the injured brave.

"The candles of her charity lighted the gloom of death for the heroes
of Antietam and Fredericksburg.

"Across the ocean waters of her sweet labors followed the flag of the
saintly Red Cross through the Franco-Prussian war.

"When stricken Armenia cried out for help in 1896, it was Clara Barton
who led the relief corps of salvation and sustenance.

"A woman leading in answering the responsibility of civilization to
the world!

"When McKinley's khaki boys struck the iron from Cuba's bondage it was
Clara Barton, in her seventy-seventh year, who followed to the
fever-ridden tropics to lead in the relief-work on Spanish
battle-grounds.

"She is known wherever man appreciates humanity."

* * * * *

Hers was the honor of being the first president of the American Red
Cross, but she was more than that--she _was_ the Red Cross at that
time. It was, as she said, "her child," and she furnished headquarters
for it in her Washington home, dispensing the charities of a nation,
amounting to hundreds of thousands of dollars, and was never requested
to publish her accounts, an example of personal leadership which is
unparalleled.

In 1897 we find the Red Cross president settled in her home at Glen
Echo, a few miles out of Washington, on a high slope overlooking the
Potomac, and, although it was a Red Cross center, it was a friendly
lodging as well, where its owner could receive her personal friends.
Flags and Red Cross testimonials from rulers of all nations fluttered
from the walls, among them a beautiful one from the Sultan of Turkey.
Two small crosses of red glass gleamed in the front windows over the
balcony, but above the house the Red Cross banner floated high, as if
to tell the world that "the banner over us is love." And to Glen Echo,
the center of her beloved activity, Clara Barton always loved to
return at the end of her campaigns. To the many thousands who came to
visit her home as one of the great humane centers of the world, she
became known as the "Beautiful Lady of the Potomac," and never did a
title more fittingly describe a nature.

To the last she was a soldier--systematic, industrious, severely
simple in her tastes. It was a rule of the household that every day's
duties should be disposed of before turning in for the night, and at
five o'clock the next morning she would be rolling a carpet-sweeper
over the floor. She always observed military order and to