presence. The pit has been successfully planted in Galveston, and we are +from time to time informed of its bearing. + + + + +VII + +ARMENIAN RELIEF + +1896 + + +Leaving the Port Royal field past midsummer of 1894, after an absence of +nearly a year--at a day's notice--the remainder of the autumn and winter +was scarcely less occupied in the details which had been unavoidably +overlooked. Before spring our correspondence commenced to enlarge with +rumors of Armenian massacres, and so excited and rapid was the increase +that, so far as actual labor, consultation, and thought were concerned, +we might as well have been on a field of relief. + +Unfortunately, the suspicions of the Turkish Government had fallen upon +the resident missionaries, both English and American, as favoring the +views and efforts of its anarchistic population, or the "young Turks," +as they were designated. This had the effect of placing the missionaries +in danger, confining them strictly to their own quarters, preventing +all communication and the receiving of any funds sent them from abroad. + +England had a large waiting fund which it could not distribute, and +appealed to the American Missionary Boards of Boston and New York, to +find them equally powerless. The need of funds among the missionaries +throughout Turkey was getting painfully urgent, and as a last resort it +was suggested from Constantinople that the Red Cross be asked to open +the way. + +A written request from the Rev. Judson Smith, D.D., of Boston, was +nearly identical with one received by us from Mr. Spencer Trask, of New +York, who with others was about to form a national Armenian relief +committee, to be established in that city. + +Following these communications, both of these eminent gentlemen, Mr. +Smith and Mr. Trask, came in person to urge our compliance with their +request that the Red Cross accept the charge and personally undertake +the doubtful and dangerous task of distributing the waiting funds among +the missionaries in Turkey. + +As Mr. Trask was to take the lead in the formation of a committee for +the raising of funds, his interest was naturally paramount, and his +arguments in favor of our acceptance were wellnigh irresistible. +Immediate action on the part of some one was imperative. Human beings +were starving, and could not be reached. Thousands of towns and villages +had not been heard from since the massacres, and only the Red Cross +could have any hope of reaching them. No one else was prepared for field +work; it had its force of trained field workers. Turkey was one of the +signatory powers to the Red Cross Treaty. Thus it was hoped and believed +that she would the more readily accept its presence. + +These are mere examples of the reasons urged by the ardent advocates of +the proposed committee, until at length we came to consider its +acceptance, on conditions which must be clearly understood. First, we +must not be expected to take any part in, or to be made use of, in the +raising of funds--one of our fundamental rules being never to ask for +funds--we did not do it for ourselves. + +Second, there must be perfect unanimity between themselves. We must be +assured that every one wanted us to go. Our part would be hard enough +then; and finally we must be sure they had some funds to distribute. + +Of the amount of these funds no mention was made by us, and I remember a +feeling of good-natured amusement as I heard the officers of this +untried effort at raising funds speak of "millions." It was easy to +discern that they were more accustomed to the figures of a banking +establishment than a charity organization dependent on the raising of +funds. They were likely to be disappointed. In reality, the amount, so +there were something to go with, made very little difference to us, as +we were merely to place what was entrusted to us where most needed, and +when that was done we had but to return. We never named any amount as +preferable to us. + +The means resorted to in raising the funds were unfortunate. In the +great public meetings called for that purpose the utmost indiscretion +prevailed in regard to language applied to Turkey and the Turkish +Government. This aroused the indignation of the Turkish officials, who +very reasonably took measures to have our entrance into Turkey +forbidden. + +A date of sailing, however, had been given Mr. Trask, and his committee, +feeling that any change would be detrimental to their efforts, no change +was made, and we sailed on time, to find in England no permission, and +further efforts necessary. With time and patience the troublesome +effects of these mistakes were overcome, and Constantinople was reached, +and a heavenly welcome by the harassed missionaries awaited us. + +The first step was to procure an introduction to the Turkish Government, +which had in one sense refused to see me. Accompanied by the American +Minister, Hon. A. W. Terrell, and his premier interpreter, Gargiulo, one +of the most experienced diplomatic officers in Constantinople, I called +by appointment upon Tewfik Pasha, the Turkish Minister of Foreign +Affairs, or Minister of State. To those conversant with the personages +connected with Turkish affairs, I need not say that Tewfik Pasha is +probably the foremost man of the government--a manly man, with a kind, +fine face, and genial, polished manners. Educated abroad, with advanced +views on general subjects, he impresses one as a man who would sanction +no wrong it was in his power to avert. + +Mr. Terrell's introduction was most appropriate and well expressed, +bearing with strong emphasis upon the suffering condition of the people +of the interior, in consequence of the massacres, the great sympathy of +the people of America, and giving assurance that our objects were purely +humanitarian, having neither political, racial, nor religious +significance. + +The Pasha listened most attentively to Mr. Terrell, thanked him, and +said that this was well understood, that they knew the Red Cross and its +president. Turning to me he repeated: "We know you, Miss Barton; have +long known you and your work. We would like to hear your plans for +relief and what you desire." + +I proceeded to state our plans for relief, which, if not carried out at +this time, the suffering in Armenia, unless we had been misinformed, +would shock the entire civilized world. None of us knew from personal +observation, as yet, the full need of assistance, but had reason to +believe it very great. If my agents were permitted to go, such need as +they found they would be prompt to relieve. On the other hand, if they +did not find the need existing there, none would leave the field so +gladly as they. There would be no respecting of persons--humanity alone +would be their guide. "We have," I added, "brought only ourselves; no +correspondent has accompanied us, and we shall have none, and shall not +go home to write a book on Turkey. We are not here for that. Nothing +shall be done in any concealed manner. All dispatches which we send will +go openly through your own telegraph, and I should be glad if all that +we shall write could be seen by your government. I can not, of course, +say what its character will be, but can vouch for its truth, fairness, +and integrity, and for the conduct of every leading man who shall be +sent. I shall never counsel or permit a sly or underhand action with +your government, and you will pardon me, Pasha, if I say I shall expect +the same treatment in return--such as I give I shall expect to receive." + +Almost without a breath he replied: "And you shall have it. We honor +your position and your wishes shall be respected. Such aid and +protection as we are able, we shall render." + +I then asked if it were necessary for me to see other officials. "No," +he replied, "I speak for my government," and with cordial good wishes +our interview closed. + +I never spoke personally with this gentleman again, all further business +being officially transacted through the officers of our legation. Yet I +can truly say, as I have said of my first meeting with our matchless +band of missionary workers, that here commenced an acquaintance which +proved invaluable, and here were given pledges of mutual faith, of which +not a word was ever broken on either side. + +The Turkish Government, when once it came to understand American methods +and enthusiasm was forgiving and kind to us. No obstruction was ever +placed in our way. Our five expeditions passed through Armenian Turkey +from sea to sea, distributing whatever was needed, repairing the +destroyed machines, enabling the people to make tools to harvest their +grain, thus averting a famine; providing medical help and food as well +for thousands of sick; setting free the frightened inhabitants, and +returning them to the villages from which they had fled for their lives; +restoring all missionary freedom that had been interrupted; establishing +a more kindly feeling toward them on the part of the government; and +through all this, we had never one unpleasant transaction with any +person of whatever name or race. + +While our expeditions were getting ready to go out by the Black Sea, a +request was brought to me by Dr. Washburn, of Robert College, from Sir +Philip Currie, the British Ambassador at Constantinople, asking if I +could not be "persuaded" to turn my expedition through the +Mediterranean, rather than the Black Sea, in order to reach Mirash and +Zeitoun, where the foreign consuls were at the moment convened. They had +gotten word to him that ten thousand people in those two cities were +down with four distinct epidemics--typhoid and typhus fevers, dysentery +and smallpox--that the victims were dying in overwhelming numbers, and +that there was not a physician among them, all being either sick or +dead, with no medicine and little food. + +This was not a case for "persuasion," but of heartfelt thanks from us +all, that Sir Philip had remembered to call us, whom he had never met. +But here was a hindrance. The only means of conveyance from +Constantinople to Alexandretta were coasting boats, belonging to +different nationalities, which left only once in two weeks, and +irregularly at that. Transport for our goods was secured on the first +boat to leave, the goods taken to the wharf at Galata, and at the latest +moment, in order to give time, a request was made to the government for +_teskeres_, or traveling permits, for Dr. J. B. Hubbell and assistants. +To our surprise they were granted instantly, but by some delay on the +part of the messenger sent for them they reached a moment too late. The +boat left a little more promptly, taking with it our relief goods, and +leaving the men on the dock to receive their permits only when the boat +was beyond recall. It was really the fault of no one. + +With the least possible delay Dr. Hubbell secured passage by the first +boat at Smyrna, and a fortunate chance boat from there took him to +Alexandretta, via Beyrout and Tripoli, Syria. The goods arrived in +safety, and two other of our assistants, whom we had called by cable +from America--Edward M. Wistar and Charles King Wood--were also passed +over to the same point with more goods. There, caravans were fitted out +to leave over the--to them--unknown track to Aintab, as a first base. +From this point the reports of these three gentlemen made to me will be +living witnesses. They tell their own modest tales of exposure, severe +travel, hard work, and hardship, of which no word of complaint has ever +passed their lips. There have been only gratitude and joy, that they +could do something in a cause at once so great and so terrible. + +While this was in progress, a dispatch came to me at Constantinople from +Dr. Shepard of Aintab, whose tireless hands had done the work of a score +of men, saying that fevers, both typhoid and typhus, of the most +virulent nature, had broken out in Arabkir, two or three days north of +Harpoot; could I send doctors and help? Passing the word on to Dr. +Hubbell at Harpoot, prompt and courageous action was taken by him. It is +something to say that from a rising pestilence with a score of deaths +daily, in five weeks, himself and his assistants left the city in a +normally healthful condition, the mortality ceasing at once under their +care and treatment. + +During this time the medical relief for the cities of Zeitoun and Marash +was in charge of Dr. Ira Harris, of Tripoli, who reached there March +18th. The report of the consuls had placed the number of deaths from the +four contagious diseases at one hundred a day. This would be quite +probable when it is considered that ten thousand were smitten with the +prevailing diseases, and that added to this were the crowded condition +of the patients, the thousands of homeless refugees who had flocked from +their forsaken villages, the lack of all comforts, of air, cleanliness, +and a state of prolonged starvation. + +Dr. Harris's first report to me was that he was obliged to set the soup +kettles boiling and feed his patients before medicine could be retained. +My reply was a draft for two hundred liras (something over eight hundred +dollars) with the added dispatch: "Keep the pot boiling; let us know +your wants." The further reports show from this time an astonishingly +small number of deaths. The utmost care was taken by all our expeditions +to prevent the spread of the contagion and there is no record of its +ever having been carried out of the cities, where it was found, either +at Zeitoun, Marash, or Arabkir. Lacking this precaution, it might well +have spread throughout all Asia Minor, as was greatly feared by the +anxious people. + +On the twenty-fourth of May, Dr. Harris reported the disease as +overcome. His stay being no longer needed, he returned to his great +charge in Tripoli, with the record of a medical work and success behind +him never surpassed if ever equaled. The lives he had saved were enough +to gain Heaven's choicest diadem. Never has America cause to be more +justly proud and grateful than when its sons and daughters in foreign +lands perform deeds of worth like that. + +The closing of the medical fields threw our entire force into the +general relief of the vilayet of Harpoot, which the relieving +missionaries had well named their "bottomless pit." + +The apathy to which the state of utter nothingness, together with their +grief and fear, had reduced the inhabitants, was by no means the +smallest difficulty to be overcome. Here was realized the great danger +felt by all--that of continued alms-giving, lest they settle down into a +condition of pauperism, and thus finally starve, from the inability of +the world at large to feed them. The presence of a strange body of +friendly working people, coming thousands of miles to help them, +awakened a hope and stimulated the desire to help themselves. + +It was a new experience that these strangers _dared_ to come to them. +Although the aforetime home lay a heap of stone and sand, and nothing +belonging to it remained, still the land was there, and when seed to +plant the ground and the farming utensils and cattle were brought to +work it with, the faint spirit revived, the weak, hopeless hands +unclasped, and the farmer stood on his feet again. + +When the cities could no longer provide the spades, hoes, plows, picks +and shovels, and the crude iron and steel to make these was purchased +and taken to them, the blacksmith found again his fire and forge and +traveled weary miles with his bellows on his back. The carpenter again +swung his hammer and drew his saw. The broken and scattered +spinning-wheels and looms from under the storms and _débris_ of winter +again took form and motion, and the fresh bundles of wool, cotton, flax, +and hemp in the waiting widow's hand brought hopeful visions of the +revival of industries which should not only clothe but feed. + +At length, in early June, the great grain-fields of Diarbekir, Farkin, +and Harpoot valleys, planted the year before, grew golden and bowed +their heavy spear-crowned heads in waiting for the sickle. But no +sickles were there, no scythes, not even knives. It was a new and sorry +sight for our full-handed American farming men to see those poor, hard +Asiatic hands trying, by main strength, to break the tough straw or pull +it by the roots. This state of things could not continue, and their +sorrow and pity gave place to joy when they were able to drain the +cities of Harpoot and Diarbekir of harvest tools, and turned the work of +all the village blacksmiths on to the manufacture of sickles and +scythes, and of flint workers upon the rude threshing machines. + +They have told me since their return that the pleasantest memories left +to them were of those great valleys of golden grain, bending and falling +before the harvesters, men and women, each with the new, sharp sickle or +scythe, the crude threshing planks, the cattle trampling out the grain, +and the gleaners in the rear as in the days of Abraham and Moab. God +grant that somewhere among them was a kind-hearted king of the harvest +who gave orders to let some sheaves fall. + +Even while this saving process was going on another condition no less +imperative arose. These fields must be replanted or starvation must be +simply delayed. Only the strength of their old-time teams of oxen could +break up the hard sod and prepare for the fall sowing. Not an +animal--ox, cow, horse, goat, or sheep--had been left. All had been +driven to the Kourdish Mountains. When Mr. Wood's telegram came, calling +for a thousand oxen for the hundreds of villages, I thought of our not +rapidly swelling bank account, and all that was needed everywhere else, +and replied accordingly. + +When in return came the telegram from the Rev. Dr. Gates, president of +Harpoot College, the live, active, practical man of affairs, whose +judgment no one could question, saying that the need of oxen was +imperative, that unless the ground could be plowed before it dried and +hardened it could not be done at all, and the next harvest would be +lost, also that "Mr. Wood's estimate was moderate," the financial +secretary was directed to send a draft for five thousand liras +(twenty-two thousand dollars) to the care of the Rev. Dr. Gates, to be +divided among the three expeditions for the purchase of cattle and the +progress of the harvest of 1897. + +As the sum sent would be immediately applied, the active services of the +men would be no longer required, and directions went with the remittance +to report in person at Constantinople. + +Unheard-of toil, care, hard riding day and night, with risk of life, +were all involved in the carrying out of that order. Among the +uncivilized and robber bands of Kourds, the cattle that had been stolen +and driven off must be picked up, purchased, and brought back to the +waiting farmer's field. There were routes so dangerous that a brigand +chief was selected by those understanding the situation as the safest +escort for our men. Perhaps the greatest danger encountered was in the +region of Farkin, beyond Diarbekir, where the official escort had not +been waited for, and the leveled musket of the faithless guide told the +difference. + +At length the task was accomplished. One by one the expeditions closed +and withdrew, returning by Sivas and Samsoun, and coming out by the +Black Sea. With the return of the expeditions we closed the field. But +contributors would be glad to know that subsequent to this, before +leaving Constantinople, funds from both the New York and Boston +committees came to us amounting to about fifteen thousand dollars. This +was happily placed with Mr. W. W. Pect, treasurer of the Board of +Foreign Missions at Stamboul, to be used subject to our order; and with +our concurrence it was employed in the building of little houses in the +interior, as a winter shelter and protection, where all had been +destroyed. + +The appearance of our men on their arrival at Constantinople confirmed +the impression that they had not been recalled too soon. They had gone +out through the snows and ice of winter, and without change or rest had +come back through the scorching suns of midsummer--five months of rough, +uncivilized life, faring and sharing with their beasts of burden, +well-nigh out of communication with the civilized world, but never out +of danger. It seemed but just to themselves and to others who might need +them, that change and rest be given them. + +It would scarcely be permissible to express in words the obligation to +our American Minister, Hon. A. W. Terrell, at Constantinople, without +whose unremitting care and generous aid our work could not have been +accomplished. And, indeed, so many were the duties of that difficult and +delicate field that it seemed the help of no one hand or heart could be +spared. We felt that we had them all; from the palace of the Sultan to +beloved Robert College, from the American Legation to the busy rooms of +the American Board, with its masterly treasurer, Peet, were the same +outstretched hands of protection and care for our little band. + +They knew we had taken our lives in our hands to come to them, and with +no thought of ourselves. We had done the best we knew to accomplish the +mission so persistently sought of us in our own country. + +That our work had been acceptable to those who received its results, we +knew. They had never failed to _make_ us know. If also acceptable to Him +who gave us the courage, protection, and strength to perform it, we need +care for little more. + +Funds to the total amount of $116,326.01 were cabled us by Mr. Spencer +Trask's committee, all of which were placed in the hands of Mr. W. W. +Peet, treasurer of the missionary board at Constantinople. All proper +receipts were given and taken, and feeling that we had faithfully and +successfully accomplished the work we had been asked to perform, we +closed the field, and prepared to return to America. + +Some days of physical rest were needful for the men of the expeditions +after reaching Constantinople before commencing their journey of +thousands of miles for home, worn as they were by exposure and incessant +labor--physical and mental. I need not attempt to say with what +gratitude I welcomed back these weary, brown-faced men and officers +from a field so difficult and so perilous; none the less did the +gratitude go out to my faithful and capable secretary, who had toiled +early and late, never leaving for a day, striving with tender heart that +all should go well. + +And when the first greetings were over, the full chorus of manly +voices--"Home Again," "Sweet Land of Liberty," "Nearer My God to +Thee"--that rolled out through the open windows of the Red Cross +headquarters in Constantinople fell on the listening ears of Christian +and Moslem alike, and though the tones were new and strange, all felt +that to some one, somewhere, they meant more than the mere notes of +music. + + + + +VIII + +CUBA + +1898 + + +On our return to "civilization" we were rejoiced to find that as a +result of our three months' labors, the former tumult of Armenia had +died away into a peaceful echo, but a new murmur fast growing to clamor +had taken its place. Cuba had entered the ceaseless arena of American, +gladiatorial, humanitarian contest. The cruelties of the reconcentrado +system of warfare had become apparent, and methods of relief were +uppermost in the minds of all persons. + +These methods were twofold and might well be classed under two distinct +heads: those who for mere pity's sake sought simple relief; those who +with a further forecast sought the removal of a cause as well as its +effect, and "Cuba Libre" was its muffled cry. They asked money for arms +as well as bread, and the struggle between the two held the country in +a state of perplexed contradiction for months running into years. + +Our great-hearted President asked simple aid and was distressed at the +doubtful response. At length he suggested and we proffered the aid of +the Red Cross on a call to the country, and the establishment of the +"Central Cuban Relief Committee" in New York, within three days, was the +result. + +The activity and success of that committee are too fresh in the minds of +all our people to require the smallest description from me. Too much +praise can not be given to our Auxiliary Societies from the Atlantic to +the Pacific for the splendid work in the camps at home, in Cuba, Porto +Rico, and in the care of our soldiers in transit to the Philippines. +Their full and complete reports show the great work accomplished. The +memory of the work of the busy men and tireless women who joined heart +and hand in this Heaven-sent task still brings tears to the eyes of a +nation at its recall. + +The service assigned me by our anxious President, and gladly accepted, +was the distribution on the pitiful fields of Cuba. These scenes I +would not recall. The starving mothers and motherless babes, the +homelessness and squalor, the hopelessness and despair, are beyond all +words and all conception, save to those who saw and lived among them. It +is past and let it rest. + +Then followed the declaration of hostilities, the blockade, the fleets +of war, and the stately, glistening white ships of relief that dotted +the sea--our navy after forty years of peace again doing service in its +own waters--and among them one inconspicuous, black-hulled sea-going +craft, laden with food for the still famishing reconcentrados, when they +could be reached. + +Day after day, in its weary, waiting cruise, it watched out for an +opening to that closed-in suffering island, till at length the thunder +of the guns, Siboney, San Juan, opened the track, and the wounded troops +of our own army, hungering on their own fields, were the reconcentrados +of the hour. + +Tampa became the gathering-point of the army. Its camps filled like +magic, first with regulars, then volunteers, as if the fiery torch of +Duncraigen had spread over the hills and prairies of America. The great +ships gathered in the waters, the transports, with decks dark with human +life, passed in and out, and the battleships of the sea held ever their +commanding sway. It seemed a strange thing, this gathering for war. +Thirty years of peace had made it strange to all save the veterans of +the days of the old war, long passed into history. Could it be possible +that we were to learn this anew? Were men again to fall, and women weep? +Were the youth of this generation to gain that experience their fathers +had gained, to live the war-lives they had lived, and die the deaths +they had died? + +At length the fleet moved on, and we prepared to move with, or rather +after it. The quest on which it had gone, and the route it had taken, +bordered something on the mystery shrouding the days when Sherman +marched to the sea. Where were the Spanish ships? What would be the +result when found and met? Where were we to break that Cuban wall and +let us in? + +Always present in our minds were the food we carried, the willing hands +that waited, and the perishing thousands that needed. We knew the great +hospital ships were fitting for the care of the men of both Army and +Navy. Surely they could have no need of us. + +We had taken possession of our ship at Key West on the 29th of April. It +was now the 20th of June and the national records of two countries at +least will always give the history of those days. It is our part to keep +as clearly, truthfully, and kindly as possible, the record of the little +that fell to us to perform in this great drama. + +Weighing anchor at Key West the State of Texas steamed for the open +Caribbean, we having first taken the official advice of Commodore Remy +to find Admiral Sampson and report to him. + +Sunrise of the twenty-fifth gave us our first view of the water at +Santiago. Our transports and battle-ships were gathered there. The +advice of Admiral Sampson was that we proceed to Guantanamo, where the +marines had made a landing and were camped on the shore. There had been +some fighting at Guantanamo. The naval hospital ship Solace was there. + +Whoever has enjoyed this quiet, sheltered harbor, protected on three +sides by beautiful wooded hills, will not require to be reminded of it. +At six o'clock our anchor sunk in the deep, still waters and we had time +to look about and see the beginning of the war. The marines were camped +along the brow of a hill. On our right a camp of Cubans, and all about +us the great war-ships with their guns, which told of forthcoming +trouble. Captain McCalla, who was in command of Guantanamo, had sent his +compliments and a launch, leading us in to our place of anchorage. The +courtesies of the navy so early commenced at Key West were continued +throughout the war. + +By invitation of Commander Dunlap our entire company visited the Solace +the following day. If that beautiful ship or its management had left +room on the records of our country's meed of gratitude, for more words +of appreciative praise, I should be glad to speak them. Only those +familiar with the earliest history of the Red Cross in our country, and +the methods by which our navy alone--of all the Red Cross nations--had +gained even an approximately legal place, can judge what the sight of +that first naval relief ship in American waters was to me. It brought +back so vividly the memory of the day in 1881 when President Arthur +called me to him to carefully explain the conditions of the treaty which +he had just signed, and that, Congress having generously included the +navy in its treaty for war, he would provide to hold it carefully until +the probable widening of the original treaty would include the _navies_ +of the world, as well as the armies. + +Before the day closed news came to us of a serious character. The daring +Rough Riders had been hardly dealt by. Hamilton Fish and Allyn Capron +had been killed, and the wounded needed help. Wherever they might be, it +must be possible to reach them, and it was decided that no time be lost. +Our men commenced work in the hold of the ship to get at medical +supplies and dressings, and the captain took his orders. I find in my +diary at the close of that day the following paragraph: "It is the Rough +Riders we go to, and the relief may be also rough, but it will be +_ready_. A better body of helpers could scarcely be gotten together." + +Nine o'clock of the same night found us at Siboney, which can scarcely +be called a harbor, for it has no anchorage. The next morning at +daybreak we stood on deck to see the soldiers filing up over the hill, +in heavy marching order, forming in lines by ones and twos, winding up, +in and out among the hills, higher and higher. As we watched them they +were a moving line trailing on toward the clouds, till lost in the mist, +and we could only think, as we looked at them, on how many and on which, +is set the mark of death? He knew no more than we--poor fellow--and +with his swinging, steady gait, toils up and up and waits for--he knows +not what. + +The hospitals, both American and Cuban, located on the shore just to the +right of us, were visited by our men that same evening. Some of their +surgeons called on us. All seemed interested in the Red Cross, but none +thought that a woman nurse would be in place in a soldiers' +hospital--indeed, very much out of place. I suggested that that decision +was hard for me, for I had spent a great deal of time in soldiers' +hospitals myself. They appeared to understand that perfectly, but there +seemed to be a _later_ line which could not be crossed. + +The Cubans who had just come into camp expressed a desire for any +assistance we could give them. They would be glad to have the Red Cross +Sisters in their little hospital, but begged us to wait just a day until +it could be put in better order. The Sisters were not the persons to +grant that day of preparation. + +On the contrary they at once went to work, thoroughly cleaned the little +three-room building--Garcia's abandoned headquarters, to be used as a +hospital--and when the day closed the transformation showed clean rooms, +clean cots, and the grateful occupants wondering whether Heaven itself +could be more comfortable, or anything more desirable than the palatable +food prepared for them by the Sisters. + +Three days later the following letter was received: + + +"To MISS CLARA BARTON, President, + +"American National Red Cross: + +"I have the honor to request your assistance in caring for the patients +in a so-called hospital near the landing at this point. + +"The orders are to the effect that all patients now under treatment on +the shore shall be transferred to the Iroquois and Olivette, but the +facilities for carrying out this order are apparently inadequate. In +order that the division hospital may remain unhampered for the care of +the wounded in the engagement about to take place, it is necessary for +me to request this favor of you, and I trust that you may find it +possible to comply with said request. + +"Your obedient servant, + +"LOUIS A. LE GARDE, + +"Major and Surgeon, U. S. A., Commanding +Hospital." + + +To this the following reply was immediately returned: + + +"Steamship State of Texas, + +"SIBONEY, SANTIAGO DE CUBA, _June 30, 1898_. + +"DR. LOUIS A. LE GARDE, + +"Major and Surgeon, U. S. A., Commanding Hospital. + +"Major: Permit me to express the pleasure given me by your letter +inviting the assistance of the persons here under my direction in the +care of the sick and wounded of the engagement about to take place. +Although not here as a hospital ship by any means--not legitimately +fitted for the work--still we have some hospital supplies, a few +intelligent workers, skill, experience, the willingness to serve, the +readiness to obey, and I believe the true spirit of the Red Cross, that +seeks to help humanity wherever its needs exist. I send them to you in +the hope that they may be of service. + +"Cordially yours, + +"CLARA BARTON, + +"President, American National Red Cross." + + +Our surgeons and assistants went on shore, where Dr. Le Garde and Dr. +Lesser secured a small house, and in a few hours this had undergone the +same transformation and by the same hands as the Cuban hospital. The Red +Cross flag was hoisted, Dr. Lesser placed in charge, and scores of our +soldiers who had been lying on the filthy floors of an adjacent +building, with no food but army rations, were carried over, placed in +clean cots, and given proper food. From that on, no distinction was +made, the Red Cross flag floating over both the American and Cuban +hospitals. + +A few feet away, all the available army tents were put up as additional +accommodation for the "wounded in the engagement about to take place." +It did take place the following day, and, as will be well remembered, in +those two days, Friday and Saturday, the first and second of July, the +tents were more than filled with wounded in the battle of San Juan Hill. +Three of the five Sisters went into the operating tent, and with the +surgeons worked for thirty hours with only a few moments' rest now and +then for a cup of coffee and a cracker or piece of bread. We heard +nothing more about a woman nurse being out of place in a soldiers' +hospital. + +On Saturday evening, the second day of the San Juan battle, a slip of +paper with these penciled words was brought to the door of the hospital: + + +"Send food, medicines, anything. Seize wagons from the front for +transportation. + +"SHAFTER." + + +The call for help was at once sent over to the State of Texas, and we +worked all night getting out supplies and sending them ashore with a +force of Cubans, only too glad to work for food. + +I wish I could make apparent how difficult a thing it was to get +supplies from our ship to the shore in a surf which, after ten o'clock +in the morning, allowed no small boats to touch even the bit of a pier +that was run out without breaking either the one or the other, and +nothing in the form of a lighter save two dilapidated flat-boat +pontoons. These had been broken and cast away by the engineer corps, +picked up by ourselves, mended by the Cubans, and put in condition to +float alongside of our ship, and receive perhaps three or four tons of +material. This must then be rowed or floated out to the shore, run onto +the sand as far as possible, the men jumping into the water from knee to +waist deep, pulling the boat up from the surf, and getting the material +on land. And this was what was meant by loading the "seized wagons from +the front" and getting food to the wounded. After ten o'clock in the day +even this was impossible, and we must wait until the calm of three +o'clock next morning to commence work again and go through the same +struggle to get something to load the wagons for that day. Our supplies +had been gotten ashore, and among the last, rocking and tossing in our +little boat, went ourselves, landing on the pier, which by that time was +breaking in two, escaping a surf which every other moment threatened to +envelop one from feet to head, we reached the land. + +Our "seized" wagons had already gone on, loaded with our best hospital +supplies--meal, flour, condensed milk, malted milk, tea, coffee, sugar, +dried fruits, canned fruits, canned meats, and such other things as we +had been able to get out in the haste of packing--entirely filling the +two wagons already in advance. + +An ambulance had been spoken of. We waited a little while by the +roadside, but the ambulance did not appear. Then, halting a wagon loaded +with bales of hay, we begged a ride of the driver, and our little party, +Dr. and Mrs. Gardner, James McDowell, and myself, took our seats on the +hay and made our way to the front, Dr. Hubbell following afoot. Four +hours' ride brought us to the First Division Hospital of the Fifth Army +Corps--General Shafter's headquarters. + +The sight that met us on going into the so-called hospital grounds was +something indescribable. The land was perfectly level; no drainage +whatever; covered with long, tangled grass; skirted by trees, brush, +and shrubbery; a few little dog-tents not much larger than could have +been made of an ordinary table-cloth thrown over a short rail, and under +these lay huddled together the men fresh from the field or from the +operating-tables, with no covering over them save such as had clung to +them through their troubles, and in the majority of cases no blanket +under them. + +Those who had come from the tables, having been compelled to leave all +the clothing they had, as too wet, muddy, and bloody to be retained, +were entirely nude, lying on the stubble grass, the sun fitfully dealing +with them, sometimes clouding over and again streaming out in a blaze +above them. Fortunately, among our supplies were some bolts of +unbleached cotton, and this we cut in sheet lengths, and the men of our +party went about and covered the poor fellows, who lay there with no +shelter either from the elements or the eyes of the passers-by. + +A half dozen bricks laid about a yard apart, a couple of pieces of +wagon-tire laid across these, so low and so near the ground that no fire +of any strength or benefit could be made--the bits of wet wood put +under crosswise, with the smoke streaming a foot out on either side, two +kettles of coffee or soup, and a small frying-pan with some meat in +it--appeared to be the cook-house for these men. They told us there were +about eight hundred men under the tents and lying in the grass, and more +constantly coming in. + +After a few moments' consultation as to the best methods to be pursued, +we too gathered stones and bricks and constructed a longer, higher +fireplace, got more wagon-tires, found the water, and soon our great +agate kettles of seven and ten gallons were filled. + +The rain, that had been drizzling more or less all day, increased. Our +supplies were taken from the wagons, a piece of tarpaulin found to +protect them, and as the fire began to blaze and the water to heat, Mrs. +Gardner and I found the way into the bags and boxes of flour, salt, +milk, and meal, and got material for the first gallons of gruel. I had +not thought to ever make gruel again over a camp-fire. I can not say how +far it carried me back in the lapse of time, or really where, or who I +felt that I was. + +It did not seem to be me, and still I seemed to know how to do it. + +When the bubbling contents of our kettle thickened and grew white with +the condensed milk, and we began to give it out--putting it into the +hands of men detailed as nurses, and our own men, to take around to the +poor sufferers, shivering and naked in the rain--I felt that perhaps it +was not in vain that history had repeated itself. When the nurses came +back and told us of the surprise with which it was received, and the +tears that rolled down the sun-burned, often bloody face, into the cup +as the poor fellow drank his hot gruel, and asked where it came from, +who sent it, and said it was the first food he had tasted in three days +(for they had gone into the fight hungry), I felt that it was again the +same old story and wondered what gain there had been in the last thirty +years. + +The fires burned, the gruel steamed and boiled--bucket after bucket went +out--until those eight hundred men had each a cup of gruel and knew that +he could have another and as many as he wanted. The day waned, the +darkness came, and still the men were unsheltered, uncovered, naked, +and wet--scarcely a groan, no word of complaint--no man said he was not +well treated. + +The operating-tables were full of the wounded. Man after man was taken +off, brought on his litter and laid beside other men, and something +given him to keep the little life in his body that seemed fast oozing +out. All night it went on. It grew cold--for naked men bitter +cold--before morning. We had no blankets, nothing to cover them, only +the strips of cotton cloth. + +Early in the morning ambulances started, and such of the wounded as +could be loaded in were taken to be carried back over that rough, +pitiless road, down to Siboney, to the hospitals there--that we had done +the best we could toward fitting up--where our hundred cots, hundred and +fifty blankets had gone, cups, spoons, and delicacies, that would help +to strengthen these poor, fainting men, if they could get there, and +where also the Sisters would care for them. + +They brought man after man, stretcher after stretcher, to the waiting +ambulances, and they took out seventeen who had died in the night, +unattended, save by the nurse. + +More supplies arrived, and this time came large tarpaulins, more +utensils, more food, and more things to make it a little comfortable. We +removed our first kitchens across the road, up alongside the headquarter +tent of Major Wood, in charge of the camp. Words can not do justice to +his kind-hearted generosity. He strove in every way to do all that could +be done, and the night before had given us a small tent in which we had +huddled from the pouring rain, for a couple of hours, in the middle of +the night, the water rushing through like a rivulet. + +The tarpaulins were put over supplies, a new fireplace made near +us--magnificent in its dimensions--shelter given for boxes and barrels +that by this time had accumulated about us, and there was even something +that looked like a table, on which Mrs. Gardner prepared her delicacies. + +Early in the day there came to our improvised headquarters an officer in +khaki uniform showing hard service, and a bandanna handkerchief hanging +from his hat, to protect the back of his head and neck from the fierce +rays of the sun. + +It was Colonel Roosevelt, and we were very glad to meet the gallant +leader of the "Rough Riders." After a few moments conversation he said: + +"I have some sick men with the regiment who refuse to leave it. They +need such delicacies as you have here, which I am ready to pay for out +of my own pocket. Can I buy them from the Red Cross?" + +"Not for a million dollars," Dr. Gardner replied. + +"But my men need these things," he said, his tone and face expressing +anxiety. "I think a great deal of my men. I am proud of them." + +"And we know they are proud of you, Colonel. But we can't sell Red Cross +supplies," answered Dr. Gardner. + +"Then, how can I get them? I must have proper food for my sick men," he +said. + +"Just ask for them, Colonel," replied Dr. Gardner. + +"Oh," he said, his face suddenly lighting up with a bright smile; "then +I do ask for them." + +"All right, Colonel; what is your list?" + +The list included malted milk, condensed milk, oatmeal, cornmeal, canned +fruits, dried fruits, rice, tea, chocolate, and even prepared beefsteak +and vegetables, and other things good for men who could not eat army +rations. + +"Now, Colonel, when will you send for these supplies?" asked Dr. +Gardner. "They will be ready any time." + +"Lend me a sack and I'll take them right along," he answered with +characteristic decision. + +Mrs. Gardner at once looked up a sack, and when filled it must have held +a good many pounds of supplies. Before we had recovered from our +surprise, the incident was closed by the future President of the United +States slinging the big sack over his shoulders, striding off, and out +of sight through the jungle. + +The gruel still remained the staple, but malted milk, chocolate, rice, +and tea had come in, and little by little various things were added by +which our _menage_ quite resembled a hotel. The wounded were still being +taken away by ambulance and wagon, assorted and picked over like fruit. +Those who would bear transportation were taken away, the others left +where they were. By the third day our patients seemed strong enough that +we might risk giving them food as solid as rice, and the great kettles +were filled with that, cooked soft, mixed with condensed and malted +milk. The number of wounded grew less day by day, and better care could +be taken of them. + +At Siboney, the great needs of the hour were met by the little band of +surgeons and nurses, working night and day. The following is from a +letter in the Times-Herald, now Record-Herald, of Chicago, by Miss Janet +Jennings, who volunteered her service in the hospital. One gets from +this simple, direct picture, a better appreciation of that heroism which +lives after excitement, which survives the rush and shouting of assault, +which is sustained without comradeship: + + +"SIBONEY, _July 8, 1898_. + +"Above hospital tents Red Cross flags are flying, and here is the real +life--the suffering and heroism. Everybody who can do even so little as +carry a cup of water lends willing hands to help the wounded. Most of +the wounded are from the first day's engagement, when the infantry was +ordered to lead the attack on Santiago, instead of using the artillery. + +"And it all came at once--a quick blow--with little or no preparation +to meet it. I mentioned in a former letter the lack of preparation on +the part of the army to care for the sick. There was then almost +nothing--no cots, bedding or proper food, for less than one hundred sick +men. + +"Two days later, when the wounded came in, the needs of the hour were +overwhelming. The situation can not be described. Thousands of our men +had been hurried to the front to fight. It was well understood that it +would be a hard fight. The dead would need only burial, but the wounded +would need care. And yet, with the exception of a limited number of +stretchers, a medicine-chest and a few bandages, no preparation had been +made--neither cots nor food--practically no hospital supplies. + +"It is not strange that surgeons were desperate and nurses distressed. +The force of each was wholly inadequate. The exact number of wounded may +never be known. But the estimate at this time is about 1,000 +wounded--some 1,500 killed and wounded. + +"Wounded men who made their way down on foot eight miles over the rough, +hilly road will never know just how their strength held out. Others were +brought down in army wagons by the load, as few ambulances were at +hand. Fortunately, there were some tents here that had been used by +troops before going to the front. Under these hay was spread and covered +with blankets, and the improvised hospital was ready. One tent was taken +for operating-tables, and the work of surgeons and nurses began. They +worked night and day for forty-eight hours, with only brief intervals +for coffee and hard-tack. + +"Wounded men had to wait for hours before bullets could be extracted and +wounds dressed. But there was no word of complaint--only silent, patient +suffering, borne with a courage that was sublime. As the wounded +continued to come in, tent-room gave out, and hay with blankets were +placed outside, and to these 'beds' the less severely wounded were +assigned. It was evident that the medical department of the army had +failed absolutely to send hospital supplies, or by this time they would +have been landed. As it was, the surgeons turned to the Red Cross ship +'State of Texas' for help, and the supplies originally intended for the +starving Cubans were sent ashore for our wounded. + +"Miss Barton had been urged and advised to wait until the army opened +and made the way safe to land supplies for reconcentrados and refugees. +But she had foreseen the situation to a certain degree and followed the +army as quickly as possible--to wait for the emergency, rather than have +the emergency wait for her. The 'State of Texas' was here a week before +the attack on Santiago. + +"While surgeons and nurses were probing for bullets and dressing wounds, +a force of men on the Red Cross ship worked half the night getting out +cots and blankets, food and bandages, and at daylight next morning the +supplies were landed, taking advantage of the smooth sea between four +and nine o'clock, as later in the day the high surf makes it extremely +difficult for landings. There were six tables in the operating-tent and +eight surgeons. In twenty-four hours the surgeons had operated upon and +dressed the wounds of 475 men. Four Red Cross sisters, trained nurses, +assisted the surgeons. They were Sister Bettina, wife of Dr. Lesser, +surgeon-in-chief of the Red Cross; Sister Minna, Sister Isabel, and +Sister Blanche. Their knowledge of surgery, skill, and nerve were a +revelation to the army surgeons. These young women, all under thirty, +went from one operating-table to another, and, whatever was the nature +of the wound or complication, proved equal to the emergency. + +"In the Red Cross Hospital, across the way, Sister Anna was in charge +of the sick men, turned over to the Red Cross two days before, when army +surgeons with troops were all ordered to the front. With 475 wounded men +to feed there was not a camp-kettle to be found in which gruel could be +prepared, coffee made or anything cooked, not a kettle of any sort to be +furnished by the army. The whole camp outfit at Tampa in the way of +cooking utensils must have been left behind. + +"But there was an overruling Providence when the 'State of Texas' was +loaded for Cuba. So far everything needed has been found in the hold of +this old ship, which deserves to have and will have a credit page in the +history of the war in Cuba. There were kettles, charcoal braziers, and +cooking utensils carried over to the Red Cross Hospital. To prepare +gruel, rice, coffee, and various other proper and palatable dishes for +forty or fifty sick men by the slow process of a charcoal brazier, +tea-kettle, and boiler is by no means easy cooking. But to prepare food +for 475 wounded men, some of whom had had nothing to eat for twenty-four +hours, cooking over a little charcoal pot is something that one must +take a 'hand in' to fully appreciate. + +"There was the feeling as if one were dazed and unnatural to hear +American soldiers, men from comfortable homes, literally begging for +'just a spoonful of gruel.' The charcoal pot burned night and day, +gallons of gruel were made and quantities of rice cooked until the +greatest stress had passed. It was no time to stand on trained service, +and everybody, man or woman, was ready to lend a hand. + +"A striking feature of the first day's engagement was the number of men +wounded in the head, arm, and upper part of the body. Some of these +cases, the most serious, were taken into the Red Cross Hospital, where +they received the most skilful and gentle nursing. + +"Two days' steady strain began to show on the Sisters. + +"The strain had been the greater because there were no facilities for +anything like a regular meal short of the ship, reached by a long, hard +tramp in the sand, then a row over the tossing waves. But nobody thought +of meals. The one thing was to feed and nurse the 500 wounded and sick +men. Human endurance, however, has its limit, and unless the Sisters +could get a little rest they would give out. I went on duty for +twenty-four hours, at night, with the assistance of one man, taking care +of forty patients, fever, measles, and dysentery cases, and half a dozen +badly wounded men. Among the latter was Captain Mills, of the First +Cavalry, and William Clark, a colored private in the Twenty-fifth +Infantry, regulars. They were brought over from the hospital tents and +placed on cots out on the little porch, where there was just room to +pass between the cots. + +"Their wounds were very similar--in the head--and of such a character as +to require cool applications to the eyes constantly. Ice was scarce and +worth its weight in gold, for the lives of these men as well as others +depended chiefly on cool applications to the eyes, with as uniform +temperature as possible. We had one small piece of ice, carefully +wrapped in a blanket. There never was a small piece of ice that went so +far. If I were to tell the truth about it nobody would believe me. + +"Never in my whole life, I think, have I wished for anything so much as +I wished for plenty of ice that night. It was applied by chipping in +small bits, laid in thin, dry cotton cloth, folded over in just the +right size and flat, to place across the eyes and forehead, enough of it +to be cold, but not heavy, on the wounds. + +"The ears of the sick are strangely acute. Whenever the sick men heard +the sound of chipping ice they begged for ice-water; even the smallest +bit of ice in a cup of water was begged with an eagerness that was +pitiful. I felt conscience-smitten. But it was a question of saving the +eyes of the wounded men, and there was no other way. To make the ice +last till morning I stealthily chipped it off so the sick men would not +hear the sound. + +"At midnight a surgeon came over from his tent ward with a little piece +of ice not larger than his hand. I do not know his name, but it does not +matter, it is inscribed above. 'This is all we can spare,' he said. +'Take it. You must keep those wounds cool at all hazards. I have another +case very like these--a man wounded in the head. I want to bring him +over here, where he will be sure of exactly the same nursing. His life +depends on the care he gets in the next twenty-four hours. Have you a +vacant cot?' + +"There was not a vacant cot, but we could make room for one on the porch +if he could find the cot. He thought he could, and went back, taking the +precious piece of ice that he really needed more than we did. In the +course of a half hour the surgeon returned to say it was impossible to +get a cot anywhere, and the wounded man must be left where he was in the +tent, at least until morning. + +"And so it went on through the long night--the patient suffering of the +sick men, the heroism of the wounded, all fearing to give any trouble, +desiring not to do so, find grateful for the smallest attention. + +"The courage that faces death on the battlefield or calmly awaits it in +the hospital is not a courage of race or color. Two of the bravest men I +ever saw were here, almost side by side on the little porch--Captain +Mills and Private Clark--one white, the other black. They were wounded +almost at the same time, and in the same way. The patient suffering and +heroism of the black soldier was fully equal to that of the Anglo-Saxon. +It was quite the same, the gentleness and appreciation. They were a +study, these men so widely apart in life, but here strangely close and +alike on the common ground of duty and sacrifice. They received +precisely the same care; each fed like a child, for with their bandaged +eyes they were as helpless as blind men. When the ice pads were renewed +on Captain Mills's eyes the same change was made on Private Clark's +eyes. There was no difference in their beds or food. Neither uttered a +word of complaint. The nearest to a regret expressed by Captain Mills +was a heavy sigh, followed by the words: 'Oh, we were not ready. Our +army was not prepared.' + +"Of himself he talked cheerfully, strong, and hopeful. 'I think I shall +go home with the sight of one eye,' he said. That was all. + +"In the early part of the night he was restless, his brain was active, +cool, and brave as he might be. The moonlight was very bright, a flood +of silver, seen only in the tropics. Hoping to divert him I said: 'The +moonlight is too bright, captain. I will put up a paper screen so you +can get to sleep.' + +"He realized at once the absurdity and the ludicrous side, and with an +amused smile replied: 'But you know I can't see the moonlight.' + +"I said it was time to get more ice for his head and half stumbled +across the porch, blinded by tears. When told who his nearest neighbor +was, Captain Mills expressed great sympathy for Private Clark and paid a +high tribute to the bravery of the colored troops and their faithful +performance of duty. + +"Private Clark talked but little. He would lie apparently asleep until +the pain in his head became unbearable. Then he would try to sit up, +always careful to keep the ice-pad on his eyes over the bandage. + +"'What can I do for you, Clark?' I would ask, anxious to relieve his +pain. + +"'Nothing, thank you,' he would answer. 'It's very nice and comfortable +here. But it's only the misery in my head--the misery is awful.' + +"Poor fellow! there was never a moan, merely a little sigh now and +then, but always that wonderful patience that seemed to me not without a +touch of divine philosophy, complete acceptance. + +"I have mentioned these two men, not as exceptional in bravery, but to +illustrate the rule of heroism, and because they were among the patients +under my immediate care that night. It was a strange night picture--a +picture that could never be dimmed by time but live through all the +years of one's life. + +"After midnight a restful atmosphere pervaded the hospital and the +blessing of sleep fell upon the suffering men, one by one. In the little +interval of repose I dropped into an old chair on the porch, looked away +to the beautiful mountains sharply outlined in the moonlight, and the +sea like waves of silver, the camp on the shore; near by thirty or forty +horses standing motionless. Then the hospital tents, with now and then +the flickering light of a candle; in the background the cliffs, with +here and there a Spanish blockhouse. Over all the tragedy of life and +death, the pain and sorrow, there was the stillness of a peaceful +night--a stillness broken only by the sound of the surf brought back on +the cool breeze, the cool, refreshing breeze, for which we all thanked +God." + + +Later on, as will be remembered, Miss Jennings went North--a volunteer +nurse on the transport Seneca. The brave men whose lives hung in the +balance that night--with little hope that, if life were spared, they +would ever see again--recovered, but each with the loss of an eye. After +a long furlough Private Clark returned to his regiment. Captain Mills, +now General Mills, is the Superintendent of the West Point Military +Academy. + +Three times in the first week I went over those terrible roads from the +front to Siboney and return. Arriving at Siboney late one night, there +was no way I could get on board the State of Texas and I was obliged to +remain on shore. The Postmaster insisted that I occupy a room in the +building used for a post-office. Such a courtesy could not be refused, +and against all feeling of acquiescence, and with a dread as if there +were something wrong about it, I allowed myself to be helped out of the +wagon and entered the house. The Postmaster sat down and talked with me +a little while. I thought he seemed ill. I had never met him before, but +my heart went out in sympathy for him. I feared I was taking his room, +although he did not admit it. + +I was shown into a room where there was a cot, a table, and a candle +without a stick, burning upon the table. The men went outside and laid +down upon the steps for the night. I laid down upon the cot, but it was +impossible for me to remain there. Something constantly warned me to +leave it. I got up, went to the door, looked out upon the night and +darkness, and waited for the gray of the morning. I went out and stood +upon the beach beside the sea and waited more and more, until finally +some of the men appeared, and I went with them down to the water. + +Six days later they told me that the rightful occupant of the cot--the +Postmaster, who had seemed so ill--had died of a fever raging here that +they called "yellow fever." I had occupied his cot. I wonder who it was +that so continually warned me that night to keep away from that room, +away from the cot, away from all connected with it? "Yellow fever" was +not then talked of. Did some one tell me? I do not know--but something +told me. + +The negotiations between General Shafter and the Spanish army at +Santiago were going on. The flag of truce, that threatened every day to +come down, still floated. The Spanish soldiers had been led by their +officers to believe that every man who surrendered--and the people as +well--would be butchered whenever the city should fall and the American +troops should come in. But when General Shafter commenced to send back +convoys of captured Spanish officers, their wounds dressed, and +carefully placed on stretchers, borne under flags of truce to the +Spanish lines at Santiago, and set down at the feet of General Toral, +and when in astonishment that officer learned the object of the flag of +truce and sent companies of his soldiers to form in line and present +arms, while the cortege of wounded were borne through by American +troops, a lesson was learned that went far toward the surrender of that +city. + +I happen to know that it was not without some very natural home +criticism that General Shafter persisted in his course in the face of +the time-honored custom of "hostages." One can readily understand that +the voluntary giving up of prisoners--officers at that--in view of an +impending battle, might seem in the light of old-time army usages a +waste, to characterize it by no harder term. It is possible that none of +the officers in that field had ever read the Articles of the Treaty of +Geneva, or fully recalled that the treaty had become a law, or that +their commander was acting in full accord with its wise and humane +principles. + +By this time the main talk of the camp was "yellow fever." It was soon +discovered by the medical authorities that, from there having been at +first one case of fever, there were now one hundred and sixteen, and +that a fever camp would probably be made there, and the wounded gotten +away. It was advisable then that we return to our ship and attempt, as +far as possible, to hold that free from contagion. I was earnestly +solicited to do this, in view of what was expected of our ship, and of +what was expected of us, that we not only protect ourselves but our +cargo and ship from all contamination and even suspicion. + +I faithfully promised to do so, and again called for an army wagon, +leaving all supplies that were useful for the men in camp--sending to El +Caney what was most needed there--and taking only our personal effects, +started for Siboney. In less than twenty minutes the rain was pouring on +us and for two hours it fell as if from buckets. The water was from a +foot and a half to two feet deep in the road as we passed along. At one +time our wagon careened, the mules were held up, and we waited to see +whether it should go over or could be brought out, the water a few +inches only from the top of the lower side. It was scarcely possible for +us to stir, hemmed in as we were, but the men from the other wagons +sprang to our wheels, hanging in the air on the upper side, and we were +simply saved by an inch. + +But like other things, this cleared away. We came into Siboney about +three o'clock, in a bright glare of sunshine, to find the town entirely +burned--all buildings gone or smoking--and a "yellow fever" hospital +established a mile and a half out from Siboney. + +All effort was made to hold our ship free from suspicion. The process of +reasoning leading to the conclusion that a solid cargo, packed in tight +boxes in the hold of a ship, anchored at sea, could become infected in +a day from the land or a passing individual, is indeed an intricate +process. But we had some experience in this direction. Captain McCalla, +in his repeated humane attempts to feed the refugees around Guantanamo, +had called again for a hundred thousand rations, saying that if we could +bring them to him soon he could get them to the starving people in the +woods. We lost no time, but got the food out and started with it in the +night. On reaching Guantanamo we were met some distance out, called to, +and asked if any one on our ship had been on shore at Siboney within +four days; if so, our supplies could not be received. We took them away, +leaving the starving to perish. + +The constantly recurring news of the surrender of Santiago was so well +established that we drew anchor, came up to the flag-ship, and sent the +following letter to Admiral Sampson: + + +"State of Texas, + +"_July 16, 1898_. + +"ADMIRAL SAMPSON, Commanding U. S. Fleet off +Santiago, Flag-Ship New York. + +"Admiral: It is not necessary for me to explain to you my errand, nor +its necessity; both your good head and heart divine it more clearly +than any words of mine can represent. + +"I send this to you by one of our men who can tell all you wish to know. +Mr. John Elwell has resided and done mercantile and shipping business in +Santiago for the last seven years; is favorably known to all its people; +has in his possession the keys of the best warehouses and residences in +the city, to which he is given welcome by the owners. He is the person +appointed four months ago to help distribute this food, and did so with +me until the blockade. There seems to be nothing in the way of getting +our twelve hundred tons of food into a Santiago warehouse and giving it +intelligently to the thousands who _need_ and _own_ it. I have twenty +good helpers with me. The New York committee is urging the discharge of +the State of Texas, which has been raised in price to four hundred +dollars a day. + +"If there is still more explanation needed, I pray you, Admiral, let me +see you. + +"Respectfuly and cordially, + +"CLARA BARTON." + + +These were anxious days. While the world outside was making up war +history, we thought of little beyond the terrible needs about us; if +Santiago had any people left, they must be in sore distress; and El +Caney, with its thirty thousand homeless, perishing sufferers, how could +they be reached? + +On that Sunday morning, never to be forgotten, the Spanish fleet came +out of Santiago Harbor, to meet death and capture. That afternoon +Lieutenant Capehart, of the flag-ship, came on board with the courteous +reply of Admiral Sampson, that if we would come alongside the New York +he would put a pilot on board. This was done, and we moved on through +waters we had never traversed; past Morro Castle, long, low, silent, and +grim; past the wrecks of the Spanish ships on the right; past the +Merrimac in the channel. We began to realize that we were alone, of all +the ships about the harbor there were none with us. The stillness of the +Sabbath was over all. The gulls sailed and flapped and dipped about us. +The lowering summer sun shot long golden rays athwart the green hills on +either side and tinged the water calm and still. The silence grew +oppressive as we glided along with scarce a ripple. We saw on the right +as the only moving thing, a long, slim yacht dart out from among the +bushes and steal its way up half-hidden in the shadows. Suddenly it was +overtaken by either message or messenger, and like a collared hound +glided back as if it had never been. + +Leaning on the rail, half lost in reverie over the strange, quiet beauty +of the scene, the thought suddenly burst upon me--are we really going +into Santiago, and alone? Are we not to be run out, and wait aside, and +salute with dipping colors, while the great battle-ships come up with +music and banners and lead the way? + +As far as the eye could reach no ship was in sight. Was this to remain +so? Could it be possible that the commander who had captured a city +declined to be the first to enter, that he would hold back his flag-ship +and himself, and send forward and first a cargo of food on a plain ship, +under direction of a woman? Did our commands, military or naval, hold +men great enough of soul for such action? It must be true, for the +spires of Santiago rise before us, and turning to the score of +companions beside me I ask: "Is there any one here who will lead the +Doxology?" In an instant the full rich voice of Enola Gardner rang out: +"Praise God from whom all blessings flow." By that time the chorus was +full, and the tears on many a face told more plainly than words how +genuine was that praise, and when in response to a second suggestion "My +Country 'Tis of Thee" swelled out on the evening air in the farewell +rays of the setting sun, the State of Texas was nearing the dock, and +quietly dropping her anchor she lay there through the silence of the +night in undisputed possession, facing a bare wind-swept wharf and the +deserted city of Santiago. + +Daybreak brought quiet to an end. The silence was no longer oppressive. +A hundred and twenty stevedores lined up on the wharf for work and +breakfast. The dock had tracks, and trucks running to its open +warehouses. Boxes, barrels, and bales, pitched out of that ship, thrown +onto the trucks and wheeled away, told the story of better days to come. +It was something to see the lank, brawny little army of stevedores take +their first breakfast in line, alongside of the ship. + +Later in the day the flag-ship brought Admiral Sampson and Admiral +Schley, who spent several hours with us. They had every opportunity to +see how our work was done, and if we were equal to unloading our ship. +When they were about to leave Admiral Sampson was asked what orders or +directions he had for us. He replied: "You need no directions from me, +but if any one troubles you let me know." + +The amiable pleasantries of these two gallant officers during that visit +are a pleasure to recall. As I was, at an opportune moment, attempting +to express my appreciation and thanks to Admiral Sampson for the +courtesy of allowing us to precede him into Santiago, Admiral Schley, +with that _naïveté_ and apt turn of expression so characteristic of him, +in a half undertone side-remark, cautioned me with "Don't give him too +much credit, Miss Barton; he was not quite sure how clear the channel +might be. Remember that was a trial trip." + +How sadly the recollection of that pleasant, memorable day has since +recurred to me; brave, gallant brothers in arms, and in heart; knowing +only a soldier's duty; each holding his country's honor first, his own +last; its glory his glory, and for himself seeking nothing more. Ah, +people, press, and politics! How deal ye with your servants? + +A message was received from General Shafter, who telegraphed from his +headquarters; "The death rate at El Caney is terrible; can you send +food?" The answer was to send the thirty thousand refugees of El Caney +at once back to Santiago; we were there and could feed them; that the +State of Texas had still twelve hundred tons of supplies. + +The thirty thousand inhabitants of Santiago had been driven to El Caney, +a village designed for five hundred. In two days all were called back +and fed, ten thousand the first day, twenty thousand the second. Then +came our troops, and Santiago was lived and is remembered. Its +hospitals, the ante-chamber to Montauk, are never to be forgotten. + +A general committee was formed, the city districted into sections, with +a commissioner for each district, selected by the people themselves +living there. Every family or person residing within the city was +supplied by the commissioner of that district, and all transient +persons were fed at the kitchens, the food being provided by the Red +Cross. + +The discharge of the cargo of the State of Texas commenced at six +o'clock Monday morning, July 18th. One hundred and twenty-five +stevedores were employed and paid in food issued as rations. Four days +later the discharge was completed. + +Although the army had entered the city during the latter part of that +time, there had been no confusion, no groups of disorderly persons seen, +no hunger in the city more than in ordinary times. We had done all that +could be done to advantage at that time in Santiago. The United States +troops had mainly left. The Spanish soldiers were coming in to their +waiting ships, bringing with them all the diseases that unprovided and +uncleanly camps would be expected to hold in store. Five weeks before we +had brought into Santiago all the cargo of the State of Texas excepting +the hospital supplies, which had been used the month previous among our +own troops at Siboney, General Shafter's front, and El Caney during the +days of fighting. + +These were the last days of General Shafter in Santiago, who was, as he +had at all times been, the kind and courteous officer and gentleman. +General Wood, who was made Governor of the Province of Santiago upon the +day of surrender--alert, wise, and untiring, with an eye single to the +good of all--toiled day and night. + +The State of Texas steamed away to its northern home. Peace and plenty +came. The reconcentrados we went in search of were never reached. To +those who could not withstand, Heaven came. To those who could, _Cuba +Libre_. + +Later on, general efforts were made for the protection of the thousands +of orphans over the island, in which efforts the Red Cross joined. But +the people of Cuba solved the question themselves--by a general adoption +in their own homes--and orphanages in Cuba became a thing of the past. + +Thus our work on that distressful field closed, after nearly two years +of such effort as one would never desire to repeat. The financial +management of that field, so far as the Red Cross was concerned, was +done under the attorneyship of the Central Cuban Relief Committee of New +York, whose reports are models of accuracy and accountability, and to +which any person desiring information may be referred. + +Cuba was a hard field, full of heart-breaking memories. It gave the +first opportunity to test the cooperation between the government and its +supplemental handmaiden, the Red Cross. That these relations might not +have been clearly understood at this initial date may well be +appreciated, but that time and experience will remedy this may be +confidently hoped. + +Through all our discouragements the steady hand and calm approval of our +great head of the army and navy was our solace and our strength. And +when at length it was all over, his hand could trace for his message to +his people the following testimonial, what need had one even to remember +past discouragements, however great? It was as if the hand of the martyr +had set its undying seal upon the brow of the American Red Cross. What +greater justification could it have? What greater riches could it crave? + +"In this connection it is a pleasure for me to mention in terms of +cordial appreciation the timely and useful work of the American Red +Cross, both in relief measures preparatory to the campaigns, in sanitary +assistance at several of the camps of assemblage, and, later, under the +able and experienced leadership of the president of the society, Miss +Clara Barton, on the fields of battle and in the hospitals at the front +in Cuba. Working in conjunction with the governmental authorities and +under their sanction and approval, and with the enthusiastic cooperation +of many patriotic women and societies in the various States, the Red +Cross has fully maintained its already high reputation for intense +earnestness and ability to exercise the noble purposes of its +international organization, thus justifying the confidence and support +which it has received at the hands of the American people. To the +members and officers and all who aided them in their philanthropic +work, the sincere and lasting gratitude of the soldiers and the public +is due and freely accorded. + +"In tracing these events we are constantly reminded of our obligations +to the Divine Master for His watchful care over us, and His safe +guidance, for which the nation makes reverent acknowledgment and offers +humble prayers for the continuance of His favors."--FROM PRESIDENT +MCKINLEY'S MESSAGE TO CONGRESS, DECEMBER 6, 1898. + + + + +IX + +GALVESTON + +1900 + + +This time there was no murmur in the air, no warning of approaching +danger. Even the watchful press, that knows so much before it ever +happens, slumbered quiet and deep, till the hissing wires shrieked the +terrifying word--Galveston. + +Then we learned that, as at Port Royal, the sea had overleaped its +bounds and its victims by thousands were in its grasp. + +In all the land no one slept then. To us it was the clang of the +fire-bell, and the drop of the harness. The Red Cross clans commenced to +gather. + +In two days a little coterie of near a dozen left Washington under +escort of the competent agency of the New York World, which had on the +first day telegraphed that it would open a subscription for the relief +of Galveston, and would be glad to send all supplies and money received +to the Red Cross, if its president, Miss Clara Barton, would go and +distribute it. It was the acceptance of this generous offer that had +brought to the station in Washington the escort; and a palace-car, +provided with all comforts for the journey to Galveston, was under the +management of the World's efficient correspondent and agent, Robert +Adamson. + +The direfulness of the news gathered as we proceeded on our journey, and +delays were gotten over as quickly as possible. A detention of several +hours in New Orleans gave opportunity for consultation with the officers +of the Red Cross Society of that city, which had held its loyal ranks +unbroken since 1882, and became a tower of strength in this relief. A +day of waiting in Houston for a passage over the Gulf gave us a glimpse +of what the encroachment had been on the mainland. We found the passage +across to Galveston difficult, and with one night of waiting by the +shore in almost open cars, at Texas City, we at length arrived in +Galveston on the morning of the 15th of September. + +Here again no description could adequately serve its purpose. The sea, +with fury spent, had sullenly retired. The strongest buildings, half +standing, roofless and tottering, told what once had been the make-up of +a thriving city. But that cordon of wreckage skirting the shore for +miles it seemed, often twenty feet in height, and against which the high +tide still lapped and rolled! What did it tell? The tale is all too +dreadful to recall--the funeral pyre of at least five thousand human +beings. The uncoffined dead of the fifth part of a city lay there. The +lifeless bodies festering in the glaring heat of a September sun told +only too fatally what that meant to that portion of the city left alive. +The streets were well-nigh impassable, the animals largely drowned, the +working force of men diminished, dazed, and homeless. The men who had +been the fathers of the city, its business and its wealth, looked on +aghast at their overwhelmed possessions, ruined homes, and, worse than +all, mourned their own dead. + +Yet these men, to the number of thirty or more, had, as one may say, +pulled themselves together, and were even at that early date a relief +committee, holding their meetings at the wrecked and half-ruined hotel, +almost the only public house left standing. To this hotel we also went +and reported to the committee. To say that we were kindly and +gratefully received by them says nothing that would satisfy either +ourselves or them. + +The conditions were so new to them that it was a relief to meet persons +who had seen such things before. We were asked not only to act with +them, but to assume charge of the administration of relief. This, of +course, we would not do, but that we would meet with, counsel, and aid +them in every way in our power, is needless to affirm. That we did do +this, through every day of our stay of three months, not only our own +conviction, but the unasked and unexpected testimony of both Galveston +and the Legislature of the State of Texas, go to assure. + +On the third day after our arrival we were joined by Mr. Stephen E. +Barton, President of the former Central Cuban Relief Committee, and Mr. +Fred L. Ward, its competent secretary, who became our secretary from the +time of his arrival until the close of the field, continuing until after +our return to headquarters and settling the last account. Not only the +thanks of the Red Cross are due for his faithful, painstaking work, but +his name is still a household word through the score of counties +skirting the shore on the mainland of Texas. + +It may be interesting to readers to know what is done first, or just how +a relief party commence under circumstances like that. A few words will +give an outline. First the ground must be overlooked and conditions +learned. This is not easy when it is remembered that broken houses, +cars, wagons, church steeples, and grand pianos were liable to be +encountered in the middle of the leading streets, themselves buried +three feet in the coarse black sand, brought in by the great tidal wave. + +Nevertheless, a building must be found in which to store and distribute +the supplies that would immediately come. How needful these supplies +would be can be inferred when it is recalled that scores of persons came +alive out of that wreck, with simply the band of a shirt or a +night-dress held by its button about the neck as the only reminder that +ever a cover of clothing had been theirs. + +A little meeting of my assistants early held assigned each to his duty +and his place. A warehouse, fortunately still intact, was generously +supplied by Mr. John Sealy. Major James A. McDowell, with the +experience of this branch of Red Cross work from Johnstown down, and the +record of twenty-six battles in the old civil war, was placed in charge. +Here is one of the scenes given by a casual eye-witness: + +A poor feeble-looking man, with scant clothing, enters the warehouse and +waits. "Hello there," calls the observant major--with his Grand Army +button--overhauling clothes for the visitor. "But, major, I was a +Confederate soldier." "Lord bless your poor suffering soul, what +difference does that make? Here, this will suit you." + +It was thought advisable by some of the party to establish an orphanage, +which was done and carried through, regardless of the common-sense idea +that few children would survive, when the parents were drowned. And so +it proved, although the work was faithfully administered. + +Homes must be made, lumber obtained, and houses built. The Red Cross +sent out the appeal for lumber and aided in the work of shelter. + +Mrs. Fannie B. Ward was placed in charge of a special clothing +department. Need I remind thoughtful readers that in a disaster like +that, where people of affluence, culture, and position are in a night +bereft of all, one of the cruelest features might be to go to the open +boxes of a relief station for clothing, such as never before worn, and +could not be asked for through the choking tears. In all humanity these +cases must be properly, respectfully, and discreetly met, as one lady +could meet another in distress. + +No more vivid picture of the conditions by which we were surrounded can +be imagined than the following extract from Mrs. Ward's report: + + +"Just seven days after the storm we found ourselves stranded at Texas +City, on the mainland opposite Galveston Island, waiting for +transportation across the six-mile stretch of water. Bridges had been +swept away, and new sand-bars thrown up in the bay; floating roofs and +timbers impeded navigation, and the only method of communication between +the mainland and Galveston was one poor little ferry-boat, which had to +feel her now dangerous way very cautiously, by daylight only. She had +also to carry nearly a quarter of her capacity in soldiers to prevent +her being swamped by waiting crowds of people, frantic to learn the +fate of their friends on the island. Each trip to the mainland, the boat +came filled with refugees from the city of doom--the sick, the maimed, +the sorrowing--many with fearful bodily injuries inflicted by the storm, +and others with deeper wounds of grief;--mothers whose babies had been +torn from their arms, children whose parents were missing, fathers whose +entire families were lost--a dazed and tearless throng, such as Danté +might have met in his passage through Inferno. These were dumped by +thousands on the sandy beach at Texas City, and then conveyed by rail to +Houston, to be cared for by the good people of that city, who, +notwithstanding their own grievous losses, were doing noble work for +their stricken neighbors. + +"Of Texas City--a flourishing town of four or five thousand +houses--nothing remained but heaps of bricks and splintered wood, sodden +bales of cotton and bits of household furniture, scattered over the +plain; not a standing habitation within miles, nor any shelter for the +crowds above-mentioned, except two or three hospital-tents, hastily set +up for the sick and wounded, but inadequate for their accommodation. +What was our dismay when told that here we must remain at least +twenty-four hours, for the return of the boat! However, we were better +off, even physically, than most of the waiting crowd, though weariness +of the flesh amounted to actual suffering, after more than fifty hours' +travel. As a special courtesy to Miss Barton, the railway company left a +car to shelter her during the night. Luxurious Pullmans did not abound +at Texas City, and this was the shabbiest of day-coaches, equipped with +few 'modern conveniences.' But this was no time to think of personal +comfort, on the threshold of so much misery; and who could murmur when +the head of our little company set such an heroic example of patience. I +have seen her in many trying situations, that threatened the fortitude +and endurance of the strongest--and have yet to hear the first word of +complaint from her lips. She smilingly 'bunked' upon two seats laid +together--compared to which, for softness, the _penitente's_ slab of +stone would be as 'downy beds of ease'--and encouraged her companions to +do the same. Hunger and thirst would also have been our portion, had it +not been for a Salvation Army Corps encamped in the vicinity, and the +Relief Train of the Philadelphia North American, stranded like +ourselves. Thanks to those good Samaritans, we dined and breakfasted on +tinned beef, bread and coffee; and what more could good soldiers +require? + +"That night in Texas City will be long remembered. Sleep was out of the +question--stretched on those cross-bars, like St. Lawrence on his +gridiron. Soldiers patrolled the beach, not only to prevent a stampede +of the boat, but to protect both the quick and the dead from fiends in +human guise, who prowled the devastated region, committing atrocities +too horrible to name. All night the steady tramp, tramp, of the guard +sounded beneath the car-windows, while at either door stood two +sentinels, muskets on shoulders. Skies of inky blackness, studded with +stars of extraordinary brilliancy, seemed to bend much nearer the earth +than at the North; and the Great Dipper hung low on the horizon--for +only just across the Gulf it disappears to give place to the Southern +Cross. Myriads of big, bright fire-flies, resembling balls of flame, +flitted restlessly over the plain, like the disembodied souls whose +homes were here one short week before, searching for their scattered +treasures. Over on Galveston Island, a long line of flame, mounting to +the heavens, marked the burning of ruined homes and corpses; while other +fires, in all directions on the mainland, told of similar ghastly +cremations. At one time I counted twenty-three of these fires, not +including those on the island. Early in the morning a strange odor drew +attention to a fresh funeral-pyre, only a few rods away, around the +horse-shoe curve of the shore. We were told that thirty bodies, found +since daybreak in the immediate vicinity, were being consumed in it. +That peculiar smell of burning flesh, so sickening at first, became +horribly familiar within the next two months, when we lived in it and +breathed it, day after day. + +"We found the situation in Galveston infinitely worse than had been +described. The most sensational accounts of the yellowest journals fell +far short of the truth--simply because its full horror was beyond the +power of words to portray. Figures and statistics can give little idea +of the results of such an appalling calamity; and to this day, people +at a distance have no realization of the unutterable woe which our Red +Cross band of less than a dozen, strove to alleviate. We arrived on the +eighth day after the tragedy, in which upward of ten thousand lives went +suddenly out in storm and darkness; and the survivors were just +beginning to realize the extent of their losses. + +"At first they seemed stunned to partial insensibility by the very +magnitude of their grief--as a man who has been mangled almost unto +death in a railroad disaster is said to be oblivious to pain. Dead +citizens lay by thousands amid the wreck of their homes, and raving +maniacs searched the _débris_ for their loved ones, with the organized +gangs of workers. Corpses, dumped by barge-loads into the Gulf, came +floating back to menace the living; and the nights were lurid with +incinerations of putrefying bodies, piled like cord-wood, black and +white together, irrespective of age, sex, or previous condition. At +least four thousand dwellings had been swept away, with all their +contents, and fully half of the population of the city was without +shelter, food, clothes, or any of the necessaries of life. Of these, +some were living in tents; others crowded in with friends hardly less +unfortunate; many half-crazed, wandering aimlessly about the streets, +and the story of their sufferings, mental and physical, is past the +telling. Every house that remained was a house of mourning. Of many +families every member had been swept away. Even sadder were the numerous +cases where one or two were left out of recently happy households; and +saddest of all was the heart-breaking suspense of those whose friends +were numbered among the 'missing.' + +"We find it hard enough to lay away our dead in consecrated ground, with +all the care and tenderness that love can suggest, where we may water +the sacred spot with our tears and place upon it the flowers they loved +in life; but never to know whether their poor bodies were swallowed by +the merciless Gulf, or fed to the fishes with those grewsome +barge-loads, or left above ground to become an abomination in the +nostrils of the living, or burned in indiscriminate heaps with horses +and dogs and the mingled ashes scattered to the winds--must indeed have +been well-nigh unbearable. No wonder there were lunatics in Galveston, +and unnumbered cases of nervous prostration. + +"After weeks had passed and two thousand men, aided by several hundred +teams, had partially reduced the mountain of wreckage, cremation fires +yet burned continuously--fed not only by human bodies, but by thousands +of carcasses of domestic animals. By that time, in the hot, moist +atmosphere of the latitude, decomposition had so far advanced that the +corpses--which at first were decently carried in carts or on stretchers, +then shoveled upon boards or blankets--had finally to be scooped up with +pitchforks, in the hands of negroes, kept at their awful task by the +soldiers' bayonets. And still the 'finds' continued, at the average rate +of seventy a day. The once beautiful driving beach was strewn with +mounds and trenches, holding unrecognized and uncoffined victims of the +flood; and between this improvised cemetery and a ridge of _débris_, +three miles long and in places higher than the houses had been, a line +of cremation fires poisoned the air. + +"I think it was during our sixth week in Galveston, when, happening to +pass one of these primitive crematories, I stopped to interview the man +in charge. Boards, water-soaked mattresses, rags of blankets and +curtains, part of a piano, baby-carriages, and the framework of +sewing-machines, piled on top, gave it the appearance of a festive +bonfire, and only the familiar odor betrayed its purpose. + +"'Have you burned any bodies here?' I inquired. The custodian regarded +me with a stare that plainly said, 'Do you think I am doing this for +amusement?' and shifted his quid from cheek to cheek before replying. + +"'Ma'am,' said he, 'this 'ere fire's been goin' on more'n a month. To my +knowledge, upwards of sixty bodies have been burned in it--to say +nothin' of dogs, cats, hens, and three cows.' + +"'What is in there now?' I asked. + +"'Wa'al,' said he meditatively, 'it takes a corpse several days to burn +all up. I reckon thar's a couple of dozen of 'em--jest bones, you +know--down near the bottom. Yesterday we put seven on top of this 'ere +pile, and by now they are only what you might call baked. To-day we have +been working over there (pointing to other fires a quarter of a mile +distant), where we found a lot of 'em, 'leven under one house. We have +put only two in here to-day. Found 'em just now, right in that puddle.' + +"'Could you tell me who they are?' I asked. + +"'Lord! No,' was the answer. 'We don't look at 'em any more'n we have +to, else we'd been dead ourselves before to-day. One of these was a +colored man. They are all pretty black, now; but you can tell 'em by the +kinky hair. He had nothin' but an undershirt and one shoe. The other was +a woman; young, I reckon. 'Tenny rate she was tall and slim and had lots +of long brown hair. She wore a blue silk skirt and there was a rope tied +around her waist, as if somebody had tried to save her.' + +"Taking a long pole he prodded an air-hole near the center of the +smoldering heap, from which now issued a frightful smell, that caused a +hasty retreat to the windward side. The withdrawal of the pole was +followed by a shower of charred bits of bone and singed hair. I picked +up a curling, yellow lock and wondered, with tears, what mother's hand +had lately caressed it. + +"'That's nothin',' remarked the fireman. 'The other day we found part of +a brass chandelier, and wound all around it was a perfect mop of long, +silky hair--with a piece of skin, big as your two hands, at the end of +it. Some woman got tangled up that way in the flood and jest na'cherly +scalped.' + +"I mention these incidents merely to show some of the conditions that +had to be met. The most we could do for the grief-stricken survivors was +to mitigate in some degree their bodily distress. The world knows how +generously the whole country responded to the call--how contributions +came pouring in by trainloads and shiploads, consigned to the Red Cross. +To distribute all this bounty judiciously was a herculean task--and our +working force was very small. The ladies and gentlemen of Galveston who +had suffered less than their neighbors, formed themselves into +committees, which opened relief stations in the several wards; and +through these channels the bulk of supplies was issued. If mistakes were +made, it was not from lack of faithful endeavor on the part of the +distributers; and let us hope that the errors, if any, were all on the +side of too liberal giving. + +"Merely to sort over one carload of garments, so as to make them +immediately available--to put the infants' clothes in one department, +the shoes in another, grown-up dresses in another, coats and trousers in +another, underwear in another--was a work of time and strength; as the +writer, who for a while was 'Mistress of the Robes,' can testify. From 7 +A. M. till dark we toiled; and when at last we dragged ourselves back to +the hotel, too wearied for anything but bed, 'tired Nature's sweet +restorer' was hard to woo, because of aching feet and swollen muscles. +But the experience was well worth it! Besides the joy of administering +to the suffering, what we learned of human nature (mostly good, I am +glad to say) would fill volumes. To be sure, there were shadows, as well +as lights, in the picture. Greed and hypocrisy, jealousy, malice, and +the reverse of Christian charity, came sometimes unpleasantly to the +fore, to be offset by the magnificent generosity of the American nation, +and the knowledge that in most quarters our efforts were appreciated. +Most of us were unused to manual labor, and all had left comfortable +homes--some at considerable financial sacrifice of well-salaried +positions, not for earthly gain or self-aggrandizement, but from pure +love of the splendid cause of the Cross of Geneva. + +"In that Rag Fair department of old clothes, the ludicrous and pathetic +called for an equal blending of smiles and tears. It seemed as if every +household, from Maine to California, from the St. Lawrence to the Rio +Grande, had rummaged its attics for the flood sufferers. Merchants +delivered themselves of years' accumulations of shop-worn +goods--streaked, faded, of fashions long gone by--but a great deal +better than nothing for the destitute. There were at least a million +shirtwaists, all thin and summery, though cold winter was at hand, when +frequent 'northers' chill the very marrow in one's bones, and ice and +snow are not unknown on Galveston Island. There was another million of +'Mother Hubbard' wrappers, all of the sleaziest print and scrimpest +pattern, with inch-wide hems at bottom and no fastening to speak +of--wrappers enough to disfigure every female in Southern Texas. Fancy a +whole city full of women masquerading in those shapeless garments--the +poorest of their class; and then remember that, a few years ago, the +great and glorious State of Pennsylvania found it necessary to pass a +law--presumably for the peace of mind of her male citizens--forbidding +the wearing of 'Mother Hubbards' in the street! + +"One day there came to our warehouse a large case of beautiful, buttoned +shoes, of the kind called 'Sorosis.' 'What a bonanza!' we thought, when +that box was opened--and through our minds went trooping a procession of +the shoeless feet we had longed to comfort. But behold! every blessed +shoe of the one hundred and forty-four was for the left foot! + +"There was an enormous box from a city laundry, containing the unclaimed +'washings' of many years--hundreds of waiters' aprons and cooks' caps, +worn hotel towels and napkins, ragged shirts and collars--not a thing +worth the lumber in the box, except as old linen for the hospitals. +There was a great deal of bedraggled finery, than which nothing could +have been less appropriate, when nine out of every ten women who applied +for clothes, wanted plain black in which to mourn for their dead. And +the hats and bonnets were of every shape and style within the memory of +man! They were mostly so crushed in careless packing that to have +worshiped them would have been no sin, according to Scripture, as they +were no longer in the 'likeness of anything in the heavens above, or the +earth beneath, or the waters under the earth.' There were workmen's +blouses and overalls, evidently shed in haste, under a sudden impulse of +generosity--plastered with grease, paint, and mortar, and odoriferous of +that by which honest bread is said to be earned. + +"Occasionally a box or barrel was found to contain garments +disgracefully dirty and ragged, or dropping in pieces from the ravages +of moths. Possibly the sending of such worthless trash produced in the +hearts of the donors that comfortable feeling of lending to the +Lord--but it was no use at our end of the line. What to do with it was a +problem. The lowest plantation darky would regard the gift as an insult, +and to burn even the filthiest rags would give rise to stories of wanton +waste. So we hit upon an expedient which had been successfully employed +in other fields--that of putting worthless articles in nice, clean +barrels, rolling them out on the doorstep, and forgetting to bring them +in at night; and every morning the barrels were found empty. + +"In striking contrast to these few 'shadows' were such gifts as that of +the New England girl, who sent a large, carefully packed satchel, +accompanied by a letter, explaining that she was seventeen years of age, +and had taken from her own wardrobe an outfit, intended for a +flood-sufferer of about her own age, whom the clothes would fit. The +satchel contained three good suits complete, from hat to hose--all that +a girl would need--even veil, handkerchiefs and fan; and it is needless +to add that they soon found their way to a most grateful young +'sufferer.' Here a poor widow divided her well-worn 'mourning' with some +stranger sister-in-grief; there the bereaved mother brought out the +treasured garments her little one had worn, for some happier mother who +had lost only earthly possessions. + +"Letters by hundreds were found in the packages, pertinent and +impertinent, but all demanding answers. They were stuffed into old shoes +and the linings of hats, cracked tea-pots and boxes of soap, combs and +matches. Every small boys' knickerbockers contained a note--generally +of original spelling and laboriously written in large capitals, from +'Tommy' or 'Johnnie' or 'Charley,' asking a reply, telling all about the +storm, from the boy who should receive the gift. Sentimental epistles +from ladies were hidden in the pockets of coats and trousers, inviting +correspondence with the future wearers; and billet-doux from +disconsolate widowers, presumably beginning to 'take notice,' were +pinned to the raiment of deceased wives. Such manifold phases have our +poor human nature! Happily there was another and far more numerous class +of letters, from charitable men and women, offering to adopt children, +or to assist in any way in their power; from Sunday-school classes and +sewing societies and day-schools, enclosing small sums of money, or +telling of gifts to come. There was even a letter from an almshouse, +enclosing a check for eighty dollars, raised by thirty aged pensioners, +who gave up their only luxuries--coffee, sugar, and tobacco--to swell +the fund for Galveston's relief. Another came from the poor, forgotten +negroes of the Carolina sea islands, to whose assistance the Red Cross +went, after their disastrous floods a few years ago. Impelled by +gratitude for the benefits then received, those simple-minded people +contributed a surprising amount, considering their poverty. Truly, in +heaven's reckoning those unselfish 'mites' of the poor and lowly will +count for as much as the millions given by the great cities. + +"Notwithstanding the vast amount of old clothes that came to us, we were +always particularly short of the most important articles of an outfit, +such as underwear, respectable skirts and dresses, and shoes--except of +extraordinary sizes, sent because unsalable. It frequently happened +that, for days together, there was hardly a thing in stock fit for +people of the better class. It must be remembered that we were not +supplying tramps and beggars, nor the ordinary applicants for charity, +but ladies and gentlemen, accustomed to the luxuries of life, whose +possessions had been suddenly swept away. How could we offer those +dreadful wrappers, or bedraggled finery, or soiled and ragged garments +which our servants would despise, to ladies of taste, culture, and +refinement, whom we had come to assist in their misfortune, not to +insult? Therefore, in many cases, the only decent thing to do was to go +out and buy what was needed, with some of those blessed contributions +which bore the message, 'to be used at your own discretion.' That was +Christian charity, pure and simple, in its most practical form. For +example: A widow, of highest social standing and former wealth, lived +with her three daughters in one of those ill-fated cottages near the +beach, which was swept away with all its contents. Thus the four +helpless women were left entirely destitute, even the clothes on their +backs borrowed from neighbors a little less unfortunate. Friends in a +Northern city wrote, offering them a home. Transportation could be +easily provided, but the four must be fitted out for the journey. We +searched the Rag Fair over, but found few suitable articles. Perhaps +something better might come in by and by, next week, some other time; +but for every hoped-for article were a hundred waiting applicants--and +meanwhile those ladies must be supported until sent to their friends. To +say nothing of their own feelings, and ours, we could not disgrace the +Red Cross by sending that stately gray-haired mother and the three +delicate young ladies out into the world equipped by our alleged bounty +in scanty calico 'Mother Hubbards,' men's cow-hide brogans, and +scare-crow headgear. So we picked out what would answer--here and there +a garment which might be altered, the only pair of shoes in the place +that came near to fitting one of the ladies, a bolt of unbleached muslin +which they, themselves, could fashion into underclothes, and four +disreputable old hats. The latter we gave to a local milliner to remodel +and trim, simply but respectably. Then we went to the store and +purchased shoes and other necessary articles, including enough +inexpensive but serviceable cloth for four gowns and jackets, and +employed a woman to make them. + +"This was not extravagance, but good use of the money, all around:--for +the poor little milliner whose shop had been destroyed and business +ruined, whose children were then eating the bread of charity; and for +the customless dressmaker, who was also a grievous sufferer by the +flood, with younger sisters to support. We gave her the first work she +had had for weeks, and her gratitude was good to see. + +"As for merchants, who were all on the verge of failure, but making +heroic efforts to keep afloat--Heaven knows we did them injury enough +every day of our stay in Galveston, to be thankful for the privilege of +occasionally becoming their patrons. Not only had they suffered immense +losses by the storm, their stocks being practically ruined and customers +gone--but who would buy, so long as the Red Cross had food and clothes +to give away, without money and without price? Though ours is a noble +and necessary work, it is never to the advantage of the local merchants, +as a little reflection will show. + +"Another case was that of a young woman, who, with an aged relative, was +keeping a hotel in a near-by village, when the floods lifted their house +from its foundations and ruined everything in it. Its four walls stood, +however, and furnished shelter for all the houseless neighbors, who +flocked in, naked and hungry, and with whom the generous girl divided +her last garment and bit of food. Death also entered the family, twice +within a few weeks--the last time leaving a sister's four half-grown +children for this young woman to maintain. Take them she must, because +they had nowhere else to go. Finding her in terrible straits, without +even clothes to wear to her sister's funeral, were we not justified in +buying the heroic young woman a decent suit of black, besides sending +her a box of food supplies? Why were we there, if not to exercise +judgment in the matter of relief? If merely to distribute second-hand +articles, without discrimination, we might have saved ourselves much +peril and hardship by remaining at home, and sending the boxes down to +take care of themselves. + +"None of us will ever forget the grandniece of an ex-President of the +United States--a handsome and imposing woman of middle age, traveled, +educated, and evidently accustomed to the best society. She called one +day at headquarters, and although she did not ask for aid, the truth +came out in a heart-to-heart talk with Miss Barton that she had lost all +in the storm and had not where to lay her head, nor food for the morrow; +even the clothes she wore were not her own. Nobody living could put this +lady on the pauper list, and none with a spark of human feeling could +wish to wound her pride. Our honored President, who reads hearts as +others do open books, clasped this unfortunate sister's hand--and left +in it a bank-note--I do not know of what denomination, but let us hope +it was not a small one. The look of surprise and gratitude that flashed +over that woman's face was worth going far to see, as, speechless with +emotion, the tears streaming down her cheeks, she turned away. + +"One might go on multiplying incidents by the hour, did time permit. +There were teachers to be fitted out with suitable clothes before the +opening of the schools; boys and girls needing school-books and shoes, +caps, and jackets; new-born babes to be provided, whose wardrobes, +prepared in advance, had been swept away; mothers of families, destitute +of the commonest conveniences of life, to whom the gift of a pan or +kettle was a godsend; aged people, whose declining years must be +comforted; invalids to be cheered with little luxuries. My greatest +regret is that we had not hundreds of dollars to use for every one that +was expended in these directions." + + +My stenographer, Miss Agnes Coombs, found her post by me, and sixty to +eighty letters a day, taken from dictation, made up the clerical round +of the office of the president. This duty fell in between attending the +daily meetings of the relief committee and receiving constant calls both +in and out of the city. + +Our men made up their living-room at the warehouse. The few women +remained at the hotel, the only suitable place in the town. + +Later on arrived a shipload of supplies from the business people of New +York, which were stored with the Galveston committee, and we were asked +to aid in the distribution of these supplies, and to a certain extent we +did, but succeeded in organizing a committee of citizens, ladies and +gentlemen, to carry out and complete this distribution. + +From lack of knowledge of the real conditions of the disaster and its +geographical extent, this munificent donation had been assigned to the +"Relief of Galveston," and thus, technically, Galveston had no authority +to administer a pound or a dollar to any communities or persons outside +of the precincts of the city proper. This left at least twenty counties +on the mainland on the other side of the Gulf, some of which were as +badly wrecked and ruined as Galveston itself, without a possibility of +the slightest benefit from this great, generous gift. + +Seeing this pitiful and innocently unjust condition of affairs, the +result of ignorance of relief work, undertaken with much zeal but scant +knowledge and no experience, we sought a way to atone for the mistake, +so far as we might be able. + +Immediately closing our relief rooms in Galveston I had all Red Cross +supplies shipped to Houston, and relief for the mainland opened there. +These were farming districts, and I directed intelligent inquiry to be +made as to what was most needed by the devastated farm lands and their +owners. All was swept away--sometimes as far as forty miles back into +the level country; often the soil itself was washed away, the home and +all smaller animals destroyed, and no feed for the larger ones to +subsist on. The poor farmers walked their desolated fields and wrung +their hands. + +It proved that this was the strawberry section of Southern Texas, and +these were the strawberry growers that supplied the early berries to our +Northern market. For miles not a plant was left and no means to +replant. This was reported to me on the first day's investigation, and +also that if plants could be obtained and set within two weeks a half +crop could be grown this year and the industry restored. That seemed a +better occupation for these poor fellows than walking the ground and +wringing their hands. The messenger was sent back at daybreak to +ascertain how many plants would be needed to replant these lands, where +they were accustomed to procure them, and what varieties were best +adapted to their use. + +That night brought again the messenger to say that a million and a half +of plants would reset the lands and that their supply came from the +nurseries in North Carolina, Illinois, Arkansas, and Louisiana. +Directions were sent back to Mr. Ward to order the plants to be there in +two weeks. This was done. Only thirty-eight thousand plants were injured +in transit, and those were generously resupplied by the shippers. Within +the two weeks this million and a half of strawberry plants were set. It +was estimated that fully a third of a crop was realized that year, and +it is safe to predict that one-half the readers of this little sketch +will partake of the fruits of these Red Cross relief strawberry fields +this very springtime. + +Other needs to a large amount were supplied by Mr. Ward, and we left no +idle, wringing hands on the mainlands of Texas. + +I had never left Galveston. Some other thoughtful reader may pitifully +ask, what became of these miles of wreckage and the dead on the +Galveston seashore? + +At this distant day it may be safe to tell. I recall that at the time +much criticism was indulged in. + +All were burned. + +The heat grew greater and the stench stronger every day. They tried to +remove the _débris_ and get the bodies out for burial. No human being +could work in that putrefying mass. Previously had come the glorious +thought of getting them into boats and shipping them a mile out to sea. +With hopeful hearts this experiment was tried for one day. Alas! the +night tide brought them all back to shore. The elements of earth and +water had refused--what remained but fire? Openings in the long +continuous lines were cut through at given spaces, the fire engines set +to play on the open, and the torch applied to the end of sections; thus +a general conflagration of the city was prevented, and from day to day +the pile diminished. + +The stench of burning flesh permeated every foot of the city. Who could +long withstand this? Before the end of three months there was scarcely a +well person in Galveston. My helpers grew pale and ill, and even I, who +have resisted the effect of so many climates, needed the help of a +steadying hand as I walked to the waiting Pullman on the track, +courteously tendered free of charge to take us away. + +This is a tedious story; but if gone through, one has a little insight +into the labor of a Red Cross field of relief. There are twenty in my +recollection, and this was by no means the hardest or the most useful. +They have been lived, but never told. + +I beg my readers to bear in mind that this is not romance that I am +writing, where I can place my characters in the best light and shape +results at will, but history, with my personages still alive, ready to +attest the reality of this statement. That grand committee of Galveston +relief--than whom no nobler body of men I have ever met--are, I hope, +all yet alive to testify to the conditions and statements made. + +I have dedicated this little volume to the people with whom, and for +whom, have gone the willing labors of twenty-five years--initial labors, +untried methods, and object lessons. Well or ill, they have carried with +them the best intentions and the best judgment given for the purpose. +Whatever may betide or the future have in store for the little work so +simply commenced, so humbly carried on, merely a helper with no thought +of leadership, it bears along with it the memories of pain assuaged, +hope revived, endeavor strengthened, and lives saved. + +To the noble sympathies of generous hearts these results are due, and +yet it is not in its past that the glories or the benefits of the Red +Cross lie, but in the possibilities it has created for the future; in +the lessons it has taught; in the avenues to humane effort it has +opened, and in the union of beneficent action between people and +Government, when once comprehended and effected, that shall constitute +a bulwark against the mighty woes sure to come sooner or later to all +peoples and all nations. + +To you--the people of America--this sacred trust is committed, in your +hands the charge is laid. To none will your help ever be so precious as +it has been to me, for in its proud growth and strength none will ever +so need you. + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's A Story of the Red Cross, by Clara Barton + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A STORY OF THE RED CROSS *** + +***** This file should be named 30230-8.txt or 30230-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/3/0/2/3/30230/ + +Produced by Chuck Greif, Martin Pettit and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This +book was produced from scanned images of public domain +material from the Google Print project.) + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: A Story of the Red Cross + Glimpses of Field Work + +Author: Clara Barton + +Release Date: October 10, 2009 [EBook #30230] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A STORY OF THE RED CROSS *** + + + + +Produced by Chuck Greif, Martin Pettit and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This +book was produced from scanned images of public domain +material from the Google Print project.) + + + + + + +</pre> + + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_i" id="Page_i">[Pg i]</a></span></p> + +<p class="tbrk"> </p> + +<h1>A STORY OF THE<br />RED CROSS</h1> + +<p class="tbrk"> </p> + +<hr /> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_ii" id="Page_ii">[Pg ii]</a></span></p> + +<div class="center"><img src="images/i001.jpg" width='449' height='641' alt=" CLARA BARTON From a photograph taken in St. Petersburg in July, 1902, showing the +decorations conferred upon her by the Czar and the Empress Dowager" /></div> + + +<h4>CLARA BARTON<br /><br />From a photograph taken in St. Petersburg in July, 1902,<br />showing the +decorations conferred upon her by the<br />Czar and the Empress Dowager</h4> + +<hr /> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_iii" id="Page_iii">[Pg iii]</a></span></p> + +<h1>A STORY OF THE<br />RED CROSS</h1> + +<h3>GLIMPSES OF FIELD WORK</h3> + +<h3>BY</h3> + +<h2>CLARA BARTON</h2> + +<h4>FOUNDER OF THE AMERICAN NATIONAL RED CROSS<br />AND PRESIDENT, 1881-1904</h4> + +<p class="tbrk"> </p> + +<div class="center"><img src="images/i003.jpg" width='100' height='118' alt="Logo" /></div> + +<p class="tbrk"> </p> + +<h4>NEW YORK<br />D. APPLETON AND COMPANY<br />MCMIV</h4> + +<hr /> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_iv" id="Page_iv">[Pg iv]</a></span></p> + +<p class="tbrk"> </p> + +<h4><span class="smcap">Copyright, 1904, by</span><br />D. APPLETON AND COMPANY</h4> + +<p class="tbrk"> </p> + +<h4><i>Published, June, 1904</i></h4> + +<p class="tbrk"> </p> + +<hr /> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_v" id="Page_v">[Pg v]</a></span></p> + +<h2>PREFACE</h2> + +<hr class="smler" /> + +<p>Since the foundation of the Red Cross in America, many direful +calamities have afflicted the country. In each of these visitations the +Red Cross has acted in some degree as the Almoner—the distributer and +organizer—of the bountiful measures of relief that have been poured out +by the American people.</p> + +<p>Its work has been accomplished quietly and without ostentation. All the +relief has been administered—not as charity—but as God-sent succor to +our brothers and sisters who have been overwhelmed by some mighty +convulsion of the forces of nature.</p> + +<p>The wreckage has been cleared away, the stricken people have been +wisely, tenderly, and calmly guided out of panic and despair on to the +road of self-help and cooperative effort to restore their shattered +homes and broken fortunes; and then the Red Cross has retired as quietly +as it came, and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_vi" id="Page_vi">[Pg vi]</a></span> few, outside of the people immediately concerned, have +realized the beneficent powers of help and healing that have fallen like +a benediction upon the stricken wherever that sacred symbol of humanity +has made its way.</p> + +<p>It is my thought that a brief account of the work of the Red Cross +during the past twenty-five years will be of interest to the American +people. In a volume of this size it must of necessity be but a brief +outline, sufficient, however, to convey a clear impression of what the +Red Cross really means to every individual in this great country of +ours.</p> + +<p>To the thousands of American men and women whose generous bounty has +made the work of the Red Cross possible, to the stricken and distressed +who because of it have been helped back to life and hope, and to all the +friends of the great, universal humanity which it typifies, this small +book is lovingly dedicated.</p> + +<p class="right"><span class="smcap">Clara Barton.</span></p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Glen Echo, Maryland,</span><br /> + <i>May 15, 1904.</i></p> + +<hr /> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_vii" id="Page_vii">[Pg vii]</a></span></p> + +<h2>CONTENTS</h2> + +<hr class="smler" /> + +<div class="index"> +<ul> +<li><a href="#I">I</a></li> +<li><span class="smcap">Early History.</span> 1880-1884</li> +<li><a href="#II">II</a></li> +<li><span class="smcap">The Texas Famine and the Mount Vernon Cyclone.</span> 1885-1888</li> +<li><a href="#III">III</a></li> +<li><span class="smcap">Yellow Fever in Florida.</span> 1887</li> +<li><a href="#IV">IV</a></li> +<li><span class="smcap">The Johnstown Flood.</span> 1889</li> +<li><a href="#V">V</a></li> +<li><span class="smcap">The Russian Famine.</span> 1891</li> +<li><a href="#VI">VI</a></li> +<li><span class="smcap">The Sea Island Relief.</span> 1893</li> +<li><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_viii" id="Page_viii">[Pg viii]</a></span><a href="#VII">VII</a></li> +<li><span class="smcap">Armenian Relief.</span> 1896</li> +<li><a href="#VIII">VIII</a></li> +<li><span class="smcap">Cuba.</span> 1898</li> +<li><a href="#IX">IX</a></li> +<li><span class="smcap">Galveston.</span> 1900</li> +</ul> +</div> + +<hr /> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1" id="Page_1">[Pg 1]</a></span></p> + +<h1>A STORY OF THE RED<br />CROSS</h1> + +<hr class="smler" /> + +<h2><a name="I" id="I"></a>I</h2> + +<h3>EARLY HISTORY</h3> + +<h3>1880-1884</h3> + +<blockquote><p class="center">"I have lived much that I have not written, but I have written +nothing that I have not lived."</p></blockquote> + +<p>It was a little blue-eyed girl of ten who sat on a low hassock at my +feet, slowly drawing the soft auburn curls between her fingers, when, +suddenly lifting her head and looking me earnestly in the face, she +exclaimed: "What is the Red Cross? Please tell me about it; I can not +understand it."</p> + +<p>There was a pleading earnestness in the tone not to be resisted, and +laying down my pen I commenced to explain to her the principles, +history, and uses of the Red Cross. She listened anxiously, the pretty +brow knitted; she seemed more and more perplexed, until, as if a light +had broken over her, she exclaimed, half impatiently:</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2" id="Page_2">[Pg 2]</a></span></p><p>"Not that—not that, tell me something it <i>does</i>—it and you, I can +understand it better then."</p> + +<p>A light had broken over me. It was a story the child wanted to +illustrate the principle and bring it home to her. A story she must have.</p> + +<p>In a half hour she felt that she knew it all and was an ardent devotee +even of its principles. But she had given me more than I had given her. +Here was food for thought.</p> + +<p>For twenty-five years I had labored to explain the principles and uses +of the Red Cross; had written enough for a modest library of what it was +and what it meant, but, lest I seem egotistical, not a page of what it +did. The child had given me an idea that I would for once put into +practice, and write a few pages of what the Red Cross had done, leaving +principles to present themselves.</p> + +<p>I will commence even back of itself.</p> + +<p>Forty years ago, before most of you were born, a great war had been +fought in America, in which thousands died from battle and hardship, and +thousands more still left alive were worn out in the untried and +unsystematized efforts at relief that had been made through nearly five +years of <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3" id="Page_3">[Pg 3]</a></span>continuous war. Of these latter, many were women who dragged +out weary lives in their own homes, some went to hospitals and retreats +for rest and care, and some were sent abroad. One of these latter I knew +personally, for, as Patrick would say, "It was me-self."</p> + +<p>To me it seemed a hard sentence that our physicians imposed. I had grown +to love the country we had so toiled for, and did not want to leave it. +Its very woes had made it dear to me. It had quiet once more, and a +peace that was not all a peace. It had its early soldier homes, its +fast-filling cemeteries, and the tender memory of a martyred President +resting over us like a pall. These had come to seem like a heritage to +me, and in my weakness I clung to them. Still, the order was obeyed and I went.</p> + +<p>Then followed travels in strange and foreign lands, other wars, illness +and suffering of my own, until eleven years later I came almost a +stranger again to our Government with another work, which I believed to +be for its good and the good of our people.</p> + +<p>This time I brought the idea of the treaty of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_4" id="Page_4">[Pg 4]</a></span> Geneva, asking our +Government, at the request of other Governments, to examine and to unite +with it, if found desirable. This effort with the Government covers five +years of hard, continuous labor, during which was sought the aid of +friends known in other years. At the end of this time, by advice of our +second martyred President and three members of his historic +cabinet—James G. Blaine, William Windom, and Robert T. Lincoln—a +national society was formed, known as the Association of the American +Red Cross, and, by desire and nomination of President Garfield, I was +made its president, and requested to name my officers.</p> + +<p>The association was formed during the winter of 1880-'81, with the view +on the part of President Garfield of facilitating the adoption of the +treaty which he would name in his next message, which message was never written.</p> + +<p>Before the message, he, too, had joined the martyred ranks, and his +gentle successor, Arthur, filled his chair and kept his promise, and +through action of his own executive department the treaty was adopted; +indorsed by action of the Senate; proclaimed by the President to our +people; later <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_5" id="Page_5">[Pg 5]</a></span>ratified by the International Powers in the Congress of +Berne, with the pledge to render relief to unfortunate victims of war, +and the privilege, by my request, of rendering similar relief to the +victims of great national calamities or disasters.</p> + +<p>All this had been accomplished by the kindly help of a few personal +friends, tireless and unrewarded, and while the news of the accession of +the Government of the United States, to the treaty of Geneva, lit +bonfires that night (for I cabled it by their request) in the streets of +Switzerland, France, Germany, and Spain, a little four-line paragraph in +the congressional doings of the day in the <i>Evening Star</i>, of +Washington, alone announced to the people of America that an +international treaty had been added to their rolls.</p> + +<p>No personal distinction had been bestowed, no one honored, no one +politically advanced, no money of the Government expended, and, like +other things of like nature and history, it was left in obscurity to +make its own way and live its own hard life.</p> + +<p>Thus the spring of 1882 found us—a few people, tired and weak, with +five years of costly service, a treaty gained, with no fund, no war nor<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_6" id="Page_6">[Pg 6]</a></span> +prospect of any, and no helpful connection with or acknowledgment by the Government.</p> + +<p>Soon the news of "Half the State of Michigan on Fire" called us to +action on our own laws of civil relief. A little draft on the purse of +the new, inexperienced president of the association paved the way for an +agent to go to the field. Others generously joined, all reported to our +friend and advocate, Senator Omar D. Conger, of Michigan. Some supplies +were sent, a society or two formed to provide and forward them. The +agents remained until the suffering was relieved, and thus the first +field relief work of which we have any record in the United States was commenced.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile, I had been asked by the Senate to write the history of the +Red Cross, and show the official action taken by our Government on the +acceptance of the treaty, which history the Senate would have printed at +the Government printing-office. This volume I prepared as requested. A +thousand copies were printed for information to the public, to be +circulated by the society; but with no frank or other means provided, +and with a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7">[Pg 7]</a></span> postage of some ten cents a volume, we were compelled to +limit the circulation to the means.</p> + +<p>The following year, 1883, a disastrous rise in the Ohio River called for +our aid. Dr. J. B. Hubbell, who had been our agent the year before, was +called from Michigan University, where he was completing a course, to +examine the needs of the inhabitants and take such relief as we could +provide. There was little loss of life, and the destruction of property +lay largely in the loss of stock, and washing away of the soil, +vegetation, and the means of reproduction.</p> + +<p>A remarkable provision for this latter loss was made by the gift of Mr. +Hiram Sibley, the noted seed dealer of Rochester—who had become +associated with the Red Cross, being an old-time friend of the family of +its president—of ten thousand dollars' worth of seed, to replant the +washed-out lands adown the Mississippi. As the waters ran off the mud +immediately baked in the sunshine, making planting impossible after a +few days. Accordingly, Mr. Sibley's gift was sent with all haste to our +agent at Memphis, and in forty-eight hours, by train and boat, it was +distributed in the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_8" id="Page_8">[Pg 8]</a></span> four States—Tennessee, Arkansas, Louisiana, and +Mississippi—and planted for the crops of the coming season.</p> + +<p>Besides this generous gift of material, a little money had been raised +and sent by the three societies of the Red Cross which had been formed, +viz.: Dansville and Syracuse, a few hundreds—something more from the +Red Cross at Rochester—always thoughtful and generous, which served to +help in the distribution of clothing and supplies promiscuously sent. +And at the finish of the work, when every donation had been carefully +acknowledged, one thousand dollars and some cents were left in the +treasury unexpended.</p> + +<p>A cyclone occurring within a few months in Louisiana and southern +Alabama, cutting a swath from New Orleans to Mobile, decided us to send +eight hundred dollars of this reserve to the secretary of the Red Cross +Society of New Orleans, which sum was forwarded by our vice-president, +Mr. A. S. Solomons. This left a sum of two hundred dollars and some +cents in the treasury with which to commence another field.</p> + +<p>This was the commencement of 1883. In May,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">[Pg 9]</a></span> at the solicitation of +General Butler, then Governor of Massachusetts, I took the +superintendence of the Massachusetts Woman's State Prison at Sherborn, +at the customary salary of fifteen hundred dollars a year. To this duty +the Legislature added, after my arrival, those of secretary and +treasurer, without increase of salary, discharging the former incumbent, +a man, at three thousand dollars a year. I accepted the new duties, +became my own bondsman for ten thousand dollars, by transfer of that +amount of bonds from my bankers, Brown Brothers, New York, to the +Massachusetts State Treasury at Boston—remaining in charge of the +prison until the close of the year, and the retirement of General Butler as Governor.</p> + +<p>In the short and interrupted existence of our association—scarce two +years—our few official advisers had formed some general regulations, +relating to our course of procedure. Realizing that to be of any real +service as a body of relief for sudden disasters, we must not only be +independent of the slow, ordinary methods of soliciting relief, but in +its means of application as well, it was decided:</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10">[Pg 10]</a></span></p><p><i>First.</i> To never solicit relief or ask for contributions.</p> + +<p><i>Second.</i> Not to pay salaries to officers—paying out money only to +those whom we must employ for manual labor—and as our officers served +without compensation they should not be taxed for dues.</p> + +<p><i>Third.</i> To keep ourselves always in possession of a stated sum of money +to commence a field of disaster—this sum to be independent even of the +closed doors of a bank which might prevent leaving for a field on a +Sunday or holiday.</p> + +<p><i>Fourth.</i> To take this sum of our own, going directly to a field with +such help as needed, giving no notice until there, overlooking the +field, and learning the extent of the trouble and conditions of the +people, making immediate and reliable report to the country through the +Associated Press, some of whose officers were our own Red Cross officers +as well. These reports would be truthful, unexaggerated, and +non-sensational statements that could be relied upon.</p> + +<p><i>Fifth.</i> That if, under these conditions, the people chose to make use +of us as distributers of the relief which they desired to contribute to +the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">[Pg 11]</a></span>sufferers, we would do our best to serve them while at the +field—make report directly to each and all contributors, so far as in +our power, and proceed to carry out any directions and apply the relief +at hand, in the wisest manner possible, among a dazed and afflicted community.</p> + +<p>To inaugurate this method, I, as president, placed a sum of three +thousand dollars, free of bank or interest, upon momentary call, at the +service of the association. On more than one occasion it has been taken +on Sunday, when every bank in the country was closed and charitable +bodies were at their prayers. Even the relief of Johnstown was thus +commenced. This provision has never for a day been broken. It is as good +at this moment as it was in 1883, and from the same source. It may not +have been a "business-like" method nor one to be approved by stated +boards of directors nor squared by bank regulations. But the foes we had +to meet were not thus regulated, and had to be met as they came; and so +they always must be if any good is to be accomplished.</p> + +<p>Until the Government and society can control the elements, and regulate +a spring freshet, a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">[Pg 12]</a></span> whirlwind or a cyclone, they will find that red +tape is not strong enough to hold their ravages in check.</p> + +<p>It was well that these regulations had been formulated and their +provisions acted upon, as the state of our treasury and the conditions +immediately following will show.</p> + +<p>I returned to Washington upon my retirement from the superintendence of +the State Prison at Sherborn, accompanied by Dr. Hubbell, who, having +completed his university course, had come to the Red Cross for permanent +service. Before we had even time to unpack our trunks, the news of the +fearful rise of the Ohio River, of 1884, began to shock the country with +its loss of life and property.</p> + +<p>I had never been present at a disaster in civil life. It had never +occurred to me that they recurred so frequently. But if by virtue of my +office as president I was liable to be called every year to preside over +and provide for them, it was essential that I learn my duties +experimentally. I accordingly joined Dr. Hubbell, who had been appointed +general field agent, and proceeded to Pittsburg, the headwaters of the rise.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[Pg 13]</a></span></p><p>Telegraphing from there to our agents of the Associated Press, we +proceeded to Cincinnati, to find the city afloat. Its inhabitants were +being fed from boats, through the second-story windows. These conditions +were telegraphed. Supplies commenced to flow in, not only from our own +societies but from the people of the country. Warehouses were filled, in +spite of all we dispensed—but there were four hundred miles of this +distress—even to Cairo, where the Ohio, sometimes thirty miles in +width, discharged its swollen waters into the Mississippi.</p> + +<p>Recognizing this condition lower down the river as the greater need, we +transferred our supplies and distribution to Evansville, Ind. Scarcely +had we reached there when a cyclone struck the river below, and +traveling up its entire length, leveled every standing object upon its +banks, swept the houses along like cockle-shells, uprooted the greatest +trees and whirled them down its mighty current—catching here and there +its human victims, or leaving them with life only, houseless, homeless, +wringing their hands on a frozen, fireless shore—with every coal-pit +filled with water,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[Pg 14]</a></span> and death from freezing more imminent than from +hunger.</p> + +<p>There were four hundred miles more of this, and no way of reaching them +by land. With all our tons of clothing, these people and their homeless +little children were freezing. There was but one way—the Government +boats had come with rations of food—we too must take to the water.</p> + +<p>At eight o'clock in the morning I chartered my first boat, with captain +and crew, at sixty dollars per day, to be at once laden to the water's +edge with coal—our own supplies to be stored on the upper deck—and at +four o'clock in the afternoon, as the murky sun was hiding its clouded +face, the bell of the "John V. Troop," in charge of her owner, announced +the departure of the first Red Cross relief-boat ever seen on American waters.</p> + +<p>I found myself that night with a stanch crew of thirty men and a skilled +captain, and a boat under my command. I had never until then held such a +command. We wove the river diagonally from side to side—from village to +village—where the homeless, shivering people were gathered—called for +the most responsible person—a <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[Pg 15]</a></span>clergyman if one could be found, threw +off boxes of clothing, and hove off coal for a two weeks' supply, and +steamed away to the opposite side, leaving only gratitude, wonder at who +we were, where we came from, and what that strange flag meant? We +improved every opportunity to replenish our supply of coal, and reached +Cairo in five days.</p> + +<p>Waiting only to reload, we returned up the river, resupplied the revived +villages of people, too grateful for words, reaching Evansville at the +end of three weeks, where more supplies than we had taken awaited us. +St. Louis and Chicago had caught the fever of relief, had arranged +societies, and had asked permission to join our aid. Up to this time the +Mississippi had given no indication of trouble, but now its great June +rise commenced.</p> + +<p>The Government boats, by another appropriation, were sent to the +Mississippi, and we prepared to supplement them. Discharging our Ohio +River boat we went to St. Louis by rail and chartered the "Mattie Bell." +The Red Cross Societies of St. Louis and Chicago, under their respective +presidents and officers in charge of them and their funds, joined us, +and together we prepared to feed<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[Pg 16]</a></span> and rescue the perishing stock—as +well as people adown the Mississippi. The animals had never been saved +in an overflow; and besides the cruelty of letting them starve by +thousands, the loss to the people was irreparable, as the following year +must inevitably be replete with idleness and poverty till more stock +could be obtained to work with.</p> + +<p>We found as commissary at St. Louis, General Beckwith, the historic +commissary-general of the old civil war, who had personally +superintended the loading of my wagons in Washington, year after year, +for the battle-fields of Virginia. He came on board the "Mattie Bell" +and personally superintended the lading—clothing, corn, oats, salt, and +hay—besides putting upon the Government boats large quantities of +supplies which we could not take on at first, and giving us his +blessing, watched us steam out on our joint mission; they putting off +rations of meat and meal—we supplementing with clothing for the people +and feed for the stock. We purchased all we could at cities as we +passed, picked our course among the broken levees and roaring crevasses, +all the way to New Orleans. The hungry were fed, the naked<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[Pg 17]</a></span> clothed, and +the stock saved. The negro had his mule, and the planter his horses and +cattle to carry on his work when the flood should disappear. We had +lighter boats, still lighter purses, but lightest of all were the +grateful hearts that a kind Providence and a generous people had given +to us the privilege of serving.</p> + +<p>We discharged the "Mattie Bell" at St. Louis, bidding adieu to the +officers of the Red Cross Society, who had rendered most acceptable +service to the cause. They had brought their own funds and material—had +personally administered them from the decks of the "Mattie Bell," made +their own reports, and modestly retired to their home duties, there to +await the next call.</p> + +<p>Chicago, which had a new Red Cross Society, formed almost for the +occasion, through its most worthy and notable representative, Rev. E. I. +Galvin, did the same, performing the long journey with us, +superintending the distribution of his own relief and making his own +report with such convincing power, that societies of no less excellence +than the Lend-a-Hand were its outgrowth.</p> + +<p>I am thus particular to mention this from the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[Pg 18]</a></span> loving gratitude +fervently cherished for strong, tender help in the day of small things. +Their contributions largely served to run our boat and keep our crew, +and with heads, hearts, and hands we struggled as one, to avert the +destruction so rife around us.</p> + +<p>From St. Louis we crossed over to Evansville, rechartered the "John V. +Troop," and put on accumulated supplies. The waters of the Ohio had +subsided and the people were returning to the old spots of earth that +once had been their home, but there was neither house to live in nor +tool to work the land with. We reloaded with pine lumber, ready-made +doors, windows, household utensils, stores and groceries, farming +utensils, and with a good force of carpenters proceeded up the Ohio once +more. The sight of the disconsolate, half-clad farmer waiting on the +bank told us where his home had been—and was not.</p> + +<p>Three hours' work of our carpenters would put up a one-room house, +meanwhile our efficient men and women helpers, among them the best +ladies of Evansville, would furnish it with beds, bedding, clothing, +provisions for the family, and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[Pg 19]</a></span> farming tools ready to go on with the +season's work.</p> + +<p>Picture, if possible, this scene. A strange ship with a strange flag +steaming up the river. It halts, turns from its course, and draws up to +the nearest landing. Some persons disembark and speak a few minutes with +the family. Then, a half dozen strong mechanics man a small boat laden +with all material for constructing a one-room house—floor, roof, doors, +windows. The boat returns for furniture. Within three hours the strange +ship sails away, leaving a bewildered family in a new and clean house +with bed, bedding, clothing, table, chairs, dishes, candles, a little +cooking-stove with a blazing fire, all the common quota of cooking +utensils, and meat, meal, and groceries; a plow, rake, axe, hoe, shovel, +spade, hammer, and nails. We ask few questions. They ask none. The +whistle of the "Troop" is as welcome to their ears as the flag to their eyes.</p> + +<p>At one of these wrecked villages the entire little hamlet of people +stood on our decks. Only four, they said, were left at home, and these +were sick. They had selected their lawyer to speak their<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[Pg 20]</a></span> thanks. No +words will ever do justice to the volume of native eloquence which +seemed to roll unbidden from his lips. He finished with these sentences:</p> + +<p>"At noon on that day we were in the blackness of despair—the whole +village in the power of the demon of waters—hemmed in by sleet and ice, +without fire enough to cook its little food. When the bell struck nine +that night, there were seventy-five families on their knees before their +blazing grates, thanking God for fire and light, and praying blessings +on the phantom ship with the unknown device that had come as silently as +the snow, they knew not whence, and gone, they knew not whither."</p> + +<p>When we finished the voyage of relief, we had covered the Ohio River +from Cincinnati to Cairo and back twice, and the Mississippi from St. +Louis to New Orleans, and return—four months on the rivers—traveled +over eight thousand miles, distributed in relief of money and estimated +material, one hundred and seventy-five thousand dollars—gathered as we used it.</p> + +<p>We left at one point on the Ohio River a <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[Pg 21]</a></span>well-lettered cross-board, +"Little Six Red Cross Landing"—probably there to this day. The story of +The Little Six might be given in their own little letter:</p> + +<p class="tbrk"> </p> + +<p class="right"><span class="smcap">Waterford, Pa.</span>, <i>March</i> 24, 1884.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Dear Miss Barton</span>:</p> + +<p>We read your nice letter in the Dispatch and we would like very much to +see that house called "The Little Six," and we little six are so glad +that we helped six other little children, and we thank you for going to +so much trouble in putting our money just where we would have put it +ourselves. Some time again when you want money to help you in your good +work call on "The Little Six."</p> + +<blockquote><p><span class="smcap">Joe Farrar</span>, twelve years old.<br /> +<span class="smcap">Florence Howe</span>, eleven years old.<br /> +<span class="smcap">Mary Barton</span>, eleven years old.<br /> +<span class="smcap">Reed White</span>, eleven years old.<br /> +<span class="smcap">Bertie Ainsworth</span>, ten years old.<br /> +<span class="smcap">Loyd Barton</span>, seven years old.</p></blockquote> + +<p class="tbrk"> </p> + +<p>These children had given a public entertainment for the benefit of the +flood sufferers. They themselves suggested it, planned and carried it +out, and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[Pg 22]</a></span> raised fifty-one dollars and twenty-five cents, which they +sent to the editor of the Eric Dispatch, asking him to send it "where it +would do the most good." The Dispatch forwarded it to the president of +the Red Cross, with an account of the entertainment given by "The Little Six."</p> + +<p>The entire matter was too beautiful and withal unique, to meet only a +common fate in its results. I could not, for a moment, think to mingle +the gift of the little dramatists with the common fund for general +distribution, and sought through all these weeks for a fitting +disposition to make of it, where it would all go in some special manner +to relieve some special necessity. I wanted it to benefit some children +who had "wept on the banks" of the river, which in its madness had +devoured their home.</p> + +<p>As we neared that picturesque spot on the Illinois side of the Ohio, +known as "Cave-in Rock," we were hailed by a woman and her young +daughter. The boat "rounded to" and made the landing and they came on +board—a tall, thin, worn woman in tattered clothes, with a good but +inexpressibly sad face, who wished to tell us that a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[Pg 23]</a></span> package which we +had left for her at the town on our way down had never reached her. She +was a widow—Mrs. Plew—whose husband, a good river pilot, had died from +overwork on a hard trip to New Orleans in the floods of the Mississippi +two years before, leaving her with six children dependent upon her, the +eldest a lad in his "teens," the youngest a little baby girl. They owned +their home, just on the brink of the river, a little "farm" of two or +three acres, two horses, three cows, thirty hogs, and a half hundred +fowls, and in spite of the bereavement, they had gone on bravely, +winning the esteem and commendation of all who knew them for thrift and +honest endeavor. Last year the floods came heavily upon them, driving +them from their home, and the two horses were lost. Next the cholera +came among the hogs and all but three died. Still they worked on; and +held the home. This spring came the third flood. The water climbed up +the bank, crept in at the door, and filled the lower story of the house. +They had nowhere to remove their household goods, and stored them in the +garret carefully packed, and went out to find a shelter in an old log +house near<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[Pg 24]</a></span> by, used for a corn-crib. Day by day they watched the house, +hailed passing boats for news of the rise and fall of the water above, +always trusting the house would stand—"and it would," the mother said, +"for it was a good, strong house, but for the storm." The winds came, +and the terrible gale that swept the valley like a tornado, with the +water at its height, leveling whole towns, descended and beat upon that +house, and it fell. In the morning there was no house there, and the +waves in their fury rushed madly on. Then these little children "stood +and wept on the banks of the river," and the desolation and fear in the +careful mother's heart, none but herself and her God can know.</p> + +<p>They lived on in the corn-crib, and it was from it they came to hail us +as we passed to-day. Something had been told us of them on our downward +trip, and a package had been left them at "Cave-in Rock," which they had +not received. We went over shoe-tops in mud to their rude home, to find +it one room of logs, an old stone chimney, with a cheerful fire of +drift-wood and a <i>clean</i> hearth, two wrecks of beds, a table, and two +chairs which some<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[Pg 25]</a></span> kind neighbor had loaned. The Government boats had +left them rations. There was an air of thrift, even in their desolation, +a plank walk was laid about the door, the floor was cleanly swept, and +the twenty-five surviving hens, for an equal number were lost in the +storm, clucked and craiked comfortably about the door, and there were +two-and-a-half dozen fresh eggs to sell us at a higher rate than paid in +town. We stood, as we had done so many scores of times during the last +few weeks, and looked this pitiful scene in the face. There were +misfortune, poverty, sorrow, want, loneliness, dread of the future, but +fortitude, courage, integrity, and honest thrift.</p> + +<p>"Would she like to return to the childhood home in Indiana?" we asked +the mother, for we would help them go.</p> + +<p>"No," she said tenderly. "My husband lived and died here. He is buried +here, and I would not like to go away and leave him alone. It won't be +very long, and it is a comfort to the children to be able to visit his +grave. No, I reckon we will stay here, and out of the wreck of the old +house which sticks up out of the mud, we will put up another<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[Pg 26]</a></span> little +hut, higher up on the bank out of the way of the floods, and if it is +only a hut, it will be a home for us and we will get into it, and make +our crop this year."</p> + +<p>There were no dry eyes, but very still hearts, while we listened to this +sorrowful but brave little speech, made with a voice full of tears.</p> + +<p>Our thoughtful field agent, Dr. Hubbell, was the first to speak.</p> + +<p>"Here are six children," he said with an inquiring glance at me.</p> + +<p>No response was needed. The thing was done. We told the mother the story +of "The Little Six" of Waterford, and asked her if that money with +enough more to make up one hundred dollars would help her to get up her +house? It was <i>her</i> turn to be speechless. At length with a struggling, +choking voice she managed to say—"God knows how much it would be to me. +Yes, with my good boys I can do it, and do it well."</p> + +<p>We put in her hands a check for this sum, and directed from the boat +clean boxes of clothing and bedding, to help restore the household, when +the house should have been completed.</p> + +<p>Before we left her, we asked if she would name<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[Pg 27]</a></span> her house when it should +be done? She thought a second, and caught the idea.</p> + +<p>"Yes," she replied quickly, with a really winsome smile on that worn and +weary face, "yes, I shall name it 'The Little Six.'"</p> + +<p>We came to Pittsburg, discharged our empty boat, bade a heart-breaking +good-by to our veteran volunteers from Evansville, who had shared our +toil and pain and who would return on the boat, we taking train once +more for Washington. We had been four months on the rivers, among fogs, +rain, damp, and malaria—run all manner of risks and dangers, but had +lost no life nor property, sunk no boat, and only that I was by this +time too weak to walk without help—all were well.</p> + +<p>Through the thoughtfulness of our new societies—St. Louis and +Chicago—we had been able to meet our share of the expenses, and to keep +good the little personal provision we started with, and were thus ready +to commence another field when it should come.</p> + +<p>On arriving home I found that I was notified by the International +Committee of Geneva, that the Fourth International Conference would be +held in that city in September, and I was requested to <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[Pg 28]</a></span>inform the +United States Government, and ask it to send delegates. With the aid of +a borrowed arm, I made my way up the steps of the Department of State +(that was before the luxury of elevators) and made my errand known to +Secretary Frelinghuysen, who had heard of it and was ready with his reply:</p> + +<p>"Yes, Miss Barton, we will make the needful appointment of delegates to +the International Conference, and I appoint you as our delegate."</p> + +<p>"No, Mr. Frelinghuysen," I said, "I can not go. I have just returned +from field work. I am tired and ill. Furthermore, I have not had time to +make a report of our work."</p> + +<p>"There is no one else who sufficiently understands the Red Cross, and +the provisions of the treaty, that our Government can send, and we can +not afford to make a mistake in the matter of delegates to this first +conference in which our Government shall participate," answered the +Secretary. "As to the report, have you not acknowledged the +contributions to all those who have sent?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, yes; every dollar and every box of goods where the donor was +known," I replied.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[Pg 29]</a></span></p><p>"Has any one complained?" he asked.</p> + +<p>"No; not a single person so far as is known. We have had only thanks."</p> + +<p>"Then to whom would you report?"</p> + +<p>"To you, Mr. Secretary, or to such person or in such manner as you shall designate."</p> + +<p>"I don't want any report; no report is necessary," answered the +Secretary. "Our Government relief-boats have reported you officially, +and all the country knows what you have done and is more than satisfied. +Regarding your illness—you have had too much fresh water, Miss Barton, +I recommend salt—and shall appoint you."</p> + +<p>This was done, and the appropriation for expenses was made, and at my +request Judge Joseph Sheldon, and by invitation Mr. A. S. Solomon, our +vice-president, were also appointed to accompany me. The appropriation +sufficed for all.</p> + +<p>The conference was held at Geneva, September 17, 1884, and thus was had +the first official representation of the United States Government at an +International Conference of the Treaty of Geneva. There have since been +five. I have attended all but one.</p> + +<hr /> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[Pg 30]</a></span></p> + +<h2><a name="II" id="II"></a>II</h2> + +<h3>THE TEXAS FAMINE AND THE MT. VERNON CYCLONE</h3> + +<p>Before the close of the following year, 1885, came what was known as the +"Texas Famine." Thousands of miles of wild land, forming the Pan Handle, +had been suddenly opened by the building of a Southern Railroad. In the +speculative anxiety of the Road to people its newly acquired territory, +unwarranted inducements of climatic advantages had been unscrupulously +held out to the poor farmers of Mississippi, Alabama, and Georgia.</p> + +<p>Lured by the pictures presented them, some thousands of families had +been induced to leave their old, worn-out farms, and with the little +they could carry or drive, reach the new Eldorado, to find a new farm +that needed only the planting to make them rich, prosperous, and happy, +without labor. They planted. The first year brought some returns—the +second was a drought with no returns—the third the same. Hunger for +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[Pg 31]</a></span>themselves and starvation for their stock stared them in the face. They +could not pick up and go back—the rivers were dry from the Rio Grande +to the Brazos—the earth was iron, and the heavens brass; cattle +wandered at will for water and feed, and their bones whitened the plains.</p> + +<p>These were poor little peoples. They tried to make the great State know +of their distress, but the rich railroad proprietors held the <i>press</i>, +and no one knew their condition or could get correct information. At +length a faithful clergyman came to Washington, to President Cleveland, +and the Red Cross.</p> + +<p>We consulted with the President, who gave encouragement for us to go to +Texas and learn the facts.</p> + +<p>In mid-winter, 1886, accompanied by Dr. Hubbell, the journey was +undertaken. We proceeded to Albany, Texas, made headquarters—traveled +over the stricken counties, found wretchedness, hunger, thirst, cold, +heart-breaking discouragement. The third year of drought was upon them, +and the good people of that great State, misled by its press, its press +in turn misled by the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">[Pg 32]</a></span>speculators, innocently discredited every report +of distress, and amused themselves by little sly innuendoes and witty +jokes on the "Texas Famine."</p> + +<p>The condition was pitiful. To them it was hopeless. And yet not a dollar +or a pound was needed outside of Texas. They only required to know the +truth. This then was our task. We ceased to journey over arid fields of +suffering, and turned our steps resolutely to the editorial rooms of the +Dallas and Galveston News, at Dallas. Both editors were present; both +sat half-breathless while the flood of information rolled over them in +no uncertain terms.</p> + +<p>I shall never forget the tears in the mild blue eyes of General Belo, as +he learned what he had done, and was still doing. Twelve hours brought +another issue of the two papers. A column of editorial told the true +situation. A modest contribution of the Red Cross headed a subscription +list, General Belo following with his, and almost immediately the +legislature made an appropriation of one hundred thousand dollars for +food and supplies.</p> + +<p>The tender-hearted and conscience-smitten <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">[Pg 33]</a></span>people sent their donations. +Our task was done. We had seen and conquered.</p> + +<p>In the midst of a cold rain in February we reached Washington. A concise +and full report was made to President Cleveland, saying in conclusion: +"I thank you with all my heart, Mr. President, for the encouragement at +the commencement, and for the privilege of writing you. We have done +this little bit of work faithfully and hope it may meet your approval."</p> + +<p>President Cleveland's letter of thanks still bears testimony of his care +for the people of the country, and his faith in its institutions.</p> + +<p>Not a dollar of outside help passed through our hands, but the little +permanent provision was equal to the occasion and we had still a half +left of our three thousand dollars. That was our first acquaintance with +Texas. Galveston followed many years later with the same firm accord and +good results. The bonds of affection had grown deep and strong between +the great thousand-mile State and the little Red Cross that loved to +serve her.</p> + +<p>In the following year, 1887, we were notified by the International +Committee of Geneva of the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">[Pg 34]</a></span>conference to be held at Carlsruhe, by +invitation of the Grand Duke and Grand Duchess of Baden. We were +directed to inform the Department of State of this fact. We did so, and +an appropriation was made by Congress to defray the expenses of three delegates.</p> + +<p>It may be well to explain that in these appointments the Government does +not place the appropriation in the hands of the appointees, but simply +becomes a guaranty. The appointee provides his own funds. If, after +return, vouchers can be shown that the sum guaranteed has been spent +according to regulations, he is reimbursed in due course.</p> + +<p>Here was at least a contrast from a rough Mississippi River boat and the +crude homes of an unsettled Western State, to the royal carriage waiting +to convey one to the apartments reserved in a palace, the elegance and +culture of a court, the precision of a congress of representatives of +the nations of the world. The questions of humanity discussed by them, +the meeting of friends of other days, the regal bearing of the royal +host and hostess, the last parting from the dear old <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">[Pg 35]</a></span>Emperor of +ninety-two, and his tenderly spoken, "It is the last time, good-by"; the +loving and last farewell of the beloved Empress Augusta, the patron +saint of the Red Cross; Bismarck and Moltke, in review, each with his +Red Cross insignia; the cordial hand grasp and the farewell never +repeated—and all of this attention to and interest in a subject that +the country I had gone to represent scarcely realized had an existence +beyond the receiving of some second-hand clothing, misfit shoes, and a +little money sent by some one to some place, where something bad had happened.</p> + +<p>No one dreamed that it meant anything more, or that it needed anything +after this, and nothing more was done.</p> + +<p>It is only now, after almost two decades and within the last three +months, that we commence to awaken and wonder, with a mingled national +and personal sense of indignation, why our American Red Cross is not as +rich and great as in other nations?</p> + +<p>In February, 1888, occurred the Mt. Vernon, Ill., cyclone, cutting a +broad swath through one-half of the beautiful county-seat, tearing down +all<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">[Pg 36]</a></span> heavy buildings, picking up the lighter ones and sweeping them +along like cardboard.</p> + +<p>In three minutes the work of destruction was over. Ten minutes later the +sun shone out brightly over the ruins of the town, the wails of the +maimed and dying, and the lifeless bodies of the dead.</p> + +<p>Fires broke out on every hand, and the victims pinned down under the +wreckage were subjects for the flames. Appeals for assistance went out, +but by unfortunate press representation failed to arouse the public, +till after several days, when we were reached, through their +representative in Congress, begging that in mercy we go to them. We +arrived in the night, found homes destroyed, hospitals full, scant +medical care, few nurses, food scarce and no money, a relief committee +of excellent men, but little to distribute.</p> + +<p>At daylight we looked over the situation and sent this simple message to +the Associated Press:</p> + +<p class="tbrk"> </p> + +<p>"The pitiless snow is falling on the heads of three thousand people, who +are without homes, without food or clothing, and without money.</p> + +<p class="right">"<span class="smcap">American National Red Cross</span>,<br /> +"Clara Barton, President."</p> + +<p class="tbrk"> </p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[Pg 37]</a></span></p><p>This was all. We assisted their relief committee to arrange for the +receipt and distribution of funds, sent for experienced helpers to take +charge of supplies, to distribute clothing, and aid the hospital +service. We remained two weeks, and left them with more supplies than +they knew how to distribute, and the Citizens' Committee, with +accumulating cash in its treasury of ninety thousand dollars, full of +hope, life, and a gratitude they could not speak.</p> + +<p>As in the Texas famine, we paid our own expenses and no dollar but our +own had passed our hands. We were only glad to do this, in the hope that +we were building up an institution of self-help of the people, that +would one day win its way to their favor and aid.</p> + +<hr /> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">[Pg 38]</a></span></p> + +<h2><a name="III" id="III"></a>III</h2> + +<h3>YELLOW FEVER IN FLORIDA</h3> + +<p>During the same year the yellow fever broke out in Jacksonville, Fla., +and was declared epidemic in September.</p> + +<p>An arrangement had been made between the National Association and the +Auxiliary Society of the Red Cross of New Orleans, which society +embraced the famous old "Howard Association," that, in case of an +outbreak of yellow fever, they would send their immune nurses from the +South, and we of the North would supply the money to support and pay them.</p> + +<p>This arrangement was carried out so far as could be, under the very +natural differences of a medical department of active, professional men, +taking up the treatment of an epidemic of which they knew very little +experimentally, but filled with the enthusiasm of science and hope, and +the unprofessional, fearless, easy-going gait of the old Southern +nurses, white and black, whose whole lives had been spent in just that work.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">[Pg 39]</a></span></p><p>The Red Cross sent no Northern nurses. But eighteen or twenty "Howard +nurses," mainly colored, went out from New Orleans under charge of Col. +Fred. F. Southmayd, their leader of twenty years in epidemics. A part of +his nurses were stationed at Macclenny, and a part went on to +Jacksonville. Under medical direction of their noted "yellow fever +doctor"—a tall Norwegian—Dr. Gill, they did their faithful work and +won their meed of grateful praise.</p> + +<p>Our place was in Washington, to receive, deal carefully with, and hold +back the tide of offered service from the hundreds of enthusiastic, +excited untrained volunteers, rushing on to danger and death. Their +fearless ignorance was a pitiful lesson. In all the hundreds there was +scarcely one who had ever seen a case of yellow fever, but all were sure +they were proof against it. Only three passed us, and two of these had +the fever in Jacksonville.</p> + +<p>When the scourge was ended we met our nurses personally at Camp Perry, +paid and sent them back to New Orleans. All that are living are at our +service still, faithful and true.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">[Pg 40]</a></span></p><p>During the fourth week in November a dispatch to national headquarters +announced that the last band of Red Cross nurses, known as the +"Macclenny Nurses," had finished their work at Enterprise, and would +come into Camp Perry to wait their ten days' quarantine and go home to +New Orleans for Thanksgiving.</p> + +<p>That would mean that seventy-nine days ago their little company of +eighteen, mainly women, steaming on to Jacksonville, under guidance of +their old-time trusted leader, Southmayd, of New Orleans, listened to +his announcement that the town of Macclenny, thirty-eight miles from +Jacksonville, Fla., and through which they would soon pass, was in a +fearful state of distress; a comparatively new town, of a few thousand, +largely Northern and Western people, suddenly-stricken down in scores; +poor, helpless, physicians all ill, and no nurses; quarantined on all +sides, no food, medicine, nor comforts for sick or well.</p> + +<p>"Nurses, shall I leave a part of you there; the train can not stop in, +nor near the town, but if I can manage to get it slowed up somewhere, +will you jump?"</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">[Pg 41]</a></span></p><p>"We will do anything you say, colonel; we are here in God's name and +service to help His people; for Him, for you, and for the Red Cross, we +will do our best and our all."</p> + +<p>"Conductor, you had a hot box a few miles back; don't you think it +should be looked to after passing Macclenny?"</p> + +<p>"I will slow up and have it seen to, colonel, although it may cost me my +official head." And it did.</p> + +<p>One mile beyond town, the rain pouring in torrents, the ground soaked, +slippery, and caving, out into pitchy darkness, leaped three men and +seven women from a puffing, unsteady train, no physician with them, and +no instructions save the charge of their leader as the last leap was +made, and the train pushed on: "Nurses, you know what to do; go and do +your best, and God help you." Hand to hand, that none go astray in the +darkness, they hobbled back over a mile of slippery cross-ties to the +stricken town. Shelter was found, the wet clothes dried, and at midnight +the sick had been parceled out, each nurse had his or her quota of +patients, and were in for the issue, be it life or<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">[Pg 42]</a></span> death. Those past +all help must be seen through, and lost, all that could be must be +saved. The next day a dispatch from Southmayd went back to New Orleans +for Dr. Gill to come and take charge of the sick and the nurses at +Macclenny. It was done, and under his wise direction they found again a +leader. Their labors and successes are matters for later and more +extended record.</p> + +<p>It is to be borne in mind that these nurses found no general table, no +table at all but such as they could provide, find the food for, and cook +for themselves, for the sick, the children, and the old and helpless who +had escaped the fever and must be cared for. No patient could be left +till the crisis was passed, and many are their records of seventy-two +hours without change or sleep or scarcely sitting down. As the disease +gradually succumbed to their watchful care, experience, and skill, they +reached out to other freshly attacked towns and hamlets. Sanderson and +Glen St. Mary's became their charge, and return their blessings for +lives preserved.</p> + +<p>On November 1st it was thought they could safely leave and go into camp +for quarantine; but<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">[Pg 43]</a></span> no regular train would be permitted to take them. +The Red Cross secured and paid a special train for them, and, as if in +bold relief against the manner of their entry seven weeks before, the +entire town, saving its invalids, was assembled at the station at seven +o'clock in the morning to bid them good-by and God speed.</p> + +<p>But their fame had gone before them, and "Enterprise," a hundred miles +below, just stricken down among its flowers and fruits, reached out its +hands for aid, and with one accord, after two days in camp, all turned +back from the coveted home and needed rest and added another month of +toil to their already weary record. At length this was ended, and word +came again to us that they would go into quarantine. Their unselfish, +faithful, and successful record demanded something more than the mere +sending of money. It deserved the thanks of the Red Cross organization +in the best and highest manner in which they could be bestowed; it was +decided that its President, in person, should most fittingly do this, +and I accordingly left Washington on the morning of November 22d in +company with Dr. Hubbell, field agent, for Camp<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">[Pg 44]</a></span> Perry, the quarantine +station of Florida. Two days and one night by rail, a few miles across +country by wagon, where trains were forbidden to stop, and another mile +or so over the trestles of St. Mary's on a dirt car with the workmen, +brought us into camp as the evening fires were lighted and the bugle +sounded supper. The genial surgeon in charge, Dr. Hutton, who carried a +knapsack and musket in an Illinois regiment in '62, met us cordially and +extended every possible hospitality. Soon there filed past us to supper +the tall doctor and his little flock; some light and fair-skinned, with +the easy step of a well-bred lady, others dark and bony-handed, but the +strong, kind faces below the turbans told at a glance that you could +trust your life there and find it again. They were not disturbed that +night, and no certain information of our arrival got among them. It was +cold and windy, and the evening short, as nine o'clock brought taps and +lights out. In spite of all caution the news of our coming had spread +over the surrounding country, and telegrams bringing both thanks for +what had been received and the needs for more, came from all sides, and +the good Mayor<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">[Pg 45]</a></span> of Macclenny made his troubled way to reach and greet us +in person, and take again the faithful hands that had served and saved his people.</p> + +<p>Surgeon Hutton's headquarter tent was politely tendered for the first +meeting, and as one could never, while memory lasts, forget this scene, +so no words can ever adequately describe it. The ample tent was filled. +Here on the right the Mayor, broad shouldered, kind faced and efficient, +officers of camp, and many visitors, wondering what it all meant; in the +center the tall doctor and his faithful band—Eliza Lanier, Lena Seymour +(mother and daughter), Elizabeth Eastman, Harriet Schmidt, Lizzie Louis, +Rebecca Vidal, Annie Evans, Arthur Duteil, Frederick Wilson, and Edward Holyland.</p> + +<p>I give these names because they are worthy a place in the history of any +epidemic; but no country, race, nor creed could claim them as a body: +four Americans, one German, one French, one Irish, three Africans, part +Protestant, and part Catholic, but all from New Orleans, of grand old +<i>Howard</i> stock, from Memphis down, nursing in every epidemic from the +bayous of the Mississippi<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">[Pg 46]</a></span> to Tampa Bay; and hereafter we will know them +as the "<i>Old Guard</i>."</p> + +<p>Here, in the winds of approaching winter they stand in the light garb of +early September in New Orleans, thin, worn, longing for home, but +patient, grateful, and glad, some trifling "nubia" or turban about the +head, but only one distinguishing feature in common. A pitiful little +misshapen Red Cross, made by their own hands, of two bits of scarlet +ribbon, soiled, fringed, and tattered, pinned closely upon the left +breast of each, strove in mute appeal to say who they were, and what +they served. A friendly recognition and some words of thanks from their +President, opened the way for those anxious to follow. The rich, warm +eloquence of Mayor Watkins plainly told from how near his heart the +stream of gratitude was flowing, and his manly voice trembled as he +reverted to the condition of his stricken people, on that pitiless +night, when this little band of pilgrim strangers strayed back to them +in the rain and darkness. "I fear they often worked in hunger," he said, +"for then, as now, we had little for ourselves, our sick, or our well; +but they brought us to our feet, and the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">[Pg 47]</a></span>blessing of every man, woman, +and child in Macclenny is on them."</p> + +<p>It was with a kind of paternal pride that Dr. Gill advanced and placed +before us his matchless record of cases attended, and life preserved. +"This is the record of our work," he said. "I am proud of it, and glad +that I have been able to make it, but without the best efforts of these +faithful nurses I could not have done it; they have stood firm through +everything; not a word of complaint from, nor of, one of them, in all +these trying months, and I thank you, our President, for this +opportunity to testify to their merits in your presence." The full cups +overflowed, and as we took each brown calloused hand in ours, and felt +the warm tears dropping over them, we realized how far from calloused +were the hearts behind them. The silence that followed was a season of prayer.</p> + +<p>Then came opportunity for some conversation, questions, and +explanations. "We wish to introduce to our President our chief nurse, +whom Colonel Southmayd placed in charge of us when we left the car, and +directed us to obey him; he is younger than any of us, Ed. Holyland." A +slight young<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">[Pg 48]</a></span> man with clear, olive complexion, and dark-browed earnest +eyes that looked you straight in the face, came forward; his apparent +youthfulness gave rise to the first remark:</p> + +<p>"How old are you, Mr. Holyland?"</p> + +<p>"Twenty-nine, madam."</p> + +<p>"And you have taken charge of these nurses?"</p> + +<p>"I have done what I could for their comfort; I think that was what the +colonel desired; he knew they would need only care and advice, they +would do their best of themselves. During the few days that Colonel +Southmayd remained in Jacksonville," he continued, "he was able to send +us some such comforts as we needed for the sick, and some nourishing +food for ourselves; but this was only a few days, you know, and after +that we got on as well as we could without. I know that after he left +the nurses gave to the sick, the children, the old and the helpless, +what they needed for their own strength."</p> + +<p>"But you did not tell us this, Mr. Holyland."</p> + +<p>"No, we were dazed and frightened by the things we heard. We felt that +your organization was having enough to bear. We knew we must<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">[Pg 49]</a></span> look to +you for our pay, and we thought, under the circumstances, that would be +your share. But permit me, please, to call your attention to Mr. Wilson +(a stout colored man advanced), who took charge of a little hospital of +six cases, and carried them all through, day and night, without an +hour's relief from any person, and never lost a single case."</p> + +<p>"And permit me," chimed in the clear-toned Irish voice of Lizzie Louis, +"to tell of Mr. Holyland himself, who found a neglected Italian family a +mile or more outside of the town. He went and nursed them alone, and +when the young son, a lad of thirteen or fourteen years, died, knowing +there was no one to bury him there, he wrapped him in a blanket and +brought him into town on his back, for burial."</p> + +<p>Holyland's face grew sad, and his eyes modestly sought the floor, as he +listened to this unexpected revelation.</p> + +<p>"I wish to speak of something else," added one of the men, "which we +were held back from doing, and for which we are now very glad. We should +not have thought of it ourselves. It is <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">[Pg 50]</a></span>customary," he continued, "when +a patient dies in an epidemic, to give the nurse ten dollars for +preparing the body for burial; this was done in our first case, but Mr. +Holyland had the gift promptly returned with thanks, and the explanation +that we were employed by an organization which fully rewarded its +nurses, and was too high and too correct to accept tribute for +misfortune; it was enough that the patient was lost."</p> + +<p>By this time poor black Annie Evans, the "Mammy" of the group, could +hold quiet no longer, and broke silence with, "Missus President! whar is +de colonel? Colonel Southmayd; dey tells me all de time he's gone away +from New Orleans, and I can't b'l'eve 'em. He can't go away; he can't +lib anywhar else, he was always dar. I'se nursed in yellow fever and +cholera more'n twenty-five year, and I neber went for nobody but him; it +arn't no New Orleans for us widout him dar. I doesn't know de name of +dat place dey say he's gone to, and I doesn't want to; he'll be in New +Orleans when we gets dar."</p> + +<p>There were pitying glances among the group, at this little burst of +feeling, for in some way it<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">[Pg 51]</a></span> was an echo of their own; and Lena Seymour +added tenderly: "We have been trying for these two months to convince +Mammy about this, but she is firm in her faith and sometimes refuses to +hear us." But the subject changed with "How many cases did you lose in +this epidemic, Mammy?"</p> + +<p>"I didn't lose no cases! Lor' bless you, honey, I doesn't lose cases if +dey hasn't been killed afore dey gets to me; folks needn't die of yellow fever."</p> + +<p>We didn't suppose that "Mammy" intended any reflection upon the medical fraternity.</p> + +<p>"But now, friends, we must turn to our settlement, which can not be +difficult. Three dollars a day for each nurse, for seventy-nine days, +till you are home on Thanksgiving morning. But here are only ten. There +are eighteen on our list who left with you and Colonel Southmayd; where +are your comrades?" Some eyes flashed and some moistened, as they +answered, "We do not know." "They remained in the car that night, and +went on to Jacksonville." Swift, dark glances swept from one to another +among them. Instinctively they drew closer to each other, and over +knitted brows and firmly set teeth, a silence fell dark and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">[Pg 52]</a></span> ominous +like a pall, which the future alone can lift.</p> + +<p>The bugle sounded dinner, and this ended our little camp-meeting, than +which few camp-meetings, we believe, ever came nearer to the heart of +Him who offered His life a ransom, and went about doing good.</p> + +<p>The winds blew cold across the camp; the fires shot out long angry +tongues of flame and drifts of smoke to every passer-by. The norther was +upon us. Night came down, and all were glad of shelter and sleep. The +morning, quiet, crisp, and white with frost, revealed the blessing which +had fallen upon a stricken land.</p> + +<p>Thanksgiving was there before its time. The hard rules relaxed. One day +more, and the quarantine was at an end. The north-bound train halted +below the camp, and all together, President and agent, tall doctor and +happy nurses, took places on it, the first for headquarters at +Washington, the last for New Orleans, and home for Thanksgiving morning, +full of the joys of a duty well done, rich in well-paid labor, in the +love of those they had befriended, and the approval of a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">[Pg 53]</a></span> whole people, +South and North, when once their work should be known to them.</p> + +<p>To the last, they clung to their little home-made Red Crosses as if they +had been gold and diamonds; and when at length the tracks diverged and +the parting must be made, it was with few words, low and softly spoken, +but meaning much, with a finger touch upon the little cross, "When you +want us, we are there."</p> + +<p>The supplies forwarded by us were estimated at ten thousand dollars. The +money received was $6,281.58. Out of this sum we paid our twenty nurses +three dollars a day, for seventy-nine days—their cost of living, and +their transportation when needed. We paid our doctor in charge twenty +dollars a day, the customary price, for the same period. We paid our +office rent, assistants, telegraphing, drayage for supplies sent on by +us (railroad transportation free), and all incidentals for a relief work +of over three months' duration. This ran our debit column over on the +other side over one thousand dollars. Our little part of the relief of +that misfortune was estimated at fifteen thousand dollars, and only +those relieved were more grateful than we.</p> + +<hr /> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">[Pg 54]</a></span></p> + +<h2><a name="IV" id="IV"></a>IV</h2> + +<h3>THE JOHNSTOWN FLOOD</h3> + +<p>On Sunday afternoon, May 31, 1889, with the waters of the Potomac two +feet deep on Pennsylvania Avenue, a half dozen of us left Washington for +Johnstown, over washed-out ties and broken tracks, with every little +gully swollen to a raging torrent. After forty-eight hours of this, we +reached the scene, which no one need or could describe, but if ever a +people needed help it was these.</p> + +<p>Scarcely a house standing that was safe to enter, the wrecks piled in +rubbish thirty feet in height, four thousand dead in the river beds, +twenty thousand foodless but for Pittsburg bread rations, and a cold +rain which continued unbroken by sunshine for forty days.</p> + +<p>It was at the moment of supreme affliction when we arrived at Johnstown. +The waters had subsided, and those of the inhabitants who had escaped +the fate of their fellows were gazing over the scene<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">[Pg 55]</a></span> of destruction and +trying to arouse themselves from the lethargy that had taken hold of +them when they were stunned by the realization of all the woe that had +been visited upon them. How nobly they responded to the call of duty! +How much of the heroic there is in our people when it is needed! No idle +murmurings of fate, but true to the god-like instincts of manhood and +fraternal love, they quickly banded together to do the best that the +wisest among them could suggest.</p> + +<p>For five weary months it was our portion to live amid the scenes of +destruction, desolation, poverty, want and woe; sometimes in tents, +sometimes without; and so much rain and mud, and such a lack of the +commonest comforts for a time, until we could build houses to shelter +ourselves and those around us. Without a safe and with a dry-goods box +for a desk, we conducted financial affairs in money and material to the +extent of nearly half a million dollars.</p> + +<p>I shall never lose the memory of my first walk on the first day—the +wading in mud, the climbing over broken engines, cars, heaps of iron +rollers, broken timbers, wrecks of houses; bent railway<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">[Pg 56]</a></span> tracks tangled +with piles of iron wire; bands of workmen, squads of military, and +getting around the bodies of dead animals, and often people being borne +away; the smouldering fires and drizzling rain—all for the purpose of +officially announcing to the commanding general (for the place was under +martial law) that the Red Cross had arrived in the field. I could not +have puzzled General Hastings more if I had addressed him in Chinese; +and if ours had been truly an Oriental mission, the gallant soldier +could not have been more courteous and kind. He immediately set about +devising means for making as comfortable as possible a "poor, lone +woman," helpless, of course, upon such a field. It was with considerable +difficulty that I could convince him that the Red Cross had a way of +taking care of itself at least, and was not likely to suffer from neglect.</p> + +<p>Not a business house or bank left, the safes all in the bottom of the +river; our little pocketbook was useless, there was nothing to buy, and +it would not bring back the dead. With the shelter of the tents of the +Philadelphia Red Cross, that joined us en route with supplies, when we +could find a cleared<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">[Pg 57]</a></span> place to spread, or soil to hold them, with a +dry-goods box for a desk, our stenographer commenced to rescue the first +dispatches of any description that entered that desolate city. The +disturbed rivers lapped wearily back and forth, the people, dazed and +dumb, dug in the muddy banks for their dead. Hastings with his little +army of militia kept order.</p> + +<p>Soon supplies commenced to pour in from everywhere, to be received, +sheltered as best they could be from the incessant rain, and distributed +by human hands, for it was three weeks before even a cart could pass the streets.</p> + +<p>But I am not here to describe Johnstown—the noble help that came to it, +nor the still more noble people that received it—but simply to say that +the little untried and unskilled Red Cross played its minor tune of a +single fife among the grand chorus of relief of the whole country, that +rose like an anthem, till over four millions in money, contributed to +its main body of relief, with the faithful Kreamer at its head, had +modestly taken the place of the twelve millions destroyed. But after all +it was largely the supplies that saved the people at first, as it always +is, and the distribution of which<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">[Pg 58]</a></span> largely consumed the money that was +contributed later.</p> + +<p>From one mammoth tent which served as a warehouse, food and clothing +were given out to the waiting people through the hands of such volunteer +agents, both women and men, as I scarcely dare hope to ever see gathered +together in one work again. The great cry which had gone out had aroused +the entire country, and our old-time helpers, full of rich experience +and still richer love for the work, faithful to the cross of humanity as +the devotee to the cross of the Master, came up from every point—the +floods, the cyclones, the battle-fields—and kneeling before the shrine, +pledged heart and service anew to the work. Fair hands laying aside +their diamonds, and business men their cares, left homes of elegance and +luxury to open rough boxes and barrels, handle second-hand clothing, eat +coarse food at rough-board tables, sleep on cots under a dripping canvas +tent, all for the love of humanity symbolized in the little flag that +floated above them.</p> + +<p>Clergymen left their pulpits and laymen their charge to tramp over the +hillsides from house to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">[Pg 59]</a></span> house, to find who needed and suffered, and to +carry to them from our tents on their shoulders, like beasts of burden, +the huge bundles of relief, where no beast of burden could reach.</p> + +<p>We had been early requested by official resolution of the Finance +Committee of the City of Johnstown to aid them in the erection of +houses. We accepted the invitation, and at the same time proposed to aid +in furnishing the nucleus of a household for the home which should in +any way be made up. This aid seemed imperative, as nothing was left for +them to commence living with, neither beds, chairs, tables, nor cooking +utensils of any kind; and there were few if any stores open, and no +furniture in town.</p> + +<p>Of this labor we had our share. Six buildings of one hundred feet by +fifty, later known as "Red Cross Hotels," were quickly put up to shelter +the people, furnished, supplied, and kept like hotels, free of all cost +to them, while others were built by the general committee. Three +thousand of the latter were erected, and the Red Cross furnished every +one with substantial, newly purchased furniture, ready for occupancy. +The books of the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">[Pg 60]</a></span> "Titusville Manufacturing Company" will show one cash +order of ten thousand dollars for furniture. The three thousand houses +thus furnished each accommodated two families.</p> + +<p>A ponderous book of nearly two feet square shows the name, sex, and +number of persons of each family, and a list of every article received +by them. To-day one looks in wonder at such a display of clerical labor +and accuracy, under even favorable conditions.</p> + +<p>This was only accomplished by the hard, unpaid labor of every officer, +and the large amount of volunteer friendly aid that came to us.</p> + +<p>The great manufacturers of the country, and the heavy contributing +agents, on learning our intentions, sent, without a hint from us, many +of their articles, as, for instance, New Bedford, Mass., sent mattresses +and bedding; Sheboygan, Wis., sent furniture and enameled ironware; +Titusville, Pa., with a population of ten thousand, sent ten thousand +dollars' worth of its well-made bedsteads, springs, extension-tables, +chairs, stands and rockers; and the well-known New York newspaper, The +Mail and Express, sent a large lot of <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">[Pg 61]</a></span>mattresses, feather pillows, +bedclothing, sheets, and pillow-slips by the thousand and cooking +utensils by the ten thousands. Six large teams were in constant service +delivering these goods.</p> + +<p>When the contributions slackened or ceased, and more material was +needed, we purchased of the same firms which had contributed, keeping +our stock good until all applications were filled. The record on our +books showed that over twenty-five thousand persons had been directly +served by us. They had received our help independently and without +begging. No child has learned to beg at the doors of the Red Cross.</p> + +<p>It is to be borne in mind that the fury of the deluge had swept almost +entirely the homes of the wealthy, the elegant, the cultured leaders of +society, and the fathers of the town. This class who were spared were +more painfully homeless than the indigent poor, who could still huddle +in together. They could not go away, for the suffering and demoralized +town needed their care and oversight more than ever before. There was no +home for them, nowhere to get a meal of food or to sleep. Still they +must work on, and the stranger coming<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">[Pg 62]</a></span> to town on business must go +unfed, with no shelter at night, if he would sleep, or, indeed, escape +being picked up by the military guard.</p> + +<p>To meet these necessities, and being apprehensive that some good lives +might go out under the existing luck of accommodations, it was decided +to erect a building similar to our warehouse. The use of the former site +of the Episcopal Church was generously tendered us by the Bishop early +in June, for any purpose we might desire. This house, which was soon +erected, was known as the "Locust Street Red Cross Hotel"; it stood some +fifty rods from our warehouse, and was fifty by one hundred and sixteen +feet in dimensions, two stories in height, with lantern roof, built of +hemlock, single siding, papered inside with heavy building paper, and +heated by natural gas, as all our buildings were. It consisted of +thirty-four rooms, besides kitchen, laundry, bath-rooms with hot and +cold water, and one main dining-hall and sitting-room through the +center, sixteen feet in width by one hundred in length.</p> + +<p>It was fully furnished with excellent beds, bedding, bureaus, tables, +chairs, and all needful <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">[Pg 63]</a></span>housekeeping furniture. A competent landlady, +who, like the rest, had a few weeks before floated down over the same +ground on the roof of her house in thirty feet of water, was placed in +charge, with instructions to keep a good house, make what she could rent +free, but charging no Johnstown person over twenty-five cents for a meal of food.</p> + +<p>This was the first attempt at social life after that terrible +separation, and its success was something that I am very proud of. The +house was full of townspeople from the first day, and strangers no +longer looked in vain for accommodations.</p> + +<p>The conception of the need of this house, and the method of selecting +its inmates, and the manner of inducting them into their new home, were +somewhat unique and may be of interest to the reader. I had noticed +among the brave and true men, who were working in the mud and rain, many +refined-looking gentlemen, who were, before this great misfortune +carried away most of their belongings, the wealthiest and most +influential citizens. Never having had to struggle amid such hardships +and deprivations, their sufferings were more acute than those of the +poorer and more<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">[Pg 64]</a></span> hardy people; and it did not require any great +foresight to know that they were physically incapable of such labor if +prolonged, nor to predict their early sickness and death if they were +not properly housed and fed. As the salvation of the town depended in a +great measure upon the efforts of these men, it was vitally necessary +that their lives should be preserved. Realizing all this, it occurred to +us that the most important thing to do, next to feeding the hungry, was +to provide proper shelter for these delicate men and their families. The +idea once conceived was soon communicated to my staff, and, after due +consideration, it was put in the way of realization.</p> + +<p>On the afternoon of July 27th hundreds of citizens called on us, and +congratulations and good wishes were the order of the day. As the +members of each family whom we had selected to occupy apartments in the +house arrived, they were quietly taken aside and requested to remain and +have dinner with us. After all the guests were departed except those who +had been requested to remain, dinner was announced, and the party was +seated by the members of the Red Cross. Beside the plate<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">[Pg 65]</a></span> of each head +of a family were laid the keys to an apartment, with a card inviting the +family to take possession at once, and remain as long as they chose.</p> + +<p>I can not describe the scene that followed; there were tears and broken +voices; suffice to say, the members of that household were made happy +and comfortable for many long months; and I venture to assert that those +now living recall those days with the fondest recollections.</p> + +<p>The contributions to the general committee had been so liberal that it +was possible to erect and provide for the great burial-place of its +dead—"Grand View," that overlooks the city. It was also suggested that +a benevolent society, as a permanent institution, be formed by the +united action of the general committee and the Red Cross. This was +successfully accomplished by the generous provision of eight thousand +dollars from the committee on its part and the turning over of our +well-made and supplied hospital buildings, and the funds we had left +placed in charge of a faithful custodian under our pay for the following six months.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">[Pg 66]</a></span></p><p>This is the present "Union Benevolent Society" of Johnstown to-day.</p> + +<p>I remained five months with these people without once visiting my own +home, only returning to it when the frost had killed the green I had left in May.</p> + +<p>In that time, it was estimated, we had housed, handled, and distributed +$211,000 worth of supplies—new and old—for, by request of the weary +chairman of the general committee, at the last, we took up the close of +its distribution. It is our joy and pride to recall how closely we +worked in connection with that honored committee from first to last, and +how strong and unsullied that friendship has remained.</p> + +<p>The value of money that passed through our hands was $39,000, as stated +in the official report of the general committee, to which all required +returns were made, recorded, and published by the committee.</p> + +<p>Our usual quota of assistants was fifty persons, the higher grade of men +and women assistants largely volunteers. Two railroads brought our +supplies. To handle these the strongest men were<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">[Pg 67]</a></span> required, and seven +two-horse teams ran daily for three and a half months in the +distribution, at customary rates of pay. These were the workingmen of +the town who had suffered with the rest.</p> + +<p>It was a joy that in all the uncertainties of that uncertain field not a +single complaint ever reached us of the non-acknowledgment of a dollar +entrusted to us.</p> + +<p>The paths of charity are over roadways of ashes; and he who would tread +them must be prepared to meet opposition, misconstruction, jealousy, and +calumny. Let his work be that of angels—still it will not satisfy all.</p> + +<p>In the light of recent events, I may perhaps be pardoned for quoting a +few lines from the official report of the Johnstown Flood Finance +Committee appointed by Governor Beaver, as showing how these gentlemen, +the foremost men in the community, regarded our efforts to give them a +helping hand:</p> + +<p>"In this matter of sheltering the people, as in others of like +importance, Miss Clara Barton, President of the Red Cross Association, +was most helpful. At a time when there was a doubt if the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">[Pg 68]</a></span> Flood +Commission could furnish houses of suitable character and with the +requisite promptness, she offered to assume charge, and she erected with +the funds of the Association three large apartment houses, which +afforded comfortable lodgings for many houseless people. She was among +the first to arrive on the scene of calamity, bringing with her Dr. +Hubbell, the Field Officer of the Red Cross Association, and a staff of +skilled assistants. She made her own organization for relief work in +every form, disposing of the large resources under her control with such +wisdom and tenderness that the charity of the Red Cross had no sting, +and its recipients are not Miss Barton's dependents, but her friends. +She was also the last of the ministering spirits to leave the scene of +her labors, and she left her apartment houses for use during the winter, +and turned over her warehouse with its store of furniture, bedding, and +clothing, and a well-equipped infirmary, to the Union Benevolent +Association of the Conemaugh Valley, the organization of which she +advised and helped to form; and its lady visitors have so well performed +their work that the dreaded winter has no terrors, mendicancy has<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">[Pg 69]</a></span> been +repressed, and not a single case of unrelieved suffering is known to +have occurred in all the flooded district."</p> + +<p>Enterprising, industrious, and hopeful, the new Johnstown, +ph[oe]nix-like, rose from its ruins more beautiful than the old, with a +ceaseless throb of grateful memory for every kind act rendered, and +every thought of sympathy given her in her great hour of desolation and +woe. God bless her, and God bless all who helped save her!</p> + +<hr /> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">[Pg 70]</a></span></p> + +<h2><a name="V" id="V"></a>V</h2> + +<h3>THE RUSSIAN FAMINE</h3> + +<p>As early as 1889, the foreign journals began to tell us of the +apprehension caused by an unusual failure of the crops in Central +Russia, extending from Moscow north and south, and east beyond the Ural +Mountains and into Siberia—embracing an era of a million square miles. +This failure was followed by another in 1890.</p> + +<p>Eighteen hundred and ninety-one found the old-time granaries empty, and +a total failure of the crops, and a population of thirty-five millions +of people, paralyzed with the dread of approaching famine.</p> + +<p>The American Red Cross had placed itself in communication with the +Secretary of State, Hon. James G. Blaine, whose name and memory it +treasures with reverence, and Mr. Alexander Gregor, the accomplished +Russian <i>Chargé d'Affaires</i> at Washington, and ascertained that Russia +would gladly receive donations of relief from<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">[Pg 71]</a></span> America. She would even +send her ships for any food that might be offered. This, America would +not permit and Congress was appealed to for ocean transportation. The +Senate voted a liberal appropriation, which was defeated in the House.</p> + +<p>Then the Red Cross, with the aid of the citizens of Washington, took up +the matter. They were joined by the Order of Elks, which contributed a +sum of seven hundred dollars, than which perhaps that liberal Order +never made a more timely gift. Funds were raised to charter a steamship +for the Red Cross. The spirit spread generally over the country. +Philadelphia sent a messenger to learn what Washington was doing, and +was advised to charter one of its own ships, which was done, and two +consignments were finally made by them.</p> + +<p>Minnesota had already acted, and later, by the advice and aid of the +extra provision of the Red Cross, the Christian Herald sent out its ship +cargo, under convoy of Rev. Dr. Talmage.</p> + +<p>But the State of Iowa led all others in active generosity.</p> + +<p>Under the supervision of Mr. B. F. Tillinghast,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">[Pg 72]</a></span> of Davenport, aided by +the able pen of Miss Alice French, that State alone raised, and sent in +trains across the country from Iowa to New York, one hundred and +seventeen thousand bushels of corn and one hundred thousand pounds of +flour, which was loaded onto the "Tynehead," a staunch British ship, and +consigned to the port of Riga.</p> + +<p>That year we had been notified of an International Conference to be held +in Rome. The customary appropriation was made by Congress, and again I +was appointed delegate. Too much occupied by the relief at home, Dr. +Hubbell, also a delegate, went in my place to Rome, and from there +reached Riga in time to receive and direct the distribution of the +immense cargo of grain throughout Russia.</p> + +<p>When Dr. Hubbell reached Riga he learned that two hundred and forty +peasants had been waiting on the dock two days, watching and waiting for +the ship from America. Not waiting for food, for Riga was not in a +famine province, but waiting that they might not miss the opportunity +and the honor of unloading the American ship that had brought food to +their unfortunate brothers in the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">[Pg 73]</a></span> interior. As soon as they could get +into the hold of the ship, one hundred and forty of them began the +unloading. They worked night and day, without rest, determined to unload +the entire cargo themselves, without help. But on the third night our +Consul, Mr. Bornholdt, insisted on their having a relief of twelve +hours, and when the twelve hours were up they were all in their places +again, and remained until the cargo was out, declining to take any pay +for their labor. Twelve women worked along with them in the same spirit, +in the ship and on the dock, with needles, sewing up the rents in the +bags, to prevent waste in handling, and cooking meals for the men.</p> + +<p>The Mayor of St. Petersburg, in an address on behalf of that city to +American donors, declared:</p> + +<p>"The Russian people know how to be grateful. If up to this day these two +great countries, Russia and the United States, have not only never +quarreled, but on the contrary wished each other prosperity and strength +always, these feelings of sympathy can grow only stronger in the future, +both countries being conscious that in the season of trial for either it +will find in the other cordial succor and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">[Pg 74]</a></span> support. And can true +friendship be tested if not in the hour of misfortune?"</p> + +<p>A peasant of Samara sent to a Russian editor, together with three +colored eggs, a letter which he asked to have forwarded to America. The +following is an extract from the letter:</p> + +<p>"Christ is risen! To the merciful benefactors, the protectors of the +poor, the feeders of the starving, the guardians of the orphans—Christ is risen.</p> + +<p>"North Americans! May the Lord grant you a peaceful and long life and +prosperity to your land, and may your fields be filled with abundant +harvest—Christ is risen. Your mercifulness gives us a helping hand. +Through your charity you have satisfied the starving. And for your +magnificent alms accept from me this humble gift, which I send to the +entire American people for your great beneficence, from all the hearts +of the poor filled with feelings of joy."</p> + +<p>In the gratitude manifested by the Russian Government and people we were +glad to feel that a slight return had been made to Russia for past +favors in our own peril, and a friendship never broken.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">[Pg 75]</a></span></p><p>The Department of State at Washington, under date of January 11, 1894, +forwarded the following:</p> + +<p>"I have to inform you that on November 7, 1893, the American Minister at +St. Petersburg received from the nobility of that city, through their +Marshal, Count Alexis Bobrinskoy, an address to the people of the United +States. This address, which is in the English language, embodies in +terms fitly chosen the thanks of the Russian people to the American for +the aid sent to their country from our own during the famine period of +the past two years. It is beautifully engrossed and its illumination +embraces water-color drawings which render it a most attractive work of art.</p> + +<p>"The document, which is superbly bound and enclosed in a fine case, was +duly forwarded to this city by the American Minister at St. Petersburg, +and will be given a conspicuous place in the library of this department."</p> + +<p>In so general an uprising of relief no great sum in contributions could +be expected from any one source. The Red Cross felt that, if no more, it +was glad to be able to pay, by the generous help of the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">[Pg 76]</a></span> city of +Washington, the charter of a ship that conveyed its +corn—$12,500—besides several thousands distributed in Russia through +Tolstoi and American agents there.</p> + +<p>We paid the cost of loading, superintended by Mr. Tillinghast in person, +whose financial record shows the exact cost of transportation. All this +was done in connection with the State of Iowa. Our home record showed, +when all was finished, a field closed with a small balance in our favor, +which we had no active call for. By the advice of one of the best +personal advisers, bankers, and friends that the Red Cross has ever had, +this small sum was placed in bank, in readiness for the next call.</p> + +<hr /> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">[Pg 77]</a></span></p> + +<h2><a name="VI" id="VI"></a>VI</h2> + +<h3>THE SEA ISLAND RELIEF</h3> + +<p>This little timely provision, advisedly made, was none too much or none +too soon.</p> + +<p>On the 28th of August, 1893, a hurricane and tidal wave from the +direction of the West Indies swept the coast of South Carolina, covering +its entire range of Port Royal Islands, sixteen feet below the sea. +These islands had thirty-five thousand inhabitants, mainly negroes. At +first, it was thought that all must have perished. Later, it was found +that only some four or five thousand had been drowned, and that thirty +thousand remained with no earthly possession of home, clothing, or food. +The few boats not swept away took them over to the mainland in +thousands, and calls went out for help. In this emergency Governor +Tillman called for the services of the Red Cross, and my note-book has this passage:</p> + +<p>"The next night, in a dark, cheerless September mist, I closed my door +behind me for ten months,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">[Pg 78]</a></span> and with three assistants went to the station +to meet Senator Butler."</p> + +<p>At Columbia we were joined by Governor Tillman, and thus reinforced +proceeded to Beaufort. After due examination the work which had been +officially placed with us by the Governor was accepted October 1st, and +carried on until the following July.</p> + +<p>The submerged lands were drained, three hundred miles of ditches made, a +million feet of lumber purchased and houses built, fields and gardens +planted with the best seed in the United States, and the work all done +by the people themselves. The thousands of boxes of clothing received +were distributed among them, and we left them in July, 1894, supplies of +vegetables for the city of Beaufort.</p> + +<p>Free transportation for supplies continued till about March. No +provisions in kind were sent from any source after the first four weeks +of public excitement. After this all foodstuffs were purchased in +Charleston and distributed as rations. Men were compelled to work on the +building of their own homes in order to receive rations.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">[Pg 79]</a></span></p><p>We found them an industrious, grateful class of people, far above the +ordinary grade usually met. They largely owned their little homes, and +appreciated instruction in the way of improving them. The tender memory +of the childlike confidence and obedience of this ebony-faced population +is something that time cannot efface from either us or them.</p> + +<p>On the third day after our arrival at Beaufort four middle-aged colored +men came to the door of the room we had appropriated as an office, and +respectfully asked to see "Miss Clare." They were admitted, and I waited +to learn what request they would probably make of me. At length the +tallest and evidently the leader, said:</p> + +<p>"Miss Clare, we knows you doesn't remember us. But we never fo'gits you. +We has all of us got somethin' to show you."</p> + +<p>Slipping up a soiled, ragged shirtsleeve, he showed me an ugly scar +above the elbow, reaching to the shoulder. "Wagner?" I asked.</p> + +<p>"Yes, Miss Clare, and you drissed it for me that night, when I crawled +down the beach—'cause my leg was broke too," he replied. "And we was +all<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">[Pg 80]</a></span> of us there, and you took care of us all and drissed our wounz. I +was with Colonel Shaw, and crawled out of the fote. The oth's nevah got +in. But we all got to you, Miss Clare. And now you's got to us. We's +talked about you a heap o' times, but we nevah 'spected to see you. We's +nevah fo'git it, Miss Clare."</p> + +<p>One by one they showed their scars. There was very little clothing to +hide them—bullet wound and sabre stroke. The memory, dark and sad, +stood out before us all. It was a moment not to be forgotten.</p> + +<p>Our purchases consisted of meat, mainly dry sides of pork, and grits, or +hominy, for eating. For planting, beside the seed contributed and the +nine hundred bushels of Irish potatoes, were eighteen hundred bushels of +Northern Flint seed corn.</p> + +<p>The contributions of food and clothing had been sent to Beaufort, and +were in the warehouses of the perplexed committee of its leading +citizens. This had naturally drawn all the inhabitants of the scores of +desolated islands for fifty miles to Beaufort, until, it is safe to say, +that fifteen to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">[Pg 81]</a></span> twenty thousand refugees had gathered there, living in +its streets and waiting to be fed from day to day.</p> + +<p>As the food was there they could not be induced to return to the +islands. Indeed, there was more often nothing on the islands to return +to. The description given by the heads of families and owners, for they +had largely owned their homes, gotten on the old-time plantations "'fo +de wah," was this: If all had been swept out to sea and nothing +remained, it was described as, "done gone." But if thrown down and parts +of the wreck still remained, it was described as "ractified."</p> + +<p>A few of the churches, being larger and more strongly built, still +remained standing. During the first ten days of our stay it would have +been impossible to drive through the principal streets of Beaufort. They +were a solid moving mass, crowding as near to the storehouses as +possible to get, in spite of the policeman, who kindly held them back.</p> + +<p>We sat daily in counsel with the local committee, until seeing that only +systematic measures and a decided change could relieve the conditions +and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">[Pg 82]</a></span> render the city safe. We then, on the first of October, decided to +accede to the request of the Governor made at first, and take sole +charge of the relief.</p> + +<p>Our first order was to close every storehouse, both of food and +clothing, and inform the people that all distributions would hereafter +be made from the islands. It is impossible to convey to the mind of the +reader the difficulty of getting into a few intelligent sentences the +idea of the means adopted to produce these changes and inaugurate a +system that was to restore to active habits of life a body of utterly +homeless, demoralized, and ignorant people, equal in numbers to a small new State.</p> + +<p>If these little covers would admit the scores of pages of admirably +written reports of the officers and helpers on that field, every line +replete with interest, that lie here at my hand, it would be an easy and +a welcome task to reproduce them entire, and no more than deserved for +their faithful and gratuitous labor.</p> + +<p>Dr. Egan's report has this passage:</p> + +<p>"October 2d came my marching orders. Take charge of the warehouse and +stores, make an <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">[Pg 83]</a></span>inventory of them, disperse these men, and rid the city +of the demoralizing influence of idle people. The doors are closed and +the inventory begun."</p> + +<p>The local committee had kindly pointed out the most suitable man to take +charge of each community, and to him would be consigned the rations to +be distributed to each family and person within his charge, for which +receipt and distribution he became as responsible as a merchant.</p> + +<p>The goods and rations were at once shipped across the bay to them, or +taken on their own boats, if so fortunate as to have one left from the +storm. It is needless to say that the multitude followed the food.</p> + +<p>In three days there were not people enough left in Beaufort, besides its +own, to be hired for a "job of work." Then followed the necessity for +material to rebuild the "done gone," and to repair the "ractified" homes.</p> + +<p>A million feet of pine lumber was purchased of a leading lumber dealer, +shipped down the Combahee River, and delivered at the landings on the +islands most convenient of access to the points needed. Each man +received his lumber by order<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">[Pg 84]</a></span> and receipt, and was under obligation to +build his own house. The work was all performed by themselves. A garden +was insisted upon. At first this proposition was resisted as impracticable.</p> + +<p>"No use, Mistah—no use—'cause de pig eat it all up."</p> + +<p>It was suggested that a fence might be made enclosing at least a quarter +of an acre about the house to keep "de pig" out, as we should later +send, for planting, the best seed to be obtained in the country.</p> + +<p>To this moment our thanks go out to the Agricultural Department at +Washington, and the great seed houses of all the North, for the generous +donations that served to bring once more into self-sustaining relations +this destitute and well-disposed people.</p> + +<p>The fact that the building of the fence, and its subsequent keeping in +strict repair, had some bearing on the weekly issuance of rations, was +evidently not without its influence. There were no poor fences and "de +pig" did no damage. But there were such gardens, and of such varieties, +as those islands had never before seen.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">[Pg 85]</a></span></p><p>The earliest crop to strive for, beside the gardens, was the Irish +potato, which they had never raised. Nine hundred bushels were purchased +from Savannah for planting in February. The difficulty of distributing +the potatoes lay in the fact that they would be more likely to find +their way into the dinner pot than into the ground. To avoid this the +court-yard inside our headquarters was appropriated for the purpose of +preparing the potatoes for planting.</p> + +<p>Some forty women were hired to come over from the islands and cut +potatoes for seed—every "eye" of the potato making a sprout—these +distributed to them by the peck, like other seed.</p> + +<p>I recall a fine, bright morning in May, when I was told that a woman who +had come over from St. Helena in the night, waited at the door to see +me. I went to the door to find a tall, bright-looking woman in a clean +dress, with a basket on her head, which, after salutation, she lowered +and held out to me. There was something over a peck of Early Rose +potatoes in the basket—in size from a pigeon's to a pullet's egg. The +grateful woman could wait no longer for the potatoes to grow<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">[Pg 86]</a></span> larger, +but had dug these, and had come ten miles over the sea, in the night, to +bring them to me as a first offering of food of her own raising.</p> + +<p>If the tears fell on the little gift as I looked and remembered, no one +will wonder or criticise. The potatoes were cooked for breakfast, and +"Susie Jane" was invited to partake.</p> + +<p>The shores of the mainland had not been exempt from the ravages of the +storm and in many instances had suffered like the islands. Some thirty +miles above Beaufort was a kind of plantation, with a community of sixty +or seventy families of colored people. The property was owned by two +elderly white ladies who had not returned since driven away by the storm.</p> + +<p>This village was reported to us as in need and demoralized, with no +head, scant of food, and its "ractified" houses scarcely affording a shelter.</p> + +<p>A representative mulatto man came to tell us. An inspection was made and +resulted in this man being put in charge to build up the community. +Lumber and food were provided and the people set to work under his +charge. From time to time word came to us, and after some months the +tall<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87">[Pg 87]</a></span> representative came again. He had been asked by the people to come +and bring their thanks to the Red Cross for "de home, de gard'n, de pig, +and de chick'n dey all has now."</p> + +<p>The thanks they had emphasized and proved by the heavy basket that +Jackson had carefully brought all the forty miles. It contained +seventy-one fresh eggs—the gift of seventy-one families—being a +contribution of one egg from each family, from the day or two previous +to his leaving on his mission.</p> + +<p>Domestic gardens were a new feature among these islanders, whose whole +attention had been always given to the raising of the renowned "Sea +Island Cotton," the pride of the market, and a just distinction to +themselves and the worthy planter. The result of this innovation was +that, when we left in July, it was nearly as difficult for a pedestrian +to make his way on the narrow sidewalks of Beaufort because of piled-up +vegetables for sale from the islands, as it had been in October to pass +through the streets because of hungry, idle men and women.</p> + +<p>Nothing better illustrates the native good heart<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88">[Pg 88]</a></span> of these people than +their kindly interest in and for each other. Often the young men, +without families, would club together and put up a house for some lone +old "auntie," who had neither family nor home, and occasionally there +seemed to develop among them an active philanthropist. Of this type was +Jack Owens, who rebuilt his own "done gone" premises. One day as the +field agent was driving out on some inspection he met Jack walking into town.</p> + +<p>His decrepit neighbor's house had burned a few weeks before, and Jack +had gotten lumber and rebuilt the house himself. In describing the utter +devastation, Jack explained that "all de house and de well was +burned"—and he had built another house and was coming in on foot "for +funituh to funish it." Jack had lost his ox, "a big ox," he said, in the +storm, and now he "hadn't any nuther" to plow his ground. He pleaded for +another—if it was only "a lil' critter it would grow big"—and it would +help him so much.</p> + +<p>The appeal was not to be resisted. Dr. Hubbell treasures to this day the +satisfaction he felt in procuring something better than the "lil' +critter"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">[Pg 89]</a></span> as reward and encouragement for Jack's active philanthropy.</p> + +<p>If any practical woman reading this should try to comprehend what it +would be to undertake to clothe and keep clothed thirty thousand human +beings for a year, and to do this from the charitable gifts of the +people, which gifts had all done more or less service before—often +pretty thoroughly "ractified"—this woman will not wonder that sewing +societies suggested themselves to us at headquarters.</p> + +<p>The women were called together and this suggestion made to them, with +the result that an old time "sewing circle" was instituted in every +community. Its membership, officers, dues, and regulations were properly +established—one-half day in each week devoted by each member to the +work in its sewing-rooms, with a woman in charge to prepare it. The +clothing was given out to them as received by us. Many a basket came +proudly back to show us the difference between "den an' now"—good, +strong, firmly mended garments. Ragged coats and pants disappeared from +among the men, as no longer "'spectable fo' de fambly."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">[Pg 90]</a></span></p><p>Provision was also made that the little girls from ten years old should +attend and be taught to sew. Many a little dress was selected at +headquarters for them to make over or repair.</p> + +<p>I wish I could do fitting justice to the band of women volunteers who +stood by me through those long months. Some had commenced with me when +society belles, years before, now mistresses of their own palatial +homes; some had come from under the old historic elms of Boston, and +some from the hard-fought fields of Britain's Africa, and wearing the +Victoria Cross. To them, white and black were the same, and no toil too +hard or too menial.</p> + +<p>The money contributed and received for the entire relief of ten months +was thirty thousand five hundred, and a few additional dollars and cents +which I do not at this moment recall. It aggregated one dollar apiece +for the entire maintenance of thirty thousand persons for ten months.</p> + +<p>It is the general custom in this part of the country for the merchants +to furnish supplies to their patrons, and wait until the gathering of +the crops for their pay. But when we left these people at the beginning +of their harvest, not one family in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91">[Pg 91]</a></span> twenty-five had contracted a debt +for supplies: an experience before unknown in their history.</p> + +<p>A report was made and passed into the hands of our legal counsellor, +who, on seeing that no change could be truthfully made in it, advised +that it be not published, as no one would believe it possible to be +done, and we would get only distrust and discredit. Having now come to a +pass where distrust and discredit are no longer to be feared by the Red +Cross, we ourselves are free to make the statement. But back of the hard +facts there is compensation.</p> + +<p>A half dozen years later, when our negro protégés of the Sea Islands +heard of the disaster that had fallen upon Galveston, they at once +gathered for aid and sent in their contributions.</p> + +<p>"'Cause dey suffers like we did, and de Red Cross is dar," they said.</p> + +<p>Of course I would not permit one dollar of this holy gift to Galveston +to go to other than the hands, hard, bony, and black—such as had raised +it in their penury. I also wanted it to do more. Searching for the most +reliable colored people in the city I found in the superintendent of the +colored schools a man who had occupied that place<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92">[Pg 92]</a></span> for many years, and +who had the respect and confidence of the people of Galveston. I asked +him to consult his foremost women teachers, and if it pleased them, to +form a society and fit themselves to receive a little money.</p> + +<p>In about a week he appeared with his deputation. I informed them that I +had a little money from their own people of the Sea Islands for them; +that they had been chosen to receive it, because as teachers of the +children they would have access to the needs and conditions of the +families. I told them that I had desired to do more than merely make a +gift for distribution. I wished to plant a tree. I could have given them +their peach, which they would eat, enjoy, and throw the pit away. But I +wished them to plant the pit, and let it raise other fruit for them, and +for that reason I had asked the formation of this society.</p> + +<p>They all sat quiet a few moments, the tears were on their faces. At +length their president, the school superintendent, spoke for them:</p> + +<p>"Miss Barton," he said, "we all appreciate this, and in the name of all +I promise you that the pit shall be reverently planted, and I trust the +time<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93">[Pg 93]</a></span> will come when I can tell you that our tree is not only bearing +fruit for ourselves, but for all suffering brethren, as theirs have done for us."</p> + +<p>I then handed them the check for $397. The moment seemed sacred when +these poor dark figures, struggling toward the light, walked out of my +presence. The pit has been successfully planted in Galveston, and we are +from time to time informed of its bearing.</p> + +<hr /> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94">[Pg 94]</a></span></p> + +<h2><a name="VII" id="VII"></a>VII</h2> + +<h3>ARMENIAN RELIEF</h3> + +<h3>1896</h3> + +<p>Leaving the Port Royal field past midsummer of 1894, after an absence of +nearly a year—at a day's notice—the remainder of the autumn and winter +was scarcely less occupied in the details which had been unavoidably +overlooked. Before spring our correspondence commenced to enlarge with +rumors of Armenian massacres, and so excited and rapid was the increase +that, so far as actual labor, consultation, and thought were concerned, +we might as well have been on a field of relief.</p> + +<p>Unfortunately, the suspicions of the Turkish Government had fallen upon +the resident missionaries, both English and American, as favoring the +views and efforts of its anarchistic population, or the "young Turks," +as they were designated. This had the effect of placing the missionaries +in danger, confining them strictly to their own <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95">[Pg 95]</a></span>quarters, preventing +all communication and the receiving of any funds sent them from abroad.</p> + +<p>England had a large waiting fund which it could not distribute, and +appealed to the American Missionary Boards of Boston and New York, to +find them equally powerless. The need of funds among the missionaries +throughout Turkey was getting painfully urgent, and as a last resort it +was suggested from Constantinople that the Red Cross be asked to open the way.</p> + +<p>A written request from the Rev. Judson Smith, D.D., of Boston, was +nearly identical with one received by us from Mr. Spencer Trask, of New +York, who with others was about to form a national Armenian relief +committee, to be established in that city.</p> + +<p>Following these communications, both of these eminent gentlemen, Mr. +Smith and Mr. Trask, came in person to urge our compliance with their +request that the Red Cross accept the charge and personally undertake +the doubtful and dangerous task of distributing the waiting funds among +the missionaries in Turkey.</p> + +<p>As Mr. Trask was to take the lead in the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96">[Pg 96]</a></span>formation of a committee for +the raising of funds, his interest was naturally paramount, and his +arguments in favor of our acceptance were wellnigh irresistible. +Immediate action on the part of some one was imperative. Human beings +were starving, and could not be reached. Thousands of towns and villages +had not been heard from since the massacres, and only the Red Cross +could have any hope of reaching them. No one else was prepared for field +work; it had its force of trained field workers. Turkey was one of the +signatory powers to the Red Cross Treaty. Thus it was hoped and believed +that she would the more readily accept its presence.</p> + +<p>These are mere examples of the reasons urged by the ardent advocates of +the proposed committee, until at length we came to consider its +acceptance, on conditions which must be clearly understood. First, we +must not be expected to take any part in, or to be made use of, in the +raising of funds—one of our fundamental rules being never to ask for +funds—we did not do it for ourselves.</p> + +<p>Second, there must be perfect unanimity <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97">[Pg 97]</a></span>between themselves. We must be +assured that every one wanted us to go. Our part would be hard enough +then; and finally we must be sure they had some funds to distribute.</p> + +<p>Of the amount of these funds no mention was made by us, and I remember a +feeling of good-natured amusement as I heard the officers of this +untried effort at raising funds speak of "millions." It was easy to +discern that they were more accustomed to the figures of a banking +establishment than a charity organization dependent on the raising of +funds. They were likely to be disappointed. In reality, the amount, so +there were something to go with, made very little difference to us, as +we were merely to place what was entrusted to us where most needed, and +when that was done we had but to return. We never named any amount as +preferable to us.</p> + +<p>The means resorted to in raising the funds were unfortunate. In the +great public meetings called for that purpose the utmost indiscretion +prevailed in regard to language applied to Turkey and the Turkish +Government. This aroused the indignation of the Turkish officials, who +very reasonably<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98">[Pg 98]</a></span> took measures to have our entrance into Turkey +forbidden.</p> + +<p>A date of sailing, however, had been given Mr. Trask, and his committee, +feeling that any change would be detrimental to their efforts, no change +was made, and we sailed on time, to find in England no permission, and +further efforts necessary. With time and patience the troublesome +effects of these mistakes were overcome, and Constantinople was reached, +and a heavenly welcome by the harassed missionaries awaited us.</p> + +<p>The first step was to procure an introduction to the Turkish Government, +which had in one sense refused to see me. Accompanied by the American +Minister, Hon. A. W. Terrell, and his premier interpreter, Gargiulo, one +of the most experienced diplomatic officers in Constantinople, I called +by appointment upon Tewfik Pasha, the Turkish Minister of Foreign +Affairs, or Minister of State. To those conversant with the personages +connected with Turkish affairs, I need not say that Tewfik Pasha is +probably the foremost man of the government—a manly man, with a kind, +fine face, and genial, polished manners. Educated abroad, with<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99">[Pg 99]</a></span> advanced +views on general subjects, he impresses one as a man who would sanction +no wrong it was in his power to avert.</p> + +<p>Mr. Terrell's introduction was most appropriate and well expressed, +bearing with strong emphasis upon the suffering condition of the people +of the interior, in consequence of the massacres, the great sympathy of +the people of America, and giving assurance that our objects were purely +humanitarian, having neither political, racial, nor religious significance.</p> + +<p>The Pasha listened most attentively to Mr. Terrell, thanked him, and +said that this was well understood, that they knew the Red Cross and its +president. Turning to me he repeated: "We know you, Miss Barton; have +long known you and your work. We would like to hear your plans for +relief and what you desire."</p> + +<p>I proceeded to state our plans for relief, which, if not carried out at +this time, the suffering in Armenia, unless we had been misinformed, +would shock the entire civilized world. None of us knew from personal +observation, as yet, the full need of assistance, but had reason to +believe it very great.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100">[Pg 100]</a></span> If my agents were permitted to go, such need as +they found they would be prompt to relieve. On the other hand, if they +did not find the need existing there, none would leave the field so +gladly as they. There would be no respecting of persons—humanity alone +would be their guide. "We have," I added, "brought only ourselves; no +correspondent has accompanied us, and we shall have none, and shall not +go home to write a book on Turkey. We are not here for that. Nothing +shall be done in any concealed manner. All dispatches which we send will +go openly through your own telegraph, and I should be glad if all that +we shall write could be seen by your government. I can not, of course, +say what its character will be, but can vouch for its truth, fairness, +and integrity, and for the conduct of every leading man who shall be +sent. I shall never counsel or permit a sly or underhand action with +your government, and you will pardon me, Pasha, if I say I shall expect +the same treatment in return—such as I give I shall expect to receive."</p> + +<p>Almost without a breath he replied: "And you shall have it. We honor +your position and your<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101">[Pg 101]</a></span> wishes shall be respected. Such aid and +protection as we are able, we shall render."</p> + +<p>I then asked if it were necessary for me to see other officials. "No," +he replied, "I speak for my government," and with cordial good wishes +our interview closed.</p> + +<p>I never spoke personally with this gentleman again, all further business +being officially transacted through the officers of our legation. Yet I +can truly say, as I have said of my first meeting with our matchless +band of missionary workers, that here commenced an acquaintance which +proved invaluable, and here were given pledges of mutual faith, of which +not a word was ever broken on either side.</p> + +<p>The Turkish Government, when once it came to understand American methods +and enthusiasm was forgiving and kind to us. No obstruction was ever +placed in our way. Our five expeditions passed through Armenian Turkey +from sea to sea, distributing whatever was needed, repairing the +destroyed machines, enabling the people to make tools to harvest their +grain, thus averting a famine; providing medical help and food as well +for<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102">[Pg 102]</a></span> thousands of sick; setting free the frightened inhabitants, and +returning them to the villages from which they had fled for their lives; +restoring all missionary freedom that had been interrupted; establishing +a more kindly feeling toward them on the part of the government; and +through all this, we had never one unpleasant transaction with any +person of whatever name or race.</p> + +<p>While our expeditions were getting ready to go out by the Black Sea, a +request was brought to me by Dr. Washburn, of Robert College, from Sir +Philip Currie, the British Ambassador at Constantinople, asking if I +could not be "persuaded" to turn my expedition through the +Mediterranean, rather than the Black Sea, in order to reach Mirash and +Zeitoun, where the foreign consuls were at the moment convened. They had +gotten word to him that ten thousand people in those two cities were +down with four distinct epidemics—typhoid and typhus fevers, dysentery +and smallpox—that the victims were dying in overwhelming numbers, and +that there was not a physician among them, all being either sick or +dead, with no medicine and little food.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103">[Pg 103]</a></span></p><p>This was not a case for "persuasion," but of heartfelt thanks from us +all, that Sir Philip had remembered to call us, whom he had never met. +But here was a hindrance. The only means of conveyance from +Constantinople to Alexandretta were coasting boats, belonging to +different nationalities, which left only once in two weeks, and +irregularly at that. Transport for our goods was secured on the first +boat to leave, the goods taken to the wharf at Galata, and at the latest +moment, in order to give time, a request was made to the government for +<i>teskeres</i>, or traveling permits, for Dr. J. B. Hubbell and assistants. +To our surprise they were granted instantly, but by some delay on the +part of the messenger sent for them they reached a moment too late. The +boat left a little more promptly, taking with it our relief goods, and +leaving the men on the dock to receive their permits only when the boat +was beyond recall. It was really the fault of no one.</p> + +<p>With the least possible delay Dr. Hubbell secured passage by the first +boat at Smyrna, and a fortunate chance boat from there took him to +Alexandretta, via Beyrout and Tripoli, Syria.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104">[Pg 104]</a></span> The goods arrived in +safety, and two other of our assistants, whom we had called by cable +from America—Edward M. Wistar and Charles King Wood—were also passed +over to the same point with more goods. There, caravans were fitted out +to leave over the—to them—unknown track to Aintab, as a first base. +From this point the reports of these three gentlemen made to me will be +living witnesses. They tell their own modest tales of exposure, severe +travel, hard work, and hardship, of which no word of complaint has ever +passed their lips. There have been only gratitude and joy, that they +could do something in a cause at once so great and so terrible.</p> + +<p>While this was in progress, a dispatch came to me at Constantinople from +Dr. Shepard of Aintab, whose tireless hands had done the work of a score +of men, saying that fevers, both typhoid and typhus, of the most +virulent nature, had broken out in Arabkir, two or three days north of +Harpoot; could I send doctors and help? Passing the word on to Dr. +Hubbell at Harpoot, prompt and courageous action was taken by him. It is +something to say that from a rising pestilence with a score of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105">[Pg 105]</a></span> deaths +daily, in five weeks, himself and his assistants left the city in a +normally healthful condition, the mortality ceasing at once under their +care and treatment.</p> + +<p>During this time the medical relief for the cities of Zeitoun and Marash +was in charge of Dr. Ira Harris, of Tripoli, who reached there March +18th. The report of the consuls had placed the number of deaths from the +four contagious diseases at one hundred a day. This would be quite +probable when it is considered that ten thousand were smitten with the +prevailing diseases, and that added to this were the crowded condition +of the patients, the thousands of homeless refugees who had flocked from +their forsaken villages, the lack of all comforts, of air, cleanliness, +and a state of prolonged starvation.</p> + +<p>Dr. Harris's first report to me was that he was obliged to set the soup +kettles boiling and feed his patients before medicine could be retained. +My reply was a draft for two hundred liras (something over eight hundred +dollars) with the added dispatch: "Keep the pot boiling; let us know +your wants." The further reports show from this time<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106">[Pg 106]</a></span> an astonishingly +small number of deaths. The utmost care was taken by all our expeditions +to prevent the spread of the contagion and there is no record of its +ever having been carried out of the cities, where it was found, either +at Zeitoun, Marash, or Arabkir. Lacking this precaution, it might well +have spread throughout all Asia Minor, as was greatly feared by the anxious people.</p> + +<p>On the twenty-fourth of May, Dr. Harris reported the disease as +overcome. His stay being no longer needed, he returned to his great +charge in Tripoli, with the record of a medical work and success behind +him never surpassed if ever equaled. The lives he had saved were enough +to gain Heaven's choicest diadem. Never has America cause to be more +justly proud and grateful than when its sons and daughters in foreign +lands perform deeds of worth like that.</p> + +<p>The closing of the medical fields threw our entire force into the +general relief of the vilayet of Harpoot, which the relieving +missionaries had well named their "bottomless pit."</p> + +<p>The apathy to which the state of utter nothingness, together with their +grief and fear, had <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107">[Pg 107]</a></span>reduced the inhabitants, was by no means the +smallest difficulty to be overcome. Here was realized the great danger +felt by all—that of continued alms-giving, lest they settle down into a +condition of pauperism, and thus finally starve, from the inability of +the world at large to feed them. The presence of a strange body of +friendly working people, coming thousands of miles to help them, +awakened a hope and stimulated the desire to help themselves.</p> + +<p>It was a new experience that these strangers <i>dared</i> to come to them. +Although the aforetime home lay a heap of stone and sand, and nothing +belonging to it remained, still the land was there, and when seed to +plant the ground and the farming utensils and cattle were brought to +work it with, the faint spirit revived, the weak, hopeless hands +unclasped, and the farmer stood on his feet again.</p> + +<p>When the cities could no longer provide the spades, hoes, plows, picks +and shovels, and the crude iron and steel to make these was purchased +and taken to them, the blacksmith found again his fire and forge and +traveled weary miles with his bellows on his back. The carpenter again +swung his<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108">[Pg 108]</a></span> hammer and drew his saw. The broken and scattered +spinning-wheels and looms from under the storms and <i>débris</i> of winter +again took form and motion, and the fresh bundles of wool, cotton, flax, +and hemp in the waiting widow's hand brought hopeful visions of the +revival of industries which should not only clothe but feed.</p> + +<p>At length, in early June, the great grain-fields of Diarbekir, Farkin, +and Harpoot valleys, planted the year before, grew golden and bowed +their heavy spear-crowned heads in waiting for the sickle. But no +sickles were there, no scythes, not even knives. It was a new and sorry +sight for our full-handed American farming men to see those poor, hard +Asiatic hands trying, by main strength, to break the tough straw or pull +it by the roots. This state of things could not continue, and their +sorrow and pity gave place to joy when they were able to drain the +cities of Harpoot and Diarbekir of harvest tools, and turned the work of +all the village blacksmiths on to the manufacture of sickles and +scythes, and of flint workers upon the rude threshing machines.</p> + +<p>They have told me since their return that the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109">[Pg 109]</a></span> pleasantest memories left +to them were of those great valleys of golden grain, bending and falling +before the harvesters, men and women, each with the new, sharp sickle or +scythe, the crude threshing planks, the cattle trampling out the grain, +and the gleaners in the rear as in the days of Abraham and Moab. God +grant that somewhere among them was a kind-hearted king of the harvest +who gave orders to let some sheaves fall.</p> + +<p>Even while this saving process was going on another condition no less +imperative arose. These fields must be replanted or starvation must be +simply delayed. Only the strength of their old-time teams of oxen could +break up the hard sod and prepare for the fall sowing. Not an +animal—ox, cow, horse, goat, or sheep—had been left. All had been +driven to the Kourdish Mountains. When Mr. Wood's telegram came, calling +for a thousand oxen for the hundreds of villages, I thought of our not +rapidly swelling bank account, and all that was needed everywhere else, +and replied accordingly.</p> + +<p>When in return came the telegram from the Rev. Dr. Gates, president of +Harpoot College, the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110">[Pg 110]</a></span> live, active, practical man of affairs, whose +judgment no one could question, saying that the need of oxen was +imperative, that unless the ground could be plowed before it dried and +hardened it could not be done at all, and the next harvest would be +lost, also that "Mr. Wood's estimate was moderate," the financial +secretary was directed to send a draft for five thousand liras +(twenty-two thousand dollars) to the care of the Rev. Dr. Gates, to be +divided among the three expeditions for the purchase of cattle and the +progress of the harvest of 1897.</p> + +<p>As the sum sent would be immediately applied, the active services of the +men would be no longer required, and directions went with the remittance +to report in person at Constantinople.</p> + +<p>Unheard-of toil, care, hard riding day and night, with risk of life, +were all involved in the carrying out of that order. Among the +uncivilized and robber bands of Kourds, the cattle that had been stolen +and driven off must be picked up, purchased, and brought back to the +waiting farmer's field. There were routes so dangerous that a brigand +chief was selected by those understanding<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111">[Pg 111]</a></span> the situation as the safest +escort for our men. Perhaps the greatest danger encountered was in the +region of Farkin, beyond Diarbekir, where the official escort had not +been waited for, and the leveled musket of the faithless guide told the difference.</p> + +<p>At length the task was accomplished. One by one the expeditions closed +and withdrew, returning by Sivas and Samsoun, and coming out by the +Black Sea. With the return of the expeditions we closed the field. But +contributors would be glad to know that subsequent to this, before +leaving Constantinople, funds from both the New York and Boston +committees came to us amounting to about fifteen thousand dollars. This +was happily placed with Mr. W. W. Pect, treasurer of the Board of +Foreign Missions at Stamboul, to be used subject to our order; and with +our concurrence it was employed in the building of little houses in the +interior, as a winter shelter and protection, where all had been destroyed.</p> + +<p>The appearance of our men on their arrival at Constantinople confirmed +the impression that they had not been recalled too soon. They had gone<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112">[Pg 112]</a></span> +out through the snows and ice of winter, and without change or rest had +come back through the scorching suns of midsummer—five months of rough, +uncivilized life, faring and sharing with their beasts of burden, +well-nigh out of communication with the civilized world, but never out +of danger. It seemed but just to themselves and to others who might need +them, that change and rest be given them.</p> + +<p>It would scarcely be permissible to express in words the obligation to +our American Minister, Hon. A. W. Terrell, at Constantinople, without +whose unremitting care and generous aid our work could not have been +accomplished. And, indeed, so many were the duties of that difficult and +delicate field that it seemed the help of no one hand or heart could be +spared. We felt that we had them all; from the palace of the Sultan to +beloved Robert College, from the American Legation to the busy rooms of +the American Board, with its masterly treasurer, Peet, were the same +outstretched hands of protection and care for our little band.</p> + +<p>They knew we had taken our lives in our hands<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113">[Pg 113]</a></span> to come to them, and with +no thought of ourselves. We had done the best we knew to accomplish the +mission so persistently sought of us in our own country.</p> + +<p>That our work had been acceptable to those who received its results, we +knew. They had never failed to <i>make</i> us know. If also acceptable to Him +who gave us the courage, protection, and strength to perform it, we need +care for little more.</p> + +<p>Funds to the total amount of $116,326.01 were cabled us by Mr. Spencer +Trask's committee, all of which were placed in the hands of Mr. W. W. +Peet, treasurer of the missionary board at Constantinople. All proper +receipts were given and taken, and feeling that we had faithfully and +successfully accomplished the work we had been asked to perform, we +closed the field, and prepared to return to America.</p> + +<p>Some days of physical rest were needful for the men of the expeditions +after reaching Constantinople before commencing their journey of +thousands of miles for home, worn as they were by exposure and incessant +labor—physical and mental. I need not attempt to say with what +gratitude I<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114">[Pg 114]</a></span> welcomed back these weary, brown-faced men and officers +from a field so difficult and so perilous; none the less did the +gratitude go out to my faithful and capable secretary, who had toiled +early and late, never leaving for a day, striving with tender heart that +all should go well.</p> + +<p>And when the first greetings were over, the full chorus of manly +voices—"Home Again," "Sweet Land of Liberty," "Nearer My God to +Thee"—that rolled out through the open windows of the Red Cross +headquarters in Constantinople fell on the listening ears of Christian +and Moslem alike, and though the tones were new and strange, all felt +that to some one, somewhere, they meant more than the mere notes of music.</p> + +<hr /> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115">[Pg 115]</a></span></p> + +<h2><a name="VIII" id="VIII"></a>VIII</h2> + +<h3>CUBA</h3> + +<h3>1898</h3> + +<p>On our return to "civilization" we were rejoiced to find that as a +result of our three months' labors, the former tumult of Armenia had +died away into a peaceful echo, but a new murmur fast growing to clamor +had taken its place. Cuba had entered the ceaseless arena of American, +gladiatorial, humanitarian contest. The cruelties of the reconcentrado +system of warfare had become apparent, and methods of relief were +uppermost in the minds of all persons.</p> + +<p>These methods were twofold and might well be classed under two distinct +heads: those who for mere pity's sake sought simple relief; those who +with a further forecast sought the removal of a cause as well as its +effect, and "Cuba Libre" was its muffled cry. They asked money for arms +as well as bread, and the struggle between the two<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_116" id="Page_116">[Pg 116]</a></span> held the country in +a state of perplexed contradiction for months running into years.</p> + +<p>Our great-hearted President asked simple aid and was distressed at the +doubtful response. At length he suggested and we proffered the aid of +the Red Cross on a call to the country, and the establishment of the +"Central Cuban Relief Committee" in New York, within three days, was the result.</p> + +<p>The activity and success of that committee are too fresh in the minds of +all our people to require the smallest description from me. Too much +praise can not be given to our Auxiliary Societies from the Atlantic to +the Pacific for the splendid work in the camps at home, in Cuba, Porto +Rico, and in the care of our soldiers in transit to the Philippines. +Their full and complete reports show the great work accomplished. The +memory of the work of the busy men and tireless women who joined heart +and hand in this Heaven-sent task still brings tears to the eyes of a +nation at its recall.</p> + +<p>The service assigned me by our anxious President, and gladly accepted, +was the distribution<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117">[Pg 117]</a></span> on the pitiful fields of Cuba. These scenes I +would not recall. The starving mothers and motherless babes, the +homelessness and squalor, the hopelessness and despair, are beyond all +words and all conception, save to those who saw and lived among them. It +is past and let it rest.</p> + +<p>Then followed the declaration of hostilities, the blockade, the fleets +of war, and the stately, glistening white ships of relief that dotted +the sea—our navy after forty years of peace again doing service in its +own waters—and among them one inconspicuous, black-hulled sea-going +craft, laden with food for the still famishing reconcentrados, when they +could be reached.</p> + +<p>Day after day, in its weary, waiting cruise, it watched out for an +opening to that closed-in suffering island, till at length the thunder +of the guns, Siboney, San Juan, opened the track, and the wounded troops +of our own army, hungering on their own fields, were the reconcentrados +of the hour.</p> + +<p>Tampa became the gathering-point of the army. Its camps filled like +magic, first with regulars, then volunteers, as if the fiery torch of +Duncraigen had<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_118" id="Page_118">[Pg 118]</a></span> spread over the hills and prairies of America. The great +ships gathered in the waters, the transports, with decks dark with human +life, passed in and out, and the battleships of the sea held ever their +commanding sway. It seemed a strange thing, this gathering for war. +Thirty years of peace had made it strange to all save the veterans of +the days of the old war, long passed into history. Could it be possible +that we were to learn this anew? Were men again to fall, and women weep? +Were the youth of this generation to gain that experience their fathers +had gained, to live the war-lives they had lived, and die the deaths +they had died?</p> + +<p>At length the fleet moved on, and we prepared to move with, or rather +after it. The quest on which it had gone, and the route it had taken, +bordered something on the mystery shrouding the days when Sherman +marched to the sea. Where were the Spanish ships? What would be the +result when found and met? Where were we to break that Cuban wall and +let us in?</p> + +<p>Always present in our minds were the food we carried, the willing hands +that waited, and the perishing thousands that needed. We knew the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_119" id="Page_119">[Pg 119]</a></span> great +hospital ships were fitting for the care of the men of both Army and +Navy. Surely they could have no need of us.</p> + +<p>We had taken possession of our ship at Key West on the 29th of April. It +was now the 20th of June and the national records of two countries at +least will always give the history of those days. It is our part to keep +as clearly, truthfully, and kindly as possible, the record of the little +that fell to us to perform in this great drama.</p> + +<p>Weighing anchor at Key West the State of Texas steamed for the open +Caribbean, we having first taken the official advice of Commodore Remy +to find Admiral Sampson and report to him.</p> + +<p>Sunrise of the twenty-fifth gave us our first view of the water at +Santiago. Our transports and battle-ships were gathered there. The +advice of Admiral Sampson was that we proceed to Guantanamo, where the +marines had made a landing and were camped on the shore. There had been +some fighting at Guantanamo. The naval hospital ship Solace was there.</p> + +<p>Whoever has enjoyed this quiet, sheltered harbor, protected on three +sides by beautiful<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_120" id="Page_120">[Pg 120]</a></span> wooded hills, will not require to be reminded of it. +At six o'clock our anchor sunk in the deep, still waters and we had time +to look about and see the beginning of the war. The marines were camped +along the brow of a hill. On our right a camp of Cubans, and all about +us the great war-ships with their guns, which told of forthcoming +trouble. Captain McCalla, who was in command of Guantanamo, had sent his +compliments and a launch, leading us in to our place of anchorage. The +courtesies of the navy so early commenced at Key West were continued +throughout the war.</p> + +<p>By invitation of Commander Dunlap our entire company visited the Solace +the following day. If that beautiful ship or its management had left +room on the records of our country's meed of gratitude, for more words +of appreciative praise, I should be glad to speak them. Only those +familiar with the earliest history of the Red Cross in our country, and +the methods by which our navy alone—of all the Red Cross nations—had +gained even an approximately legal place, can judge what the sight of +that first naval relief ship in American waters was to me. It brought +back<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_121" id="Page_121">[Pg 121]</a></span> so vividly the memory of the day in 1881 when President Arthur +called me to him to carefully explain the conditions of the treaty which +he had just signed, and that, Congress having generously included the +navy in its treaty for war, he would provide to hold it carefully until +the probable widening of the original treaty would include the <i>navies</i> +of the world, as well as the armies.</p> + +<p>Before the day closed news came to us of a serious character. The daring +Rough Riders had been hardly dealt by. Hamilton Fish and Allyn Capron +had been killed, and the wounded needed help. Wherever they might be, it +must be possible to reach them, and it was decided that no time be lost. +Our men commenced work in the hold of the ship to get at medical +supplies and dressings, and the captain took his orders. I find in my +diary at the close of that day the following paragraph: "It is the Rough +Riders we go to, and the relief may be also rough, but it will be +<i>ready</i>. A better body of helpers could scarcely be gotten together."</p> + +<p>Nine o'clock of the same night found us at Siboney, which can scarcely +be called a harbor, for it has no anchorage. The next morning at +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_122" id="Page_122">[Pg 122]</a></span>daybreak we stood on deck to see the soldiers filing up over the hill, +in heavy marching order, forming in lines by ones and twos, winding up, +in and out among the hills, higher and higher. As we watched them they +were a moving line trailing on toward the clouds, till lost in the mist, +and we could only think, as we looked at them, on how many and on which, +is set the mark of death? He knew no more than we—poor fellow—and +with his swinging, steady gait, toils up and up and waits for—he knows not what.</p> + +<p>The hospitals, both American and Cuban, located on the shore just to the +right of us, were visited by our men that same evening. Some of their +surgeons called on us. All seemed interested in the Red Cross, but none +thought that a woman nurse would be in place in a soldiers' +hospital—indeed, very much out of place. I suggested that that decision +was hard for me, for I had spent a great deal of time in soldiers' +hospitals myself. They appeared to understand that perfectly, but there +seemed to be a <i>later</i> line which could not be crossed.</p> + +<p>The Cubans who had just come into camp <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_123" id="Page_123">[Pg 123]</a></span>expressed a desire for any +assistance we could give them. They would be glad to have the Red Cross +Sisters in their little hospital, but begged us to wait just a day until +it could be put in better order. The Sisters were not the persons to +grant that day of preparation.</p> + +<p>On the contrary they at once went to work, thoroughly cleaned the little +three-room building—Garcia's abandoned headquarters, to be used as a +hospital—and when the day closed the transformation showed clean rooms, +clean cots, and the grateful occupants wondering whether Heaven itself +could be more comfortable, or anything more desirable than the palatable +food prepared for them by the Sisters.</p> + +<p>Three days later the following letter was received:</p> + +<p class="tbrk"> </p> + +<p>"To <span class="smcap">Miss Clara Barton</span>, President,<br /> + "American National Red Cross:</p> + +<p>"I have the honor to request your assistance in caring for the patients +in a so-called hospital near the landing at this point.</p> + +<p>"The orders are to the effect that all patients now under treatment on +the shore shall be <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_124" id="Page_124">[Pg 124]</a></span>transferred to the Iroquois and Olivette, but the +facilities for carrying out this order are apparently inadequate. In +order that the division hospital may remain unhampered for the care of +the wounded in the engagement about to take place, it is necessary for +me to request this favor of you, and I trust that you may find it +possible to comply with said request.</p> + +<p class="right">"Your obedient servant, <br /> +"<span class="smcap">Louis A. Le Garde</span>,</p> + +<p>"Major and Surgeon, U. S. A., Commanding Hospital."</p> + +<p class="tbrk"> </p> + +<p>To this the following reply was immediately returned:</p> + +<p class="tbrk"> </p> + +<p class="center">"Steamship State of Texas,</p> + +<p>"<span class="smcap">Siboney, Santiago de Cuba</span>, <i>June 30, 1898</i>.</p> + +<p>"<span class="smcap">Dr. Louis A. Le Garde</span>,</p> + +<p>"Major and Surgeon, U. S. A., Commanding Hospital.</p> + +<p>"Major: Permit me to express the pleasure given me by your letter +inviting the assistance of the persons here under my direction in the +care of the sick and wounded of the engagement about to take place. +Although not here as a hospital ship by any means—not legitimately +fitted for the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_125" id="Page_125">[Pg 125]</a></span>work—still we have some hospital supplies, a few +intelligent workers, skill, experience, the willingness to serve, the +readiness to obey, and I believe the true spirit of the Red Cross, that +seeks to help humanity wherever its needs exist. I send them to you in +the hope that they may be of service.</p> + +<p class="center">"Cordially yours,</p> + +<p class="right">"<span class="smcap">Clara Barton</span>, </p> + +<p class="center">"President, American National Red Cross."</p> + +<p class="tbrk"> </p> + +<p>Our surgeons and assistants went on shore, where Dr. Le Garde and Dr. +Lesser secured a small house, and in a few hours this had undergone the +same transformation and by the same hands as the Cuban hospital. The Red +Cross flag was hoisted, Dr. Lesser placed in charge, and scores of our +soldiers who had been lying on the filthy floors of an adjacent +building, with no food but army rations, were carried over, placed in +clean cots, and given proper food. From that on, no distinction was +made, the Red Cross flag floating over both the American and Cuban hospitals.</p> + +<p>A few feet away, all the available army tents were put up as additional +accommodation for the "wounded in the engagement about to take place."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_126" id="Page_126">[Pg 126]</a></span> +It did take place the following day, and, as will be well remembered, in +those two days, Friday and Saturday, the first and second of July, the +tents were more than filled with wounded in the battle of San Juan Hill. +Three of the five Sisters went into the operating tent, and with the +surgeons worked for thirty hours with only a few moments' rest now and +then for a cup of coffee and a cracker or piece of bread. We heard +nothing more about a woman nurse being out of place in a soldiers' hospital.</p> + +<p>On Saturday evening, the second day of the San Juan battle, a slip of +paper with these penciled words was brought to the door of the hospital:</p> + +<p class="tbrk"> </p> + +<p>"Send food, medicines, anything. Seize wagons from the front for transportation.</p> + +<p class="right">"<span class="smcap">Shafter.</span>"</p> + +<p class="tbrk"> </p> + +<p>The call for help was at once sent over to the State of Texas, and we +worked all night getting out supplies and sending them ashore with a +force of Cubans, only too glad to work for food.</p> + +<p>I wish I could make apparent how difficult a thing it was to get +supplies from our ship to the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_127" id="Page_127">[Pg 127]</a></span> shore in a surf which, after ten o'clock +in the morning, allowed no small boats to touch even the bit of a pier +that was run out without breaking either the one or the other, and +nothing in the form of a lighter save two dilapidated flat-boat +pontoons. These had been broken and cast away by the engineer corps, +picked up by ourselves, mended by the Cubans, and put in condition to +float alongside of our ship, and receive perhaps three or four tons of +material. This must then be rowed or floated out to the shore, run onto +the sand as far as possible, the men jumping into the water from knee to +waist deep, pulling the boat up from the surf, and getting the material +on land. And this was what was meant by loading the "seized wagons from +the front" and getting food to the wounded. After ten o'clock in the day +even this was impossible, and we must wait until the calm of three +o'clock next morning to commence work again and go through the same +struggle to get something to load the wagons for that day. Our supplies +had been gotten ashore, and among the last, rocking and tossing in our +little boat, went ourselves, landing on the pier, which by that time was +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_128" id="Page_128">[Pg 128]</a></span>breaking in two, escaping a surf which every other moment threatened to +envelop one from feet to head, we reached the land.</p> + +<p>Our "seized" wagons had already gone on, loaded with our best hospital +supplies—meal, flour, condensed milk, malted milk, tea, coffee, sugar, +dried fruits, canned fruits, canned meats, and such other things as we +had been able to get out in the haste of packing—entirely filling the +two wagons already in advance.</p> + +<p>An ambulance had been spoken of. We waited a little while by the +roadside, but the ambulance did not appear. Then, halting a wagon loaded +with bales of hay, we begged a ride of the driver, and our little party, +Dr. and Mrs. Gardner, James McDowell, and myself, took our seats on the +hay and made our way to the front, Dr. Hubbell following afoot. Four +hours' ride brought us to the First Division Hospital of the Fifth Army +Corps—General Shafter's headquarters.</p> + +<p>The sight that met us on going into the so-called hospital grounds was +something indescribable. The land was perfectly level; no drainage +whatever; covered with long, tangled grass; skirted by<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_129" id="Page_129">[Pg 129]</a></span> trees, brush, +and shrubbery; a few little dog-tents not much larger than could have +been made of an ordinary table-cloth thrown over a short rail, and under +these lay huddled together the men fresh from the field or from the +operating-tables, with no covering over them save such as had clung to +them through their troubles, and in the majority of cases no blanket under them.</p> + +<p>Those who had come from the tables, having been compelled to leave all +the clothing they had, as too wet, muddy, and bloody to be retained, +were entirely nude, lying on the stubble grass, the sun fitfully dealing +with them, sometimes clouding over and again streaming out in a blaze +above them. Fortunately, among our supplies were some bolts of +unbleached cotton, and this we cut in sheet lengths, and the men of our +party went about and covered the poor fellows, who lay there with no +shelter either from the elements or the eyes of the passers-by.</p> + +<p>A half dozen bricks laid about a yard apart, a couple of pieces of +wagon-tire laid across these, so low and so near the ground that no fire +of any strength or benefit could be made—the bits<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_130" id="Page_130">[Pg 130]</a></span> of wet wood put +under crosswise, with the smoke streaming a foot out on either side, two +kettles of coffee or soup, and a small frying-pan with some meat in +it—appeared to be the cook-house for these men. They told us there were +about eight hundred men under the tents and lying in the grass, and more +constantly coming in.</p> + +<p>After a few moments' consultation as to the best methods to be pursued, +we too gathered stones and bricks and constructed a longer, higher +fireplace, got more wagon-tires, found the water, and soon our great +agate kettles of seven and ten gallons were filled.</p> + +<p>The rain, that had been drizzling more or less all day, increased. Our +supplies were taken from the wagons, a piece of tarpaulin found to +protect them, and as the fire began to blaze and the water to heat, Mrs. +Gardner and I found the way into the bags and boxes of flour, salt, +milk, and meal, and got material for the first gallons of gruel. I had +not thought to ever make gruel again over a camp-fire. I can not say how +far it carried me back in the lapse of time, or really where, or who I +felt that I was.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_131" id="Page_131">[Pg 131]</a></span></p><p>It did not seem to be me, and still I seemed to know how to do it.</p> + +<p>When the bubbling contents of our kettle thickened and grew white with +the condensed milk, and we began to give it out—putting it into the +hands of men detailed as nurses, and our own men, to take around to the +poor sufferers, shivering and naked in the rain—I felt that perhaps it +was not in vain that history had repeated itself. When the nurses came +back and told us of the surprise with which it was received, and the +tears that rolled down the sun-burned, often bloody face, into the cup +as the poor fellow drank his hot gruel, and asked where it came from, +who sent it, and said it was the first food he had tasted in three days +(for they had gone into the fight hungry), I felt that it was again the +same old story and wondered what gain there had been in the last thirty years.</p> + +<p>The fires burned, the gruel steamed and boiled—bucket after bucket went +out—until those eight hundred men had each a cup of gruel and knew that +he could have another and as many as he wanted. The day waned, the +darkness came, and still the men were unsheltered, uncovered, naked,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_132" id="Page_132">[Pg 132]</a></span> +and wet—scarcely a groan, no word of complaint—no man said he was not +well treated.</p> + +<p>The operating-tables were full of the wounded. Man after man was taken +off, brought on his litter and laid beside other men, and something +given him to keep the little life in his body that seemed fast oozing +out. All night it went on. It grew cold—for naked men bitter +cold—before morning. We had no blankets, nothing to cover them, only +the strips of cotton cloth.</p> + +<p>Early in the morning ambulances started, and such of the wounded as +could be loaded in were taken to be carried back over that rough, +pitiless road, down to Siboney, to the hospitals there—that we had done +the best we could toward fitting up—where our hundred cots, hundred and +fifty blankets had gone, cups, spoons, and delicacies, that would help +to strengthen these poor, fainting men, if they could get there, and +where also the Sisters would care for them.</p> + +<p>They brought man after man, stretcher after stretcher, to the waiting +ambulances, and they took out seventeen who had died in the night, +unattended, save by the nurse.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_133" id="Page_133">[Pg 133]</a></span></p><p>More supplies arrived, and this time came large tarpaulins, more +utensils, more food, and more things to make it a little comfortable. We +removed our first kitchens across the road, up alongside the headquarter +tent of Major Wood, in charge of the camp. Words can not do justice to +his kind-hearted generosity. He strove in every way to do all that could +be done, and the night before had given us a small tent in which we had +huddled from the pouring rain, for a couple of hours, in the middle of +the night, the water rushing through like a rivulet.</p> + +<p>The tarpaulins were put over supplies, a new fireplace made near +us—magnificent in its dimensions—shelter given for boxes and barrels +that by this time had accumulated about us, and there was even something +that looked like a table, on which Mrs. Gardner prepared her delicacies.</p> + +<p>Early in the day there came to our improvised headquarters an officer in +khaki uniform showing hard service, and a bandanna handkerchief hanging +from his hat, to protect the back of his head and neck from the fierce +rays of the sun.</p> + +<p>It was Colonel Roosevelt, and we were very glad<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_134" id="Page_134">[Pg 134]</a></span> to meet the gallant +leader of the "Rough Riders." After a few moments conversation he said:</p> + +<p>"I have some sick men with the regiment who refuse to leave it. They +need such delicacies as you have here, which I am ready to pay for out +of my own pocket. Can I buy them from the Red Cross?"</p> + +<p>"Not for a million dollars," Dr. Gardner replied.</p> + +<p>"But my men need these things," he said, his tone and face expressing +anxiety. "I think a great deal of my men. I am proud of them."</p> + +<p>"And we know they are proud of you, Colonel. But we can't sell Red Cross +supplies," answered Dr. Gardner.</p> + +<p>"Then, how can I get them? I must have proper food for my sick men," he said.</p> + +<p>"Just ask for them, Colonel," replied Dr. Gardner.</p> + +<p>"Oh," he said, his face suddenly lighting up with a bright smile; "then +I do ask for them."</p> + +<p>"All right, Colonel; what is your list?"</p> + +<p>The list included malted milk, condensed milk, oatmeal, cornmeal, canned +fruits, dried fruits, rice,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_135" id="Page_135">[Pg 135]</a></span> tea, chocolate, and even prepared beefsteak +and vegetables, and other things good for men who could not eat army rations.</p> + +<p>"Now, Colonel, when will you send for these supplies?" asked Dr. +Gardner. "They will be ready any time."</p> + +<p>"Lend me a sack and I'll take them right along," he answered with +characteristic decision.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Gardner at once looked up a sack, and when filled it must have held +a good many pounds of supplies. Before we had recovered from our +surprise, the incident was closed by the future President of the United +States slinging the big sack over his shoulders, striding off, and out +of sight through the jungle.</p> + +<p>The gruel still remained the staple, but malted milk, chocolate, rice, +and tea had come in, and little by little various things were added by +which our <i>menage</i> quite resembled a hotel. The wounded were still being +taken away by ambulance and wagon, assorted and picked over like fruit. +Those who would bear transportation were taken away, the others left +where they were. By the third day our patients seemed strong enough that +we might<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_136" id="Page_136">[Pg 136]</a></span> risk giving them food as solid as rice, and the great kettles +were filled with that, cooked soft, mixed with condensed and malted +milk. The number of wounded grew less day by day, and better care could +be taken of them.</p> + +<p>At Siboney, the great needs of the hour were met by the little band of +surgeons and nurses, working night and day. The following is from a +letter in the Times-Herald, now Record-Herald, of Chicago, by Miss Janet +Jennings, who volunteered her service in the hospital. One gets from +this simple, direct picture, a better appreciation of that heroism which +lives after excitement, which survives the rush and shouting of assault, +which is sustained without comradeship:</p> + +<p class="tbrk"> </p> + +<p class="right">"<span class="smcap">Siboney</span>, <i>July 8, 1898</i>.</p> + +<p>"Above hospital tents Red Cross flags are flying, and here is the real +life—the suffering and heroism. Everybody who can do even so little as +carry a cup of water lends willing hands to help the wounded. Most of +the wounded are from the first day's engagement, when the infantry was +ordered to lead the attack on Santiago, instead of using the artillery.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_137" id="Page_137">[Pg 137]</a></span></p><p>"And it all came at once—a quick blow—with little or no preparation +to meet it. I mentioned in a former letter the lack of preparation on +the part of the army to care for the sick. There was then almost +nothing—no cots, bedding or proper food, for less than one hundred sick men.</p> + +<p>"Two days later, when the wounded came in, the needs of the hour were +overwhelming. The situation can not be described. Thousands of our men +had been hurried to the front to fight. It was well understood that it +would be a hard fight. The dead would need only burial, but the wounded +would need care. And yet, with the exception of a limited number of +stretchers, a medicine-chest and a few bandages, no preparation had been +made—neither cots nor food—practically no hospital supplies.</p> + +<p>"It is not strange that surgeons were desperate and nurses distressed. +The force of each was wholly inadequate. The exact number of wounded may +never be known. But the estimate at this time is about 1,000 +wounded—some 1,500 killed and wounded.</p> + +<p>"Wounded men who made their way down on foot eight miles over the rough, +hilly road will never know just how their strength held out. Others were +brought down in army wagons by<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_138" id="Page_138">[Pg 138]</a></span> the load, as few ambulances were at +hand. Fortunately, there were some tents here that had been used by +troops before going to the front. Under these hay was spread and covered +with blankets, and the improvised hospital was ready. One tent was taken +for operating-tables, and the work of surgeons and nurses began. They +worked night and day for forty-eight hours, with only brief intervals +for coffee and hard-tack.</p> + +<p>"Wounded men had to wait for hours before bullets could be extracted and +wounds dressed. But there was no word of complaint—only silent, patient +suffering, borne with a courage that was sublime. As the wounded +continued to come in, tent-room gave out, and hay with blankets were +placed outside, and to these 'beds' the less severely wounded were +assigned. It was evident that the medical department of the army had +failed absolutely to send hospital supplies, or by this time they would +have been landed. As it was, the surgeons turned to the Red Cross ship +'State of Texas' for help, and the supplies originally intended for the +starving Cubans were sent ashore for our wounded.</p> + +<p>"Miss Barton had been urged and advised to wait until the army opened +and made the way safe to land supplies for reconcentrados and refugees.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_139" id="Page_139">[Pg 139]</a></span> +But she had foreseen the situation to a certain degree and followed the +army as quickly as possible—to wait for the emergency, rather than have +the emergency wait for her. The 'State of Texas' was here a week before +the attack on Santiago.</p> + +<p>"While surgeons and nurses were probing for bullets and dressing wounds, +a force of men on the Red Cross ship worked half the night getting out +cots and blankets, food and bandages, and at daylight next morning the +supplies were landed, taking advantage of the smooth sea between four +and nine o'clock, as later in the day the high surf makes it extremely +difficult for landings. There were six tables in the operating-tent and +eight surgeons. In twenty-four hours the surgeons had operated upon and +dressed the wounds of 475 men. Four Red Cross sisters, trained nurses, +assisted the surgeons. They were Sister Bettina, wife of Dr. Lesser, +surgeon-in-chief of the Red Cross; Sister Minna, Sister Isabel, and +Sister Blanche. Their knowledge of surgery, skill, and nerve were a +revelation to the army surgeons. These young women, all under thirty, +went from one operating-table to another, and, whatever was the nature +of the wound or complication, proved equal to the emergency.</p> + +<p>"In the Red Cross Hospital, across the way,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_140" id="Page_140">[Pg 140]</a></span> Sister Anna was in charge +of the sick men, turned over to the Red Cross two days before, when army +surgeons with troops were all ordered to the front. With 475 wounded men +to feed there was not a camp-kettle to be found in which gruel could be +prepared, coffee made or anything cooked, not a kettle of any sort to be +furnished by the army. The whole camp outfit at Tampa in the way of +cooking utensils must have been left behind.</p> + +<p>"But there was an overruling Providence when the 'State of Texas' was +loaded for Cuba. So far everything needed has been found in the hold of +this old ship, which deserves to have and will have a credit page in the +history of the war in Cuba. There were kettles, charcoal braziers, and +cooking utensils carried over to the Red Cross Hospital. To prepare +gruel, rice, coffee, and various other proper and palatable dishes for +forty or fifty sick men by the slow process of a charcoal brazier, +tea-kettle, and boiler is by no means easy cooking. But to prepare food +for 475 wounded men, some of whom had had nothing to eat for twenty-four +hours, cooking over a little charcoal pot is something that one must +take a 'hand in' to fully appreciate.</p> + +<p>"There was the feeling as if one were dazed and unnatural to hear +American soldiers, men from<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_141" id="Page_141">[Pg 141]</a></span> comfortable homes, literally begging for +'just a spoonful of gruel.' The charcoal pot burned night and day, +gallons of gruel were made and quantities of rice cooked until the +greatest stress had passed. It was no time to stand on trained service, +and everybody, man or woman, was ready to lend a hand.</p> + +<p>"A striking feature of the first day's engagement was the number of men +wounded in the head, arm, and upper part of the body. Some of these +cases, the most serious, were taken into the Red Cross Hospital, where +they received the most skilful and gentle nursing.</p> + +<p>"Two days' steady strain began to show on the Sisters.</p> + +<p>"The strain had been the greater because there were no facilities for +anything like a regular meal short of the ship, reached by a long, hard +tramp in the sand, then a row over the tossing waves. But nobody thought +of meals. The one thing was to feed and nurse the 500 wounded and sick +men. Human endurance, however, has its limit, and unless the Sisters +could get a little rest they would give out. I went on duty for +twenty-four hours, at night, with the assistance of one man, taking care +of forty patients, fever, measles, and dysentery cases, and half a dozen +badly wounded men.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_142" id="Page_142">[Pg 142]</a></span> Among the latter was Captain Mills, of the First +Cavalry, and William Clark, a colored private in the Twenty-fifth +Infantry, regulars. They were brought over from the hospital tents and +placed on cots out on the little porch, where there was just room to +pass between the cots.</p> + +<p>"Their wounds were very similar—in the head—and of such a character as +to require cool applications to the eyes constantly. Ice was scarce and +worth its weight in gold, for the lives of these men as well as others +depended chiefly on cool applications to the eyes, with as uniform +temperature as possible. We had one small piece of ice, carefully +wrapped in a blanket. There never was a small piece of ice that went so +far. If I were to tell the truth about it nobody would believe me.</p> + +<p>"Never in my whole life, I think, have I wished for anything so much as +I wished for plenty of ice that night. It was applied by chipping in +small bits, laid in thin, dry cotton cloth, folded over in just the +right size and flat, to place across the eyes and forehead, enough of it +to be cold, but not heavy, on the wounds.</p> + +<p>"The ears of the sick are strangely acute. Whenever the sick men heard +the sound of chipping ice they begged for ice-water; even the smallest +bit of ice in a cup of water was begged with an<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_143" id="Page_143">[Pg 143]</a></span> eagerness that was +pitiful. I felt conscience-smitten. But it was a question of saving the +eyes of the wounded men, and there was no other way. To make the ice +last till morning I stealthily chipped it off so the sick men would not +hear the sound.</p> + +<p>"At midnight a surgeon came over from his tent ward with a little piece +of ice not larger than his hand. I do not know his name, but it does not +matter, it is inscribed above. 'This is all we can spare,' he said. +'Take it. You must keep those wounds cool at all hazards. I have another +case very like these—a man wounded in the head. I want to bring him +over here, where he will be sure of exactly the same nursing. His life +depends on the care he gets in the next twenty-four hours. Have you a vacant cot?'</p> + +<p>"There was not a vacant cot, but we could make room for one on the porch +if he could find the cot. He thought he could, and went back, taking the +precious piece of ice that he really needed more than we did. In the +course of a half hour the surgeon returned to say it was impossible to +get a cot anywhere, and the wounded man must be left where he was in the +tent, at least until morning.</p> + +<p>"And so it went on through the long night—the patient suffering of the +sick men, the heroism of the wounded, all fearing to give any trouble,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_144" id="Page_144">[Pg 144]</a></span> +desiring not to do so, find grateful for the smallest attention.</p> + +<p>"The courage that faces death on the battlefield or calmly awaits it in +the hospital is not a courage of race or color. Two of the bravest men I +ever saw were here, almost side by side on the little porch—Captain +Mills and Private Clark—one white, the other black. They were wounded +almost at the same time, and in the same way. The patient suffering and +heroism of the black soldier was fully equal to that of the Anglo-Saxon. +It was quite the same, the gentleness and appreciation. They were a +study, these men so widely apart in life, but here strangely close and +alike on the common ground of duty and sacrifice. They received +precisely the same care; each fed like a child, for with their bandaged +eyes they were as helpless as blind men. When the ice pads were renewed +on Captain Mills's eyes the same change was made on Private Clark's +eyes. There was no difference in their beds or food. Neither uttered a +word of complaint. The nearest to a regret expressed by Captain Mills +was a heavy sigh, followed by the words: 'Oh, we were not ready. Our +army was not prepared.'</p> + +<p>"Of himself he talked cheerfully, strong, and hopeful. 'I think I shall +go home with the sight of one eye,' he said. That was all.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_145" id="Page_145">[Pg 145]</a></span></p><p>"In the early part of the night he was restless, his brain was active, +cool, and brave as he might be. The moonlight was very bright, a flood +of silver, seen only in the tropics. Hoping to divert him I said: 'The +moonlight is too bright, captain. I will put up a paper screen so you +can get to sleep.'</p> + +<p>"He realized at once the absurdity and the ludicrous side, and with an +amused smile replied: 'But you know I can't see the moonlight.'</p> + +<p>"I said it was time to get more ice for his head and half stumbled +across the porch, blinded by tears. When told who his nearest neighbor +was, Captain Mills expressed great sympathy for Private Clark and paid a +high tribute to the bravery of the colored troops and their faithful +performance of duty.</p> + +<p>"Private Clark talked but little. He would lie apparently asleep until +the pain in his head became unbearable. Then he would try to sit up, +always careful to keep the ice-pad on his eyes over the bandage.</p> + +<p>"'What can I do for you, Clark?' I would ask, anxious to relieve his pain.</p> + +<p>"'Nothing, thank you,' he would answer. 'It's very nice and comfortable +here. But it's only the misery in my head—the misery is awful.'</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_146" id="Page_146">[Pg 146]</a></span></p><p>"Poor fellow! there was never a moan, merely a little sigh now and +then, but always that wonderful patience that seemed to me not without a +touch of divine philosophy, complete acceptance.</p> + +<p>"I have mentioned these two men, not as exceptional in bravery, but to +illustrate the rule of heroism, and because they were among the patients +under my immediate care that night. It was a strange night picture—a +picture that could never be dimmed by time but live through all the +years of one's life.</p> + +<p>"After midnight a restful atmosphere pervaded the hospital and the +blessing of sleep fell upon the suffering men, one by one. In the little +interval of repose I dropped into an old chair on the porch, looked away +to the beautiful mountains sharply outlined in the moonlight, and the +sea like waves of silver, the camp on the shore; near by thirty or forty +horses standing motionless. Then the hospital tents, with now and then +the flickering light of a candle; in the background the cliffs, with +here and there a Spanish blockhouse. Over all the tragedy of life and +death, the pain and sorrow, there was the stillness of a peaceful +night—a stillness broken only by the sound of the surf brought back on +the cool breeze, the cool, refreshing breeze, for which we all thanked God."</p> + +<p class="tbrk"> </p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_147" id="Page_147">[Pg 147]</a></span></p><p>Later on, as will be remembered, Miss Jennings went North—a volunteer +nurse on the transport Seneca. The brave men whose lives hung in the +balance that night—with little hope that, if life were spared, they +would ever see again—recovered, but each with the loss of an eye. After +a long furlough Private Clark returned to his regiment. Captain Mills, +now General Mills, is the Superintendent of the West Point Military Academy.</p> + +<p>Three times in the first week I went over those terrible roads from the +front to Siboney and return. Arriving at Siboney late one night, there +was no way I could get on board the State of Texas and I was obliged to +remain on shore. The Postmaster insisted that I occupy a room in the +building used for a post-office. Such a courtesy could not be refused, +and against all feeling of acquiescence, and with a dread as if there +were something wrong about it, I allowed myself to be helped out of the +wagon and entered the house. The Postmaster sat down and talked with me +a little while. I thought he seemed ill. I had never met him before, but +my heart went out in sympathy<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_148" id="Page_148">[Pg 148]</a></span> for him. I feared I was taking his room, +although he did not admit it.</p> + +<p>I was shown into a room where there was a cot, a table, and a candle +without a stick, burning upon the table. The men went outside and laid +down upon the steps for the night. I laid down upon the cot, but it was +impossible for me to remain there. Something constantly warned me to +leave it. I got up, went to the door, looked out upon the night and +darkness, and waited for the gray of the morning. I went out and stood +upon the beach beside the sea and waited more and more, until finally +some of the men appeared, and I went with them down to the water.</p> + +<p>Six days later they told me that the rightful occupant of the cot—the +Postmaster, who had seemed so ill—had died of a fever raging here that +they called "yellow fever." I had occupied his cot. I wonder who it was +that so continually warned me that night to keep away from that room, +away from the cot, away from all connected with it? "Yellow fever" was +not then talked of. Did some one tell me? I do not know—but something told me.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_149" id="Page_149">[Pg 149]</a></span></p><p>The negotiations between General Shafter and the Spanish army at +Santiago were going on. The flag of truce, that threatened every day to +come down, still floated. The Spanish soldiers had been led by their +officers to believe that every man who surrendered—and the people as +well—would be butchered whenever the city should fall and the American +troops should come in. But when General Shafter commenced to send back +convoys of captured Spanish officers, their wounds dressed, and +carefully placed on stretchers, borne under flags of truce to the +Spanish lines at Santiago, and set down at the feet of General Toral, +and when in astonishment that officer learned the object of the flag of +truce and sent companies of his soldiers to form in line and present +arms, while the cortege of wounded were borne through by American +troops, a lesson was learned that went far toward the surrender of that city.</p> + +<p>I happen to know that it was not without some very natural home +criticism that General Shafter persisted in his course in the face of +the time-honored custom of "hostages." One can readily understand that +the voluntary giving up of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_150" id="Page_150">[Pg 150]</a></span> prisoners—officers at that—in view of an +impending battle, might seem in the light of old-time army usages a +waste, to characterize it by no harder term. It is possible that none of +the officers in that field had ever read the Articles of the Treaty of +Geneva, or fully recalled that the treaty had become a law, or that +their commander was acting in full accord with its wise and humane principles.</p> + +<p>By this time the main talk of the camp was "yellow fever." It was soon +discovered by the medical authorities that, from there having been at +first one case of fever, there were now one hundred and sixteen, and +that a fever camp would probably be made there, and the wounded gotten +away. It was advisable then that we return to our ship and attempt, as +far as possible, to hold that free from contagion. I was earnestly +solicited to do this, in view of what was expected of our ship, and of +what was expected of us, that we not only protect ourselves but our +cargo and ship from all contamination and even suspicion.</p> + +<p>I faithfully promised to do so, and again called for an army wagon, +leaving all supplies that were useful for the men in camp—sending to El +Caney<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_151" id="Page_151">[Pg 151]</a></span> what was most needed there—and taking only our personal effects, +started for Siboney. In less than twenty minutes the rain was pouring on +us and for two hours it fell as if from buckets. The water was from a +foot and a half to two feet deep in the road as we passed along. At one +time our wagon careened, the mules were held up, and we waited to see +whether it should go over or could be brought out, the water a few +inches only from the top of the lower side. It was scarcely possible for +us to stir, hemmed in as we were, but the men from the other wagons +sprang to our wheels, hanging in the air on the upper side, and we were +simply saved by an inch.</p> + +<p>But like other things, this cleared away. We came into Siboney about +three o'clock, in a bright glare of sunshine, to find the town entirely +burned—all buildings gone or smoking—and a "yellow fever" hospital +established a mile and a half out from Siboney.</p> + +<p>All effort was made to hold our ship free from suspicion. The process of +reasoning leading to the conclusion that a solid cargo, packed in tight +boxes in the hold of a ship, anchored at sea, could<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_152" id="Page_152">[Pg 152]</a></span> become infected in +a day from the land or a passing individual, is indeed an intricate +process. But we had some experience in this direction. Captain McCalla, +in his repeated humane attempts to feed the refugees around Guantanamo, +had called again for a hundred thousand rations, saying that if we could +bring them to him soon he could get them to the starving people in the +woods. We lost no time, but got the food out and started with it in the +night. On reaching Guantanamo we were met some distance out, called to, +and asked if any one on our ship had been on shore at Siboney within +four days; if so, our supplies could not be received. We took them away, +leaving the starving to perish.</p> + +<p>The constantly recurring news of the surrender of Santiago was so well +established that we drew anchor, came up to the flag-ship, and sent the +following letter to Admiral Sampson:</p> + +<p class="tbrk"> </p> + +<p class="center">"State of Texas,</p> + +<p class="right">"<i>July 16, 1898</i>.</p> + +<p>"<span class="smcap">Admiral Sampson</span>, Commanding U. S. Fleet off +Santiago, Flag-Ship New York.</p> + +<p>"Admiral: It is not necessary for me to explain to you my errand, nor +its necessity; both your good<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_153" id="Page_153">[Pg 153]</a></span> head and heart divine it more clearly +than any words of mine can represent.</p> + +<p>"I send this to you by one of our men who can tell all you wish to know. +Mr. John Elwell has resided and done mercantile and shipping business in +Santiago for the last seven years; is favorably known to all its people; +has in his possession the keys of the best warehouses and residences in +the city, to which he is given welcome by the owners. He is the person +appointed four months ago to help distribute this food, and did so with +me until the blockade. There seems to be nothing in the way of getting +our twelve hundred tons of food into a Santiago warehouse and giving it +intelligently to the thousands who <i>need</i> and <i>own</i> it. I have twenty +good helpers with me. The New York committee is urging the discharge of +the State of Texas, which has been raised in price to four hundred +dollars a day.</p> + +<p>"If there is still more explanation needed, I pray you, Admiral, let me +see you.</p> + +<p class="center">"Respectfuly and cordially,</p> + +<p class="right">"<span class="smcap">Clara Barton</span>."</p> + +<p class="tbrk"> </p> + +<p>These were anxious days. While the world outside was making up war +history, we thought of little beyond the terrible needs about us; if +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_154" id="Page_154">[Pg 154]</a></span>Santiago had any people left, they must be in sore distress; and El +Caney, with its thirty thousand homeless, perishing sufferers, how could +they be reached?</p> + +<p>On that Sunday morning, never to be forgotten, the Spanish fleet came +out of Santiago Harbor, to meet death and capture. That afternoon +Lieutenant Capehart, of the flag-ship, came on board with the courteous +reply of Admiral Sampson, that if we would come alongside the New York +he would put a pilot on board. This was done, and we moved on through +waters we had never traversed; past Morro Castle, long, low, silent, and +grim; past the wrecks of the Spanish ships on the right; past the +Merrimac in the channel. We began to realize that we were alone, of all +the ships about the harbor there were none with us. The stillness of the +Sabbath was over all. The gulls sailed and flapped and dipped about us. +The lowering summer sun shot long golden rays athwart the green hills on +either side and tinged the water calm and still. The silence grew +oppressive as we glided along with scarce a ripple. We saw on the right +as the only moving thing, a long, slim<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_155" id="Page_155">[Pg 155]</a></span> yacht dart out from among the +bushes and steal its way up half-hidden in the shadows. Suddenly it was +overtaken by either message or messenger, and like a collared hound +glided back as if it had never been.</p> + +<p>Leaning on the rail, half lost in reverie over the strange, quiet beauty +of the scene, the thought suddenly burst upon me—are we really going +into Santiago, and alone? Are we not to be run out, and wait aside, and +salute with dipping colors, while the great battle-ships come up with +music and banners and lead the way?</p> + +<p>As far as the eye could reach no ship was in sight. Was this to remain +so? Could it be possible that the commander who had captured a city +declined to be the first to enter, that he would hold back his flag-ship +and himself, and send forward and first a cargo of food on a plain ship, +under direction of a woman? Did our commands, military or naval, hold +men great enough of soul for such action? It must be true, for the +spires of Santiago rise before us, and turning to the score of +companions beside me I ask: "Is there any one here who will lead the +Doxology?" In an instant<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_156" id="Page_156">[Pg 156]</a></span> the full rich voice of Enola Gardner rang out: +"Praise God from whom all blessings flow." By that time the chorus was +full, and the tears on many a face told more plainly than words how +genuine was that praise, and when in response to a second suggestion "My +Country 'Tis of Thee" swelled out on the evening air in the farewell +rays of the setting sun, the State of Texas was nearing the dock, and +quietly dropping her anchor she lay there through the silence of the +night in undisputed possession, facing a bare wind-swept wharf and the +deserted city of Santiago.</p> + +<p>Daybreak brought quiet to an end. The silence was no longer oppressive. +A hundred and twenty stevedores lined up on the wharf for work and +breakfast. The dock had tracks, and trucks running to its open +warehouses. Boxes, barrels, and bales, pitched out of that ship, thrown +onto the trucks and wheeled away, told the story of better days to come. +It was something to see the lank, brawny little army of stevedores take +their first breakfast in line, alongside of the ship.</p> + +<p>Later in the day the flag-ship brought Admiral Sampson and Admiral +Schley, who spent several<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_157" id="Page_157">[Pg 157]</a></span> hours with us. They had every opportunity to +see how our work was done, and if we were equal to unloading our ship. +When they were about to leave Admiral Sampson was asked what orders or +directions he had for us. He replied: "You need no directions from me, +but if any one troubles you let me know."</p> + +<p>The amiable pleasantries of these two gallant officers during that visit +are a pleasure to recall. As I was, at an opportune moment, attempting +to express my appreciation and thanks to Admiral Sampson for the +courtesy of allowing us to precede him into Santiago, Admiral Schley, +with that <i>naïveté</i> and apt turn of expression so characteristic of him, +in a half undertone side-remark, cautioned me with "Don't give him too +much credit, Miss Barton; he was not quite sure how clear the channel +might be. Remember that was a trial trip."</p> + +<p>How sadly the recollection of that pleasant, memorable day has since +recurred to me; brave, gallant brothers in arms, and in heart; knowing +only a soldier's duty; each holding his country's honor first, his own +last; its glory his glory, and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_158" id="Page_158">[Pg 158]</a></span> for himself seeking nothing more. Ah, +people, press, and politics! How deal ye with your servants?</p> + +<p>A message was received from General Shafter, who telegraphed from his +headquarters; "The death rate at El Caney is terrible; can you send +food?" The answer was to send the thirty thousand refugees of El Caney +at once back to Santiago; we were there and could feed them; that the +State of Texas had still twelve hundred tons of supplies.</p> + +<p>The thirty thousand inhabitants of Santiago had been driven to El Caney, +a village designed for five hundred. In two days all were called back +and fed, ten thousand the first day, twenty thousand the second. Then +came our troops, and Santiago was lived and is remembered. Its +hospitals, the ante-chamber to Montauk, are never to be forgotten.</p> + +<p>A general committee was formed, the city districted into sections, with +a commissioner for each district, selected by the people themselves +living there. Every family or person residing within the city was +supplied by the commissioner of that <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_159" id="Page_159">[Pg 159]</a></span>district, and all transient +persons were fed at the kitchens, the food being provided by the Red Cross.</p> + +<p>The discharge of the cargo of the State of Texas commenced at six +o'clock Monday morning, July 18th. One hundred and twenty-five +stevedores were employed and paid in food issued as rations. Four days +later the discharge was completed.</p> + +<p>Although the army had entered the city during the latter part of that +time, there had been no confusion, no groups of disorderly persons seen, +no hunger in the city more than in ordinary times. We had done all that +could be done to advantage at that time in Santiago. The United States +troops had mainly left. The Spanish soldiers were coming in to their +waiting ships, bringing with them all the diseases that unprovided and +uncleanly camps would be expected to hold in store. Five weeks before we +had brought into Santiago all the cargo of the State of Texas excepting +the hospital supplies, which had been used the month previous among our +own troops at Siboney, General Shafter's front, and El Caney during the +days of fighting.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_160" id="Page_160">[Pg 160]</a></span></p><p>These were the last days of General Shafter in Santiago, who was, as he +had at all times been, the kind and courteous officer and gentleman. +General Wood, who was made Governor of the Province of Santiago upon the +day of surrender—alert, wise, and untiring, with an eye single to the +good of all—toiled day and night.</p> + +<p>The State of Texas steamed away to its northern home. Peace and plenty +came. The reconcentrados we went in search of were never reached. To +those who could not withstand, Heaven came. To those who could, <i>Cuba Libre</i>.</p> + +<p>Later on, general efforts were made for the protection of the thousands +of orphans over the island, in which efforts the Red Cross joined. But +the people of Cuba solved the question themselves—by a general adoption +in their own homes—and orphanages in Cuba became a thing of the past.</p> + +<p>Thus our work on that distressful field closed, after nearly two years +of such effort as one would never desire to repeat. The financial +management of that field, so far as the Red Cross was concerned, was +done under the attorneyship of the Central Cuban Relief Committee of New +York, whose <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_161" id="Page_161">[Pg 161]</a></span>reports are models of accuracy and accountability, and to +which any person desiring information may be referred.</p> + +<p>Cuba was a hard field, full of heart-breaking memories. It gave the +first opportunity to test the cooperation between the government and its +supplemental handmaiden, the Red Cross. That these relations might not +have been clearly understood at this initial date may well be +appreciated, but that time and experience will remedy this may be +confidently hoped.</p> + +<p>Through all our discouragements the steady hand and calm approval of our +great head of the army and navy was our solace and our strength. And +when at length it was all over, his hand could trace for his message to +his people the following testimonial, what need had one even to remember +past discouragements, however great? It was as if the hand of the martyr +had set its undying seal upon the brow of the American Red Cross. What +greater justification could it have? What greater riches could it crave?</p> + +<p class="tbrk"> </p> + +<p>"In this connection it is a pleasure for<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_162" id="Page_162">[Pg 162]</a></span> me to mention in terms of +cordial appreciation the timely and useful work of the American Red +Cross, both in relief measures preparatory to the campaigns, in sanitary +assistance at several of the camps of assemblage, and, later, under the +able and experienced leadership of the president of the society, Miss +Clara Barton, on the fields of battle and in the hospitals at the front +in Cuba. Working in conjunction with the governmental authorities and +under their sanction and approval, and with the enthusiastic cooperation +of many patriotic women and societies in the various States, the Red +Cross has fully maintained its already high reputation for intense +earnestness and ability to exercise the noble purposes of its +international organization, thus justifying the confidence and support +which it has received at the hands of the American people. To the +members and officers and all who aided them in their philanthropic<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_163" id="Page_163">[Pg 163]</a></span> +work, the sincere and lasting gratitude of the soldiers and the public +is due and freely accorded.</p> + +<p>"In tracing these events we are constantly reminded of our obligations +to the Divine Master for His watchful care over us, and His safe +guidance, for which the nation makes reverent acknowledgment and offers +humble prayers for the continuance of His favors."—<span class="smcap">From President +McKinley's message to Congress, December</span> 6, 1898.</p> + +<hr /> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_164" id="Page_164">[Pg 164]</a></span></p> + +<h2><a name="IX" id="IX"></a>IX</h2> + +<h3>GALVESTON</h3> + +<h3>1900</h3> + +<p>This time there was no murmur in the air, no warning of approaching +danger. Even the watchful press, that knows so much before it ever +happens, slumbered quiet and deep, till the hissing wires shrieked the +terrifying word—Galveston.</p> + +<p>Then we learned that, as at Port Royal, the sea had overleaped its +bounds and its victims by thousands were in its grasp.</p> + +<p>In all the land no one slept then. To us it was the clang of the +fire-bell, and the drop of the harness. The Red Cross clans commenced to gather.</p> + +<p>In two days a little coterie of near a dozen left Washington under +escort of the competent agency of the New York World, which had on the +first day telegraphed that it would open a subscription for the relief +of Galveston, and would be glad to send all supplies and money received +to the Red Cross,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_165" id="Page_165">[Pg 165]</a></span> if its president, Miss Clara Barton, would go and +distribute it. It was the acceptance of this generous offer that had +brought to the station in Washington the escort; and a palace-car, +provided with all comforts for the journey to Galveston, was under the +management of the World's efficient correspondent and agent, Robert Adamson.</p> + +<p>The direfulness of the news gathered as we proceeded on our journey, and +delays were gotten over as quickly as possible. A detention of several +hours in New Orleans gave opportunity for consultation with the officers +of the Red Cross Society of that city, which had held its loyal ranks +unbroken since 1882, and became a tower of strength in this relief. A +day of waiting in Houston for a passage over the Gulf gave us a glimpse +of what the encroachment had been on the mainland. We found the passage +across to Galveston difficult, and with one night of waiting by the +shore in almost open cars, at Texas City, we at length arrived in +Galveston on the morning of the 15th of September.</p> + +<p>Here again no description could adequately serve its purpose. The sea, +with fury spent, had sullenly retired. The strongest buildings, half<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_166" id="Page_166">[Pg 166]</a></span> +standing, roofless and tottering, told what once had been the make-up of +a thriving city. But that cordon of wreckage skirting the shore for +miles it seemed, often twenty feet in height, and against which the high +tide still lapped and rolled! What did it tell? The tale is all too +dreadful to recall—the funeral pyre of at least five thousand human +beings. The uncoffined dead of the fifth part of a city lay there. The +lifeless bodies festering in the glaring heat of a September sun told +only too fatally what that meant to that portion of the city left alive. +The streets were well-nigh impassable, the animals largely drowned, the +working force of men diminished, dazed, and homeless. The men who had +been the fathers of the city, its business and its wealth, looked on +aghast at their overwhelmed possessions, ruined homes, and, worse than +all, mourned their own dead.</p> + +<p>Yet these men, to the number of thirty or more, had, as one may say, +pulled themselves together, and were even at that early date a relief +committee, holding their meetings at the wrecked and half-ruined hotel, +almost the only public house left standing. To this hotel we also went +and <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_167" id="Page_167">[Pg 167]</a></span>reported to the committee. To say that we were kindly and +gratefully received by them says nothing that would satisfy either +ourselves or them.</p> + +<p>The conditions were so new to them that it was a relief to meet persons +who had seen such things before. We were asked not only to act with +them, but to assume charge of the administration of relief. This, of +course, we would not do, but that we would meet with, counsel, and aid +them in every way in our power, is needless to affirm. That we did do +this, through every day of our stay of three months, not only our own +conviction, but the unasked and unexpected testimony of both Galveston +and the Legislature of the State of Texas, go to assure.</p> + +<p>On the third day after our arrival we were joined by Mr. Stephen E. +Barton, President of the former Central Cuban Relief Committee, and Mr. +Fred L. Ward, its competent secretary, who became our secretary from the +time of his arrival until the close of the field, continuing until after +our return to headquarters and settling the last account. Not only the +thanks of the Red Cross are due for his faithful, painstaking work, but +his<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_168" id="Page_168">[Pg 168]</a></span> name is still a household word through the score of counties +skirting the shore on the mainland of Texas.</p> + +<p>It may be interesting to readers to know what is done first, or just how +a relief party commence under circumstances like that. A few words will +give an outline. First the ground must be overlooked and conditions +learned. This is not easy when it is remembered that broken houses, +cars, wagons, church steeples, and grand pianos were liable to be +encountered in the middle of the leading streets, themselves buried +three feet in the coarse black sand, brought in by the great tidal wave.</p> + +<p>Nevertheless, a building must be found in which to store and distribute +the supplies that would immediately come. How needful these supplies +would be can be inferred when it is recalled that scores of persons came +alive out of that wreck, with simply the band of a shirt or a +night-dress held by its button about the neck as the only reminder that +ever a cover of clothing had been theirs.</p> + +<p>A little meeting of my assistants early held assigned each to his duty +and his place. A warehouse, fortunately still intact, was generously +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_169" id="Page_169">[Pg 169]</a></span>supplied by Mr. John Sealy. Major James A. McDowell, with the +experience of this branch of Red Cross work from Johnstown down, and the +record of twenty-six battles in the old civil war, was placed in charge. +Here is one of the scenes given by a casual eye-witness:</p> + +<p>A poor feeble-looking man, with scant clothing, enters the warehouse and +waits. "Hello there," calls the observant major—with his Grand Army +button—overhauling clothes for the visitor. "But, major, I was a +Confederate soldier." "Lord bless your poor suffering soul, what +difference does that make? Here, this will suit you."</p> + +<p>It was thought advisable by some of the party to establish an orphanage, +which was done and carried through, regardless of the common-sense idea +that few children would survive, when the parents were drowned. And so +it proved, although the work was faithfully administered.</p> + +<p>Homes must be made, lumber obtained, and houses built. The Red Cross +sent out the appeal for lumber and aided in the work of shelter.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Fannie B. Ward was placed in charge of a special clothing +department. Need I remind<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_170" id="Page_170">[Pg 170]</a></span> thoughtful readers that in a disaster like +that, where people of affluence, culture, and position are in a night +bereft of all, one of the cruelest features might be to go to the open +boxes of a relief station for clothing, such as never before worn, and +could not be asked for through the choking tears. In all humanity these +cases must be properly, respectfully, and discreetly met, as one lady +could meet another in distress.</p> + +<p>No more vivid picture of the conditions by which we were surrounded can +be imagined than the following extract from Mrs. Ward's report:</p> + +<p>"Just seven days after the storm we found ourselves stranded at Texas +City, on the mainland opposite Galveston Island, waiting for +transportation across the six-mile stretch of water. Bridges had been +swept away, and new sand-bars thrown up in the bay; floating roofs and +timbers impeded navigation, and the only method of communication between +the mainland and Galveston was one poor little ferry-boat, which had to +feel her now dangerous way very cautiously, by daylight only. She had +also to carry nearly a quarter of her capacity in soldiers to prevent +her being swamped by <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_171" id="Page_171">[Pg 171]</a></span>waiting crowds of people, frantic to learn the +fate of their friends on the island. Each trip to the mainland, the boat +came filled with refugees from the city of doom—the sick, the maimed, +the sorrowing—many with fearful bodily injuries inflicted by the storm, +and others with deeper wounds of grief;—mothers whose babies had been +torn from their arms, children whose parents were missing, fathers whose +entire families were lost—a dazed and tearless throng, such as Danté +might have met in his passage through Inferno. These were dumped by +thousands on the sandy beach at Texas City, and then conveyed by rail to +Houston, to be cared for by the good people of that city, who, +notwithstanding their own grievous losses, were doing noble work for +their stricken neighbors.</p> + +<p>"Of Texas City—a flourishing town of four or five thousand +houses—nothing remained but heaps of bricks and splintered wood, sodden +bales of cotton and bits of household furniture, scattered over the +plain; not a standing habitation within miles, nor any shelter for the +crowds above-mentioned, except two or three hospital-tents, hastily set +up for the sick and wounded, but inadequate for their<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_172" id="Page_172">[Pg 172]</a></span> accommodation. +What was our dismay when told that here we must remain at least +twenty-four hours, for the return of the boat! However, we were better +off, even physically, than most of the waiting crowd, though weariness +of the flesh amounted to actual suffering, after more than fifty hours' +travel. As a special courtesy to Miss Barton, the railway company left a +car to shelter her during the night. Luxurious Pullmans did not abound +at Texas City, and this was the shabbiest of day-coaches, equipped with +few 'modern conveniences.' But this was no time to think of personal +comfort, on the threshold of so much misery; and who could murmur when +the head of our little company set such an heroic example of patience. I +have seen her in many trying situations, that threatened the fortitude +and endurance of the strongest—and have yet to hear the first word of +complaint from her lips. She smilingly 'bunked' upon two seats laid +together—compared to which, for softness, the <i>penitente's</i> slab of +stone would be as 'downy beds of ease'—and encouraged her companions to +do the same. Hunger and thirst would also have been our portion, had it +not been<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_173" id="Page_173">[Pg 173]</a></span> for a Salvation Army Corps encamped in the vicinity, and the +Relief Train of the Philadelphia North American, stranded like +ourselves. Thanks to those good Samaritans, we dined and breakfasted on +tinned beef, bread and coffee; and what more could good soldiers require?</p> + +<p>"That night in Texas City will be long remembered. Sleep was out of the +question—stretched on those cross-bars, like St. Lawrence on his +gridiron. Soldiers patrolled the beach, not only to prevent a stampede +of the boat, but to protect both the quick and the dead from fiends in +human guise, who prowled the devastated region, committing atrocities +too horrible to name. All night the steady tramp, tramp, of the guard +sounded beneath the car-windows, while at either door stood two +sentinels, muskets on shoulders. Skies of inky blackness, studded with +stars of extraordinary brilliancy, seemed to bend much nearer the earth +than at the North; and the Great Dipper hung low on the horizon—for +only just across the Gulf it disappears to give place to the Southern +Cross. Myriads of big, bright fire-flies, resembling balls of flame, +flitted restlessly over the plain, like the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_174" id="Page_174">[Pg 174]</a></span> disembodied souls whose +homes were here one short week before, searching for their scattered +treasures. Over on Galveston Island, a long line of flame, mounting to +the heavens, marked the burning of ruined homes and corpses; while other +fires, in all directions on the mainland, told of similar ghastly +cremations. At one time I counted twenty-three of these fires, not +including those on the island. Early in the morning a strange odor drew +attention to a fresh funeral-pyre, only a few rods away, around the +horse-shoe curve of the shore. We were told that thirty bodies, found +since daybreak in the immediate vicinity, were being consumed in it. +That peculiar smell of burning flesh, so sickening at first, became +horribly familiar within the next two months, when we lived in it and +breathed it, day after day.</p> + +<p>"We found the situation in Galveston infinitely worse than had been +described. The most sensational accounts of the yellowest journals fell +far short of the truth—simply because its full horror was beyond the +power of words to portray. Figures and statistics can give little idea +of the results of such an appalling calamity; and to this day,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_175" id="Page_175">[Pg 175]</a></span> people +at a distance have no realization of the unutterable woe which our Red +Cross band of less than a dozen, strove to alleviate. We arrived on the +eighth day after the tragedy, in which upward of ten thousand lives went +suddenly out in storm and darkness; and the survivors were just +beginning to realize the extent of their losses.</p> + +<p>"At first they seemed stunned to partial insensibility by the very +magnitude of their grief—as a man who has been mangled almost unto +death in a railroad disaster is said to be oblivious to pain. Dead +citizens lay by thousands amid the wreck of their homes, and raving +maniacs searched the <i>débris</i> for their loved ones, with the organized +gangs of workers. Corpses, dumped by barge-loads into the Gulf, came +floating back to menace the living; and the nights were lurid with +incinerations of putrefying bodies, piled like cord-wood, black and +white together, irrespective of age, sex, or previous condition. At +least four thousand dwellings had been swept away, with all their +contents, and fully half of the population of the city was without +shelter, food, clothes, or any of the necessaries of life. Of these, +some were living in tents; others crowded in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_176" id="Page_176">[Pg 176]</a></span> with friends hardly less +unfortunate; many half-crazed, wandering aimlessly about the streets, +and the story of their sufferings, mental and physical, is past the +telling. Every house that remained was a house of mourning. Of many +families every member had been swept away. Even sadder were the numerous +cases where one or two were left out of recently happy households; and +saddest of all was the heart-breaking suspense of those whose friends +were numbered among the 'missing.'</p> + +<p>"We find it hard enough to lay away our dead in consecrated ground, with +all the care and tenderness that love can suggest, where we may water +the sacred spot with our tears and place upon it the flowers they loved +in life; but never to know whether their poor bodies were swallowed by +the merciless Gulf, or fed to the fishes with those grewsome +barge-loads, or left above ground to become an abomination in the +nostrils of the living, or burned in indiscriminate heaps with horses +and dogs and the mingled ashes scattered to the winds—must indeed have +been well-nigh unbearable. No wonder there were lunatics in Galveston, +and unnumbered cases of nervous prostration.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_177" id="Page_177">[Pg 177]</a></span></p><p>"After weeks had passed and two thousand men, aided by several hundred +teams, had partially reduced the mountain of wreckage, cremation fires +yet burned continuously—fed not only by human bodies, but by thousands +of carcasses of domestic animals. By that time, in the hot, moist +atmosphere of the latitude, decomposition had so far advanced that the +corpses—which at first were decently carried in carts or on stretchers, +then shoveled upon boards or blankets—had finally to be scooped up with +pitchforks, in the hands of negroes, kept at their awful task by the +soldiers' bayonets. And still the 'finds' continued, at the average rate +of seventy a day. The once beautiful driving beach was strewn with +mounds and trenches, holding unrecognized and uncoffined victims of the +flood; and between this improvised cemetery and a ridge of <i>débris</i>, +three miles long and in places higher than the houses had been, a line +of cremation fires poisoned the air.</p> + +<p>"I think it was during our sixth week in Galveston, when, happening to +pass one of these primitive crematories, I stopped to interview the man +in charge. Boards, water-soaked mattresses,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_178" id="Page_178">[Pg 178]</a></span> rags of blankets and +curtains, part of a piano, baby-carriages, and the framework of +sewing-machines, piled on top, gave it the appearance of a festive +bonfire, and only the familiar odor betrayed its purpose.</p> + +<p>"'Have you burned any bodies here?' I inquired. The custodian regarded +me with a stare that plainly said, 'Do you think I am doing this for +amusement?' and shifted his quid from cheek to cheek before replying.</p> + +<p>"'Ma'am,' said he, 'this 'ere fire's been goin' on more'n a month. To my +knowledge, upwards of sixty bodies have been burned in it—to say +nothin' of dogs, cats, hens, and three cows.'</p> + +<p>"'What is in there now?' I asked.</p> + +<p>"'Wa'al,' said he meditatively, 'it takes a corpse several days to burn +all up. I reckon thar's a couple of dozen of 'em—jest bones, you +know—down near the bottom. Yesterday we put seven on top of this 'ere +pile, and by now they are only what you might call baked. To-day we have +been working over there (pointing to other fires a quarter of a mile +distant), where we found a lot of 'em, 'leven under one house. We have +put only two in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_179" id="Page_179">[Pg 179]</a></span> here to-day. Found 'em just now, right in that puddle.'</p> + +<p>"'Could you tell me who they are?' I asked.</p> + +<p>"'Lord! No,' was the answer. 'We don't look at 'em any more'n we have +to, else we'd been dead ourselves before to-day. One of these was a +colored man. They are all pretty black, now; but you can tell 'em by the +kinky hair. He had nothin' but an undershirt and one shoe. The other was +a woman; young, I reckon. 'Tenny rate she was tall and slim and had lots +of long brown hair. She wore a blue silk skirt and there was a rope tied +around her waist, as if somebody had tried to save her.'</p> + +<p>"Taking a long pole he prodded an air-hole near the center of the +smoldering heap, from which now issued a frightful smell, that caused a +hasty retreat to the windward side. The withdrawal of the pole was +followed by a shower of charred bits of bone and singed hair. I picked +up a curling, yellow lock and wondered, with tears, what mother's hand +had lately caressed it.</p> + +<p>"'That's nothin',' remarked the fireman. 'The other day we found part of +a brass chandelier, and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_180" id="Page_180">[Pg 180]</a></span> wound all around it was a perfect mop of long, +silky hair—with a piece of skin, big as your two hands, at the end of +it. Some woman got tangled up that way in the flood and jest na'cherly scalped.'</p> + +<p>"I mention these incidents merely to show some of the conditions that +had to be met. The most we could do for the grief-stricken survivors was +to mitigate in some degree their bodily distress. The world knows how +generously the whole country responded to the call—how contributions +came pouring in by trainloads and shiploads, consigned to the Red Cross. +To distribute all this bounty judiciously was a herculean task—and our +working force was very small. The ladies and gentlemen of Galveston who +had suffered less than their neighbors, formed themselves into +committees, which opened relief stations in the several wards; and +through these channels the bulk of supplies was issued. If mistakes were +made, it was not from lack of faithful endeavor on the part of the +distributers; and let us hope that the errors, if any, were all on the +side of too liberal giving.</p> + +<p>"Merely to sort over one carload of garments, so<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_181" id="Page_181">[Pg 181]</a></span> as to make them +immediately available—to put the infants' clothes in one department, +the shoes in another, grown-up dresses in another, coats and trousers in +another, underwear in another—was a work of time and strength; as the +writer, who for a while was 'Mistress of the Robes,' can testify. From 7 +<span class="smaller">A. M.</span> till dark we toiled; and when at last we dragged ourselves back to +the hotel, too wearied for anything but bed, 'tired Nature's sweet +restorer' was hard to woo, because of aching feet and swollen muscles. +But the experience was well worth it! Besides the joy of administering +to the suffering, what we learned of human nature (mostly good, I am +glad to say) would fill volumes. To be sure, there were shadows, as well +as lights, in the picture. Greed and hypocrisy, jealousy, malice, and +the reverse of Christian charity, came sometimes unpleasantly to the +fore, to be offset by the magnificent generosity of the American nation, +and the knowledge that in most quarters our efforts were appreciated. +Most of us were unused to manual labor, and all had left comfortable +homes—some at considerable financial sacrifice of well-salaried +positions, not for earthly gain or <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_182" id="Page_182">[Pg 182]</a></span>self-aggrandizement, but from pure +love of the splendid cause of the Cross of Geneva.</p> + +<p>"In that Rag Fair department of old clothes, the ludicrous and pathetic +called for an equal blending of smiles and tears. It seemed as if every +household, from Maine to California, from the St. Lawrence to the Rio +Grande, had rummaged its attics for the flood sufferers. Merchants +delivered themselves of years' accumulations of shop-worn +goods—streaked, faded, of fashions long gone by—but a great deal +better than nothing for the destitute. There were at least a million +shirtwaists, all thin and summery, though cold winter was at hand, when +frequent 'northers' chill the very marrow in one's bones, and ice and +snow are not unknown on Galveston Island. There was another million of +'Mother Hubbard' wrappers, all of the sleaziest print and scrimpest +pattern, with inch-wide hems at bottom and no fastening to speak +of—wrappers enough to disfigure every female in Southern Texas. Fancy a +whole city full of women masquerading in those shapeless garments—the +poorest of their class; and then remember that, a few years ago, the +great and glorious State of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_183" id="Page_183">[Pg 183]</a></span> Pennsylvania found it necessary to pass a +law—presumably for the peace of mind of her male citizens—forbidding +the wearing of 'Mother Hubbards' in the street!</p> + +<p>"One day there came to our warehouse a large case of beautiful, buttoned +shoes, of the kind called 'Sorosis.' 'What a bonanza!' we thought, when +that box was opened—and through our minds went trooping a procession of +the shoeless feet we had longed to comfort. But behold! every blessed +shoe of the one hundred and forty-four was for the left foot!</p> + +<p>"There was an enormous box from a city laundry, containing the unclaimed +'washings' of many years—hundreds of waiters' aprons and cooks' caps, +worn hotel towels and napkins, ragged shirts and collars—not a thing +worth the lumber in the box, except as old linen for the hospitals. +There was a great deal of bedraggled finery, than which nothing could +have been less appropriate, when nine out of every ten women who applied +for clothes, wanted plain black in which to mourn for their dead. And +the hats and bonnets were of every shape and style within the memory of +man! They<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_184" id="Page_184">[Pg 184]</a></span> were mostly so crushed in careless packing that to have +worshiped them would have been no sin, according to Scripture, as they +were no longer in the 'likeness of anything in the heavens above, or the +earth beneath, or the waters under the earth.' There were workmen's +blouses and overalls, evidently shed in haste, under a sudden impulse of +generosity—plastered with grease, paint, and mortar, and odoriferous of +that by which honest bread is said to be earned.</p> + +<p>"Occasionally a box or barrel was found to contain garments +disgracefully dirty and ragged, or dropping in pieces from the ravages +of moths. Possibly the sending of such worthless trash produced in the +hearts of the donors that comfortable feeling of lending to the +Lord—but it was no use at our end of the line. What to do with it was a +problem. The lowest plantation darky would regard the gift as an insult, +and to burn even the filthiest rags would give rise to stories of wanton +waste. So we hit upon an expedient which had been successfully employed +in other fields—that of putting worthless articles in nice, clean +barrels, rolling them out on the doorstep, and forgetting<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_185" id="Page_185">[Pg 185]</a></span> to bring them +in at night; and every morning the barrels were found empty.</p> + +<p>"In striking contrast to these few 'shadows' were such gifts as that of +the New England girl, who sent a large, carefully packed satchel, +accompanied by a letter, explaining that she was seventeen years of age, +and had taken from her own wardrobe an outfit, intended for a +flood-sufferer of about her own age, whom the clothes would fit. The +satchel contained three good suits complete, from hat to hose—all that +a girl would need—even veil, handkerchiefs and fan; and it is needless +to add that they soon found their way to a most grateful young +'sufferer.' Here a poor widow divided her well-worn 'mourning' with some +stranger sister-in-grief; there the bereaved mother brought out the +treasured garments her little one had worn, for some happier mother who +had lost only earthly possessions.</p> + +<p>"Letters by hundreds were found in the packages, pertinent and +impertinent, but all demanding answers. They were stuffed into old shoes +and the linings of hats, cracked tea-pots and boxes of soap, combs and +matches. Every small boys'<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_186" id="Page_186">[Pg 186]</a></span> knickerbockers contained a note—generally +of original spelling and laboriously written in large capitals, from +'Tommy' or 'Johnnie' or 'Charley,' asking a reply, telling all about the +storm, from the boy who should receive the gift. Sentimental epistles +from ladies were hidden in the pockets of coats and trousers, inviting +correspondence with the future wearers; and billet-doux from +disconsolate widowers, presumably beginning to 'take notice,' were +pinned to the raiment of deceased wives. Such manifold phases have our +poor human nature! Happily there was another and far more numerous class +of letters, from charitable men and women, offering to adopt children, +or to assist in any way in their power; from Sunday-school classes and +sewing societies and day-schools, enclosing small sums of money, or +telling of gifts to come. There was even a letter from an almshouse, +enclosing a check for eighty dollars, raised by thirty aged pensioners, +who gave up their only luxuries—coffee, sugar, and tobacco—to swell +the fund for Galveston's relief. Another came from the poor, forgotten +negroes of the Carolina sea islands, to whose assistance the Red Cross +went,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_187" id="Page_187">[Pg 187]</a></span> after their disastrous floods a few years ago. Impelled by +gratitude for the benefits then received, those simple-minded people +contributed a surprising amount, considering their poverty. Truly, in +heaven's reckoning those unselfish 'mites' of the poor and lowly will +count for as much as the millions given by the great cities.</p> + +<p>"Notwithstanding the vast amount of old clothes that came to us, we were +always particularly short of the most important articles of an outfit, +such as underwear, respectable skirts and dresses, and shoes—except of +extraordinary sizes, sent because unsalable. It frequently happened +that, for days together, there was hardly a thing in stock fit for +people of the better class. It must be remembered that we were not +supplying tramps and beggars, nor the ordinary applicants for charity, +but ladies and gentlemen, accustomed to the luxuries of life, whose +possessions had been suddenly swept away. How could we offer those +dreadful wrappers, or bedraggled finery, or soiled and ragged garments +which our servants would despise, to ladies of taste, culture, and +refinement, whom we had come to assist in their misfortune, not to +insult? Therefore,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_188" id="Page_188">[Pg 188]</a></span> in many cases, the only decent thing to do was to go +out and buy what was needed, with some of those blessed contributions +which bore the message, 'to be used at your own discretion.' That was +Christian charity, pure and simple, in its most practical form. For +example: A widow, of highest social standing and former wealth, lived +with her three daughters in one of those ill-fated cottages near the +beach, which was swept away with all its contents. Thus the four +helpless women were left entirely destitute, even the clothes on their +backs borrowed from neighbors a little less unfortunate. Friends in a +Northern city wrote, offering them a home. Transportation could be +easily provided, but the four must be fitted out for the journey. We +searched the Rag Fair over, but found few suitable articles. Perhaps +something better might come in by and by, next week, some other time; +but for every hoped-for article were a hundred waiting applicants—and +meanwhile those ladies must be supported until sent to their friends. To +say nothing of their own feelings, and ours, we could not disgrace the +Red Cross by sending that stately gray-haired mother and the three +delicate young<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_189" id="Page_189">[Pg 189]</a></span> ladies out into the world equipped by our alleged bounty +in scanty calico 'Mother Hubbards,' men's cow-hide brogans, and +scare-crow headgear. So we picked out what would answer—here and there +a garment which might be altered, the only pair of shoes in the place +that came near to fitting one of the ladies, a bolt of unbleached muslin +which they, themselves, could fashion into underclothes, and four +disreputable old hats. The latter we gave to a local milliner to remodel +and trim, simply but respectably. Then we went to the store and +purchased shoes and other necessary articles, including enough +inexpensive but serviceable cloth for four gowns and jackets, and +employed a woman to make them.</p> + +<p>"This was not extravagance, but good use of the money, all around:—for +the poor little milliner whose shop had been destroyed and business +ruined, whose children were then eating the bread of charity; and for +the customless dressmaker, who was also a grievous sufferer by the +flood, with younger sisters to support. We gave her the first work she +had had for weeks, and her gratitude was good to see.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_190" id="Page_190">[Pg 190]</a></span></p><p>"As for merchants, who were all on the verge of failure, but making +heroic efforts to keep afloat—Heaven knows we did them injury enough +every day of our stay in Galveston, to be thankful for the privilege of +occasionally becoming their patrons. Not only had they suffered immense +losses by the storm, their stocks being practically ruined and customers +gone—but who would buy, so long as the Red Cross had food and clothes +to give away, without money and without price? Though ours is a noble +and necessary work, it is never to the advantage of the local merchants, +as a little reflection will show.</p> + +<p>"Another case was that of a young woman, who, with an aged relative, was +keeping a hotel in a near-by village, when the floods lifted their house +from its foundations and ruined everything in it. Its four walls stood, +however, and furnished shelter for all the houseless neighbors, who +flocked in, naked and hungry, and with whom the generous girl divided +her last garment and bit of food. Death also entered the family, twice +within a few weeks—the last time leaving a sister's four half-grown +children for this young woman to maintain.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_191" id="Page_191">[Pg 191]</a></span> Take them she must, because +they had nowhere else to go. Finding her in terrible straits, without +even clothes to wear to her sister's funeral, were we not justified in +buying the heroic young woman a decent suit of black, besides sending +her a box of food supplies? Why were we there, if not to exercise +judgment in the matter of relief? If merely to distribute second-hand +articles, without discrimination, we might have saved ourselves much +peril and hardship by remaining at home, and sending the boxes down to +take care of themselves.</p> + +<p>"None of us will ever forget the grandniece of an ex-President of the +United States—a handsome and imposing woman of middle age, traveled, +educated, and evidently accustomed to the best society. She called one +day at headquarters, and although she did not ask for aid, the truth +came out in a heart-to-heart talk with Miss Barton that she had lost all +in the storm and had not where to lay her head, nor food for the morrow; +even the clothes she wore were not her own. Nobody living could put this +lady on the pauper list, and none with a spark of human feeling could +wish to wound her pride. Our honored President, who reads<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_192" id="Page_192">[Pg 192]</a></span> hearts as +others do open books, clasped this unfortunate sister's hand—and left +in it a bank-note—I do not know of what denomination, but let us hope +it was not a small one. The look of surprise and gratitude that flashed +over that woman's face was worth going far to see, as, speechless with +emotion, the tears streaming down her cheeks, she turned away.</p> + +<p>"One might go on multiplying incidents by the hour, did time permit. +There were teachers to be fitted out with suitable clothes before the +opening of the schools; boys and girls needing school-books and shoes, +caps, and jackets; new-born babes to be provided, whose wardrobes, +prepared in advance, had been swept away; mothers of families, destitute +of the commonest conveniences of life, to whom the gift of a pan or +kettle was a godsend; aged people, whose declining years must be +comforted; invalids to be cheered with little luxuries. My greatest +regret is that we had not hundreds of dollars to use for every one that +was expended in these directions."</p> + +<p>My stenographer, Miss Agnes Coombs, found her post by me, and sixty to +eighty letters a day,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_193" id="Page_193">[Pg 193]</a></span> taken from dictation, made up the clerical round +of the office of the president. This duty fell in between attending the +daily meetings of the relief committee and receiving constant calls both +in and out of the city.</p> + +<p>Our men made up their living-room at the warehouse. The few women +remained at the hotel, the only suitable place in the town.</p> + +<p>Later on arrived a shipload of supplies from the business people of New +York, which were stored with the Galveston committee, and we were asked +to aid in the distribution of these supplies, and to a certain extent we +did, but succeeded in organizing a committee of citizens, ladies and +gentlemen, to carry out and complete this distribution.</p> + +<p>From lack of knowledge of the real conditions of the disaster and its +geographical extent, this munificent donation had been assigned to the +"Relief of Galveston," and thus, technically, Galveston had no authority +to administer a pound or a dollar to any communities or persons outside +of the precincts of the city proper. This left at least twenty counties +on the mainland on the other side of the Gulf, some of which were as +badly wrecked and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_194" id="Page_194">[Pg 194]</a></span> ruined as Galveston itself, without a possibility of +the slightest benefit from this great, generous gift.</p> + +<p>Seeing this pitiful and innocently unjust condition of affairs, the +result of ignorance of relief work, undertaken with much zeal but scant +knowledge and no experience, we sought a way to atone for the mistake, +so far as we might be able.</p> + +<p>Immediately closing our relief rooms in Galveston I had all Red Cross +supplies shipped to Houston, and relief for the mainland opened there. +These were farming districts, and I directed intelligent inquiry to be +made as to what was most needed by the devastated farm lands and their +owners. All was swept away—sometimes as far as forty miles back into +the level country; often the soil itself was washed away, the home and +all smaller animals destroyed, and no feed for the larger ones to +subsist on. The poor farmers walked their desolated fields and wrung their hands.</p> + +<p>It proved that this was the strawberry section of Southern Texas, and +these were the strawberry growers that supplied the early berries to our +Northern market. For miles not a plant was left<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_195" id="Page_195">[Pg 195]</a></span> and no means to +replant. This was reported to me on the first day's investigation, and +also that if plants could be obtained and set within two weeks a half +crop could be grown this year and the industry restored. That seemed a +better occupation for these poor fellows than walking the ground and +wringing their hands. The messenger was sent back at daybreak to +ascertain how many plants would be needed to replant these lands, where +they were accustomed to procure them, and what varieties were best +adapted to their use.</p> + +<p>That night brought again the messenger to say that a million and a half +of plants would reset the lands and that their supply came from the +nurseries in North Carolina, Illinois, Arkansas, and Louisiana. +Directions were sent back to Mr. Ward to order the plants to be there in +two weeks. This was done. Only thirty-eight thousand plants were injured +in transit, and those were generously resupplied by the shippers. Within +the two weeks this million and a half of strawberry plants were set. It +was estimated that fully a third of a crop was realized that year, and +it is safe to predict that one-half the readers of this little sketch +will<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_196" id="Page_196">[Pg 196]</a></span> partake of the fruits of these Red Cross relief strawberry fields +this very springtime.</p> + +<p>Other needs to a large amount were supplied by Mr. Ward, and we left no +idle, wringing hands on the mainlands of Texas.</p> + +<p>I had never left Galveston. Some other thoughtful reader may pitifully +ask, what became of these miles of wreckage and the dead on the Galveston seashore?</p> + +<p>At this distant day it may be safe to tell. I recall that at the time +much criticism was indulged in.</p> + +<p>All were burned.</p> + +<p>The heat grew greater and the stench stronger every day. They tried to +remove the <i>débris</i> and get the bodies out for burial. No human being +could work in that putrefying mass. Previously had come the glorious +thought of getting them into boats and shipping them a mile out to sea. +With hopeful hearts this experiment was tried for one day. Alas! the +night tide brought them all back to shore. The elements of earth and +water had refused—what remained but fire? Openings in the long +continuous lines were cut<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_197" id="Page_197">[Pg 197]</a></span> through at given spaces, the fire engines set +to play on the open, and the torch applied to the end of sections; thus +a general conflagration of the city was prevented, and from day to day +the pile diminished.</p> + +<p>The stench of burning flesh permeated every foot of the city. Who could +long withstand this? Before the end of three months there was scarcely a +well person in Galveston. My helpers grew pale and ill, and even I, who +have resisted the effect of so many climates, needed the help of a +steadying hand as I walked to the waiting Pullman on the track, +courteously tendered free of charge to take us away.</p> + +<p>This is a tedious story; but if gone through, one has a little insight +into the labor of a Red Cross field of relief. There are twenty in my +recollection, and this was by no means the hardest or the most useful. +They have been lived, but never told.</p> + +<p>I beg my readers to bear in mind that this is not romance that I am +writing, where I can place my characters in the best light and shape +results at will, but history, with my personages still alive, ready to +attest the reality of this statement. That<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_198" id="Page_198">[Pg 198]</a></span> grand committee of Galveston +relief—than whom no nobler body of men I have ever met—are, I hope, +all yet alive to testify to the conditions and statements made.</p> + +<p>I have dedicated this little volume to the people with whom, and for +whom, have gone the willing labors of twenty-five years—initial labors, +untried methods, and object lessons. Well or ill, they have carried with +them the best intentions and the best judgment given for the purpose. +Whatever may betide or the future have in store for the little work so +simply commenced, so humbly carried on, merely a helper with no thought +of leadership, it bears along with it the memories of pain assuaged, +hope revived, endeavor strengthened, and lives saved.</p> + +<p>To the noble sympathies of generous hearts these results are due, and +yet it is not in its past that the glories or the benefits of the Red +Cross lie, but in the possibilities it has created for the future; in +the lessons it has taught; in the avenues to humane effort it has +opened, and in the union of beneficent action between people and +Government, when once comprehended and effected, that shall constitute +a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_199" id="Page_199">[Pg 199]</a></span> bulwark against the mighty woes sure to come sooner or later to all +peoples and all nations.</p> + +<p>To you—the people of America—this sacred trust is committed, in your +hands the charge is laid. To none will your help ever be so precious as +it has been to me, for in its proud growth and strength none will ever so need you.</p> + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's A Story of the Red Cross, by Clara Barton + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A STORY OF THE RED CROSS *** + +***** This file should be named 30230-h.htm or 30230-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/3/0/2/3/30230/ + +Produced by Chuck Greif, Martin Pettit and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This +book was produced from scanned images of public domain +material from the Google Print project.) + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: A Story of the Red Cross + Glimpses of Field Work + +Author: Clara Barton + +Release Date: October 10, 2009 [EBook #30230] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A STORY OF THE RED CROSS *** + + + + +Produced by Chuck Greif, Martin Pettit and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This +book was produced from scanned images of public domain +material from the Google Print project.) + + + + + + +A STORY OF THE RED CROSS + + +[Illustration: CLARA BARTON + +From a photograph taken in St. Petersburg in July, 1902, showing the +decorations conferred upon her by the Czar and the Empress Dowager] + + +A STORY OF THE RED CROSS + +GLIMPSES OF FIELD WORK + +BY + +CLARA BARTON + +FOUNDER OF THE AMERICAN NATIONAL RED CROSS AND PRESIDENT, 1881-1904 + +[Illustration: Logo] + + +NEW YORK +D. APPLETON AND COMPANY +MCMIV + + +COPYRIGHT, 1904, BY +D. APPLETON AND COMPANY + +_Published, June, 1904_ + + + + +PREFACE + + +Since the foundation of the Red Cross in America, many direful +calamities have afflicted the country. In each of these visitations the +Red Cross has acted in some degree as the Almoner--the distributer and +organizer--of the bountiful measures of relief that have been poured out +by the American people. + +Its work has been accomplished quietly and without ostentation. All the +relief has been administered--not as charity--but as God-sent succor to +our brothers and sisters who have been overwhelmed by some mighty +convulsion of the forces of nature. + +The wreckage has been cleared away, the stricken people have been +wisely, tenderly, and calmly guided out of panic and despair on to the +road of self-help and cooperative effort to restore their shattered +homes and broken fortunes; and then the Red Cross has retired as quietly +as it came, and few, outside of the people immediately concerned, have +realized the beneficent powers of help and healing that have fallen like +a benediction upon the stricken wherever that sacred symbol of humanity +has made its way. + +It is my thought that a brief account of the work of the Red Cross +during the past twenty-five years will be of interest to the American +people. In a volume of this size it must of necessity be but a brief +outline, sufficient, however, to convey a clear impression of what the +Red Cross really means to every individual in this great country of +ours. + +To the thousands of American men and women whose generous bounty has +made the work of the Red Cross possible, to the stricken and distressed +who because of it have been helped back to life and hope, and to all the +friends of the great, universal humanity which it typifies, this small +book is lovingly dedicated. + +CLARA BARTON. + +GLEN ECHO, MARYLAND, +_May 15, 1904._ + + + + +CONTENTS + + +I + PAGE +EARLY HISTORY. 1880-1884 1 + +II + +THE TEXAS FAMINE AND THE MOUNT VERNON CYCLONE. 1885-1888 30 + +III + +YELLOW FEVER IN FLORIDA. 1887 38 + +IV + +THE JOHNSTOWN FLOOD. 1889 54 + +V + +THE RUSSIAN FAMINE. 1891 70 + +VI + +THE SEA ISLAND RELIEF. 1893 77 + +VII + +ARMENIAN RELIEF. 1896 94 + +VIII + +CUBA. 1898 115 + +IX + +GALVESTON. 1900 164 + + + + +A STORY OF THE RED CROSS + + + + +I + +EARLY HISTORY + +1880-1884 + + "I have lived much that I have not written, but I have written + nothing that I have not lived." + + +It was a little blue-eyed girl of ten who sat on a low hassock at my +feet, slowly drawing the soft auburn curls between her fingers, when, +suddenly lifting her head and looking me earnestly in the face, she +exclaimed: "What is the Red Cross? Please tell me about it; I can not +understand it." + +There was a pleading earnestness in the tone not to be resisted, and +laying down my pen I commenced to explain to her the principles, +history, and uses of the Red Cross. She listened anxiously, the pretty +brow knitted; she seemed more and more perplexed, until, as if a light +had broken over her, she exclaimed, half impatiently: + +"Not that--not that, tell me something it _does_--it and you, I can +understand it better then." + +A light had broken over me. It was a story the child wanted to +illustrate the principle and bring it home to her. A story she must +have. + +In a half hour she felt that she knew it all and was an ardent devotee +even of its principles. But she had given me more than I had given her. +Here was food for thought. + +For twenty-five years I had labored to explain the principles and uses +of the Red Cross; had written enough for a modest library of what it was +and what it meant, but, lest I seem egotistical, not a page of what it +did. The child had given me an idea that I would for once put into +practice, and write a few pages of what the Red Cross had done, leaving +principles to present themselves. + +I will commence even back of itself. + +Forty years ago, before most of you were born, a great war had been +fought in America, in which thousands died from battle and hardship, and +thousands more still left alive were worn out in the untried and +unsystematized efforts at relief that had been made through nearly five +years of continuous war. Of these latter, many were women who dragged +out weary lives in their own homes, some went to hospitals and retreats +for rest and care, and some were sent abroad. One of these latter I knew +personally, for, as Patrick would say, "It was me-self." + +To me it seemed a hard sentence that our physicians imposed. I had grown +to love the country we had so toiled for, and did not want to leave it. +Its very woes had made it dear to me. It had quiet once more, and a +peace that was not all a peace. It had its early soldier homes, its +fast-filling cemeteries, and the tender memory of a martyred President +resting over us like a pall. These had come to seem like a heritage to +me, and in my weakness I clung to them. Still, the order was obeyed and +I went. + +Then followed travels in strange and foreign lands, other wars, illness +and suffering of my own, until eleven years later I came almost a +stranger again to our Government with another work, which I believed to +be for its good and the good of our people. + +This time I brought the idea of the treaty of Geneva, asking our +Government, at the request of other Governments, to examine and to unite +with it, if found desirable. This effort with the Government covers five +years of hard, continuous labor, during which was sought the aid of +friends known in other years. At the end of this time, by advice of our +second martyred President and three members of his historic +cabinet--James G. Blaine, William Windom, and Robert T. Lincoln--a +national society was formed, known as the Association of the American +Red Cross, and, by desire and nomination of President Garfield, I was +made its president, and requested to name my officers. + +The association was formed during the winter of 1880-'81, with the view +on the part of President Garfield of facilitating the adoption of the +treaty which he would name in his next message, which message was never +written. + +Before the message, he, too, had joined the martyred ranks, and his +gentle successor, Arthur, filled his chair and kept his promise, and +through action of his own executive department the treaty was adopted; +indorsed by action of the Senate; proclaimed by the President to our +people; later ratified by the International Powers in the Congress of +Berne, with the pledge to render relief to unfortunate victims of war, +and the privilege, by my request, of rendering similar relief to the +victims of great national calamities or disasters. + +All this had been accomplished by the kindly help of a few personal +friends, tireless and unrewarded, and while the news of the accession of +the Government of the United States, to the treaty of Geneva, lit +bonfires that night (for I cabled it by their request) in the streets of +Switzerland, France, Germany, and Spain, a little four-line paragraph in +the congressional doings of the day in the _Evening Star_, of +Washington, alone announced to the people of America that an +international treaty had been added to their rolls. + +No personal distinction had been bestowed, no one honored, no one +politically advanced, no money of the Government expended, and, like +other things of like nature and history, it was left in obscurity to +make its own way and live its own hard life. + +Thus the spring of 1882 found us--a few people, tired and weak, with +five years of costly service, a treaty gained, with no fund, no war nor +prospect of any, and no helpful connection with or acknowledgment by the +Government. + +Soon the news of "Half the State of Michigan on Fire" called us to +action on our own laws of civil relief. A little draft on the purse of +the new, inexperienced president of the association paved the way for an +agent to go to the field. Others generously joined, all reported to our +friend and advocate, Senator Omar D. Conger, of Michigan. Some supplies +were sent, a society or two formed to provide and forward them. The +agents remained until the suffering was relieved, and thus the first +field relief work of which we have any record in the United States was +commenced. + +Meanwhile, I had been asked by the Senate to write the history of the +Red Cross, and show the official action taken by our Government on the +acceptance of the treaty, which history the Senate would have printed at +the Government printing-office. This volume I prepared as requested. A +thousand copies were printed for information to the public, to be +circulated by the society; but with no frank or other means provided, +and with a postage of some ten cents a volume, we were compelled to +limit the circulation to the means. + +The following year, 1883, a disastrous rise in the Ohio River called for +our aid. Dr. J. B. Hubbell, who had been our agent the year before, was +called from Michigan University, where he was completing a course, to +examine the needs of the inhabitants and take such relief as we could +provide. There was little loss of life, and the destruction of property +lay largely in the loss of stock, and washing away of the soil, +vegetation, and the means of reproduction. + +A remarkable provision for this latter loss was made by the gift of Mr. +Hiram Sibley, the noted seed dealer of Rochester--who had become +associated with the Red Cross, being an old-time friend of the family of +its president--of ten thousand dollars' worth of seed, to replant the +washed-out lands adown the Mississippi. As the waters ran off the mud +immediately baked in the sunshine, making planting impossible after a +few days. Accordingly, Mr. Sibley's gift was sent with all haste to our +agent at Memphis, and in forty-eight hours, by train and boat, it was +distributed in the four States--Tennessee, Arkansas, Louisiana, and +Mississippi--and planted for the crops of the coming season. + +Besides this generous gift of material, a little money had been raised +and sent by the three societies of the Red Cross which had been formed, +viz.: Dansville and Syracuse, a few hundreds--something more from the +Red Cross at Rochester--always thoughtful and generous, which served to +help in the distribution of clothing and supplies promiscuously sent. +And at the finish of the work, when every donation had been carefully +acknowledged, one thousand dollars and some cents were left in the +treasury unexpended. + +A cyclone occurring within a few months in Louisiana and southern +Alabama, cutting a swath from New Orleans to Mobile, decided us to send +eight hundred dollars of this reserve to the secretary of the Red Cross +Society of New Orleans, which sum was forwarded by our vice-president, +Mr. A. S. Solomons. This left a sum of two hundred dollars and some +cents in the treasury with which to commence another field. + +This was the commencement of 1883. In May, at the solicitation of +General Butler, then Governor of Massachusetts, I took the +superintendence of the Massachusetts Woman's State Prison at Sherborn, +at the customary salary of fifteen hundred dollars a year. To this duty +the Legislature added, after my arrival, those of secretary and +treasurer, without increase of salary, discharging the former incumbent, +a man, at three thousand dollars a year. I accepted the new duties, +became my own bondsman for ten thousand dollars, by transfer of that +amount of bonds from my bankers, Brown Brothers, New York, to the +Massachusetts State Treasury at Boston--remaining in charge of the +prison until the close of the year, and the retirement of General Butler +as Governor. + +In the short and interrupted existence of our association--scarce two +years--our few official advisers had formed some general regulations, +relating to our course of procedure. Realizing that to be of any real +service as a body of relief for sudden disasters, we must not only be +independent of the slow, ordinary methods of soliciting relief, but in +its means of application as well, it was decided: + +_First._ To never solicit relief or ask for contributions. + +_Second._ Not to pay salaries to officers--paying out money only to +those whom we must employ for manual labor--and as our officers served +without compensation they should not be taxed for dues. + +_Third._ To keep ourselves always in possession of a stated sum of money +to commence a field of disaster--this sum to be independent even of the +closed doors of a bank which might prevent leaving for a field on a +Sunday or holiday. + +_Fourth._ To take this sum of our own, going directly to a field with +such help as needed, giving no notice until there, overlooking the +field, and learning the extent of the trouble and conditions of the +people, making immediate and reliable report to the country through the +Associated Press, some of whose officers were our own Red Cross officers +as well. These reports would be truthful, unexaggerated, and +non-sensational statements that could be relied upon. + +_Fifth._ That if, under these conditions, the people chose to make use +of us as distributers of the relief which they desired to contribute to +the sufferers, we would do our best to serve them while at the +field--make report directly to each and all contributors, so far as in +our power, and proceed to carry out any directions and apply the relief +at hand, in the wisest manner possible, among a dazed and afflicted +community. + +To inaugurate this method, I, as president, placed a sum of three +thousand dollars, free of bank or interest, upon momentary call, at the +service of the association. On more than one occasion it has been taken +on Sunday, when every bank in the country was closed and charitable +bodies were at their prayers. Even the relief of Johnstown was thus +commenced. This provision has never for a day been broken. It is as good +at this moment as it was in 1883, and from the same source. It may not +have been a "business-like" method nor one to be approved by stated +boards of directors nor squared by bank regulations. But the foes we had +to meet were not thus regulated, and had to be met as they came; and so +they always must be if any good is to be accomplished. + +Until the Government and society can control the elements, and regulate +a spring freshet, a whirlwind or a cyclone, they will find that red +tape is not strong enough to hold their ravages in check. + +It was well that these regulations had been formulated and their +provisions acted upon, as the state of our treasury and the conditions +immediately following will show. + +I returned to Washington upon my retirement from the superintendence of +the State Prison at Sherborn, accompanied by Dr. Hubbell, who, having +completed his university course, had come to the Red Cross for permanent +service. Before we had even time to unpack our trunks, the news of the +fearful rise of the Ohio River, of 1884, began to shock the country with +its loss of life and property. + +I had never been present at a disaster in civil life. It had never +occurred to me that they recurred so frequently. But if by virtue of my +office as president I was liable to be called every year to preside over +and provide for them, it was essential that I learn my duties +experimentally. I accordingly joined Dr. Hubbell, who had been appointed +general field agent, and proceeded to Pittsburg, the headwaters of the +rise. + +Telegraphing from there to our agents of the Associated Press, we +proceeded to Cincinnati, to find the city afloat. Its inhabitants were +being fed from boats, through the second-story windows. These conditions +were telegraphed. Supplies commenced to flow in, not only from our own +societies but from the people of the country. Warehouses were filled, in +spite of all we dispensed--but there were four hundred miles of this +distress--even to Cairo, where the Ohio, sometimes thirty miles in +width, discharged its swollen waters into the Mississippi. + +Recognizing this condition lower down the river as the greater need, we +transferred our supplies and distribution to Evansville, Ind. Scarcely +had we reached there when a cyclone struck the river below, and +traveling up its entire length, leveled every standing object upon its +banks, swept the houses along like cockle-shells, uprooted the greatest +trees and whirled them down its mighty current--catching here and there +its human victims, or leaving them with life only, houseless, homeless, +wringing their hands on a frozen, fireless shore--with every coal-pit +filled with water, and death from freezing more imminent than from +hunger. + +There were four hundred miles more of this, and no way of reaching them +by land. With all our tons of clothing, these people and their homeless +little children were freezing. There was but one way--the Government +boats had come with rations of food--we too must take to the water. + +At eight o'clock in the morning I chartered my first boat, with captain +and crew, at sixty dollars per day, to be at once laden to the water's +edge with coal--our own supplies to be stored on the upper deck--and at +four o'clock in the afternoon, as the murky sun was hiding its clouded +face, the bell of the "John V. Troop," in charge of her owner, announced +the departure of the first Red Cross relief-boat ever seen on American +waters. + +I found myself that night with a stanch crew of thirty men and a skilled +captain, and a boat under my command. I had never until then held such a +command. We wove the river diagonally from side to side--from village to +village--where the homeless, shivering people were gathered--called for +the most responsible person--a clergyman if one could be found, threw +off boxes of clothing, and hove off coal for a two weeks' supply, and +steamed away to the opposite side, leaving only gratitude, wonder at who +we were, where we came from, and what that strange flag meant? We +improved every opportunity to replenish our supply of coal, and reached +Cairo in five days. + +Waiting only to reload, we returned up the river, resupplied the revived +villages of people, too grateful for words, reaching Evansville at the +end of three weeks, where more supplies than we had taken awaited us. +St. Louis and Chicago had caught the fever of relief, had arranged +societies, and had asked permission to join our aid. Up to this time the +Mississippi had given no indication of trouble, but now its great June +rise commenced. + +The Government boats, by another appropriation, were sent to the +Mississippi, and we prepared to supplement them. Discharging our Ohio +River boat we went to St. Louis by rail and chartered the "Mattie Bell." +The Red Cross Societies of St. Louis and Chicago, under their respective +presidents and officers in charge of them and their funds, joined us, +and together we prepared to feed and rescue the perishing stock--as +well as people adown the Mississippi. The animals had never been saved +in an overflow; and besides the cruelty of letting them starve by +thousands, the loss to the people was irreparable, as the following year +must inevitably be replete with idleness and poverty till more stock +could be obtained to work with. + +We found as commissary at St. Louis, General Beckwith, the historic +commissary-general of the old civil war, who had personally +superintended the loading of my wagons in Washington, year after year, +for the battle-fields of Virginia. He came on board the "Mattie Bell" +and personally superintended the lading--clothing, corn, oats, salt, and +hay--besides putting upon the Government boats large quantities of +supplies which we could not take on at first, and giving us his +blessing, watched us steam out on our joint mission; they putting off +rations of meat and meal--we supplementing with clothing for the people +and feed for the stock. We purchased all we could at cities as we +passed, picked our course among the broken levees and roaring crevasses, +all the way to New Orleans. The hungry were fed, the naked clothed, and +the stock saved. The negro had his mule, and the planter his horses and +cattle to carry on his work when the flood should disappear. We had +lighter boats, still lighter purses, but lightest of all were the +grateful hearts that a kind Providence and a generous people had given +to us the privilege of serving. + +We discharged the "Mattie Bell" at St. Louis, bidding adieu to the +officers of the Red Cross Society, who had rendered most acceptable +service to the cause. They had brought their own funds and material--had +personally administered them from the decks of the "Mattie Bell," made +their own reports, and modestly retired to their home duties, there to +await the next call. + +Chicago, which had a new Red Cross Society, formed almost for the +occasion, through its most worthy and notable representative, Rev. E. I. +Galvin, did the same, performing the long journey with us, +superintending the distribution of his own relief and making his own +report with such convincing power, that societies of no less excellence +than the Lend-a-Hand were its outgrowth. + +I am thus particular to mention this from the loving gratitude +fervently cherished for strong, tender help in the day of small things. +Their contributions largely served to run our boat and keep our crew, +and with heads, hearts, and hands we struggled as one, to avert the +destruction so rife around us. + +From St. Louis we crossed over to Evansville, rechartered the "John V. +Troop," and put on accumulated supplies. The waters of the Ohio had +subsided and the people were returning to the old spots of earth that +once had been their home, but there was neither house to live in nor +tool to work the land with. We reloaded with pine lumber, ready-made +doors, windows, household utensils, stores and groceries, farming +utensils, and with a good force of carpenters proceeded up the Ohio once +more. The sight of the disconsolate, half-clad farmer waiting on the +bank told us where his home had been--and was not. + +Three hours' work of our carpenters would put up a one-room house, +meanwhile our efficient men and women helpers, among them the best +ladies of Evansville, would furnish it with beds, bedding, clothing, +provisions for the family, and farming tools ready to go on with the +season's work. + +Picture, if possible, this scene. A strange ship with a strange flag +steaming up the river. It halts, turns from its course, and draws up to +the nearest landing. Some persons disembark and speak a few minutes with +the family. Then, a half dozen strong mechanics man a small boat laden +with all material for constructing a one-room house--floor, roof, doors, +windows. The boat returns for furniture. Within three hours the strange +ship sails away, leaving a bewildered family in a new and clean house +with bed, bedding, clothing, table, chairs, dishes, candles, a little +cooking-stove with a blazing fire, all the common quota of cooking +utensils, and meat, meal, and groceries; a plow, rake, axe, hoe, shovel, +spade, hammer, and nails. We ask few questions. They ask none. The +whistle of the "Troop" is as welcome to their ears as the flag to their +eyes. + +At one of these wrecked villages the entire little hamlet of people +stood on our decks. Only four, they said, were left at home, and these +were sick. They had selected their lawyer to speak their thanks. No +words will ever do justice to the volume of native eloquence which +seemed to roll unbidden from his lips. He finished with these sentences: + +"At noon on that day we were in the blackness of despair--the whole +village in the power of the demon of waters--hemmed in by sleet and ice, +without fire enough to cook its little food. When the bell struck nine +that night, there were seventy-five families on their knees before their +blazing grates, thanking God for fire and light, and praying blessings +on the phantom ship with the unknown device that had come as silently as +the snow, they knew not whence, and gone, they knew not whither." + +When we finished the voyage of relief, we had covered the Ohio River +from Cincinnati to Cairo and back twice, and the Mississippi from St. +Louis to New Orleans, and return--four months on the rivers--traveled +over eight thousand miles, distributed in relief of money and estimated +material, one hundred and seventy-five thousand dollars--gathered as we +used it. + +We left at one point on the Ohio River a well-lettered cross-board, +"Little Six Red Cross Landing"--probably there to this day. The story of +The Little Six might be given in their own little letter: + + +WATERFORD, PA., _March_ 24, 1884. + +DEAR MISS BARTON: + +We read your nice letter in the Dispatch and we would like very much to +see that house called "The Little Six," and we little six are so glad +that we helped six other little children, and we thank you for going to +so much trouble in putting our money just where we would have put it +ourselves. Some time again when you want money to help you in your good +work call on "The Little Six." + + +JOE FARRAR, twelve years old. +FLORENCE HOWE, eleven years old. +MARY BARTON, eleven years old. +REED WHITE, eleven years old. +BERTIE AINSWORTH, ten years old. +LOYD BARTON, seven years old. + + +These children had given a public entertainment for the benefit of the +flood sufferers. They themselves suggested it, planned and carried it +out, and raised fifty-one dollars and twenty-five cents, which they +sent to the editor of the Eric Dispatch, asking him to send it "where it +would do the most good." The Dispatch forwarded it to the president of +the Red Cross, with an account of the entertainment given by "The Little +Six." + +The entire matter was too beautiful and withal unique, to meet only a +common fate in its results. I could not, for a moment, think to mingle +the gift of the little dramatists with the common fund for general +distribution, and sought through all these weeks for a fitting +disposition to make of it, where it would all go in some special manner +to relieve some special necessity. I wanted it to benefit some children +who had "wept on the banks" of the river, which in its madness had +devoured their home. + +As we neared that picturesque spot on the Illinois side of the Ohio, +known as "Cave-in Rock," we were hailed by a woman and her young +daughter. The boat "rounded to" and made the landing and they came on +board--a tall, thin, worn woman in tattered clothes, with a good but +inexpressibly sad face, who wished to tell us that a package which we +had left for her at the town on our way down had never reached her. She +was a widow--Mrs. Plew--whose husband, a good river pilot, had died from +overwork on a hard trip to New Orleans in the floods of the Mississippi +two years before, leaving her with six children dependent upon her, the +eldest a lad in his "teens," the youngest a little baby girl. They owned +their home, just on the brink of the river, a little "farm" of two or +three acres, two horses, three cows, thirty hogs, and a half hundred +fowls, and in spite of the bereavement, they had gone on bravely, +winning the esteem and commendation of all who knew them for thrift and +honest endeavor. Last year the floods came heavily upon them, driving +them from their home, and the two horses were lost. Next the cholera +came among the hogs and all but three died. Still they worked on; and +held the home. This spring came the third flood. The water climbed up +the bank, crept in at the door, and filled the lower story of the house. +They had nowhere to remove their household goods, and stored them in the +garret carefully packed, and went out to find a shelter in an old log +house near by, used for a corn-crib. Day by day they watched the house, +hailed passing boats for news of the rise and fall of the water above, +always trusting the house would stand--"and it would," the mother said, +"for it was a good, strong house, but for the storm." The winds came, +and the terrible gale that swept the valley like a tornado, with the +water at its height, leveling whole towns, descended and beat upon that +house, and it fell. In the morning there was no house there, and the +waves in their fury rushed madly on. Then these little children "stood +and wept on the banks of the river," and the desolation and fear in the +careful mother's heart, none but herself and her God can know. + +They lived on in the corn-crib, and it was from it they came to hail us +as we passed to-day. Something had been told us of them on our downward +trip, and a package had been left them at "Cave-in Rock," which they had +not received. We went over shoe-tops in mud to their rude home, to find +it one room of logs, an old stone chimney, with a cheerful fire of +drift-wood and a _clean_ hearth, two wrecks of beds, a table, and two +chairs which some kind neighbor had loaned. The Government boats had +left them rations. There was an air of thrift, even in their desolation, +a plank walk was laid about the door, the floor was cleanly swept, and +the twenty-five surviving hens, for an equal number were lost in the +storm, clucked and craiked comfortably about the door, and there were +two-and-a-half dozen fresh eggs to sell us at a higher rate than paid in +town. We stood, as we had done so many scores of times during the last +few weeks, and looked this pitiful scene in the face. There were +misfortune, poverty, sorrow, want, loneliness, dread of the future, but +fortitude, courage, integrity, and honest thrift. + +"Would she like to return to the childhood home in Indiana?" we asked +the mother, for we would help them go. + +"No," she said tenderly. "My husband lived and died here. He is buried +here, and I would not like to go away and leave him alone. It won't be +very long, and it is a comfort to the children to be able to visit his +grave. No, I reckon we will stay here, and out of the wreck of the old +house which sticks up out of the mud, we will put up another little +hut, higher up on the bank out of the way of the floods, and if it is +only a hut, it will be a home for us and we will get into it, and make +our crop this year." + +There were no dry eyes, but very still hearts, while we listened to this +sorrowful but brave little speech, made with a voice full of tears. + +Our thoughtful field agent, Dr. Hubbell, was the first to speak. + +"Here are six children," he said with an inquiring glance at me. + +No response was needed. The thing was done. We told the mother the story +of "The Little Six" of Waterford, and asked her if that money with +enough more to make up one hundred dollars would help her to get up her +house? It was _her_ turn to be speechless. At length with a struggling, +choking voice she managed to say--"God knows how much it would be to me. +Yes, with my good boys I can do it, and do it well." + +We put in her hands a check for this sum, and directed from the boat +clean boxes of clothing and bedding, to help restore the household, when +the house should have been completed. + +Before we left her, we asked if she would name her house when it should +be done? She thought a second, and caught the idea. + +"Yes," she replied quickly, with a really winsome smile on that worn and +weary face, "yes, I shall name it 'The Little Six.'" + +We came to Pittsburg, discharged our empty boat, bade a heart-breaking +good-by to our veteran volunteers from Evansville, who had shared our +toil and pain and who would return on the boat, we taking train once +more for Washington. We had been four months on the rivers, among fogs, +rain, damp, and malaria--run all manner of risks and dangers, but had +lost no life nor property, sunk no boat, and only that I was by this +time too weak to walk without help--all were well. + +Through the thoughtfulness of our new societies--St. Louis and +Chicago--we had been able to meet our share of the expenses, and to keep +good the little personal provision we started with, and were thus ready +to commence another field when it should come. + +On arriving home I found that I was notified by the International +Committee of Geneva, that the Fourth International Conference would be +held in that city in September, and I was requested to inform the +United States Government, and ask it to send delegates. With the aid of +a borrowed arm, I made my way up the steps of the Department of State +(that was before the luxury of elevators) and made my errand known to +Secretary Frelinghuysen, who had heard of it and was ready with his +reply: + +"Yes, Miss Barton, we will make the needful appointment of delegates to +the International Conference, and I appoint you as our delegate." + +"No, Mr. Frelinghuysen," I said, "I can not go. I have just returned +from field work. I am tired and ill. Furthermore, I have not had time to +make a report of our work." + +"There is no one else who sufficiently understands the Red Cross, and +the provisions of the treaty, that our Government can send, and we can +not afford to make a mistake in the matter of delegates to this first +conference in which our Government shall participate," answered the +Secretary. "As to the report, have you not acknowledged the +contributions to all those who have sent?" + +"Oh, yes; every dollar and every box of goods where the donor was +known," I replied. + +"Has any one complained?" he asked. + +"No; not a single person so far as is known. We have had only thanks." + +"Then to whom would you report?" + +"To you, Mr. Secretary, or to such person or in such manner as you shall +designate." + +"I don't want any report; no report is necessary," answered the +Secretary. "Our Government relief-boats have reported you officially, +and all the country knows what you have done and is more than satisfied. +Regarding your illness--you have had too much fresh water, Miss Barton, +I recommend salt--and shall appoint you." + +This was done, and the appropriation for expenses was made, and at my +request Judge Joseph Sheldon, and by invitation Mr. A. S. Solomon, our +vice-president, were also appointed to accompany me. The appropriation +sufficed for all. + +The conference was held at Geneva, September 17, 1884, and thus was had +the first official representation of the United States Government at an +International Conference of the Treaty of Geneva. There have since been +five. I have attended all but one. + + + + +II + +THE TEXAS FAMINE AND THE MT. VERNON CYCLONE + + +Before the close of the following year, 1885, came what was known as the +"Texas Famine." Thousands of miles of wild land, forming the Pan Handle, +had been suddenly opened by the building of a Southern Railroad. In the +speculative anxiety of the Road to people its newly acquired territory, +unwarranted inducements of climatic advantages had been unscrupulously +held out to the poor farmers of Mississippi, Alabama, and Georgia. + +Lured by the pictures presented them, some thousands of families had +been induced to leave their old, worn-out farms, and with the little +they could carry or drive, reach the new Eldorado, to find a new farm +that needed only the planting to make them rich, prosperous, and happy, +without labor. They planted. The first year brought some returns--the +second was a drought with no returns--the third the same. Hunger for +themselves and starvation for their stock stared them in the face. They +could not pick up and go back--the rivers were dry from the Rio Grande +to the Brazos--the earth was iron, and the heavens brass; cattle +wandered at will for water and feed, and their bones whitened the +plains. + +These were poor little peoples. They tried to make the great State know +of their distress, but the rich railroad proprietors held the _press_, +and no one knew their condition or could get correct information. At +length a faithful clergyman came to Washington, to President Cleveland, +and the Red Cross. + +We consulted with the President, who gave encouragement for us to go to +Texas and learn the facts. + +In mid-winter, 1886, accompanied by Dr. Hubbell, the journey was +undertaken. We proceeded to Albany, Texas, made headquarters--traveled +over the stricken counties, found wretchedness, hunger, thirst, cold, +heart-breaking discouragement. The third year of drought was upon them, +and the good people of that great State, misled by its press, its press +in turn misled by the speculators, innocently discredited every report +of distress, and amused themselves by little sly innuendoes and witty +jokes on the "Texas Famine." + +The condition was pitiful. To them it was hopeless. And yet not a dollar +or a pound was needed outside of Texas. They only required to know the +truth. This then was our task. We ceased to journey over arid fields of +suffering, and turned our steps resolutely to the editorial rooms of the +Dallas and Galveston News, at Dallas. Both editors were present; both +sat half-breathless while the flood of information rolled over them in +no uncertain terms. + +I shall never forget the tears in the mild blue eyes of General Belo, as +he learned what he had done, and was still doing. Twelve hours brought +another issue of the two papers. A column of editorial told the true +situation. A modest contribution of the Red Cross headed a subscription +list, General Belo following with his, and almost immediately the +legislature made an appropriation of one hundred thousand dollars for +food and supplies. + +The tender-hearted and conscience-smitten people sent their donations. +Our task was done. We had seen and conquered. + +In the midst of a cold rain in February we reached Washington. A concise +and full report was made to President Cleveland, saying in conclusion: +"I thank you with all my heart, Mr. President, for the encouragement at +the commencement, and for the privilege of writing you. We have done +this little bit of work faithfully and hope it may meet your approval." + +President Cleveland's letter of thanks still bears testimony of his care +for the people of the country, and his faith in its institutions. + +Not a dollar of outside help passed through our hands, but the little +permanent provision was equal to the occasion and we had still a half +left of our three thousand dollars. That was our first acquaintance with +Texas. Galveston followed many years later with the same firm accord and +good results. The bonds of affection had grown deep and strong between +the great thousand-mile State and the little Red Cross that loved to +serve her. + +In the following year, 1887, we were notified by the International +Committee of Geneva of the conference to be held at Carlsruhe, by +invitation of the Grand Duke and Grand Duchess of Baden. We were +directed to inform the Department of State of this fact. We did so, and +an appropriation was made by Congress to defray the expenses of three +delegates. + +It may be well to explain that in these appointments the Government does +not place the appropriation in the hands of the appointees, but simply +becomes a guaranty. The appointee provides his own funds. If, after +return, vouchers can be shown that the sum guaranteed has been spent +according to regulations, he is reimbursed in due course. + +Here was at least a contrast from a rough Mississippi River boat and the +crude homes of an unsettled Western State, to the royal carriage waiting +to convey one to the apartments reserved in a palace, the elegance and +culture of a court, the precision of a congress of representatives of +the nations of the world. The questions of humanity discussed by them, +the meeting of friends of other days, the regal bearing of the royal +host and hostess, the last parting from the dear old Emperor of +ninety-two, and his tenderly spoken, "It is the last time, good-by"; the +loving and last farewell of the beloved Empress Augusta, the patron +saint of the Red Cross; Bismarck and Moltke, in review, each with his +Red Cross insignia; the cordial hand grasp and the farewell never +repeated--and all of this attention to and interest in a subject that +the country I had gone to represent scarcely realized had an existence +beyond the receiving of some second-hand clothing, misfit shoes, and a +little money sent by some one to some place, where something bad had +happened. + +No one dreamed that it meant anything more, or that it needed anything +after this, and nothing more was done. + +It is only now, after almost two decades and within the last three +months, that we commence to awaken and wonder, with a mingled national +and personal sense of indignation, why our American Red Cross is not as +rich and great as in other nations? + +In February, 1888, occurred the Mt. Vernon, Ill., cyclone, cutting a +broad swath through one-half of the beautiful county-seat, tearing down +all heavy buildings, picking up the lighter ones and sweeping them +along like cardboard. + +In three minutes the work of destruction was over. Ten minutes later the +sun shone out brightly over the ruins of the town, the wails of the +maimed and dying, and the lifeless bodies of the dead. + +Fires broke out on every hand, and the victims pinned down under the +wreckage were subjects for the flames. Appeals for assistance went out, +but by unfortunate press representation failed to arouse the public, +till after several days, when we were reached, through their +representative in Congress, begging that in mercy we go to them. We +arrived in the night, found homes destroyed, hospitals full, scant +medical care, few nurses, food scarce and no money, a relief committee +of excellent men, but little to distribute. + +At daylight we looked over the situation and sent this simple message to +the Associated Press: + + +"The pitiless snow is falling on the heads of three thousand people, who +are without homes, without food or clothing, and without money. + +"AMERICAN NATIONAL RED CROSS, + +"Clara Barton, President." + + +This was all. We assisted their relief committee to arrange for the +receipt and distribution of funds, sent for experienced helpers to take +charge of supplies, to distribute clothing, and aid the hospital +service. We remained two weeks, and left them with more supplies than +they knew how to distribute, and the Citizens' Committee, with +accumulating cash in its treasury of ninety thousand dollars, full of +hope, life, and a gratitude they could not speak. + +As in the Texas famine, we paid our own expenses and no dollar but our +own had passed our hands. We were only glad to do this, in the hope that +we were building up an institution of self-help of the people, that +would one day win its way to their favor and aid. + + + + +III + +YELLOW FEVER IN FLORIDA + + +During the same year the yellow fever broke out in Jacksonville, Fla., +and was declared epidemic in September. + +An arrangement had been made between the National Association and the +Auxiliary Society of the Red Cross of New Orleans, which society +embraced the famous old "Howard Association," that, in case of an +outbreak of yellow fever, they would send their immune nurses from the +South, and we of the North would supply the money to support and pay +them. + +This arrangement was carried out so far as could be, under the very +natural differences of a medical department of active, professional men, +taking up the treatment of an epidemic of which they knew very little +experimentally, but filled with the enthusiasm of science and hope, and +the unprofessional, fearless, easy-going gait of the old Southern +nurses, white and black, whose whole lives had been spent in just that +work. + +The Red Cross sent no Northern nurses. But eighteen or twenty "Howard +nurses," mainly colored, went out from New Orleans under charge of Col. +Fred. F. Southmayd, their leader of twenty years in epidemics. A part of +his nurses were stationed at Macclenny, and a part went on to +Jacksonville. Under medical direction of their noted "yellow fever +doctor"--a tall Norwegian--Dr. Gill, they did their faithful work and +won their meed of grateful praise. + +Our place was in Washington, to receive, deal carefully with, and hold +back the tide of offered service from the hundreds of enthusiastic, +excited untrained volunteers, rushing on to danger and death. Their +fearless ignorance was a pitiful lesson. In all the hundreds there was +scarcely one who had ever seen a case of yellow fever, but all were sure +they were proof against it. Only three passed us, and two of these had +the fever in Jacksonville. + +When the scourge was ended we met our nurses personally at Camp Perry, +paid and sent them back to New Orleans. All that are living are at our +service still, faithful and true. + +During the fourth week in November a dispatch to national headquarters +announced that the last band of Red Cross nurses, known as the +"Macclenny Nurses," had finished their work at Enterprise, and would +come into Camp Perry to wait their ten days' quarantine and go home to +New Orleans for Thanksgiving. + +That would mean that seventy-nine days ago their little company of +eighteen, mainly women, steaming on to Jacksonville, under guidance of +their old-time trusted leader, Southmayd, of New Orleans, listened to +his announcement that the town of Macclenny, thirty-eight miles from +Jacksonville, Fla., and through which they would soon pass, was in a +fearful state of distress; a comparatively new town, of a few thousand, +largely Northern and Western people, suddenly-stricken down in scores; +poor, helpless, physicians all ill, and no nurses; quarantined on all +sides, no food, medicine, nor comforts for sick or well. + +"Nurses, shall I leave a part of you there; the train can not stop in, +nor near the town, but if I can manage to get it slowed up somewhere, +will you jump?" + +"We will do anything you say, colonel; we are here in God's name and +service to help His people; for Him, for you, and for the Red Cross, we +will do our best and our all." + +"Conductor, you had a hot box a few miles back; don't you think it +should be looked to after passing Macclenny?" + +"I will slow up and have it seen to, colonel, although it may cost me my +official head." And it did. + +One mile beyond town, the rain pouring in torrents, the ground soaked, +slippery, and caving, out into pitchy darkness, leaped three men and +seven women from a puffing, unsteady train, no physician with them, and +no instructions save the charge of their leader as the last leap was +made, and the train pushed on: "Nurses, you know what to do; go and do +your best, and God help you." Hand to hand, that none go astray in the +darkness, they hobbled back over a mile of slippery cross-ties to the +stricken town. Shelter was found, the wet clothes dried, and at midnight +the sick had been parceled out, each nurse had his or her quota of +patients, and were in for the issue, be it life or death. Those past +all help must be seen through, and lost, all that could be must be +saved. The next day a dispatch from Southmayd went back to New Orleans +for Dr. Gill to come and take charge of the sick and the nurses at +Macclenny. It was done, and under his wise direction they found again a +leader. Their labors and successes are matters for later and more +extended record. + +It is to be borne in mind that these nurses found no general table, no +table at all but such as they could provide, find the food for, and cook +for themselves, for the sick, the children, and the old and helpless who +had escaped the fever and must be cared for. No patient could be left +till the crisis was passed, and many are their records of seventy-two +hours without change or sleep or scarcely sitting down. As the disease +gradually succumbed to their watchful care, experience, and skill, they +reached out to other freshly attacked towns and hamlets. Sanderson and +Glen St. Mary's became their charge, and return their blessings for +lives preserved. + +On November 1st it was thought they could safely leave and go into camp +for quarantine; but no regular train would be permitted to take them. +The Red Cross secured and paid a special train for them, and, as if in +bold relief against the manner of their entry seven weeks before, the +entire town, saving its invalids, was assembled at the station at seven +o'clock in the morning to bid them good-by and God speed. + +But their fame had gone before them, and "Enterprise," a hundred miles +below, just stricken down among its flowers and fruits, reached out its +hands for aid, and with one accord, after two days in camp, all turned +back from the coveted home and needed rest and added another month of +toil to their already weary record. At length this was ended, and word +came again to us that they would go into quarantine. Their unselfish, +faithful, and successful record demanded something more than the mere +sending of money. It deserved the thanks of the Red Cross organization +in the best and highest manner in which they could be bestowed; it was +decided that its President, in person, should most fittingly do this, +and I accordingly left Washington on the morning of November 22d in +company with Dr. Hubbell, field agent, for Camp Perry, the quarantine +station of Florida. Two days and one night by rail, a few miles across +country by wagon, where trains were forbidden to stop, and another mile +or so over the trestles of St. Mary's on a dirt car with the workmen, +brought us into camp as the evening fires were lighted and the bugle +sounded supper. The genial surgeon in charge, Dr. Hutton, who carried a +knapsack and musket in an Illinois regiment in '62, met us cordially and +extended every possible hospitality. Soon there filed past us to supper +the tall doctor and his little flock; some light and fair-skinned, with +the easy step of a well-bred lady, others dark and bony-handed, but the +strong, kind faces below the turbans told at a glance that you could +trust your life there and find it again. They were not disturbed that +night, and no certain information of our arrival got among them. It was +cold and windy, and the evening short, as nine o'clock brought taps and +lights out. In spite of all caution the news of our coming had spread +over the surrounding country, and telegrams bringing both thanks for +what had been received and the needs for more, came from all sides, and +the good Mayor of Macclenny made his troubled way to reach and greet us +in person, and take again the faithful hands that had served and saved +his people. + +Surgeon Hutton's headquarter tent was politely tendered for the first +meeting, and as one could never, while memory lasts, forget this scene, +so no words can ever adequately describe it. The ample tent was filled. +Here on the right the Mayor, broad shouldered, kind faced and efficient, +officers of camp, and many visitors, wondering what it all meant; in the +center the tall doctor and his faithful band--Eliza Lanier, Lena Seymour +(mother and daughter), Elizabeth Eastman, Harriet Schmidt, Lizzie Louis, +Rebecca Vidal, Annie Evans, Arthur Duteil, Frederick Wilson, and Edward +Holyland. + +I give these names because they are worthy a place in the history of any +epidemic; but no country, race, nor creed could claim them as a body: +four Americans, one German, one French, one Irish, three Africans, part +Protestant, and part Catholic, but all from New Orleans, of grand old +_Howard_ stock, from Memphis down, nursing in every epidemic from the +bayous of the Mississippi to Tampa Bay; and hereafter we will know them +as the "_Old Guard_." + +Here, in the winds of approaching winter they stand in the light garb of +early September in New Orleans, thin, worn, longing for home, but +patient, grateful, and glad, some trifling "nubia" or turban about the +head, but only one distinguishing feature in common. A pitiful little +misshapen Red Cross, made by their own hands, of two bits of scarlet +ribbon, soiled, fringed, and tattered, pinned closely upon the left +breast of each, strove in mute appeal to say who they were, and what +they served. A friendly recognition and some words of thanks from their +President, opened the way for those anxious to follow. The rich, warm +eloquence of Mayor Watkins plainly told from how near his heart the +stream of gratitude was flowing, and his manly voice trembled as he +reverted to the condition of his stricken people, on that pitiless +night, when this little band of pilgrim strangers strayed back to them +in the rain and darkness. "I fear they often worked in hunger," he said, +"for then, as now, we had little for ourselves, our sick, or our well; +but they brought us to our feet, and the blessing of every man, woman, +and child in Macclenny is on them." + +It was with a kind of paternal pride that Dr. Gill advanced and placed +before us his matchless record of cases attended, and life preserved. +"This is the record of our work," he said. "I am proud of it, and glad +that I have been able to make it, but without the best efforts of these +faithful nurses I could not have done it; they have stood firm through +everything; not a word of complaint from, nor of, one of them, in all +these trying months, and I thank you, our President, for this +opportunity to testify to their merits in your presence." The full cups +overflowed, and as we took each brown calloused hand in ours, and felt +the warm tears dropping over them, we realized how far from calloused +were the hearts behind them. The silence that followed was a season of +prayer. + +Then came opportunity for some conversation, questions, and +explanations. "We wish to introduce to our President our chief nurse, +whom Colonel Southmayd placed in charge of us when we left the car, and +directed us to obey him; he is younger than any of us, Ed. Holyland." A +slight young man with clear, olive complexion, and dark-browed earnest +eyes that looked you straight in the face, came forward; his apparent +youthfulness gave rise to the first remark: + +"How old are you, Mr. Holyland?" + +"Twenty-nine, madam." + +"And you have taken charge of these nurses?" + +"I have done what I could for their comfort; I think that was what the +colonel desired; he knew they would need only care and advice, they +would do their best of themselves. During the few days that Colonel +Southmayd remained in Jacksonville," he continued, "he was able to send +us some such comforts as we needed for the sick, and some nourishing +food for ourselves; but this was only a few days, you know, and after +that we got on as well as we could without. I know that after he left +the nurses gave to the sick, the children, the old and the helpless, +what they needed for their own strength." + +"But you did not tell us this, Mr. Holyland." + +"No, we were dazed and frightened by the things we heard. We felt that +your organization was having enough to bear. We knew we must look to +you for our pay, and we thought, under the circumstances, that would be +your share. But permit me, please, to call your attention to Mr. Wilson +(a stout colored man advanced), who took charge of a little hospital of +six cases, and carried them all through, day and night, without an +hour's relief from any person, and never lost a single case." + +"And permit me," chimed in the clear-toned Irish voice of Lizzie Louis, +"to tell of Mr. Holyland himself, who found a neglected Italian family a +mile or more outside of the town. He went and nursed them alone, and +when the young son, a lad of thirteen or fourteen years, died, knowing +there was no one to bury him there, he wrapped him in a blanket and +brought him into town on his back, for burial." + +Holyland's face grew sad, and his eyes modestly sought the floor, as he +listened to this unexpected revelation. + +"I wish to speak of something else," added one of the men, "which we +were held back from doing, and for which we are now very glad. We should +not have thought of it ourselves. It is customary," he continued, "when +a patient dies in an epidemic, to give the nurse ten dollars for +preparing the body for burial; this was done in our first case, but Mr. +Holyland had the gift promptly returned with thanks, and the explanation +that we were employed by an organization which fully rewarded its +nurses, and was too high and too correct to accept tribute for +misfortune; it was enough that the patient was lost." + +By this time poor black Annie Evans, the "Mammy" of the group, could +hold quiet no longer, and broke silence with, "Missus President! whar is +de colonel? Colonel Southmayd; dey tells me all de time he's gone away +from New Orleans, and I can't b'l'eve 'em. He can't go away; he can't +lib anywhar else, he was always dar. I'se nursed in yellow fever and +cholera more'n twenty-five year, and I neber went for nobody but him; it +arn't no New Orleans for us widout him dar. I doesn't know de name of +dat place dey say he's gone to, and I doesn't want to; he'll be in New +Orleans when we gets dar." + +There were pitying glances among the group, at this little burst of +feeling, for in some way it was an echo of their own; and Lena Seymour +added tenderly: "We have been trying for these two months to convince +Mammy about this, but she is firm in her faith and sometimes refuses to +hear us." But the subject changed with "How many cases did you lose in +this epidemic, Mammy?" + +"I didn't lose no cases! Lor' bless you, honey, I doesn't lose cases if +dey hasn't been killed afore dey gets to me; folks needn't die of yellow +fever." + +We didn't suppose that "Mammy" intended any reflection upon the medical +fraternity. + +"But now, friends, we must turn to our settlement, which can not be +difficult. Three dollars a day for each nurse, for seventy-nine days, +till you are home on Thanksgiving morning. But here are only ten. There +are eighteen on our list who left with you and Colonel Southmayd; where +are your comrades?" Some eyes flashed and some moistened, as they +answered, "We do not know." "They remained in the car that night, and +went on to Jacksonville." Swift, dark glances swept from one to another +among them. Instinctively they drew closer to each other, and over +knitted brows and firmly set teeth, a silence fell dark and ominous +like a pall, which the future alone can lift. + +The bugle sounded dinner, and this ended our little camp-meeting, than +which few camp-meetings, we believe, ever came nearer to the heart of +Him who offered His life a ransom, and went about doing good. + +The winds blew cold across the camp; the fires shot out long angry +tongues of flame and drifts of smoke to every passer-by. The norther was +upon us. Night came down, and all were glad of shelter and sleep. The +morning, quiet, crisp, and white with frost, revealed the blessing which +had fallen upon a stricken land. + +Thanksgiving was there before its time. The hard rules relaxed. One day +more, and the quarantine was at an end. The north-bound train halted +below the camp, and all together, President and agent, tall doctor and +happy nurses, took places on it, the first for headquarters at +Washington, the last for New Orleans, and home for Thanksgiving morning, +full of the joys of a duty well done, rich in well-paid labor, in the +love of those they had befriended, and the approval of a whole people, +South and North, when once their work should be known to them. + +To the last, they clung to their little home-made Red Crosses as if they +had been gold and diamonds; and when at length the tracks diverged and +the parting must be made, it was with few words, low and softly spoken, +but meaning much, with a finger touch upon the little cross, "When you +want us, we are there." + +The supplies forwarded by us were estimated at ten thousand dollars. The +money received was $6,281.58. Out of this sum we paid our twenty nurses +three dollars a day, for seventy-nine days--their cost of living, and +their transportation when needed. We paid our doctor in charge twenty +dollars a day, the customary price, for the same period. We paid our +office rent, assistants, telegraphing, drayage for supplies sent on by +us (railroad transportation free), and all incidentals for a relief work +of over three months' duration. This ran our debit column over on the +other side over one thousand dollars. Our little part of the relief of +that misfortune was estimated at fifteen thousand dollars, and only +those relieved were more grateful than we. + + + + +IV + +THE JOHNSTOWN FLOOD + + +On Sunday afternoon, May 31, 1889, with the waters of the Potomac two +feet deep on Pennsylvania Avenue, a half dozen of us left Washington for +Johnstown, over washed-out ties and broken tracks, with every little +gully swollen to a raging torrent. After forty-eight hours of this, we +reached the scene, which no one need or could describe, but if ever a +people needed help it was these. + +Scarcely a house standing that was safe to enter, the wrecks piled in +rubbish thirty feet in height, four thousand dead in the river beds, +twenty thousand foodless but for Pittsburg bread rations, and a cold +rain which continued unbroken by sunshine for forty days. + +It was at the moment of supreme affliction when we arrived at Johnstown. +The waters had subsided, and those of the inhabitants who had escaped +the fate of their fellows were gazing over the scene of destruction and +trying to arouse themselves from the lethargy that had taken hold of +them when they were stunned by the realization of all the woe that had +been visited upon them. How nobly they responded to the call of duty! +How much of the heroic there is in our people when it is needed! No idle +murmurings of fate, but true to the god-like instincts of manhood and +fraternal love, they quickly banded together to do the best that the +wisest among them could suggest. + +For five weary months it was our portion to live amid the scenes of +destruction, desolation, poverty, want and woe; sometimes in tents, +sometimes without; and so much rain and mud, and such a lack of the +commonest comforts for a time, until we could build houses to shelter +ourselves and those around us. Without a safe and with a dry-goods box +for a desk, we conducted financial affairs in money and material to the +extent of nearly half a million dollars. + +I shall never lose the memory of my first walk on the first day--the +wading in mud, the climbing over broken engines, cars, heaps of iron +rollers, broken timbers, wrecks of houses; bent railway tracks tangled +with piles of iron wire; bands of workmen, squads of military, and +getting around the bodies of dead animals, and often people being borne +away; the smouldering fires and drizzling rain--all for the purpose of +officially announcing to the commanding general (for the place was under +martial law) that the Red Cross had arrived in the field. I could not +have puzzled General Hastings more if I had addressed him in Chinese; +and if ours had been truly an Oriental mission, the gallant soldier +could not have been more courteous and kind. He immediately set about +devising means for making as comfortable as possible a "poor, lone +woman," helpless, of course, upon such a field. It was with considerable +difficulty that I could convince him that the Red Cross had a way of +taking care of itself at least, and was not likely to suffer from +neglect. + +Not a business house or bank left, the safes all in the bottom of the +river; our little pocketbook was useless, there was nothing to buy, and +it would not bring back the dead. With the shelter of the tents of the +Philadelphia Red Cross, that joined us en route with supplies, when we +could find a cleared place to spread, or soil to hold them, with a +dry-goods box for a desk, our stenographer commenced to rescue the first +dispatches of any description that entered that desolate city. The +disturbed rivers lapped wearily back and forth, the people, dazed and +dumb, dug in the muddy banks for their dead. Hastings with his little +army of militia kept order. + +Soon supplies commenced to pour in from everywhere, to be received, +sheltered as best they could be from the incessant rain, and distributed +by human hands, for it was three weeks before even a cart could pass the +streets. + +But I am not here to describe Johnstown--the noble help that came to it, +nor the still more noble people that received it--but simply to say that +the little untried and unskilled Red Cross played its minor tune of a +single fife among the grand chorus of relief of the whole country, that +rose like an anthem, till over four millions in money, contributed to +its main body of relief, with the faithful Kreamer at its head, had +modestly taken the place of the twelve millions destroyed. But after all +it was largely the supplies that saved the people at first, as it always +is, and the distribution of which largely consumed the money that was +contributed later. + +From one mammoth tent which served as a warehouse, food and clothing +were given out to the waiting people through the hands of such volunteer +agents, both women and men, as I scarcely dare hope to ever see gathered +together in one work again. The great cry which had gone out had aroused +the entire country, and our old-time helpers, full of rich experience +and still richer love for the work, faithful to the cross of humanity as +the devotee to the cross of the Master, came up from every point--the +floods, the cyclones, the battle-fields--and kneeling before the shrine, +pledged heart and service anew to the work. Fair hands laying aside +their diamonds, and business men their cares, left homes of elegance and +luxury to open rough boxes and barrels, handle second-hand clothing, eat +coarse food at rough-board tables, sleep on cots under a dripping canvas +tent, all for the love of humanity symbolized in the little flag that +floated above them. + +Clergymen left their pulpits and laymen their charge to tramp over the +hillsides from house to house, to find who needed and suffered, and to +carry to them from our tents on their shoulders, like beasts of burden, +the huge bundles of relief, where no beast of burden could reach. + +We had been early requested by official resolution of the Finance +Committee of the City of Johnstown to aid them in the erection of +houses. We accepted the invitation, and at the same time proposed to aid +in furnishing the nucleus of a household for the home which should in +any way be made up. This aid seemed imperative, as nothing was left for +them to commence living with, neither beds, chairs, tables, nor cooking +utensils of any kind; and there were few if any stores open, and no +furniture in town. + +Of this labor we had our share. Six buildings of one hundred feet by +fifty, later known as "Red Cross Hotels," were quickly put up to shelter +the people, furnished, supplied, and kept like hotels, free of all cost +to them, while others were built by the general committee. Three +thousand of the latter were erected, and the Red Cross furnished every +one with substantial, newly purchased furniture, ready for occupancy. +The books of the "Titusville Manufacturing Company" will show one cash +order of ten thousand dollars for furniture. The three thousand houses +thus furnished each accommodated two families. + +A ponderous book of nearly two feet square shows the name, sex, and +number of persons of each family, and a list of every article received +by them. To-day one looks in wonder at such a display of clerical labor +and accuracy, under even favorable conditions. + +This was only accomplished by the hard, unpaid labor of every officer, +and the large amount of volunteer friendly aid that came to us. + +The great manufacturers of the country, and the heavy contributing +agents, on learning our intentions, sent, without a hint from us, many +of their articles, as, for instance, New Bedford, Mass., sent mattresses +and bedding; Sheboygan, Wis., sent furniture and enameled ironware; +Titusville, Pa., with a population of ten thousand, sent ten thousand +dollars' worth of its well-made bedsteads, springs, extension-tables, +chairs, stands and rockers; and the well-known New York newspaper, The +Mail and Express, sent a large lot of mattresses, feather pillows, +bedclothing, sheets, and pillow-slips by the thousand and cooking +utensils by the ten thousands. Six large teams were in constant service +delivering these goods. + +When the contributions slackened or ceased, and more material was +needed, we purchased of the same firms which had contributed, keeping +our stock good until all applications were filled. The record on our +books showed that over twenty-five thousand persons had been directly +served by us. They had received our help independently and without +begging. No child has learned to beg at the doors of the Red Cross. + +It is to be borne in mind that the fury of the deluge had swept almost +entirely the homes of the wealthy, the elegant, the cultured leaders of +society, and the fathers of the town. This class who were spared were +more painfully homeless than the indigent poor, who could still huddle +in together. They could not go away, for the suffering and demoralized +town needed their care and oversight more than ever before. There was no +home for them, nowhere to get a meal of food or to sleep. Still they +must work on, and the stranger coming to town on business must go +unfed, with no shelter at night, if he would sleep, or, indeed, escape +being picked up by the military guard. + +To meet these necessities, and being apprehensive that some good lives +might go out under the existing luck of accommodations, it was decided +to erect a building similar to our warehouse. The use of the former site +of the Episcopal Church was generously tendered us by the Bishop early +in June, for any purpose we might desire. This house, which was soon +erected, was known as the "Locust Street Red Cross Hotel"; it stood some +fifty rods from our warehouse, and was fifty by one hundred and sixteen +feet in dimensions, two stories in height, with lantern roof, built of +hemlock, single siding, papered inside with heavy building paper, and +heated by natural gas, as all our buildings were. It consisted of +thirty-four rooms, besides kitchen, laundry, bath-rooms with hot and +cold water, and one main dining-hall and sitting-room through the +center, sixteen feet in width by one hundred in length. + +It was fully furnished with excellent beds, bedding, bureaus, tables, +chairs, and all needful housekeeping furniture. A competent landlady, +who, like the rest, had a few weeks before floated down over the same +ground on the roof of her house in thirty feet of water, was placed in +charge, with instructions to keep a good house, make what she could rent +free, but charging no Johnstown person over twenty-five cents for a meal +of food. + +This was the first attempt at social life after that terrible +separation, and its success was something that I am very proud of. The +house was full of townspeople from the first day, and strangers no +longer looked in vain for accommodations. + +The conception of the need of this house, and the method of selecting +its inmates, and the manner of inducting them into their new home, were +somewhat unique and may be of interest to the reader. I had noticed +among the brave and true men, who were working in the mud and rain, many +refined-looking gentlemen, who were, before this great misfortune +carried away most of their belongings, the wealthiest and most +influential citizens. Never having had to struggle amid such hardships +and deprivations, their sufferings were more acute than those of the +poorer and more hardy people; and it did not require any great +foresight to know that they were physically incapable of such labor if +prolonged, nor to predict their early sickness and death if they were +not properly housed and fed. As the salvation of the town depended in a +great measure upon the efforts of these men, it was vitally necessary +that their lives should be preserved. Realizing all this, it occurred to +us that the most important thing to do, next to feeding the hungry, was +to provide proper shelter for these delicate men and their families. The +idea once conceived was soon communicated to my staff, and, after due +consideration, it was put in the way of realization. + +On the afternoon of July 27th hundreds of citizens called on us, and +congratulations and good wishes were the order of the day. As the +members of each family whom we had selected to occupy apartments in the +house arrived, they were quietly taken aside and requested to remain and +have dinner with us. After all the guests were departed except those who +had been requested to remain, dinner was announced, and the party was +seated by the members of the Red Cross. Beside the plate of each head +of a family were laid the keys to an apartment, with a card inviting the +family to take possession at once, and remain as long as they chose. + +I can not describe the scene that followed; there were tears and broken +voices; suffice to say, the members of that household were made happy +and comfortable for many long months; and I venture to assert that those +now living recall those days with the fondest recollections. + +The contributions to the general committee had been so liberal that it +was possible to erect and provide for the great burial-place of its +dead--"Grand View," that overlooks the city. It was also suggested that +a benevolent society, as a permanent institution, be formed by the +united action of the general committee and the Red Cross. This was +successfully accomplished by the generous provision of eight thousand +dollars from the committee on its part and the turning over of our +well-made and supplied hospital buildings, and the funds we had left +placed in charge of a faithful custodian under our pay for the following +six months. + +This is the present "Union Benevolent Society" of Johnstown to-day. + +I remained five months with these people without once visiting my own +home, only returning to it when the frost had killed the green I had +left in May. + +In that time, it was estimated, we had housed, handled, and distributed +$211,000 worth of supplies--new and old--for, by request of the weary +chairman of the general committee, at the last, we took up the close of +its distribution. It is our joy and pride to recall how closely we +worked in connection with that honored committee from first to last, and +how strong and unsullied that friendship has remained. + +The value of money that passed through our hands was $39,000, as stated +in the official report of the general committee, to which all required +returns were made, recorded, and published by the committee. + +Our usual quota of assistants was fifty persons, the higher grade of men +and women assistants largely volunteers. Two railroads brought our +supplies. To handle these the strongest men were required, and seven +two-horse teams ran daily for three and a half months in the +distribution, at customary rates of pay. These were the workingmen of +the town who had suffered with the rest. + +It was a joy that in all the uncertainties of that uncertain field not a +single complaint ever reached us of the non-acknowledgment of a dollar +entrusted to us. + +The paths of charity are over roadways of ashes; and he who would tread +them must be prepared to meet opposition, misconstruction, jealousy, and +calumny. Let his work be that of angels--still it will not satisfy all. + +In the light of recent events, I may perhaps be pardoned for quoting a +few lines from the official report of the Johnstown Flood Finance +Committee appointed by Governor Beaver, as showing how these gentlemen, +the foremost men in the community, regarded our efforts to give them a +helping hand: + +"In this matter of sheltering the people, as in others of like +importance, Miss Clara Barton, President of the Red Cross Association, +was most helpful. At a time when there was a doubt if the Flood +Commission could furnish houses of suitable character and with the +requisite promptness, she offered to assume charge, and she erected with +the funds of the Association three large apartment houses, which +afforded comfortable lodgings for many houseless people. She was among +the first to arrive on the scene of calamity, bringing with her Dr. +Hubbell, the Field Officer of the Red Cross Association, and a staff of +skilled assistants. She made her own organization for relief work in +every form, disposing of the large resources under her control with such +wisdom and tenderness that the charity of the Red Cross had no sting, +and its recipients are not Miss Barton's dependents, but her friends. +She was also the last of the ministering spirits to leave the scene of +her labors, and she left her apartment houses for use during the winter, +and turned over her warehouse with its store of furniture, bedding, and +clothing, and a well-equipped infirmary, to the Union Benevolent +Association of the Conemaugh Valley, the organization of which she +advised and helped to form; and its lady visitors have so well performed +their work that the dreaded winter has no terrors, mendicancy has been +repressed, and not a single case of unrelieved suffering is known to +have occurred in all the flooded district." + +Enterprising, industrious, and hopeful, the new Johnstown, +phoenix-like, rose from its ruins more beautiful than the old, with a +ceaseless throb of grateful memory for every kind act rendered, and +every thought of sympathy given her in her great hour of desolation and +woe. God bless her, and God bless all who helped save her! + + + + +V + +THE RUSSIAN FAMINE + + +As early as 1889, the foreign journals began to tell us of the +apprehension caused by an unusual failure of the crops in Central +Russia, extending from Moscow north and south, and east beyond the Ural +Mountains and into Siberia--embracing an era of a million square miles. +This failure was followed by another in 1890. + +Eighteen hundred and ninety-one found the old-time granaries empty, and +a total failure of the crops, and a population of thirty-five millions +of people, paralyzed with the dread of approaching famine. + +The American Red Cross had placed itself in communication with the +Secretary of State, Hon. James G. Blaine, whose name and memory it +treasures with reverence, and Mr. Alexander Gregor, the accomplished +Russian _Charge d'Affaires_ at Washington, and ascertained that Russia +would gladly receive donations of relief from America. She would even +send her ships for any food that might be offered. This, America would +not permit and Congress was appealed to for ocean transportation. The +Senate voted a liberal appropriation, which was defeated in the House. + +Then the Red Cross, with the aid of the citizens of Washington, took up +the matter. They were joined by the Order of Elks, which contributed a +sum of seven hundred dollars, than which perhaps that liberal Order +never made a more timely gift. Funds were raised to charter a steamship +for the Red Cross. The spirit spread generally over the country. +Philadelphia sent a messenger to learn what Washington was doing, and +was advised to charter one of its own ships, which was done, and two +consignments were finally made by them. + +Minnesota had already acted, and later, by the advice and aid of the +extra provision of the Red Cross, the Christian Herald sent out its ship +cargo, under convoy of Rev. Dr. Talmage. + +But the State of Iowa led all others in active generosity. + +Under the supervision of Mr. B. F. Tillinghast, of Davenport, aided by +the able pen of Miss Alice French, that State alone raised, and sent in +trains across the country from Iowa to New York, one hundred and +seventeen thousand bushels of corn and one hundred thousand pounds of +flour, which was loaded onto the "Tynehead," a staunch British ship, and +consigned to the port of Riga. + +That year we had been notified of an International Conference to be held +in Rome. The customary appropriation was made by Congress, and again I +was appointed delegate. Too much occupied by the relief at home, Dr. +Hubbell, also a delegate, went in my place to Rome, and from there +reached Riga in time to receive and direct the distribution of the +immense cargo of grain throughout Russia. + +When Dr. Hubbell reached Riga he learned that two hundred and forty +peasants had been waiting on the dock two days, watching and waiting for +the ship from America. Not waiting for food, for Riga was not in a +famine province, but waiting that they might not miss the opportunity +and the honor of unloading the American ship that had brought food to +their unfortunate brothers in the interior. As soon as they could get +into the hold of the ship, one hundred and forty of them began the +unloading. They worked night and day, without rest, determined to unload +the entire cargo themselves, without help. But on the third night our +Consul, Mr. Bornholdt, insisted on their having a relief of twelve +hours, and when the twelve hours were up they were all in their places +again, and remained until the cargo was out, declining to take any pay +for their labor. Twelve women worked along with them in the same spirit, +in the ship and on the dock, with needles, sewing up the rents in the +bags, to prevent waste in handling, and cooking meals for the men. + +The Mayor of St. Petersburg, in an address on behalf of that city to +American donors, declared: + +"The Russian people know how to be grateful. If up to this day these two +great countries, Russia and the United States, have not only never +quarreled, but on the contrary wished each other prosperity and strength +always, these feelings of sympathy can grow only stronger in the future, +both countries being conscious that in the season of trial for either it +will find in the other cordial succor and support. And can true +friendship be tested if not in the hour of misfortune?" + +A peasant of Samara sent to a Russian editor, together with three +colored eggs, a letter which he asked to have forwarded to America. The +following is an extract from the letter: + +"Christ is risen! To the merciful benefactors, the protectors of the +poor, the feeders of the starving, the guardians of the orphans--Christ +is risen. + +"North Americans! May the Lord grant you a peaceful and long life and +prosperity to your land, and may your fields be filled with abundant +harvest--Christ is risen. Your mercifulness gives us a helping hand. +Through your charity you have satisfied the starving. And for your +magnificent alms accept from me this humble gift, which I send to the +entire American people for your great beneficence, from all the hearts +of the poor filled with feelings of joy." + +In the gratitude manifested by the Russian Government and people we were +glad to feel that a slight return had been made to Russia for past +favors in our own peril, and a friendship never broken. + +The Department of State at Washington, under date of January 11, 1894, +forwarded the following: + +"I have to inform you that on November 7, 1893, the American Minister at +St. Petersburg received from the nobility of that city, through their +Marshal, Count Alexis Bobrinskoy, an address to the people of the United +States. This address, which is in the English language, embodies in +terms fitly chosen the thanks of the Russian people to the American for +the aid sent to their country from our own during the famine period of +the past two years. It is beautifully engrossed and its illumination +embraces water-color drawings which render it a most attractive work of +art. + +"The document, which is superbly bound and enclosed in a fine case, was +duly forwarded to this city by the American Minister at St. Petersburg, +and will be given a conspicuous place in the library of this +department." + +In so general an uprising of relief no great sum in contributions could +be expected from any one source. The Red Cross felt that, if no more, it +was glad to be able to pay, by the generous help of the city of +Washington, the charter of a ship that conveyed its +corn--$12,500--besides several thousands distributed in Russia through +Tolstoi and American agents there. + +We paid the cost of loading, superintended by Mr. Tillinghast in person, +whose financial record shows the exact cost of transportation. All this +was done in connection with the State of Iowa. Our home record showed, +when all was finished, a field closed with a small balance in our favor, +which we had no active call for. By the advice of one of the best +personal advisers, bankers, and friends that the Red Cross has ever had, +this small sum was placed in bank, in readiness for the next call. + + + + +VI + +THE SEA ISLAND RELIEF + + +This little timely provision, advisedly made, was none too much or none +too soon. + +On the 28th of August, 1893, a hurricane and tidal wave from the +direction of the West Indies swept the coast of South Carolina, covering +its entire range of Port Royal Islands, sixteen feet below the sea. +These islands had thirty-five thousand inhabitants, mainly negroes. At +first, it was thought that all must have perished. Later, it was found +that only some four or five thousand had been drowned, and that thirty +thousand remained with no earthly possession of home, clothing, or food. +The few boats not swept away took them over to the mainland in +thousands, and calls went out for help. In this emergency Governor +Tillman called for the services of the Red Cross, and my note-book has +this passage: + +"The next night, in a dark, cheerless September mist, I closed my door +behind me for ten months, and with three assistants went to the station +to meet Senator Butler." + +At Columbia we were joined by Governor Tillman, and thus reinforced +proceeded to Beaufort. After due examination the work which had been +officially placed with us by the Governor was accepted October 1st, and +carried on until the following July. + +The submerged lands were drained, three hundred miles of ditches made, a +million feet of lumber purchased and houses built, fields and gardens +planted with the best seed in the United States, and the work all done +by the people themselves. The thousands of boxes of clothing received +were distributed among them, and we left them in July, 1894, supplies of +vegetables for the city of Beaufort. + +Free transportation for supplies continued till about March. No +provisions in kind were sent from any source after the first four weeks +of public excitement. After this all foodstuffs were purchased in +Charleston and distributed as rations. Men were compelled to work on the +building of their own homes in order to receive rations. + +We found them an industrious, grateful class of people, far above the +ordinary grade usually met. They largely owned their little homes, and +appreciated instruction in the way of improving them. The tender memory +of the childlike confidence and obedience of this ebony-faced population +is something that time cannot efface from either us or them. + +On the third day after our arrival at Beaufort four middle-aged colored +men came to the door of the room we had appropriated as an office, and +respectfully asked to see "Miss Clare." They were admitted, and I waited +to learn what request they would probably make of me. At length the +tallest and evidently the leader, said: + +"Miss Clare, we knows you doesn't remember us. But we never fo'gits you. +We has all of us got somethin' to show you." + +Slipping up a soiled, ragged shirtsleeve, he showed me an ugly scar +above the elbow, reaching to the shoulder. "Wagner?" I asked. + +"Yes, Miss Clare, and you drissed it for me that night, when I crawled +down the beach--'cause my leg was broke too," he replied. "And we was +all of us there, and you took care of us all and drissed our wounz. I +was with Colonel Shaw, and crawled out of the fote. The oth's nevah got +in. But we all got to you, Miss Clare. And now you's got to us. We's +talked about you a heap o' times, but we nevah 'spected to see you. We's +nevah fo'git it, Miss Clare." + +One by one they showed their scars. There was very little clothing to +hide them--bullet wound and sabre stroke. The memory, dark and sad, +stood out before us all. It was a moment not to be forgotten. + +Our purchases consisted of meat, mainly dry sides of pork, and grits, or +hominy, for eating. For planting, beside the seed contributed and the +nine hundred bushels of Irish potatoes, were eighteen hundred bushels of +Northern Flint seed corn. + +The contributions of food and clothing had been sent to Beaufort, and +were in the warehouses of the perplexed committee of its leading +citizens. This had naturally drawn all the inhabitants of the scores of +desolated islands for fifty miles to Beaufort, until, it is safe to say, +that fifteen to twenty thousand refugees had gathered there, living in +its streets and waiting to be fed from day to day. + +As the food was there they could not be induced to return to the +islands. Indeed, there was more often nothing on the islands to return +to. The description given by the heads of families and owners, for they +had largely owned their homes, gotten on the old-time plantations "'fo +de wah," was this: If all had been swept out to sea and nothing +remained, it was described as, "done gone." But if thrown down and parts +of the wreck still remained, it was described as "ractified." + +A few of the churches, being larger and more strongly built, still +remained standing. During the first ten days of our stay it would have +been impossible to drive through the principal streets of Beaufort. They +were a solid moving mass, crowding as near to the storehouses as +possible to get, in spite of the policeman, who kindly held them back. + +We sat daily in counsel with the local committee, until seeing that only +systematic measures and a decided change could relieve the conditions +and render the city safe. We then, on the first of October, decided to +accede to the request of the Governor made at first, and take sole +charge of the relief. + +Our first order was to close every storehouse, both of food and +clothing, and inform the people that all distributions would hereafter +be made from the islands. It is impossible to convey to the mind of the +reader the difficulty of getting into a few intelligent sentences the +idea of the means adopted to produce these changes and inaugurate a +system that was to restore to active habits of life a body of utterly +homeless, demoralized, and ignorant people, equal in numbers to a small +new State. + +If these little covers would admit the scores of pages of admirably +written reports of the officers and helpers on that field, every line +replete with interest, that lie here at my hand, it would be an easy and +a welcome task to reproduce them entire, and no more than deserved for +their faithful and gratuitous labor. + +Dr. Egan's report has this passage: + +"October 2d came my marching orders. Take charge of the warehouse and +stores, make an inventory of them, disperse these men, and rid the city +of the demoralizing influence of idle people. The doors are closed and +the inventory begun." + +The local committee had kindly pointed out the most suitable man to take +charge of each community, and to him would be consigned the rations to +be distributed to each family and person within his charge, for which +receipt and distribution he became as responsible as a merchant. + +The goods and rations were at once shipped across the bay to them, or +taken on their own boats, if so fortunate as to have one left from the +storm. It is needless to say that the multitude followed the food. + +In three days there were not people enough left in Beaufort, besides its +own, to be hired for a "job of work." Then followed the necessity for +material to rebuild the "done gone," and to repair the "ractified" +homes. + +A million feet of pine lumber was purchased of a leading lumber dealer, +shipped down the Combahee River, and delivered at the landings on the +islands most convenient of access to the points needed. Each man +received his lumber by order and receipt, and was under obligation to +build his own house. The work was all performed by themselves. A garden +was insisted upon. At first this proposition was resisted as +impracticable. + +"No use, Mistah--no use--'cause de pig eat it all up." + +It was suggested that a fence might be made enclosing at least a quarter +of an acre about the house to keep "de pig" out, as we should later +send, for planting, the best seed to be obtained in the country. + +To this moment our thanks go out to the Agricultural Department at +Washington, and the great seed houses of all the North, for the generous +donations that served to bring once more into self-sustaining relations +this destitute and well-disposed people. + +The fact that the building of the fence, and its subsequent keeping in +strict repair, had some bearing on the weekly issuance of rations, was +evidently not without its influence. There were no poor fences and "de +pig" did no damage. But there were such gardens, and of such varieties, +as those islands had never before seen. + +The earliest crop to strive for, beside the gardens, was the Irish +potato, which they had never raised. Nine hundred bushels were purchased +from Savannah for planting in February. The difficulty of distributing +the potatoes lay in the fact that they would be more likely to find +their way into the dinner pot than into the ground. To avoid this the +court-yard inside our headquarters was appropriated for the purpose of +preparing the potatoes for planting. + +Some forty women were hired to come over from the islands and cut +potatoes for seed--every "eye" of the potato making a sprout--these +distributed to them by the peck, like other seed. + +I recall a fine, bright morning in May, when I was told that a woman who +had come over from St. Helena in the night, waited at the door to see +me. I went to the door to find a tall, bright-looking woman in a clean +dress, with a basket on her head, which, after salutation, she lowered +and held out to me. There was something over a peck of Early Rose +potatoes in the basket--in size from a pigeon's to a pullet's egg. The +grateful woman could wait no longer for the potatoes to grow larger, +but had dug these, and had come ten miles over the sea, in the night, to +bring them to me as a first offering of food of her own raising. + +If the tears fell on the little gift as I looked and remembered, no one +will wonder or criticise. The potatoes were cooked for breakfast, and +"Susie Jane" was invited to partake. + +The shores of the mainland had not been exempt from the ravages of the +storm and in many instances had suffered like the islands. Some thirty +miles above Beaufort was a kind of plantation, with a community of sixty +or seventy families of colored people. The property was owned by two +elderly white ladies who had not returned since driven away by the +storm. + +This village was reported to us as in need and demoralized, with no +head, scant of food, and its "ractified" houses scarcely affording a +shelter. + +A representative mulatto man came to tell us. An inspection was made and +resulted in this man being put in charge to build up the community. +Lumber and food were provided and the people set to work under his +charge. From time to time word came to us, and after some months the +tall representative came again. He had been asked by the people to come +and bring their thanks to the Red Cross for "de home, de gard'n, de pig, +and de chick'n dey all has now." + +The thanks they had emphasized and proved by the heavy basket that +Jackson had carefully brought all the forty miles. It contained +seventy-one fresh eggs--the gift of seventy-one families--being a +contribution of one egg from each family, from the day or two previous +to his leaving on his mission. + +Domestic gardens were a new feature among these islanders, whose whole +attention had been always given to the raising of the renowned "Sea +Island Cotton," the pride of the market, and a just distinction to +themselves and the worthy planter. The result of this innovation was +that, when we left in July, it was nearly as difficult for a pedestrian +to make his way on the narrow sidewalks of Beaufort because of piled-up +vegetables for sale from the islands, as it had been in October to pass +through the streets because of hungry, idle men and women. + +Nothing better illustrates the native good heart of these people than +their kindly interest in and for each other. Often the young men, +without families, would club together and put up a house for some lone +old "auntie," who had neither family nor home, and occasionally there +seemed to develop among them an active philanthropist. Of this type was +Jack Owens, who rebuilt his own "done gone" premises. One day as the +field agent was driving out on some inspection he met Jack walking into +town. + +His decrepit neighbor's house had burned a few weeks before, and Jack +had gotten lumber and rebuilt the house himself. In describing the utter +devastation, Jack explained that "all de house and de well was +burned"--and he had built another house and was coming in on foot "for +funituh to funish it." Jack had lost his ox, "a big ox," he said, in the +storm, and now he "hadn't any nuther" to plow his ground. He pleaded for +another--if it was only "a lil' critter it would grow big"--and it would +help him so much. + +The appeal was not to be resisted. Dr. Hubbell treasures to this day the +satisfaction he felt in procuring something better than the "lil' +critter" as reward and encouragement for Jack's active philanthropy. + +If any practical woman reading this should try to comprehend what it +would be to undertake to clothe and keep clothed thirty thousand human +beings for a year, and to do this from the charitable gifts of the +people, which gifts had all done more or less service before--often +pretty thoroughly "ractified"--this woman will not wonder that sewing +societies suggested themselves to us at headquarters. + +The women were called together and this suggestion made to them, with +the result that an old time "sewing circle" was instituted in every +community. Its membership, officers, dues, and regulations were properly +established--one-half day in each week devoted by each member to the +work in its sewing-rooms, with a woman in charge to prepare it. The +clothing was given out to them as received by us. Many a basket came +proudly back to show us the difference between "den an' now"--good, +strong, firmly mended garments. Ragged coats and pants disappeared from +among the men, as no longer "'spectable fo' de fambly." + +Provision was also made that the little girls from ten years old should +attend and be taught to sew. Many a little dress was selected at +headquarters for them to make over or repair. + +I wish I could do fitting justice to the band of women volunteers who +stood by me through those long months. Some had commenced with me when +society belles, years before, now mistresses of their own palatial +homes; some had come from under the old historic elms of Boston, and +some from the hard-fought fields of Britain's Africa, and wearing the +Victoria Cross. To them, white and black were the same, and no toil too +hard or too menial. + +The money contributed and received for the entire relief of ten months +was thirty thousand five hundred, and a few additional dollars and cents +which I do not at this moment recall. It aggregated one dollar apiece +for the entire maintenance of thirty thousand persons for ten months. + +It is the general custom in this part of the country for the merchants +to furnish supplies to their patrons, and wait until the gathering of +the crops for their pay. But when we left these people at the beginning +of their harvest, not one family in twenty-five had contracted a debt +for supplies: an experience before unknown in their history. + +A report was made and passed into the hands of our legal counsellor, +who, on seeing that no change could be truthfully made in it, advised +that it be not published, as no one would believe it possible to be +done, and we would get only distrust and discredit. Having now come to a +pass where distrust and discredit are no longer to be feared by the Red +Cross, we ourselves are free to make the statement. But back of the hard +facts there is compensation. + +A half dozen years later, when our negro proteges of the Sea Islands +heard of the disaster that had fallen upon Galveston, they at once +gathered for aid and sent in their contributions. + +"'Cause dey suffers like we did, and de Red Cross is dar," they said. + +Of course I would not permit one dollar of this holy gift to Galveston +to go to other than the hands, hard, bony, and black--such as had raised +it in their penury. I also wanted it to do more. Searching for the most +reliable colored people in the city I found in the superintendent of the +colored schools a man who had occupied that place for many years, and +who had the respect and confidence of the people of Galveston. I asked +him to consult his foremost women teachers, and if it pleased them, to +form a society and fit themselves to receive a little money. + +In about a week he appeared with his deputation. I informed them that I +had a little money from their own people of the Sea Islands for them; +that they had been chosen to receive it, because as teachers of the +children they would have access to the needs and conditions of the +families. I told them that I had desired to do more than merely make a +gift for distribution. I wished to plant a tree. I could have given them +their peach, which they would eat, enjoy, and throw the pit away. But I +wished them to plant the pit, and let it raise other fruit for them, and +for that reason I had asked the formation of this society. + +They all sat quiet a few moments, the tears were on their faces. At +length their president, the school superintendent, spoke for them: + +"Miss Barton," he said, "we all appreciate this, and in the name of all +I promise you that the pit shall be reverently planted, and I trust the +time will come when I can tell you that our tree is not only bearing +fruit for ourselves, but for all suffering brethren, as theirs have done +for us." + +I then handed them the check for $397. The moment seemed sacred when +these poor dark figures, struggling toward the light, walked out of my +presence. The pit has been successfully planted in Galveston, and we are +from time to time informed of its bearing. + + + + +VII + +ARMENIAN RELIEF + +1896 + + +Leaving the Port Royal field past midsummer of 1894, after an absence of +nearly a year--at a day's notice--the remainder of the autumn and winter +was scarcely less occupied in the details which had been unavoidably +overlooked. Before spring our correspondence commenced to enlarge with +rumors of Armenian massacres, and so excited and rapid was the increase +that, so far as actual labor, consultation, and thought were concerned, +we might as well have been on a field of relief. + +Unfortunately, the suspicions of the Turkish Government had fallen upon +the resident missionaries, both English and American, as favoring the +views and efforts of its anarchistic population, or the "young Turks," +as they were designated. This had the effect of placing the missionaries +in danger, confining them strictly to their own quarters, preventing +all communication and the receiving of any funds sent them from abroad. + +England had a large waiting fund which it could not distribute, and +appealed to the American Missionary Boards of Boston and New York, to +find them equally powerless. The need of funds among the missionaries +throughout Turkey was getting painfully urgent, and as a last resort it +was suggested from Constantinople that the Red Cross be asked to open +the way. + +A written request from the Rev. Judson Smith, D.D., of Boston, was +nearly identical with one received by us from Mr. Spencer Trask, of New +York, who with others was about to form a national Armenian relief +committee, to be established in that city. + +Following these communications, both of these eminent gentlemen, Mr. +Smith and Mr. Trask, came in person to urge our compliance with their +request that the Red Cross accept the charge and personally undertake +the doubtful and dangerous task of distributing the waiting funds among +the missionaries in Turkey. + +As Mr. Trask was to take the lead in the formation of a committee for +the raising of funds, his interest was naturally paramount, and his +arguments in favor of our acceptance were wellnigh irresistible. +Immediate action on the part of some one was imperative. Human beings +were starving, and could not be reached. Thousands of towns and villages +had not been heard from since the massacres, and only the Red Cross +could have any hope of reaching them. No one else was prepared for field +work; it had its force of trained field workers. Turkey was one of the +signatory powers to the Red Cross Treaty. Thus it was hoped and believed +that she would the more readily accept its presence. + +These are mere examples of the reasons urged by the ardent advocates of +the proposed committee, until at length we came to consider its +acceptance, on conditions which must be clearly understood. First, we +must not be expected to take any part in, or to be made use of, in the +raising of funds--one of our fundamental rules being never to ask for +funds--we did not do it for ourselves. + +Second, there must be perfect unanimity between themselves. We must be +assured that every one wanted us to go. Our part would be hard enough +then; and finally we must be sure they had some funds to distribute. + +Of the amount of these funds no mention was made by us, and I remember a +feeling of good-natured amusement as I heard the officers of this +untried effort at raising funds speak of "millions." It was easy to +discern that they were more accustomed to the figures of a banking +establishment than a charity organization dependent on the raising of +funds. They were likely to be disappointed. In reality, the amount, so +there were something to go with, made very little difference to us, as +we were merely to place what was entrusted to us where most needed, and +when that was done we had but to return. We never named any amount as +preferable to us. + +The means resorted to in raising the funds were unfortunate. In the +great public meetings called for that purpose the utmost indiscretion +prevailed in regard to language applied to Turkey and the Turkish +Government. This aroused the indignation of the Turkish officials, who +very reasonably took measures to have our entrance into Turkey +forbidden. + +A date of sailing, however, had been given Mr. Trask, and his committee, +feeling that any change would be detrimental to their efforts, no change +was made, and we sailed on time, to find in England no permission, and +further efforts necessary. With time and patience the troublesome +effects of these mistakes were overcome, and Constantinople was reached, +and a heavenly welcome by the harassed missionaries awaited us. + +The first step was to procure an introduction to the Turkish Government, +which had in one sense refused to see me. Accompanied by the American +Minister, Hon. A. W. Terrell, and his premier interpreter, Gargiulo, one +of the most experienced diplomatic officers in Constantinople, I called +by appointment upon Tewfik Pasha, the Turkish Minister of Foreign +Affairs, or Minister of State. To those conversant with the personages +connected with Turkish affairs, I need not say that Tewfik Pasha is +probably the foremost man of the government--a manly man, with a kind, +fine face, and genial, polished manners. Educated abroad, with advanced +views on general subjects, he impresses one as a man who would sanction +no wrong it was in his power to avert. + +Mr. Terrell's introduction was most appropriate and well expressed, +bearing with strong emphasis upon the suffering condition of the people +of the interior, in consequence of the massacres, the great sympathy of +the people of America, and giving assurance that our objects were purely +humanitarian, having neither political, racial, nor religious +significance. + +The Pasha listened most attentively to Mr. Terrell, thanked him, and +said that this was well understood, that they knew the Red Cross and its +president. Turning to me he repeated: "We know you, Miss Barton; have +long known you and your work. We would like to hear your plans for +relief and what you desire." + +I proceeded to state our plans for relief, which, if not carried out at +this time, the suffering in Armenia, unless we had been misinformed, +would shock the entire civilized world. None of us knew from personal +observation, as yet, the full need of assistance, but had reason to +believe it very great. If my agents were permitted to go, such need as +they found they would be prompt to relieve. On the other hand, if they +did not find the need existing there, none would leave the field so +gladly as they. There would be no respecting of persons--humanity alone +would be their guide. "We have," I added, "brought only ourselves; no +correspondent has accompanied us, and we shall have none, and shall not +go home to write a book on Turkey. We are not here for that. Nothing +shall be done in any concealed manner. All dispatches which we send will +go openly through your own telegraph, and I should be glad if all that +we shall write could be seen by your government. I can not, of course, +say what its character will be, but can vouch for its truth, fairness, +and integrity, and for the conduct of every leading man who shall be +sent. I shall never counsel or permit a sly or underhand action with +your government, and you will pardon me, Pasha, if I say I shall expect +the same treatment in return--such as I give I shall expect to receive." + +Almost without a breath he replied: "And you shall have it. We honor +your position and your wishes shall be respected. Such aid and +protection as we are able, we shall render." + +I then asked if it were necessary for me to see other officials. "No," +he replied, "I speak for my government," and with cordial good wishes +our interview closed. + +I never spoke personally with this gentleman again, all further business +being officially transacted through the officers of our legation. Yet I +can truly say, as I have said of my first meeting with our matchless +band of missionary workers, that here commenced an acquaintance which +proved invaluable, and here were given pledges of mutual faith, of which +not a word was ever broken on either side. + +The Turkish Government, when once it came to understand American methods +and enthusiasm was forgiving and kind to us. No obstruction was ever +placed in our way. Our five expeditions passed through Armenian Turkey +from sea to sea, distributing whatever was needed, repairing the +destroyed machines, enabling the people to make tools to harvest their +grain, thus averting a famine; providing medical help and food as well +for thousands of sick; setting free the frightened inhabitants, and +returning them to the villages from which they had fled for their lives; +restoring all missionary freedom that had been interrupted; establishing +a more kindly feeling toward them on the part of the government; and +through all this, we had never one unpleasant transaction with any +person of whatever name or race. + +While our expeditions were getting ready to go out by the Black Sea, a +request was brought to me by Dr. Washburn, of Robert College, from Sir +Philip Currie, the British Ambassador at Constantinople, asking if I +could not be "persuaded" to turn my expedition through the +Mediterranean, rather than the Black Sea, in order to reach Mirash and +Zeitoun, where the foreign consuls were at the moment convened. They had +gotten word to him that ten thousand people in those two cities were +down with four distinct epidemics--typhoid and typhus fevers, dysentery +and smallpox--that the victims were dying in overwhelming numbers, and +that there was not a physician among them, all being either sick or +dead, with no medicine and little food. + +This was not a case for "persuasion," but of heartfelt thanks from us +all, that Sir Philip had remembered to call us, whom he had never met. +But here was a hindrance. The only means of conveyance from +Constantinople to Alexandretta were coasting boats, belonging to +different nationalities, which left only once in two weeks, and +irregularly at that. Transport for our goods was secured on the first +boat to leave, the goods taken to the wharf at Galata, and at the latest +moment, in order to give time, a request was made to the government for +_teskeres_, or traveling permits, for Dr. J. B. Hubbell and assistants. +To our surprise they were granted instantly, but by some delay on the +part of the messenger sent for them they reached a moment too late. The +boat left a little more promptly, taking with it our relief goods, and +leaving the men on the dock to receive their permits only when the boat +was beyond recall. It was really the fault of no one. + +With the least possible delay Dr. Hubbell secured passage by the first +boat at Smyrna, and a fortunate chance boat from there took him to +Alexandretta, via Beyrout and Tripoli, Syria. The goods arrived in +safety, and two other of our assistants, whom we had called by cable +from America--Edward M. Wistar and Charles King Wood--were also passed +over to the same point with more goods. There, caravans were fitted out +to leave over the--to them--unknown track to Aintab, as a first base. +From this point the reports of these three gentlemen made to me will be +living witnesses. They tell their own modest tales of exposure, severe +travel, hard work, and hardship, of which no word of complaint has ever +passed their lips. There have been only gratitude and joy, that they +could do something in a cause at once so great and so terrible. + +While this was in progress, a dispatch came to me at Constantinople from +Dr. Shepard of Aintab, whose tireless hands had done the work of a score +of men, saying that fevers, both typhoid and typhus, of the most +virulent nature, had broken out in Arabkir, two or three days north of +Harpoot; could I send doctors and help? Passing the word on to Dr. +Hubbell at Harpoot, prompt and courageous action was taken by him. It is +something to say that from a rising pestilence with a score of deaths +daily, in five weeks, himself and his assistants left the city in a +normally healthful condition, the mortality ceasing at once under their +care and treatment. + +During this time the medical relief for the cities of Zeitoun and Marash +was in charge of Dr. Ira Harris, of Tripoli, who reached there March +18th. The report of the consuls had placed the number of deaths from the +four contagious diseases at one hundred a day. This would be quite +probable when it is considered that ten thousand were smitten with the +prevailing diseases, and that added to this were the crowded condition +of the patients, the thousands of homeless refugees who had flocked from +their forsaken villages, the lack of all comforts, of air, cleanliness, +and a state of prolonged starvation. + +Dr. Harris's first report to me was that he was obliged to set the soup +kettles boiling and feed his patients before medicine could be retained. +My reply was a draft for two hundred liras (something over eight hundred +dollars) with the added dispatch: "Keep the pot boiling; let us know +your wants." The further reports show from this time an astonishingly +small number of deaths. The utmost care was taken by all our expeditions +to prevent the spread of the contagion and there is no record of its +ever having been carried out of the cities, where it was found, either +at Zeitoun, Marash, or Arabkir. Lacking this precaution, it might well +have spread throughout all Asia Minor, as was greatly feared by the +anxious people. + +On the twenty-fourth of May, Dr. Harris reported the disease as +overcome. His stay being no longer needed, he returned to his great +charge in Tripoli, with the record of a medical work and success behind +him never surpassed if ever equaled. The lives he had saved were enough +to gain Heaven's choicest diadem. Never has America cause to be more +justly proud and grateful than when its sons and daughters in foreign +lands perform deeds of worth like that. + +The closing of the medical fields threw our entire force into the +general relief of the vilayet of Harpoot, which the relieving +missionaries had well named their "bottomless pit." + +The apathy to which the state of utter nothingness, together with their +grief and fear, had reduced the inhabitants, was by no means the +smallest difficulty to be overcome. Here was realized the great danger +felt by all--that of continued alms-giving, lest they settle down into a +condition of pauperism, and thus finally starve, from the inability of +the world at large to feed them. The presence of a strange body of +friendly working people, coming thousands of miles to help them, +awakened a hope and stimulated the desire to help themselves. + +It was a new experience that these strangers _dared_ to come to them. +Although the aforetime home lay a heap of stone and sand, and nothing +belonging to it remained, still the land was there, and when seed to +plant the ground and the farming utensils and cattle were brought to +work it with, the faint spirit revived, the weak, hopeless hands +unclasped, and the farmer stood on his feet again. + +When the cities could no longer provide the spades, hoes, plows, picks +and shovels, and the crude iron and steel to make these was purchased +and taken to them, the blacksmith found again his fire and forge and +traveled weary miles with his bellows on his back. The carpenter again +swung his hammer and drew his saw. The broken and scattered +spinning-wheels and looms from under the storms and _debris_ of winter +again took form and motion, and the fresh bundles of wool, cotton, flax, +and hemp in the waiting widow's hand brought hopeful visions of the +revival of industries which should not only clothe but feed. + +At length, in early June, the great grain-fields of Diarbekir, Farkin, +and Harpoot valleys, planted the year before, grew golden and bowed +their heavy spear-crowned heads in waiting for the sickle. But no +sickles were there, no scythes, not even knives. It was a new and sorry +sight for our full-handed American farming men to see those poor, hard +Asiatic hands trying, by main strength, to break the tough straw or pull +it by the roots. This state of things could not continue, and their +sorrow and pity gave place to joy when they were able to drain the +cities of Harpoot and Diarbekir of harvest tools, and turned the work of +all the village blacksmiths on to the manufacture of sickles and +scythes, and of flint workers upon the rude threshing machines. + +They have told me since their return that the pleasantest memories left +to them were of those great valleys of golden grain, bending and falling +before the harvesters, men and women, each with the new, sharp sickle or +scythe, the crude threshing planks, the cattle trampling out the grain, +and the gleaners in the rear as in the days of Abraham and Moab. God +grant that somewhere among them was a kind-hearted king of the harvest +who gave orders to let some sheaves fall. + +Even while this saving process was going on another condition no less +imperative arose. These fields must be replanted or starvation must be +simply delayed. Only the strength of their old-time teams of oxen could +break up the hard sod and prepare for the fall sowing. Not an +animal--ox, cow, horse, goat, or sheep--had been left. All had been +driven to the Kourdish Mountains. When Mr. Wood's telegram came, calling +for a thousand oxen for the hundreds of villages, I thought of our not +rapidly swelling bank account, and all that was needed everywhere else, +and replied accordingly. + +When in return came the telegram from the Rev. Dr. Gates, president of +Harpoot College, the live, active, practical man of affairs, whose +judgment no one could question, saying that the need of oxen was +imperative, that unless the ground could be plowed before it dried and +hardened it could not be done at all, and the next harvest would be +lost, also that "Mr. Wood's estimate was moderate," the financial +secretary was directed to send a draft for five thousand liras +(twenty-two thousand dollars) to the care of the Rev. Dr. Gates, to be +divided among the three expeditions for the purchase of cattle and the +progress of the harvest of 1897. + +As the sum sent would be immediately applied, the active services of the +men would be no longer required, and directions went with the remittance +to report in person at Constantinople. + +Unheard-of toil, care, hard riding day and night, with risk of life, +were all involved in the carrying out of that order. Among the +uncivilized and robber bands of Kourds, the cattle that had been stolen +and driven off must be picked up, purchased, and brought back to the +waiting farmer's field. There were routes so dangerous that a brigand +chief was selected by those understanding the situation as the safest +escort for our men. Perhaps the greatest danger encountered was in the +region of Farkin, beyond Diarbekir, where the official escort had not +been waited for, and the leveled musket of the faithless guide told the +difference. + +At length the task was accomplished. One by one the expeditions closed +and withdrew, returning by Sivas and Samsoun, and coming out by the +Black Sea. With the return of the expeditions we closed the field. But +contributors would be glad to know that subsequent to this, before +leaving Constantinople, funds from both the New York and Boston +committees came to us amounting to about fifteen thousand dollars. This +was happily placed with Mr. W. W. Pect, treasurer of the Board of +Foreign Missions at Stamboul, to be used subject to our order; and with +our concurrence it was employed in the building of little houses in the +interior, as a winter shelter and protection, where all had been +destroyed. + +The appearance of our men on their arrival at Constantinople confirmed +the impression that they had not been recalled too soon. They had gone +out through the snows and ice of winter, and without change or rest had +come back through the scorching suns of midsummer--five months of rough, +uncivilized life, faring and sharing with their beasts of burden, +well-nigh out of communication with the civilized world, but never out +of danger. It seemed but just to themselves and to others who might need +them, that change and rest be given them. + +It would scarcely be permissible to express in words the obligation to +our American Minister, Hon. A. W. Terrell, at Constantinople, without +whose unremitting care and generous aid our work could not have been +accomplished. And, indeed, so many were the duties of that difficult and +delicate field that it seemed the help of no one hand or heart could be +spared. We felt that we had them all; from the palace of the Sultan to +beloved Robert College, from the American Legation to the busy rooms of +the American Board, with its masterly treasurer, Peet, were the same +outstretched hands of protection and care for our little band. + +They knew we had taken our lives in our hands to come to them, and with +no thought of ourselves. We had done the best we knew to accomplish the +mission so persistently sought of us in our own country. + +That our work had been acceptable to those who received its results, we +knew. They had never failed to _make_ us know. If also acceptable to Him +who gave us the courage, protection, and strength to perform it, we need +care for little more. + +Funds to the total amount of $116,326.01 were cabled us by Mr. Spencer +Trask's committee, all of which were placed in the hands of Mr. W. W. +Peet, treasurer of the missionary board at Constantinople. All proper +receipts were given and taken, and feeling that we had faithfully and +successfully accomplished the work we had been asked to perform, we +closed the field, and prepared to return to America. + +Some days of physical rest were needful for the men of the expeditions +after reaching Constantinople before commencing their journey of +thousands of miles for home, worn as they were by exposure and incessant +labor--physical and mental. I need not attempt to say with what +gratitude I welcomed back these weary, brown-faced men and officers +from a field so difficult and so perilous; none the less did the +gratitude go out to my faithful and capable secretary, who had toiled +early and late, never leaving for a day, striving with tender heart that +all should go well. + +And when the first greetings were over, the full chorus of manly +voices--"Home Again," "Sweet Land of Liberty," "Nearer My God to +Thee"--that rolled out through the open windows of the Red Cross +headquarters in Constantinople fell on the listening ears of Christian +and Moslem alike, and though the tones were new and strange, all felt +that to some one, somewhere, they meant more than the mere notes of +music. + + + + +VIII + +CUBA + +1898 + + +On our return to "civilization" we were rejoiced to find that as a +result of our three months' labors, the former tumult of Armenia had +died away into a peaceful echo, but a new murmur fast growing to clamor +had taken its place. Cuba had entered the ceaseless arena of American, +gladiatorial, humanitarian contest. The cruelties of the reconcentrado +system of warfare had become apparent, and methods of relief were +uppermost in the minds of all persons. + +These methods were twofold and might well be classed under two distinct +heads: those who for mere pity's sake sought simple relief; those who +with a further forecast sought the removal of a cause as well as its +effect, and "Cuba Libre" was its muffled cry. They asked money for arms +as well as bread, and the struggle between the two held the country in +a state of perplexed contradiction for months running into years. + +Our great-hearted President asked simple aid and was distressed at the +doubtful response. At length he suggested and we proffered the aid of +the Red Cross on a call to the country, and the establishment of the +"Central Cuban Relief Committee" in New York, within three days, was the +result. + +The activity and success of that committee are too fresh in the minds of +all our people to require the smallest description from me. Too much +praise can not be given to our Auxiliary Societies from the Atlantic to +the Pacific for the splendid work in the camps at home, in Cuba, Porto +Rico, and in the care of our soldiers in transit to the Philippines. +Their full and complete reports show the great work accomplished. The +memory of the work of the busy men and tireless women who joined heart +and hand in this Heaven-sent task still brings tears to the eyes of a +nation at its recall. + +The service assigned me by our anxious President, and gladly accepted, +was the distribution on the pitiful fields of Cuba. These scenes I +would not recall. The starving mothers and motherless babes, the +homelessness and squalor, the hopelessness and despair, are beyond all +words and all conception, save to those who saw and lived among them. It +is past and let it rest. + +Then followed the declaration of hostilities, the blockade, the fleets +of war, and the stately, glistening white ships of relief that dotted +the sea--our navy after forty years of peace again doing service in its +own waters--and among them one inconspicuous, black-hulled sea-going +craft, laden with food for the still famishing reconcentrados, when they +could be reached. + +Day after day, in its weary, waiting cruise, it watched out for an +opening to that closed-in suffering island, till at length the thunder +of the guns, Siboney, San Juan, opened the track, and the wounded troops +of our own army, hungering on their own fields, were the reconcentrados +of the hour. + +Tampa became the gathering-point of the army. Its camps filled like +magic, first with regulars, then volunteers, as if the fiery torch of +Duncraigen had spread over the hills and prairies of America. The great +ships gathered in the waters, the transports, with decks dark with human +life, passed in and out, and the battleships of the sea held ever their +commanding sway. It seemed a strange thing, this gathering for war. +Thirty years of peace had made it strange to all save the veterans of +the days of the old war, long passed into history. Could it be possible +that we were to learn this anew? Were men again to fall, and women weep? +Were the youth of this generation to gain that experience their fathers +had gained, to live the war-lives they had lived, and die the deaths +they had died? + +At length the fleet moved on, and we prepared to move with, or rather +after it. The quest on which it had gone, and the route it had taken, +bordered something on the mystery shrouding the days when Sherman +marched to the sea. Where were the Spanish ships? What would be the +result when found and met? Where were we to break that Cuban wall and +let us in? + +Always present in our minds were the food we carried, the willing hands +that waited, and the perishing thousands that needed. We knew the great +hospital ships were fitting for the care of the men of both Army and +Navy. Surely they could have no need of us. + +We had taken possession of our ship at Key West on the 29th of April. It +was now the 20th of June and the national records of two countries at +least will always give the history of those days. It is our part to keep +as clearly, truthfully, and kindly as possible, the record of the little +that fell to us to perform in this great drama. + +Weighing anchor at Key West the State of Texas steamed for the open +Caribbean, we having first taken the official advice of Commodore Remy +to find Admiral Sampson and report to him. + +Sunrise of the twenty-fifth gave us our first view of the water at +Santiago. Our transports and battle-ships were gathered there. The +advice of Admiral Sampson was that we proceed to Guantanamo, where the +marines had made a landing and were camped on the shore. There had been +some fighting at Guantanamo. The naval hospital ship Solace was there. + +Whoever has enjoyed this quiet, sheltered harbor, protected on three +sides by beautiful wooded hills, will not require to be reminded of it. +At six o'clock our anchor sunk in the deep, still waters and we had time +to look about and see the beginning of the war. The marines were camped +along the brow of a hill. On our right a camp of Cubans, and all about +us the great war-ships with their guns, which told of forthcoming +trouble. Captain McCalla, who was in command of Guantanamo, had sent his +compliments and a launch, leading us in to our place of anchorage. The +courtesies of the navy so early commenced at Key West were continued +throughout the war. + +By invitation of Commander Dunlap our entire company visited the Solace +the following day. If that beautiful ship or its management had left +room on the records of our country's meed of gratitude, for more words +of appreciative praise, I should be glad to speak them. Only those +familiar with the earliest history of the Red Cross in our country, and +the methods by which our navy alone--of all the Red Cross nations--had +gained even an approximately legal place, can judge what the sight of +that first naval relief ship in American waters was to me. It brought +back so vividly the memory of the day in 1881 when President Arthur +called me to him to carefully explain the conditions of the treaty which +he had just signed, and that, Congress having generously included the +navy in its treaty for war, he would provide to hold it carefully until +the probable widening of the original treaty would include the _navies_ +of the world, as well as the armies. + +Before the day closed news came to us of a serious character. The daring +Rough Riders had been hardly dealt by. Hamilton Fish and Allyn Capron +had been killed, and the wounded needed help. Wherever they might be, it +must be possible to reach them, and it was decided that no time be lost. +Our men commenced work in the hold of the ship to get at medical +supplies and dressings, and the captain took his orders. I find in my +diary at the close of that day the following paragraph: "It is the Rough +Riders we go to, and the relief may be also rough, but it will be +_ready_. A better body of helpers could scarcely be gotten together." + +Nine o'clock of the same night found us at Siboney, which can scarcely +be called a harbor, for it has no anchorage. The next morning at +daybreak we stood on deck to see the soldiers filing up over the hill, +in heavy marching order, forming in lines by ones and twos, winding up, +in and out among the hills, higher and higher. As we watched them they +were a moving line trailing on toward the clouds, till lost in the mist, +and we could only think, as we looked at them, on how many and on which, +is set the mark of death? He knew no more than we--poor fellow--and +with his swinging, steady gait, toils up and up and waits for--he knows +not what. + +The hospitals, both American and Cuban, located on the shore just to the +right of us, were visited by our men that same evening. Some of their +surgeons called on us. All seemed interested in the Red Cross, but none +thought that a woman nurse would be in place in a soldiers' +hospital--indeed, very much out of place. I suggested that that decision +was hard for me, for I had spent a great deal of time in soldiers' +hospitals myself. They appeared to understand that perfectly, but there +seemed to be a _later_ line which could not be crossed. + +The Cubans who had just come into camp expressed a desire for any +assistance we could give them. They would be glad to have the Red Cross +Sisters in their little hospital, but begged us to wait just a day until +it could be put in better order. The Sisters were not the persons to +grant that day of preparation. + +On the contrary they at once went to work, thoroughly cleaned the little +three-room building--Garcia's abandoned headquarters, to be used as a +hospital--and when the day closed the transformation showed clean rooms, +clean cots, and the grateful occupants wondering whether Heaven itself +could be more comfortable, or anything more desirable than the palatable +food prepared for them by the Sisters. + +Three days later the following letter was received: + + +"To MISS CLARA BARTON, President, + +"American National Red Cross: + +"I have the honor to request your assistance in caring for the patients +in a so-called hospital near the landing at this point. + +"The orders are to the effect that all patients now under treatment on +the shore shall be transferred to the Iroquois and Olivette, but the +facilities for carrying out this order are apparently inadequate. In +order that the division hospital may remain unhampered for the care of +the wounded in the engagement about to take place, it is necessary for +me to request this favor of you, and I trust that you may find it +possible to comply with said request. + +"Your obedient servant, + +"LOUIS A. LE GARDE, + +"Major and Surgeon, U. S. A., Commanding +Hospital." + + +To this the following reply was immediately returned: + + +"Steamship State of Texas, + +"SIBONEY, SANTIAGO DE CUBA, _June 30, 1898_. + +"DR. LOUIS A. LE GARDE, + +"Major and Surgeon, U. S. A., Commanding Hospital. + +"Major: Permit me to express the pleasure given me by your letter +inviting the assistance of the persons here under my direction in the +care of the sick and wounded of the engagement about to take place. +Although not here as a hospital ship by any means--not legitimately +fitted for the work--still we have some hospital supplies, a few +intelligent workers, skill, experience, the willingness to serve, the +readiness to obey, and I believe the true spirit of the Red Cross, that +seeks to help humanity wherever its needs exist. I send them to you in +the hope that they may be of service. + +"Cordially yours, + +"CLARA BARTON, + +"President, American National Red Cross." + + +Our surgeons and assistants went on shore, where Dr. Le Garde and Dr. +Lesser secured a small house, and in a few hours this had undergone the +same transformation and by the same hands as the Cuban hospital. The Red +Cross flag was hoisted, Dr. Lesser placed in charge, and scores of our +soldiers who had been lying on the filthy floors of an adjacent +building, with no food but army rations, were carried over, placed in +clean cots, and given proper food. From that on, no distinction was +made, the Red Cross flag floating over both the American and Cuban +hospitals. + +A few feet away, all the available army tents were put up as additional +accommodation for the "wounded in the engagement about to take place." +It did take place the following day, and, as will be well remembered, in +those two days, Friday and Saturday, the first and second of July, the +tents were more than filled with wounded in the battle of San Juan Hill. +Three of the five Sisters went into the operating tent, and with the +surgeons worked for thirty hours with only a few moments' rest now and +then for a cup of coffee and a cracker or piece of bread. We heard +nothing more about a woman nurse being out of place in a soldiers' +hospital. + +On Saturday evening, the second day of the San Juan battle, a slip of +paper with these penciled words was brought to the door of the hospital: + + +"Send food, medicines, anything. Seize wagons from the front for +transportation. + +"SHAFTER." + + +The call for help was at once sent over to the State of Texas, and we +worked all night getting out supplies and sending them ashore with a +force of Cubans, only too glad to work for food. + +I wish I could make apparent how difficult a thing it was to get +supplies from our ship to the shore in a surf which, after ten o'clock +in the morning, allowed no small boats to touch even the bit of a pier +that was run out without breaking either the one or the other, and +nothing in the form of a lighter save two dilapidated flat-boat +pontoons. These had been broken and cast away by the engineer corps, +picked up by ourselves, mended by the Cubans, and put in condition to +float alongside of our ship, and receive perhaps three or four tons of +material. This must then be rowed or floated out to the shore, run onto +the sand as far as possible, the men jumping into the water from knee to +waist deep, pulling the boat up from the surf, and getting the material +on land. And this was what was meant by loading the "seized wagons from +the front" and getting food to the wounded. After ten o'clock in the day +even this was impossible, and we must wait until the calm of three +o'clock next morning to commence work again and go through the same +struggle to get something to load the wagons for that day. Our supplies +had been gotten ashore, and among the last, rocking and tossing in our +little boat, went ourselves, landing on the pier, which by that time was +breaking in two, escaping a surf which every other moment threatened to +envelop one from feet to head, we reached the land. + +Our "seized" wagons had already gone on, loaded with our best hospital +supplies--meal, flour, condensed milk, malted milk, tea, coffee, sugar, +dried fruits, canned fruits, canned meats, and such other things as we +had been able to get out in the haste of packing--entirely filling the +two wagons already in advance. + +An ambulance had been spoken of. We waited a little while by the +roadside, but the ambulance did not appear. Then, halting a wagon loaded +with bales of hay, we begged a ride of the driver, and our little party, +Dr. and Mrs. Gardner, James McDowell, and myself, took our seats on the +hay and made our way to the front, Dr. Hubbell following afoot. Four +hours' ride brought us to the First Division Hospital of the Fifth Army +Corps--General Shafter's headquarters. + +The sight that met us on going into the so-called hospital grounds was +something indescribable. The land was perfectly level; no drainage +whatever; covered with long, tangled grass; skirted by trees, brush, +and shrubbery; a few little dog-tents not much larger than could have +been made of an ordinary table-cloth thrown over a short rail, and under +these lay huddled together the men fresh from the field or from the +operating-tables, with no covering over them save such as had clung to +them through their troubles, and in the majority of cases no blanket +under them. + +Those who had come from the tables, having been compelled to leave all +the clothing they had, as too wet, muddy, and bloody to be retained, +were entirely nude, lying on the stubble grass, the sun fitfully dealing +with them, sometimes clouding over and again streaming out in a blaze +above them. Fortunately, among our supplies were some bolts of +unbleached cotton, and this we cut in sheet lengths, and the men of our +party went about and covered the poor fellows, who lay there with no +shelter either from the elements or the eyes of the passers-by. + +A half dozen bricks laid about a yard apart, a couple of pieces of +wagon-tire laid across these, so low and so near the ground that no fire +of any strength or benefit could be made--the bits of wet wood put +under crosswise, with the smoke streaming a foot out on either side, two +kettles of coffee or soup, and a small frying-pan with some meat in +it--appeared to be the cook-house for these men. They told us there were +about eight hundred men under the tents and lying in the grass, and more +constantly coming in. + +After a few moments' consultation as to the best methods to be pursued, +we too gathered stones and bricks and constructed a longer, higher +fireplace, got more wagon-tires, found the water, and soon our great +agate kettles of seven and ten gallons were filled. + +The rain, that had been drizzling more or less all day, increased. Our +supplies were taken from the wagons, a piece of tarpaulin found to +protect them, and as the fire began to blaze and the water to heat, Mrs. +Gardner and I found the way into the bags and boxes of flour, salt, +milk, and meal, and got material for the first gallons of gruel. I had +not thought to ever make gruel again over a camp-fire. I can not say how +far it carried me back in the lapse of time, or really where, or who I +felt that I was. + +It did not seem to be me, and still I seemed to know how to do it. + +When the bubbling contents of our kettle thickened and grew white with +the condensed milk, and we began to give it out--putting it into the +hands of men detailed as nurses, and our own men, to take around to the +poor sufferers, shivering and naked in the rain--I felt that perhaps it +was not in vain that history had repeated itself. When the nurses came +back and told us of the surprise with which it was received, and the +tears that rolled down the sun-burned, often bloody face, into the cup +as the poor fellow drank his hot gruel, and asked where it came from, +who sent it, and said it was the first food he had tasted in three days +(for they had gone into the fight hungry), I felt that it was again the +same old story and wondered what gain there had been in the last thirty +years. + +The fires burned, the gruel steamed and boiled--bucket after bucket went +out--until those eight hundred men had each a cup of gruel and knew that +he could have another and as many as he wanted. The day waned, the +darkness came, and still the men were unsheltered, uncovered, naked, +and wet--scarcely a groan, no word of complaint--no man said he was not +well treated. + +The operating-tables were full of the wounded. Man after man was taken +off, brought on his litter and laid beside other men, and something +given him to keep the little life in his body that seemed fast oozing +out. All night it went on. It grew cold--for naked men bitter +cold--before morning. We had no blankets, nothing to cover them, only +the strips of cotton cloth. + +Early in the morning ambulances started, and such of the wounded as +could be loaded in were taken to be carried back over that rough, +pitiless road, down to Siboney, to the hospitals there--that we had done +the best we could toward fitting up--where our hundred cots, hundred and +fifty blankets had gone, cups, spoons, and delicacies, that would help +to strengthen these poor, fainting men, if they could get there, and +where also the Sisters would care for them. + +They brought man after man, stretcher after stretcher, to the waiting +ambulances, and they took out seventeen who had died in the night, +unattended, save by the nurse. + +More supplies arrived, and this time came large tarpaulins, more +utensils, more food, and more things to make it a little comfortable. We +removed our first kitchens across the road, up alongside the headquarter +tent of Major Wood, in charge of the camp. Words can not do justice to +his kind-hearted generosity. He strove in every way to do all that could +be done, and the night before had given us a small tent in which we had +huddled from the pouring rain, for a couple of hours, in the middle of +the night, the water rushing through like a rivulet. + +The tarpaulins were put over supplies, a new fireplace made near +us--magnificent in its dimensions--shelter given for boxes and barrels +that by this time had accumulated about us, and there was even something +that looked like a table, on which Mrs. Gardner prepared her delicacies. + +Early in the day there came to our improvised headquarters an officer in +khaki uniform showing hard service, and a bandanna handkerchief hanging +from his hat, to protect the back of his head and neck from the fierce +rays of the sun. + +It was Colonel Roosevelt, and we were very glad to meet the gallant +leader of the "Rough Riders." After a few moments conversation he said: + +"I have some sick men with the regiment who refuse to leave it. They +need such delicacies as you have here, which I am ready to pay for out +of my own pocket. Can I buy them from the Red Cross?" + +"Not for a million dollars," Dr. Gardner replied. + +"But my men need these things," he said, his tone and face expressing +anxiety. "I think a great deal of my men. I am proud of them." + +"And we know they are proud of you, Colonel. But we can't sell Red Cross +supplies," answered Dr. Gardner. + +"Then, how can I get them? I must have proper food for my sick men," he +said. + +"Just ask for them, Colonel," replied Dr. Gardner. + +"Oh," he said, his face suddenly lighting up with a bright smile; "then +I do ask for them." + +"All right, Colonel; what is your list?" + +The list included malted milk, condensed milk, oatmeal, cornmeal, canned +fruits, dried fruits, rice, tea, chocolate, and even prepared beefsteak +and vegetables, and other things good for men who could not eat army +rations. + +"Now, Colonel, when will you send for these supplies?" asked Dr. +Gardner. "They will be ready any time." + +"Lend me a sack and I'll take them right along," he answered with +characteristic decision. + +Mrs. Gardner at once looked up a sack, and when filled it must have held +a good many pounds of supplies. Before we had recovered from our +surprise, the incident was closed by the future President of the United +States slinging the big sack over his shoulders, striding off, and out +of sight through the jungle. + +The gruel still remained the staple, but malted milk, chocolate, rice, +and tea had come in, and little by little various things were added by +which our _menage_ quite resembled a hotel. The wounded were still being +taken away by ambulance and wagon, assorted and picked over like fruit. +Those who would bear transportation were taken away, the others left +where they were. By the third day our patients seemed strong enough that +we might risk giving them food as solid as rice, and the great kettles +were filled with that, cooked soft, mixed with condensed and malted +milk. The number of wounded grew less day by day, and better care could +be taken of them. + +At Siboney, the great needs of the hour were met by the little band of +surgeons and nurses, working night and day. The following is from a +letter in the Times-Herald, now Record-Herald, of Chicago, by Miss Janet +Jennings, who volunteered her service in the hospital. One gets from +this simple, direct picture, a better appreciation of that heroism which +lives after excitement, which survives the rush and shouting of assault, +which is sustained without comradeship: + + +"SIBONEY, _July 8, 1898_. + +"Above hospital tents Red Cross flags are flying, and here is the real +life--the suffering and heroism. Everybody who can do even so little as +carry a cup of water lends willing hands to help the wounded. Most of +the wounded are from the first day's engagement, when the infantry was +ordered to lead the attack on Santiago, instead of using the artillery. + +"And it all came at once--a quick blow--with little or no preparation +to meet it. I mentioned in a former letter the lack of preparation on +the part of the army to care for the sick. There was then almost +nothing--no cots, bedding or proper food, for less than one hundred sick +men. + +"Two days later, when the wounded came in, the needs of the hour were +overwhelming. The situation can not be described. Thousands of our men +had been hurried to the front to fight. It was well understood that it +would be a hard fight. The dead would need only burial, but the wounded +would need care. And yet, with the exception of a limited number of +stretchers, a medicine-chest and a few bandages, no preparation had been +made--neither cots nor food--practically no hospital supplies. + +"It is not strange that surgeons were desperate and nurses distressed. +The force of each was wholly inadequate. The exact number of wounded may +never be known. But the estimate at this time is about 1,000 +wounded--some 1,500 killed and wounded. + +"Wounded men who made their way down on foot eight miles over the rough, +hilly road will never know just how their strength held out. Others were +brought down in army wagons by the load, as few ambulances were at +hand. Fortunately, there were some tents here that had been used by +troops before going to the front. Under these hay was spread and covered +with blankets, and the improvised hospital was ready. One tent was taken +for operating-tables, and the work of surgeons and nurses began. They +worked night and day for forty-eight hours, with only brief intervals +for coffee and hard-tack. + +"Wounded men had to wait for hours before bullets could be extracted and +wounds dressed. But there was no word of complaint--only silent, patient +suffering, borne with a courage that was sublime. As the wounded +continued to come in, tent-room gave out, and hay with blankets were +placed outside, and to these 'beds' the less severely wounded were +assigned. It was evident that the medical department of the army had +failed absolutely to send hospital supplies, or by this time they would +have been landed. As it was, the surgeons turned to the Red Cross ship +'State of Texas' for help, and the supplies originally intended for the +starving Cubans were sent ashore for our wounded. + +"Miss Barton had been urged and advised to wait until the army opened +and made the way safe to land supplies for reconcentrados and refugees. +But she had foreseen the situation to a certain degree and followed the +army as quickly as possible--to wait for the emergency, rather than have +the emergency wait for her. The 'State of Texas' was here a week before +the attack on Santiago. + +"While surgeons and nurses were probing for bullets and dressing wounds, +a force of men on the Red Cross ship worked half the night getting out +cots and blankets, food and bandages, and at daylight next morning the +supplies were landed, taking advantage of the smooth sea between four +and nine o'clock, as later in the day the high surf makes it extremely +difficult for landings. There were six tables in the operating-tent and +eight surgeons. In twenty-four hours the surgeons had operated upon and +dressed the wounds of 475 men. Four Red Cross sisters, trained nurses, +assisted the surgeons. They were Sister Bettina, wife of Dr. Lesser, +surgeon-in-chief of the Red Cross; Sister Minna, Sister Isabel, and +Sister Blanche. Their knowledge of surgery, skill, and nerve were a +revelation to the army surgeons. These young women, all under thirty, +went from one operating-table to another, and, whatever was the nature +of the wound or complication, proved equal to the emergency. + +"In the Red Cross Hospital, across the way, Sister Anna was in charge +of the sick men, turned over to the Red Cross two days before, when army +surgeons with troops were all ordered to the front. With 475 wounded men +to feed there was not a camp-kettle to be found in which gruel could be +prepared, coffee made or anything cooked, not a kettle of any sort to be +furnished by the army. The whole camp outfit at Tampa in the way of +cooking utensils must have been left behind. + +"But there was an overruling Providence when the 'State of Texas' was +loaded for Cuba. So far everything needed has been found in the hold of +this old ship, which deserves to have and will have a credit page in the +history of the war in Cuba. There were kettles, charcoal braziers, and +cooking utensils carried over to the Red Cross Hospital. To prepare +gruel, rice, coffee, and various other proper and palatable dishes for +forty or fifty sick men by the slow process of a charcoal brazier, +tea-kettle, and boiler is by no means easy cooking. But to prepare food +for 475 wounded men, some of whom had had nothing to eat for twenty-four +hours, cooking over a little charcoal pot is something that one must +take a 'hand in' to fully appreciate. + +"There was the feeling as if one were dazed and unnatural to hear +American soldiers, men from comfortable homes, literally begging for +'just a spoonful of gruel.' The charcoal pot burned night and day, +gallons of gruel were made and quantities of rice cooked until the +greatest stress had passed. It was no time to stand on trained service, +and everybody, man or woman, was ready to lend a hand. + +"A striking feature of the first day's engagement was the number of men +wounded in the head, arm, and upper part of the body. Some of these +cases, the most serious, were taken into the Red Cross Hospital, where +they received the most skilful and gentle nursing. + +"Two days' steady strain began to show on the Sisters. + +"The strain had been the greater because there were no facilities for +anything like a regular meal short of the ship, reached by a long, hard +tramp in the sand, then a row over the tossing waves. But nobody thought +of meals. The one thing was to feed and nurse the 500 wounded and sick +men. Human endurance, however, has its limit, and unless the Sisters +could get a little rest they would give out. I went on duty for +twenty-four hours, at night, with the assistance of one man, taking care +of forty patients, fever, measles, and dysentery cases, and half a dozen +badly wounded men. Among the latter was Captain Mills, of the First +Cavalry, and William Clark, a colored private in the Twenty-fifth +Infantry, regulars. They were brought over from the hospital tents and +placed on cots out on the little porch, where there was just room to +pass between the cots. + +"Their wounds were very similar--in the head--and of such a character as +to require cool applications to the eyes constantly. Ice was scarce and +worth its weight in gold, for the lives of these men as well as others +depended chiefly on cool applications to the eyes, with as uniform +temperature as possible. We had one small piece of ice, carefully +wrapped in a blanket. There never was a small piece of ice that went so +far. If I were to tell the truth about it nobody would believe me. + +"Never in my whole life, I think, have I wished for anything so much as +I wished for plenty of ice that night. It was applied by chipping in +small bits, laid in thin, dry cotton cloth, folded over in just the +right size and flat, to place across the eyes and forehead, enough of it +to be cold, but not heavy, on the wounds. + +"The ears of the sick are strangely acute. Whenever the sick men heard +the sound of chipping ice they begged for ice-water; even the smallest +bit of ice in a cup of water was begged with an eagerness that was +pitiful. I felt conscience-smitten. But it was a question of saving the +eyes of the wounded men, and there was no other way. To make the ice +last till morning I stealthily chipped it off so the sick men would not +hear the sound. + +"At midnight a surgeon came over from his tent ward with a little piece +of ice not larger than his hand. I do not know his name, but it does not +matter, it is inscribed above. 'This is all we can spare,' he said. +'Take it. You must keep those wounds cool at all hazards. I have another +case very like these--a man wounded in the head. I want to bring him +over here, where he will be sure of exactly the same nursing. His life +depends on the care he gets in the next twenty-four hours. Have you a +vacant cot?' + +"There was not a vacant cot, but we could make room for one on the porch +if he could find the cot. He thought he could, and went back, taking the +precious piece of ice that he really needed more than we did. In the +course of a half hour the surgeon returned to say it was impossible to +get a cot anywhere, and the wounded man must be left where he was in the +tent, at least until morning. + +"And so it went on through the long night--the patient suffering of the +sick men, the heroism of the wounded, all fearing to give any trouble, +desiring not to do so, find grateful for the smallest attention. + +"The courage that faces death on the battlefield or calmly awaits it in +the hospital is not a courage of race or color. Two of the bravest men I +ever saw were here, almost side by side on the little porch--Captain +Mills and Private Clark--one white, the other black. They were wounded +almost at the same time, and in the same way. The patient suffering and +heroism of the black soldier was fully equal to that of the Anglo-Saxon. +It was quite the same, the gentleness and appreciation. They were a +study, these men so widely apart in life, but here strangely close and +alike on the common ground of duty and sacrifice. They received +precisely the same care; each fed like a child, for with their bandaged +eyes they were as helpless as blind men. When the ice pads were renewed +on Captain Mills's eyes the same change was made on Private Clark's +eyes. There was no difference in their beds or food. Neither uttered a +word of complaint. The nearest to a regret expressed by Captain Mills +was a heavy sigh, followed by the words: 'Oh, we were not ready. Our +army was not prepared.' + +"Of himself he talked cheerfully, strong, and hopeful. 'I think I shall +go home with the sight of one eye,' he said. That was all. + +"In the early part of the night he was restless, his brain was active, +cool, and brave as he might be. The moonlight was very bright, a flood +of silver, seen only in the tropics. Hoping to divert him I said: 'The +moonlight is too bright, captain. I will put up a paper screen so you +can get to sleep.' + +"He realized at once the absurdity and the ludicrous side, and with an +amused smile replied: 'But you know I can't see the moonlight.' + +"I said it was time to get more ice for his head and half stumbled +across the porch, blinded by tears. When told who his nearest neighbor +was, Captain Mills expressed great sympathy for Private Clark and paid a +high tribute to the bravery of the colored troops and their faithful +performance of duty. + +"Private Clark talked but little. He would lie apparently asleep until +the pain in his head became unbearable. Then he would try to sit up, +always careful to keep the ice-pad on his eyes over the bandage. + +"'What can I do for you, Clark?' I would ask, anxious to relieve his +pain. + +"'Nothing, thank you,' he would answer. 'It's very nice and comfortable +here. But it's only the misery in my head--the misery is awful.' + +"Poor fellow! there was never a moan, merely a little sigh now and +then, but always that wonderful patience that seemed to me not without a +touch of divine philosophy, complete acceptance. + +"I have mentioned these two men, not as exceptional in bravery, but to +illustrate the rule of heroism, and because they were among the patients +under my immediate care that night. It was a strange night picture--a +picture that could never be dimmed by time but live through all the +years of one's life. + +"After midnight a restful atmosphere pervaded the hospital and the +blessing of sleep fell upon the suffering men, one by one. In the little +interval of repose I dropped into an old chair on the porch, looked away +to the beautiful mountains sharply outlined in the moonlight, and the +sea like waves of silver, the camp on the shore; near by thirty or forty +horses standing motionless. Then the hospital tents, with now and then +the flickering light of a candle; in the background the cliffs, with +here and there a Spanish blockhouse. Over all the tragedy of life and +death, the pain and sorrow, there was the stillness of a peaceful +night--a stillness broken only by the sound of the surf brought back on +the cool breeze, the cool, refreshing breeze, for which we all thanked +God." + + +Later on, as will be remembered, Miss Jennings went North--a volunteer +nurse on the transport Seneca. The brave men whose lives hung in the +balance that night--with little hope that, if life were spared, they +would ever see again--recovered, but each with the loss of an eye. After +a long furlough Private Clark returned to his regiment. Captain Mills, +now General Mills, is the Superintendent of the West Point Military +Academy. + +Three times in the first week I went over those terrible roads from the +front to Siboney and return. Arriving at Siboney late one night, there +was no way I could get on board the State of Texas and I was obliged to +remain on shore. The Postmaster insisted that I occupy a room in the +building used for a post-office. Such a courtesy could not be refused, +and against all feeling of acquiescence, and with a dread as if there +were something wrong about it, I allowed myself to be helped out of the +wagon and entered the house. The Postmaster sat down and talked with me +a little while. I thought he seemed ill. I had never met him before, but +my heart went out in sympathy for him. I feared I was taking his room, +although he did not admit it. + +I was shown into a room where there was a cot, a table, and a candle +without a stick, burning upon the table. The men went outside and laid +down upon the steps for the night. I laid down upon the cot, but it was +impossible for me to remain there. Something constantly warned me to +leave it. I got up, went to the door, looked out upon the night and +darkness, and waited for the gray of the morning. I went out and stood +upon the beach beside the sea and waited more and more, until finally +some of the men appeared, and I went with them down to the water. + +Six days later they told me that the rightful occupant of the cot--the +Postmaster, who had seemed so ill--had died of a fever raging here that +they called "yellow fever." I had occupied his cot. I wonder who it was +that so continually warned me that night to keep away from that room, +away from the cot, away from all connected with it? "Yellow fever" was +not then talked of. Did some one tell me? I do not know--but something +told me. + +The negotiations between General Shafter and the Spanish army at +Santiago were going on. The flag of truce, that threatened every day to +come down, still floated. The Spanish soldiers had been led by their +officers to believe that every man who surrendered--and the people as +well--would be butchered whenever the city should fall and the American +troops should come in. But when General Shafter commenced to send back +convoys of captured Spanish officers, their wounds dressed, and +carefully placed on stretchers, borne under flags of truce to the +Spanish lines at Santiago, and set down at the feet of General Toral, +and when in astonishment that officer learned the object of the flag of +truce and sent companies of his soldiers to form in line and present +arms, while the cortege of wounded were borne through by American +troops, a lesson was learned that went far toward the surrender of that +city. + +I happen to know that it was not without some very natural home +criticism that General Shafter persisted in his course in the face of +the time-honored custom of "hostages." One can readily understand that +the voluntary giving up of prisoners--officers at that--in view of an +impending battle, might seem in the light of old-time army usages a +waste, to characterize it by no harder term. It is possible that none of +the officers in that field had ever read the Articles of the Treaty of +Geneva, or fully recalled that the treaty had become a law, or that +their commander was acting in full accord with its wise and humane +principles. + +By this time the main talk of the camp was "yellow fever." It was soon +discovered by the medical authorities that, from there having been at +first one case of fever, there were now one hundred and sixteen, and +that a fever camp would probably be made there, and the wounded gotten +away. It was advisable then that we return to our ship and attempt, as +far as possible, to hold that free from contagion. I was earnestly +solicited to do this, in view of what was expected of our ship, and of +what was expected of us, that we not only protect ourselves but our +cargo and ship from all contamination and even suspicion. + +I faithfully promised to do so, and again called for an army wagon, +leaving all supplies that were useful for the men in camp--sending to El +Caney what was most needed there--and taking only our personal effects, +started for Siboney. In less than twenty minutes the rain was pouring on +us and for two hours it fell as if from buckets. The water was from a +foot and a half to two feet deep in the road as we passed along. At one +time our wagon careened, the mules were held up, and we waited to see +whether it should go over or could be brought out, the water a few +inches only from the top of the lower side. It was scarcely possible for +us to stir, hemmed in as we were, but the men from the other wagons +sprang to our wheels, hanging in the air on the upper side, and we were +simply saved by an inch. + +But like other things, this cleared away. We came into Siboney about +three o'clock, in a bright glare of sunshine, to find the town entirely +burned--all buildings gone or smoking--and a "yellow fever" hospital +established a mile and a half out from Siboney. + +All effort was made to hold our ship free from suspicion. The process of +reasoning leading to the conclusion that a solid cargo, packed in tight +boxes in the hold of a ship, anchored at sea, could become infected in +a day from the land or a passing individual, is indeed an intricate +process. But we had some experience in this direction. Captain McCalla, +in his repeated humane attempts to feed the refugees around Guantanamo, +had called again for a hundred thousand rations, saying that if we could +bring them to him soon he could get them to the starving people in the +woods. We lost no time, but got the food out and started with it in the +night. On reaching Guantanamo we were met some distance out, called to, +and asked if any one on our ship had been on shore at Siboney within +four days; if so, our supplies could not be received. We took them away, +leaving the starving to perish. + +The constantly recurring news of the surrender of Santiago was so well +established that we drew anchor, came up to the flag-ship, and sent the +following letter to Admiral Sampson: + + +"State of Texas, + +"_July 16, 1898_. + +"ADMIRAL SAMPSON, Commanding U. S. Fleet off +Santiago, Flag-Ship New York. + +"Admiral: It is not necessary for me to explain to you my errand, nor +its necessity; both your good head and heart divine it more clearly +than any words of mine can represent. + +"I send this to you by one of our men who can tell all you wish to know. +Mr. John Elwell has resided and done mercantile and shipping business in +Santiago for the last seven years; is favorably known to all its people; +has in his possession the keys of the best warehouses and residences in +the city, to which he is given welcome by the owners. He is the person +appointed four months ago to help distribute this food, and did so with +me until the blockade. There seems to be nothing in the way of getting +our twelve hundred tons of food into a Santiago warehouse and giving it +intelligently to the thousands who _need_ and _own_ it. I have twenty +good helpers with me. The New York committee is urging the discharge of +the State of Texas, which has been raised in price to four hundred +dollars a day. + +"If there is still more explanation needed, I pray you, Admiral, let me +see you. + +"Respectfuly and cordially, + +"CLARA BARTON." + + +These were anxious days. While the world outside was making up war +history, we thought of little beyond the terrible needs about us; if +Santiago had any people left, they must be in sore distress; and El +Caney, with its thirty thousand homeless, perishing sufferers, how could +they be reached? + +On that Sunday morning, never to be forgotten, the Spanish fleet came +out of Santiago Harbor, to meet death and capture. That afternoon +Lieutenant Capehart, of the flag-ship, came on board with the courteous +reply of Admiral Sampson, that if we would come alongside the New York +he would put a pilot on board. This was done, and we moved on through +waters we had never traversed; past Morro Castle, long, low, silent, and +grim; past the wrecks of the Spanish ships on the right; past the +Merrimac in the channel. We began to realize that we were alone, of all +the ships about the harbor there were none with us. The stillness of the +Sabbath was over all. The gulls sailed and flapped and dipped about us. +The lowering summer sun shot long golden rays athwart the green hills on +either side and tinged the water calm and still. The silence grew +oppressive as we glided along with scarce a ripple. We saw on the right +as the only moving thing, a long, slim yacht dart out from among the +bushes and steal its way up half-hidden in the shadows. Suddenly it was +overtaken by either message or messenger, and like a collared hound +glided back as if it had never been. + +Leaning on the rail, half lost in reverie over the strange, quiet beauty +of the scene, the thought suddenly burst upon me--are we really going +into Santiago, and alone? Are we not to be run out, and wait aside, and +salute with dipping colors, while the great battle-ships come up with +music and banners and lead the way? + +As far as the eye could reach no ship was in sight. Was this to remain +so? Could it be possible that the commander who had captured a city +declined to be the first to enter, that he would hold back his flag-ship +and himself, and send forward and first a cargo of food on a plain ship, +under direction of a woman? Did our commands, military or naval, hold +men great enough of soul for such action? It must be true, for the +spires of Santiago rise before us, and turning to the score of +companions beside me I ask: "Is there any one here who will lead the +Doxology?" In an instant the full rich voice of Enola Gardner rang out: +"Praise God from whom all blessings flow." By that time the chorus was +full, and the tears on many a face told more plainly than words how +genuine was that praise, and when in response to a second suggestion "My +Country 'Tis of Thee" swelled out on the evening air in the farewell +rays of the setting sun, the State of Texas was nearing the dock, and +quietly dropping her anchor she lay there through the silence of the +night in undisputed possession, facing a bare wind-swept wharf and the +deserted city of Santiago. + +Daybreak brought quiet to an end. The silence was no longer oppressive. +A hundred and twenty stevedores lined up on the wharf for work and +breakfast. The dock had tracks, and trucks running to its open +warehouses. Boxes, barrels, and bales, pitched out of that ship, thrown +onto the trucks and wheeled away, told the story of better days to come. +It was something to see the lank, brawny little army of stevedores take +their first breakfast in line, alongside of the ship. + +Later in the day the flag-ship brought Admiral Sampson and Admiral +Schley, who spent several hours with us. They had every opportunity to +see how our work was done, and if we were equal to unloading our ship. +When they were about to leave Admiral Sampson was asked what orders or +directions he had for us. He replied: "You need no directions from me, +but if any one troubles you let me know." + +The amiable pleasantries of these two gallant officers during that visit +are a pleasure to recall. As I was, at an opportune moment, attempting +to express my appreciation and thanks to Admiral Sampson for the +courtesy of allowing us to precede him into Santiago, Admiral Schley, +with that _naivete_ and apt turn of expression so characteristic of him, +in a half undertone side-remark, cautioned me with "Don't give him too +much credit, Miss Barton; he was not quite sure how clear the channel +might be. Remember that was a trial trip." + +How sadly the recollection of that pleasant, memorable day has since +recurred to me; brave, gallant brothers in arms, and in heart; knowing +only a soldier's duty; each holding his country's honor first, his own +last; its glory his glory, and for himself seeking nothing more. Ah, +people, press, and politics! How deal ye with your servants? + +A message was received from General Shafter, who telegraphed from his +headquarters; "The death rate at El Caney is terrible; can you send +food?" The answer was to send the thirty thousand refugees of El Caney +at once back to Santiago; we were there and could feed them; that the +State of Texas had still twelve hundred tons of supplies. + +The thirty thousand inhabitants of Santiago had been driven to El Caney, +a village designed for five hundred. In two days all were called back +and fed, ten thousand the first day, twenty thousand the second. Then +came our troops, and Santiago was lived and is remembered. Its +hospitals, the ante-chamber to Montauk, are never to be forgotten. + +A general committee was formed, the city districted into sections, with +a commissioner for each district, selected by the people themselves +living there. Every family or person residing within the city was +supplied by the commissioner of that district, and all transient +persons were fed at the kitchens, the food being provided by the Red +Cross. + +The discharge of the cargo of the State of Texas commenced at six +o'clock Monday morning, July 18th. One hundred and twenty-five +stevedores were employed and paid in food issued as rations. Four days +later the discharge was completed. + +Although the army had entered the city during the latter part of that +time, there had been no confusion, no groups of disorderly persons seen, +no hunger in the city more than in ordinary times. We had done all that +could be done to advantage at that time in Santiago. The United States +troops had mainly left. The Spanish soldiers were coming in to their +waiting ships, bringing with them all the diseases that unprovided and +uncleanly camps would be expected to hold in store. Five weeks before we +had brought into Santiago all the cargo of the State of Texas excepting +the hospital supplies, which had been used the month previous among our +own troops at Siboney, General Shafter's front, and El Caney during the +days of fighting. + +These were the last days of General Shafter in Santiago, who was, as he +had at all times been, the kind and courteous officer and gentleman. +General Wood, who was made Governor of the Province of Santiago upon the +day of surrender--alert, wise, and untiring, with an eye single to the +good of all--toiled day and night. + +The State of Texas steamed away to its northern home. Peace and plenty +came. The reconcentrados we went in search of were never reached. To +those who could not withstand, Heaven came. To those who could, _Cuba +Libre_. + +Later on, general efforts were made for the protection of the thousands +of orphans over the island, in which efforts the Red Cross joined. But +the people of Cuba solved the question themselves--by a general adoption +in their own homes--and orphanages in Cuba became a thing of the past. + +Thus our work on that distressful field closed, after nearly two years +of such effort as one would never desire to repeat. The financial +management of that field, so far as the Red Cross was concerned, was +done under the attorneyship of the Central Cuban Relief Committee of New +York, whose reports are models of accuracy and accountability, and to +which any person desiring information may be referred. + +Cuba was a hard field, full of heart-breaking memories. It gave the +first opportunity to test the cooperation between the government and its +supplemental handmaiden, the Red Cross. That these relations might not +have been clearly understood at this initial date may well be +appreciated, but that time and experience will remedy this may be +confidently hoped. + +Through all our discouragements the steady hand and calm approval of our +great head of the army and navy was our solace and our strength. And +when at length it was all over, his hand could trace for his message to +his people the following testimonial, what need had one even to remember +past discouragements, however great? It was as if the hand of the martyr +had set its undying seal upon the brow of the American Red Cross. What +greater justification could it have? What greater riches could it crave? + +"In this connection it is a pleasure for me to mention in terms of +cordial appreciation the timely and useful work of the American Red +Cross, both in relief measures preparatory to the campaigns, in sanitary +assistance at several of the camps of assemblage, and, later, under the +able and experienced leadership of the president of the society, Miss +Clara Barton, on the fields of battle and in the hospitals at the front +in Cuba. Working in conjunction with the governmental authorities and +under their sanction and approval, and with the enthusiastic cooperation +of many patriotic women and societies in the various States, the Red +Cross has fully maintained its already high reputation for intense +earnestness and ability to exercise the noble purposes of its +international organization, thus justifying the confidence and support +which it has received at the hands of the American people. To the +members and officers and all who aided them in their philanthropic +work, the sincere and lasting gratitude of the soldiers and the public +is due and freely accorded. + +"In tracing these events we are constantly reminded of our obligations +to the Divine Master for His watchful care over us, and His safe +guidance, for which the nation makes reverent acknowledgment and offers +humble prayers for the continuance of His favors."--FROM PRESIDENT +MCKINLEY'S MESSAGE TO CONGRESS, DECEMBER 6, 1898. + + + + +IX + +GALVESTON + +1900 + + +This time there was no murmur in the air, no warning of approaching +danger. Even the watchful press, that knows so much before it ever +happens, slumbered quiet and deep, till the hissing wires shrieked the +terrifying word--Galveston. + +Then we learned that, as at Port Royal, the sea had overleaped its +bounds and its victims by thousands were in its grasp. + +In all the land no one slept then. To us it was the clang of the +fire-bell, and the drop of the harness. The Red Cross clans commenced to +gather. + +In two days a little coterie of near a dozen left Washington under +escort of the competent agency of the New York World, which had on the +first day telegraphed that it would open a subscription for the relief +of Galveston, and would be glad to send all supplies and money received +to the Red Cross, if its president, Miss Clara Barton, would go and +distribute it. It was the acceptance of this generous offer that had +brought to the station in Washington the escort; and a palace-car, +provided with all comforts for the journey to Galveston, was under the +management of the World's efficient correspondent and agent, Robert +Adamson. + +The direfulness of the news gathered as we proceeded on our journey, and +delays were gotten over as quickly as possible. A detention of several +hours in New Orleans gave opportunity for consultation with the officers +of the Red Cross Society of that city, which had held its loyal ranks +unbroken since 1882, and became a tower of strength in this relief. A +day of waiting in Houston for a passage over the Gulf gave us a glimpse +of what the encroachment had been on the mainland. We found the passage +across to Galveston difficult, and with one night of waiting by the +shore in almost open cars, at Texas City, we at length arrived in +Galveston on the morning of the 15th of September. + +Here again no description could adequately serve its purpose. The sea, +with fury spent, had sullenly retired. The strongest buildings, half +standing, roofless and tottering, told what once had been the make-up of +a thriving city. But that cordon of wreckage skirting the shore for +miles it seemed, often twenty feet in height, and against which the high +tide still lapped and rolled! What did it tell? The tale is all too +dreadful to recall--the funeral pyre of at least five thousand human +beings. The uncoffined dead of the fifth part of a city lay there. The +lifeless bodies festering in the glaring heat of a September sun told +only too fatally what that meant to that portion of the city left alive. +The streets were well-nigh impassable, the animals largely drowned, the +working force of men diminished, dazed, and homeless. The men who had +been the fathers of the city, its business and its wealth, looked on +aghast at their overwhelmed possessions, ruined homes, and, worse than +all, mourned their own dead. + +Yet these men, to the number of thirty or more, had, as one may say, +pulled themselves together, and were even at that early date a relief +committee, holding their meetings at the wrecked and half-ruined hotel, +almost the only public house left standing. To this hotel we also went +and reported to the committee. To say that we were kindly and +gratefully received by them says nothing that would satisfy either +ourselves or them. + +The conditions were so new to them that it was a relief to meet persons +who had seen such things before. We were asked not only to act with +them, but to assume charge of the administration of relief. This, of +course, we would not do, but that we would meet with, counsel, and aid +them in every way in our power, is needless to affirm. That we did do +this, through every day of our stay of three months, not only our own +conviction, but the unasked and unexpected testimony of both Galveston +and the Legislature of the State of Texas, go to assure. + +On the third day after our arrival we were joined by Mr. Stephen E. +Barton, President of the former Central Cuban Relief Committee, and Mr. +Fred L. Ward, its competent secretary, who became our secretary from the +time of his arrival until the close of the field, continuing until after +our return to headquarters and settling the last account. Not only the +thanks of the Red Cross are due for his faithful, painstaking work, but +his name is still a household word through the score of counties +skirting the shore on the mainland of Texas. + +It may be interesting to readers to know what is done first, or just how +a relief party commence under circumstances like that. A few words will +give an outline. First the ground must be overlooked and conditions +learned. This is not easy when it is remembered that broken houses, +cars, wagons, church steeples, and grand pianos were liable to be +encountered in the middle of the leading streets, themselves buried +three feet in the coarse black sand, brought in by the great tidal wave. + +Nevertheless, a building must be found in which to store and distribute +the supplies that would immediately come. How needful these supplies +would be can be inferred when it is recalled that scores of persons came +alive out of that wreck, with simply the band of a shirt or a +night-dress held by its button about the neck as the only reminder that +ever a cover of clothing had been theirs. + +A little meeting of my assistants early held assigned each to his duty +and his place. A warehouse, fortunately still intact, was generously +supplied by Mr. John Sealy. Major James A. McDowell, with the +experience of this branch of Red Cross work from Johnstown down, and the +record of twenty-six battles in the old civil war, was placed in charge. +Here is one of the scenes given by a casual eye-witness: + +A poor feeble-looking man, with scant clothing, enters the warehouse and +waits. "Hello there," calls the observant major--with his Grand Army +button--overhauling clothes for the visitor. "But, major, I was a +Confederate soldier." "Lord bless your poor suffering soul, what +difference does that make? Here, this will suit you." + +It was thought advisable by some of the party to establish an orphanage, +which was done and carried through, regardless of the common-sense idea +that few children would survive, when the parents were drowned. And so +it proved, although the work was faithfully administered. + +Homes must be made, lumber obtained, and houses built. The Red Cross +sent out the appeal for lumber and aided in the work of shelter. + +Mrs. Fannie B. Ward was placed in charge of a special clothing +department. Need I remind thoughtful readers that in a disaster like +that, where people of affluence, culture, and position are in a night +bereft of all, one of the cruelest features might be to go to the open +boxes of a relief station for clothing, such as never before worn, and +could not be asked for through the choking tears. In all humanity these +cases must be properly, respectfully, and discreetly met, as one lady +could meet another in distress. + +No more vivid picture of the conditions by which we were surrounded can +be imagined than the following extract from Mrs. Ward's report: + + +"Just seven days after the storm we found ourselves stranded at Texas +City, on the mainland opposite Galveston Island, waiting for +transportation across the six-mile stretch of water. Bridges had been +swept away, and new sand-bars thrown up in the bay; floating roofs and +timbers impeded navigation, and the only method of communication between +the mainland and Galveston was one poor little ferry-boat, which had to +feel her now dangerous way very cautiously, by daylight only. She had +also to carry nearly a quarter of her capacity in soldiers to prevent +her being swamped by waiting crowds of people, frantic to learn the +fate of their friends on the island. Each trip to the mainland, the boat +came filled with refugees from the city of doom--the sick, the maimed, +the sorrowing--many with fearful bodily injuries inflicted by the storm, +and others with deeper wounds of grief;--mothers whose babies had been +torn from their arms, children whose parents were missing, fathers whose +entire families were lost--a dazed and tearless throng, such as Dante +might have met in his passage through Inferno. These were dumped by +thousands on the sandy beach at Texas City, and then conveyed by rail to +Houston, to be cared for by the good people of that city, who, +notwithstanding their own grievous losses, were doing noble work for +their stricken neighbors. + +"Of Texas City--a flourishing town of four or five thousand +houses--nothing remained but heaps of bricks and splintered wood, sodden +bales of cotton and bits of household furniture, scattered over the +plain; not a standing habitation within miles, nor any shelter for the +crowds above-mentioned, except two or three hospital-tents, hastily set +up for the sick and wounded, but inadequate for their accommodation. +What was our dismay when told that here we must remain at least +twenty-four hours, for the return of the boat! However, we were better +off, even physically, than most of the waiting crowd, though weariness +of the flesh amounted to actual suffering, after more than fifty hours' +travel. As a special courtesy to Miss Barton, the railway company left a +car to shelter her during the night. Luxurious Pullmans did not abound +at Texas City, and this was the shabbiest of day-coaches, equipped with +few 'modern conveniences.' But this was no time to think of personal +comfort, on the threshold of so much misery; and who could murmur when +the head of our little company set such an heroic example of patience. I +have seen her in many trying situations, that threatened the fortitude +and endurance of the strongest--and have yet to hear the first word of +complaint from her lips. She smilingly 'bunked' upon two seats laid +together--compared to which, for softness, the _penitente's_ slab of +stone would be as 'downy beds of ease'--and encouraged her companions to +do the same. Hunger and thirst would also have been our portion, had it +not been for a Salvation Army Corps encamped in the vicinity, and the +Relief Train of the Philadelphia North American, stranded like +ourselves. Thanks to those good Samaritans, we dined and breakfasted on +tinned beef, bread and coffee; and what more could good soldiers +require? + +"That night in Texas City will be long remembered. Sleep was out of the +question--stretched on those cross-bars, like St. Lawrence on his +gridiron. Soldiers patrolled the beach, not only to prevent a stampede +of the boat, but to protect both the quick and the dead from fiends in +human guise, who prowled the devastated region, committing atrocities +too horrible to name. All night the steady tramp, tramp, of the guard +sounded beneath the car-windows, while at either door stood two +sentinels, muskets on shoulders. Skies of inky blackness, studded with +stars of extraordinary brilliancy, seemed to bend much nearer the earth +than at the North; and the Great Dipper hung low on the horizon--for +only just across the Gulf it disappears to give place to the Southern +Cross. Myriads of big, bright fire-flies, resembling balls of flame, +flitted restlessly over the plain, like the disembodied souls whose +homes were here one short week before, searching for their scattered +treasures. Over on Galveston Island, a long line of flame, mounting to +the heavens, marked the burning of ruined homes and corpses; while other +fires, in all directions on the mainland, told of similar ghastly +cremations. At one time I counted twenty-three of these fires, not +including those on the island. Early in the morning a strange odor drew +attention to a fresh funeral-pyre, only a few rods away, around the +horse-shoe curve of the shore. We were told that thirty bodies, found +since daybreak in the immediate vicinity, were being consumed in it. +That peculiar smell of burning flesh, so sickening at first, became +horribly familiar within the next two months, when we lived in it and +breathed it, day after day. + +"We found the situation in Galveston infinitely worse than had been +described. The most sensational accounts of the yellowest journals fell +far short of the truth--simply because its full horror was beyond the +power of words to portray. Figures and statistics can give little idea +of the results of such an appalling calamity; and to this day, people +at a distance have no realization of the unutterable woe which our Red +Cross band of less than a dozen, strove to alleviate. We arrived on the +eighth day after the tragedy, in which upward of ten thousand lives went +suddenly out in storm and darkness; and the survivors were just +beginning to realize the extent of their losses. + +"At first they seemed stunned to partial insensibility by the very +magnitude of their grief--as a man who has been mangled almost unto +death in a railroad disaster is said to be oblivious to pain. Dead +citizens lay by thousands amid the wreck of their homes, and raving +maniacs searched the _debris_ for their loved ones, with the organized +gangs of workers. Corpses, dumped by barge-loads into the Gulf, came +floating back to menace the living; and the nights were lurid with +incinerations of putrefying bodies, piled like cord-wood, black and +white together, irrespective of age, sex, or previous condition. At +least four thousand dwellings had been swept away, with all their +contents, and fully half of the population of the city was without +shelter, food, clothes, or any of the necessaries of life. Of these, +some were living in tents; others crowded in with friends hardly less +unfortunate; many half-crazed, wandering aimlessly about the streets, +and the story of their sufferings, mental and physical, is past the +telling. Every house that remained was a house of mourning. Of many +families every member had been swept away. Even sadder were the numerous +cases where one or two were left out of recently happy households; and +saddest of all was the heart-breaking suspense of those whose friends +were numbered among the 'missing.' + +"We find it hard enough to lay away our dead in consecrated ground, with +all the care and tenderness that love can suggest, where we may water +the sacred spot with our tears and place upon it the flowers they loved +in life; but never to know whether their poor bodies were swallowed by +the merciless Gulf, or fed to the fishes with those grewsome +barge-loads, or left above ground to become an abomination in the +nostrils of the living, or burned in indiscriminate heaps with horses +and dogs and the mingled ashes scattered to the winds--must indeed have +been well-nigh unbearable. No wonder there were lunatics in Galveston, +and unnumbered cases of nervous prostration. + +"After weeks had passed and two thousand men, aided by several hundred +teams, had partially reduced the mountain of wreckage, cremation fires +yet burned continuously--fed not only by human bodies, but by thousands +of carcasses of domestic animals. By that time, in the hot, moist +atmosphere of the latitude, decomposition had so far advanced that the +corpses--which at first were decently carried in carts or on stretchers, +then shoveled upon boards or blankets--had finally to be scooped up with +pitchforks, in the hands of negroes, kept at their awful task by the +soldiers' bayonets. And still the 'finds' continued, at the average rate +of seventy a day. The once beautiful driving beach was strewn with +mounds and trenches, holding unrecognized and uncoffined victims of the +flood; and between this improvised cemetery and a ridge of _debris_, +three miles long and in places higher than the houses had been, a line +of cremation fires poisoned the air. + +"I think it was during our sixth week in Galveston, when, happening to +pass one of these primitive crematories, I stopped to interview the man +in charge. Boards, water-soaked mattresses, rags of blankets and +curtains, part of a piano, baby-carriages, and the framework of +sewing-machines, piled on top, gave it the appearance of a festive +bonfire, and only the familiar odor betrayed its purpose. + +"'Have you burned any bodies here?' I inquired. The custodian regarded +me with a stare that plainly said, 'Do you think I am doing this for +amusement?' and shifted his quid from cheek to cheek before replying. + +"'Ma'am,' said he, 'this 'ere fire's been goin' on more'n a month. To my +knowledge, upwards of sixty bodies have been burned in it--to say +nothin' of dogs, cats, hens, and three cows.' + +"'What is in there now?' I asked. + +"'Wa'al,' said he meditatively, 'it takes a corpse several days to burn +all up. I reckon thar's a couple of dozen of 'em--jest bones, you +know--down near the bottom. Yesterday we put seven on top of this 'ere +pile, and by now they are only what you might call baked. To-day we have +been working over there (pointing to other fires a quarter of a mile +distant), where we found a lot of 'em, 'leven under one house. We have +put only two in here to-day. Found 'em just now, right in that puddle.' + +"'Could you tell me who they are?' I asked. + +"'Lord! No,' was the answer. 'We don't look at 'em any more'n we have +to, else we'd been dead ourselves before to-day. One of these was a +colored man. They are all pretty black, now; but you can tell 'em by the +kinky hair. He had nothin' but an undershirt and one shoe. The other was +a woman; young, I reckon. 'Tenny rate she was tall and slim and had lots +of long brown hair. She wore a blue silk skirt and there was a rope tied +around her waist, as if somebody had tried to save her.' + +"Taking a long pole he prodded an air-hole near the center of the +smoldering heap, from which now issued a frightful smell, that caused a +hasty retreat to the windward side. The withdrawal of the pole was +followed by a shower of charred bits of bone and singed hair. I picked +up a curling, yellow lock and wondered, with tears, what mother's hand +had lately caressed it. + +"'That's nothin',' remarked the fireman. 'The other day we found part of +a brass chandelier, and wound all around it was a perfect mop of long, +silky hair--with a piece of skin, big as your two hands, at the end of +it. Some woman got tangled up that way in the flood and jest na'cherly +scalped.' + +"I mention these incidents merely to show some of the conditions that +had to be met. The most we could do for the grief-stricken survivors was +to mitigate in some degree their bodily distress. The world knows how +generously the whole country responded to the call--how contributions +came pouring in by trainloads and shiploads, consigned to the Red Cross. +To distribute all this bounty judiciously was a herculean task--and our +working force was very small. The ladies and gentlemen of Galveston who +had suffered less than their neighbors, formed themselves into +committees, which opened relief stations in the several wards; and +through these channels the bulk of supplies was issued. If mistakes were +made, it was not from lack of faithful endeavor on the part of the +distributers; and let us hope that the errors, if any, were all on the +side of too liberal giving. + +"Merely to sort over one carload of garments, so as to make them +immediately available--to put the infants' clothes in one department, +the shoes in another, grown-up dresses in another, coats and trousers in +another, underwear in another--was a work of time and strength; as the +writer, who for a while was 'Mistress of the Robes,' can testify. From 7 +A. M. till dark we toiled; and when at last we dragged ourselves back to +the hotel, too wearied for anything but bed, 'tired Nature's sweet +restorer' was hard to woo, because of aching feet and swollen muscles. +But the experience was well worth it! Besides the joy of administering +to the suffering, what we learned of human nature (mostly good, I am +glad to say) would fill volumes. To be sure, there were shadows, as well +as lights, in the picture. Greed and hypocrisy, jealousy, malice, and +the reverse of Christian charity, came sometimes unpleasantly to the +fore, to be offset by the magnificent generosity of the American nation, +and the knowledge that in most quarters our efforts were appreciated. +Most of us were unused to manual labor, and all had left comfortable +homes--some at considerable financial sacrifice of well-salaried +positions, not for earthly gain or self-aggrandizement, but from pure +love of the splendid cause of the Cross of Geneva. + +"In that Rag Fair department of old clothes, the ludicrous and pathetic +called for an equal blending of smiles and tears. It seemed as if every +household, from Maine to California, from the St. Lawrence to the Rio +Grande, had rummaged its attics for the flood sufferers. Merchants +delivered themselves of years' accumulations of shop-worn +goods--streaked, faded, of fashions long gone by--but a great deal +better than nothing for the destitute. There were at least a million +shirtwaists, all thin and summery, though cold winter was at hand, when +frequent 'northers' chill the very marrow in one's bones, and ice and +snow are not unknown on Galveston Island. There was another million of +'Mother Hubbard' wrappers, all of the sleaziest print and scrimpest +pattern, with inch-wide hems at bottom and no fastening to speak +of--wrappers enough to disfigure every female in Southern Texas. Fancy a +whole city full of women masquerading in those shapeless garments--the +poorest of their class; and then remember that, a few years ago, the +great and glorious State of Pennsylvania found it necessary to pass a +law--presumably for the peace of mind of her male citizens--forbidding +the wearing of 'Mother Hubbards' in the street! + +"One day there came to our warehouse a large case of beautiful, buttoned +shoes, of the kind called 'Sorosis.' 'What a bonanza!' we thought, when +that box was opened--and through our minds went trooping a procession of +the shoeless feet we had longed to comfort. But behold! every blessed +shoe of the one hundred and forty-four was for the left foot! + +"There was an enormous box from a city laundry, containing the unclaimed +'washings' of many years--hundreds of waiters' aprons and cooks' caps, +worn hotel towels and napkins, ragged shirts and collars--not a thing +worth the lumber in the box, except as old linen for the hospitals. +There was a great deal of bedraggled finery, than which nothing could +have been less appropriate, when nine out of every ten women who applied +for clothes, wanted plain black in which to mourn for their dead. And +the hats and bonnets were of every shape and style within the memory of +man! They were mostly so crushed in careless packing that to have +worshiped them would have been no sin, according to Scripture, as they +were no longer in the 'likeness of anything in the heavens above, or the +earth beneath, or the waters under the earth.' There were workmen's +blouses and overalls, evidently shed in haste, under a sudden impulse of +generosity--plastered with grease, paint, and mortar, and odoriferous of +that by which honest bread is said to be earned. + +"Occasionally a box or barrel was found to contain garments +disgracefully dirty and ragged, or dropping in pieces from the ravages +of moths. Possibly the sending of such worthless trash produced in the +hearts of the donors that comfortable feeling of lending to the +Lord--but it was no use at our end of the line. What to do with it was a +problem. The lowest plantation darky would regard the gift as an insult, +and to burn even the filthiest rags would give rise to stories of wanton +waste. So we hit upon an expedient which had been successfully employed +in other fields--that of putting worthless articles in nice, clean +barrels, rolling them out on the doorstep, and forgetting to bring them +in at night; and every morning the barrels were found empty. + +"In striking contrast to these few 'shadows' were such gifts as that of +the New England girl, who sent a large, carefully packed satchel, +accompanied by a letter, explaining that she was seventeen years of age, +and had taken from her own wardrobe an outfit, intended for a +flood-sufferer of about her own age, whom the clothes would fit. The +satchel contained three good suits complete, from hat to hose--all that +a girl would need--even veil, handkerchiefs and fan; and it is needless +to add that they soon found their way to a most grateful young +'sufferer.' Here a poor widow divided her well-worn 'mourning' with some +stranger sister-in-grief; there the bereaved mother brought out the +treasured garments her little one had worn, for some happier mother who +had lost only earthly possessions. + +"Letters by hundreds were found in the packages, pertinent and +impertinent, but all demanding answers. They were stuffed into old shoes +and the linings of hats, cracked tea-pots and boxes of soap, combs and +matches. Every small boys' knickerbockers contained a note--generally +of original spelling and laboriously written in large capitals, from +'Tommy' or 'Johnnie' or 'Charley,' asking a reply, telling all about the +storm, from the boy who should receive the gift. Sentimental epistles +from ladies were hidden in the pockets of coats and trousers, inviting +correspondence with the future wearers; and billet-doux from +disconsolate widowers, presumably beginning to 'take notice,' were +pinned to the raiment of deceased wives. Such manifold phases have our +poor human nature! Happily there was another and far more numerous class +of letters, from charitable men and women, offering to adopt children, +or to assist in any way in their power; from Sunday-school classes and +sewing societies and day-schools, enclosing small sums of money, or +telling of gifts to come. There was even a letter from an almshouse, +enclosing a check for eighty dollars, raised by thirty aged pensioners, +who gave up their only luxuries--coffee, sugar, and tobacco--to swell +the fund for Galveston's relief. Another came from the poor, forgotten +negroes of the Carolina sea islands, to whose assistance the Red Cross +went, after their disastrous floods a few years ago. Impelled by +gratitude for the benefits then received, those simple-minded people +contributed a surprising amount, considering their poverty. Truly, in +heaven's reckoning those unselfish 'mites' of the poor and lowly will +count for as much as the millions given by the great cities. + +"Notwithstanding the vast amount of old clothes that came to us, we were +always particularly short of the most important articles of an outfit, +such as underwear, respectable skirts and dresses, and shoes--except of +extraordinary sizes, sent because unsalable. It frequently happened +that, for days together, there was hardly a thing in stock fit for +people of the better class. It must be remembered that we were not +supplying tramps and beggars, nor the ordinary applicants for charity, +but ladies and gentlemen, accustomed to the luxuries of life, whose +possessions had been suddenly swept away. How could we offer those +dreadful wrappers, or bedraggled finery, or soiled and ragged garments +which our servants would despise, to ladies of taste, culture, and +refinement, whom we had come to assist in their misfortune, not to +insult? Therefore, in many cases, the only decent thing to do was to go +out and buy what was needed, with some of those blessed contributions +which bore the message, 'to be used at your own discretion.' That was +Christian charity, pure and simple, in its most practical form. For +example: A widow, of highest social standing and former wealth, lived +with her three daughters in one of those ill-fated cottages near the +beach, which was swept away with all its contents. Thus the four +helpless women were left entirely destitute, even the clothes on their +backs borrowed from neighbors a little less unfortunate. Friends in a +Northern city wrote, offering them a home. Transportation could be +easily provided, but the four must be fitted out for the journey. We +searched the Rag Fair over, but found few suitable articles. Perhaps +something better might come in by and by, next week, some other time; +but for every hoped-for article were a hundred waiting applicants--and +meanwhile those ladies must be supported until sent to their friends. To +say nothing of their own feelings, and ours, we could not disgrace the +Red Cross by sending that stately gray-haired mother and the three +delicate young ladies out into the world equipped by our alleged bounty +in scanty calico 'Mother Hubbards,' men's cow-hide brogans, and +scare-crow headgear. So we picked out what would answer--here and there +a garment which might be altered, the only pair of shoes in the place +that came near to fitting one of the ladies, a bolt of unbleached muslin +which they, themselves, could fashion into underclothes, and four +disreputable old hats. The latter we gave to a local milliner to remodel +and trim, simply but respectably. Then we went to the store and +purchased shoes and other necessary articles, including enough +inexpensive but serviceable cloth for four gowns and jackets, and +employed a woman to make them. + +"This was not extravagance, but good use of the money, all around:--for +the poor little milliner whose shop had been destroyed and business +ruined, whose children were then eating the bread of charity; and for +the customless dressmaker, who was also a grievous sufferer by the +flood, with younger sisters to support. We gave her the first work she +had had for weeks, and her gratitude was good to see. + +"As for merchants, who were all on the verge of failure, but making +heroic efforts to keep afloat--Heaven knows we did them injury enough +every day of our stay in Galveston, to be thankful for the privilege of +occasionally becoming their patrons. Not only had they suffered immense +losses by the storm, their stocks being practically ruined and customers +gone--but who would buy, so long as the Red Cross had food and clothes +to give away, without money and without price? Though ours is a noble +and necessary work, it is never to the advantage of the local merchants, +as a little reflection will show. + +"Another case was that of a young woman, who, with an aged relative, was +keeping a hotel in a near-by village, when the floods lifted their house +from its foundations and ruined everything in it. Its four walls stood, +however, and furnished shelter for all the houseless neighbors, who +flocked in, naked and hungry, and with whom the generous girl divided +her last garment and bit of food. Death also entered the family, twice +within a few weeks--the last time leaving a sister's four half-grown +children for this young woman to maintain. Take them she must, because +they had nowhere else to go. Finding her in terrible straits, without +even clothes to wear to her sister's funeral, were we not justified in +buying the heroic young woman a decent suit of black, besides sending +her a box of food supplies? Why were we there, if not to exercise +judgment in the matter of relief? If merely to distribute second-hand +articles, without discrimination, we might have saved ourselves much +peril and hardship by remaining at home, and sending the boxes down to +take care of themselves. + +"None of us will ever forget the grandniece of an ex-President of the +United States--a handsome and imposing woman of middle age, traveled, +educated, and evidently accustomed to the best society. She called one +day at headquarters, and although she did not ask for aid, the truth +came out in a heart-to-heart talk with Miss Barton that she had lost all +in the storm and had not where to lay her head, nor food for the morrow; +even the clothes she wore were not her own. Nobody living could put this +lady on the pauper list, and none with a spark of human feeling could +wish to wound her pride. Our honored President, who reads hearts as +others do open books, clasped this unfortunate sister's hand--and left +in it a bank-note--I do not know of what denomination, but let us hope +it was not a small one. The look of surprise and gratitude that flashed +over that woman's face was worth going far to see, as, speechless with +emotion, the tears streaming down her cheeks, she turned away. + +"One might go on multiplying incidents by the hour, did time permit. +There were teachers to be fitted out with suitable clothes before the +opening of the schools; boys and girls needing school-books and shoes, +caps, and jackets; new-born babes to be provided, whose wardrobes, +prepared in advance, had been swept away; mothers of families, destitute +of the commonest conveniences of life, to whom the gift of a pan or +kettle was a godsend; aged people, whose declining years must be +comforted; invalids to be cheered with little luxuries. My greatest +regret is that we had not hundreds of dollars to use for every one that +was expended in these directions." + + +My stenographer, Miss Agnes Coombs, found her post by me, and sixty to +eighty letters a day, taken from dictation, made up the clerical round +of the office of the president. This duty fell in between attending the +daily meetings of the relief committee and receiving constant calls both +in and out of the city. + +Our men made up their living-room at the warehouse. The few women +remained at the hotel, the only suitable place in the town. + +Later on arrived a shipload of supplies from the business people of New +York, which were stored with the Galveston committee, and we were asked +to aid in the distribution of these supplies, and to a certain extent we +did, but succeeded in organizing a committee of citizens, ladies and +gentlemen, to carry out and complete this distribution. + +From lack of knowledge of the real conditions of the disaster and its +geographical extent, this munificent donation had been assigned to the +"Relief of Galveston," and thus, technically, Galveston had no authority +to administer a pound or a dollar to any communities or persons outside +of the precincts of the city proper. This left at least twenty counties +on the mainland on the other side of the Gulf, some of which were as +badly wrecked and ruined as Galveston itself, without a possibility of +the slightest benefit from this great, generous gift. + +Seeing this pitiful and innocently unjust condition of affairs, the +result of ignorance of relief work, undertaken with much zeal but scant +knowledge and no experience, we sought a way to atone for the mistake, +so far as we might be able. + +Immediately closing our relief rooms in Galveston I had all Red Cross +supplies shipped to Houston, and relief for the mainland opened there. +These were farming districts, and I directed intelligent inquiry to be +made as to what was most needed by the devastated farm lands and their +owners. All was swept away--sometimes as far as forty miles back into +the level country; often the soil itself was washed away, the home and +all smaller animals destroyed, and no feed for the larger ones to +subsist on. The poor farmers walked their desolated fields and wrung +their hands. + +It proved that this was the strawberry section of Southern Texas, and +these were the strawberry growers that supplied the early berries to our +Northern market. For miles not a plant was left and no means to +replant. This was reported to me on the first day's investigation, and +also that if plants could be obtained and set within two weeks a half +crop could be grown this year and the industry restored. That seemed a +better occupation for these poor fellows than walking the ground and +wringing their hands. The messenger was sent back at daybreak to +ascertain how many plants would be needed to replant these lands, where +they were accustomed to procure them, and what varieties were best +adapted to their use. + +That night brought again the messenger to say that a million and a half +of plants would reset the lands and that their supply came from the +nurseries in North Carolina, Illinois, Arkansas, and Louisiana. +Directions were sent back to Mr. Ward to order the plants to be there in +two weeks. This was done. Only thirty-eight thousand plants were injured +in transit, and those were generously resupplied by the shippers. Within +the two weeks this million and a half of strawberry plants were set. It +was estimated that fully a third of a crop was realized that year, and +it is safe to predict that one-half the readers of this little sketch +will partake of the fruits of these Red Cross relief strawberry fields +this very springtime. + +Other needs to a large amount were supplied by Mr. Ward, and we left no +idle, wringing hands on the mainlands of Texas. + +I had never left Galveston. Some other thoughtful reader may pitifully +ask, what became of these miles of wreckage and the dead on the +Galveston seashore? + +At this distant day it may be safe to tell. I recall that at the time +much criticism was indulged in. + +All were burned. + +The heat grew greater and the stench stronger every day. They tried to +remove the _debris_ and get the bodies out for burial. No human being +could work in that putrefying mass. Previously had come the glorious +thought of getting them into boats and shipping them a mile out to sea. +With hopeful hearts this experiment was tried for one day. Alas! the +night tide brought them all back to shore. The elements of earth and +water had refused--what remained but fire? Openings in the long +continuous lines were cut through at given spaces, the fire engines set +to play on the open, and the torch applied to the end of sections; thus +a general conflagration of the city was prevented, and from day to day +the pile diminished. + +The stench of burning flesh permeated every foot of the city. Who could +long withstand this? Before the end of three months there was scarcely a +well person in Galveston. My helpers grew pale and ill, and even I, who +have resisted the effect of so many climates, needed the help of a +steadying hand as I walked to the waiting Pullman on the track, +courteously tendered free of charge to take us away. + +This is a tedious story; but if gone through, one has a little insight +into the labor of a Red Cross field of relief. There are twenty in my +recollection, and this was by no means the hardest or the most useful. +They have been lived, but never told. + +I beg my readers to bear in mind that this is not romance that I am +writing, where I can place my characters in the best light and shape +results at will, but history, with my personages still alive, ready to +attest the reality of this statement. That grand committee of Galveston +relief--than whom no nobler body of men I have ever met--are, I hope, +all yet alive to testify to the conditions and statements made. + +I have dedicated this little volume to the people with whom, and for +whom, have gone the willing labors of twenty-five years--initial labors, +untried methods, and object lessons. Well or ill, they have carried with +them the best intentions and the best judgment given for the purpose. +Whatever may betide or the future have in store for the little work so +simply commenced, so humbly carried on, merely a helper with no thought +of leadership, it bears along with it the memories of pain assuaged, +hope revived, endeavor strengthened, and lives saved. + +To the noble sympathies of generous hearts these results are due, and +yet it is not in its past that the glories or the benefits of the Red +Cross lie, but in the possibilities it has created for the future; in +the lessons it has taught; in the avenues to humane effort it has +opened, and in the union of beneficent action between people and +Government, when once comprehended and effected, that shall constitute +a bulwark against the mighty woes sure to come sooner or later to all +peoples and all nations. + +To you--the people of America--this sacred trust is committed, in your +hands the charge is laid. To none will your help ever be so precious as +it has been to me, for in its proud growth and strength none will ever +so need you. + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's A Story of the Red Cross, by Clara Barton + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A STORY OF THE RED CROSS *** + +***** This file should be named 30230.txt or 30230.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/3/0/2/3/30230/ + +Produced by Chuck Greif, Martin Pettit and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This +book was produced from scanned images of public domain +material from the Google Print project.) + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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