GIRLS BOOK OF THE RED CR05S MARYKENDALL HYDE Class. Book, m CPEffilGRT DEPOSIT. Underwood & Underwood EDITH CAVELL GIRLS' BOOK OF THE RED CROSS BY MARY KENDALL HYDE ILLUSTRATED NEW YORK THOMAS Y. CROWELL COMPANY PUBLISHERS .'V fl i * ^-°A4 COPTEIGHT, 1919, BT THOMAS Y, CROWELL COMPANY NOV -3 1919 ©CI.A5355t>3 5 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Thanks are due the several officials of the Red Cross who have helped pleasantly and gen- erously in the preparation of this book; to the editors of the Red Cross Magazine and other Red Cross publications for their courtesy; and to the many Red Cross workers from overseas who have contributed stories of actual experi- ences ; as well as to returned army men who have added their testimony from personal knowledge of the Red Cross. M. K. H. CONTENTS CHAPTER I ' PACE The Meaning of the Cross of Red . . . 1-30 The Battle of Solferino i, Jean Henri Dunant 2, The Geneva Convention 5, Need for the Red Cross 6, Florence Nightingale 10, Dorothea Lynde Dix 16, Clara Barton 20, Structure of the Red Cross 26. CHAPTER H The Red Cross in Time of Peace .... 31-76 Fires 33, Floods 40, Tornadoes 49, Accidents on the Water 53, Pestilence 55, Famine 56, First War Work 60, Relief Work Abroad 63, " First Aid " 65, Work Among Miners 67, Among Railroad Workers 68, Among Lumber- Jacks 69, Among Police and Firemen 70, Among Electrical Workers 71, Among Seamen 71, Among Life-Savers 72, Health Work 72, Tuberculosis 74. CHAPTER HI The Call to Greater Service 77-146 Hospital Supplies 79, The Red Cross in Foreign Lands 83, Increase in Membership and Funds 85, Appointment of a War Council 87, The First Red Cross Drive 89, New Administrative Methods 92, Spirit of Helpfulness Awak- ened 95, The Woman's Bureau 99, Red Cross Statistics 104, Grandmother's Medal 106, Comfort Kits 108, The Junior Red Cross io8. Social Service of the Junior Auxiliary 117, Civilian Relief Abroad 121, War Relief in Belgium 130, The American Red Cross in Italy 132, Relief Work in Russia 135, Work in England 137, In Switzerland 139, Work in Serbia and other Balkan Countries 142, The American Red Cross in Palestine 145. CONTENTS CHAPTER IV The Red Cross at Home 147-197 Information Department 149, Home Service Section 149, Eleanor and Eugene 155, Sue and Sam 155, Adele 157, Mildred 159, Girl Brides 160, Helen and Paul 161, Louise 164, Rosie and Dave 166, Boy Scouts 171, Girl Scouts and Camp Fire Girls 173, Camp Service 174, Communica- tion Service 178, Sanitary Service 179, Canteen Service 179, The War Brides 186, Home Service After the Armis- tice 187, Nursing Service 195. CHAPTER V Behind the Firing Line 198-259 The Ambulance Man 198, The Ambulance Woman 201, The Ambulance Service 205, Hospital Units 210, The Hospital Orderly 213, The Stretcher-Bearer 214, Red Cross Dogs 217, Hospital Trains 224, Hospital Ships 225, Rest and Refreshment Canteens in France 228, Rolling Canteens and Street Kitchens 245, Red Cross Soap 247, Care of Refugees 248, Mechanical Transport Corps 256. CHAPTER VI " The Greatest Mother in the World " . 260-339 The Care Committee 267, Voluntary Aid Detachments 267, The American Nurse 269, Miss Jane A. Delano 275, Nurses' Work and Risk 282, Bureau of Communication 289, Reconstruction of the Injured 296, Mothering of Soldiers on Leave 297, Mothering War Orphans 304, A Faithful Friend 315, Care of Rapatries 315, Festival Occasions 323, A Tribute to Women 337, Miss Boardman's Forecast 337. CHAPTER VII The Future of the Red Cross .... 340-375 Modern Health Crusade 353, American Women's Hos- pitals Organization 355, Medical-Social Service Workers 357, A Program of Preparedness 358, First Aid Work and the Junior Red Cross 359, Red Cross Animals 369, The Great Work Ahead 373. Janet has a curious ivory ornament on her book- case. It is a ball, about the size of a hen's egg, cleverly carved and containing within its perforated shell several other balls of decreasing sizes, each carved sphere perfect in itself and revolving freely by itself, yet each securely held inside the larger sur- rounding balls. Perhaps you have one of these curious ivory orna- ments in your home, or perhaps you have seen one in some art museum, and if so you doubtless have won- dered, as Janet does repeatedly, how those clever Chinese carvers fashion such marvels. Janet's bedroom has a broad, deep bay window from which a great stretch of sky can be seen. Janet never tires of studying the stars, and almost every clear night she searches out her favorite con- stellations. But the steady Pole Star is always in the same place. Perhaps you too can name the constellations and find the Pole Star, and perhaps you sometimes won- der, as Janet does, why the heavenly bodies always look just so and how it is they all keep together in just such arrangement and never lose their place in the sky or their relation to the Pole Star. Janet joined an organization not long ago, and it reminds her of the ivory balls, each revolving in- dependently, yet all hound in one; and the more she learns of the working-plan of the organization, the more she is reminded of the constellations and the Pole Star. Her branch of the Red Cross, she says, might he likened to one tiny star in a great constella- tion, the division to which her chapter helongs, to the constellation, and the Central Committee in Washington, to the steady Pole Star. From her window Janet looks hy day into the green depths of a swaying hemlock tree. How the branches sway when even the gentlest breeze blows! And when the wind is high, the limbs bend and bow, but never break. While through all kinds of weather, stands stif and straight and unbending the stout, thick trunk of the tree! And sometimes as Janet gazes into the green depths of the swaying branches, she is again re- minded of her Red Cross Auxiliary. For she says the trunk of the tree is like the Central Committee in Washington; the strong limbs are like the great divisions; the long boughs spreading in all directions may be likened to the chapters; the swaying branches extending away out over the lawn and the clif are the busy Red Cross branches; and the twigs are the auxiliaries! Janet laughs when she gets as far as this! and rejoices to think that even the Junior Aux- iliary to which she belongs is, like the tiniest twig of the big hemlock, really a part of the great whole and firmly attached to the stout tree trunk in Washington. GIRLS' BOOK OF THE RED CROSS CHAPTER I The Meaning of the Cross of Red "Oh, no, no, no. Monsieur, we could not do that!" "We should be afraid!" "We should not know what to do — " "Nor how — " "Oh, no, no, no. Monsieur!" So babbled a group of sobbing peasant women gathered about a young man of gentle but deter- mined manner, pleasant and kindly yet firm and commanding. Terrified by the sounds of battle, grieving over the sad tidings from the field beyond, these women were overwhelmed with despair and dismay. A young girl pressed forward. "But was it not Monsieur himself who brought home to us in his own carriage our Louis? And have we not seen him day after day going back and forth to the battlefield? Can we not do our share?" The battle of Solferino was ended. The blue skies of sunny Italy smiled down on one of the 2 GIRLS' BOOK OF THE RED CROSS bloodiest battlefields the world's history had ever then known. Italy had won her independ- ence, Victor Emmanuel had gained his kingship, but thousands of Italy's fair young sons lay wounded and dying, and still other thousands of France and Austria lay dead or disabled. It was in June, 1859, and the French had once more helped the Italians to throw off the yoke of Austria, even as they had before in 1796 on the very same field of Solferino.^ To com- memorate this second battle there stands upon its field the picturesque Tower of Martino, com- manding a splendid view and containing a mili- tary museum ; but the most worthy and effec- tive memorial is the world-wide organization of the Red Cross which resulted from the effect of the sight of this battlefield on a tender-hearted and high-spirited young Swiss. JEAN HENRI DUNANT There was living in Geneva at that time an author and philanthropist, by name Jean Henri Dunant, who devoted his time and his fortune to various kinds of charitable work in his native city. While visiting Solferino, he was im- iSolferino: From the first battle, a certain shade of blue was designated by the name "solferino" and was popular for many years, though now forgotten, unlike its companion "magenta," which gained its name from a battle fought three weeks earlier in the same campaign. MEANING OF THE CROSS OF RED 3 pressed with the lack of aid for those who had fallen in battle. There were not enough doctors to care for such vast numbers, and the wounded lay where they fell, without attention or proper surgical care, or painfully crawled to shelter, while the dead on all sides remained un- buried. He wrote: "The battlefield is every- where covered with bodies of men and horses; the highways, the ditches, the ravines, thickets, and meadows are sown with dead bodies, and the environs of Solferino are literally heaped with them." Dunant volunteered his services and did what he could in the work of relief. He secured authority to use the churches and other public buildings of a near-by town as emergency hospi- tals; he organized the peasant women (whose fears and reluctance he overcame) to act as nurses; he enlisted the aid of the young girls, whose kindliness and attention "raised a little the courage and the morale of the sick," and of boys, who brought water to stay the thirst or moisten the bandages of the wounded; he pro- vided all sorts of supplies at his own expense, bandages, medicine, food, and even delicacies in the way of fruit and other dainty things to tempt the appetite of the convalescing heroes. Nor did he forget "smokes" for the invalids. Dressed always in immaculate white, he went 4 GIRLS' BOOK OF THE RED CROSS about among the cots, cheering and comforting the wounded men, ministering to their needs, and writing letters to their homes. The men adored him and spoke of him lovingly as ''The Gentleman in White." The memory of this frightful experience fol- lowed him to his home. He could not rest for thinking of the needless suffering of men wounded on the battlefield. At length there came to him the idea of founding in every country societies of mercy and help for soldiers in war. Recollections of the Crimean War and the wonderful work of Florence Nightingale, which had awakened a responsive chord of sympathy in Dunant's heart and brain, inspired him with the thought of an international organi- zation, all nations working together for relief in time of war and furthermore cherishing a pur- pose to prepare in time of peace for the activi- ties needed in war. Dunant wrote a book describing the horrors of Solferino and suggesting how lives might have been saved and suffering lessened if nurses and sufficient numbers of doctors had been at hand. He went before the Society of Public Utility in Geneva and delivered lectures advo- cating plans for relief in war times. He visited many European countries and interested in- fluential persons in his plans. So persistent and MEANING OF THE CROSS OF RED 5 persuasive was M. Dunant that a great meet- ing was held in February, 1863, and the whole matter was laid before the Society. Commit- tees were appointed to examine into methods and to anticipate obstacles. In the following October, representatives from many other countries were invited to attend a conference which lasted four days, adjourning until the calling together of the Geneva Convention in 1864, which resulted in the establishment of a permanent committee for international work.^ Ten different governments agreed to cooperate, and in this way the Red Cross was officially established, August 22, 1864. THE GENEVA CONVENTION Under the terms of this Convention, each na- tion pledged itself to work with other nations in caring for the sick and wounded of all countries alike and never to fire on a doctor, nurse, or ambulance that bore the sign of the 1 Geneva is the largest and wealthiest city of Switzerland. It lies on both sides of the Rhone, at the foot of Lake Leman and in the shadow of Mont Blanc. The city has a remarkable history and has held a prominent place on the map since the first century B. c. The Huguenots originated in Geneva, and it was for a long time the home of Calvin and the center of Protestant education. Many congresses have been held there, including the famous Peace Congress of 1867, and of the Alabama Commission in 1871-72. At the conclusion of the World War in 1919, Geneva once again comes into prominence as headquarters for the new League of Nations and for the League of the Red Cross. 6 GIRLS' BOOK OF THE RED CROSS Red Cross. There were many other provisions, but those two were the most important. The Convention adopted the emblem of the Swiss banner with the colors reversed, as a tribute to the nation which called them together. Thus, the Swiss national banner is a white cross on a red field, and the banner of our organiza- tion, the Red Cross, is a red cross on a white field. The two words "Humanity" and "Neu- trality" were used as watchwords of the Red Cross; to care for those who need it, regard- less of race or creed, is the aim of the Red Cross.^ NEED FOR THE RED CROSS Much of our ancient history is a record of wars. Long accounts are given of military preparations, of equipments of shields, helmets, bows, and slings; but no mention is made of any relief of or provision for the sick or disabled; never is there any mention of nurses minister- ing to the warriors. The history of Egypt shows that the State employed physicians, paying them from the 1 The old prejudice against the cross, born of the days of the Crusades, made Turkey unwilling to accept this emblem as the in- signia both of its army medical service and its volunteer relief society. With the other signatory powers of the Treaty of Geneva, Turkey adopted as her symbol the Red Crescent, at the same time promising to respect the protection of the Red Cross. The Red Crescent Society was organized in 1877. MEANING OF THE CROSS OF RED 7 public treasury, and the Egyptian soldiers were cared for free of charge. Homer and Plato were so impressed with the science and skill of Egyptians that they declared the Egyptians were all doctors. When surgeons were employed on the battle- field in the earliest times, it seems probable that they were selected from the warriors. Homer wrote of "the wise physician skilled our wounds to heal, who is more than armies to the public weal." In the "Retreat of the Ten Thousand," written after the Battle of Cunaxa, about 400 B. C, Xenophon says he appointed eight doctors because there were so many wounded. The statement implies that the doctors were selected from the soldiers. When Alexander the Great went on his march of con- quest, he was accompanied by the most distin- guished physicians of the day; one of these ex- tracted an arrow from the king's shoulder and cured him of the dangerous fever which fol- lowed, and another cut the barbed head of a javelin from the conqueror's breast. The idea of humane treatment of wounded soldiers was known even in the sixth century B. c. We read that Cyrus the Great ordered his surgeons to attend his wounded prisoners. Alexander Severus (third century A. D.) visited the sick in their tents. No mention is made of 8 GIRLS' BOOK OF THE RED CROSS hospitals, but it grew to be the custom among the Roman generals to have the wounded dis- tributed among the houses of the patricians. Tacitus tells us that during the reign of Ti- berius (at the beginning of the present era) by the falling of an amphitheater fifty thousand spectators were killed or injured, and that they were taken to the houses of the citizens "ac- cording to the customs of the ancients, who main- tained those wounded in war by their contribu- tions and care." In an essay on the construc- tion of camps, a writer of the second century B. C, who lived under the Emperors Trajan and Hadrian, assigns a place to the hospital or "valetudinarium." It is less than three centuries since official sanitary service, the foundation of the present military medical service, begins to be recorded. Except for the deeds of the Hospitaller Knights during the wars of the Crusades, no mention is made of humanitarian service during the Middle Ages.^ Those knights of old, on whose breasts gleamed the Cross, really practiced the motto of the Red Cross, "Humanity" and "Neutrality," for although they were fighting for the Holy Land, they ministered to the sick and wounded Moslems as well as to the Christians. In the course of their wanderings, 1 Address by Clara Barton. t» 1 M| . I i ^ * 4^ - lart jirti i .■» « MEANING OF THE CROSS OF RED 9 wherever they were established they set up hospitals and ministered to all needing care. It has been said of them, *'Not their riches nor their power nor their military prowess have given them their distinctive place in history, but their deeds of mercy to the sick and wounded." There was also a woman's branch of the Hos- pitallers stationed in Jerusalem, with Agnes, a noble Roman matron, at the head. Another noble woman who considered the ills of the wounded was Queen Isabella of Spain, who "during the siege of Granada had six great tents with beds set up, and called upon surgeons and physicians to attend the sick and wounded. The soldiers of Aragon and Castile gave to the establishment — perhaps the first of its kind — the name 'Queen's Hospital.' When the strict Castilian courtiers questioned the propriety of her visiting the hospital in person, she is said to have replied : 'Let me go to them, for they have no mothers here, and it will soothe them in their pain and weakness to find that they are not un- cared for.' " ^ Save for a few individual instances like those cited above, the only nursing done by women in time of war was by the sisters of religious 1 Boardman, Mabel T. "Under the Red Cross Flag." J. B. Lip- pincott Company, 1915. lo GIRLS' BOOK OF THE RED CROSS bodies, when battles were fought near a con- vent or a town where there were sisterhoods. Not until 1 8 13 is record found of women or- ganized for relief work ministering to friend and foe alike. In 1847 another society was formed, for the transport of soldiers seriously wounded. Then came the Crimean War and Florence Nightingale. FLORENCE NIGHTINGALE In the very same year of the battle of Solferino, 1859, began the Crimean War, in which Eng- land, France, Sardinia (now a part of Italy, but then a separate kingdom), and Turkey united in war upon Russia. The fleets of the allies gathered in the Black Sea, surrounded the penin- sula of the Crimea, and landed their armies. For a year and a half the war lasted, and thou- sands of sick and wounded soldiers were dying for want of care. Great hospitals were built, after the fashion of barracks, gloomy, bare, cold, and dirty, and with men only in charge of all the departments. Men did the cooking — such as it was — men gave medicine to the patients, no one did much washing or cleaning, and no one let in fresh air for the sufferers to breathe. There were no nurses on the battlefields or in the hospitals. Wounded men were brought in just as they had fallen on the field; brought often- MEANING OF THE CROSS OF RED ii times on the shoulders of their more fortunate comrades — for there were no ambulances in those days. The only care they received was from the male "orderlies," who were wholly untrained for such a task. At least, this was the condition except for the French army, where Sisters of Mercy tended the wounded, sick, and dying in their hospitals. When reports of this distressing condition reached England, there was an immediate re- sponse from Miss Florence Nightingale, a young lady who belonged to a wealthy family and who lived in a beautiful home. She was what might be called a born nurse. As a little girl she was continually doctoring everything she owned. Her dolls never knew what to expect from day to day, as they rarely were al- lowed to enjoy normal health. Scarlet fever, measles, mumps, whooping cough, sprained ankles or wrists, all illnesses or accidents likely to befall any child, the poor dolls suffered, and Florence dosed or bandaged the victims back to health, to have them fall ill again at once. Their only days of respite came when some of her sister's dolls broke a leg or a neck or began to leak sawdust. All the animals on the estate came under the care of Florence's skillful hands, and kittens, dogs, birds, and horses were petted and caressed 12 GIRLS' BOOK OF THE RED CROSS when well and doctored and comforted when 111 or in trouble. The story of her treatment and cure of a neighboring shepherd's dog has be- come almost a classic. One day when Florence and her friend, the vicar, were out horseback riding, they came upon an old shepherd calling his flock together. In reply to their question as to why his dog was not driving the sheep as usual, the old man told them that some boys had thrown stones at the poor dog and had broken his leg, and that there was nothing to do now but end the animal's life and put him out of misery. Florence's sympathy was aroused, and she insisted on visiting the lame dog at once. With the advice of the vicar, she bathed the sprained leg (it was not really broken) and bound a hot compress about it. Every day she visited her patient until he was able to dance about her when she came in sight, and to round up his master's flock. As Florence grew to young ladyhood, she be- came a regular visitor to the sick or sorrowing in her village, unconsciously training herself for what was to be her life work. Then came the time when she began to wonder what was ahead of her, what broader field of usefulness she might enter, how she might employ her talent and desire for the widest service. She visited the hospitals of Great Britain and was MEANING OF THE CROSS OF RED 13 dismayed at the conditions. No trained nurses to care for the sick, but only coarse, ignorant women, who were often cruel and frequently in- temperate.^ Miss Nightingale made up her mind that here was where her mission lay, and she decided to become a nurse, in order to make just such places clean and wholesome for the sick. On visiting the Continent, she found a better state of things, and eventually spent a considerable time there studying and training for her chosen profession. On her return to London she took charge of Harley Street Hospi- tal. Soon after, the Crimean War broke out. There was terrible mismanagement in the military hospitals. Supplies were lacking; two thousand wounded men at Scutari were lying for days in mud and filth, just as they had been brought in from the battlefield; sick men were packed together in hordes, sometimes on the bare floor; the place — it could hardly be called a hospital — was alive with rats and vermin ; there 1 The word "nurse" was limited in its application to those who cared for the young, until late in the sixteenth century. Shake- speare (1590) uses the word in the "Comedy of Errors," describ- ing a wife who claims it as her duty to nurse her husband: "I will attend my husband, be his nurse. Diet his sickness, for it is my ofRce." In 1784, Cowper wrote, "The nurse sleeps sweetly, hired to nurse the sick," and another writer (1843) relates the story of a young man who flung himself out the window while his nurse was asleep. 14 GIRLS' BOOK OF THE RED CROSS was neither soap nor towels, and only one kind of food, Irish stew, for men so ill that they should have had the most careful nursing and delicate food. Into this scene of misery and squalor came Florence Nightingale, called by the British Government to be the first woman nurse to enter a British military hospital. She came with a group of women from her hospital and seemed a real angel of mercy to those sick and dying men. The dirt was cleaned away; the men were bathed and given fresh clothing; new temporary buildings were built; good food was served the men; letters home were written for them; and the number of those who recov- ered from their wounds was increased greatly. The story has often been told that at the con- clusion of each day, after every one in the great hospital had become quiet for the night, Miss Nightingale made a personal tour of inspection through the wards. For those men in direst distress she had a word of loving encourage- ment or a gentle pat of reassurance. Each night the invalids watched for her coming, and the story goes that as she flitted by with a lamp held high in her hand, the soldiers would turn and kiss her shadow as it fell on the wall when she passed their beds. It was from this that she won the name of "The Lady with the Lamp." Henry W. Longfellow wrote a poem MEANING OF THE CROSS OF RED 15 about her, which he called "Santa Filomena," and after picturing the "great army of the dead," the "trenches cold and damp," the "wounded from the battle plain in dreary hospitals of pain," he says: Lo! in the house of misery A lady with a lamp I see Pass through the glimmering gloom, And flit from room to room. And slow, as in a dream of bliss, The speechless sufferer turns to kiss Her shadow, as it falls Upon the darkening walls. On England's annals, through the long Hereafter of her speech and song, That light its rays shall cast From portals of the past. A Lady with a Lamp shall stand In the great history of the land, A noble type of good, Heroic womanhood. In recognition of Miss Nightingale's services the people of England raised a large sum of money as a testimonial of their love and grati- tude, which at her request was devoted to the extension of hospital work in London and to the founding of the first hospital training school i6 GIRLS' BOOK OF THE RED CROSS for girls. This brought about one of the great- est benefits to mankind of modern times, the ''trained" nurse, educated, methodical, clear eyed and clear headed. It was, then, Florence Nightingale who founded nursing as a profes- sion for women and her name is dear to every soldier and sailor. DOROTHEA LYNDE DIX Over the main portal of Memorial Hall, at Harvard University, there hung for many years two beautiful flags, the United States colors, be- queathed to the college by Dorothea Dix, for whom they were made and to whom they were presented by the government in recognition of her services during the Civil War. In time the colors faded and were replaced by newer and fresher flags. So, perhaps, has the name of the donor faded somewhat and grown dim with years; to girls of the present generation, the name of Dorothea Dix is not so familiar as it was to the girls of two or three generations ago. However, her name will never fade from the annals of her country, but will continue to shine as a bright golden star. As Florence Nightingale was "Lady-in- Chief" of the British hospitals in Scutari and Balaklava during the Crimean War, so was Dorothea Dix appointed to be "Superintendent © Underwood & Underwood FLORENCE NIGHTINGALE MEANING OF THE CROSS OF RED 17 of Women Nurses" during the Civil War in the United States, with power "to select and assign women nurses to general or permanent military hospitals, they not to be employed in such hospi- tals without her sanction and approval, except in cases of urgent need." Miss Dix was not, like Miss Nightingale, a nurse; indeed, the two women were unlike in most respects except for a keen eye to detect suffering, a sympathetic heart for all sufferers, and a clear brain and steady hand to devise and carry out ways to relieve those in physical or mental distress. Dorothea Dix was not born to wealth and deli- cate surroundings, nor to sheltering love and protecting care. She was brought up in all the strictness of New England Puritanism, and grew to be a very lonely but self-reliant and efficient girl. By the time she was fourteen years old Dorothea began to earn money. She put on long skirts, made her waists after the style of older women, and taught school. Troubled by the condition of some poor neglected children who were too badly off to attend school, the young girl begged the use of a loft in her grand- mother's barn for "a schoolroom for social and religious purposes." This little barn-loft school developed into a mission and proved to be the beginning of a new ideal for dealing with i8 GIRLS' BOOK OF THE RED CROSS children. Later on, Miss Dix conducted a boarding school in Boston for young ladies, always maintaining a charity school in addition for worthy girls who could not pay for an edu- cation. Miss Dix was nearly forty years old before she found that her life work was not to be teach- ing. One day she was asked to take charge of a Sunday School class held for the women in a jail not far from her home. After the Sunday School was over, she visited the jail and was especially impressed by the condition of a few insane persons among the prisoners. She soon began a thorough, systematic investigation of the methods of caring for this class of patients. There were in the whole United States at that time only seven asylums for the insane, who for the most part were sent to prisons or almshouses, where they suffered shamefully from neglect and abuse. From that time throughout the next forty years. Miss Dix spent her time going up and down the land and across the sea to England and the Continent, pleading for the erection of separate hospitals for the insane and for kindly treatment of these peculiarly unfortunate and helpless subjects. The nature of her work was so appealing and its results so widely ap- preciated, that in fifteen years she received public testimonials from twenty state legisla- MEANING OF THE CROSS OF RED 19 tures, from the Federal Congress of the United States, and from the British Parliament. Although not a nurse herself, no one studied the requirements for successful nursing more thoroughly than Dorothea Dix. Nowhere is there greater need of wisdom in the selection of officials than in an insane asylum, and for years Miss Dix appointed, rejected, advised, observed, and corrected officials and methods in hospitals all over the land. With the outbreak of the Civil War, women nurses volunteered by the thousands. Many of them were totally inex- perienced and unfitted for such duty. There was no Red Cross to pass on their qualifications, to train them, or to decide where they were most needed. Who could better be called to this position than Miss Dix? Upon her appointment she found, even as Florence Nightingale had found at Scutari, lack of organization and discipline, incompe- tence, indifference, and sometimes inhumanity. She straightway began in her fearless way to ferret out abuses, remedy evils, and relieve misery. Again like Florence Nightingale, the warm-hearted, clear-headed woman, while adored by the sick and wounded soldiers whose champion she was, came to be feared and dreaded by all incompetent, neglectful, or high- handed officials. Through four long years she 20 GIRLS' BOOK OF THE RED CROSS worked, never taking a day's furlough, inspect- ing hospitals, organizing bands of nurses, for- warding supplies. The rigid training she had received in childhood was of great value. She held doctors, surgeons, nurses, all who were con- cerned in saving life or in lessening suffering, to the strictest account, and did much to raise the standard in all those professions. CLARA BARTON At the outbreak of the Civil War in the United States, among the many women who at once volunteered for hospital service, was Clara Barton, a young woman then employed as a clerk in the Patent Office in Washington; indeed, she was the first woman ever appointed independently to a clerkship in that department and probably the first woman to enter any pub- lic office in Washington in her own name and drawing a salary over her own signature. Miss Barton had not, like Florence Nightin- gale, been a daughter of luxury. Neither had she, like Dorothea Dix, grown up almost un- loved in a family struggling with poverty and misfortune, Clara Barton was the youngest child in a wholesome New England family of ordinary means, brought up to habits of thrift, taught to read and study and sew and cook, al- lowed to play and to roam about the fields with MEANING OF THE CROSS OF RED 21 her older brother. She was not allowed to play with dolls, but found her recreation in work- ing in the garden and among the flowers, and in caring for the pets of the farm. Her fond- ness for riding mettlesome horses brought her hard experiences that prepared her for many a horseback flight across the battle- fields in later years. Another art learned in girlhood, that of milking the cows, aided her when during the war food failed and she went '^foraging." Companionship with her brother was one of the features of her early life which prepared her for her many years of work among soldiers and for the hardships and ad- ventures of the battlefield. Clara Barton was not, like Florence Nightin- gale, "a born nurse," but she seemed to develop what her New England neighbors would call ''a leaning that way." The only actual experi- ence she had in the way of training was when, at the age of eleven, she entered upon two years of constant care as a nurse to her brother, that same older brother with whom she had romped and in whose company she had ridden bareback the wild young colts on the farm. She had, however, been brought up in an at- mosphere of intense patriotism. Her father had fought in the French and Indian wars and on the western frontier, and was fond of telling 22 GIRLS' BOOK OF THE RED CROSS his adventures to Clara when she was a little girl. The children of the family used to play soldiers — as boys and girls do to-day, only there were no dainty little Red Cross nurses in their games — and the father supervised the battles. Even when she was very little, Clara was thor- oughly informed in military matters and eti- quette and as to the rank of sergeants, captains, colonels, and generals, and the difference be- tween infantry and cavalry. She knew also the names of the leading officers of the gov- ernment, from the President and his Cabinet all through the list. No wonder she was ready to start for the real battlefield when the first gun was fired! Like Dorothea Dix, Clara Barton took up school teaching as a career when hardly more than a child herself. She was fifteen years old, one year older than Doro- thea, when she "put down her skirts and put up her hair" and assumed the role of schoolmis- tress, a profession she followed for eighteen years. At the end of that time Miss Barton needed rest and change, and circumstances led her to Washington. She was never willing to remain idle very long, and soon found a position in the Patent Office, where she remained for five years, again storing up knowledge and experi- ence which would fit her for her future mission, of which she was still ignorant. MEANING OF THE CROSS OF RED 23 With the coming of the Civil War began Miss Barton's activities. First in Baltimore and Washington, then away on the firing line, here and there from one great battle to another, dis- pensing stores of food and clothing and band- ages, nursing the wounded, comforting the dy- ing, Clara Barton soon became, not one of many women, but the one of many, and was known as "The Angel of the Battlefield." The govern- ment early realized the value of her work and she was officially appointed Superintendent of the Department of Nurses to the Army of the James. Although a nurse by instinct and genius, she was not a "trained nurse" and was never a registered army nurse. Experience taught her, however, how to perform necessary duties, as for example when, in one case, she cut a bullet away from the flesh of a suffering soldier's face. Florence Nightingale and Dorothea Dix spent most of their time in war service in hospitals; Clara Barton was chiefly on the battlefield. Following the close of the war, Miss Barton devoted the next four years to examining records in a search for "missing men," and in lecturing throughout the country to people who longed to know the actual happenings of the war. The proceeds of the lectures were used in helping those whose soldier boys had not returned from the battlefield by giving practical aid, as the 24 GIRLS' BOOK OF THE RED CROSS Red Cross is now helping the homes suffering from similar losses in this last great war. In 1869 Miss Barton went abroad. While visiting Geneva, she became acquainted with the great Red Cross, whose disciple and apostle she was thenceforward to be. She was approached almost at once and requested to inform herself thoroughly as to the organization, and upon her return to the United States to use her influence in securing the cooperation of this country. Miss Barton was in Switzerland when the Franco-Prussian War began, and was deeply impressed by the readiness and completeness of service of the Red Cross. Before a shot was fired the Red Cross officials were on their way, ready to give relief as soon as needed. Miss Barton recalled the conditions accompanying the Civil War and resolved to do all in her power to introduce the Red Cross into the United States. Meanwhile Clara Barton would not have been Clara Barton if she could have remained away from those French and Prussian battlefields or from the towns and homes destroyed and aban- doned. She threw herself at once, heart and soul, into the work of mercy and reconstruction, acting always under and through the Red Cross. Here she saw for the first time the medical staffs of two opposing armies working together in Underwood & Underwood CLARA BARTON MEANING OF THE CROSS OF RED 25 the care of wounded soldiers. Wherever there was a battle, there she saw a squad of doctors and nurses in white, each with a cross of red on his or her sleeve, working behind the firing line to repair the damage done by the enemy. Not one unskilled woman was working alone for an army, but a whole group of trained men and women were serving with the sanction of their government, each having a definite share in the nursing. They accomplished so much in a short time that Clara Barton was inspired with the idea of introducing this same Red Cross in America, for she found that the ideals that had led the great women of the Civil War to work among both Northerners and Southerners were the same as those of the Red Cross — "Human- ity" and ''Neutrality." When she returned to this country in October, 1873, it was with the one idea of founding a branch of the Red Cross in America. For a period of about nine years Miss Barton devoted her time and energy to enlightening the people of this country as to the scope of work undertaken by the Red Cross, and as to the un- usual opportunities and privileges afforded a nation by its association with the organization. It was not until 1882 that the United States took its place with the other nations of the earth as a member of the International Red Cross. 26 GIRLS' BOOK OF THE RED CROSS STRUCTURE OF THE RED CROSS When you mention the name of "the Red Cross," be sure you stop right there! Do not add the word Society or Order, because the founders of this organization were particular to emphasize the fact that the Red Cross is "not an order of knighthood, not a commandery, not a secret society, not a society at all by itself, but the powerful, peaceful sign and the reducing to practical usefulness of one of the broadest and most needed humanities the world has ever known. ^ There are no "members of the Red Cross," but only members of societies whose sign it is. There is no "Order of the Red Cross." The relief societies use, each according to its own convenience, whatever methods seem best suited to prepare in times of peace for the necessities of sanitary service in times of war. They gather and store gifts of money and sup- plies; arrange hospitals, ambulances, methods of transportation of wounded men, bureaus of information, correspondence, etc. The Red Cross is simply a confederation of relief societies in different countries, acting un- der the Geneva Convention, and carrying on its work under the sign of the Red Cross. The first 1 Since the close of the war, in connection with the Red Cross League the word Society has been used as a term of convenience, although it is not a society or association. MEANING OF THE CROSS OF RED 27 aim of its various branches is to improve the conditions of wounded soldiers in the armies in campaigns by land or sea. ''The Red Cross cre- ates an organized, neutral, volunteer force, from the people, supplied by the people, but still sub- ject to the regulations of the military in the field, recognized by and v^orking in full accord w^ith it, bringing all needed aid in the form of intelligent, disciplined assistance, and abundant supplies to the direct help and use of the medical department of an army, with which department it works, as if belonging to it." ^ "Originally the Red Cross recognizes only miseries arising from war," said Clara Barton. "But when great calamities overtake us, like plague, fire, flood, famine, earthquakes, events like war out of the common course of woes and necessities, then when there is no organized sys- tem for collection and distribution of funds, with no agents, nurses or materials, no resources in reserve, then the Red Cross should be called upon to constitute a useful and powerful system of relief." The Commission of Geneva is the only Inter- national Committee. All other committees are merely national or local. Each society is en- tirely national and independent, governing it- self and making its own laws according to its 1 Address by Clara Barton. 28 GIRLS' BOOK OF THE RED CROSS own needs. There are four great principles underlying the compact between the various na- tions included in the Treaty: 1. Centralization: each commission to have its common central head. 2. Preparation: in times of peace to prepare for needs suddenly arising with the out- break of war. 3. Impartiality: aid of the Red Cross to be extended to friend and foe alike. 4. Solidarity: nations not engaged in war may aid belligerent nations. It was not strange, perhaps, that the United States hesitated a long time before signing the Treaty and committing itself to its obligations. During the Civil War this country had estab- lished a Sanitary Commission, which had charge of inspection of camps and hospitals, and was the agent for distribution of supplies. It was the center of national relief, looking after transpor- tation of the wounded, sending out leaflets pre- pared by experts on the treatment of sick and wounded, hurrying medical supplies, blankets, and clothing to the front, organizing field re- lief corps and feeding stations, and fulfilling the various branches of relief as their need was realized. It was an impromptu, volunteer serv- MEANING OF THE CROSS OF RED 29 ice whose object was to do all possible good in the most practical ways. The value of its work and its influence had been recognized and acknowledged by the Geneva Commission. We were now a united nation, we were confident that never again would our country be divided against itself in bloody warfare on the fields of battle, and we foresaw no possibility of ever en- gaging in war with any other country. So why the Red Cross in America? Our traditional policy is to ''avoid entang- ling alliances," and we never enter into any com- pact or "league" with foreign nations without deep and searching inquiry as to every possible condition involved. Miss Barton discovered that our nation is "naturally fearful of the abuses of monarchical systems in the Old World from which our Republic had been freed, and that an intense national individualism made America fearful of any International coopera- tion such as the Red Cross proposed." ^ However, in 1877 a committee was formed by four persons, styling itself the "American Na- tional Committee or Society of the Red Cross, for the Relief of Sufferings by War, Pestilence, Famine, Fire, Flood, and other Calamities, so great as to be regarded as national in extent." 1 Epler, Percy H. "Life of Clara Barton." The Macmillan Company, 19 lo. 30 GIRLS' BOOK OF THE RED CROSS Afterward this committee was reorganized and incorporated as the Association of the Amer- ican Red Cross, by the advice of President Gar- field and three members of his Cabinet, James G. Blaine, Willian Windom, and Robert T. Lin- coln, with Miss Clara Barton as president. Five years later, public opinion had become so unani- mously favorable to the idea, that President Arthur signed the paper by which the United States officially became a member of the Inter- national Red Cross. According to the Treaty of Geneva, in each of the countries adopting the Treaty there is to be one Central National Committee of the Red Cross, with headquarters at the seat of gov- ernment. Such a committee was organized in the United States and incorporated under the title "The American National Red Cross." This Committee is the center of organization and has direction of all matters pertaining to general Red Cross work in this country, and includes the sole right to form innumerable branches. CHAPTER II The Red Cross in Time of Peace In 1 88 1 the American Red Cross was organ- ized, incorporated, and ready for work. What was it going to do? The answer was not long in coming, nor have the answers ceased to come during the years thereafter. In the period of twenty- three years from 1881 to 1904, there oc- curred twenty national disasters in which relief work was done by the Red Cross. Since the winter of 1905, there have been more than seventy-five calls for the Red Cross, due to earth- quakes, fires, volcanic eruptions, floods, cyclones, famines, epidemics of sickness, shipwrecks and mining disasters, and it has "gone on to a hun- dred fields of human misery and distress, bring- ing help and consolation." During frhe past fifteen years the American Red Cross has spent millions of dollars for the relief of hundreds of thousands of sufiferers from disaster in this coun- try and abroad.^ Even during the war, while the Department of Civilian Relief has been de- voting itself to the problems presented by the 1 W. Frank Persons, Director General of Civilian Relief. 31 ^2 GIRLS' BOOK OF THE RED CROSS dependent families of soldiers and sailors, it has continued its work of providing immediate relief in case of disaster. Sixty-four such cases were handled in 1 917. Fire, flood, famine, pestilence, and all sorts of frightful foes to mankind have always been likely to appear unforeseen and unannounced to claim their toll of life, property, comfort, and prosperity. Americans are a generous people, ever quick to respond to the call for help. In former days, when the telegraph and the news- paper brought news of dire calamity in some sec- tion of the country, instantly there began a flow of money, food, and clothing to the sufferers. In the afflicted sections local committees sprang up at once to give relief and to distribute the contributions arriving from abroad. Confusion naturally followed. The committees, however honest and conscientious, were usually inexperi- enced and sometimes over-zealous; working without any special system, they gave relief more or less without discrimination or investigation. So it might easily happen — more easily than not, in fact — that one family or individual would re- ceive aid from several sources, while some other family or individual might be overlooked com- pletely. The great value of the Red Cross at such times lies in its systematic method of relief, based on continued and varied observation and Uudenvood & Underwood AFTER THE SAN FRANCISCO FIRE THE RED CROSS IN PEACE 33 practice. Of course, it always cooperates with the local committees; it is not a rival or an in- truder, simply a partner who has accumulated wisdom through wide practical experience. When the relief committee from the Red Cross visits a community which has just been the scene of great disaster, it not only advises as to distributing money and supplies, but it assumes the responsibility of looking after the welfare of the families affected by the misfortune, finding homes and work for those who need this kind of help, providing shelter and care for the sick, and making sure of the sanitary conditions of the place. FIRES Perhaps the disaster we are generally most familiar with is Fire. How excited we grow when the sparks go flying up from a neighbor- ing house! The fire engines rush down the street with bells clanging and sirens blowing, men and boys come hurrying from all directions, and every one is crying "Fire! Fire!" and run- ning about distractedly! We wonder if the fire will spread, whether we shall soon have to gather up our special treasures and flee for our lives! Then we find ourselves deciding what are our special treasures, and by the time we are very much excited, the alarm rings one, two, all 34 GIRLS' BOOK OF THE RED CROSS out! the engines rattle away, the men and boys disperse, and all is quiet again. While it often happens that fires do only a little damage, unfortunately, however, especially in large cities, sparks sometimes fly over on to neighboring houses; two or more houses will be burning at once, people who live in them will have to flee for their lives, perhaps without be- ing able to stop to gather together their special treasures. Every once in a while fire breaks out under such circumstances and conditions as to become uncontrollable, and sweeps over vast areas, leaving death and destruction behind. There are two kinds of fires which carry great devastation in their wake, city fires and forest fires. "Between January i, 1905, and December 31, 1916, the Red Cross assisted either in an ad- visory capacity or by active administrative par- ticipation or control, in organizing and directing disaster relief following ten city and five forest fires." 1 The first national calamity to which the Red Cross was directed was a great forest fire in Michigan in 1881, really before the American Red Cross had become officially connected with the Geneva Commission. Word was received in Washington that "half the state of Michigan 1 Deacon, J. Byron. "Disasters of the American Red Cross." Russell Sage Foundation, New York, 1918. THE RED CROSS IN PEACE 35 was on fire," that hundreds of persons had been burned to death and thousands more were panic- stricken in a vast country where only charred stumps remained in the place of extensive for- ests. It was reported that ''so sweeping was the destruction, that there is not food enough left for a rabbit to eat, and indeed, no rabbit to eat it if there were." Boxes of supplies were for- warded at once, and within a few days material and money to the value of $80,000 were received and distributed. Other extensive forest fires occurred in Michigan in 1908 and in Minnesota in 1908 and 1910. Such fires sweep with great rapidity over tim- ber lands and spread to adjoining villages, de- stroying farms, buildings, livestock, and crops, and driving all human beings from the stricken areas. The Red Cross is especially helpful in these emergencies. The homes of lumbermen are more or less scattered, sometimes lying deep in the forest, and relief has to be more personal and individual than in the case of town and city fires. Shacks and huts have to be built for the refugees, food and clothing provided, debris cleared away, dead animals buried, shelters con- structed for any horses, cows, pigs, chickens, and so forth that may be alive, roads cleared from fallen trees, and seeds and agricultural implements furnished for new crops. After the 36 GIRLS' BOOK OF THE RED CROSS first pressing needs are adjusted, the work of re- construction begins, helping the families and the business concerns to "get on their feet" again and gradually bringing about normal conditions. Great fires in cities generally originate in the business sections, and increasing in fury spread to the residential districts. The two most no- table city fires in this country were the Chicago fire, in iSyr, and the Boston fire, in 1872. Both of these tragic disasters happened before the existence of the Red Cross in the United States. Since its establishment, there have occurred among others the San Francisco fire in 1906, the Chelsea, Massachusetts, fire in 1908, and the Salem, Massachusetts, fire in 1914. If fear and trembling and excitement fol- low the sight of a neighbor's house burning, because of the possibility of our own home be- ing reached by the flames, what wonder that panic seizes a community when it realizes that fire has become uncontrollable and is rapidly wiping out the entire town, building after build- ing, block after block, and that it must surrender to the devouring blaze. People rush out of their homes and places of business, families become separated, children are lost, old people are liable to accident, household goods are destroyed or lost or stolen, business papers and property of value are gone, every- THE RED CROSS IN PEACE 37 thing is confusion and despair. Almost as quickly as the flames spread through the city, the news flies to other cities and immediately plans are on foot for relief. The recognized agency through which relief is now sent is the Red Cross, which at once begins its work of caring for the homeless. Food and shelter are the first things necessary, and then clothing for those who have been left without it. Lists are made of the residents of the various neighborhoods and "checked up" to determine whether any are "missing." People who have friends or rela- tives in other places, but who have no money for traveling, are helped to reach such destinations, where they may find temporary homes and help. Those who must remain homeless, and for the time being helpless, are fed and clothed and shel- tered and as soon as possible set to work. Mean- while, one most important feature of relief work is safeguarding the health of the citizens. Un- der abnormal conditions, special sanitary regula- tions have to be enforced. Many thousands of people came to know and appreciate the Red Cross through its work in California following the earthquake and fire in 1906, when property to the value of $500,000,000 was destroyed, 200,000 persons were made home- less, and nearly five hundred lives were lost. This was the first great disaster in our country 38 GIRLS' BOOK OF THE RED CROSS after the reorganization of the Red Cross. The United States Army, the Citizens' Relief Committee and the Red Cross worked together, putting up tents and shacks in the city squares and parks, establishing ''bread lines" in which rich and poor stood side by side, victims of the same devouring flames, distributing the car- loads of supplies which arrived by railroad from all parts of the country, and dealing out money for temporary relief or as loans to help reestab- lish the borrower in business. At first over 300,000 persons were driven to "join the bread line" ; soon the number was reduced to 27,000 families; and at the end of the relief work, with the city pretty well cleaned up and families fairly well rehabilitated, not more than 600 per- sons in all that great city were left permanently dependent. Now and then, from time to time, there oc- curs some special tragedy in the way of a fac- tory fire, or a fire in a theater or other public building, which results in appalling destruction of human life. In the case of the factory fire, there is also to be considered the loss of the money earned by those losing their lives or being seriously injured, as affecting the living condi- tions of families dependent upon them. In such instances, the Red Cross cooperates with the police and city officials, with clergymen, THE RED CROSS IN PEACE 39 priests and rabbis, in locating families, investi- gating their losses and their needs, communicat- ing with relatives and friends, and advising as to temporary relief or permanent aid. In one notable instance, ''within three days the relief committee's staff of trained workers, enlisted from the social agencies of the city, had visited all the families whose names appeared on the long list." ^ Perhaps the most horrible kind of fire — if there is any degree in such horror — is the fire in the mine, when the victims are almost un- questionably doomed to imprisonment in the bowels of the earth and to death by suffocation or burning. "Among the disasters which have been of most frequent occurrence and most costly of human lives are those resulting from fires and explosions in coal mines," reports the Russell Sage Foundation. The Red Cross had occasion to ofifer service in eleven mine disasters in eight years. Ways of procedure and method of serv- ice have to be adapted to the peculiar circum- stances of these situations. The sufferers from these tragedies do not find themselves without shelter or food or clothing; there is no immediate destitution. They have to face the present crisis of doubt and distress, and future means of living. Grief, excitement, and exposure bring 1 Deacon, J. Byron. "Disasters of the American Red Cross." 40 GIRLS' BOOK OF THE RED CROSS on physical and nervous ailments, and the Red Cross supervises the welfare of the suffering families on the health side. It renders kindly personal services, and attempts to help those of the family who are left to live happy, useful, nor- mal lives after the first weeks of stunning sorrow and prostration are past A notable instance oc- curred at the time of the Cherry Mine disaster, when the Red Cross national director perfected a pension system for permanent aid, so that every woman and every child under sixteen years was provided for. "Families were kept together and mothers required to send their children to school. The Red Cross became the wage earner of the family and the guardian of the children." ^ FLOODS Only those persons who had their homes or their places of business in cities or towns lo- cated on the banks of great rivers, can realize the terror and alarm which overwhelm a com- munity when the cry is sounded, ''The river is rising." Sometimes floods arise and overspread the river banks rapidly, with little or no warn- ing, and the inhabitants of the towns have to flee for safety, leaving houses, stores, livestock, everything behind them, to the mercy of the cruel waters. When the stream becomes swollen iBoardman, Mabel T. "Under the Red Cross Flag." t'-MI^ Underwood & Underwood AFTER THE JOHNSTOWN FLOOD THE RED CROSS IN PEACE 41 more gradually, it is the way of human nature to ''hope for the best," and to think each day, "Oh, the river will certainly subside by to-mor- row; it can't rise any higher." And even when the waters overflow the banks and fill the cellars and streets of lower down town, the citizens in the residential part of the town still are wont to say, ^'We are safe here, the water will never reach us.'' Then suddenly one morning, per- haps, they awake to find the front piazza gone, the piano sailing about the living room, the kitchen stove indulging in a similar excursion, and what are they to do? If no rescuer comes and the waters rise rapidly, families may be driven to the attics, they may even break through the roof and perch on top of the house until life savers come rowing along on the rushing torrent and carry these terrified and nearly drowning people to some place of safety. There are in the United States two rivers which have had an unpleasant way of overflow- ing, bringing destruction and death in their waves. These are the Ohio and the Mississippi rivers, which especially during the '8o's caused no end of trouble. The greatest actual calamity in flood as in fire is the destruction of property, rather than the loss of life, although of course the amount of discomfort and exposure and un- happiness is incalculable. People are driven 42 GIRLS' BOOK OF THE RED CROSS from their homes, frequently being able to save nothing but the clothes on their backs, and some- times the flood bursts upon a town in the night and then the victims' clothes are only night- clothes and insufficient for protection. Fleeing to the highest points of land, the citizens must wait until somehow and from somewhere there comes help in the way of material from which to construct temporary shelters. For food and clothing they are also dependent upon relief from some one, somewhere, somehow. This mysterious, but extremely necessary, some one is nowadays the Red Cross, whose agents cooperate with merchants and with the government to provide for all emergency needs. As already stated in this chapter, the first call of the infant Red Cross in the United States was to aid sufferers from forest fires. The second call was from flood victims, and the call was repeated several times within the next few years. The Mississippi River floods of 1882 and 1883, and the Ohio and Mississippi floods of 1884, brought to the people of the west a very vivid idea of the value of the Red Cross. In the Mississippi flood of 1882, millions of acres of cotton and sugar plantations were inundated and thousands of homes submerged. In the spring of 1883 the Mississippi overflowed again, and much loss of stock and ruin to the farms and grain lands oc- THE RED CROSS IN PEACE 43 curred, although small loss of life. In both of these disasters, the Red Cross supplied not only food, clothing, and the usual necessary things of life, but sent seeds and plants for the crops of the coming season. The Ohio and Mississippi rivers united to do their worst in 1884. Cities were afloat, villages wrecked, levees broken and useless. The Red Cross chartered two steamers which for four months traveled back and forth, up and down the Ohio from Cincinnati to Cairo, and from St Louis to New Orleans on the Mississippi, cover- ing a distance of over 8000 miles, distributing relief to the stricken inhabitants. The boats carried clothing, food, medical supplies, fuel, grain, seeds, agricultural implements, and timber for the building of new homes. In many instances the steamer would land as the freshet subsided, carpenters with timber would speedily put up structures, the Red Cross would stock the houses with furniture and food, and leave seed so that farming might be resumed. Have you ever heard the story of "The Little Six"? It was one Miss Barton delighted to tell in connection with this big flood of 1884. Six children in Pennsylvania, three girls and three boys, gave an entertainment for the benefit of the flood victims, raising $51.25, and sending the money on with the request that it should be used 44 GIRLS' BOOK OF THE RED CROSS "where it would do the most good." When the money reached Miss Barton, who was at the head of the relief expedition, she determined it should be used for some very particular purpose. A few days later a family was discovered living in a corn crib ; a mother with six children, the eldest a lad in his 'teens, and the youngest a tiny girl. The father had died two years before, and the family had struggled along on a little farm, with a few cows and hogs and fowls. One misfor- tune after another had come to them, and now their house had fallen, their goods were swept away, and only a few fowls remained. Here were six children, and of course the most natural and most beautiful thing in the world was to use the gift of the other little six for this little six. The story was told to the poor, sad mother, and the committee gave her the money with enough more to rebuild her old home, and sent boxes of clothing and bedding and household supplies. The grateful woman said she should name her new house "The Little Six." This she did, and a sign was put up at a certain land- ing point on the Ohio River, which read, "Lit- tle Six Red Cross Landing." Five years after this, in 1889, the country was shocked by the news that the dam across the South Fork of the Conemaugh River at a point ten miles east of Johnstown, Pennsylvania, not THE RED CROSS IN PEACE 45 far from Pittsburgh, had broken, that within a few minutes the entire valley was devastated, and that the city of Johnstown and its surround- ing villages were practically swept away. There were 4000 dead and 20,000 homeless left behind the rushing current. Of the few houses left standing, there was scarcely one that was safe to enter, wrecks piled in rubbish thirty feet in height, and after the waters from the reservoir had subsided, a cold rain settled in and con- tinued for forty days without an hour of sun- shine. Again the Red Cross came to reinforce the efforts of the citizens and the military and the State relief appointed by the government. The dead had to be identified; the hungry had to be fed and the sick cared for; clothes and homes must be provided for those left alone with neither family, friends, homes, nor any of the things that had been theirs. For the following five months the Red Cross committees remained on duty, living at first in tents and wading about on errands of mercy through the rain and mud. It was all of three weeks before a cart could pass through the streets. So many agencies were contributing food and clothing, that the Red Cross found its most valuable assistance would be to help in the erection of houses. Six apart- ment buildings known as "Red Cross Hotels" 46 GIRLS' BOOK OF THE RED CROSS were quickly put up, furnished, supplied, and carried on like hotels, free of all cost to the peo- ple of Johnstown. The general committee also built 3000 other houses which they stocked with furniture supplied by the Red Cross. In the eight years between 1908 and 191 6, the American Red Cross assisted in relief work following eighteen floods. The Mississippi once more overflowed its banks in 191 2, and the Ohio River the following year. Not since the earth- quake and fire in San Francisco had there oc- curred so serious a calamity until the Ohio Val- ley flood of 1913, which is said to have ''pre- sented the greatest disaster relief problem with which the American Red Cross has ever had to deal." ^ In the spring of that year an excep- tionally heavy rain, lasting for five days, fell over a wide area in Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois, where the soil was already well saturated by the usual moderate rains of springtime. "While the rain fell in what seemed at times a veritable cloud-burst, rivers burst their banks, inundated the cities, towns, villages, and farm lands along their borders, and drove the terrified people to the nearest hilltop. The water poured into houses, ruined furniture, undermined founda- tions, wrecked walls, floated many wooden build- ings from their sites, and deposited a mass of 1 Deacon, J. Byron. "Disasters of the American Red Cross." THE RED CROSS IN PEACE 47 mud and wreckage over the whole flooded area. There were 70,000 dwellings damaged and 3000 totally destroyed. About 600 persons were drowned, and 320,000 rendered tempo- rarily dependent." ^ Almost the whole state of Ohio was included in the flooded districts, with parts of Indiana, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, and West Virginia suffering serious damage. Again the United States Army and com- mittees appointed by cities and states united for relief. And again the Red Cross supplemented, and organized, and reinforced in the places most needed. From its experience it was able to give wise counsel as to ''how to do things," especially in establishing systematic methods of relief distribution. The Red Cross nurses were particularly helpful in showing the people how to carry out sanitary measures and so avoid the danger of epidemic; they also set up emergency hospitals and dispensaries, and canvassed the communities in health investigations. Other tasks were helping to repair damaged dwellings, many of which were towed back by motor boats from the spots to which they had drifted; in supplying furniture for the remodeled and re- built homes; in aiding people to get a new start toward earning a living; and in doing some- thing toward equipping the farms with stock and seed and implements. 1 Deacon, J. Byron, op. cit. 48 GIRLS' BOOK OF THE RED CROSS A Red Cross nurse who had charge of one of the departments of service in Dayton during the Ohio Valley flood, in giving an account of what she saw, said : "In the dripping rain stood the 'bread line,' an appalling line of patient wait- ing people, two nurses hurrying up and down its length, helping a mother with her child; be- stowing packages more securely in a basket; fastening a cloak about weary shoulders; giv- ing a smile here, a few cheerful words there; carrying away a fretful child until the mother is ready to go home; helping a fainting woman to rest and shelter." There too she saw a school- house turned into a relief station in which were rest room, dining room, kitchen, hospital. The recitation hall was made a First Aid Room. Drugs and bandages were on the teacher's desk, and there was always somewhere about a blue- gowned young woman with a Red Cross on her sleeve, bandaging cuts and bruises. In what had been a city church she saw a Red Cross nurse cutting bread and butter, pouring coffee, sorting and giving out clothes, bathing children who had lost their mothers. Outside in the streets were river mud and wreckage piled shoulder high. Houses were either rocking on their foundations or entirely washed away. Here and there a Red Cross worker could be seen picking her way around among wrecked THE RED CROSS IN PEACE 49 furniture, soaked mattresses, ruins of porches, wagons, and sheds, taking charge of every kind of work from feeding the baby to digging ditches to let the water drain off. ''A good piece of work was that done in Dayton, thor- oughly good nursing work, done in harmony of spirit and cooperation. Remembering that such work could be duplicated by the Red Cross, if necessary, in a score of places, one could only say, as did the Dayton physician, with tears very near the surface, 'God bless the Red Cross nurses everywhere.' " ^ TORNADOES The flood is very often accompanied by the tornado. It may surprise some readers to learn that "tornadoes more frequently than any other type of disaster known have created relief prob- lems for the Red Cross." ^ The reports show that from January i, 1906, to July 31, 1907, the Red Cross took part in one way or another in re- lief work following sixty-four tornadoes, and during five months in 1917 there were tornadoes to the number of fifty-eight. This is one calam- ity against which little can be done in the way of precaution. A cloud is seen rising rapidly in the west or south and within five minutes, iBoardman, Mabel T. "Under the Red Cross Flag." 2 Deacon, J. Byron, op. cit. 50 GIRLS' BOOK OF THE RED CROSS perhaps, an entire township has been entirely de- stroyed and become a mass of wreckage. Peo- ple may safeguard their lives by fleeing to "cyclone cellars," but no power on earth can pre- vent the coming of a tornado nor break the force of the destructive element. Floods, tornadoes, and city-wide fires call for the same kind of special work on the part of the Red Cross. There are refugees to be housed and fed, law and order to be maintained, and health and sanitary regulations to be en- forced. In case of tornadoes, there are build- ings and furniture to be reassembled, and wounded and dead to be removed from piles of wreckage. The Middle West is the scene of the majority of cyclone and tornado disasters, although the first two in which the Red Cross volunteered for service were in the South. One great disaster of past years was the sweep- ing of a hurricane and tidal wave along the coast of South Carolina, covering the entire range of the Port Royal Islands, which stretch along the coast for over one hundred and fifty miles. These islands are well wooded with pine, oak, magnolia, and gum trees, and are noted for the "Sea Island cotton" produced there. Suddenly one night in August, 1893, ^ hurricane com- bined with a tidal wave struck the islands, crushing all buildings, washing many of them THE RED CROSS IN PEACE 51 away, uprooting trees, and drowning people and cattle. Four or five thousand of the in- habitants (mostly negroes )were washed away, some never to be recovered ; about thirty thou- sand were left homeless, having saved their lives by climbing into the trees and clinging to their swaying branches. Here the Red Cross, after feeding and cloth- ing the people, helped in getting together homes for them to live in as soon as the flood had sub- sided. It drained the land of salt water, cleaned out wells (where the drinking water had become salt water), and instructed and advised inhabi- tants as to replanting their crops and building permanent houses. "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," under direction of the Red Cross workers.^ Can you imagine what an undertaking it would be to try "to clothe and to keep clothed 30,000 human beings for a year, and to do this from the charitable gifts of other people, all of which gifts have done more or less service before?" ^ The Red Cross women in charge lEpler, Percy H. "Life of Clara Barton." 2 Barton, Clara, "Story of the Red Cross." D. Appleton & Co., 1904. 52 GIRLS' BOOK OF THE RED CROSS of this branch of work formed old-time ''sew- ing circles" in every community, and taught the colored women how to mend and make over gar- ments. Girls over ten years old had their own "sewing circles," and many a little dress was re- paired or remodeled by them. No people are more grateful for favors than the black people. They repeatedly, in one way or another, con- veyed their thanks and appreciation to the mem- bers of the Red Cross. One day a tall mulatto man came to say that he had been asked to bring the thanks of the people in his community for "de home, de gardin, de pig, and de chick'n dey all has now." And he also brought from these people a basket — which he had carried forty miles — containing seventy-one fresh eggs, one from each family in that community. In September, 1900, another combination of tornado and tidal wave resulted in the submerg- ing of Galveston, the metropolis of Texas, with the loss of nearly 10,000 lives and the utter de- struction of 4000 homes. Extending over 1000 square miles of surrounding country, twenty counties were inundated, and sixty towns and villages were in need. Representatives of the Red Cross were soon on the spot. They fur- nished medical supplies and surgical dressings, lumber for new homes, distributed clothing which arrived from all over the country, as- THE RED CROSS IN PEACE 53 sisted persons to get away to friends elsewhere, and took care of all surviving children who were left without father or mother. The situa- tion was one of the most appalling, most dis- tressing, and most revolting ever to be dealt with, and the details are too harrowing to repeat. It is interesting to know that among those who sent contributions for the sufferers were the ne- groes of the Carolina Sea Islands, who sent $397.00 in remembrance of the assistance they had received when in similar extremity. " 'Cause dey suffers like we did, and de Red Cross is dar," they said.^ This money was given to the superintendent of the colored schools in Galveston, who, with a committee of women teachers, distributed the sum among the neediest families of their own race. ACCIDENTS ON THE WATER Once in a while it happens that a company of people starting out on a trip by water, has its pleasure turned to tragedy and the excursion- ists never reach their destination and perhaps never return alive. It may be a Sunday School picnic or the annual outing of some society workers or pleasure seekers that is the victim of disaster. Perhaps the excursionists have started on a large boat for a trip of several days — pos- sibly across the ocean. 1 Barton, Clara. "Story of the Red Cross." 54 GIRLS' BOOK OF THE RED CROSS One day a company of people crowded over on the side of an unballasted steamer as it waited at the dock to take them away for a day's en- joyment. The vessel turned completely over and eight hundred lost their lives. One day a steamship which carried hundreds of Poles and Austro-Hungarians who were com- ing to the United States to earn a better living and have a better home, was burned at sea. The survivors were rescued by fourteen different ships and carried to various ports in the United States and Canada. Another day a great number of people, over 2000, were crossing the Atlantic on the finest ocean liner that had ever been built, when sud- denly, late in the evening, the steamer struck an iceberg and went down within four hours. Only about seven hundred were saved and brought to New York. On still another, more appalling occasion, a still grander ocean liner with a yet larger number of passengers went sailing across the Atlantic, only to be sent to the bottom by the murderous act of a treacherous foe. Such accidents as those of the Eastland, the Volturno, the Titanic, and the Lusitania present a sorrowful duty the Red Cross has to face. To care for the survivors when they reach port, to provide temporary shelter, to furnish clothing, THE RED CROSS IN PEACE 55 to advance money for railroad fares, to com- municate with distracted relatives, and often- times to reunite families, some members of vs^hich may have been taken by one rescuing steamer to one port and some to another by an- other vessel, — these are the heart-breaking tasks which the Red Cross willingly undertakes. PESTILENCE Pestilence and Famine, those two gaunt specters, do not often stalk across our fair land. In these days of vaccination and inoculation, research into all realms of microbes and germs and bacteria, it is a rare thing for an epidemic to develop. [Although from September, 191 8, far into the following year, the mysterious "in- fluenza" claimed greater toll than the War it- self, while doctors and nurses — working under greatest pressure day and night — were practi- cally ignorant and unskilled as to its treatment or cure and prevention.] Two notable epi- demics during the earlier days of the Red Cross were the Yellow Fever Plague in Florida in 1888 and the Typhoid Fever Epidemic in Penn- sylvania in 1904. In each of these instances the Red Cross nurses rendered faithful, unselfish service, saving all lives possible and seeing through to the end those that were past help, hastening from one plague spot to another until the disease was stamped out. 56 GIRLS' BOOK OF THE RED CROSS FAMINE Famine in our country is practically un- known. Yet for three years, from 1885 to 1887, Texas suffered seriously from lack of rain and consequent lack of crops. Hundreds of thou- sands of cattle died, and the people were in direst want. A committee from the Red Cross went to investigate conditions. True to its policy, to advise and assist people to help themselves, the Red Cross gave widest publicity throughout the region to the conditions existing in certain sec- tions, and almost immediately the great state of Texas rallied to its own relief, needing but little outside assistance. The obligations of the Red Cross do not end with its own country. Wherever distress exists on so extensive a scale as to need outside help, there it must stand ready for service. What was probably the first errand abroad for our Ameri- can Red Cross, was its mission to Russia in the famine of 1891-92. The crops of Central Rus- sia, in a region covering an area of a million square miles, had failed for three years, leaving a population of 35,000,000 people facing a con- dition of famine. The Russian government and the more fortunate among the Russian people did all they could to relieve the sufferings of their fellow countrymen, but the suffering was Underwood & Underwood SEA SWEPT GALVESTON THE RED- CROSS IN PEACE 57 so excessive and widespread that the resources of even so great a country as Russia were in- adequate. News of the situation was received by the American Red Cross, but no action was taken until general information had reached the United States, and in hearts and homes all over the great generous country there sprang up the impulse to help. Iowa sent 225 carloads of corn (117,000 bushels), and funds were raised to charter a steamship for the Red Cross to carry the cargo across the seas to the port of Riga. The American Red Cross and the Russian Red Cross worked together in its distribution. Al- though the work of the American Red Cross was comparatively less at this time than in many other emergencies, it rendered important serv- ice in nursing the sick and in supervising the distribution of corn throughout the vil- lages. A peculiarly perplexing situation faced the American Red Cross when it was requested to go to Armenia, in 1896, to carry relief to the sur- vivors of recent terrible massacres. England and the United States had raised funds and sup- plies, but neither country found it possible to obtain permission from Turkey to enter the stricken country. In thousands of towns and villages human beings were starving and could 58 GIRLS' BOOK OF THE RED CROSS not be reached. Mission boards were as help- less as representatives of governments. Fanati- cism and suspicion combined to repress the ac- tivities of all Christians. The Red Cross, because of its vs^atchwords, ^'Neutrality — Humanity," might perhaps be trusted to enter the country and to penetrate into the interior. As Turkey was one of the signers of the Geneva Treaty, and because of this fel- lowship, the authorities agreed to permit the American Red Cross agents to come and to carry out their work of mercy, even providing mili- tary escort for their protection. Five expedi- tions passed through Armenian Turkey from sea to sea, distributing whatever was needed. No obstruction was ever placed in the way. Medi- cine, help, and food were provided; refugees were returned to, their own villages, and sup- plied with necessary equipment for resuming their labor and planting their farms anew to in- sure the sufficient harvest and protect against famine. Even cows and oxen were secured, as the robber bands which had stripped the country had driven off every animal, leaving no oxen, cows, horses, goats, or sheep. For several months the Red Cross representatives lived a rough, uncivilized life. Almost out of com- munication with the rest of the world, more or less in fear of danger, yet coming out of it all THE RED CROSS IN PEACE 59 "without one unpleasant transaction with any person of whatever name or race." ^ A new experience was now ahead of the American Red Cross, leading into avenues of service hitherto unknown. Of course, it had been a new and wonderful experience in some ways, to visit Russia and Armenia, bringing help from far across the seas and the continents. The work there, however, had been practically the same as that accomplished at home: distribution of food, money, and supplies, administered after the same general methods used in America, now reduced to a regular working system ready for application anywhere. With the call to Cuba, in 1898, there began a series of altogether new problems, all unfore- seen at the beginning. A cry had come for money and food, stories had reached us of misery and distress, news had arrived to the effect that thousands were dying and hundreds of thousands were in need of relief. Once more the United States government called on the National Red Cross, requesting that it send representatives to Cuba to act as distributing agents for the State Department and for the relief committees which had been raising funds throughout the United States. The program to be carried out was ex- pected to be that now so well proved and so efficiently organized. 1 Barton, Clara. "Story of the Red Cross." 6o GIRLS' BOOK OF THE RED CROSS FIRST WAR WORK Hardly had their mission begun along well- established lines, when hostilities broke out be- tween Spain and the United States, and all Americans were called home from Cuba. Then began the first war work of the American Red Cross, and soon there developed all sorts of new branches of service. Camps sprang up in various sections of the country, and it became evident that the Red Cross could render the most practical service in caring for the men there assembled. Soon an important branch of work developed in looking after the soldiers going back and forth from one camp to another or going home. They were the same kind of hungry men that our boys of 1917-19 have been, and just as glad to get coffee and sandwiches. Those who were ill were given soup, milk, fruit, and other nourishing delicacies. Before long handker- chiefs, soap, and reading matter were added to the gifts along the way. All over the country there sprang up Aux- iliary Societies which helped in these various departments of service. Women ever5rwhere were busy making sheets, pillow cases, mosquito nets, pajamas, bandages, and all sorts of things such as women have been making during recent years for soldiers in the World War. THE RED CROSS IN PEACE 6i Diet kitchens in the camps were established and proved to be of inestimable value. Sanitary conditions around the camps were insured by daily scavenger service and the use of disinfec- tants. In one case typhoid became epidemic; a large corps of Red Cross nurses under a capable superintendent went to the camp, and by in- telligent attention and devoted care completely routed that enemy. This was the first time that women had been organized in large numbers as nurses in a field hospital. In some of the camps at first the Red Cross was told that women nurses were not needed and were not wanted, that women around a camp would be only a nuisance! But one by one the officers changed their minds, and it was not long before the nurses were sought for and welcomed at the hospitals. After the war was really on, and the wounded began to be brought to the hospitals, the Red Cross nurses worked incessantly. These were the first volunteer nurses of the American Red Cross to serve in war. Another innovation was the hospital ship. For the first time in the history of warfare hos- pital ships for the relief of sick and wounded were employed. A yacht named the Red Cross was fitted up with medical and surgical sup- plies and used to transport patients from camp 62 GIRLS' BOOK OF THE RED CROSS hospitals in the South to permanent hospitals in the cities of the North. The boat was com- fortably furnished, and carried a doctor and three trained nurses. Twenty-eight trips were made. And so throughout the Spanish-American War, the Red Cross flag floated above hospital tents. At all times of day the Red Cross boats, with the familiar flag flying, could be seen go- ing from transport to transport on errands of mercy. This was really the first opportunity to test the cooperation of the government and the Red Cross under war conditions. RELIEF WORK ABROAD The international character of Red Cross ac- tivities has grown with time. Within ten years of its reorganization, more than two score ap- peals reached the American Red Cross from widely separated sections of Europe, Central and South America, Canada, and the Far East. Italy was the scene of a widespread earthquake shock during the Christmas week of 1908. The American and Italian Red Cross worked heartily together to relieve the distressing needs of the stricken people. There were earthquakes in Valparaiso, Costa Rica, Turkey, and Portu- gal; famine in Japan and Russia; forest fires in Canada; floods in France, Serbia, and Mexico; THE RED CROSS IN PEACE 63 more massacres in Armenia ; war in the Balkans ; and many other kinds of disaster and calamity calling for relief in all quarters of the globe. Manchuria presented a new problem, the pneu- monic plague, a strange, unknown, deadly pestilence; when China suffered from fearful famine in 1907, the American Red Cross ex- pended nearly $600,000 in its behalf, and ten years later when a flood disaster left 400,000 Chinese destitute, the American Red Cross, at the request of the American minister to China, formed a relief organization and provided a fund of $125,000 for its use; the same year, 1917, following an earthquake in San Salvador which nearly destroyed the city, money, building material, medicine, and clothing were sent through the Red Cross to the sufferers. In December, 1917, occurred the tragic explo- sion and fire in Halifax. At nine o'clock on the morning of Thursday, December 6, the fright- ful accident occurred. A munitions ship car- rying 3000 tons of the most destructive of all known explosives blew up in Halifax harbor, and a great part of the city was destroyed. Many people were killed and many more were injured and made destitute by accident and fire. News of the occurrence reached Boston and New York at one o'clock on Thursday, and by Friday night relief was on the way. Within 64 GIRLS' BOOK OF THE RED CROSS the next two or three days special Red Cross trains flying the Red Cross flag carried full equipment for an entire base hospital of five hundred beds with complete personnel. Doc- tors, surgeons, nurses, orderlies, and medical social workers went to render service. Carloads of milk, cases of condensed milk, cases of cloth- ing, blankets, building material (including glass and putty), foodstuffs, surgical supplies, band- ages, disinfectants, and everything that efficient Red Cross directors could suggest as being pos- sibly required, reached the stricken city with characteristic Red Cross promptness. Have you noticed that nearly all the activities of the Red Cross so far described begin with the letters r e? If you will consider a moment, you will observe that the principal work of the Red Cross has been responding to calls for aid, re- lieving sufferers, reviving life, restoring health or happiness, renewing courage and strength and active interest in life under new conditions, re- uniting families, sometimes removing them to other places, rebuilding houses and refurnish- ing homes, reconstructing towns and society, re- placing lost goods, reimbursing money losses, replenishing stores of food and supplies, replant- ing farms and fields, and generally revising everything and everybody! If you give time and thought to the subject, you will doubt- THE RED CROSS IN PEACE 65 less be able to think of many other accomplish- ments beginning with the same magic letters. "first aid" While undertaking their various missions, the Red Cross workers became impressed with the need of certain other lines of service beginning with the letters p r e — precaution, prevention, prevision, preparedness, and perhaps you may suggest a number more. We are informed by those who have collected statistics bearing on the subject of accidents in the United States, that of the 90,000 fatal ac- cidents occurring in one year, the half million accidents which permanently disable people for work and the 2,000,000 which result in tem- porary incapacity, at least 66 per cent are due to negligence and only 34 per cent to risk that cannot be avoided. The Red Cross, believing that it is quite as important, if indeed not more so, to save life and prevent accident as to relieve suffering or restore health, concluded and ad- vised that there should be established a system of education of the public with the use of safety devices and by instruction in prevention of dis- ease and accident and First Aid for the injured. ''First Aid" has become a term to be recog- nized and respected everywhere, and evidences of its presence are never a surprise. It is teach- 66 GIRLS' BOOK OF THE RED CROSS ing the public how to use precaution and how to prevent accident or death. When there is any great gathering where a large number of peo- ple are present, such as a reunion or convention or parade, the Red Cross is sure to be on hand, ready for any emergency. Especially at patriotic functions, such as veteran encamp- ments, inaugurations, and processions, the Red Cross is near at hand. And it extends its in- structions and privileges far and wide, so that boys and girls are trained to be of greatest as- sistance in giving First Aid to persons overcome by heat or fatigue or faintness, or by the pressure of great crowds, or even by accidents. Often these First Aid recruits prevent serious results. Classes are held quite generally throughout the country, instructing people how to give in- telligent First Aid help. If you cut yourself, or if you burn yourself, you probably know just what to do, because of your First Aid lessons; if your mother runs too quickly upstairs — or if grandmother falls downstairs — of if some one faints away in the Subway crush or at the "movies" — and their hearts behave badly, again you know just what to do, if you remember your First Aid instruction and have added to your value as a member of your household or community. THE RED CROSS IN PEACE 67 WORK AMONG MINERS Among the workers who have been most greatly benefited by the Red Cross instruction are the miners. When we sit cozy and warm in our comfortable homes, with the radiators hissing merrily, perhaps a cheerful open fire adding to our pleasure; when we journey quickly and safely from one place to another in a railroad train or on a steamship ; or when we pass a fac- tory and hear the machinery humming and watch the black smoke pouring out from the tall chimneys, we seldom — perhaps never — give a thought to the miners who have worked deep in the earth to dig out the coal which makes so much comfort and happiness and business pos- sible. When statistics tell us that more than 3000 miners lose their lives in one year, while 9000 more are crippled or maimed, can we doubt that both the miners and the owners of mines were grateful for practical instruction in the way of precautionary methods? Classes have been formed among these underground workers and textbooks prepared for them by the Red Cross and translated into the various foreign languages spoken by the miners. Special emphasis is laid on precaution, and various "Don'ts" are impressed on the dillferent branches of workers. What not to do is quite 68 GIRLS' BOOK OF THE RED CROSS as important as what to do, although First Aid lectures also teach the men what to do if acci- dents must occur. Quick action may save a life, or frequently many lives. One interesting feature of the work among the miners has been the competitive contests held from time to time in some open field, in which men from different mines form "teams" and compete in quick emergency tests, after the fashion of the meets of the Boy Scouts. AMONG RAILROAD WORKERS Once in a while a President of the United States or some other person prominent in public life, perhaps some member of nobility or of diplomatic circles, shakes hands with the engi- neer of a train which has carried him and his party to their destination and expresses thanks for a safe and comfortable trip. As a rule, how- ever, in this busy workaday world where we have grown to accept every duty performed in the routine of life just as we do the air we breathe, we ride back and forth on the trains and we see the long freight trains which bring us food and fuel and nearly all necessary sup- plies, and never give a thought to the engineer and brakeman and others who combine to make the journey a success. Unless we chance to see a man walking along on the tops of the cars of THE RED CROSS IN PEACE 69 a moving freight train and wonder why he does not fall and break his neck, or unless we notice a man in overalls standing between two cars as they come to a bump when they are coupled to- gether, or unless our attention is attracted to a man who is crawling along underneath the cars making sure that something we do not know any- thing about is all safe and sound for the next journey, we accept the services of these men with scarcely a thought of the possible dangers they face day after day. The Red Cross, however, noting the peril at- tending the work of railroad men and the great loss of life and the number of accidents result- ing in serious injuries, decided that railroad employees needed instruction in First Aid and in the rule of Safety First. The Pullman Car Company provides the Red Cross with special cars, which the railroads carry free from one railway center to another, with doctors to de- liver lectures and teach classes and show men how to help intelligently and practically in time of accident. AMONG LUMBER-JACKS To read the exciting stories that have been written about the "lumber-jack" or to see the moving pictures of his cabin and of the great logs drifting — or rushing madly — down the 70 GIRLS' BOOK OF THE RED CROSS river while the driver steps jauntily from log to log, all this tends to give an impression that the life of a lumber-jack is a fascinating, picturesque career, with just enough "thrills" to save it from monotony. As a matter of fact, logging is one of the most hazardous of occupations, never free from danger. Accidents caused by axes, hatchets, saws, and all sorts of sharp cutting instruments, falling trees, jamming logs, may result in cut and crushed limbs, in loss of life from hemorrhage or blood poisoning or from drown- ing. Here again is need of the Red Cross, which is gradually penetrating the forests and finding its way into the lumber camps. AMONG POLICE AND FIREMEN Chief among the men who guard our lives and homes and property are the police and firemen. With them the Red Cross finds double oppor- tunity, for it must teach these guardians of the people how to be able to administer First Aid not only to the public but to fellow officers. Red Cross knowledge is valuable to the police- man who may render First Aid emergency help while waiting for an ambulance to come for the victim of an accident. It may also help him in saving his own life or that of another officer when in danger from attack or exposure. For THE RED CROSS IN PEACE 71 the fireman First Aid instruction is invaluable in the risks he is obliged to run, and helps him to save not only persons rescued from burning homes but firemen who are themselves overcome by smoke or flames. AMONG ELECTRICAL WORKERS Especial danger is connected with the work which exposes men to contact with the deadly ''live wire." Appreciating the value of First Aid instruction, employers of telegraph and tele- phone workers have requested the Red Cross to give their employees courses especially suited to their needs and safety. AMONG SEAMEN Danger comes to those whose work is on the high seas, even more acutely perhaps than to those on land. For so separated from his fellow man is the toiler on the sea, that in case of emergency he must be absolutely self-reliant. Classes for seamen, therefore, are included in the work of the Red Cross and lessons are given in First Aid; some instruction in the knowledge of medicine also is undertaken, as ship doctors are a part of the crew on large vessels only, and on smaller craft the masters and mates are responsible for the treatment of any who are ill or injured. 72 GIRLS' BOOK OF THE RED CROSS AMONG LIFE-SAVERS An important branch of First Aid, in the line of life-saving attending accidents to people in the water, is maintained by the Red Cross in its life-saving corps along the seacoast, lakes, and rivers. So many persons ''go in bathing" or "go out rowing" or canoeing, without any knowledge of swimming, that hundreds of lives are lost every year from drowning. The Red Cross now gives First Aid courses in which it teaches girls and boys to swim, and to be able to swim while supporting another person, so as to bring a drowning person to shore. It also teaches how to revive a person who has been a long time under water. HEALTH WORK As the American Red Cross nurses have been employed in one way or another in all parts of the land, they have observed many directions in which a little precaution might prevent disease, save much life, much unnecessary labor, and even save unnecessary expenditure of money. There are a surprising number of people who do not know that dirt breeds disease; that dirty towns, dirty houses, dirty people, and dirty food are menaces to the whole nation. There are all too many housekeepers who do not know THE RED CROSS IN PEACE 73 the danger of dust, the priceless value of fresh air and sunshine; there are too many mothers who do not know that babies should be fre- quently and carefully bathed, and that their food should be carefully selected and prepared; there are too many wives and mothers who do not know that a cross, ill-tempered family may be the result of badly chosen and badly cooked meals; and there are too many girls and boys who have not been brought up on the old adage "early to bed and early to rise," and who do not know that bread and butter and jam are better for them than chocolate eclairs and ice-cream sodas or than doughnuts and mince pies. The Red Cross nurses observed all these things in their wanderings over the broad earth, and they determined that they would do their share toward improving the health of the homes and the children. So a home-nursing service was established and Red Cross nurses were sent all over the country, into the remotest and the poor- est homes, to teach women how to prepare their food, how to keep their houses clean and sweet and dry and sunny, how to prevent the babies from "getting sick" and how to take care of them if they did become ill. Florence Nightin- gale has been quoted as saying that "nearly every woman at some time in her life is obliged to act in the capacity of a nurse to the sick," and the 74 GIRLS' BOOK OF THE RED CROSS comment has been made that "she might have added that nearly all women at some time in their lives are obliged to be responsible in a great measure for the continued good health of the well." ^ So widespread has been the interest in all Red Cross work, and especially in the line of nursing and hygiene during these recent years, that women and girls everywhere are realizing the importance of being instructed in all branches of this kind of knowledge. They are learning "why food supplies should be protected from dust and insects, and perishable foods kept at a low temperature; why the water supply must be kept pure; why sinks, drains, dishes, cook- ing utensils, household and body linen should be kept as clean as soap, water, sunshine, and fresh air intelligently applied can make them," ^ and the importance of clean hands and finger nails, of clean mouths and teeth, of clean food and clean surroundings, in preventing infection and epidemic. TUBERCULOSIS In many schoolhouses, as Christmas ap- proaches, on the blackboards there are drawn copies of a familiar seal; other pictures of the same seal are tacked on the wall. At their 1 "American Red Cross Textbook." THE RED CROSS IN PEACE 75 desks girls and boys are trying to see what they can do in the way of making a new and more pleasing design. Prize essays on the "Christ- mas Seal" are being written, and many pupils are competing for prizes for selling the largest number of seals. One -of the most difficult diseases to prevent or to cure is the dreaded tuberculosis, which spreads like a white plague over all lands, claim- ing alike rich and poor, young and old. And one of. the tasks to which the Red Cross is solemnly — and gladly — committed is the stamp- ing out of this insidious enemy. The most suc- cessful method of securing the cooperation of the public, in getting everybody interested, has proved to be the use of the Christmas Seal. So general has its use become, that our Christmas parcels and letters would have a strange, lone- some look without the gay little seal. Every cent you spend for a Red Cross seal goes toward helping to take care of some boy or girl or man or woman, suffering from tubercu- losis, or in educating the public so that the dis- ease shall not be spread by unsanitary habits. '^Scores of day camps, on the roofs of hospitals in large cities, or on remodeled ferry boats, or formed of tents in pleasant groves, are supported by the sales of the little seal. These camps bring back health and happiness to multitudes 76 GIRLS' BOOK OF THE RED CROSS of men, women, and children. Sanitaria, dis- pensaries, open-air schools, educational exhibits, visiting nurses, and countless other means for combating the white plague owe their existence to the penny Christmas seal with its emblem of the Red Cross." ^ iBoardman, Mabel T. "Under the Red Cross Flag." CHAPTER III The Call to Greater Service When the great World War broke out in 1 914, there came the call to the Red Cross for world-wide service. And it all happened just about as abruptly as that! For instance, there was Margaret. She had been deeply interested in Red Cross work for sev- eral years, and her name was registered among those who might be called on for emergency service, ready to respond at once for work wherever needed. She was associated with a children's hospital and had become an expert in bacteriology. One morning as Margaret sat at the breakfast table, with her spoonful of grapefruit halfway to her mouth, she paused suddenly as the door- bell rang and almost immediately a telegram for her was announced. Dropping spoon and napkin, she tore open the yellow envelope and read: "Report at once for service overseas. Sail in a few days." The telegram was signed by a Red Cross official. And of course there •J7 78 GIRLS' BOOK OF THE RED CROSS was nothing for Margaret to do, nor was there anything she wished to do, but to go! Margaret's mother's face looked pretty white. Margaret's small brother's face grew very red. Margaret's face was white and then red by turns. Margaret's father blew his nose vigor- ously! No one spoke for a very, very long mo- ment. Then followed fifteen minutes of frenzied telephoning, a half-hour of packing, a hug and a kiss and a sob from mother, a big bear hug and a kiss and sort of a gulp from small brother, and Margaret started away, with father carrying her suitcase. This is the way the summons came to many a girl who left home in obedience to the call of duty and desire, as it came to her, through the Red Cross, to be gone as Margaret was for a year, or perhaps longer, or possibly never to come home. If a call to service interferes with her present duties, a nurse is not required to respond in time of peace. In event of war, all Red Cross nurses must hold themselves in readiness to be called on after the earliest possible date as re- ported to their local committees. In no case has a Red Cross nurse ever failed to go willingly. This is one of the ear-marks — or the hall-mark — of the Red Cross. It never hesitates or re- fuses. It says always, "Yes"! THE CALL TO GREATER SERVICE 79 Within two years of the outbreak of the great war, the American Red Cross was on every bat- tlefield of Europe, with nurses, surgeons, hos- pitals, ambulances, and all sorts of medical and hospital equipment. Here again the Red Cross training in First Aid became unexpectedly valuable. Not only nurses now know how to render First Aid, but so many of the "lay members" of the general public are efficient in this direction, that when the Red Cross was called on to establish base hospitals and equip them not only with doctors and surgeons and dentists and nurses, but also with clerks, cooks, orderlies, litter bearers, drivers, and various kinds of laborers, how important it was that these many and various classes of helpers could be chosen from among those already trained in First Aid. The medical reserve corps of the United States Army would not be large enough to meet such tremendous emergency conditions. Here the Red Cross medical bureau proved in- valuable in that it was prepared to furnish or to advise as to securing competent physicians and surgeons from all over the country. HOSPITAL SUPPLIES "In less than a year's time nearly 2,000,000 bandages, over 1,000,000 surgical dressings, more than 1,000,000 yards of gauze, and nearly 8o GIRLS' BOOK OF THE RED CROSS 1,000,000 pounds of absorbent cotton were sent to Europe. Half a million articles of clothing for the wounded and refugees were made by willing hands." ^ All the supplies for the American Red Cross hospitals were made in the United States. The Red Cross instituted surgi- cal-dressing classes, and women and children all over the United States worked day after day at Red Cross rooms making gauze compresses, wipes, rolls, and pads for wounded soldiers, hos- pital garments, pajamas, bath robes, and surgeons' robes. Besides the bandages and surgical dressings, the women of our country sent sheets and pillow cases and towels, socks and shirts; and into the pockets of the shirts and pajamas frequently they slipped handkerchiefs, pencils, picture postcards, and even little Ameri- can flags. Pajamas with a tiny red cross on the sleeve were in high favor among all patients of whatever nationality. ''They never have enough pajamas," wrote an American girl motor driver who had been as- sisting in delivering hospital supplies in France; "the men have to leave them when they are transferred, which hurts them terribly. They love, especially, light pink and blue ones. Sat- urday there was to be a concert in the evening and we took fifty pink and blue pajamas to the 1 Boardman, Mabel T. "Under the Red Cross Flag." THE CALL TO GREATER SERVICE 8i hospital that afternoon. When we came back for the concert the nurse told us that the men had spent all afternoon choosing which color was the most becoming. The lucky fifty were so proud when they were carried into the con- cert tent that they would hardly let the stretcher bearers put the blankets over them, for fear of covering up their new clothes. The others, for we only had enough for two wards, looked on with great envy, as first a pink and then a blue stretcher went by, each occupant making him- self as conspicuous as possible. One boy of eighteen with a fractured hip — ^the baby of the ward (though twice the size of any of the men) — chose pink and was promptly named Le Bebe Rose, much to his embarrassment." ^ By the terms of the Geneva Commission, all nations are expected to aid any other nation in serious distress. The American Red Cross had been abroad in times of calamity, of earthquake, of flood, and of famine, and now that the great- est of all calamities had descended upon all Europe, the American Red Cross could not — and would not — shirk or evade its duty or privilege. "This world calamity," said the War Council, "brings to the Red Cross an op- portunity to give expression to the best and most characteristic side of American life, and to do it 1 Arnold, Dorothy Treat, in Red Cross Magazine. 82 GIRLS' BOOK OF THE RED CROSS on a scale called for by the immensity of the sorrow and distress of mankind." THE RED CROSS IN FOREIGN LANDS Of course the foreign countries also sent their workers to the scenes of war. The Russian Red Cross is a well-organized society, doing exten- sive work, and has aided many other countries in previous wars. During the early part of the recent war, many beautiful stories were told of the Empress of Russia and her pretty young daughters, dressed in the Red Cross uniform, going about in the hospitals caring for the wounded soldiers. Japan has an especially high standard of Red Cross work and workers, and during the war sent many thousand nurse-s to care for the sick and wounded in Europe. The Japa- nese nurses are described as being unusually un- selfish and beautiful in their "skillful devotion and consecration." Italy also has an extensive Red Cross, with a large number of hospital trains. It is closely associated with the government and has had much experience and opportunity to test its own efficiency in the numerous disastrous earth- quakes and volcanic disturbances from which that country suffers. "All the world knows what the Red Cross did for Italy. That is a THE CALL TO GREATER SERVICE 83 common story now, how, when the great reverse came, when all that Italy had been building up through weary months was suddenly brought to naught, and there came a retreat back over the mountains, and before the retreating and ad- vancing armies there came hordes of citizens dislodged from their homes and farms, sweeping down in thousands and thousands, Italy thought s*he was alone. But in this particular time, just three days after that retreat began there came the Red Cross over that same battlefield of Solferino, the battlefield where the Red Cross had been born — there came a Red Cross flag, a Red Cross contingent, the American Red Cross sweeping in from Paris, the first evidence Italy had that she was not alone ; and Italy took heart from that moment." ^ The Red Cross of France has had to bear an overwhelming burden during the struggle most of which has been waged in its own country, and has leaned heavily and hard on the cooperation of the American workers. The Belgian Red Cross became incapacitated for a while after its country was overrun, but in time reorganized its service and has maintained hospital work throughout the war. It is the policy of Russia and Germany to keep their Red Cross organizations closely as- 1 Lecture by Dr. Stockton Axson. 84 GIRLS' BOOK OF THE RED CROSS sociated with their armies and always more or less on a war basis even in times of peace. Great Britain has maintained her Red Cross as a na- tional, not a military, organization, very much as we do in the United States. At the outbreak of the European War, however, the British Red Cross immediately ofifered itself and its services to the War Department, issued an appeal similar to the ones issued in the United States for men, money, and supplies, and met with similar gen- erous response. Within almost no time, the British Red Cross had units of doctors and nurses in Belgium. Then it sent hospitals, sup- plies, and personnel to France, with hundreds of ambulances. It established inquiry bureaus in France, in Malta, and in Egypt, to trace the wounded and missing and to identify graves, and to report particulars to the families of the soldiers. The British conducted seven Red Cross campaigns: in France, Serbia, Egypt, Gallipoli, Saloniki, Mesopotamia, and in East Africa. In addition to hospitals, dispensaries, canteens, and rest stations, the British Red Cross provided ambulances, model hospital trains, and a large fleet of hospital ships, and forwarded supplies and staffs of Red Cross workers to the almost innumerable countries and nations where the British soldiers were sent for duty. In some respects the Red Cross of several THE CALL TO GREATER SERVICE 85 foreign countries is more fortunate than the American society, or perhaps we should say has been more fortunate, as the crisis through which the world has been passing has changed many conditions and has opened the eyes of the Ameri- can public more widely to the practical value of the Red Cross, while it has warmed the hearts more sincerely and touched the pulses of our citizens as well as their purses. INCREASE IN MEMBERSHIP AND FUNDS The first great needs of the Red Cross for its new tasks were an increase in membership and an increase in funds. At the beginning of the World War the American Red Cross numbered only 22,000 members, and it had an endowment fund of less than a million dollars. An endow- ment fund is a permanent fund, only the income of which can be used. Japan at the same time boasted 1,800,000 men, women, and children in its Red Cross membership, with an endowment of nearly $13,000,000. No European Red Cross has a membership as large as that of Japan. The Russian Red Cross had a reserve capital of $19,000,000. Several other European socie- ties of the Red Cross exceeded the amount of funds the United States had for its use. Heretofore the American Red Cross had de- pended on its membership dues, on a slight in- 86 GIRLS' BOOK OF THE RED CROSS come resulting from a small percentage on cer- tain sales, and especially upon generous annual contributions from individuals. When any- special relief fund has been needed for use in great disasters, money has always poured in freely in response to public appeals. Rich and poor alike have contributed, and the Red Cross reports contain many pathetic little gifts. Sometimes in the same mail there have come a check for thousands of dollars from some well- known wealthy man and another for two or three dollars from some small mission or church or Sunday School class. Boys and girls send gifts of ten cents or "a quarter" from their own savings, or make articles for sale, or hold fairs and bazaars. Persons who have been helped by the Red Cross in some time of distress, — it may be they were overtaken by fire or flood or famine or earthquake, — are most likely to send in volun- tary contributions when relief is being extended to like sufferers elsewhere. Help has been ex- tended to our country in times of great afflictions by the Red Cross of other lands as well. When the United States was carrying on the Spanish- American War, our Red Cross was aided in its care of the sick and wounded soldiers by con- tributions from the Red Cross of France, Ger- many, Austria, and Portugal. Russia also of- THE CALL TO GREATER SERVICE 87 fered assistance. The Italian Red Cross offered a large contribution for those suffering from the Ohio floods, and at the time of the San Francisco earthquake and fire, the Japanese Red Cross sent to the American Red Cross $146,000 for its relief work. In December, 1904, the American Red Cross had been newly organized and reincorporated, and brought under government supervision by an Act of Congress signed by President Roose- velt, January 5, 1905. The charter provides that the President of the United States shall be president and that among other members of the board, five shall be chosen from the Departments of State, Treasury, and Justice, and that a dis- bursing officer of the War Department shall audit the accounts. The association is the of- ficially recognized Volunteer Relief Society of the United States and is not under any one of the Executive Departments. In time of war its per- sonnel is expected to cooperate with the medical departments of the Army and Navy. APPOINTMENT OF A WAR COUNCIL In April, 1917, the United States formally entered the World War. The following month President Wilson, as president of the American Red Cross, appointed a War Council of seven members to direct the work of the Red Cross "in 88 GIRLS' BOOK OF THE RED CROSS the extraordinary emergency created by the en- trance of the United States into the war." [After nearly two years of administration, the War Council formally went out of existence, March i, 1919, and the management of the Red Cross reverted to the Central Committee. Sev- eral of the leading members of the War Council were elected members of the Executive Com- mittee.] The first task of the War Council was to raise sufficient money to carry on the work awaiting the Red Cross. President Wilson issued a proc- lamation setting aside one week in June as "Red Cross Week," during which "the people of the United States will be called upon to give gen- erously and in a spirit of patriotic sacrifice for the support and maintenance of this work of na- tional need." Six years previous. President Taft had issued a proclamation declaring that "The American National Red Cross is the only volunteer society now authorized by this Government to render aid to its land and naval forces in time of war." This decision was to regulate and control war relief, so that the government shall have super- vision of relief organizations even as it has over the military. Now that the unexpected day had come when the United States was to send "land and naval forces" to war, the government became THE CALL TO GREATER SERVICE 89 also responsible for adequate service of the Red Cross. THE FIRST RED CROSS DRIVE The War Council decided to ask the Ameri- can people for $100,000,000, apportioning the amount to states, cities, and towns throughout the country. Then followed such a nation-wide campaign as had never before been conducted. Every one responded gladly, enthusiastically, and nearly every city in the country sent in more money than had been named as its share. ''Over the top" acquired a new meaning, and loyal Americans who could not go abroad to fight, worked with all their energy to put their towns over the top for the Red Cross. In addition to these contributions many large gifts were made by individuals, by banks and business concerns and great corporations, amounting to millions of dollars. Other busi- ness concerns contributed supplies of almost every imaginable kind; buildings and grounds, houses and offices, warehouses and docks, were offered free of charge or at greatly reduced rentals for Red Cross work; while men and women of unusual ability and exceptional train- ing left important positions to give their time and services to the Red Cross. Artists designed posters; thousands of workingmen gave a day's 90 GIRLS' BOOK OF THE RED CROSS pay; a descendant of Betsy Ross made a flag that sold for $500; a woman sold a hen and a dozen eggs at auction and raised $2002 in that way for the Red Cross; an old lady over one hundred years of age made many bags and sold them for the benefit of the Red Cross ; one morn- ing when a director of the campaign came to his desk, at headquarters, he found fifty cents in silver and a telegraph blank, on which was scrawled, "To the Red Cross from a Messenger Boy." The little patriot-worker had left it there in the night. An Italian sailor, who was at one time in the United States Navy, offered the Red Cross the interest on his small savings in the bank, for the duration of the war. A poor little girl came to the Red Cross booth in a local head- quarters and placed ten cents upon the table, say- ing: "May I become a member of the Red Cross?" The booth chairman told the little girl that a dollar membership was the smallest they had, but that she would gladly make up the dif- ference. The child replied: "No, that would not do," and went away. In a few moments she came back with ninety pennies which she had taken from her little bank, saying: "Brother has gone to France, and I heard from the Red Cross man about the Red Cross following brother everywhere he went. I can't go with him, but you can, so I want to join." She did THE CALL TO GREATER SERVICE 91 her "bit" through the Red Cross. This child's conception was great in its simplicity, and it rep- resents a real vision of the Red Cross. ^ Away up in the northern part of the United States is an Indian Agency which boasts a Red Cross Auxiliary. Men, women, and children all work for the cause. Among the members are Mrs. Medicine Owl, Mrs. Last Star, Miss Julia Wades in Water, Mrs. Wolf Tail. Mrs. Wolf Tail's husband. Chief Wolf Tail, a full- blooded Blackfoot, was the largest Indian donor to the Red Cross War Fund in June, 1917, and he says that the Government may have him for anything. ''I am old," he says, "but my spirit is good yet." In the winter some of these women walked to the weekly meetings across frozen lakes when the thermometer registered twenty degrees below zero. An Indian couple trudged seventeen miles that the woman might pay her dollar for membership. "I want to do something for my country," said she. Membership increased in keeping with the contributions and with the burning interest in "our boys" who had gone — or were going — to offer their lives for the liberty of mankind. In May, 19 17, before the appointment of the War Council, the American Red Cross had 486,194 members and 562 chapters. Six months later '^Red Cross Bulletin. 92 GIRLS' BOOK OF THE RED CROSS there were more than 5,000,000 members and 3287 chapters. A second war fund drive was held in May, 1918. By the first of August, 191 8, the organization numbered 20,648,103 annual members, besides 8,000,000 of the Junior Red Cross — a total enrolment of over one-fourth the population of the United States. NEW ADMINISTRATIVE METHODS Activities of the Red Cross so multiplied, its membership and number of chapters increased so rapidly, that a change became necessary in the method of chapter administration. The continental portion of the United States was divided into thirteen sections: New England, Atlantic, Pennsylvania, Potomac, Southern, Lake, Central, Mountain, Northwestern, Pa- cific, Southwestern, Gulf, and Northern. In each of these divisions all operations of the chapters are now under the supervision of a Division Manager. This officer, a prominent business man of high standing in his community, volunteered his services in every case and de- voted his entire time to the work of the Red Cross during the period of the war. At each of the Division Headquarters located in large, central cities, departments corresponding to those at National Headquarters were created, each with a chief who is responsible to the Divi- THE CALL TO GREATER SERVICE 93 sion Manager, who in turn is responsible to the General Manager. Division supply ware- houses were used for storage of the raw materials used in chapter work and for reception of the finished goods made by the chapters in the sev- eral divisions. Chapters report directly to Di- vision Headquarters and receive their instruc- tions and supplies from the Division Manager, and officials at National Headquarters deal with the chapters through the Division Man- agers. American Red Cross activities after the be- ginning of the war consisted not only in relief work.through the distribution of funds contrib- uted by the American people, but in directing the efforts of Americans scattered throughout the world in their desire to assist in the great work for humanity. The War Council, viewing the Red Cross primarily as the mobilized heart and spirit of the American people, sought to organize not alone the efforts of the men, women and children inside the United States, but to organize relief activities of American citizens throughout the world; in other words, to enable American citi- zens exiled perhaps in foreign lands to come home in a sense through the Red Cross and to help win the war or help relieve the sufferings incident to the war. The War Council's state- ment follows: 94 GIRLS' BOOK OF THE RED CROSS To enroll and classify properly the thousands within the borders of the United States, who at the beginning of the war desired to become members of the American Red Cross and to organize them for the greatest possible efficiency, the United States was divided into thirteen sections, or divi- sions. The work was done as rapidly as possible, but long before the organization was brought to a point of perfec- tion, it was discovered that all the Americans who wished to take part in this work for humanity did not reside within the geographical limits of the republic. Requests for membership began to pour in from distant lands in every part of the globe. These requests were so insistent that it was determined to increase the number of divisions, and so the Insular and Foreign Division, known as the Four- teenth Division, was organized November, 19 17." ^ ''The Fourteenth Territorial Division of the Red Cross was formed in answer to the insistent demand from the four corners of the earth for recognition of Americans living from one end of the world to the other, and with the forma- tion of this division and the sound of the Red Cross call to colors ringing round the world, responses came from Alaska to Argentina, from the West Indies to the East Indies, wherever there is an embassy or a legation, or a consular office, or an American counting house, or ranch or mine." ^ The Fourteenth Division, when but a year 1 American Red Cross Bulletin. 2 Chapman, Dr. F. M., in "What Every American Should Know about the War." George H. Doran Company, 1918. THE CALL TO GREATER SERVICE 95 old, had nearly 150 chapters and branches. In its membership are included South America, Central America, the West Indies (Cuba, Porto Rico, Santo Domingo), Hawaii, the Philip- pines, Japan, China, and Red Cross chapters in neutral Europe, that is, in Spain, Portugal, Sweden, and Switzerland, and in Siberia. So efficiently has the Fourteenth Division answered the call and met the needs of its members; so wonderfully has it guided activities in foreign lands; so practically has it accomplished that for which it was organized, casting the inspiring shadow of the Red Cross everywhere, that Presi- dent Wilson, in a letter to Chairman Henry P. Davison, of the War Council, said of its ac- complishments : "It is a remarkable story, and I share with you the deepest satisfaction for what these comrades of ours scattered throughout the world have done." SPIRIT OF HELPFULNESS AWAKENED Thus Americans all over the world have been assisting in this great work for humanity, and the American Red Cross has become, not only a factor in relieving distressed humanity, but in awakening a sentiment of helpfulness in all quarters of the globe. Through the Fourteenth Division, Americans in foreign lands have been 96 GIRLS' BOOK OF THE RED CROSS kept in constant touch with the ideals of Amer- icanism, and have been given opportunity for service in a truly noble cause. "Red Cross proceeded along the principle of helpfulness, to multiply the helpfulness of each by the helpfulness of all, and thereby make a great, efficient organization. Red Cross takes the man of business, the man of big business, and puts him into service. He goes into this serv- ice with all of his old-time zest and all of his old-time ingenuity, and much of his old-time method of business, but with a new-time pur- pose, with the purpose, not of making money, but with the purpose of spending and being spent. There is nothing more lovely, I think, in Red Cross than this transformation of the American business man from a money-making creature into a creature who is growing daily poorer with great enthusiasm, for the purpose of enriching mankind. "It takes the woman with her ability in house- hold service, with her ability in handiwork, and sets her to work not only for her family but for the nation. Again, it takes the trained nurse, and puts her into the service of nations. One of the first lessons the girls of America had to learn was that they could not go to France to nurse sick soldiers. Surely a suffering soldier needs the touch of a woman's hand on his brow. THE CALL TO GREATER SERVICE 97 Yes, but of a trained hand. I heard a very wise speech made by a trained nurse in which she was telling her audience that aside from all the technical training, the trained nurse must have • — she must have — psychological training, the training of impersonalism, so that she will have an entirely impersonal attitude toward disease and toward the patient. She must be sympa- thetic, but not so sympathetic that she is un- nerved by suffering, and by blood; she must be so impersonal that the patient never becomes anything to her except a suffering mortal that needs her scientific care. This Red Cross of ours is nothing whatsoever except the modern principles of social service applied to war. That is what the Red Cross is, a thoroughly modern thing. Red Cross was born in the nine- teenth century, a century which gave birth to all forms of social service. This Red Cross is only one manifestation among many of the realization that society has come to of its re- sponsibility for individuals, whether working in the factory, or mine, or on the battlefield." ^ By 1919, the Red Cross membership had grown to 22,000,000, the endowment fund had reached about $2,000,000, and subscriptions to the amount of $181,616,491.61 were made. The method of organization for the Red Cross 1 Lecture by Dr. Stockton Axson. 98 GIRLS' BOOK OF THE RED CROSS drives has been for the National Headquarters to lay out a general policy to be adopted throughout all sections of the country. Each division then forms an organization to conduct the drive, and each chapter in turn appoints different men, not closely associated with the office, to carry out the work for the chapter. In this way it was able to organize for the War Fund Drive in practically every community throughout the country. Each drive was an overwhelming success, not only as to the amount of money raised, but be- cause of the spirit shown throughout the na- tion. Contributions came from millions of wage earners and poor people who made real sacrifices that they might be able to give. The gratifying response to the second drive was re- garded among other things as a tribute to the satisfactory way in which the Red Cross Com- missions abroad had performed their tasks. "This outpouring of generosity in material things," commented the War Council, "has been accompanied by a spontaneity in the giving, by an enthusiasm and devotion in the doing, which, after all, are greater and bigger than could be anything measured in terms of time or dollars. It has been because of this spirit which has per- vaded all American Red Cross effort that the aged governor of one of the stricken and bat- THE CALL TO GREATER SERVICE 99 tered provinces of France states that, though France had long known of America's greatness, strength, and enterprise, it remained for the American Red Cross in this war to reveal Amer- ica's heart." By the first of January, 1919, the War Council reported that the American Red Cross had working in France "upwards of 5000 Americans — a vivid contrast to the little group of 18 men and women, who as the first Red Cross Commission to France sailed about June I, 1917, to initiate our efforts in Europe." THE woman's bureau In July, 1 917, the Woman's Bureau of the Red Cross was organized, to meet the new calls arising from the needs of the American men now or soon to be in service. Red Cross agents were sent to France to report especially as to the demands of the doctors and others already engaged in relief work, and to confer with authorities from the British, Canadian, and French Red Cross. Half a million circulars were issued giving simple directions for knit- ting a "set of fours," bed socks, an aviator's helmet, hot water bottle cover, and washcloth. Directions were sent out for making hospital garments, bath robes, bed shirts, operating gar- ments and masks, undershirts and drawers, hot water and ice bag covers. Needs, styles, sizes, 100 GIRLS' BOOK OF THE RED CROSS materials, and colors varied in the articles re- quired for the American men from those sent to the French and Belgians. Four days after the formal declaration of war, the Red Cross an- nounced that conduits had been constructed for leading this supply of hospital equipment and of comforts for the enlisted men, from even the re- motest village, by the shortest possible route, to the precise place where it was most needed. Millions of women all over the country gave much time in chapter workrooms or at home, to service both for the soldiers and for civilians. The American Red Cross has taken care of many civilian disasters. When the immediate calam- ity was over the Red Cross would carry further the civilian work, so that when the war broke out the War Council considered the duty of the American Red Cross should not be alone to our armed forces and those by whose side we were fighting abroad, but equally to the civilian popu- lation in the countries of our Allies and to the families of our own soldiers and sailors. We have developed this organization with the idea of meeting the tremendous responsibilities that we all feel the civilians of this country would wish us to meet for those who have suffered abroad.^ Whereas before we entered the war a few hundred thousand women were engaged in 1 Address by Eliot Wadsworth. THE CALL TO GREATER SERVICE loi chapter production work, and but little attempt had been made to standardize the articles sent abroad, as soon as the war became really our own affair, the number of volunteer workers doubled in a few weeks and kept on increasing until, it is estimated, there were at least 8,000,000 women making Red Cross articles. "Hurry calls" came every now and then, and every one worked more rapidly and more con- stantly than ever. At one time there was a call for 300,000 separate surgical dressings. One small group of chapters alone provided enough of such dressings for use on 188 battleships and destroyers. Again came a cable from the head of the Red Cross Commission in France to "be- gin shipping at once one and a half million each, knitted mufflers, sweaters, socks, and wristlets." Then every pair of knitting needles in the whole blessed land set to work — if indeed there were any idle before! Schoolgirls knitted as they walked down the street to school, others knitted in the cars; women at concerts and lectures or in church knitted as they listened; every woman and girl wore a knitting bag on her arm. "Sometimes when I see those busy flashing knitting needles I want to sit down by the lady and ask, 'Now just what do we understand all of this is about? What is it for? What is the meaning of it, what is the philosophy of it I02 GIRLS' BOOK OF THE RED CROSS all?' That knitted garment means something more than material and workmanship. It is a symbol. It is a symbol of a unified purpose of all the country. "You women who work for Red Cross are working for something very tangible. In many instances you are working for actual soldier and sailor lads. You are working that an actual Sammy's feet may be warm in the trench, and that an actual Jack's throat may be shrouded from the cutting winds that sweep across the sea, that Sammy and Jack may be more com- fortable in trench and on ship, in march and in camp, on battleship and cruiser, in airplane and submarine — working for the welfare of the sol- dier who is fighting our battles. "At the opening of the war there were many women who wanted to make special garments or special relief supplies for some special boy in the army, or for the boys*of their own town. They wanted Red Cross to see to it that their boy got this particular garment. Sometimes they applied to the Secretary of War to make it his business to see to that. In some instances I think the President was approached on it. As time went on the impracticability of this whole thing was seen, and the feeling came that the army must be worked for as a whole, that even though her garments did not reach her boy, THE CALL TO GREATER SERVICE 103 it reached the boy of some other woman, and that this other woman's garments might reach her boy. One woman's service is very like an- other woman's service, and we are all working together in this common cause. I notice that the mother of boys generally loves all boys, and I notice that boys seem to recognize the mother of boys. I was in a railway train recently, and a young soldier came in and said to some sol- diers just in front of me: 'There's a soldier's mother back in that coach at the rear. . You go back and talk to her. A soldier's mother likes to talk to soldiers.' There is a camaraderie be- tween mothers of soldiers somewhat like the camaraderie of the regiment itself. And to you your soldier boy is always just a boy. He may be the champion pugilist of the ship, or of the regiment. He may have grown gray in serv- ice, but to you he is just a boy, your boy. And there is another boy you are working for, though you haven't seen him, you don't know him — the American soldier at large. You are building better than you know, perhaps. You are assisting in keeping those soldiers in what is called good morale, keeping them at fighting edge. "It is very important, this keeping up of morale. Take again your sweater as a symbol. It is a symbol. Materially it warms the lad's I04 GIRLS' BOOK OF THE RED CROSS body, metaphysically it warms the lad's spirit with the thought that the women of the world are with him in this grim adventure on which he has embarked. God pity the army that has got to fight without the knowledge that the women at home are in sympathy with the thing that the army is doing." ^ RED CROSS STATISTICS Janet's Uncle James has a mind for statistics, and he has figured out several rather impressive statements in connection with the division with which he is associated. He says that merely one order received by his division produced two and one-half carloads of pajamas. Another order called for 715,000 pairs of socks. He says the yarn required would weigh 178,750 pounds, and when packed for shipment the socks required 1240 standard cases and filled eight cars. In one warehouse in one division there were received between May, 191 7, and February, 191 9 (less than two years), 1,988,942 knitted articles for soldiers. Uncle James has figured it out that "the yarn required to make these articles, if stretched out in a single strand, would reach 84 per cent of the distance from the earth to the moon, or would circle the earth at the equa- 1 Lecture by Dr. Stockton Axson. THE CALL TO GREATER SERVICE 105 tor eight times. It is equal to 200,622 miles. In making these articles, 41,937,606,390 stitches were required. If ten women had started knit- ting in the year 1653 and had knitted at the rate of thirty stitches per minute without stopping, they would have completed the work on Feb- ruary I, 1919." During one week, seventy miles of black sateen, one yard wide, were cut into children's pinafores by the women of only one division. There were sent to France, Syria, and Jerusalem, for refugees, 883,000 yards of uncut cloth. This amount of material is sufficient to cover a table two feet wide extending from New York to Jacksonville, Florida. On one order in one division were produced 12,000,000 layettes, calling for 432,000 pieces, and requiring 220,500 yards of material. To inspect and wrap these articles would take fif- teen women twenty-five days, working eight hours daily. For packing these articles 700 cases were required. If this number of cases were stacked on end, they would make ten columns, each as high as Bunker Hill Monu- ment. The number of refugee garments allotted to the chapters of one division during December, 1918, and January, 1919, to be finished during January and February, 1919, was 402,463, re- io6 GIRLS' BOOK OF THE RED CROSS quiring 1,203,315 yards of material. "If this material, which is a yard wide, were stretched out on the highway," says Uncle James, "and a person started in an automobile and rode at a speed of twenty miles an hour, it would take from 9 o'clock Monday morning until 7 o'clock Tuesday evening to ride from one end of the material to the other. The material would reach from Boston to New York three times." According to the same authority: "Buttons used on refugee garments in one division, from December i, 1918, to February i, 1919, if laid out in a row on the ground would reach four- teen miles. If stacked, they would make a column reaching as high as the top of Mt. Monadnock, if Mt. Monadnock were placed on top of Mt. Washington. It would take ten people four days of constant work to pick up these buttons at the rate of thirty a minute." grandmother's medal "Grandmother, you're wanted up at the Red Cross rooms," said Janet, as she burst excitedly into the living room one Saturday noon, after having given two hours of her holiday to "do- ing her bit" on some Junior Auxiliary work at the school-house. "Oh, I'm so proud of you, Grandmother, dear! Can't you go up this afternoon and get it?" THE CALL TO GREATER SERVICE 107 "Get what?" asked Grandmother, startled and perplexed at Janet's vehemence. "Why, your medal!" "Medal? For what?" queried Grandmother, more puzzled than ever. She was deeply inter- ested in the war, following the march of the armies as shown in the newspapers from day to day, knowing every move on each side, every geographical name and all the names of the military and civil leaders. Her idea of a medal was an Iron Cross from the Kaiser or a Dis- tinguished Service Medal from the United States. Now, familiar as Grandmother was with the war map of Europe and often as she had traveled the battlefields in imagination, she was quite sure she had not done any deed of heroism that should win a decoration! When she said something like this to Janet's mother, however, she was told that the Red Cross thought she had done something deserving a decoration and she was expected to come to the local headquarters that afternoon if possible. Never was any hero of the battlefield prouder of his Distinguished Service Medal than is Grandmother of her Red Cross service badge on its blue ribbon, which she was awarded for Having worked 1600 hours and having knit 135 articles. And Grandmother is close on to four- score years of age. io8 GIRLS' BOOK OF THE RED CROSS COMFORT KITS "Comfort kits" were popular with young girls. These were made at the expense of the worker and were filled with such articles as she wished to include. Thousands were made and their pockets filled with soap, washcloths, shaving articles, pipe and tobacco, handker- chiefs, writing material, and games. The kits were made of khaki cloth according to a certain type of pattern and each had an American flag on the outside. Hospital bags, also, were a popular gift. In these the hospital patient found a place to keep his own treasures in the way of letters and keepsakes. As Christmas approached, women and girls in all the Amer- ican homes where "our boys" would be missed, — and in many other homes which had no boys to give to their country and therefore felt all the more anxiety to contribute to the comfort of the sons and brothers of others — prepared Red Cross Christmas packages of candy and choco- late and tobacco and little holiday gifts, hoping that not a single American soldier away on duty would fail to receive at least one token of re- membrance. THE JUNIOR RED CROSS Girls and boys did all sorts of things to help the Red Cross during the war. Oftentimes THE CALL TO GREATER SERVICE 109 girl'S and boys worked together or cooperated in one line of work. The boys of an orphan asylum, for example, picked currants for the Red Cross. The cooking class in a school in a near-by city made the berries into jam and put them up in jars and glasses. Boys in the car- pentry department packed the fruit in cases, ready to be shipped to France for use in the hos- pitals. When stories such as these reached the ears of the Red Cross officials who were high in authority, they suggested a new idea. "Why should not the boys and girls of America have an auxiliary all their own?" asked a very wise and appreciative and influential "Red Crosser." "Why shouldn't they?" echoed mothers and fathers and teachers all over the land. "Why shouldn't they?" asked President Wilson, when he heard about it; "and furthermore why don't they?" So a conference was called in Wash- ington and President Wilson issued a procla- mation in September, 1917, a trifle less than six months after the country entered the war, and less than five months after the War Council was appointed, in which he said : "The President of the United States is also president of the American Red Cross. It is from these offices joined in one that I write you a word of greeting at this time when so many of you are beginning the school year. no GIRLS' BOOK OF THE RED CROSS *'The American Red Cross has just prepared a Junior Membership with School Activities in which every pupil in the United States can find a chance to serve our country. The school is the natural center of your life. Through it you can best work in the great cause of freedom to which we have all pledged ourselves. "Our Junior Red Cross will bring to you op- portunities of service to your community and to other communities all over the world and guide your service with high and religious ideals. It will teach you how to save in order that suffering children elsewhere may have a chance to live. It will teach you how to pre- pare some of the supplies which wounded sol- diers and homeless families lack. It will send to you through the Red Cross bulletins the thrilling stories of relief and rescue. And best of all, more perfectly than through any of your other school lessons, you will learn by doing those kind things under your teacher's direction to be the future good citizens of this great coun- try which we all love. "And I commend to all school teachers in the country the simple plan which the American Red Cross has worked out to provide for your cooperation, knowing as I do that school chil- dren will give their best service under the direct guidance and instruction of their teachers. Is THE CALL TO GREATER SERVICE iii not this perhaps the chance for which you have been looking to give your time and efiforts in some measure to meet our national needs?" A w^ide and varied program is offered the young people of the United States, as the Junior Red Cross is supposed to be active in many direc- tions; its members are expected to take part in relief and v^elfare vs^ork, to respond t-o all pa- triotic appeals, as far as they are able and in v^hat ways they are able, and thus permanently to be enlisted among the creative forces of good citizenship. "The training of mind and hand which must precede effective concerted action for community relief and betterment is the goal of the Red Cross, no less than the care of the sick and wounded," say the directors. "Such training involves all the duties of citizenship." Fathers and brothers had gone into the war be- cause they wanted to make the world safe for boys and girls. And the boys and girls — many of them — realized this, and were anxious to do their part, too. The Junior Red Cross move- ment emphasizes the idea of service, and is in- tended to train boys and girls systematically — as it has the older men and women — how to serve their nation and the world intelligently and ef- ficiently. Any one who knows much about girls and boys — that is, "worth while" girls and boys — 112 GIRLS' BOOK OF THE RED CROSS knows that they like to help ; and, indeed, even girls and boys who perhaps may have been thought to be not "worth while" will usually re- veal this one bright gem of helpfulness when just the right occasion or appeal comes to them. The girls and boys of the United States showed by their volunteer service in the early days of the war that their hearts were in the right place. The Red Cross recognized the fact, and said: — "Boys and girls have always had to learn the 'three R's' in school. Why not let the schools also teach them the use of the 'three H's,' Heart, Head, and Hands? Their hearts have an- swered the call, let us train the heads to use the hands effectively." Young people responded in great numbers all over the country. In the first four months 860,741 girls and boys were enrolled in the Junior Auxiliary; by the summer of 1919 there were 10,000,000 members. Boys made knitting needles for the girls to use in the schools and for the Red Cross ; splints ^ for the surgeons to use in the hospitals "over there"; packing boxes to carry supplies to France; and they have made chairs, tables, desks, and other furniture for our returned con- valescent soldiers. Girls made rugs and quilts 1 All the splints used in all our hospitals in France, both of the Army and the Red Cross, came from the Red Cross. THE CALL TO GREATER SERVICE 113 for the hospitals, sewed on aprons, dresses, and underwear for French and Belgian children and their mothers. On summer holidays boys and girls often make a chain of daisies many feet long; could any daisy chain be more beautiful in its symbolism than that formed by the Junior Red Cross, reaching from some schoolroom in the United States — perhaps in a great city, per- haps in a far-away country village — across the ocean to a town of ruin and desolation in France; reaching from a roomful of well-dressed, well- fed, happy, healthy American children, across the ocean to a hut or a shelter or an institution where are huddled groups of half-starved, half- clad, and wholly frightened children? President MacCracken of Vassar College, di- rector of Junior Membership, comments on "how garments made by Juniors in some town in Montana or Louisiana pass quickly across the continent to the Atlantic coast, over the sea to France, and finally into some desolated village where the war refugees are striving to make a home," and adds, "It must mean a great deal to an American schoolboy to know that the pack- ing box made by him will carry supplies to France and will there be split up and used for shelves in a hospital; or to an American school- girl to know that the comfort of a French child may depend on how well she cuts her cloth and takes her stitches." 114 GIRLS' BOOK OF THE RED CROSS The cutting and stitching of those "refugee garments" could be called a joy only because of the loving spirit which consecrated the serv- ice. In almost every instance the garments w^ere painfully ugly! Or so it seemed to the womankind of America. There was much re- monstrance from all quarters at first over the cut and color and material of the garments sent across. It was, indeed, for some time the occa- sion of much perplexity to those in charge of that department of Red Cross endeavor. The sensible and reasonable conclusion was that the American Red Cross should send to those dis- tressed French and Belgian sisters, not the style of garments worn by American women and chil- dren, but the kind of clothing the French and Belgian people were accustomed to wear; and furthermore, the kind of clothing adapted to their condition and situation. French peasants, it was found, did not desire bright colors; especially under war conditions, gay apparel seemed unsuitable and only added to their unhappiness. They enjoyed wearing only garments made like those they had been used to, and an unfamiliar style set their already frenzied nerves into a panic. If articles of clothing were sent to children and they proved to be of a style or fit not familiar, the mothers would remake them, no matter how tired or THE CALL TO GREATER SERVICE 115 feeble the women were. Material had to be durable and sewed very securely, as the peasants wash their clothes by rubbing between stones at the river bank. They were able to get al- most no soap during war times and were al- lowed to have hot water only once a week. The Junior Red Cross turned out thousands of socks, sweaters, helmets, and wristlets, bandages, comfort kits, and scrapbooks. In six weeks, 3000 girls of a certain state turned in 15,000 ar- ticles which were accepted by the Red Cross. The articles were made in the classrooms by giving on an average one hour a week for six weeks. Credit was given the girls in their school record, as Red Cross work was recog- nized as a part of the vocational or manual arts program. Several hundred crippled girls and boys spent many hours of their days in school knitting mufflers and sweaters and wristlets, and squares of woolen blankets for the soldiers. In the poorer parts of great cities there were American children of foreign-born parents, denying themselves all pleasure and in many cases almost the necessities of life, to give money to the Red Cross to help their relatives and friends in the land of their forefathers. There were young girls who worked all day in depart- ment stores or factories who gave their evenings to Red Cross work. There were girls of Rus- ii6 GIRLS' BOOK OF THE RED CROSS sian, and Jewish, and Italian, and Chinese families, who attended high school or college to prepare to earn their own living and who not only worked in their leisure hours for the Red Cross but interested their mothers to help also. And little girls, who were too small to do anything else and yet who were eager to be do- ing something, were allowed to take the wool in Red Cross bags to women who wanted to help but who could not leave their homes, and take finished articles back to the chapter rooms. Boys and girls contributed money toward ambu- lances, planted and raised ''war gardens," went without candy and soda, and ate little or no sugar and wheat bread. "Fudge?" said Janet, "fudge? I should say not, during the war!" and she turned on her brother scornfully and left the room. Of course, her brother had mentioned fudge merely to tease, for it had been the supreme test of her patriotism to give up making her favorite candy. Janet's brother's particular war ac- tivity was in the line of "thrift." He not only earned and saved money for Thrift Stamps, but he saved tin foil, and old newspapers, and card- board, and bottles, and string, and only a genu- ine "Red Crosser" could enumerate the various kinds of "junk" Bill collected and disposed of in different ways for the Red Cross. Janet said THE CALL TO GREATER SERVICE 117 she was "bound to be orderly in spite of her- self, for she didn't dare leave a thing lying around, for she knew she'd never find it again; Bill would have added it to his junk collection." SOCIAL SERVICE OF THE JUNIOR AUXILIARY Of course the Red Cross encourages and co- operates with all lines of civic progress and com- munity enterprise. So it naturally follows that members of the Junior Red Cross will excel in habits of obedience, orderliness, truthfulness, fair play, honesty, courage, self-control, and all those virtues the Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts and Campfire Girls have been practising. High school girls and boys will be encouraged to study into social problems, immigration, a living wage, conservation, and all that sort of thing that will make the members of the Junior Red Cross valu- able members of the community. Teamwork — ^^that is the great underlying idea of the Red Cross. Not each man or each town or each nation for itself, but each for all, with all, and through all. Of course, it is for "Amer- ica First," but it is for America first in service to the whole world as well as first in the hearts of its local people. The Red Cross is to make for Americanization. As it is in the grown-up auxiliaries and chapters and divisions, so it is in the Junior Auxiliary — every one is welcome. ii8 GIRLS' BOOK OF THE RED CROSS There is no question asked as to a person's race, or creed, or color, or condition; all that is asked is, do you want to join hands with everybody else to serve everybody else? During the war, many men who, for some reason or other, could not be taken into the army or allowed to go across as soldiers, joined the several bodies of social, or religious, or philan- thropic workers who were able to care for the special or religious needs of the "boys." There were still others who because of age or health or family responsibilities could not leave home. Many of this class of patriots formed what was termed the "Home Guard." Their duty it was to protect and defend the homes and families in their own cities or towns or villages here in the United States. Two branches of service also belong to the Red Cross. While its first duty is to assist the army and navy authorities in every way in which it has been called upon by them to supplement their efforts in caring for the fighting men at the front or on their way to and from the front, the majority of Red Cross members cannot go to the battlefield, are not trained or fitted for that sort of work, and they are relied upon as a kind of Red Cross Home Guard. Here is where the Junior Red Cross is of great value, protecting and defending those at home against disease and accident. THE CALL TO GREATER SERVICE 119 It is pointed out by those directing the Junior Auxiliary, that while boys and girls will not be able to help in the care of the sick and wounded, there are other kinds of nursing which they can do. "Florence Nightingale long ago made the distinction between 'health-nursing' and 'sick- nursing.' In 'health-nursing' she included all those activities which make for the health of the individual, the family, and the community — everything which helps to prevent illness, to conserve and foster human life, and to build up a stronger and better race. "Something of this spirit and these ideals must inspire the boys and girls who are to help in conserving the strength and health of our com- ing generation of citizens. They should have a special concern in the activities which center around the care of young children. The girls especially might learn all the simpler, more fun- damental things about the ordinary care of babies and small children, and might be able to assist in this work in summer camps and day nurseries as well as in their own homes and the homes of friends and neighbors. Girls of twelve to sixteen can be very useful here, and between sixteen and eighteen they would be able to take a good deal of responsibility in the care of normal, healthy children. We feel that they can also do much in educating the older I20 GIRLS' BOOK OF THE RED CROSS people, especially those of our foreign-born population, in the better standards of infant care, and thus prove an important factor in the Americanization program." ^ Thousands of American babies and good American citizens might be saved each year from maiming and crippling and death, if those near by knew how to give assistance when emergen- cies arise or accidents occur. It has been shown by investigation, that three out of every five in- juries occurring to school children might be pre- vented by simple precautions. The Red Cross, through its First Aid Division, not only in- structs how to act in times of accident, emer- gency, or illness, but seeks to change careless girls and boys into careful girls and boys by education and intelligent caution constantly ex- ercised. Because the thought of maimed or crippled or sick or unhappy children is so particularly pathetic and appeals so strongly and so quickly to our sympathies, and because so much Red Cross work in Europe has been done among these pitiful little innocent sufferers, American boys and girls have been quick to become interested to do all they could to show their friendliness. Wherever the German army went, wherever bat- tles were fought, or wherever country was 1 Address by Isabelle M. Stewart. THE CALL TO GREATER SERVICE 121 marched across, there were left French families without homes, money, furniture, or clothing. Many Belgian homes were wrecked in the same way; and Armenian children have been left to starve after their people suffered torture and massacre. To such families the Red Cross sent food, clothes, blankets, beds, mattresses, kitchen utensils, stoves, garden tools, farm machines, and numberless other things to help them start life anew. CIVILIAN RELIEF ABROAD In August, 1917, the National Red Cross or- ganized special work for the women and chil- dren of France under the Children's Bureau of the Department of Civil Affairs in France. Over there the Red Cross is divided into two de- partments, the department of military and the department of civil affairs. Under the tatter department are included sub-departments :alled Bureaus, for the care of children, refugees, tubercular patients, and others needing help. Dispensaries were located as a sort of health cen- ter in Paris and vicinity. One of the first "units" to go to France for this ''civilian relief," as it is called, was composed of young women from Smith College, associated with the Amer- ican Fund for French Wounded and cooperat- ing with the Red Cross. These "units" took 122 GIRLS' BOOK OF THE RED CROSS charge of several villages — the Smith girls had ten of these to supervise — and they restored houses so that the families could live in them again, distributed chickens and rabbits among the peasants, and bought farming implements and tools for laborers so that men and women and boys and girls could get to work again. Women and children had much of the work to do, because only the men who were too old or too feeble and the boys who were too young to go to war were left in the villages. Classes in carpentry were opened for boys, and in sewing and housekeeping for girls. Doctors and nurses went across the ocean par- ticularly to look after the sick and neglected or pitifully orphaned and abandoned children and babies. They were assigned to duty at all the points of greatest need in France, and groups of two or three were stationed in leading hospitals from which they went out on educational work from house to house, in cities and in country dis- tricts, telling the mothers how to take better care of their babies and children, and especially how to prevent tubercular infection, which is particularly liable to follow trench warfare. Twenty-six thousand children were given medi- cal attendance in France in one month. The slogan was: "Visit Every Baby in France." In order to accomplish this, some unique THE CALL TO GREATER SERVICE 123 methods were introduced. For example, there was the "traveling shower bath." In some re- gions where it was impossible to establish per- manent dispensaries, and where some of the chil- dren had gone unwashed since the previous win- ter, the car with the shower bath splashed soap and water promiscuously and medical aid wher- ever it was needed. One of the nurses sent the following description: "On one side of the camionette is a seat large enough to accommodate a nurse and a sick child. Over their heads is a rack for medicines and in- strument bags, and opposite is a rack for gauze and bandages. On the floor is the shower bath apparatus, of jointed wood and rubber and shiny polished nickel to ca-tch the children's eyes. Warm water is poured into a wooden tub. The chil-d sits in the tub and while the doctor pumps water through the shower the nurse scrubs. As the child whitens, the water blackens. At the finish the rubber shower tube is suddenly shifted into a bucket of fresh cold water and the bath ends with an unexpected douche." American specialists went over to confer with French specialists. They visited French fami- lies and gave their attendance upon the sick free of charge. When at the end of a visit the peo- ple would ask what they should pay, and were told that the Red Cross does not take payment, 124 GIRLS' BOOK OF THE RED CROSS that its work was a slight token of friendship, they would show surprise, protest a little, and then give most genuine thanks. Wholly unforeseen emergencies arose after the Red Cross helpers had reached France and had begun their service for the children. One day telegrams were received at the Red Cross head- quarters in Paris stating that in a certain town where the Germans had been exploding gas bombs, the children were in peculiar danger, as the gas masks worn by older people did not protect the little ones. Next day, eight Red Cross workers arrived. They found all the small children of the town herded together in dirty sheds. Twenty-one of the children were under one year old and the rest were under eight years. Within two days the children had been given fresh clothing, clean barracks to live in, and good, nourishing food ; those who were sick were put to bed and given proper care. The Red Cross then put up new buildings with com- fortable beds and shower baths, and with equip- ment for school and for games, where at least five hundred children could be accommodated, protected, taught, and made happy. In the early part of the war, refugees by the thousands poured into Paris. Margaret, who was serving in a Red Cross dispensary in Paris, went to the railroad station, in company with THE CALL TO GREATER SERVICE 125 other Red Cross workers, one night when a call came for special helpers. The main part of the great station was OGCupied by the British Red Cross canteen which looked after feeding and assisting soldiers passing through the city or transferring at the station for other trains. There was no room for the thousands of refu- gees, mostly frenzied women and helpless chil- dren, who were soon expected to pour into the station. So the Red Cross "got busy" and took possession of the basement of the station. Beds and cots were put up around the sides of the room; counters were set up and supplied with stocks of food, and within twenty-four hours of the first notice received there were more or less hospitable quarters into which to usher those homeless wanderers. Among them were old men and women so weak with exhaustion and excitement and distress of body and mind that they were hardly able to crawl; there were crip- ples who had no wheel chairs to travel in, but were wheeled in baby carriages; and children, hundreds of them, all dirty and tired. Almost every family brought one or more of the family pets. These varied from birds to hedgehogs tied by a string! Here would come an old woman leading a big white goose, there one with a flock of hens, another with a goat, and one girl brought the house cat and a family of kittens 126 GIRLS' BOOK OF THE RED CROSS born on the train. Dogs accompanied the men and boys, and now and then a saucy parrot would scream out a greeting from its cage. Perhaps it was laughable. Yet it was still more pathetic, and seldom would you find a Red Cross helper so unsympathetic as to fail to find a bone for Fifi, a saucer of milk for Min- nette, a cracker for Cocotte, or some crumbs for the hens. For each one of the ''Red Crossers" was thinking possibly of some huggable kitten or dear dog in his or her home back in New England, or away down South in Dixie, or out on the Western Plains or among the mountains. Never did home seem so dear and so far away as when these pitiful bands of refugees looked to the American young men and women for care and comfort. Each "Red Crosser" was think- ing down deep in his or her heart, "Wouldn't it be bad enough to be driven from home, to see your home going up in flames behind you, with- out having to leave Tabby or Towser or Polly to burn or to starve or to fall into the clutches of the enemy?" Many and many an old woman or a little child had absolutely refused to leave home — even when the enemy were beginning to shell the town — unless the goat or the hens could be taken. "Leave my hens for the Boche? Never!" ex- claimed a frantic peasant woman as she and all THE CALL TO GREATER SERVICE 127 the children ran wildly around the yard round- ing up the flock. Almost every refugee toted a bundle containing some special treasure. Feather pillows, feather "pufifs" under which they had slept for years, embroidered pillow cases or towels; in the heavy bundle carried by a woman eighty-two years of age were her best China dinner plates which had been given her when she was married; and in many and many a tiny bundle there was a little China figure of the Madonna. When trains of refugees arrived in Paris or elsewhere, the Red Cross workers, after giving the weary travelers something to eat and the ba- bies plenty of warm milk to drink, talked with each family in an attempt to find in some safe part of the country friends to whom they might be sent. Telegrams flew hither and thither; some families or individuals would be so for- tunate as to find on arrival a letter waiting for them and advising them how to communicate with their friends. Those for whom no more in- timate arrangements could be made, were sent by train to cantonments for refugees in southern France. This work for refugees constituted one of the most important branches of service undertaken by the Red Cross in France and Belgium. Of these desolate people a report said, "They looked 128 GIRLS' BOOK OF THE RED CROSS to the Red Cross for everything — food, shelter, clothing. They had the earth under them and the sky above them, and the American Red Cross for a friend — that was all." Great numbers of babies and children between one and five years old who needed clothing to keep them from cold and exposure, received garments made by the school children of the United States in response to Red Cross appeals. Goods were sent by army transports and by steamers of the United States Shipping Board and of the allied nations. Much cargo space was given free for the Red Cross to use in sending abroad supplies most urgently needed. The stock of goods gathered into the Red Cross warehouses was as varied as that of great wholesale houses or department stores. In addition to foodstuffs and clothing, supplies for the use of hospital staffs were im- ported; also building materials, plowing im- plements and tools for the assistance of French refugees. ''By the summer of 191 8 there were nearly 2,000,000 American soldiers in France. Two or three thousand were sent every month. Sometimes 40,000 men arrived in one day. To care for them over there, docks were built by American labor directed by American engineers. A railroad system was constructed in France, with American cars and engines for American THE CALL TO GREATER SERVICE 129 use." ^ As more and more people went over and affairs overseas became more complicated, an enormously important part v^as played by the Red Cross. One of its first problems was to coordinate all the military hospitals maintained by American and other foreign societies and individuals, and to provide them at minimum cost the supplies and materials they needed. The Red Cross found itself in a country which had become completely stripped during three years of war, and supplies had to be brought from other places than Europe and stored. Therefore, it was necessary to construct warehouses at seaports and along railroad routes, where drugs, medicines, surgical instruments, and other supplies might be available for hospitals in the immediate re- gion. Men over military age were recruited in the United States by the Red Cross to operate the warehouses, men of experience in building warehouses and handling stores. So completely were the warehouses stocked that "an American officer could walk in and find ether, bath robes, adhesive plaster, aspirin, sur- gical instruments, kerosene lamps, canvas aprons, and all sorts of things which the camps might happen to need." Foodstuffs and other sup- 1 Studebaker, John W. "Our Country's Call to Service." Scott, Foresman & Co., 1918. I30 GIRLS' BOOK OF THE RED CROSS plies for the relief of the sick, wounded, and starving people were also carefully stored, ready for any emergency which might confront our own soldiers and sailors in France or the French population itself. Such supplies in- cluded flannel blankets, heavy white cotton sheeting, heavy shoes, condensed milk, flour, rice, beans, corned beef, dried preserved vegetables, and preserved fruits. WAR RELIEF IN BELGIUM The first appeal for war relief that came to the American people, was the cry from Belgium. The American Red Cross responded and began work in September, 1917. During all the time that Belgium was in the hands of the Germans, the greatest need for relief was among the refugees. The Red Cross ''followed the 600,000 Belgian refugees wherever they went and saw that they were provided with suitable food, clothing, and comforts." It helped Belgium support its own hospitals, it established a children's hospital with a dispensary, it or- ganized home visiting, milk distributing, and home and hospital care by an American chil- dren's specialist and nurses. The lot of Belgian children has been pe- culiarly hard; with their fathers in the army, their homes destroyed, and they being refugees. THE CALL TO GREATER SERVICE 131 there was almost no way for them to have proper care. Especially in the small section of Bel- gium which continued to be held by the Belgian Army, the children were subjected to great hard- ship and constant danger. While it is sad to see men wounded by shell and bomb, it is still more tragic and pathetic to find little children torn and mangled by the shells and bombs. In accordance with its belief that after the care of the wounded, the saving of the lives of the children was its greatest duty, the American Red Cross established a colony for Belgian children, and took active work in supplying children's day nurseries and baby-saving work among the Belgian children located in France, Switzerland, and Holland. "The work for children," Major Grayson M.-P. Murphy ^ says, "is not only one of the finest works the Red Cross could under- take, but also one of the most effective in aiding the future Belgium." Belgian soldiers entrenched in the sand dunes, guarding what little was left of their country, were visited by the Red Cross and made more comfortable, supplied with food and clothing, and encouraged to make use of their free time by taking up courses of study under Red Cross direction. Canteens and recreation and rest centers were installed at or near the front. Ad- ^ American Red Cross Commissioner to Europe. 132 GIRLS' BOOK OF THE RED CROSS vanced surgery posts were established almost in the front line trenches for the immediate care of the wounded; for those in hospitals, the Red Cross supplied the most efficient apparatus and surgical aid; for the sick soldiers interned in Holland, it provided food and medicines; and for the numbers who were at large, incapacitated for service, the Red Cross supplied civilian clothes. Warehouses and stores were erected along canals and highways in Belgium to serve as centers of relief distribution; barges and auto- mobiles were obtained and a regular transporta- tion system organized. By means of this system, the Red Cross was able to cooperate with the Belgian government toward furnishing and equipping recovered villages, so that groups of refugees might be able to reconstruct their towns; the Red Cross furnished for this purpose tools, furniture, seeds, farm animals, and other supplies needed for restoring community life. THE AMERICAN RED CROSS IN ITALY Need for American Red Cross assistance in Italy became apparent to the War Council in Washington during the summer of 1917, when from the Austrian front there came swarming all over Italy hordes of homeless, starving, despairing refugees. Upon the arrival of our THE CALL TO GREATER SERVICE 133 Red Cross agents, arrangements were at once made with the American Red Cross Clearing House to open two canteens for refugees at the railroad stations in Rome. Shortly afterward, the volunteer workers who manned the canteens — American residents — received word at four o'clock one afternoon that 12,000 refugees on their way south would pass through the sta- tion six miles out of Rome and the first train was due to arrive at six o'clock. "With but two hours to work, the canteen attendants bought all the hams and sausages they could find. They bought chocolate and cheese and bread and blankets. Piling them into their machines, they made numerous trips to the station. They sliced bread and ham and cheese and piled up thou- sands of sandwiches. When the first train, bear- ing 1000 refugees, arrived, the Red Cross was prepared. Food for the adults and milk for the babies was served. When the last train pulled out at nine o'clock the next morning, every one of the 12,000 refugees had been fed and provided with sufficient blankets to keep them warm." ^ As soon as the Red Cross workers reached Italy they began their care of the soldiers. Packages bearing the stamp of the American Red Cross and containing socks, chocolate, cigarettes, and a variety of useful articles were 1 American Red Cross Bulletin. 134 GIRLS' BOOK OF THE RED CROSS distributed to men in the trenches. Rolling canteens were sent to the front, each canteen be- ing capable of feeding 800 to 1000 men a day. Ten of these were soon in commission. Can- teens and rest rooms were established at stations along the railroads and highways, where men could find rest and food if needed. Am- bulances were placed quickly in commission, manned by American Red Cross drivers. As an illustration of the rapidity with which these were furnished, it may be stated that two days after the United States officially declared war on Austria, there appeared on the streets of Milan one hundred young American Red Cross ambulance drivers, each driving his own car, bound for the Italian front. Foremost in the work done at the front and among the soldiers was that included in the hospital service. It consisted in making the hospitals more efficient in every way, by supplying drugs, instruments, apparatus of many kinds, especially disinfecting apparatus. Throughout Italy diet kitchens were operated for the comfort and support of needy families. Day nurseries, schools for children of various ages, and creches for children under six were maintained; and children's homes and colonies were established in the mountains or by the sea- shore where sickly children were made well. THE CALL TO GREATER SERVICE 135 Health centers for older people were also estab- lished. After the refugees had been fed and the soldiers' families relieved of the great question of how they were to live, the next matter that called for attention was that of employment for those who were able to do some bit for the war. Workshops were opened where hundreds of people were employed in the various occupa- tions for which they were fitted ; workrooms for women were equipped by the Red Cross with sewing machines and thousands of women were employed in making garments. RELIEF WORK IN RUSSIA As early as July, 1917^ the American Red Cross took up relief work in Russia. Events have moved with such uncertainty in that country, that the Red Cross work has neces- sarily been more or less interrupted and decid- edly complicated. There was food enough in Russia, but there were endless difficulties in transporting it. The principal opportunity of the American Red Cross to relieve the scarcity of food lay along the lines of supplying con- densed milk and other concentrated foodstuffs to the people and especially the children of the larger cities. One of the most important measures taken was in providing milk for chil- dren in Petrograd. This work helped to save the lives of over 25,000 children. 136 GIRLS' BOOK OF THE RED CROSS In a little over six weeks the children in 122 schools of Archangel and outlying districts con- sumed the following amount of food at the daily luncheons provided by the American Red Cross : cocoa, 2049 pounds; sugar, 4224 pounds; crackers, 7341 pounds; milk, 8161 cans. As a result of this noonday nourishment there was an increase in attendance and better work on the part of the children. On being told that Ameri- can boys and girls contributed the money which made the daily feasts possible, the Russian children sent toys and letters to Red Cross head- quarters with instructions to forward them to their brothers and sisters in the United States. The work of the Red Cross otherwise centered chiefly on the medical and surgical needs for the army. As opportunities for effective work in European Russia gradually narrowed, an enormous field opened in Siberia, where hun- dreds of wounded soldiers overflowed the hospitals and swamped the already overworked doctors. A hospital on Russian Island, two and a half miles from Vladivostok Harbor, was taken over. Carloads of equipment came from Japan, cases of supplies were sent from Red Cross chapters in Shanghai, Pekin, Harbin, Seoul; and the hospital was equipped with a staff of American and Japanese surgeons, nurses, and other assistants enrolled in Japan, China and Korea. THE CALL TO GREATER SERVICE 137 WORK IN ENGLAND American Red Cross work in England began with the passing of American soldiers through the United Kingdom on their way to and from the front. When American troops landed on a foreign shore, they could receive no formal wel- come from their allies because their comings and goings had to be clothed in secrecy. All the more, therefore, did they appreciate the friendly hand of welcome extended to them by their countrymen through the Red Cross. Still more deeply was the friendly hand appreciated by those .who had experienced the dangers of shipwreck. When the Tuscania was torpedoed, American Red Cross representatives arrived on the scene by the first train from London. They helped to equip the survivors, advanced money to the various agencies at work in caring for the unfortunates, visited all places where survivors could be located and saw practically all the sick. When this immediate need had been cared for, the Red Cross began to make provision for car- ing more completely for those who might suffer a similar accident. At the Irish stations there were kept stores of clothing, first-aid outfits and other necessary supplies, ample for any emer- gency. At properly located points supplies were kept on hand for completely outfitting 6000 ship- 138 GIRLS' BOOK OF THE RED CROSS wrecked Americans at a moment's notice. Ar- rangements were also made for billeting, hous- ing and feeding any number of men who might be unexpectedly landed at ports where there were no British military camps; and a fleet of motor cars was made available for the trans- portation of supplies in case of an emergency. A new problem in hospital work was presented by the large number of small camps of Ameri- can soldiers, especially aviators. This problem was met by the establishment of small tent hos- pitals where soldiers suffering from minor ail- ments could be cared for satisfactorily. There were other camps along the line of communica- tion between the sea and the battle front, in which troops debarked for longer or shorter periods were quartered. The work among them was similar to that done among the troops in the large training camps. Canteens were provided, rest rooms arranged, and everything possible done to make their stay as comfortable as could be under the circumstances. Thus it was that the American Red Cross in Great Britain was with the American soldier from the time he landed on British soil until he left for France. A Red Cross debarkation officer boarded the incoming transport long before it docked, Red Cross workers were on hand in every port and camp, and a Red Cross embarka- THE CALL TO GREATER SERVICE 139 tion officer was almost the last man to quit the outgoing transport before it lifted anchor for a French port.^ IN SWITZERLAND Only during the last six months of the war did the American Red Cross find active work required in Switzerland. Previous to that time the American Red Cross had donated money to the Swiss Red Cross to assist Switzerland in carrying the great burden thrust upon her in caring for thousands of the homeless who were sent across her borders. When the Red Cross workers arrived they constructed and main- tained hospitals, huts, canteens, and homes for soldiers who were obliged to remain in Switzer- land for any length of time; provided for neces- sities among interned allied soldiers and refugees from invaded districts; and anticipated the pos- sible requirements for American prisoners of war interned in Switzerland. These interned soldiers presented a serious problem. They had come from German prison camps where they had been as long as four years, in many instances. A great many of them were mentally ill, and it was absolutely necessary that all who could work should be steadily employed, as idleness af- fected them seriously. Shops were established '^American Red Cross Bulletin. I40 GIRLS' BOOK OF THE RED CROSS by the Swiss government where these soldiers made a great variety of necessary articles, many of which were sent to America, where they met with immediate sale. Work among the civilians in Switzerland was divided into three branches: Refugees from war-invaded districts (this in- cluded the children of these refugees) and the children of interned soldiers; civilian citizens of the United States, or of allied nations, either detained in Switzerland or in transit through the country; and Swiss families, whose sons or fathers were in the United States Army. It was through three great storehouses estab- lished in Switzerland that supplies from the United States were sent to American soldiers in German prison camps. These supplies con- sisted of everything that prisoners might need. There were food, clothing, and material to make clothing, both for officers and men. There were dainties for the sick and comforts for the suffer- ing. There were pipes and tobacco and ciga- rettes and chocolate and combs and shaving out- fits and every and any thing that might lighten the imprisonment of our boys in German hands. Plans were also perfected for keeping up com- munication with them and for sending news of their whereabouts and condition to their families in America, and in returning to them such sup- plies and messages as relatives might wish to for- THE CALL TO GREATER SERVICE 141 ward. In short, wherever Americans were in the hands of the Germans they were being sought out and cared for by the fund which the Ameri- can people so liberally donated to Red Cross work. Arrangements were made whereby the War and Navy Departments delivered to the Ameri- can Red Cross in Paris proper rations and cloth- ing. These were forwarded to Berne, and from there distributed. In order that a record might be kept of whether the food and comforts sent the prisoners reached its destination, a card ac- companied each package. This was signed and returned by post by the prisoner who received it. If the food and comforts did go astray, plans were perfected for tracing them. This was done in the same manner that the men were found and communication with them established. Eighty- six per cent of these cards were returned. "Had it not been for the American Red Cross, I should have starved to death," is the story told by the prisoners of war. "The Red Cross is wonderful," said one who spent thirteen months in German prison camps ; "it kept us so well sup- plied that a prisoner receiving his weekly box never needed to touch the German slop." His testimony is emphatic on two points, namely, that the food served by the Germans "was no better than slop" and that the packages of food sent by the American Red Cross saved the day. 142 GIRLS' BOOK OF THE RED CROSS WORK IN SERBIA AND OTHER BALKAN COUNTRIES Next to Belgium and France, the chief center of American relief abroad has been Serbia. There is hardly a family in Serbia that has not been uprooted and torn from its home, and few that have not lost some member on the battle- field. In villages which had been destroyed by shell fire, the Red Cross Commission found the inhabitants practically without shelter, living in the cellars of their ruined homes. Adobe houses were built for these people. In villages stripped of everything and left desolate by the Austrians, there were found old men, women, and children wholly dependent on charity. The most practical way to help them seemed to be to supply them with seeds and agricultural im-- plements, tractors, farm tools and machinery; and early in 191 8 a party of agricultural experts was sent out to take charge of the work, which would not only feed these people and assure them a livelihood, but would provide reserves of food for refugees in other regions. Small hospitals were erected, and on the Serbian front canteens were operated to give refreshments to convalescent soldiers returning to duty. Serbian refugees were scattered through Northern Greece, and there the American Red Cross again furnished food and clothing and medicine. THE CALL TO GREATER SERVICE 143 In Rumania, the need was probably greatest of all, When the American Red Cross reached there in September, 1917, out of a population of eight million, three million were dead of disease, privation, or on the field of battle, and the remaining five million — panic-stricken, ex- hausted, utterly demoralized — were penned in a nearly barren district, about the size of the state of Connecticut, with nothing to look forward to but death by starvation or disease. In the provi- sional capital, where the government made its last stand, the normal population of 70,000 had increased to 300,000. Wounded soldiers lay three in a bed in the improvised hospitals, or piled one upon the other on the bare floors like the dead inanimate bodies they were soon to be- come. There was no medicine, no clothing, and the small stock of food was diminishing day by day. The thousands of refugees who had fled in blind terror before the furious voice of the German guns could find no shelter; they lived and slept, and in many cases died, in the streets. Famine walked the city in broad day- light. And then came the epidemics. At first they were the ordinary diseases with a high per- centage of pneumonia. Then came cholera, and last, that scourge of demoralized and impover- ished peoples — typhus. Canteens were opened by the Red Cross where 144 GIRLS' BOOK OF THE RED CROSS the people received clothing and medical atten- tion, and where a substantial meal was served at small cost; so great was the suffering that crowds of famished refugees spent the night waiting to be first in line when the door opened in the morn- ing. Two hospitals and an orphanage were maintained, and tons of foodstuffs, salt fish and flour and butter and tea, thousands of gar- ments, medicines, bandages, surgical instruments, serums and vaccines with which to combat the epidemics of typhus and intermittent fever, and materials from which, under their direction, the refugees made garments at minimum cost, were supplied by the American Red Cross. After the armistice, the Red Cross continued to distribute food, clothing, soap, and medical supplies among the destitute inhabitants of the Balkans. In Rumania, Greece, Serbia, Monte- negro, Albania, and other Balkan countries, the American Red Cross carried on its relief work with nearly looo American doctors, nurses and field workers. The destitute were fed and clothed, the sick cared for, and American methods of sanitation introduced. Special at- tention was givea to the welfare of children. The epidemics of typhus and other diseases were vigorously combated. Workers of the Ameri- can Red Cross units have reestablished thou- sands of refugees in their homes, have opened Underwood & Underwood, THE AMERICAN RED CROSS IN THE BALKANS THE CALL TO GREATER SERVICE 145 schools for the reeducation of mutilates and es- tablished plants for manufacturing artificial limbs. Lieutenant-Colonel Henry W. Anderson, in charge of American Red Cross activities in the Balkans, says: "The American Red Cross is doing more than merely distributing supplies. By their presence and example. Red Cross work- ers are inoculating in the people of the Balkan countries new ideas of thrift, self-help and clean- liness, which must have a lasting influence. Through its activities the Red Cross is helping to improve the spirit and morale of the Balkan peoples, who have suffered severely from pov- erty, sickness and misery arising from the war. Americans out here are giving the unfortunate inhabitants of these countries, not only that ma- terial assistance which they themselves are un- able to provide, but that stimulus to greater ef- fort and desire to improve their living conditions which must come from contact with the repre- sentatives of larger and more progressive na- tions." THE AMERICAN RED CROSS IN PALESTINE It was not until the 4th of July, 1918, that the American Red Cross officially began work in Palestine. A Red Cross ship carried 500 tons of supplies to that country, including "every- 146 GIRLS' BOOK OF THE RED CROSS thing that the Commission needed for its work of fighting disease and dirt and want, from anti- meningitis serum to uniform buttons, delicacies for hospital diet. X-ray machines, and Ford trucks to haul this precious life-saving assort- ment." A Commission numbering fifty-seven Red Cross workers undertook to fight the terrible epidemics of typhus and cholera prevailing throughout the country. Hospitals, clinics, dis- pensaries, and relief stations were opened. Medical and surgical supplies, material for clothing and for the establishment of industry, plows, water pipes, condensed milk — everything necessary to feed starving children, to give work to their mothers, and to bring about health and cleanliness, were provided as far as possible. "It is a far cry to Palestine. But the thought of Ford trucks hauling hundreds of cartons of American thread and tins of condensed milk over the hallowed cobblestones of the Holy City ought to make Jerusalem and Jericho more real to us than dots on the Bible maps." ^ 1 Heath, Elizabeth M., in Red Cross Magazine. CHAPTER IV The Red Cross at Home A YOUNG girl came into a city department store one bright spring day and walked slowly down to the ribbon counter, A young girl buying ribbons on a sunny spring day is suggestive of new spring hats, and she should have a face as bright and sunny as the day. But a cloud over- shadowed this girl's face, and her interest in rib- bons seemed only half-hearted. As she waited for change, a lady approached. "Why, how-d'you-do, Madeline ! I'm so glad to see you! How's your mother? Not well? Oh, I'm sorry. And what do you hear from your brother?" Madeline's eyes filled with tears which fell un- heeded on the bundle of new ribbons. "Oh, we haven't heard from Bob for so long! We're worried to death about him! That's what is making mother just about sick, and father's so cross no one dares to speak to him — you know how fathers act when they feel unhappy. Of course mother and I can cry, but Dad can't, poor old dear! You see, we haven't heard from Bob 147 148 GIRLS' BOOK OF THE RED CROSS since last February, and we don't know where he is, whether he is still in France or has been sent to Germany, or whether he's somewhere sick in the hospital. We imagine all sorts of things, and — " "There, there, my dear girl! Don't say an- other word and don't shed another tear. No doubt Bob's all right, only his mail has been de- layed or gone astray. And I'll tell you what to do. You go down to the Red Cross office on Street and tell them the whole story, and those people will straighten everything out. Hurry along now, so as to get there before the office closes. I'd go with you, only it's so late and I have to catch a train. Good-by, good luck. You'll be all right once you get into touch with the Red Cross." Two other ladies also waiting for change at the ribbon counter could not help overhearing the conversation, and as they both wore buttons on which was a tiny red cross on a white back- ground, perhaps they may be forgiven for not trying not to hear! As the girl hurried briskly away, her face alight with hope, the two ladies smiled and nodded their heads encouragingly and said to each other, "That's so, she'll hear from him. The Red Cross will look the brother up all right." THE RED CROSS AT HOME 149 INFORMATION DEPARTMENT A most highly valued branch of Red Cross service during the v^ar was the information de- partment, which acted as a sort of "go-between" for the soldiers and sailors and their families. "What's happening to the folks at home is in- deed the most important thing in the world to the member of the family who is in the army or navy," says the Red Cross. Of equal im- portance to the "folks at home" is what is hap- pening to the member of the family who is in the army or navy. When mail was delayed or lost or held up by some censor on the way, when re- ports came of casualties overseas, when allot- ments necessary to the support of the family did not arrive, the Red Cross stood as a friend ready to investigate and supply information — or, in case of immediate need, to supply funds; for the Red Cross found a way of doing for the families of soldiers and sailors when trouble or mis- fortune came to them, what the men themselves would have wished to do were they at home in- stead of at the front or on the sea. HOME SERVICE SECTION President Wilson in an official proclamation designated the Red Cross as the one agency with which the government would cooperate in help- ISO GIRLS' BOOK OF THE RED CROSS ing the families of soldiers and sailors. Wher- ever households were found to be in need of help, whether in city, town, or country, there a Home Service Section was formed as part of the local Red Cross Chapter. The Home Serv- ice Section is a committee of men and women representing, when fully organized, every pro- fession, interest, and calling in the country or town which it serves. The lawyer, the doctor, the nurse; the social worker, the teacher, the clergyman; the business man, the business woman; the housekeeper; the woman with an interest in civic affairs; Jew, Catholic, Protest- ant; rich and poor, are welcomed to member- ship. It is made up, especially in the larger towns, of such a variety of people that no matter what happens to a family, no matter what the nature of the difficulty which confronts it, some member of the committee will have the knowl- edge, the experience, and the acquaintanceship needed for the solution of the problem. It is not charity, but ''only that neighborliness which is due every fighter from the people of the whole United States." There were less than a dozen counties in the United States that did not have facilities for reaching and serving soldiers' and sailors' families. The neighborhood was oftentimes rather broad in its area, as in the case of one young THE RED CROSS AT HOME 151 Home Service worker who drove twenty miles across the mountains and back again in order to get word to a father and mother that their son in a neighboring state lay hopelessly ill in camp and that they must be on their way im- mediately if they would be with him at the end. Sometimes it was the seeker for information who undertook a journey to local Red Cross headquarters, in confidence that the desired help would be found as a reward for the hardship of the trip. In a cabin high up on a mountain lived a mother whose only boy had gone across the seas to fight. The boy sent home post-cards from places with strange names and the mother did not know how to picture these foreign towns. So one day she started down the mountainside to find the Red Cross worker of whom the rural mail carrier had told her. Many weary miles she walked, but not in vain. The Red Cross worker invited the tired woman into her house, settled her in a comfortable chair, gave her a refreshing cup of tea and a bit of cake, and then asked her what her errand was, what assistance she needed. "I want to know," said the mother, "if you can tell me anything about Nancy — not a girl, a place in Europe. My boy writes me that he is there. It's so lonesome at my farm up in the hills that when I hear of my son being in some 152 GIRLS' BOOK OF THE RED CROSS place like that, so far ofif and strange, it seems as if I had lost him altogether. If somebody could just tell me something about the place it would help." She was shown a book which the Red Cross worker, luckily, found on her shelves, a travel book with pictures and fascinating descriptions of Nancy with its quaint old-world streets and its people. "That's fine," said the soldier's mother, as she rose at last to begin her journey back up the mountain. "That really puts my boy back on earth again. May I come here and look at that book again if I get kind o' lonely up at the house? The Red Cross could do a lot for us folks if they'd tell us about those queer places where our boys are." The Home Service workers of the Red Cross undertook to care for the families of soldiers and sailors so well that while fighting in foreign countries they need not worry about their homes ; that on their return from war they might find their wives and children well and happy. The Red Cross realized that "nothing puts more courage into a fighting man than the thought that those he is fighting for are going to be cared for while he is absent." On the other hand, "let but one man worry and he will become a drain upon the vitality of all those who are fighting THE RED CROSS AT HOME 153 near him. That is why the soldier with a buoy- ancy of spirit is more valuable to a regiment than a squad of sharpshooters. That is why the Red Cross has been one of the most important factors in winning the war, for it was the knowl- edge that all was well this side the trenches, in the United States, that encouraged a man to fight with the best he had in him." Sometimes it was a question of money that was harassing a family. In many instances the Red Cross was able to give practical aid for tem- porary relief and, what was still more valuable, counsel as to how to plan for the future. Many other kinds of help were freely given. "Prob- lems in soldiers' and sailors' families have arisen from sickness, worry, backward or unruly chil- dren, perplexities in household management, business and legal tangles, mental depression, and sometimes mere longing for the man gone away. These things have kept soldiers' families from happiness sometimes when there was no actual pressing need for funds. Home Service committees, by enlisting the aid of physicians, lawyers, business men, housekeepers, and teach- ers, have successfully aided thousands of families to overcome such troubles. A few weeks after a certain soldier enlisted, a moving van drew up at the door of his home and his wife was told that the furniture they had 154 GIRLS' BOOK OF THE RED CROSS been paying for on the installment plan must be taken away as the payments were overdue. Of course the young wife was in tears, pleaded for a little more time, explained the reason for her lack of money, and really succeeded in gain- ing a few days of grace. She applied to the Red Cross. It supplied the necessary funds, and also gave friendly advice which helped the woman SD to arrange her affairs that future payments could be promptly met. The United States surely would not wish to have the family of one of its soldiers left in such distressing circum- stances because it had sent away the man of the family who looked after the money end of the household! On a farm back in the country lived a couple well along in years, and two sons. The younger son was within draft age and went to war. Two weeks after he had left home, the older son was suddenly taken ill and died. It was just harvest time. What were the parents to do? The Red Cross came to their aid. The couple needed help to get in their crops, and the Red Cross rallied the other farmers to their assistance. Meanwhile, the Red Cross stood behind the farmer and his wife financially, until they could get their affairs straightened out. THE RED CROSS AT HOME 155 ELEANOR AND EUGENE Eleanor and Eugene were twins and they were orphans. They had a slender income and Eu- gene was earning enough before the war so that the two could live comfortably. When Eugene went away, Eleanor was not in very good health, and the sadness and worry caused by the separa- tion resulted in her illness becoming serious. Indeed, the physician said the girl had tuber- culosis and that she should be sent away to a sanatorium, in which case she probably would recover. But what sanatorium, and how could she get there, and how should she prepare herself to go, and what about the household arrange- ments while she was gone? To the Red Cross Home Service the case was reported, and all ar- rangements were made. Eleanor went to the sanatorium and was cured, so that she was able to go to meet the transport when Eugene came home. SUE AND SAM When Sam went away, brave and handsome in his sailor suit of blue, he felt very happy to think he had left Sue so comfortably settled in a relative's home where she would not be lonely or neglected. Little did he imagine that after a few weeks had gone by, his wife would 156 GIRLS' BOOK OF THE RED CROSS be miserable. Like any unselfish girl, at first she had offered to "help with the work," to "do" the dishes, make the beds, dust the living room, "brush up" the kitchen, scour the knives, and to do many such trivial but very necessary parts of daily housework. Little by little Sue assumed one duty after another, until before long the family began to treat her as if she were their servant. Sue felt that it was one thing to offer to do things, to work with the other women of the household, but quite another to be ordered to do things and furthermore to be expected to do nearly everything. However, Sue said to herself, perhaps they thought she expected to "work for her board" and in that case she was willing to work hard and then she could save all Sam's allotment when it came. Instead of that, when Sam's allotment did come, the rela- tives claimed it all since they "had been so good as to give her a home." A friend of Sue's dis- covered the situation (she had unexpectedly called on Sue one day and had found her cry- ing) and as she was a member of the local Home Service of the Red Cross, she took the matter up with several of the most discreet women of the chapter; a plan was soon worked out by which Sue was invited to become a member of some one else's family and act as a "mother's helper" instead of a family drudge. THE RED CROSS AT HOME 157 Many times it was not a question of money at all. "It is sometimes much more valuable to take a mother to the moving pictures than to give her $25," said one of the Red Cross direc- tors. As President Wilson has said, "To hold on where there is no glee in life is the hard thing." There are so many schemes and ways that must be learned in order to administer this "home re- lief" that it was found advantageous to have home service institutes. Therefore, in twenty- seven colleges of the United States there have been run regular courses in home service work. Interested workers go to these schools and study the most approved methods of rendering this service to families throughout the country. These home service institutes have been crowded with the chairmen of home relief sections throughout the United States.^ ADELE Adele was just lonely and did not know what in the world to do with herself ! She and Rob had been keeping house since their marriage, a short time before, in a lovely little apartment of four rooms. Now Rob had gone to war and all Adele had to do was to take care of those four rooms. And somehow the rooms didn't 1 Gibson, Harvey D., in "What Every American Should Know about the War." George H. Doran Company, 1918. 158 GIRLS' BOOK OF THE RED CROSS seem to need much taking-care-of nowadays! There was no Rob to bring mud in onto the rugs, there was no Rob to leave newspapers lying around to be picked up, there was no Rob to pull the shades up and leave them at all sorts of height; there was no Rob to mix up the sofa cushions and leave them to be straightened out; and as there was no Rob to cook for, some way there did not seem to be much cooking done. So after Adele had fed the canary and given it a bath, given kitty her breakfast, dusted the four rooms — although they did not seem to get very dusty, — then what was she to do? Look at Rob's picture, shed a few tears, hug kitty-cat, and then think how sad and different everything was from what she had anticipated! She was in no need of money or of friends, but she did need occupation. Well, just as in Sue's case, a friend came to call unexpectedly, found the girl crying, and applied a remedy forthwith. "Get on your coat and hat, bring your knitting bag and thimble and scissors, and come right along with me," said the friend. "We need you down at the Red Cross rooms. No idle hands in this town while the war is on, and while Belgian and French babies and women need clothing. Now we want you at the Belgian relief Mondays and the French babies Tuesdays and at the Red Cross THE RED CROSS AT HOME 159 rooms all the rest of the time. Oh, yes, and you can go around with Mrs. Brown in her auto- mobile collecting magazines to send over to the soldiers, and they want more help at the can- teen, and we need a teacher for a class of boys in our Sunday school, and — " Well, there were no more idle days for Adele. In the next letter to Rob, she wrote that she was "well and happy and just rushed to death with Red Cross work." MILDRED Mildred was another lonely girl-wife. That is, she was lonely for Charlie. She found plenty to do, for in addition to the care of her small apartment, Mildred had little Ruth to look after. Her days were filled with work — blessed work, for it kept her too busy to miss Charlie so much — but the evenings ! After Ruth was tucked into her tiny bed and was sound asleep for the night, Mildred would look through the newspaper, and then — then was the time she missed Charlie. Her only comfort at this time was in her victrola. Not long before her husband had gone to war, they had bought the victrola — on the installment plan — and their friends had given them a ''rec- ord shower." What a comfort it was now! When Charlie and Mildred had bought the victrola they had selected one costing $150. Only $30 had been paid when Mildred realized i6o GIRLS' BOOK OF THE RED CROSS that she could not meet all the expenses necessary to running the little home, and supporting her- self and the baby, and pay the installments on the instrument. And yet, how could she let it go; she needed the music so! The Home Service worker solved the difficulty by persuading the dealer to exchange the machine for one costing $50, and to consider the $30 which had been paid toward the purchase of the victrola as part of the price of the smaller phonograph. GIRL BRIDES Girl brides presented many problems for the Home Service workers. They received the news of their husbands' enlistments or of their being drafted into service, in very different ways. Some encouraged or urged their husbands to go, were brave and held their heads high as if proud to "do their bit" by sending to war the dearest treasure in their possession, held back their tears, and waved gay farewells as the men marched away. Some tried to be brave and proud and gay, but found it oh, so hard; their heads would droop, their tears would flow, and when their boys marched away the poor little wives col- lapsed. Other girls were rebellious; they couldn't see why the government should step in and break up their homes, take away the one man they had left everything else in the world THE RED CROSS AT HOME i6i for, and very likely take away their only means of support. For each and all of these girls the Red Cross had its mission. HELEN AND PAUL Helen was pretty and bright and good, and tried her best to be glad when Paul said that he felt it to be his duty to go to France. He had persuaded himself for some months that his first duty was at home, that Helen and dear little six- weeks-old Florence were his first care and that he really couldn't and shouldn't and wouldn't leave them. But as friend after friend enlisted, Paul began to feel like a shirk, and at last he could no longer withstand the call of Uncle Sam. So he closed his office, where he had begun to be so successful, put on his uniform, kissed his wife and baby — that new baby that he had en- joyed so short a time — and marched away. Helen was all excitement, and her cheeks were so rosy and her eyes so bright and she wore such a becoming dress, that as she stood in the window holding Florence in her arms to wave the last good-by when Paul turned the corner and would be sure to look back just once more, she was a picture that her husband could never forget. How the recollection of that sweet brave girl and the dear baby cheered and comforted the young soldier, and how the vision helped him i62 GIRLS' BOOK OF THE RED CROSS fight for those other women and children across the seas! Every now and then, as the American soldiers entered a French village recently de- stroyed by the enemy, Paul would chance to see a young woman with a tiny baby in her arms, weeping by the ruins of her little cottage, per- haps, or over the grave where her dear soldier lay. Then Paul's lips would shut firmly to- gether, his chin would lift, his brows would darken, his eyes would blaze, and he would press on with renewed energy, determined to fight for the safety of all women and children every- where. As soon after that as Paul saw the sign of the Red Cross he would tell some one about this woman and baby, and ask, "Is the Red Cross looking after the families in that town?" After a while there came the day when Paul was wounded and taken to a hospital. His com- pany had been out over the top. Only a few boys came back. It had been a furious battle and great confusion had followed. When Paul opened his eyes, he found himself looking directly at a tiny red cross on a white cap above a face which he knew at first glance was an American face. Paul smiled. "I don't know what has happened. But I know I'm all right. Red Cross, you know — " and off he went into un- consciousness. When later he was able to talk, and to think seriously, of course his mind went THE RED CROSS AT HOME 163 Straight to Helen and the baby. Why, it was for women and babies he had been fighting, and had been wounded! Well, what would Helen say now? Wouldn't she be glad and proud! Upon second thought, however, would Helen, did the nurse think, be worried and sad? Oh, that mustn't be! Had it been a bad battle? Many lost? Dear me! then there would be all sorts of dreadful headlines in the American newspapers, and Helen — ''Oh, Nurse! get some one to cable, can't you, and let Helen know I'm all right?" Sure enough, there had been all sorts of dread- ful headlines in the American newspapers, and poor brave Helen read among the list of those "missing" the name of her own dear Paul! Somebody in America fainted then! And then, also, somebody in America telephoned to the Red Cross "couldn't they possibly get informa- tion about Captain Paul So-and-So of Co. So- and-So in the battle of So-and-So, and so on." Here again was the Red Cross like a strong chain or cord stretching out to Paul in France and Helen in America, and soon the glad tidings came that Paul was safe, would soon be con- valescing and wouldn't Helen please pray for the babies of France. When the war ended and Paul came home, the Red Cross had no warmer friend than the happy young couple who came i64 GIRLS' BOOK OF THE RED CROSS with Florence to thank the people at Head- quarters for their blessed service. LOUISE Louise was really a "war bride." She was only in her 'teens and would never have been married so soon, had it not been that Joe was off to the war. She was a slender child, an orphan, and dependent on her own efforts for a livelihood. She was clever and bright and popular, and had always been able to earn her living, and she had expected to work for several years before she and Joe together had saved enough to set up a home. Now, however, Joe was going to leave her. Oh, yes, she wanted him to go, but she would be left all alone, and so lonesome. Joe insisted she should marry him before he left, and she at last consented. Joe was in the navy and was sent across seas as one of a submarine destroyer's crew. Poor little Mrs. Joe worried day and night, until what with worry and hard work and no one to take her any- where to have a good time and get cheered up, and nothing to do evenings but wonder whether Joe was being blown to pieces, and then to cry herself to sleep, — it was no wonder that one morning she could not get out of bed and had to confess that she ''felt sick." Now who was going to look after Louise? THE RED CROSS AT HOME 165 Her landlady could not afford to undertake that responsibility, the girl had no relatives and no friends who could be called on in such emer- gency. "Emergency." Why, that word sug- gested the Red Cross. Did the landlady sup- pose that — as she was a "Jacky's wife" — the Red Cross would help her? The landlady was sure it would. Wasn't there a Red Cross poster in her parlor window, at the side of the service flag Louise had hung there? "Well," the land- lady said, "if I'm a member of the Red Cross and you're a sailor's wife, I rather think we're on the right track for help." Once more the telephone rang in a Red Cross headquarters. And in this great city where Louise was of about as much account as an ant, the response was just as quick and just as cordial as it had been when Helen had sent in her call from her nest of a bungalow in a small town where every one knew every one else and was ready to help. In almost no time, a Red Cross visitor had called to see Louise, and then in next to no time the sick girl was in bed in a hospital. During the following weeks when typhoid fever held her in its clutches, and Louise could not write to Joe, it was a Red Cross visitor who wrote to the young husband, telling him that Louise was all right and would be looked after by friends until his return. For as soon as the girl i66 GIRLS' BOOK OF THE RED CROSS had recovered sufficiently to get to work again, an easier and more profitable position was found for her, and there she remained until Joe came home in the spring. "There'll always be a Red Cross poster in our window," they say, ''even if we never have more than one room to live in." ROSIE AND DAVE Rosie was a girl of unhappy disposition. She had always been more or less of a silly type of girl, shallow and selfish. She lived in a factory town and before her marriage worked in one of the mills. All her wages went for gay hats, bright feathers, and flowers, and veils, cheap but "stylish" dresses, sport coats, and the latest fashion in shoes. After she married Dave that young man began to complain before long about the foolish way in which Rosie spent the money he worked hard to earn. (Some way, he never had thought about that sort of thing before he married Rosie !) Then Rosie became cross ; and Rosie continued to be cross most of the time, Dave thought. When the call came for boys to go overseas, Dave fairly jumped at the opportunity to get away from Rosie. He was among the first to enlist from his town. And then to his surprise Rosie rebelled. She told Dave that he had no tight to go away; that they had never saved THE RED CROSS AT HOME 167 a cent; and how was she going to live? She couldn't go to work now, and what was she going to do? Dave explained to her about his allotment, but she regarded his explanation scornfully. During the weeks that Dave was in camp, he was made miserable by Rosie's letters, always full of complaints, and he was glad that he was among the troops to be sent across quickly. Rosie's last letter was such an outcry of anger and grief and almost despair, that Dave was com- pletely unnerved. The day the transport was to leave the dock, Dave literally "went all to pieces." His legs refused to hold him up, and he sank on the floor of the dock, burying his face in his hands and crying like a baby. "Look here, son, this won't do!" said a man's hearty voice beside him. "Buck up, man! The boys will make fun of you if they see a big chap like you sitting here crying!" Poor Dave! That was it! The other boys! Their mothers and sisters and sweethearts and wives had been to see them off, but nothing for his last memory but hateful letters taunting him for leaving a wife who needed him. "What's the matter, anyway, my boy?" per- sisted the man at his side. "Look up at me a minute. Don't I look as if I were a person you could trust? Tell me your trouble, and let me i68 GIRLS' BOOK OF THE RED CROSS see whether I can help you out. You see this button on my coat? You recognize it? I thought you would. Yes, I'm a Red Cross of- ficial, and I give you my word that I'll do any- thing I can to help you, if you'll tell me your story." Dave's heart was touched and his judgment told him he was doing right to unburden his mind to this brother-man. So he told him hastily the whole sad tale. And he said every- thing had come to him in a flash just as he was about to go aboard the transport, and he just "could not go and leave Rosie that way." "Now, see here," said the Red Cross official (and Dave never knew how important an official that was who came to him in such simple kindly fashion) ; ''now, see here, if I promise you that I'll send some one to see your wife as soon as this boat starts, and that the Red Cross will look after her all the time you're gone, in some way or another, will you brace up and be a man and go on board like a man, and then do your duty as a man and as a soldier over there?" Dave rose, held out his hand, bowed, saluted, and did all sorts of things at once to indicate respect and consent, and walked aboard ship with new confidence and assurance for the future. In France he dreamed of Rosie, and always over her head he saw the Red Cross, and when he Underwood & Underwood PACKING THE CHRISTMAS GIFTS FOR WAR ORPHANS THE RED CROSS AT HOME 169 awoke it was with a sense of peace and safety. When everybody looked for letters on those ex- citing days when mail arrived, Dave for several weeks was among those who were always dis- appointed. Until at last one eventful morning a letter came from Rosie. "Dear Dave," it said, "I'm awful sorry for being so cross to you. I see it different now. I'm glad you're over there. Do all you can for the girls and the women and the babies. And do anything you can for the Red Cross. Oh, Dave, they're awful good to me. Everything is fine the way they've fixed things for me. You see, they help me, but they let me help them, so it's all right. It isn't charity, you know. They've showed me how to sew and make things, and I make things for my- self and I make things for the Red Cross. I guess you'll find things different when you come back, Dave. With love and kisses — Rosie." Well ! If Dave had cried on the dock the day he left America, that was nothing to now! He hurried away as far as he dared to go, threw himself down behind a big overturned tree, and sobbed and sobbed. But the tears he shed now were tears of joy. And what do you suppose he did when a few days later a cable came: *'You are the proud father of a handsome son." Dave did not shed any tears then. He just danced for joy. "Dear Rosie!" he said in the I/O GIRLS' BOOK OF THE RED CROSS letter he sent her, "now you'll have some one to keep you company till I get home. I'm glad you've learned to sew and keep house all right. And those Red Cross nurses will teach you how to take care of the baby. They do that over here. All these poor, little, dirty, half-starved babies! Oh! Rosie, our baby will never look like these! But the Red Cross nurses wash them and feed them and dress them in new clean clothes that you make over there in America, and then they teach the mothers how to take care of the babies afterward. God bless the Red Cross, I say, Rosie, don't you? They've helped me, too, the Red Cross men over here with the United States Army, they've helped me to see a lot of things different, the same as you, Rosie, so I guess everything will be different when I get back. I s'pose you get my allotment all right, don't you? If you don't get it any time, just tell the Red Cross, you know. Here's kisses for you and the baby. Good-by. Dave." There were other kinds of home service made necessary by the war, which perhaps may not be scheduled under the Home Service beginning with capitals but in which many plain, everyday members of the Red Cross participated. In many a letter sent home by Red Cross nurses and other workers, and in many a diary kept by them, THE RED CROSS AT HOME 171 occur such sentences as these: ''And then the Mayor called a Boy Scout who took us to our quarters," or 'The commandant turned us over to a Boy Scout who would show us the way." The Boy Scout has proved himself very useful in war times — as he does in all times. Sir Robert Baden-Powell has paid tribute to the work of the Scouts in England during the war in responding to the demands of the army and navy departments, and said, "A great honor was done them when the guarding of the bridges and the railroads was turned over to them at the beginning of the war." BOY SCOUTS Elizabeth sat at her desk one afternoon in- dustriously "pounding out" a few difficult letters on the typewriter. Every one else had gone lome and the doors throughout the suite of offices were all open. Suddenly Elizabeth became aware of the sound of footsteps, rapid and not very heavy, and looking up she beheld a boy in khaki approaching. As he came nearer, Eliza- beth recognized in him a wide-awake, energetic Boy Scout, short, sturdy, and smiling. He came to a halt and saluted. Elizabeth returned the salute — being herself what her boy friends call "a good scout" — and said, "What can I do for you?" "Are you a member of the Red Cross?" 172 GIRLS' BOOK OF THE RED CROSS he asked. "I am," she replied. "Have you subscribed to the last 'drive'?" "I have," she re- plied again. ''AH right. That's all. Thank you. Hope I haven't troubled you." "Not at all," said Elizabeth, "glad to have seen you." And w^ith another salute off marched the Scout. Boy Scouts are not permitted to do any mili- tary w^ork or allowed to perform the part of a soldier in any way. The training, however, renders them "efficient and dependable in send- ing messages by wire, wireless, or semaphore; m cooperating in the protection of property by ac- cepting definite assignments for the purpose of giving alarm in case of danger; in distributing notices and gathering statistical information for the use of the civil or military authorities; in acting as messengers and orderlies; in rendering first aid to the sick and the injured, and otherwise cooperating with agencies organized for relief work and assuming some definite part in the American Red Cross Society." ^ President Wilson said concerning the Boy Scouts' patriotic work: "The Boy Scouts of America have rendered notable service to the na- tion during the world war. They have done effective work in the Liberty loan, war and sav- ings campaign, in discovering and reporting upon the black walnut supply, in cooperating ^ Red Cross Magazine. THE RED CROSS AT HOME 173 with the Red Cross and other war work agencies in acting as dispatch bearers for the common public information and in other important fields. The Boy Scouts have not only demonstrated their worth to the nation, but have also materially con- tributed to a deeper appreciation by the Ameri- can people of the higher conception of patriot- ism and good citizenship." GIRL SCOUTS AND CAMP FIRE GIRLS Neither were the Girl Scouts nor the Camp Fire Girls idle. They were very active in the food conservation campaign; they sewed for the Red Cross; and they assisted as waiters at Red Cross suppers, and dinners, and bazaars. Sav- ing and serving became their slogan, and many Red Cross service badges were won by these girls. Girl Scouts and Boy Scouts both worked in harvest fields, and helped to gather crops of potatoes, corn, apples, and prunes. Sir Robert Baden-Powell, at the close of the war, said, "The Girl Scouts of America played a part in the great war and played it well. Naturally, the girls of England and France had a greater opportunity to demonstrate their value to the world because of their nearness to the scenes of activity during the late war." "The girls of England have done more than their share in taking up the burden of war work," 174 GIRLS' BOOK OF THE RED CROSS said Mrs. Juliette Low, founder of the Girl Scouts in America. "They have given service of more than special note in V. A. D., Red Cross, St. John and other hospitals in London, acting as- scullery maids, orderlies, laundresses, secre- taries, messengers, assistant quartermasters, band- age and hospital dressings makers, chemists, and an infinite number of other things. Several of them were sent to France to serve in connec- tion with the peace conference under the foreign office, and they have helped to support the Y. M. C. A. huts for British soldiers abroad. Every- thing that girls can do, and some things that we don't ordinarily expect girls to do, the Girl Guides (as the Girl Scouts in England are termed) have turned their hands to, just as the girls of America have done in their way. And the Girl Scouts of other countries have been mak- ing names for themselves too. The war has in- deed done a great deal to bring them all to- gether." CAMP SERVICE Everywhere patriotic women of the Red Cross put their automobiles at the service of the chapters for errands and for carrying bundles; and in some places near local military hospitals, the automobiles were offered for ambulance serv- ice. Young women of the Red Cross, acting as ( ■T 1- THE RED CROSS AT HOME 175 hauffeurs, carried officers and soldiers to and from camp. When it came to camp service, there was really no end to Red Cross activities. American Red Cross work among the soldiers and sailors in the camps and cantonments in the United States and its territories was among the most important of its war relief undertakings. All of this Red Cross work was, of course, supplementary to the activities of the army and navy departments, whether in relief work on the field, in the camps, or in the hospitals. * The function of the Red Cross in the camps and naval stations was to render emergency aid and to provide comforts (not luxuries) for the men, such as knitted outfits, comfort kits, etc. It did not undertake to outfit the Army or the Navy, but when the emergency was justifiable, it supplied on military request articles which the government undertook to furnish but had not available. Red Cross warehouses were estab- lished in camps and naval stations where articles which might be needed were stored for im- mediate use in emergency. Not only were new articles constantly sup- plied, but reclamation departments were estab- lished for the repairing and renovating of worn bedding and clothing. In a large Western city at one time there were 30,000 "comforters" to be 176 GIRLS' BOOK OF THE RED CROSS repaired. Eighty-five women from all ranks of life met in a huge workshop and spent day after day patching, mending, padding; then tying up the renovated bed covers in neat bundles of ten ready to be sent back to the camps from which they had come. "A glance at the busy, cheery workers, seated at the long pine tables, upon which the comfort- ers are spread, makes one realize how present conditions have welded all strata of society into one great service class," said a Red Cross visitor. "The women range from rosy-cheeked youth, knitting white brows and pursing pretty lips over grave decisions or indecisions as to blue or gray or pink patch, to gentle white-haired age, whose hands lovingly linger upon the stitches set in the comforter that will keep 'some boy' warm throughout the winter nights. ''One woman, alert and eager, despite her seventy-two years, laughs and jokes as she tells her neighbor, a pretty, gay girl, of her boy in France and of his devotion and of her pride in him. White lids fall over the gay one's eyes, and the pretty lips tremble as the girl drifts away into dreams of her own 'dear boy' — then the tiny stitches increase at a rapid rate to make up for the time lost in dreaming. "The workers represent widely different social groups — the society matron or young girl chats THE RED CROSS AT HOME 177 briskly with the plain little wife of the rolling mill hand, and social barriers are shattered or forgotten in the interchange of confidences about Will or Harry or Jim 'Over There.' " It was the purpose of the American Red Cross to keep in touch with the soldiers and sailors of the United States from the day they joined the colors, and to look out for their comfort and wel- fare whenever and however possible. The plans included a corps of sympathetic workers who stood ever ready to serve the men who consulted them concerning personal home problems. ^'Suppose, for instance, a young man gets a letter from his mother and hears that she is having great difficulty in getting coal; or that she does not know how to go about it to fix up the papers that may be necessary in relation to his insurance, or that there is something that she must do in connection with getting the proper amount of the boy's pay, and she is in terrible difficulties, and that the little brother is also ill, — that young man cannot be a good soldier, and cannot well go on with training while those things are on his mind and he is worrying about his mother and sister and all the troubles he has left behind that he used to take care of at home. But everywhere in the camps were placards posted up by the Red Cross which tell the boys that if there is anything bothering their minds in the slightest about the 178 GIRLS' BOOK OF THE RED CROSS family at home, just to go right straight to the Red Cross house and see the director of the Home Service department and he will help them out. The moment he went to the house of the di- rector, the latter sent a telegram, as direct as he could to the Home Service committee in the chapter which has jurisdiction in the territory where that boy's family resides, and tells them what this young fellow desires. They investi- gate the case, find out the facts, and send back a telegram within twenty-four hours telling ex- actly what that boy wants to know. He is happy in ninety-nine cases out of a hundred!" ^ COMMUNICATION SERVICE The most extensive Red Cross service rendered the soldiers in the United States was doubtless in the hospital zones, in conjunction with the army medical corps. Here its first duty was what has been known as communication service, that is keeping families advised of the condition of their sons and husbands and fathers. Daily visits to all sick and wounded were made, letters were written, stamps and writing material furnished, books, magazines, and games were supplied, and everything possible done for the friendly comfort of the sick men. "The day a new patient came into a camp 1 Gibson, Harvey D. "What Every American Should Know about the War." THE RED CROSS AT HOME 179 hospital a letter was written home to the father or mother stating he had entered the hospital on such and such a date and such and such was the matter with him, and each day they wrote a letter home telling the family how the man progressed ; and finally when he got well and left the hospital they wrote a letter saying he was dis- charged on such and such a day.' 55 1 SANITARY SERVICE Through its sanitary service, the Red Cross co- operated with the United States Public Health Service in an effort to keep the men in camps or naval bases free from communicable diseases, and to prevent the entrance of such diseases into camps or their spread in civil communities in order to prevent epidemics such as small-pox or typhoid fever. CANTEEN SERVICE Refreshment units, under the supervision of the Canteen Service, were established in all the important Red Cross chapters from coast to coast. Their function was to supplement the ef- forts of the War Department and the railroads in providing sustenance for troops en route. The service was entirely of an emergency character and was performed in cooperation with the rail- 1 Ibid. i8o GIRLS' BOOK OF THE RED CROSS roads. The war department issued instructions to the railroads to furnish information to ac- credited representatives of the Red Cross as to the time of arrival of troop trains at places where they were scheduled to stop. Refreshment units were organized on a military basis, and only the commanding -officer and the intelligence officer had foreknowledge of troo-p train movements in their respective localities. From this informa- tion they determined the character of the serv- ice to be rendered. Refreshment units, in or- ganization and function, might be likened to a fire brigade, says the Red Cross. They were prepared to come to the rescue when delays — such as accidents, floods, snowstorms, etc. — tended to disarrange schedules, resulting in the exhaustion of troop train supplies and conse- quent discomfort to the troops. The "Attention Service" was nearly as popular as the Refreshment Service. One chapter's rec- ord shows that it stamped and mailed, for soldiers traveling, an average of Over 5000 pieces of mail per day. To provide for the comfort of soldiers en route to the front, or from one camp to another, canteens were established on the railway lines of this country and at embarkation points. At the more important stations, meals were served on telegraphic request from commanders of troop THE RED CROSS AT EIOME i8i trains; emergency relief was furnished the sick and wounded en route. If necessary, sick or wounded soldiers were removed from the train and taken to a hospital. As a group of apprecia- tive young chaps shook hands with a canteen captain, one of them looked at her with tears in his eyes, and said, "I did not know there were such women in the world." "I know you are always happy," said another wearer of khaki, to a busy canteener. ''Your captain looks it, and I would like to know her name and give her three cheers, for she has surely made me feel a lot happier about going — wishing us all good luck and a safe return — and that makes a fellow feel great. Three cheers for the Red Cross, for there is no organi- zation on earth like it." Other soldiers in the group said they never had the chance to feel blue, for the Red Cross was always right there to cheer them up, no matter where they might be. "Everybody knows of and has heard of the great work the Red Cross is doing for the men of the army; but it takes one who has actually been brought in contact with the work to fully ap- preciate the good and almost necessary work which is being done," said an officer. "If one could stop and try and appreciate their feelings, having been on a train for several days without the regular dining cars of peace time and with- i82 GIRLS' BOOK OF THE RED CROSS out the stops at stations where hot meals are to be had, and having only an Army Field Range or two to prepare food for five hundred-odd men, — then one could form a slightly better opinion of the truly great gratitude that all on train had for those who so capably administered to our wants and needs." After the men began to come home, during one month the canteens reported 2,339,000 canteen services performed at various railroad stations in the country; 36,160 sick men were aided en route at the first aid stations in the canteen huts ; and 557 sick men were removed from trains and placed in hospitals. Tremendous quantities of supplies and food were distributed, including more than one million sandwiches, three and one- half million cigarettes, 100,000 pieces of read- ing matter, a million post-cards, and 328,000 bars of chocolate. Ninety-six thousand meals were served free to the men in transit. Numerous articles, such as cakes, pies, ice cream cones, stamps, soap, matches, fruit, candy, etc., also were supplied in large quantities to the men, without cost. The Red Cross Canteen Service, offering the final expression of appreciation to the soldiers, sailors, and marines on their journey back to civilian life, continued throughout the country until the last of the troops should be demobilized THE RED CROSS AT HOME 183 and returned to their own homes. The canteens in the various cities and towns enrolled all men as they arrived home and published the welcome- home roll in the local papers, so that their friends might be informed. Thousands of letters of ap- preciation poured into National Red Cross Headquarters from demobilized men en route home, from returning wounded en route to hos- pitals, and from debarking troops. When Joe and Dave and Sam reached the shores of the U. S. A. once more, their eyes sparkled as they rested on a folder thrust into their hands, with the familiar words "American Red Cross" printed at the top, and in the center of the page the picture of a girl in the blue cape with red lining which had grown so dear to them overseas. And their hearts beat high as they read : It is the privilege and pleasure of the American Red Cross Canteen and Motor Women to serve you in every way and to make your homeward journey comfortable and pleasant. Canteens are located at all important railroad terminals and stations in the United States. More than seven hundred canteens and three hundred Motor Corps, operated by 65,000 patriotic volunteer women, are available to aid you en route and to meet emergencies that may arise. Do not hesitate to call upon them. In traveling, always ask for the Red Cross Canteen In- formation Booths, check rooms, light refreshments, smokes, lodging, first aid supplies, writing materials, etc. Ameri- i84 GIRLS' BOOK OF THE RED CROSS can Red Cross Canteen and Motor Service is free. No money will be accepted from men in uniform. Commanding Officers in charge of men may, if desired, purchase supplies, meals or lodging, for their commands through the American Red Cross Canteens. If he has funds for this purpose the Officer in Charge can pay the Canteen the actual cost of supplies furnished. If not, the Canteen will give the service without charge. Wasn't this a real true American welcome! Following an experiment made at a few At- lantic coast points with a canteen escort service for sick and wounded soldiers, sailors, and marines traveling from debarkation ports to in- terior hospitals, the American Red Cross estab- lished escort service on hospital or special trains. Through an arrangement with the Army Medi- cal authorities the Red Cross has been kept in touch with the movement of hospital trains. Two motherly women were sent on each train during the daylight hours by the Red Cross divi- sions through which the train passed, one pair of workers taking up the services where the other left off. These women were proficient in first aid, home dietetics, and home nursing. They would provide cheer, comfopt, and companion- ship for the men and assist the medical officers in every manner possible. If the commanding officer of a train wished to avail himself of Red Cross canteens en route, the escort was able to advise which units along THE RED CROSS AT HOME 185 the line of travel were best equipped, and meals were ordered in advance over the railroad wires. Special delicacies, such as oyster stew, custards, wine jellies, and other invalid fare, were in great demand by the sick or wounded soldiers and were promptly provided by the Red Cross. If the officer had a kitchen car and wanted to replenish his supplies, the escort could aid him by wiring ahead to a Red Cross canteen. At certain points of debarkation, Red Cross chapters made it a point to welcome every man — unless he was a hospital case — at their chapter rooms, where buttons were sewed on, uniforms mended, and the soldiers made to feel generally at home. One lonely fellow remarked that he ''almost wanted to rip his buttons off so as to have an excuse to come and have them sewed on again." In some large cities educational "bus trips" were taken by convalescent soldiers, sailors, and marines from hospitals in debarkation ports. Society women — Red Cross members — acted as committee-in-charge, driving the bus, and de- livering talks on points of interest visited — speaking through a megaphone with a tiny red cross on its side. Similar tours were conducted by the American Red Cross in London, for our soldiers on leave there as well as for American convalescents. i86 GIRLS' BOOK OF THE RED CROSS THE WAR BRIDES With the homecoming of the overseas soldier, came a new feature for the Red Cross, the over- seas war bride. From an incoming steamer one April day the "wireless" brought a request for the Red Cross of the port where the ship was to land, to have some one of its representatives meet a little French war bride who was arriving among the passengers. The soldier husband had come by transport and was presumably in camp somewhere waiting to be discharged from serv- ice. His girl bride would find herself among strangers whose tongue she did not understand, in a land of whose ways and customs she knew nothing. But "the Red Cross she knew, oui, oui. The Red Cross had been in France. Not only France's own Red Cross, but the grand Ameri- can Red Cross. Oh, everywhere the grand American Red Cross. It could always do every- thing! She felt not afraid, when they told her in' France that the Red Cross would meet her in America and help her find her way to her Frangois." The bride was going to her husband's home in a certain town in a Southern state. Consulting the railroad maps, it was found that there were three towns of the designated name in that one THE RED CROSS AT HOME 187 state. Which town of the three was the town? Persistency and the telegraph wires and Red Cross cooperation at the other end of the wires eventually located the family in the right town, and arrangements were completed for the jour- ney. On another ship from overseas came another war bride, this time from Belgium. Again the message came to the Red Cross to meet the boat and speed the bride on her way. There proved to be only one town of the name given in her ad- dress, but in this case the duplication — or tripli- cation — ^occurred in the husband's name. This name, it seemed, was not uncommon in the lo- cality where his home was, and there were found to be three men of exactly the same name. To which family did -the little Belgian belong? More persistency, more telegraphing back and forth, and at last, sure enough, there was found the one family of all the three which had a sol- dier son now in camp, who had married a Bel- gian girl, who was expected to come over here to join him. Yes, Jose was her name and they would look for her on such a train such a day! HOME SERVICE AFTER THE ARMISTICE Activities of the Home Service section in many divisions increased, rather than decreased, with the signing of the armistice. It was the idea of i88 GIRLS' BOOK OF THE RED CROSS the Home Service directors to continue its par- ticular work ''until the last soldier has come back from Europe or from camp in this country and has been fitted into his industrial groove." In order to meet this situation a special Home Serv- ice course was given to volunteers, men and women, to train them to assist returning soldiers in collecting compensation and insurance, in ob- taining proper employment, and in adjusting themselves to new domestic problems. The Red Cross works with the government for the disabled soldiers and sailors in America. Soldiers who came back from war, blind, wounded, perhaps having lost an arm or a leg, not fitted to work at their old occupations, must be taught by some one to adjust themselves to their new life. The blinded are taught to read and write, to knit, to do basketry; men who have lost their right hand are taught to work with their left, and men who could once, but can no longer, walk about must be given some occupa- tion that will help to keep them busy and make them self-supporting at home. The Red Cross stands ready to aid the government by helping these men to find work; by encouraging them to keep at their study; by making them realize that every real man wants to be self-supporting. *'You want to find a job so as to be able to support your family," said a Red Cross worker THE RED CROSS AT HOME 189 to one of our foreign-born citizens who, while serving in the United States army, had deep down in his heart been fighting for the cause of humanity in two countries — his native land as well as the land of his adoption where his home and wife and children were. "Oh, no !" the man replied, "me no go back home, my wife too dirty. Dirty house, dirty children," and he shrugged his shoulders and regarded his neat clothes with pride. The man had been not only introduced to but made intimately acquainted with baths, clean beds, clean clothes, and good food while in the hospital. He had already been taught in camp the virtues and necessities of cleanliness and order. He shrank from the thought of his shiftless wife, untidy home, and dirty, ragged children. The Red Cross worker smiled. "Wait until you see your folks !" she said. "You won't know them! They're just as clean as you are!" And so they were! The Red Cross had seen to that! For after the men had gone from their homes, from the tenements in great cities, from the hovels and huts which are found even in this wonderful America, from the slums and the al- leys and the backwoods and the forgotten cor- ners of the land, — all sorts of men from all sorts of homes fighting together shoulder to shoulder for America — the Red Cross took upon itself I90 GIRLS' BOOK OF THE RED CROSS the duty of "cleaning up" and "straightening out" things for the "folks back home." The Home Service directors realized that part of their duty was to have the homes of the men at- tractive to them w^hen they returned. So the workers went about, in city and in country, among all who might profit by the knowledge and experience and practical kind- ness which the Red Cross has in store. They realized that soldiers and sailors would learn not only lessons of neatness and habits of cleanliness and order, but that their outlook on life would be broader and their knowledge of the world and of its wonders would be greatly increased. Therefore, they went as it were with a book in one hand and a duster in the other! Appealing to the pride as well as to the heart of the women, seldom were the workers repulsed. Almost everywhere "people welcomed the op- portunities offered them to become acquainted with better ways of living." "So many things I want to learn; maybe she teach me more than writing," said a woman for whom a Home Serv- ice worker had obtained an instructor in Eng- lish.^ In this way the Red Cross becomes an active factor for Americanization. One Red Cross worker happened to learn that 1 "This Side the Trenches with the American Red Cross." Pub- lished by American Red Cross, 1918. THE RED CROSS AT HOME 191 the husband of a woman whom she was helping had been made a sergeant. The news caused her to realize the difference between his oppor- tunities and those of his wife. He was learning to lead other men; he was taking advantage of the education which the camp was giving him. She, on the other hand, could not speak or write English; the family lived in an undesirable neighborhood; the children were allowed to be irregular in their school attendance; the house- keeping was poor. If the man were to return to such a family he might become discouraged and lose all he had gained in self-respect. His home life might be a failure. The Red Cross worker helped the family to move to another neighborhood; she began teaching the mother better standards of housekeeping and arranged that she should receive lessons in the English language; she saw to it that the children went to school regularly." ^ The Red Cross plans that the sergeant shall find a congenial household when he returns. Trained workers went into homes where they were needed, giving the perplexed mother the benefit of years of experience in planning, buy- ing, and dealing with business affairs. They found out where boys, girls, and women were working under unhealthy conditions; they saw 1 "This Side the Trenches with the American Red Cross." 192 GIRLS' BOOK OF THE RED CROSS that medical care was given those who needed it; they planned good times for children and grown- ups in families whose good times ceased with the entrance of America into the war. Recreation is almost as important to children as food, in the estimation of the experts who serve the Red Cross. In their investigations they find families who never have a nickel to spend for "a good time." For example, there was a widow whose only son had enlisted, leaving her with three other children to support. She could get along only by practicing the strictest economy. "There was nothing left after the meals and the rent were paid for, and the mother became sickly more through weariness of the monotony of the struggle to make ends meet, than through actual lack of food or clothing. One of the first things that the Red Cross did after making the acquaintance of this woman was to arrange to have the oldest of her three children take her to a moving picture show and treat her to ice cream afterwards. The experience was so un- usual that the woman and her son talked about it for days. The Red Cross now sees to it that this family has some kind of recreation every few weeks. There has, as a result, been a remarka- ble improvement in the health of the household." The Home Service worker encourages the children to become Boy Scouts or Camp Fire THE RED CROSS AT HOME 193 Girls and to join the Junior Red Cross and such organizations as the Agricultural and Home- Making Clubs conducted by the United States Department of Agriculture. She persuades the older girls to enter sewing and reading circles and the boys to become members of debating societies and athletic clubs. She learns to what church the members of the household belong and urges them to constant attendance at church serv- ices, and sees that the children are invited to attend Sunday School or to join church societies and clubs. Oftentimes it has been said that this war has been fought for the children of the world; that the world has been made safe for future genera- tions. "The people of tomorrow are the chil- dren of today," says the Red Cross. "They are the boys and girls who were born last year, the boys and girls who are in kindergarten now, who are in grammar school, in high school, who are working in their first jobs. That these children may have greater opportunity, the men on the battlefront risked their lives. Is it not impor- tant, then, that the boys and girls of the United States should be fitted to make the most of the opportunities that the world of tomorrow holds for them? And of all children, should not the sons and daughters of the soldiers and sailors be given the benefit of the best preparation availa- ble?" 194 GIRLS' BOOK OF THE RED CROSS Sometimes a child says he does not want to go to school any more because he has fallen be- hind in his classes. For the help of such chil- dren there are attached to many Home Service sections men and women who act as tutors and who help these children with their lessons. They often find that backwardness in studies is caused by ill-health or by some physical defect. A Home Service worker noticed a strained look upon the face of a boy who had stopped going to school because he had been at the foot of his class. It occurred to her to ask the mother whether the child had ever had measles. When she learned that he had had this disease she took lim to a doctor and discovered that, as frequently happens after measles, his eyes had become so wxak that they required glasses. Now that the boy is no longer suffering from defective vision he is making excellent marks in school. The Red Cross tells us that frequently a child does not advance in his studies because they do not interest him. The daughter of a soldier failed to do well at a trade school where she was taking lessons in sewing. The Home Service worker found the girl one afternoon leading her brothers and sisters in calisthenics. Finding that the child's interests were in this direction she persuaded the mother to allow her daughter to enter a physical culture school where she is THE RED CROSS AT HOME 195 now fitting herself to be a gymnasium instructor. Naturally the Red Cross is ever alert to the health conditions of families, especially of the younger portion. Among the children released from physical handicaps by the Red Cross are such cases as the eleven-year-old brother of a man in the service who had walked on crutches all his life until one morning in the spring of 1917 he broke them. The family did not have enough money to replace them and asked the Red Cross for assistance. The Home Service worker took the boy to a physician. The doctor recommended an operation, which was per- formed, and now the little fellow is able to run about like other children and needs no crutches. "She plays too hard," the mother of a girl who constantly complained of tired feet told the Home Service worker. The young woman from the Red Cross, however, took the child to a spe- cialist in diseases of the joints and discovered that a certain kind of shoe would correct the trouble. This shoe was obtained and now the child plays all day without becoming tired. NURSING SERVICE In order to carry on so much relief and ad- visory work, the Red Cross has to make constant use of doctors and nurses. Indeed, the conser- vation of the health of the people at home be- 196 GIRLS' BOOK OF THE RED CROSS comes "home duty plus patriotic service." Pres- ident Wilson said that in order to win the war the entire nation must be mobilized. It became the task of the Red Cross to mobilize the nurses of America in three classes of enrollment — Ac- tive Service, Special Service, and Home De- fense. Next to the enlistment of soldiers and sailors, the government knew no greater need than the enrollment of sufficient numbers of nurses. They were to go "as soldiers of life and victory; trained to their tasks, disciplined for hardships, needed as never before, facing their supreme hour." The first duty of the American Red Cross Nursing Service is to supply nurses for the mili- tary needs of the country. In addition to the war service it rendered the nation in supplying nurses for our fighting men on both sides of the water, the Red Cross, through its Department of Nursing, continued its regular work of helping to improve the health of the country, maintaining a permanent public health bureau which pro- vides nurses for towns and villages not in a posi- tion to support health departments. During the epidemic of Spanish influenza the Red Cross Department of Nursing sent several hundred nurses to different training camps and shipbuild- ing and munition plants at the request of the Army and Navy Departments and the Federal THE RED CROSS AT HOME 197 Public Health Service. More than 60,000 women have been taught the simple principles of personal and household hygiene and disease prevention in the courses established in Red Cross chapters by the Department of Nursing. CHAPTER V Behind the Firing Line THE AMBULANCE MAN "What is your idea of an 'ambulance man'?" asked Janet's Uncle Henry. He was telling stories to the family as they sat out on the porch in the moonlight one summer evening after he had returned from overseas, where he had been engaged in a line of service which had taken him "pretty nearly everywhere." Uncle Henry had been allowed to stretch out in the Gloucester hammock, for every one wanted him to have "all the comforts of home" after his rough ex- periences abroad. Some of the boys and girls in the neighborhood had joined the family, be- cause they all loved to hear the war stories. "Why, I suppose an ambulance man is a man who drives an ambulance," answered young John, in a tone which implied that he not only regarded the answer as easy, but the question as rather foolish. "And he carries wounded soldiers to the hos- pital in the ambulance," added John's sister Har- riet. 198 BEHIND THE FIRING LINE 199 'Well, let me tell you," said Uncle Henry, with soldierly emphasis on the you, "an ambu- lance man is more different kinds of a fellow rolled into one than you can have any idea of. The name of his duties is legion. And like all Red Cross workers, he will go an5rwhere at any time. He always seems happy, good natured, and generous ; I have never heard a hard word from one of them. "Of course, his first duty is to rush the wounded soldiers to the hospital, after they are brought from the battlefield. And you've no idea how gently and tenderly those ambulance men lift the wounded* and pack them in (prob- ably about four or five times as many as the am- bulance was supposed to accommodate) and speed away down the road. No, I am wrong; the 'speeding' is done before the wounded are taken on. You see, there is no speed limit in France, so the ambulances tear along full tilt when going to collect the wounded. When they return they come at a wonderfully slow and even pace. Sometimes they have gone for a day and a night back and forth from train to hospital, speeding to the train, crawling back to the hospital, stopping ten minutes perhaps for the drivers to eat a bit; or more likely, the driv- ers carried food along with them and ate it as they drove." 200 GIRLS' BOOK OF THE RED CROSS Uncle Henry proceeded to say that wherever he went, at whatever sort of Red Cross headquar- ters he might come upon, he was sure to see a line of ambulances marked "American Red Cross." It might be away up at the front, it might be at the railway station, it might be at a hospital, or it might be in a ruined town re- cently shelled. Ambulance men must be quick to think and to act, ready and willing to under- take any sort of service. For example, just as one of the big battles of the war was under way, the army officers realized that the casualties would be far heavier than the ambulance corps was prepared to care for. The colonel of the regiment appealed to the captain of the ambulance division, and asked what could be done. The captain asked the colo- nel how many more ambulances the colonel thought would be needed, and he replied, 'We need ten and we need them mighty quick, al- though I don't know where you're going to get them, or how you're going to get them here if you do get them." ''I do," said the ambulance captain, ''if you'll supply me with a fast auto- mobile and an officer to go with me to help me through the lines with those ambulances." The major-general's car was commandeered. The Red Cross ambulance man and an army lieutenant started at six o'clock in the evening on BEHIND THE FIRING LINE 201 a 158-mile trip to Paris. At six o'clock the next evening the Red Cross ambulance man was back with ten ambulances and had them in line work- ing at top speed. The ambulances had been sup- plied by the Red Cross reserve, and were the means of saving the lives of hundreds of Ameri- can soldiers. Of the ten men who drove that historic train of ambulances, nine were afterward cited for bravery under fire. The tenth man was not mentioned because he did not happen to be present on the particular occasion which gave the others the chance so to distinguish them- selves.^ THE AMBULANCE WOMAN "Did you see any of the women drivers?" asked Doris, who had come over from her home across the street. She, too, had been across seas as a Red Cross nurse, and found it interesting to com- pare her experiences with those of Uncle Henry. "I believe there were a good many girls driving for the English army and for the French, and many Americans were among the number." "Oh, yes, I saw one motor section of eighteen ambulances completely 'manned' by women, if I may use that somewhat contradictory expres- sion," said Uncle Henry. "It was an English unit, I think, but I recognized at least one '^American Red Cross Neivs Letter. 202 GIRLS' BOOK OF THE RED CROSS American girl that I knew, acting as a chauf- feuse." "One of my friends was over there before we entered the war," said Doris, "and she wrote home a description of one day's work. I'll run and get it; it's rather interesting in connection with this talk of ours." Doris soon returned and read: " 'I was just turning over, about 6:30, for the last precious hour of bed, when there came a knock on my door and the proprietress, Mme. Luyon, came in to say the Chef du Pare had said a train would arrive in twenty minutes. I shot out of bed and into my clothes, snatched a roll off the cofifee tray, met my own breakfast on the way upstairs and fled past it, around to the garage. Luckily two of the boys were there and we had them hustling, putting in benches and blankets, and fortunately the car was not fussy about starting. So we were actually at the station twenty minutes after being called! There were two camions and a couple of military cars lined up already, so we backed neatly into position in the row of red crosses, and awaited the train. The Chef du Pare asked me if I would be willing to take a couche (a wounded soldier unable to sit up) and himself arranged the stretcher across my benches. An infirmier got in too and with my precious load carefully BEHIND THE FIRING LINE 203 arranged I went off to the Jeanne d'Arc Hospi- tal.^ He was a nice, curly-haired little man, was my blesse, and I told him he was my first and hoped I'd not jounced him too much. Then I tore back with the infirmier and empty brancard to the station, where they promptly gave me an- other blesse. He was quite miserable and not in- clined to talk, so I hurried him off to another hospital. As they were taking him out, his coat fell back and I saw the Croix de Guerre and the Medaille Militaire on his breast. I would have spoken to congratulate him, but there were too many men around him getting him in. Once more I flew back, and this time the cranky little old Medecin-Chef decreed me a third couche, a perfectly sweet man who lay very still with his arms crossed on his breast, and let his head sink comfortably on to the blanket I put under it. With him I took an infirmier and beside me the administrateur-person of the hospital and we Went off. I waited for the infirmier and all the stretchers belonging to the train sanitaire and took them back to the station. All the wounded were now accounted for (41 evacues, of course from front hospitals — been since Sunday on the way) and I got my dismissal from the Medecin- Chef.' " 2 1 The soldiers had a little joke of their own. They called Joan of Arc, Joan of A. R. C, because her statue stood just outside the headquarters of the American Red Cross. 2 Dunham, Theodora, in Red Cross Magazine. 204 GIRLS' BOOK OF THE RED CROSS "They were a plucky lot, those girl drivers," said Uncle Henry. ''One of the cleverest things I saw done was the way a college girl trans- formed herself into a sort of glorified traffic of- ficer and straightened out a tangle on the road. There were ammunition trucks going to the front, empty camions returning to be filled, loads of soldiers and their supplies, and a college unit which had been helping to evacuate a town. Day and night their cars, driven by young girls over shell-swept roads, ferried back and forth, carrying out from the town civilians and wounded soldiers. This college camionette was in the center of the traffic tangle. For many minutes everything was at a standstill. Then the American girl driver descended from her car and with an American flag (which had been flying from the front of her car) in her hand, assumed the duties of a traffic policeman. Sharply she commanded the chauffeurs; they obeyed her commands; and in a short time the two convoys were moving again. The girl con- tinued to direct the traffic for several hours, and then returned to her camionette and the evacua- tion of the old and helpless. "All the women's colleges in the United States took some part in the war work. Some pledged huge quantities of surgical dressings and sent them to the front; some adopted French and BEHIND THE FIRING LINE 205 Belgian orphans; some undertook the feeding of orphans in certain devastated villages; others carried on vegetable gardens and canned fruit to send across to the hospitals ; another sent a re- lief unit to France, v\^ith portable houses, mat- tresses, blankets, shoes, hand sewing machines, furniture, frying pans, and fruit trees, and yet another sent and supported a woman doctor who acted under direction of the Red Cross." THE AMBULANCE SERVICE The ambulance service was looked upon as one of the great Red Cross activities. Although at the beginning of the world war there was not one ambulance car at the service of the British Army, within two years six Red Cross convoys of fifty ambulances each were made a part of the British Army in the field. "They were a godsend and the convoyers knew it and were proud of it. The more impossible things drivers and orderlies were asked to do, the better they were pleased. To work for forty hours at a stretch — well, that was the common lot when things were lively. To drive under fire in the pitch dark up an unknown road to fetch your wounded. To drive back with them, to drive slowly, the shells still splitting overhead. What little knowledge of the road you had gained go- ing up was likely to be falsified by new holes 2o6 GIRLS' BOOK OF THE RED CROSS the shells would make before you came down. That is war. And it is not the courage to face such things that should be noted, for courage in war is to be expected, even as one expects good health, and is not to be more boasted of. But think of the cool skill, the mental and moral discipline, self-imposed, that was asked of and found in those men, all volunteers. "Later the Army added convoys, too, and a Motor Ambulance Convoy now seems a normal part of any army's equipment. Had the Red Cross done not a thing besides, yet its pioneering, experimenting, and placing on the road of the pattern motor ambulance is an achievement for which the Army and the nation behind it might well say: Thank you. And since that first start they have found, moreover, one way and another, a thousand cars and the men to run them." ^ In the very earliest days of the war it became evident that "the saving of soldiers' lives de- pended quite as much upon the quick transporta- tion of the wounded as upon their surgical treat- ment, and in September, 1914, when the battle- front surged close to Paris, a dozen automobiles given by Americans were hastily extemporized into ambulances. From the cases in which the cars had been packed, the clever young Ameri- 1 Barker, Granville. "The Red Cross in France." George H. Doran Company. BEHIND THE FIRING LINE 207 cans built tops which transposed the cars into ambulances. These were driven by American volunteers, and ran back and forth night and day between the western end of the Marne Valley and Paris. This was the beginning of the American Ambulance Field Service. During the autumn and winter that followed many more cars were given and many more young Ameri- cans volunteered, and when the battlefront re- tired from the vicinity of Paris, sections of motor ambulances were detached from the hospitals and became more or less independent units at- tached to the several French armies, serving the dressing-stations and Army hospitals within the Army zone. Such ambulances given and driven by American friends of France carried wounded French soldiers along the very fighting front in Belgium and France." ^ The universities of Harvard and Yale were among the donors of ambulances. Most of the young American volunteers who drove the cars were graduates of American universities. Their duty was to carry the wounded in the shortest possible time from the trenches to places where the first surgical help could be given. The men worked almost always within range of German shells and under German fire. So valiantly was 1 Buswell, Leslie. "Ambulance No. lo." Houghton Mifflin Com- pany, 19 16. 2o8 GIRLS' BOOK OF THE RED CROSS their work done that many men of each section received the Croix de Guerre for gallantry under fire. The lightness and power of the small Ameri- can cars made it possible for their drivers to run them over steep mountain passes which French automobiles were unable to cross. Wounded soldiers had formerly been carried over such places on mule back. In mule-litters, also, had the wounded been transported from the dressing stations to the hospitals, taking four or five hours for the journey; the American cars were able to carry the suffering men in comparative com- fort, accomplishing the distance in less than an hour. *'I must tell you what happened to the wounded before our little cars came here," wrote one of these American Ambulance men. "We carried over eighteen hundred last week and more than seventy-five hundred during one month. They were picked up in the trenches when they could be got at — sometimes, if lucky, an hour after, and sometimes five or six hours — or never. The brancardiers (chiefly artists before the war!) do this work — a terrible job, and very, very danger- ous, as the wounded are often between the Ger- man and French trenches and they have to creep out at night and drag them in. Well, these wounded are carried on brancards (stretchers) down the hill from the trenches — probably a BEHIND THE FIRING LINE 209 journey of some thirty minutes, to the 'refuge des blesses' (still in the wood), and there a primitive dressing, to stop bleeding, is put on. Then they are jostled on — on — on — till they arrive at one of the 'postes de secour,' where our light little cars can go. Here in former days they were re-dressed, and if there were room, stayed in the little shelter, or if not, they had to lie outside till a horse-wagon came to fetch them. Some- times they would have to wait many hours be- fore their turn came, and even the most urgent cases would not get away and arrive at the hospi- tal for a long time. Hundreds of soldiers died thus. Now, with our little cars, an urgent case is at the hospital ready for operation in twenty minutes at the most and generally about ten to fifteen — no matter what time of the day or night. That is why these soldiers around here are so grateful. I have seen cars go to fetch an urgent case when the driver knew the road was being shelled, and the soldiers who see our cars tooting up the hill, wonder — and say, 'Vol- ontaires?' All the poor wounded fellows look at us with the same expression of appreciation and thanks; and when they are unloaded it is a common thing to see a soldier, probably suffer- ing unspeakable pain, make an effort to take the hand of the American helper. I tell you tears are pretty near sometimes." ^ 1 Buswell, Leslie, op. cit. 2IO GIRLS' BOOK OF THE RED CROSS HOSPITAL UNITS One of the vital features of the American Red Cross work in France was its emergency aid given to the army medical and surgical corps. This service was performed almost wholly at the base and convalescent hospitals. In the beginning, the American Red Cross made contri- butions to the French hospitals already in opera- tion; afterward it established hospitals and dis- pensaries of its own. There have been two kinds of American Red Cross hospitals in France: the military hospital, in charge of a United States Army commanding officer, but administered by the Red Cross, with a Red Cross representative as superintendent, with all supplies, food, construction work, and the like furnished by the Red Cross, and the per- sonnel furnished by the army; and the regular American Red Cross hospital operated inde- pendently by the Red Cross, although subject at any time to being taken over by the army and converted into a military hospital. The Red Cross could operate in Paris when the Army could not and established many hospitals there. Later on in the war, the Red Cross could es- tablish hospitals and store depots in many other places and under many circumstances where the army could not BEHIND THE FIRING LINE 211 Two years before the United States entered the war, the Department of Military Relief of the Red Cross recognized that hospital units must be organized and prepared, and they began at once to recruit and organize at important hospi- tals and medical schools groups of doctors and nurses who might be called into service at any time by the Army Medical Corps. When the United States entered the war, six complete units were ready for service. Within two weeks after the declaration of war, came the call of the Army for the Red Cross. The six units were mobil- ized at once, and within seven weeks of the dec- laration of war one of these had reached Eng- land on its way to France and had been received by the King and Queen. Red Cross doctors and nurses who had been mustered into the Army Medical Corps were thus the first detachments of the American Army to reach the war zone for active service. A typical base hospital unit contains twenty- two surgeons and physicians, two dentists, sixty- five Red Cross nurses, and one hundred and fifty-two men of the enlisted Reserve Corps. A commanding officer, a quartermaster, and a hos- pital sergeant are detailed to the unit when it is mustered into the Army Medical Corps. By the regulations of the Army Medical Depart- ment the "Red Cross personnel, except in cases 212 GIRLS' BOOK OF THE RED CROSS of great emergency, will not be assigned to duty at the front, but will be employed in hospitals in the service of the interior, at the base, in hospi- tal ships, and along the line of communications." At the time of the battle of Chateau-Thierry, however, the Red Cross promptly entered the ^'hospital fighting front," and thereafter some of the units were moved from time to time to places where the fighting was thickest. Sometimes a German aviator dropped a bomb on these hospitals, usually at night. The cool- ness of all the workers and their devotion to duty is illustrated in the following description of one such air raid: The attack occurred at eleven o'clock at night. Fortunately no convoy of wounded was being received or the casualties would have been much greater. "One of the bombs fell in the center of the large reception tent to which the wounded are first borne for examination. Ten seconds sufficed for the drop- ping of the bombs from the fast flying plane and within less than a minute afterward the surgeons of the hospital were at the task of collecting and attending those who had been struck down. And for twenty-four hours they were at work in the operating room, one surgeon relieving another when the latter from simple exhaustion could work no longer. And the very next day, just as if nothing had happened, these same sur- BEHIND THE FIRING LINE 213 geons were called upon to receive and care for 200 wounded sent in from the trenches. ''Although the exploding bombs created horror in the hospital there was not the small- est sign of panic, and the work of discovering the wounded and collecting them was im- mediately begun. This was made cruelly diffi- cult by the darkness, but every one sprang to it with a will. Many of the injured had been blown from their cots, some even outside their tents, where they were found tangled in the tent ropes. The American nurse, although struck in the face by a fragment of steel from the bomb, refused to be relieved and remained at her task courageously to the end. A hospital orderly, who worked untiringly, was found later to have been struck in the head by a fragment and pain- fully injured. He h'ad tied up his head and worked on." THE HOSPITAL ORDERLY Right here, we should do well to pay our tribute to the orderly, a very busy and valuable person who has not received overmuch atten- tion or praise, although rarely does any diary of a war worker fail to mention this assistant. An orderly may be a boy under age or a man over age ; at any rate, some sort of man who for some reason or other could not be a soldier. 214 GIRLS' BOOK OF THE RED CROSS "They do everything (except soldiering) that a man can do and a woman cannot do, waiting also for orders and despatching them with the ut- most celerity as soon as they are received. Con- voy work they do, hospital work they do, am- bulance trains are manned by them, clerking, portering, this niche and that has to be filled." ^ In their attentions to the wounded, they were as careful and considerate as women. They called the soldiers "Buddie" and the soldiers replied, calling them by the same affectionate term. THE STRETCHER-BEARER Another important and valuable man well- deserving his portion of the general praise ac- corded to the heroes of the front line, is the stretcher-bearer. No toy army with which small boys have "played war" has been complete with- out its stretcher and stretcher-bearer. No great army on the real battlefield could have been com- plete without its stretcher-bearers. Ambulance men might go far and wide on their errands of mercy and life-saving, but there is a line beyond which no motor car may venture. "They went over the top after the men," says a surgeon from the front, "and wherever you fell — in the trenches, in No Man's Land, or any- 1 Barker, Granville, op. c'tt. BEHIND THE FIRING LINE 215 where — there was a stretcher-bearer ready to take care of you. After the Argonne fight, after a bitter contest under the most trying conditions in front of a difficult machine-gun nest, where there was quite a pile of our boys, right at the end of the pile was a stretcher-bearer who had gone forward with them. They were as fine a group of men as were ever trained." Many of the French employed in that capacity were young men who were studying for the priest- hood. "The stretcher-bearers have the worst job in the army," says an army slogan, "but the men walk steadfastly through the terrific fire on the roads. For they bear a human cross on their shoulders and a blood-red symbol of mercy pinned to their arms. 'We build, not destroy,' is their motto. Their shoulders are a mass of blisters where their heavy burdens have chafed all day and all night." Among the American stretcher-bearers was a boy of fourteen from Kentucky, who ran away to get into the war. He worked his way to Eng- land, where he enlisted in the British Royal Medical Corps. He was sent to France and there he served as a stretcher-bearer for two years. In a story of his experiences, he says: "I guess I was like most other boys. I never had worked very hard at being sorry for 2i6 GIRLS' BOOK OF THE RED CROSS anybody or anything. But I learned it all fast enough when I was carrying the wounded in France. Gee ! but those fellows would just make you feel like crying ! Not because they groaned and made a fuss, but just because they didn't. They'd smile and crack jokes as long as they had any breath left in them." ^ Some of these stretcher-bearers have been decorated for their bravery. At least one re- ceived the Croix de Guerre and the Medaille Militaire, for going out repeatedly on a shell- swept battlefield to bring men in from the trenches. An American serving in this capacity wrote home, "I shall be proud all my life to have done my insignificant part of stretcher bearing for these heroic youngsters who are fighting. One beautiful youth died in my arms like a baby, snuggling his lovely, blonde, scarred head into my breast like a tired child." In a poem dedicated to the stretcher-bearer, Eliot Kays Stone pays this tribute: ^ Not much of a hero to look at, I guess, Muddy and bloody and weaponless. But where shots fly thickest he doggedly goes Exposed to the fire of both friends and foes. Sing ye of heroes whose brave deeds shine On many a crimson battle line, But for me the bearer of stretcher cot, Who is daily a hero and knows it not. 1 Red Cross Magazine. ''«0p,.. " 'V l-l,,,. . © Underwoud i Underwoud "FRENCHY," A RED CROSS DOG WHICH SPENT FOUR YEARS IN THE TRENCHES BEHIND THE FIRING LINE 217 RED CROSS DOGS In many instances the stretcher-bearers were directed or urged in their search for the wounded by those wonderfully faithful Red Cross dogs. The training of dogs for war service is not di- rectly an outcome of the recent war. The British, French, Russians, Austrians, Italians, and Japanese, as well as the Germans and Bel- gians, have for the past thirty years been experi- menting in this line, as to best breeds and methods. English collies. Spaniels, Belgian and Ger-man sheep-dogs. Saint Bernards, and Aire- dale terriers, have all proved to be satisfactory. France has a national society of ambulance dogs, trained to find the wounded, and to act as des- patch carriers and for guard duty. When the United States entered the European war, appeals were made through the Red Cross for gifts or loans of dogs for our army. With characteristic American sympathy and gener- osity, offers of dogs were received in such numbers as to overwhelm the committee in ■charge of that special new department and an- other appeal had to be sent out begging donors to stop sending their canine friends. It is pleas- ing to note that on Memorial Day of 19 19, sev- eral war dogs received medals in acknowledg- ment of the splendid service rendered by animals during the war. 2i8 GIRLS' BOOK OF THE RED CROSS Military dogs are used as ambulance assistants, as scouts and messengers, as sentries, and especially as searchers for the wounded. In the course of an experiment on a dark night, two hundred men were carefully hidden, and five hundred stretcher-bearers were ordered out to find them. After two hours' time forty still were missing. Two of the trained Red Cross dogs were let loose and in twenty minutes every lost man had been discovered by these clever animals, who wore about their bodies a white band on which the Red Cross marked them for its own.^ In some places dogs have been used as am- munition carriers. In the trenches, terriers have proved useful as rat catchers. The army dogs are trained to find things that are hidden and will continue their search under fire until they find what they have been sent for. During the battle of the Marne, one hundred and fifty men were saved by the persistence of a little fox terrier who trotted back and forth from the trenches re- porting cases discovered. "The dog can do what no man can do," says Walter A. Dyer in the Red Cross Magazine. "He can dash through shot and shell, swiftly and to a position where it would be sure death for a man to go. He can find the wounded by his superhuman sense of smell, distinguishing the living from the dead. iBoardman, Mabel T. "Under the Red Cross Flag." BEHIND THE FIRING LINE 219 He can bear water and restoratives to the stricken soldier, and then, by bringing back a helmet or other object, inform his masters of the wounded man's presence, and then lead them there when it is safe to go. These things he did every day on the battlefields of Europe, finding the wounded in the blackest nights, saving no- body knows how many lives." In a beautiful poem written by Edward Peple for the benefit of the Red Cross, the author pays this just tribute to the Red Cross dog : And many a mother, who knelt and prayed At the cross for her battling son, May ever thank God that his death was stayed By the grit of a dog that was unafraid, In the cause of a cross that won. Some of the prettiest war stories the men have brought home are those concerning the Red Cross dogs. More than once it happened that a dog saved his own master's life. A young French peasant lad went to war. While bidding the members of his family good-by as he was leaving home, a sudden idea came into his mind. His good dog, his companion for many years, was whining at the lad's side, licking his master's hand, and raising his great mournful eyes as if to show that he knew something dreadful was about to happen. ''Oh, let him come with me !" cried the boy. "He can serve France, too," 220 GIRLS' BOOK OF THE RED CROSS The patriotic father said, "Yes, take him, my son, all we have belongs to France." So the lad took the dog and turned him over to the Red Cross to be trained for his line of service. Several weeks, perhaps months, later, the peasant lad lay wounded on the field of battle. With an instinct that seems to be natural to the wounded men, he dragged himself along into the shelter of some bushes. Night came and the darkness covered him. Covered him too com- pletely there under the bushes. No one found him. Then — crackle, crackle through the bushes, sniff, sniff, a short sharp bark, and a tug at the fallen man. Yes, 'twas indeed his master. Down went the friendly nose until it touched the lad's face. Then paws began to be very active. At last, the lad was aroused. "Why, why, you?" he gasped, and put up his hand feebly to stroke the dog's head. As he fumbled in the darkness his fingers touched the Red Cross emergency case on the dog's side. The lad had sense enough to remember the flask always car- ried by the dogs, and fortunately he had strength enough to get it out from its case. As soon as the boy began to drink from the flask, the well- trained dog knew it was time for him to take the next step in the program he had learned so well. Off he rushed until he encountered one of his men. And then he did something no well- BEHIND THE FIRING LINE 221 trained war dog should do under such circum- stances — he barked, two or three sharp little barks. The men rebuked him, but they seemed to appreciate that something unusual was the matter. They followed the excited creature back to the bushes and rescued his master. ''It's my own dear old dog," explained the boy. And of course the dog was forgiven his one little sin. For every one understood. In another instance a dog was wounded while guarding a fallen man. The soldiers in the trenches saw the dog as he was outlined in the distance, but could not see the form of the prostrate man. The field was under fire of machine guns. At last, one of the soldiers could endure the sight no longer. He thought the dog was unable to return because of his wounds. When he had crawled out to where the dog was, the animal snarled at him. The soldier then saw the man and comprehended the situation. Lift- ing the man to his shoulders, he carried-him back to safety, with the dog dragging along at his heels. When the party reached the field hos- pital, the man proved to be the dog's chief; and when the ambulance conveyed the chief to the base hospital, the dog rode too. The dog was doctored and fed, and recovered from his wounds, as did his chief. He was afterward 222 GIRLS' BOOK OF THE RED CROSS awarded the Croix de Guerre. One day some one was relating the story of the dog's rescue work and the remark was made that he had ''cheated a warrior's grave." Then some one else wrote the story in verse, and in one verse he says: At the hospital base his cheating was worse, If the theft of our hearts be sin, For he sponged on a Major General's purse, And licked the tears from the cheek of his nurse, As she tenderly tucked him in. Among other heroic life-savers was one little fellow who was not a Red Cross dog at all, but because of his friends at the Red Cross canteen and in the Red Cross hospital, he may be ad- mitted to this chapter. He was just a plain everyday little dog who had attached himself to a friendly soldier somewhere along the line of march and 'had followed him to the trenches. When the soldier went into the fight the dog "kept an eye on him" until he was sure of his safe return. One day the man did not return. Then it was the dog's turn to go to the battle- field. He was an observant chap and perhaps he had noticed the conduct of the Red Cross dogs and therefore knew how to act. At any rate, he went out quietly, poked around persist- ently and cautiously, until he found his friend. BEHIND THE FIRING LINE 223 He persuaded the stretcher bearers to follow his lead, and they came and picked up the wounded soldier and carried him away. Then such a time as followed! The little fellow would not be separated from the soldier. Who had the heart to say that he must? Every one respects a saver of life. So it came about that when the man was sent to the hospital the ladies at the canteen said they would look after the dog until his friend's recovery. No, I thank you, said the little dog. For two days he ate no food and seemed likely to die of grief. At the end of the second day a Red Cross canteener went to the hospital and stated the facts in the case. Very well, only one thing to do, said everybody. So the little fellow was washed and antisepticized and brushed and combed and told to be very quiet, and taken to the bed of the sick man. Did the dog jump and prance and jounce the bed and hurt the soldier? Not a bit of it. Fie crept, oh, so quietly, to the foot of the bed, and there he sat like the image of a dog, never saying a word, but just keeping his eyes fixed on the face of his sick comrade. There was no resisting the little fellow; and although he was only a plain everyday dog, because of his bravery, and love, and faithfulness, and because of his really gentlemanly behavior in the sick wards, he became the pet of every one and re- 224 GIRLS' BOOK OF THE RED CROSS mained an inmate of the hospital until he and his soldier returned to the front together. HOSPITAL TRAINS Red Cross hospital trains are a very impres- sive sight the first time they are seen, full of American soldiers who have been wounded in fight. Essentially luxurious affairs, they are, with their long, beautifully built cars, bearing a big red cross at each end. They were built in England for the Americans and are copies of English hospital trains, with many improve- ments devised after the very fine English trains had been finished. Through the windows could be seen how clean, comfortable, and well venti- lated were the cars. To fill one of those hospital trains required the combined presence and assistance of the am- bulance men, the stretcher bearers, the orderlies, and the nurses. After careful unloading by the ambulance men of the most serious cases, the stretcher bearers carry them to the cars, "moving on, carefully out of step in a queer dropping walk." "They are deft enough, the bearers who deliver and the orderlies who receive, but lifting a stretcher through a door and turning it and placing with never a jar or a jerk is a delicate business, not to be bustled over." ^ Then come 1 Barker, Granville, op. cit. Underwood & Underwood ON BOARD THE AMERICAN HOSPITAL SHIP " RED CROSS " BEHIND THE FIRING LINE 225 the bandaged men, ^'that hobble, totter a little, sway a little." Orderlies meet them and help them in. "Next comes a queer cavalcade. Men with damaged feet or legs: an orderly carries each one pickaback. It looks like a childish game, the childish fun all gone." ^ The nurses are in the cars waiting to receive the wounded. The train is ''a clean place, a tidy, efficient and well-ordered place." The nurses are cheerful and jolly. The orderlies have a pleasant word of welcome. HOSPITAL SHIPS Sometimes the hospital train ended its trip at a hospital ship. England had many hospital ships for the transportation home of its wounded. A dozen or more suc'h vessels of mercy with their cargoes of crippled and dis- abled soldiers, and their corps of doctors and Red Cross nurses, were sunk by the German submarines and mines. The first hospital ship to be sunk was one flying the Russian flag. The French had a fleet of hospital ships carrying back their wounded who had come from far- away colonies, and bringing back to France men who had been fighting with the allied armies in the East. Many fine transatlantic steamers were taken over by the English and French for use as hospital ships. Salons, corridors, smok- 1 Ibid. 226 GIRLS' BOOK OF THE RED CROSS ing rooms, all were converted into operating rooms, dressing rooms, or wards for the most seriously wounded. Promenade decks were en- closed, making long wards, ventilated by many large windows. Another deck would be used as quarters for the officers, doctors, nurses, for the doctor's office, and a tiny chapel adjoin- ing the priest's cabin. The hospital stafif in- cluded physicians, surgeons, pharmacists, women nurses, men nurses, and orderlies. On every French hospital boat there were a Catholic and a Protestant priest. On one of the French ships the wife of the French governor of Algiers was making the homeward trip. She was "a woman of great personality and charm. She procured the names of all the men from Algiers and called on each, saying, 'As we are making the voyage to- gether, I thought it would be a pleasure to meet you.' They were greatly pleased. She asked about the battles in which they had fought, the work they had left at home, and about their families. She wrote down these facts, and the names and addresses of every one they wished to have her write to for them. She shook hands with each man, and left each stateroom with a word of appreciation and encouragement which included their cabin mates as well." ^ 1 Morton, Rosalie Slaughter. "With the French Fleet of Mercy." Red Cross Magazine. BEHIND THE FIRING LINE 227 The United States had practically no such boats. Except for the naval hospital ship Solace and the hospital yacht Surf, and two lin- ers converted into the hospital ships Comfort and Mercy, solely for the use of the Navy, we had no hospital ships at all. As we were send- ing transports back and forth across the Atlantic carrying fighting men over, these same ships were used to bring the wounded home. Each battleship has a "sick bay," where the ill may receive treatment. Every vessel in the Navy was equipped by the Red Cross Supply Service with compresses, bandages, and a complete line of surgical dressings, made from material furnished by the Medical Department. At the outbreak of the war, the Red Cross did fit up and send out one ship, named The Red Cross, for the purpose of carrying aid for the sick and wounded. Doctors, nurses, hospi- tal supplies and refugee clothing went on their voyage of mercy to all nations. The ship was painted white with a broad band of red the words RED CROSS on her sides, and a red cross painted on her smoke stacks. Although with much difficulty, the ship entered various ports, leaving the stores and attendants required in each particular section. By the time her re- turn trip home was accomplished, shipping con- ditions were such that thereafter supplies and 228 GIRLS' BOOK OF THE RED CROSS personnel were forwarded by regular transpor- tation lines. REST AND REFRESHMENT CANTEENS IN FRANCE The American Army in France was received in large reception camps on the coast, and after several weeks of preliminary training the men were sent across the country to permanent train- ing camps back of the firing lines. Because of the overtaxed railroad conditions and the length of the route the transfer often occupied seventy- two hours. Along the route followed by the troops the Red Cross established infirmaries and rest stations, each in charge of an American trained nurse with an American man to assist her. Each infirmary contained beds, a stock of drugs and other necessities. The seriously sick were cared for at French hospitals in the neighborhood. Daily calls were made upon the American sick in the hospitals by nurse and attendant, who took with them reading matter, tobacco, and other comforts. Long before the first 40,000 American troops reached France, the American Red Cross was hard at work looking after the physical com- fort of allied soldiers all along the line from ports to the front. These lines of communica- tion were the busiest and at times the most con- gested traffic arteries in all the world. From BEHIND THE FIRING LINE 229 ports to training camps, to supply bases and up to the very front line trenches, daily there were moving legions of men and vast quantities of supplies. Inevitably there were delays in movement and soldiers en route to and from the front were obliged to spend hours and some- times days at junction points and even on sidings along the main lines. When French army officers were asked what the American Red Cross could best do to hearten the French Army and to give the French soldiers a concrete token of American cooperation, they said, "Give us canteens and rest stations." Accordingly, at various im- portant railway points the American Red Cross established canteens and rest stations, operated by American women. Before the coming of these "joy stations," as they have been called by our soldiers, thousands of travel-worn men were obliged to spend dismal hours of waiting be- tween trains, unfed, unw^ashed, tired and ex- posed to heat and dust in summer, or to the cold and wet in winter, lying down on station floors, often on the bare ground with their packs, to rest as they waited for trains. There were few lines of Red Cross endeavor in France which supplied a greater need or met with more whole- hearted approval and support by the allied troops than the canteen and rest station work.^ ^ Red Cross Bulletin. 27,0 GIRLS' BOOK OF THE RED CROSS *'We established rest and refreshment can- teens along the entire length of the railway belt line about Paris," said Lieutenant-Colonel Harvey D. Gibson. ''These were called The Canteens of the Two Flags, — and served both American and French soldiers. Soldiers stop- ping en route at a station were not allowed to leave it or to enter the town: tired, perhaps wet and cold, they are dependent on our canteens for hot food, comparative warmth, and a place to rest. Our canteens dot all lines of communi- cation. The American soldier finds in them American women who furnish a real approach to home comfort; rest rooms, where he can read and write his letters, and play games; dormi- tories with showers and infirmaries; rest houses, where the soldiers sleep comfortably for twenty cents, and when the house is full auxiliary cots are provided for which no charge is made. Allied with the canteen service is the train plat- form service, which was established by the Eng- lish and taken over by us. Hot coffee is served to soldiers on passing trains." The women in charge of the canteens served day and night. The menu included soup, bread, meat, vegetables, salads, cheese, eggs, cofifee, chocolate and tea; an additional store ofifers canned goods, chocolate, fruit and tobacco which men can buy to take with them on the BEHIND THE FIRING LINE 231 train, as well as postcards and other small articles. Arrangements for announcing the de- parture of trains enabled men to catch a few hours of much needed rest in comfortable, clean quarters, without fear of missing their trains. One of the canteens has been described by an observer : "Back of a long porcelain-tiled counter American women in white caps and white aprons were pouring coffee, ladling soup and handing out sandwiches as fast as their arms could work. In front was an unending line of soldiers, American and French, with bowls of soup or coffee in one hand and sandwiches, sau- sages and tobacco in the other, making their way gingerly through the crowd from the counter to seats at the tables in the big room. This can- teen seats 360 an hour in the dining-room, which is capable of handling 5000 guests daily. There are twenty-one shower baths, a barber shop, a clothes sterilizer and bomb-proof movie theater. All is free except the food, for which there is a nominal charge. While waiting for trains the soldiers relax and rest. Everything is sold at cost, no allowance being made for the big over- head expenses. In addition, much is dis- tributed free. A bowl of soup, which is quite different from the usual onion-flavored greasy hot water, costs three cents, and other things are 232 GIRLS' BOOK OF THE RED CROSS sold at proportionately low prices. Soup and coffee are both served in bowls." ^ It was estimated that the American Red Cross gave meals to at least 1,000,000 allied soldiers every month. Tables and benches were ar- ranged along the platform, where all who were well enough to leave the trains sat in the sunshine and ate. For those who could not leave their stretchers, food and coffee were carried to the train. * We have not only given them the meals, but we have these great recreation halls where they sit and have their dinners and sit and talk and make merry. Then we have the big bar- racks like lumbermen's barracks, with bunks along the walls, on plans that we and the French Government agreed on. Then we have shower baths where they can bathe and we are putting in a system of disinfecting machinery so that the men's clothes, while they are bathing, are run through this disinfecting machinery where the vermin are killed. Then they get their clothes and go home in a different frame of mind from before. These people were so glad that they did not use the bunks at first, but they sat and talked and sang and wondered at what America was doing for them." ^ To see the men comfortably swapping stories 1 Wood, Junius B., in Chicago Daily Neivs. 2 Address by Major Grayson M.-P. Murphy. BEHIND THE FIRING LINE 233 over a cup of coffee, struggling over a game or a puzzle, or chatting over the counter with the workers, convinced the Red Cross Commission that its first effort to divert the thoughts of the men from the excitement and horrors of the trenches into quiet and relaxing channels had been successful. It is a pleasure to know that in the early days of the war, before the American Red Cross ac- tivities had begun, those young venturesome sons of this land who could not stay out of the fray but hastened over in one way or another to help at the very beginning, were cared for by the British Red Cross. One such lad wrote home: "At almost every stop we were served coffee, wine, or bouillon and bread, etc., by Red Cross nurses. . . . Last night we took advantage of the hospitality of the British Red Cross annex here in the railroad station for soldiers and slept soundly once again in 'real' beds. . . . The ladies here at the Red Cross annex have been treating us finely. I wonder where there is an English Red Cross Branch or Hospital where soldiers are not treated like real men?" ^ The British Red Cross maintained a large number of railway canteens, and the British women, like the American women, worked 1 Genet, Edmond. "War Letters." Charles Scribner's Sons, 1918. Edmond Genet was the first American aviator killed flying the stars and stripes. 234 GIRLS' BOOK OF THE RED CROSS faithfully and lovingly, serving hundreds of hungry soldiers, and chatting with them in friendly fashion. "It was wonderful to watch the men's faces change as they ate — they were so silent and depressed at first ; then the hot bouil- lon took a crease or two out of their faces ; next came a plate of meat and a quart of wine ; finally a cup of hot coffee which made them smile; ac- companied by two cigarettes each, which made their eyes fairly gleam." ^ Often at the close of a long, hard day, just as the women were preparing to close the can- teen and go to their rest quarters, a telegram would come: "Don't close. Another detach- ment coming. Train due at — o'clock." It might be nine o'clock or even later, but when the men arrived everything was ready for them and no signs of weariness or unwillingness evi- dent on the part of the workers. The busiest part of the day was apt to be between five and seven — though "overwhelming floods might occur at any minute." "Just as we were closing late on a June day," says one of these patriotic women, "we noticed a cloud of blue in the far distance. We watched a few minutes; then the lower half of it began to twinkle (that means legs in movement). Slowly it got nearer and we hastily reopened and 1 Dixon, Agnes M. "The Canteeners." John Murray, London, 1917. BEHIND THE FIRING LINE 235 got things ready. Five hundred men material- ized — they were in a desperate hurry; and in a quarter of an hour each man had drunk and de- parted, and the platform was empty again." On another "terribly hot" day toward the close of the month, she wrote: "We saw such guns passing through yesterday — monsters; the men traveling with them looked like little ants or flies — like a kitten sitting on an elephant. They are 400 and 500 mm. guns, painted blotch- ily and fantastically in sky and tree colors, with foliage and stems here and there; armored cars are painted the same, to avoid detection." On that day at the canteen she and her assistants served a regiment of Zouaves, another of Aus- tralians, "as well as a lot of French and a great many men traveling with horses, who might not leave their trains. Ten times have I been up and down that platform to-day in this terrific heat! Miss W. and I both think we shall see it forever in our nightmares! I am sure it is worse than trenches!" Of another detachment of 300 men, she says : "They simply fell out of the train and screamed when they saw us and our coffee pails, but they were not allowed to go away from the train, and we toiled three times up and down that weary, scorching platform, each carrying two pails, before they were all satisfied." ^ 1 Dixon, Agnes M. op. cit. 236 GIRLS' BOOK OF THE RED CROSS Canteen service did not stop with the railroad station or the railway train. Recreation huts and canteens were maintained near the evacua- tion hospitals, and at the suggestion of the War Department all of these connected with the American Army hospitals in France were man- aged by the Red Cross. At one of the American Red Cross canteens a wounded American sol- dier came in from one of the worst battles, with his head bandaged and his face stained with blood and mud. When the Red Cross worker asked him what service they could render, the young man pointed to a row of little refugee children waiting their turn for milk, and said roughly: ''Tend to the kids first; I can wait." The recreation huts were usually long, low, one-story wooden buildings, fitted up cozily after the style of a club-house, decorated with flags, posters, and gay chintz curtains. Some of the huts had a stage at one end where moving picture shows and other entertainments could be given. There was always a phonograph and it was always playing! "I don't know what we would have done," said a young officer in the Dental Corps, "if it hadn't been for those recreation huts and can- teens. One time we had been in the train for three days and nights, with only two stops where we could get hot food. At those two stops, the BEHIND THE FIRING LINE 237 Red Cross women were right on hand with hot coffee and soup. They just about saved our lives! Then when we reached the end of the trip, we were dumped into a regular mud-hole; and officers and all were quartered in a great barracks. No beds. Just had to unroll our mattresses and sleep on the floor. Hardly any opportunity to wash. Well, in a few days along comes the Red Cross and establishes a recrea- tion and rest station. There we could get a bath, and write a letter, and hear some music, and have a little comfort. It surely was our salvation !" Another officer, a commanding officer, said: 'Why, do you know, the Red Cross has prac- tically saved our lives out here! It is an abso- lute godsend to the men and to the officers, too. We think we have the best mess in all France right over there in that Red Cross building. As for the men, they spend most of their time off duty in the canteen and that, I am sure, accoun-ts in no small degree for their contentment and good behavior. You know it means a whole lot to a fellow, who's a long way from his home folks, just to get a smile and a cheerful word from the young women in the Red Cross estab- lishment. Of course the soup and coffee and sandwiches are not to be overlooked, but the smile — well, that goes into the heart." Letters from soldiers echoed — or emphasized 238 GIRLS' BOOK OF THE RED CROSS — the same sentiment. One of these wrote: "The women of the Red Cross are the bond that helps to keep us from becoming the horde of uncivilized barbarians that camp life soon breeds and war turns out in seconds." The entire canteen service for American troops in transit in France, including the opera- tion of the metropolitan canteens in Paris, were in charge of the Red Cross. In some instances mere huts sheltered the workers and served as places of entertainment for the soldiers. The schedule of a worker in a British Red Cross hos- pital canteen is given somewhat after this style: "The routine is this : arrive at 8 :30, start making a dish for about twelve to twenty-four men ; they vary in number every day. It may be a pudding or a vegetable; we provide what we like. The oven is very bad, and what would take an hour to cook in England takes two or three hours here. In the meantime, the big marmites are heating, and we start to make coffee. By eleven the dish we have made, and hot milk, have to be ready for those men who are on special regime; by 11:15 the whole lot come pouring from their dinner to our canteen to be served with coffee — any number from 600 to 1000. . . . The pouring out goes on as fast as we can pour till about 1 2:15, when it slacks off and we can eat what we find time for. . . . Almost immediately the after- BEHIND THE FIRING LINE 239 noon dishes have to be made — two for the even- ing meal — and the water started for tea. Tea begins to be served from 2 130, and the great rush is from 3 to 4, when again it slacks off, and we can get our own. Then at 4 145 hot milk has to be ready. . . . After their evening 'soupe' at 5 the men are apt to try and sneak in again and get final cups of tea, but there is usually a sergeant about who comes to us and asks us to shut, and we murmur 'Captain's orders,' and re- luctantly shut down our shutters and turn the lights out." ^ The canteen of an American Red Cross which opened at 6:30 o'clock every morning did not close until 9:30 o'clock at night, unless detach- ments were due to leave or arrive, when it re- mained at work for any need that might arise. Only for an hour a day was service suspended, between noon and i o'clock, in order that the place might be scrubbed from top to 'bottom. The women in charge had far less time for recreation than the soldiers they served, and, in spring and summer, a party of them was detailed to go out upon the aviation field at 4 o'clock every morning with hot chocolate and coffee for the flying corps, for that was the hour at which the flights began. And to make the service a complete success, these young women 1 Dixon, Agnes M. op. cit. 240 GIRLS' BOOK OF THE RED CROSS of the canteen padded a large barrel with raw cotton and burlap to keep their chocolate and coffee canisters hot while the "tin Lizzie" was transporting the beverages to the flying field. "And not a man drove one nail in that barrel- cosey — I suppose that's what you'd call it — nor even had a hand in designing it," the keeper of the storeroom declared with rising pride. "These women," says Forbes Watson, "not only come next to a soldier; they are the soldier's veritable sisters, standing by his side there in the war-zone, and as ready as the soldier to give themselves wholly to the war for liberty." Many American women who were living abroad when war was declared, became vol- unteers in the Red Cross canteen service. "The way the women worked, and the courage they showed, and the long hours they endured when it was necessary, make one of the finest tributes not only to American women but to women all over the world, that has ever been seen," says Major Grayson M.-P. Murphy. "The only trouble we had with those women was that they were always trying to get up where they could get shelled." "The nearer they were to the front line and the more frequently their shed or their cellars or their dugouts were bombarded, the more tenderly did they hang green branches to the BEHIND THE FIRING LINE 241 door, festoon the ceiling with bright colors or tack some heartening picture on the blank wall. It is said that there was not a single canteen in France, of all t'he long line of rest and re- freshment stations, where the American and French Red Cross were united, where some- body's genius for home-making did not bring an unexpected bit of comfort or beauty." ^ In one of these ''huts" an artist among the workers decorated the walls with a frieze made up of the insignia of many different divisions. This decoration not only brightened the canteen but furnished a fine topic for conversation. "Hello! there's my wildcat," or ''my rainbow," a man would exclaim with pleasure at the un- expected sight of his special symbol. Or yet again, from another man would come a howl of disappointment, "Oh, I say, where's my in- signia? I don't see it anywhere!" Of course that was even the best comment of all, for it re- sulted in "oh's" and "ah's" and "Isn't that too bad!" and an immediate drawing made of the lacking symbol and reassuring promises given of its certain appearance at an early date. "When you come back here another time you'll find it!" And by this means every one in the hut was talking, and talking about something of what was to the men of vital interest. 1 Clark, Ida C. "American Women and the World War." D. Appleton & Co. 242 GIRLS' BOOK OF THE RED CROSS Red Cross workers have been called the big sisters of the camp. Therefore, it was not sur- prising to see now and then a sign reading "Mending shop." In connection with one of the great American aviation camps in France, three women were constantly employed in re- pairing accidents to clothing. The darning of socks, however, was turned over to the French refugees. As the Red Cross itself said, "The American Red Cross hitched up America's knit- ting mothers to France's darning grand- mothers." Sock-darning bees were held where French refugees darned socks for a small sum. Young girls opened the sacks in which the socks were brought, sorting and mating them. Three big rooms were daily crowded with old refugee women darning socks of the American army. The army paid four cents a pair and supplied the wool. ROLLING CANTEENS AND STREET KITCHENS Nearer and nearer the firing line did the can- teens move on. Field canteens were placed in or near the second line where men going to and from the trenches might conveniently stop. A field kitchen was maintained, from which re- freshing drinks were distributed along the front by wagons and light motor trucks. Four thou- sand portions — coffee, tea, cocoa, bouillon, BEHIND THE FIRING LINE 243 lemonade — were sometimes served in a single day from one canteen. Rolling canteens and portable kitchens, all of which were conducted by men instead of women, made it possible to serve cold drinks and light food in summer to the troops actually in the trenches. The value of a canteen service in reach of men stand- ing duty in trench mud and snow is impossible to estimate. It went further than mere physical comfort and mental relaxation. It was an in- spiration to troops to feel that their personal needs were provided for, that their home people v^ere within reach through this Red Cross rep- resentation. "What were those funny looking things in the parade that John said were cocoa-cannons?" in- quired Harriet, when the family were discuss- ing the various features of what was probably the greatest Welcome Home parade given after the soldiers' return to the United States. 'What does he mean by cocoa-cannons?" she continued in disgust; "does he think I'd believe cannons are ever loaded with cocoa? They did not look like cannon, anyway. Tell me what they were, Uncle Henry." Uncle Henry laughed. "Those cannons have truly been loaded with cocoa," he said, "but not in just the way you understood." Then he went on to explain that cocoa-cannon is the soldier's 244 GIRLS' BOOK OF THE RED CROSS familiar name for a rolling kitchen which car- ries hot drinks and doughnuts to the fighters in the trenches. The rolling kitchen became a regular institution with the battling men. In one month of December, 225,000 hot drinks were served in this way. The kitchens were also used at entraining points, when divisions moved. At one such point during the six days required to entrain the soldiers, the kitchens were operated for twenty-four hours a day, serv- ing more than 15,000 cups of cocoa. Thus it came about that when thousands of men in khaki marched up the most famous avenue in America with other thousands of citizens to cheer them along the five-mile route, conspicuous in the procession were two battered "cocoa-cannons." The Red Cross figured conspicuously in the parades wherever held. Army officers said: "It is the right and duty of the Red Cross to be with us. Under army regulations, the Red Cross detachment is as much a part of the Divi- sion as our headquarters staff or any other unit. With their ambulances and kitchen trailers, therefore, they must, perforce, be in line just as they were in line — always — in those other days in Northern France and Belgium when the *show' was of an entirely different character. What should we have done without the Red Cross over there! Now, when our good friends BEHIND THE FIRING LINE 245 at home are so generously welcoming us, it would be only just to see to it that the Red Cross received its rightful share of recognition. Many a man who will march in the parades, the joy and pride of some mother's heart, but for the American Red Cross would not be there." There was one woman, a French woman, who did manage to drive a little rolling canteen to the very front. ''Mother Ricaux," as the "poilus" called her, with her donkey-drawn can- teen, was a familiar sight along the winding French roads leading battlewards during the four long years of war. She bears the distinc- tion of having approached closer to the actual fighting lines than any other ''cantiniere," and has two wound stripes to attest it! One of these was received in the retreat of the Marne in 19 14. The sturdy little pony, the donkey's pre- decessor, was killed then, but Mother Ricaux was not discouraged, only slightly incon- venienced by her wound for a short time, and soon the little canteen was trundling trench- wards again with its tempting array of sand- wiches, cheese and biscuits, pots of mustard, salad, eggs, and soup! Yes, the little rolling canteen was hard and trying work. But then there were the poilus. One did not mind so much being tired when a poilu's eyes laughed over a thick sandwich! 246 GIRLS' BOOK OF THE RED CROSS Rain or sun, under sprinkling shrapnel, she was the faithful friend of the second line. Her round, smiling face under her "tin hat" was always welcome among her soldier friends. And Mother Ricaux was not without troubles of her own. Her husband was a cripple, his legs crushed by a heavy gun-carriage, and there were three small children. Upon another oc- casion this brave woman was overcome by asphyxiating gas which confined her to the hos- pital for more than a year. When the city was under bombardment, no one was more fear- less and calm than Mother Ricaux, who as- sisted in evacuating the wounded. Rolling kitchens played an important part in Italy, also. In 1917, Lieutenant Edward M. McKey, the first American Red Cross commis- sioner to fall in Italy, designed and built the first rolling kitchens and took them to Italy. For some time he was the only representative of America on a long front, and he used to serve sometimes as many as 4500 men a day from two relief kitchens. By November, 191 8, there were sixteen American Red Cross portable can- teens serving the Italian soldiers in the front line trenches. Street kitchens were set up along thorough- fares where soldiers marching to the front or returning from the battlefield might find hot BEHIND THE FIRING LINE 247 food served free "with the compliments of the Red Cross." Such little kitchens were also set up on the platforms where trains were being loaded with refugees. RED CROSS SOAP Dearly as the soldier prized ''eats" and "drinks" a close rival to either was soap. An English woman took with her to a French can- teen a half-gross of penny soap tablets, colored and scented, and put some of them out in a box on the counter. The very next soldier to come in "spotted them" at once and asked the price. When he was told to help himself, that the soap was to be had for the asking, she writes that he, "lingeringly and affectionately picked out the color he preferred, and muttering 'Soap! free!' he retired into the courtyard. Through the window I was able to observe what he did. He waited about till a soldier came in sight, then beckoned him mysteriously, and showed his booty. There was- much gesticulation, discus- sion, and sensing of the soap tablets; four senses out of the five were applied to it; lively satis- faction and handshakings terminated the inter- view, and soldier No. i departed, while soldier No. 2 remained on the spot to repeat the per- formance with soldier No. 3. This went on all the afternoon, the latest tablet always being dis- 248 GIRLS' BOOK OF THE RED CROSS played for the benefit of the last comer. By evening all the soap had gone, and the men dis- played the greatest degree of gratitude, as soap is not included in their rations. After that I used to buy soap of a dull household variety by the hundred kilos and cut it up for them in small pieces." CARE OF REFUGEES During the darkest days of March, 1918, when the long-range guns of the enemy were reaching Paris and it seemed as if that city might really be taken or destroyed, the American Red ■Cross worked hand in hand with the French Red Cross in their endeavor to meet the fearful de- mands made on canteens and rest rooms in the city. From the northern towns which had been supposed to be in a safe region refugees by the thousands came pouring suddenly into Paris. Red Cross doctors, nurses, and aides cooperated with the French nurses and the French Gov- ernment officials in helping care for mothers and children. Canteens were open day and night; for trainloads of troops on their way to the front could not be neglected even while the refugees were flocking into the railroad station in such overwhelming numbers. Frequently 2000 refugees would arrive in one day, mostly children starved and frightened. BEHIND THE FIRING LINE 249 They were met by the Red Cross nurses, who mothered them, bathed them, shampooed them, fed them, and dressed them in clean clothes. Yet more significant than material comforts were the heart helps those forlorn sufferers re- ceived from the Red Cross. An aged grand- father, for example, had become separated from the only member of his family left to him, a little boy who had been sent by some other train. His deep distress was turned to greatest joy, when the lad was found by the Red Cross workers, and the two were reunited. Again, a boy of six with a little sister of three years, ragged, hungry, wet and cold^ had been wandering around for six months, but all their sufferings were as nothing compared to the fact that they had become separated. At the Red Cross can- teen in the railroad station, they too were re- united, no more to wander, for the present at least, as the Red Cross took them into its care. There were other refugees to be cared for by the Red Cross besides those fleeing from the enemy. Air raids and explosions at most unex- pected intervals furnished victims requiring at- tention. Margaret had finished her morn- ing work in the dispensary where she was then stationed in Paris, had eaten her luncheon, and was preparing to enjoy an "afternoon off," when boom! boom! came a terrific explosion. Every 250 GIRLS' BOOK OF THE RED CROSS one in the dispensary rushed toward the stairs on the way to the basement, according to the in- structions for conduct during an air raid. Then came a third boom! and a sound like a hail storm; glass was crashing, crashing, and falling in showers. People in the city, supposing the enemy was making another air raid, hid for safety in the cellars of their houses. All those unfortunate persons who chanced to be in the streets, or elsewhere in the open, before they could reach cover were cut and bruised and bleeding from the falling splinters of glass. News was soon received by the Red Cross that an explosion had occurred in a munition factory a few miles outside the gates of Paris, that the place was in flames, and all who could escape were fleeing to the city. Doctors and nurses started immediately for the scene of the accident, while others of the Red Cross set to work at once to be ready to care for the home- less and the injured. The explosion occurred at 1 :40 P. M. and inside of three hours the hotel where Margaret was staying had been fitted up by the Red Cross Bureau of Relief, ready to care for all women and children who might be brought in. Red Cross ambulances were always on duty in such emergencies. When air raids occurred or cities were shelled by long-range guns, the am- BEHIND THE FIRING LINE 251 bulance men were ready to rescue or recover victims. As soon as the signal was heard warn- ing a city or town of an air raid, the ambulance men mounted their cars. The sound of three cannons fired at intervals of fifteen seconds, fol- lowed by sirens blowing, might — and properly should — send civilians to cellars and basements, but to the ambulance man it was a call to duty. Aid raids usually occurred on bright starlight nights between 10:15 and 2:30 o'clock. Am- bulances stood ready to speed away at an instant when ordered, and Red Cross men rode on the fire engines to be on the spot ready for service when needed. People living in America during the war, in sections of the country where there were ''fly- ing fields" or plants for the manufacture of planes, became accustomed to the sight of air- planes. When they heard a deep steady whirrr like a big bumblebee overhead, they hurried out on the porch or into the backyard and looked up, hoping to see an airplane or a hydroplane out for practice in our friendly skies or pos- sibly carrying mail between two cities. To watch the giant "darning needle" humming across the fluffy white clouds into the clear blue of a spring sky, while we stand fascinated by the wonder of it all, and only the birds are fright- ened by the unknown monster invading their 252 GIRLS' BOOK OF THE RED CROSS realms, is a very different affair from being out on a battlefield or in a threatened town where every one is frightened because the dreaded and altogether too well-known visitor overhead brings disaster and ruin and death. The khaki- clad soldier in the open ducks to the ground and rolls himself up like a ball; he must under no circumstances look up; taubes cannot detect khaki balls, but they ca-n see upturned faces. For the same reason civilians are warned never to look up toward the sky if they are caught in the open during a raid. When a long-distance gun sweeps the town, the inhabitants flee to the cellars as they do when an air raid is expected. The heroic action of a Red Cross Ambulance Corps and its com- mander — who there won his Croix de Guerre — is graphically related by an army officer : "The town was a little place which lay in No Man's Land, midway between our own and the Ger- man lines. As a matter of fact, the enemy patrols were still penetrating and searching the town, and enemy machine guns also swept the streets. Two civilians who had managed to find their way out, had brought the news that the place still held a large number of civilians, many of them wounded, who were hiding in the cellars, fearful every instant that death would come to them, either from shell fire or gas. BEHIND THE FIRING LINE 253 "The Germans, however, were not bombard- ing the place just then, as their own patrols were there. Many of these civilians had received their wounds in the fighting which had ac- companied our advance. Many more were suffering the effects of gas, which always settles to subterranean places, such as the cellars in which they had sought refuge. ''The Captain of the Ambulance Corps called for volunteers to proceed to the town, to bring out the wounded and to feed the starving people. Of the thirty-seven men in his detachment, thirty-five volunteered. The other two men were ill that day. I learned afterward of some of the exploits of this courageous little body. It was courting certain annihilation for them to drive into the open streets of the town, so they parked their ambulances under the shelter of the houses at the end of the street. Then they sent parties of men into the town in search of the people. These men found women and children and old men, who had been huddled together in dark cellars, without light, without fire, and without food for three days. The wounded, many of them, had not had their wounds dressed at all. One old woman had been shot through her two thighs, and one leg was broken. She had lain that way for four days, without even the simplest treatment. 254 GIRLS' BOOK OF THE RED CROSS "The Red Cross men used wheelbarrows to carry these wounded from the houses to the wait- ing ambulances. To expedite the removal of the wounded, parties were sent through the town to instruct the people to hang a piece of cloth on a stick in front of the house where there was a wounded person. In this way, all the wounded were taken out before we advanced and took St. Souplet. "Besides this service to the wounded, abun- dant food was supplied from the Red Cross and our own stores. I may add that one of the pleasantest recollections of the many noble ac- tions of our own men, was the way they shared t'heir rations with the starving people of these stricken French towns." ^ In other places ambulance drivers of Red Cross m'otor trucks helped the refugees to safety. As when one morning "while Madame was out feeding the three hens and the cock, the Red Cross truck drew up and the big, smiling, cheer- ful American boy, who was driving, helped to load the little wooden trunk and the pillow slip full of clothes and the reserve bread and the precious pans and, although he shook his head when Madame declared that she must take along her chickens, he held the sack while they dropped in. And even Pierre took his two rab- 1 "News Letter," American Red Cross. BEHIND THE FIRING LINE 255 bits and his pocket full of greens to feed them. ''It was only the work of a dozen minutes to make the rounds of the dead village and pick up the cave dwellers who still remained ; the big American boy simply carried old Madame J., more than a hundred years old, from her cellar to the truck and carefully lifted her to a fine soft seat of straw. There were even smiles when he fairly threw the kiddies on to the big truck, and everybody laughed when he tried to help fat old Madame M., who weighs almost two hundred pounds, to the high truck floor. Even poor Madame D., who had four little children and whose soldier husband had been killed only a month before, was smiling by the time the camion was started. "It was a long journey back the twelve miles to the old crumbling stone building that had once been a convent, for the roads were choked with traffic now and for what seemed like hours the way would be blocked by trains of wagons or cannon or marching soldiers. But once at the great building Madame J. and her neighbors were gently lifted from the high truck by Red Cross hands and in a minute steaming bowls of soup were given out, and then they were taken to straw-strewn rooms where they might rest. Meanwhile the truck was shooting back to other little ruined villages, gathering together those 256 GIRLS' BOOK OF THE RED CROSS who still re>mained and carrying them to safety." ^ It was the repetition of such episodes as the above that caused President Poincaire to write to t*he American Red Cross: "Now that the hope of victory soothes her pains, France remembers that, since the very beginning of her trials, her boys fighting on the front or wounded in the field, her widows and orphans, and all those who needed help and could be reached, have received the heartiest support, both material and moral, from the American Red Cross. "When peace has come, when wounds are cured, when ruins are repaired, when orphans have grown men, France shall never forget." MECHANICAL TRANSPORT CORPS A good many young men — especially Univer- sity men — who volunteered to run ambulances during the war, were transferred to another corps which developed somewhat unexpectedly, the Mechanical Transport Corps, employed in getting ammunition up to the artillery. The officers were all experienced ambulance drivers, most of them wearing the Croix de Guerre as proof of their valor. Experience and valor were both required, as oftentimes the men drove their camions forward through towns harassed by air raids, swept with shells. A camion is an army automobile truck, and as the drivers car- 1 Hunt, Frazler, in Red Cross Magazine. BEHIND THE FIRING LINE 257 ried ammunition to the guns they really were belligerents while ambulance men are not. Therefore the camion drivers felt that they would be sailing — or driving — under false colors to claim to belong to the ambulance service ; ac- cordingly they altered their uniforms, took off the Red Cross buttons and tabs of ambulance drivers and replaced them by regular buttons and tabs of the transport service/ ''I shall never forget," said Doris, "an excited little woman with three sturdy boys clinging to her, who arrived at the railroad canteen with a trainload of refugees. She proudly told the Red Cross workers that an American soldier had helped her to get away in his camion when her home town had been under terrific bom- bardment. To her that ambulance driver rep- resented the entire Amerix:an Army and she was duly proud and grateful to all Americans. "The kindness of those men has become pro- verbial," continued Doris, and she added her testimony as a Red Cross nurse to what Uncle Henry had already said of them. She pro- ceeded to tell how devoted the ambulance men were to the children in the hospitals where she had been stationed. When a suffering child, all wrapped up in blankets, was taken from the am- 1 Irwin, Will. "A Reporter at Armageddon." D. Appleton & Co., 1918. 258 GIRLS' BOOK OF THE RED CROSS bulance, on a stretcher whose every motion was torture, and was just ready to cry with pain and fright, if, by chance, he looked up at the friendly, smiling face above him and into the twinkling eyes, — some way the tears don't come after all, and very likely the little fellow would send an answering smile back to this big, gentle, sweet man. "Uncle laughs and sniffs when I call a man 'sweet,' " interrupted Janet. "Well," said her mother, "next time just quote those lines of Bayard Taylor's: The bravest are the tenderest, The loving are the daring. A child may see the real sweetness in a big, brave man's face, where perhaps your uncle would not." Then Doris told of many ambulance men whose eyes twinkled and whose faces wrinkled into the sort of smiles that made all sorts of rough places smooth. The surliest workmen or the most worn-out and ready-to-drop-in-their- tracks helpers, men or women, would respond to the charm of an ambulance man's magic smile and undertake to do the next to impossible. Doris said there was an ambulance man in the children's hospital where she was at one time, who wai refused when he had tried to enlist BEHIND THE FIRING LINE 259 among the fighting men because he was too fat! Poor fellow! Well, you know a fat boy is gen- erally a jolly, full-of-fun boy, and is quite apt to have a loving heart. So this boy joined the ambulance corps. He brought hundreds of girls and boys and babies to the hospital, and just fell in love with every one, and of course they all returned his love. ''Good-night, daddy! Good-night, daddy!" came the cry from every cot in another big hos- pital where Doris had been nursing. "Daddy" was an ambulance driver, a young lad whose heart went out to every suffering child. Each night, at the close of a busy day of hard — often- times dangerous — work, "Daddy" went through the wards with a good-night kiss for every child. Who can tell what it meant to those poor little waifs whose real daddies were away in the mud of the trenches fighting for their country, or lying wounded under the starry skies, or perhaps forever at rest in a far-away green field with a tiny wooden cross at their heads, to have a good- night kiss and be "tucked in" by even a "play" daddy! CHAPTER VI "The Greatest Mother i.n the World" ^^ Stretching forth her hands to all in need — to Jew or Gentile, black or white, knowing no favorite, yet favoring all. Seeing all things with a mother s sixth sense that's blind to jealousy and meanness; helping the little home that's crushed beneath an iron hand by showing mercy in a healthy, human way ; rebuilding it, in fact, with stone on stone and bringing warmth to hearts and hearths too long neglected. ^'Reaching out her hands across the sea to heal and comfort thousands. She's warming thou- sands, feeding thousands, healing thousands from her store; the Greatest Mother in the World— the RED CROSS." Miss Ada Ward, the English cartoonist, was sent to the hospitals in France to take good cheer to the wounded by her funny stories and pic- tures. She tells of seeing a great, husky, fine young man who had been brought to the hospital in muddy, bloody clothes from the battlefield, and who, after being bathed and having his 260 "THE GREATEST MOTHER" 261 wounds dressed, was clad in a fresh suit of clean pajamas and taken into the ward. He looked at the clean bed he was about to occupy — the first bed he had been in for months — with its fresh sheets and pillow cases, and then cast his eye over his clean, comfortable Red Cross pajamas, and burst into tears. "He just cried like a great big boy," says Miss Ward, "and then he blurted out the words 'I — want — my mother.' " Men are only grown-up boys (although you must never tell them so ! for they won't believe it!) and when they are sick, or tired, or hungry, or in trouble of any kind, they want their mothers. And if they can't have their mothers, why, then big sister will do. Girls, of course, want their mothers, too. But some way or an- other, girls seem to have a way of 'tending to themselves and almost every sister seems natur- ally to "mother" her brothers. Probably the reason that "run to mother" is the first thought of boys and girls when in trouble is that, as a rule, mother is always on hand to comfort and caress and to apply the salve or liniment or iodine or boric acid. If you are ill and have to stay in bed, it is mother who bathes you, brings the hot-water bag or the electric pad, gives you a spoonful of medicine every hour, tucks the bedclothes in "so you won't 262 GIRLS' BOOK OF THE RED CROSS take cold," and then sits by the bedside and reads to you ; or if you begin to feel sleepy, it is mother who sits and holds your hand; and when you are well enough to eat real food instead of gruel, what dainties mother prepares and brings up to you on the prettiest tray with the daintiest china! Of course, father is all right, too ; but fathers have to be away earning the money to pay the doctor, and to pay for the medicine and the food ; they can't stay at home and hold your hand! And then, that isn't the way fathers usually help. You don't seem to mind letting mother see you cry — some way you know down deep in your heart that no matter how big you are or how old, whether you have grown to be as tall as mother herself and are in the high school, or even after you are really a man or woman and perhaps have a business and a home of your own, to mother you will always really be "my dear baby." Now here is where fathers are "different." When you are ever so little they begin calling you "little man" or "little woman." You must never let father see you cry! I should say not! Especially if you're a boy. To shed tears is un- manly. Father wants you to be brave and face things with a strong heart— and sometimes hand! He gives you wise advice, shows you how to "THE GREATEST MOTHER" 263 hold your head high, how to meet temptations, how to amount to something in the world, and how to be of service to the world. When ^'the boy" was about to leave home, first for camp and then presumably for overseas, to fight for liberty and peace on earth, it was father who took him into the library or into ''the den" for a long talk about the real things of life; it was father who attended to all the business part of everything; it was father who gripped his hand when he said good-by until the boy thought the bones would break. But it was mother who crept into the boy's room the night before he left and sat beside the bed- side and held his hand — oh, so tight! — and said all sorts of sweet things for him to remember always, and gave him the Bible she had when she was a girl with her picture pasted in the front of the little book; and it was mother who cried. Of course, mothers may cry — no matter how brave they are — although fathers mustn't — no matter how sad they are — ^^so that is the rea- son why their boys want their mothers when they themselves feel that they must shed tears. To a soldier who had been home on furlough some one said when he returned to camp, "Well, I suppose your mother was glad to see you." "Oh, you should have seen her cry when I came away!" "But she was glad to see you come 264 GIRLS' BOOK OF THE RED CROSS home even for a little while, wasn't she?" "Oh, yes indeed ! You should have seen her cry when I arrived." When the soldiers are in the hospital, they turn to the nurses as they would to their mothers. A young man, coming out of ether, talks to his mother, calls for her, and the nurse must then take the mother's place. He tells her his secrets. He tells her how matters stand at home, how he feels about everything, and what he in- tends to do when he gets back. "Is there a father or mother in America who would not go to a wounded son in France at great cost of money and sacrifice, if the Govern- ment would allow it?" asked the Red Cross. "You cannot go to France, but you can send an American Red Cross nurse, who will care for your boy as tenderly as a mother and as skill- fully as a physician. The Red Cross nurse meets your boy with a smile when he is brought into the hospital, administers to his every need throughout his sickness, councils him to lead an upright life and bids him God-speed as he goes back to his regiment." "Yes," adds another, "we're the father and mother, and the uncle and the aunt, and the doctor, the solicitor, the banker, and the parson." For incidentally it might be said that the Red Cross did not wait for cases of extremity to ex- "THE GREATEST MOTHER" 265 tend its many-sided cooperation. The Ameri- can soldier anywhere under any circumstances might expect any sort of thoughtful attention. There, for instance, was Edgar Ranney, who in the spring of '19 was on his way home. His division was to sail on the ship — on June 8. When the men reached the port of embarkation, Edgar found that he had a very sore throat. He consulted the doctor. The doctor said, "Tonsil- litis. Better go to the hosptal for a few days." Arrived at the hospital, Edgar was put to bed. Then he remembered that he had not sent the promised cable to his parents notifying them of the date of sailing. Soon a Red Cross person came to the bedside and asked whether he could give any service. "Yes, thank you," said Edgar, "I was just on my way to cable my folks when I was sent here. If you'll attend to that, I'll be awfully grateful. You know our division sails the 8th." Then giving his father's address, Edgar took from his "kit" a $5 bill and handed it to his Red Cross friend. "Pay for the cable out of this," he said, "and keep the change for the Red Cross. I don't know how much it will cost to send the message." The Red Cross man consulted with the doctor and the commanding officer before sending the cablegram but did not disturb Edgar by telling him that he would not be able to leave the hos- 266 GIRLS' BOOK OF THE RED CROSS pital for another two weeks, and considerately kept out of sight in order to avoid questions. And as Edgar had performed his duty by at- tending to the sending of the message, he dis- missed it from his mind and never thought about it again until he was more than half way home. Then it came to him like a flash! Oh, what a shame! How the folks must have been worry- ing! However, when the ship pulled up at the dock, Edgar was among those looking eagerly for familiar faces. And sure enough, there on the dock, looking as handsome and happy as any two dear people could look, were Mother and Dad. "How did you know I was coming in to-day?" asked the young man after the first greetings were over. "Why, we got your cablegram," re- plied his father. "But didn't it say I should ar- rive two weeks ago?" "No, the date was right," said his father, looking perplexed. Edgar pondered the question a moment. Then he burst out, "Well, I'll say Bully for that Red Cross man ! He realized that I wouldn't be able to leave when I expected, and he never sent that cable until he was sure! That's regular Red Cross efficiency and thoughtfulness." And then he related the whole story to his parents. About two weeks later, a Red Cross official en- velope addressed to Edgar Ranney arrived at his "THE GREATEST MOTHER" 267 home, with $2 enclosed as change from the cable- gram! THE CARE COMMITTEE Tribute is here due to those women who were enrolled as members of the "Care committee." This committee is immediately notified of the arrival in any hospital of an American soldier. Every one of these soldiers is visited at least once a week and supplied with comforts, letters are written for him and everything possible done to make him comfortable. A wounded soldier lying in the hospital, swathed in bandages, burning with fever, re- ceived a letter from a friend at home saying that his mother was very ill and was alone with no one to take care of her. When one of these visitors told him not to worry, that the Red Cross would send some one at once to look after his mother and see that she needed nothing, the miserable, homesick boy raised his eyes with the tears brimming over, and after thanking her re- peatedly said, "You are only the second lady I have spoken to since I enlisted eleven months ago." VOLUNTARY AID DETACHMENTS Another class of women who deserve recogni- tion among the faithful plucky workers are the 268 GIRLS' BOOK OF THE RED CROSS V. A. D. (Voluntary Aid Detachments) of the British Red Cross and the Nurses' Aides of the American Red Cross. They were women who were not trained nurses, but who were proficient in first aid, home nursing, cooking, domestic science, and who were willing to do scrubbing or carpentering, or fire building, or any disagree- able task that came to hand. They have been characterized by the doctors as "perfectly wonderful in spirit and in service." The last message to reach this country from a United States marine who was killed in France was written to a Red Cross official, telling him that the soldier had come to love the Red Cross banner as well as he loves the Stars and Stripes. "If you could only see," he wrote, "the expres- sions of comfort and cheer which your generous donations bring to the dirty, weary countenances of recipients, you would feel highly remunerated for your outlay of time, labor and money. I want the American people, and especially all members of the Red Cross, to know just how every soldier feels toward your great organiza- tion." Only a few days after he wrote the letter, and before he had an opportunity to mail it, the gallant fellow was killed in action. Another American soldier when leaving the hospital said to his Red Cross nurse, "Good-by, little mother, I only hope you and I can go home "THE GREATEST MOTHER" 269 on the same boat; wouldn't I like to stand be- side you while we saluted the Goddess of Lib- erty together!" THE AMERICAN NURSE A Red Cross chaplain has said that the mere presence of an American nurse helped wonder- fully to buoy up the spirit and morale of the American troops, and was an important factor in returning wounded men to duty. "There is more or less of a belief," he said, "that once a man was wounded he was sent to a hospital and then home. That was not so. An enormous proportion of the wounded were made well at the hospitals and then sent back to their com- mands." "You can't realize," he continued, "what it meant to have American nurses. You can't imagine what it meant to a wounded man to be carried from the field on a stretcher — although the bearers as a rule were as gentle as men can be — to have his wounds cleansed and dressed hurriedly at the dressing station, then hurried ofif in an ambulance to the hospital and put under ether, then when he comes out of the ether to find himself in a clean bed 'tucked up' by an Ameri- can nurse. "Such a man invents all sorts of excuses to keep the nurse by his bedside tucking him up. 270 GIRLS' BOOK OF THE RED CROSS One chap, I remember, kept finding wrinkles in the sheet and pointing them out to the nurse, until she discovered that as fast as she could straighten out the wrinkles on one side of the bed, they appeared on the other side. Those wrinkles just seemed to grow! Of course, she humored the sick man awhile, and then laughed and let him know she saw through his trick. He just wanted to keep her there, and that was his way of doing it! 'Well,' she said as she laughed, 'is there anything else I can do?' 'Yes,' he replied, 'just stand there awhile so I can see you — ^it m-akes it seem so like- home.' " A soldier patient of Clara Barton's during the days of the Civil War said of her, "She just mothered us and made us well in spite of our- selves." And this "mothering" has been the dis- tinguishing mark of Red Cross service in war times ever since. All nurses in army hospitals and in naval hos- pitals at home and abroad soon learned the peculiar "lingo" of the soldiers and sailors and were able to converse with their patients in their own war dialect. That fact drew nurse and patient a little closer together and also caused many a good laugh. The successful nurse must become a real "pal" to the wounded man in order to be of greatest help. "They are always so grateful," says one nurse; "a mere smile or a "THE GREATEST MOTHER" 271 glass of water will meet such appreciation and thanks. When a nurse enters the room the soldiers wave their hands just like boys— and they most of them were such boys!" she added. Almost every nurse, when speaking of the men, used that phrase sooner or later in some part of her narrative— "they were such boys." Being "boys," they wanted their mothers or sisters, and so the usual term for a faithful be- loved nurse was "little mother" or "sister," and "over there" the name was used generally also by the peasants and town people as a friendly greeting. "It is pleasant to be everywhere saluted in the neighborhood," says a Red Cross worker. "Even the tiny boys salute or take off their caps, and all the children say, 'Bonjour, ma soeur,' or 'ma mere.' " Our nurses adopted the European custom and dropped the formal use of the last name, taking the gentler one of "sister." "Max Mueller says the old Aryan word for sister meant comforter. If this be true, no better name suits the calling of these devoted women," says Miss Boardman. In Russia, the nurses reported "It is most gratify- ing to know the affection that springs up for the 'Amerikansky' Sisters." In Serbia, "They all love the 'Sestras Americana.' " "Say, sister, stop for a bit of talk, it's good to have somebody to say a word to," a wounded 2^2 GIRLS' BOOK OF THE RED CROSS Britisher would say to his nurse. It was every- where the same. The men never tired of tell- ing their experiences or of rehearsing the horri- ble events of the battlefield. The nurses listened sympathetically, trying to turn the conversation as soon as possible to pleasanter topics. Not that the soldiers complained. That they seldom did. They just wanted to *'tell things" and to "talk things over" as they would at home. They were most remarkably brave and cheerful dur- ing the long days of convalescence. ''Case after case of serious wounds the sisters note; there a man whose poor frost-bitten feet mean amputa- tion, here only a boy, and yet the light forever blotted out by the cruel shot that passed through both his eyes. Always the same good courage. No matter how badly they are wounded or maimed for life, they talk and laugh the whole day long. Brave, cheery fellows, making the best of it to the world outside. One feels like mothering them all ; some are so very young; and the older ones, too, need their share of mother- ing," reads a nurse's diary.^ In a hospital in London which was supported entirely by U. S. A. money, although it was con- nected with the British Red Cross, there lay a lad of only twenty years. A cruel bullet had entered one of his eyes and passed out through iBoardman, Mabel T. op. cit. "THE GREATEST MOTHER" 273 the other, so he would never see the light of day again. The brave fellow suffered fearfully, and cried out at intervals, "Oh, God, help me to bear my pain." When the nurse came to bring him cocoa or hot milk or other quieting drink, he clung to her hand like a frightened baby as he murmured, "Thank you, Sister." Some- times he would say in pathetic apology, "I'd sleep if I could. Sister— you know I'd sleep if I could." The lad had no family but longed to see his sweetheart, "Violet," whose name was tattooed on his arm. As the expense of the trip was too great for the girl, the American nurse sent along some American money which had been given her for the benefit of her pa- tients, and Violet— just eighteen— came with her mother and stayed in the neighborhood for four days over the time of a necessary opera- tion.^ "The British Tommies are the dearest things in the world, such refinement and delicacy of feeling— and sense of humor — and kindness among themselves. It is a privilege not only to nurse them, but to know them. They are more than entertaining. They have a lingo of their own, all sorts of expressions, that mean nothing until you learn them." ^ Our American boys were also the "dearest 1 Dexter, Mary. "In the Soldier's Service." Houghton Mifflin Company, 191 8. 274 GIRLS' BOOK OF THE RED CROSS things." One of our nurses writing home said: ''I never knew so many fine young men existed. They are simply splendid. From the smiling faces on the pillows one would think they were resting up for a party. It is most unusual to see a disgruntled face, and if a limb is gone they are planning on what they can do where that particular member will not be missed. We are going to have many of them who will have to learn new trades and I often do a lot of think- ing about the future. Some of these boys have given an awful lot to this war — much more than those who have given all. ... If you could only see the smiling faces on the pillows, no matter what the condition of the body, and see those homely old bathrobes and slippers we packed, you'd all feel that a lame back was a pleasure. I know I could come back there now and work harder than I ever did and feel I was doing mighty little. But I must not preach — condi- tions are different, that's all, and you are all do- ing such wonderful work. I quake when I think what it would all be were there no Red Cross and were there not noble women working hard to make the Red Cross what it is. The soldiers all love the Red Cross." The "nursing care" of the American nurses was perhaps a bit less perfunctory than the at- tention given by some of the foreign-trained "THE GREATEST MOTHER" 275 nurses. The American nurse has a way of com- ing around when a man is feeling especially tired or ache-y or blue, and bathing him or rub- bing his back with alcohol. "Oh, how they do love to have their backs rubbed," says Margaret. "You know how your back does ache and gets so sore when you have to stay in bed for sev- eral weeks, and how restful it is to have mother sponge you with saleratus water or rub you with alcohol." "Probably the greatest single service rendered by the Red Cross home forces was the supply of trained nurses which furnished our hospitals. The Army Medical Corps trains a few nurses, but could never hope to turn out the large number provided through Miss Delano's depart- ment. If we needed a thousand nurses for a given work, we telegraphed the War Depart- ment. The War Department notified Miss Delano. And the nurses arrived on schedule," said Major-General Ireland, Surgeon-General, U. S. A. MISS JANE A. DELANO While the term "little mother" was so gener- ally and appropriately applied to the Red Cross nurse, the Mother of all these American little mothers was the noble woman, then holding the position of Director General of the Department 276 GIRLS' BOOK OF THE RED CROSS of Nursing of the American Red Cross, Miss Jane A. Delano, who has been styled the "Florence Nightingale of the World War." Under her direction more than 30,000 nurses were recruited through the American Red Cross for service in the army and navy after the United States entered the great conflict. She used to say that she felt as if the Red Cross nurses were "her children," and that she was responsible for them. When some of the nurses who had been sent to Serbia during the first part of the war returned to America, Miss Delano met them at the pier on their arrival in New York; their weary and worn condition impressed her so that she said she felt that she could never let them leave her again, that she must somehow make up to them for all they had suffered. Through- out the war, she did all she possibly could for the comfort and protection of the nurses every- where. It was while Miss Delano was a young girl that the call to relieve suffering humanity came to her, and after her preliminary education she began fitting herself for the profession of a nurse. Two years after her graduation, she rendered her first patriotic service to her country in 1888 by volunteering to nurse yellow fever victims in Jacksonville, Florida. Although at that time medical science had not decided that the mos- "THE GREATEST MOTHER" ^'jy quito was a yellow fever carrier, Miss Delano had taken precautionary measures, insisting on the use of mosquito netting by her nurses, with the most satisfactory results. The following years were spent in nursing, studying, teaching, superintending, and directing in various parts of the country. When the American Red Cross, following its reorganization in 1905, entered into an agree- ment with the American Nurses' Association for the purpose of developing a nursing reserve for the army nurse corps, Miss Delano was ap- pointed chairman of the committee in charge of the work. She was also named as superin- tendent of the army nurse corps by the surgeon- general, in which capacity she visited the Philip- pine Islands, China, Japan, and Hawaii. Due to her untiring efforts, 8000 carefully selected nurses were available for government service at the time the United States entered the war, and her leadership was largely responsible for the success of the nurse-recruiting campaign which followed. When the Spanish War was in progress, Miss Delano was impressed with the thought that the Red Cross in time of war should be able to re- spond more quickly to the call for relief. She believed the hospitals and nurses should be so trained and equipped that if war should ever 278 GIRLS' BOOK OF THE RED CROSS come again, there should be no confusion, but that in answer to the call "Will you go next week?" or "Be ready the week after next," every one would respond automatically, as it were. So wisely did Miss Delano work out this plan after she became Director General, that it was largely due to her foresight that six hospitals were ready for duty overseas within six weeks after the United States declared war. "As head of the Nursing Service of the American Red Cross she bore one of the heaviest responsibilities of the war. She bore it so well that whatever unavoidable complications might occur in other branches of the service, there was never for one moment a shortage of the nurses it was her business to supply." The soldiers and their welfare were the first thought of Miss Delano's mind and heart during war times. "No matter about the rest of us, so long as they are being cared for," she would say. "No man in the army of the United States at home or overseas can fail to revere the merci- ful woman who assisted in alleviating the suffer- ings of the wounded and in easing the last hours of those who were fatally stricken," says Secre- tary of War Baker. "As one faithful and potent and capable in that ministry, our gratitude for all time is due Miss Delano." It has been said that "Florence Nightingale "THE GREATEST MOTHER" 279 was the pioneer in the field of nursing, and Jane Delano was the one who carried to its highest development all that Miss Nightingale had con- ceived." "Even as the Crimean War differed from the World War in its scale and its methods, so did the circumstances surrounding Miss De- lano's activities differ from those of Miss Night- ingale's time. They have been compared — or contrasted — in this way: Florence Nightingale had to overcome the protests of the British Gov- ernment before she could go to the relief of the wounded in the Crimea — ^Jane Delano was backed by the United States Government, in- deed, she was its agent, when she sent relief to the wounded and suffering across the seas; Miss Nighingale succeeded in getting less than half a hundred nurses to accompany her — Miss De- lano's nurses were numbered by the thousands; Miss Nightingale went abroad at the head of her company of nurses — Miss Delano sent out her thousands, remaining at headquarters to recruit and send out more. While these two heroines of modern army nursing differed necessarily in so many ways, they cherished one common aim, to secure the best possible care for the soldiers. Florence Nightingale had the privilege of more direct contact, going in person to the men in the hospitals; Miss Delano had the privilege of working through a highly trained personnel." ^ 1 Address by Mary M. Riddell. 28o GIRLS' BOOK OF THE RED CROSS Even as they differed in their activities, so the two women differed in the way their lives ended. To Miss Nightingale was given the op- portunity to return to her homeland, where she was to be highly honored and to live for many years. Miss Delano died abroad, in one of the many hospitals she herself had organized. She left the United States, January 2, 1919, for the purpose of maki-ng a personal survey of the nurs- ing situation in France, Italy, the Balkans and other countries where the American Red Cross is engaged in work. She was taken ill soon after arriving in France, and died April 15. ''She had been stricken at a base port on the very day on which she was to have sailed for home, her mission overseas accomplished. It would be hard to picture a death more military or finer than that," says Dr. Joel Goldthwait. A posthumous award of the Distinguished Serv- ice Cross acknowledges her service in mobilizing the nursing forces of the nation in the war and in directing their service at home and overseas. ''The profession of nursing, from Florence Nightingale to Edith Cavell, has been rarely fortunate in its leaders. At times of grave crisis, there has always been found the woman to meet the emergency; and the service of Miss Delano in the great war was a new demonstration of a glorious tradition," says one well acquainted "THE GREATEST MOTHER" 281 with her work. The qualities attributed to Miss Cavell might be well applied also to Miss De- lano, "courage, faith, and faithfulness, self-giv- ing in work and mercy." At the very time memorial services were held in England and elsewhere for Edith Cavell, the brave English nurse who gave her life for her countrymen, other memorial services were being held in many cities of America in honor of Miss Delano. Thousands of nurses assembled, cover- ing the entire floor of large assembly halls like a living bouquet in their varied uniforms of white and blue and red. Here would be grouped sev- eral hundred army nurses from the nearest mili- tary camps, with white dresses, blue capes thrown back over the shoulder to reveal the bright red lining, and white caps with the tiny red cross in front; just behind them, another group of navy nurses, in blue uniform with black sailor hats; on each side of these groups could be seen hundreds of oversea nurses, in uniforms of so very dark a shade of blue as to appear black, black sailor hats, and a broad band with a large red cross around the left arm; as a back- ground for these three groups, were arranged the nurses from various hospitals, in blue dresses with big white aprons, bibs, and caps. Speaking of nurses' uniforms, "The red lining of those capes meant more than any one can 282 GIRLS' BOOK OF THE RED CROSS know," said an army chaplain. ''To the enlisted men and to the officers, alike, it meant a lot just to see the color of that red cape going across the field, that flame of brightness in surrounding gloom, the only cheerful thing anywhere. We were as glad as the nurses themselves to have them get as near as possible to 'the front' " ^ nurses' work and risk "The nurses overseas were called upon to do ten times as much as a nurse is expected to do ordinarily," said Dr. Goldthwait, who served overseas for twenty-two months, much of the time as chief surgeon of the A. E. F. with the grade of colonel. "The way in which the nurses stood up under the demands upon them was superb. In their minds there was never the thought of danger. If they were called upon to go forward, they went forward eagerly. They were always seeking the places of the greatest toil and the greatest risk." "Yes," said another chaplain, "the American nurses in the base hospital were all eager to go up to the hospital nearest the front line. Nurses had to work under stress never known under similar circumstances, yet they were always ask- ing, 'Can't we get some assignment up nearer the front?' I suppose the nurses felt a little 1 Chaplain Sherrard Billings of the Red Cross. "THE GREATEST MOTHER" 283 more closely in contact with war when as near the front as possible. Chiefly, however, I am convinced their desire to get up to the advanced hospitals was prompted by the lure of danger. Women are quite as brave as men — even a little braver. Although," and the chaplain chuckled at the recollection, "one of the nurses did con- fess to me that she was dreadfully frightened when an airplane dropped bombs overhead in the night and the shrapnel began to fly in all di- rections. She said she always got up out of bed, said her prayers, and then crept into bed with another nurse — who was probably just as fright- ened as she was!" Sbme of the most able nurses were chosen for exceptionally hazardous duty behind the lines with a mobile unit (that is, one that moved about from place to place as needed), treating non- transportable cases. They were constantly ex- posed to shell fire and German air raids, but stuck courageously to their posts. To some of these nurses has come the distinction of being decorated with the French Croix de Guerre for bravery on the battlefield; and to a few has been awarded a British medal of the Royal Order of the Red Cross. Red Cross nurses never shirked or ran away from duty. Sometimes the veriest mouse of a nun suddenly became a very lion of woman- 284 GIRLS' BOOK OF THE RED CROSS kind when her patients were threatened. The name of Sister Julia, the brave nun who was decorated by President Poincaire, has become almost a household word the world around. When the Germans took possession of the town and would have invaded even the sacred halls of the convent which was then being used as a hospital where the gentle Sisters were caring for the wounded and ill, Sister Julia met them at the door. In spite of her protests they en- tered. As they marched to the rooms where the cots were arranged with their burdens of sick men, Sister Julia placed herself in an attitude of defiance. "You shall not touch them!" she cried, "they are my children !" Upon investiga- tion, the intruders found that among the soldiers she was defending, there were many Germans as well as French; so they saluted and marched away. The Red Cross nurses are not respecters of persons. They consider only the safety and comfort of their patients. Some very funny things happened once in a while. For instance, the story is told of a nurse who was guarding a weak soldier from excitement. He could not carry on a conversation without coughing badly, so the nurse allowed no one to speak to him. One day she was, for some reason, called into the next ward and while there she heard her patient 'THE GREATEST MOTHER" 285 cough. She rushed out of the ward, crossed into her own ward, fairly flying to the bed where the coughing man was talking with a visitor. The nurse bristled with excitement. Like a hen rescuing her chicken from a hawk, she pounced on the hapless visitor and dragged him away, saying angrily, "Don't you know no one must talk to that man? Do you want to kill him?" No one knows how much more she would have said had not other attendants come to the rescue of the caller, who was n'o less a personage than the Prince of Wales. Another episode in which royalty figured oc- curred in a Belgian hospital. Fire broke out one Sunday evening while the king and queen were visiting the hospital. A nurse who was trying to get a patient out looked for assistance, and not knowing to whom she was speaking turned to a man standing near and said, "I don't know who you are, but I want some one to help me with this patient." As he lent a hand, he smiled and told her he was the king. A day's program has been described by an American nurse in a French hospital. "The first thing I do, after a word of greeting to each patient, is to review the ward and see that it is well washed, in order, and no spoons or bottles out of place, and to start instruments boiling. After that, begin the temperatures. Along with 286 GIRLS' BOOK OF THE RED CROSS the temperatures go face-washing and mouth- rinsing. . . . About 8 130 the doctor makes his appearance. . . . About 9 A. M. I begin the dress- ings. . . . Bell rings for soup at 10:45. . . . Immediately after lunch I spend an hour or so setting to rights the surgical dressings room, doing little services, and distributing cakes or bonbons. It is amazing how a bit of pepper- mint will console a soldier when a smile goes with it! . . . Dressing all the afternoon until it is time for temperatures; then soup for the soldiers; then mine, which is soon finished; then massage for those who need it; after which I prepare my soothing drinks. . . . It is the sweet- est time of the day, for then one puts off the nurse and becomes the mother; and we have such fun over the warm drinks. They are nice and sweet and hot, and the soldiers adore their 'American drinks.' " ^ To this nurse's ward was brought a man who was nothing more than a living skeleton, with wounds in back and hands and shoulder, filthy and nearly dead. He was so weak he could not lift a finger and nourishment could be given him only a few drops at a time. However, the nurse fed him on malted milk and fresh eggs, kept his body clean and his wounds properly tended. His knees were in such condition that it seemed 1 "Mademoiselle Miss." "THE GREATEST MOTHER" 287 probable he could never walk even if he recov- ered; or if he vs^alked at all, it would be on tip- toe always. The plucky nurse would not be balked. She contrived an apparatus for straightening his legs and feet. And as a result of her devotion and skill and perseverance, the soldier lived and was able to walk when he left the hospital. Such men send back postcards and letters to the nurses, beginning ''Dear little mamma," or "My good little mamma." One patient, an Arab, at first was savage and solemn; finally, however, he was conquered by the nurse and smiled as she brought him his "soothing drink," saying, "Thanks, mamma." When asked why he called the nurse by that name, he explained that she was' just like a mamma. The man was quite broken-hearted when sent from the hospital, and as the nurse tucked the blankets about him in the automobile the last words he spoke to her were: "Au revoir, mamma." From the hospital to which he was transferred he sent a card daily for a long time, signed "The child who does not for- get his mamma." Home! That was the next word after Mother! In France "A. V. A. D. was holding a cup to the lips of a dying man. Looking at her with a dim curiosity he asked faintly, 'Where do you come from?' 'I come from Home,' she 288 GIRLS' BOOK OF THE RED CROSS replied. A smile spread over the soldier's face and in a short while he was dead. Such was the secret of his last pleasant thought — she came from Home." ^ *'A little French nurse on her way home to convalesce, after an illness in the Orient, had volunteered to help on the hospital ship during her journey. Noticing that a man (a Bulgar) was cold, she drew a blanket over him and tucked it under his elbow to lift his wasted arm from the hard pole of the stretcher on which he was lying, while waiting his turn to have his wounds dressed. Her white veil framed her young Madonna-like face and floated over her shoulders. The old man looked up, feebly smiled and murmured, 'Mother.' As I turned toward the door to hide the tears which came to my eyes, a Bulgar, waiting there to have his bandages changed, attracted my attention. All the Bulgarians were under the care of a young Lieutenant Doctor. I said, 'You handle the Bulgars as if they were brothers.' He replied, 'No man is an enemy after he is wounded.' " ^ BUREAU OF COMMUNICATION The very fact that the Red Cross was doing 1 Barker, Granville. "The Red Cross in France." 2 Morton, Rosalie Slaughter. "With the French Fleet of Mercy." "THE GREATEST MOTHER" 289 its best to take the place of ''Mother" and "Dad" to the boys over there, brought to its representa- tives a keen realization of the yearning of the parents' hearts for news. "If this were really my boy, and I were at home while he is out here fighting, wouldn't I long to know just how and where he is?" was the overwhelming thought that would strike deep to every worker's heart. ''There appears to be no limit to the suffer- ings war inflicts, and perhaps none are harder to bear than the agony and suspense over the fate of some loved one in the fighting line. To lighten this pathetic burden, to bring the news from the front, the Red Cross accepts a still further duty. The soldier too ill to write him- self may by this aid send a letter of comfort from his hospital bed, and the final story of some brave life, often so longed for by aching hearts at home, will not be lost." ^ It is the testimony of the searchers who have been in different hospi- tals, that "the British Tommy writes first to his sweetheart; the French poilu, being older and married, writes to his wife; but the American soldier thinks only of his mother." "Keeping the men in service in communica- tion with their families at home is one of the obligations assumed by the Red Cross under its charter. It was not until something happened to prevent the soldier from writing home that iBoardman, Mabel T. op. cit. 290 GIRLS' BOOK OF THE RED CROSS the Red Cross service became necessary. Soldiers in good health usually correspond regu- larly with the folks 'back home,' but when a soldier becomes a 'casualty' — and in a military sense this me-ant that he was either sick, wounded, dead, missing or a prisoner — an outside agency has to inform his anxious relatives why he has failed to write them. It is this function which the Bureau o*f Communication of the Red Cross performs. ''Obtaining information concerning the fate of American soldiers in the thick of the fighting in France has been the most important part of the work performed by the Bureau of Communi- cation. The 4000 miles that separated a mother from the battlefield where her son was offering his life for his country rendered her suspense well-nigh unbearable. Each day she scanned the casualty lists, afraid to read them carefully for fear she would see a name she did not want to see. Occasionally she saw a name that made her heart stop beating. It was similar to her son's. She took comfort in the fact that there was the difference of a letter or so. The most uncommon names were bound to appear again and again in an army of 2,000,000. She had been told over and over that the casualty lists were not made public until the families of the men had been notified by the War Department, but this did not relieve her anxiety. 'THE GREATEST MOTHER" 291 "These requests are turned over to the Bureau of Communication, by which they are forwarded to Paris. One of the Red Cross searchers is as- signed to the task of locating the object of the query. When the soldier is found, a report is returned to Red Cross headquarters in Washing- ton and not long thereafter finds its way to the anxious inquirer. In most cases they are ac- companied by a postal card in the soldier's own writing, the Red Cross providing cards for this purpose.'"' "What's your outfit?" asks the "searcher" standing by the bed of a convalescent soldier. "Co. , 28th Infantry," answers the man. The searcher glances carefully down the list of names on the paper she carries. On and on, until she suddenly pauses. "Co. , 28th In- fantry," she repeats; "did you happen to know So and So in your Company?" Sometimes the soldier shakes his head, and no suggestions on the part of the searcher can prompt the man to any recollections of the soldier named. Frequently, how^ever, the face lights up, perhaps to fall into shadow again. "Oh, yes, I knew him. Why, he was from my home state, and — " he continues telling what he knows of the character, action, and fate of his former comrade-in-arms. The searchers were sometimes men, sometimes women, and they did much in the way of good 292 GIRLS' BOOK OF THE RED CROSS cheer as they performed their tasks. Elizabeth, a young college woman, while employed as searcher assumed the duty of taking the sick men's minds off their troubles. With some, she exchanged English lessons for lessons in French; others were provided with picture puzzles, and that innocent diversion frequently saved the day for a poor fellow just ready to cry; when all else failed, this jolly girl, accompanying herself on the guitar, sang a song about "The Little Pigs Lie with Their Tails Curled Up," which always resulted in a wave of laughter throughout the ward. When this willing worker left for home, the patients sent all sorts of messages for her to deliver to their families. One man asked her to call on his wife in New York and "be sure to sing the song of the little pigs." ^ It was this searcher who found a group of gassed men in a hospital, and discovered their greatest pleasure was in reading. And what do you suppose they preferred above all other authors in the small collection of books they had at hand? Emerson! The discussions which the young college woman and these injured men enjoyed in the following days were deep enough and earnest enough to make all pains and aches forgotten for a time at least. Taste in literature varied, and many rather 1 Putnam, Elizabeth Cabot. "On Duty and Off." *'THE GREATEST MOTHER" 293 startling revelations were -made from time to time. Alice Regan Rice tells the story of a soldier to whom a novel was offered, and who made this surprising reply: "No, I thank you; I don't want to read nothing 'til I see how this here turns out." He was reading the Bible. Day by day the searchers went through their lists and their hospitals. Every item of any pos- sible importance was reported to each office and carefully filed. "In the case of men who died of wounds or illness the Red Cross has been able, through its searchers, to convey to the family 'back home' the details of their passing and any message they may have left. Where a soldier was killed in action and his relatives were anxious to know the circumstances attending his death, the Red Cross searcher, provided with the man's name, company, and regiment, managed to get into touch with the man who took a part in the same action. From them he learned the details of the soldier's end. These were forwarded to Washington and there em- bodied in a personal letter to the relatives." ^ One feature of the bureau's work in Europe that has appealed strongly to the families of men who have died overseas is the photographing of the graves of these American heroes. When- ever possible the Red Cross takes pictures of the 1 Red Cross Bulletin. 294 GIRLS' BOOK OF THE RED CROSS graves of those who have fallen in the conflict and sends these pictures to their relatives. The American army has turned over the whole matter of grave photography to the American Red Cross. Every identified grave in France is to be photographed under the plan worked out by the army photographers. No other class of casualty brought so much suffering to the families at home as the report that their boys were ''missing in action." "The Bureau of Communication took up these cases as soon as a member of the American forces was reported missing. It did not wait for an inquiry from his family. It communicated with the family and told what steps were being taken to ascertain the fate of the missing one. The Paris office instantly instituted inquiries through Switzerland into Germany and also turned over to the searchers in hospitals and divisions the list of missing men. ''Some of these searchers eventually located comrades of the missing man. They learned about his part in the engagement, where he had been last seen, whether they had any personal knowledge of his whereabouts. This evidence, often conflicting, was sent to the man's family, care being taken to point out the parts that were only hearsay. In the majority of cases men re- ported missing turned up on German prisoner lists. "THE GREATEST MOTHER" 295 "Red Cross activities on behalf of American fighters who were reported missing did not end with the announcement that they had been taken prisoners. At this point the Bureau of Prison- ers' Relief' of the Red Cross took up the work, the family of a prisoner being notified that from that time on the former bureau would look after his welfare. The Bureau of Prisoners' Relief is the only organization permitted to send relief to Americans in enemy prison camps. This authority was delegated to the Red Cross by the War Trade Board. "This bureau supplied food and clothing to prisoners, forwarded mail and money to them, and kept them in touch with their families. Warehouses stocked with food and supplies for American prisoners were established and main- tained by the Red Cross at Berne, Switzerland. Each prisoner received one twenty-pound parcel of food a week, these packages containing beef, bread, pork and beans, sugar, coffee, cocoa, oleo- margarine, soap, smoking materials, dried fruits and other articles, an effort having been made to vary the contents as much as possible. These parcels, with the exception of a negligible num- ber, were acknowledged by the prisoners, a self- addressed card for this purpose having been en- closed with each package." ^ ^Red Cross Bulletin. 296 GIRLS' BOOK OF THE RED CROSS RECONSTRUCTION OF THE INJURED Even as instruments of warfare to-day exceed in number and in frightfulness those of preced- ing times, so do consideration of and care for the victims of such frightfulness exceed anything ever before undertaken or contemplated. The United States Government and the Red Cross do not intend that soldiers who have lost legs or arms or both in war shall be turned out of hospitals to become burdens to themselves and their families; they are to be reconstructed, so to speak, in a way which calls for the ingenuity and skill of modern surgery. Men are equipped with artificial legs and arms which enable them after careful training to take their places in the world along with the able-bodied. Mutilated soldiers in France have been taught by the Red Cross in an agricultural training school, to use American farm machinery, and agricultural methods which they can put into practice. Soldiers with artificial arms learn to salute as correctly and almost as easily as before. Glass eyes and artificial teeth are in great demand by those men who have lost their own. A man who had lost an eye and three front teeth, and who had a fractured wrist and a rib wound, told the nurse he "felt worse about the teeth than any- thing, and next to the teeth his eye." "THE GREATEST MOTHER" 297 Most wonderful of all, however, is the recent discovery of making masks which are so realistic as to deceive the onlooker. The masks are of copper deposit formed on a plaster cast in an electric bath. They are as light as visiting cards and yet durable enough to last a lifetime. If the mutilated soldier wore a mustache before he was wounded, the mask is supplied with a mustache of real hair. Eyelashes are real. If a man is blind, eyes made to the likeness of the eyes he lost are fastened into the mask. Modeled with such wonderful skill, and painted with such perfect reproduction of the skin, are these masks that it is almost impossible to tell that a man is wearing one. They have made it possible for soldiers, so mutilated that they would be repulsive to their fellow men, to return to their families, to obtain work, and to go about the streets without attracting notice. Several of the American soldiers were fitted out with these masks. MOTHERING OF SOLDIERS ON LEAVE Not alone to the mutilated and crippled, the wounded and dying, the men on the battlefield and in the hospitals and on the trains going to and fro, has the Red Cross ministered. In the city of Paris the soldiers "on leave" during the war and in the days following the armistice 298 GIRLS' BOOK OF THE RED CROSS needed "mothering." Generally the French soldier hurried home, even though his "permis- sion" was only for a week. If, however, the journey would be too long to accomplish in so short a time, he would doubtless spend that week in Paris. And of course an American soldier would make all haste to spend his "leave" in the magic city. Paris is not only the capital and metropolis of France, but also its railroad center. Incoming afternoon trains brought soldiers w^ho were on their way back to the lines at the close of their furlough, and who might not be able to leave until morning. The cafes closed at half-past nine and the moving picture shows ran chiefly in the afternoon to save lights. This situation left many soldiers who had nothing to do and no- where to go. The platforms of the principal stations were frequently crowded all night with soldiers trying to get a little sleep, homesick men whose little taste of home life made renewed dis- comfort harder than ever to bear. "A Frenchwoman of motherly heart, tireless frame, and great executive ability took hold of this problem. She got some financial aid from Americans and fitted out several disused ofiices near the great station with cots and bedding. This gave the poilu a place to lie down and enjoy a comfortable night's sleep. With the "THE GREATEST MOTHER" 299 help of our Red Cross and the Fund for French Wounded she went further than that. On the one night of the week when soldiers came through in greater numbers on their way from home back to the trenches, she had a party for them — a dinner, vaudeville turns by volunteer artists, and finally a distribution of bags contain- ing little presents made up in America. "These bags, usually gaudy little affairs of cretonne, had been packed on the sensible plan. The gifts in them were nearly all practical — safety razors, for example, pieces of toilet soap, shaving brushes, combs, sewing kits, safety pins, pocket mirrors, pen-knives, nail files. Always they contained a pair of stout socks, a wash cloth, and writing materials. By way of luxury, there were mouth organs, chocolate tablets, jew's- harps, and in a few cases chewing gum. "For a few minutes there was almost silence as the poilus opened their bags and spread out the contents on the tables. Then babble broke out — jokes called from one table to the other, or cries of approval. It was ridiculously like a set of small boys opening their Christmas stockings. We all have enough child in us to like little unexpected presents; and besides, the French have a special quality of enjoyment in childish things. At the end of one table sat a stocky, battered old veteran with a blond 300 GIRLS' BOOK OF THE RED CROSS mus.tache that drooped over his mouth like a sea lion's. He was sorting his pile over and over again, inspecting each object and then reinspect- ing it. One of the ladies passed an artilleryman who had drawn a be-ribboned pin cushion. " 'I will save that for my little wife,' he said; 4t i-s too nice for me!' " 'And where is your wife?' asked the Ameri- can lady. " 'In Lille,' he replied. 'If she is alive — I have not heard for nearly three years now. But I keep pretty little things like this for her.' "At eleven sharp the inexorable madame clapped her hands to announce bedtime, and two policemen helped her clear the hall. As they filed out, hung like pack mules with the worn and stained paraphernalia of the trenches, each poilu held by a stubby hard finger a dainty little bag in flowered cretonne!" ^ Soldiers who remained in Paris naturally went to the metropolitan Red Cross canteens for refreshment and entertainment. Red Cross women from America finding themselves in Paris always "had an eye out" for the soldiers from their own land, and were ready to mother them or sister them as the case might require. "No mere private ever escapes me," wrote one. "I ask his name and home address and write his 1 Irwin, Will. "A War Reporter's Notebook." "THE GREATEST MOTHER" 301 mother that I have seen her boy and that he looks happy and well. . . . We American Red Cross women here of respectable age ought to mother these American boys, don't you think so? ... I get some wonderful 'thank yous' from home." ^ Although a Red Cross woman would be un- likely to offer assistance or even simple friendly courtesy to an army officer, sometimes it hap- pened that these dignitaries sought "first aid" of one kind or another from their American sisters. Two Red Cross girls spending a few days in Paris on their way from one canteen to another, had been shopping in company with a middle- aged Red Cross woman doctor. As they came out of a shop and paused to take one more look at the fascinating display in the window — at the beautiful things they couldn't buy — "a perfectly good Major" — as the girls described him in their home letters — who was also looking at the dis- play in the window glanced at them, raised his hand to his cap, smiled a real American smile, and said to the older woman, "Pardon me, but may I as one American of another ask a favor? I'm leaving for home to-morrow and I want to take home some gifts to my wife and daughters. I am utterly at loss what to buy ! Won't you and these young ladies advise me?" Would they! Naturally the Major had more money to spare 1 Lucas, June 302 GIRLS' BOOK OF THE RED CROSS for his purchases than the girls had been able to spend in their more simple shopping, and how they did enjoy selecting silk stockings and gloves and dainty lingerie such as they could not afford for themselves, for this American man to take back to those fortunate girls and their mother at home. For American girls do like to spend money even if it is not their own, and even though they are earnest enough young persons to be abroad in war times engaged in canteen work. One of our Red Cross women doctors stationed in Paris used frequently to discover lonely American soldiers trying to find their way about the city in an attempt to do a bit of sight seeing. She found great pleasure in taking them to the most famous places of interest, and always con- cluded the jaunt with a luncheon or supper in a quiet little restaurant where she ordered all the "most unusual" things to eat. ''And all the time we were eating, he talked to me about his mother, always, every time, no matter who he was," says the doctor. At the Red Cross canteens in Paris the equip- ment seemed to be so complete, that a worker about to leave for home said to those in charge, "I'd like to leave you something to help along, but you don't seem to lack anything." "There is just one thing the soldiers have wished for that "THE GREATEST MOTHER" 303 we haven't here," said one of the women, with a merry smile, "and that is a parrot!" So the worker who was leaving made haste to secure the biggest, brightest, most gaily colored, most talka- tive, and. most highly gifted parrot she could find in Paris and presented it to the canteen as a token of friendship from a Red Cross repre- sentative from one of the most famous women's colleges in the United States. Red Cross work in Paris included, besides the special lines of help for the soldiers, dispensaries and infirmaries for civilians. The American Red Cross headquarters established an enviable fame for its distribution of hot malted milk. Canteens were conducted in the schools of Paris to provide supplementary food for school chil- dren. The American Red Cross supplied beef, ham, potatoes, rice, beans, peas, macaroni, cheese, sugar, and other foodstuffs. The French children expressed particular satisfaction over a Red Cross bun that was made in Red Cross bakeshops from a Red Cross recipe. A very practical way of showing one's interest in a man or a boy — how about girls? — is to give him something to eat! Feed him first, and then offer him bath, bed, change of raiment, and he will be sure you are his friend. The small boy may love his mother, but when he comes home from school tired and hungry — and perhaps just 304 GIRLS' BOOK OF THE RED CROSS on the verge of being cross — he really cares more about his luncheon or an apple or a cookie first than he does about hugging and kissing his mother. All mothers know this — and they don't care, for they understand. In the days of the Spanish-American War, when the Red Cross sent a supply of food to the soldiers in Cuba, as soon as the men caught a glimpse of women in the army wagons, they shouted to one another: ''Women! here come women! it's the Red Cross. Now we'll have something to eat!" When a company of refugee Belgian boys between four and twelve years old were detrained in southern France, they were so tired and hungry and homesick they just cried. As they marched from the station to the Casino, trying to be brave but finding it so hard, a group of rapatries called out to them, "Don't cry, you're going to have meat!" The boys repeated "Meat, we are going to have meat!" ^ And with that the children took fresh courage and marched on more quickly. And how they did devour meat and potatoes and the hot chocolate! MOTHERING WAR ORPHANS For the Red Cross, while mothering great armies of men, could not neglect or forget her other children, those real children in years as 1 Lucas, June R. *THE GREATEST MOTHER" 305 well as In heart, — those pitiful by-products of the war, fatherless, motherless, homeless, half- starved, not even half-clothed, wholly unclean, and so tired and heart-broken. "In its care of the thousands of children it is playing the role of mother, and fairy godmother as well, in a be- wildering number of ways — all the ways that sympathy can devise. At one time certain Italian children were getting one piece of bread, two radishes, and a portion of orange for the heaviest meal of the day. The Red Cross soon saw that all had enough to eat. In the schools which it is supporting, it is beginning to efface from childish minds the memories of flight and horror." ^ If ever any living mortals needed "mothering" it was those desolate war-orphans. Most of them were doubly orphaned, as their tags revealed; the most common inscription on the children's identification or registration cards was, "Father in the trenches, mother killed by bomb," or "Father killed in battle, mother killed by bomb." In describing the arrival of a company of chil- dren at the hospital, Mrs. Lucas says: "The doctor picked up the smallest child and started for the ambulance. A nurse carried another and the rest followed eagerly. The ambulance men swung them into the car with a flourish that 1 Red Cross Magazine. 3o6 GIRLS' BOOK OF THE RED CROSS delighted them, and in a few minutes they were chattering away, asking questions, and pressing up front to see where they were going. ... By the time they reached the hospital they had grown quiet. . . . But the nurses and aides were so friendly and gay with them, that although they parted with their caps and coats rather reluc- tantly, they were too hungry to object to supper. Of course we all hovered around them. We Gould not help it." Don't you like that word hover? Can't you just see those ''near mothers" hovering around these tired, hungry, frightened children? Just the way mother and auntie and grandmother hover around when you come in from coasting or skating, cold and wet, perhaps, and they're so anxious about you! Or when you go to your grandmother's or your aunt's for a visit, and all your admiring relatives gather around, hover around, wishing to do something to make you comfortable or happy. After all, though, there's no one can hover quite equal to a mother! And the picture of blessed Red Cross women hover- ing around those forlorn babies in their desire really to mother them, reminds one of the simile "even as a hen gathereth her brood under her wings." Doris was at this very hospital when these children arrived and helped to care for them. "THE GREATEST MOTHER" 307 How she did grow to love them and how she does like to tell stories about them! When she shows you her Red Cross scrapbook — or ^'memory book" — with its souvenirs and photo- graphs, as she points out the different children you naturally ask which were her favorites. Doris hesitates, turns to this one and then to that, then to a group or to a row of little beds, and says, "Well, there's Victoire, I was very fond of her, but I don't know as I loved her better than I did Charlotte or Andrea; and then, too, there was Mathilde, who learned to say in Eng- lish, 'I love you, God bless you'; and I know I loved Jean and Robert, oh, yes, and Louis, and Henri — oh, dear me, I can't discriminate! We just loved every one! Though perhaps I be- came best acquainted with Therese the time she had chicken pox and we were shut in together for three weeks." Of course the children had all sorts of dis- eases, from chicken pox and measles to diph- theria and pneumonia. Most of them recov- ered, although occasionally there was a sad little funeral, when a child had become so diseased from lack of food and care as to be unable to re- sist the attacks of bronchitis or dysentery or the dreaded tuberculosis. Suppose you had been wandering around homeless, with father no one knew where — 3o8 GIRLS' BOOK OF THE RED CROSS whether in the trench or in prison, wounded or dead, — mother killed when the town — that nice pretty town where your home used to be — ^was shelled, or dead from want and exposure and worry and fright; suppose you were eleven years old, and your father had been killed in war, your mother had become crazy from grief and hard- ship, and you had been separated from your little brother and didn't know what had become of him; or suppose you were a girl of ten with a sister of seven years, and you had been moved about from one place to another, always hand- in-hand, neither of you well — wouldn't you both be glad to be ''mothered" by a sweet-faced, strong-armed, sunny young woman in a clean white uniform — a young woman sweet enough to make you want to cry and laugh both at once, and yet strong enough to lift you up in her arms and pat you and pet you and let you cry on her shoulder if you really would feel a little better for it? However, you wouldn't do much crying in those Red Cross hospitals with these cheerful Red Cross nurses and the jolly Red Cross am- bulance men and the funny, funny Red Cross doctors who said things to make you laugh just when they were going to hurt you dreadfully! Of course, if you were only four years old and could not understand why you never saw father "THE GREATEST MOTHER" 309 or mother nowadays, nor why you had been bundled about from place to place, and your only comfort was your brother and now he had been taken by some one and sent somewhere and didn't come to this big strange place with you — why, then, it would not be strange if you could not eat your supper and cried yourself to sleep wish- ing for "brother." And you really could never have gone to sleep, you are sure, you'd have been so frightened, if that dear nurse had not sat beside the bed and sung to you just as "mamma" used to sing, only such strange words! Or if you were a twelve-year-old girl ill here in the hospital and word came that your father had just been killed — and your dear mother al- ready taken from you — why, then, perhaps you would creep quietly down into the hospital chapel and offer a little prayer and shed a few bitter tears. Or if you were a fourteen-year-old boy and your mother had been killed and your father was a prisoner, and all you had to hope for was to reach your soldier brother, somehow, somewhere, and in reply to the letter the Red Cross had addressed to him the word came that he had died in battle, why, then, no matter how brave a boy you were, no one could blame you for burying your face in your pillow and wish- ing to be left alone. You would not be left alone long, however, in the chapel or in your 3IO GIRLS' BOOK OF THE RED CROSS pillows, for some one in white with a red cross on cap or sleeve would find you and soon have you busy with something to occupy your mind. For the Red Cross nurse not only knows how to bathe dirty boys and girls, how to teach them ways of cleanliness and healthfulness, how to give them medicine, how to do all the thousand and one things any one's mother would do for a child, but she also plays games with them and teaches them many new games of which they never have heard before. Boys and girls in cities and towns of the United States know all about playgrounds and playground games. The Red Cross workers include playground teachers to help the war-orphans grow healthy and happy at the same time, and on the hospital playgrounds could be seen swings, games of marbles, and boys playing baseball and football in regular American style. In the winter there was great excitement. Some Red Cross men built double-runners and tobog- gans, and went coasting with the children. The French and Belgian children had never before known the fun of coasting! Think of it! But they screamed and shouted as they sped down the steep hill just as American girls and boys do, and puffed and panted up the hill with cheeks growing rosy and eyes growing bright and hearts forgetting trouble and sadness for one merry "THE GREATEST MOTHER" 311 hour at least. Some children who are not really ill when they arrive are simply ''all of a tremble." Boys of this sort are taught carpen- try and other useful kinds of work, which they love as dearly as their play, and which equips them for earning a living in the future. Those children who were not strong enough or well enough to go sliding down hill, watched from the windows and clapped their hands in glee or danced up and down excitedly. Unless, indeed, they were among those who never again could clap their hands or dance up and down. The Red Cross nurses have few sadder tales to relate than those of children permanently crip- pled by German brutality. Among their pa- tients was a girl of twelve who had been made blind in one eye, had lost three fingers of her right hand, and received serious injuries in her right side, from the explosion of a loaded pencil given her by a German soldier. Another of these loaded pencils had been given to a boy who lost his left eye and part of his left hand when the pencil exploded. Felix, a lad of sev- enteen, was walking with his mother down the street of their home town just after the Ger- mans had taken possession; neither the boy nor his mother understood a word of the enemy's language; as they passed a group of German soldiers, one of them shouted a short, sharp 312 GIRLS' BOOK OF THE RED CROSS word; Felix and his mother walked straight on, not knowing the soldier had commanded them to "halt." The soldier fired ; the mother fell dead ; Felix was shot in the ankle and crippled for life. Jules could not watch the coasters from the window, because his eyes were so sore he could not bear the light. Nearly all the rapatrie chil- dren had sore eyes and ears and some sort of skin infection. They surely needed a "mother's care." Little Marie could not look out of the window either, for her eyes were almost closed with sores ; and she could not hear the boys and girls shouting as they coasted, for her ears were also closed with sores. This is not pleasant reading, but it is the sort of thing the Red Cross went to remedy. The Red Cross mothered the sick children and made most of them well ; it mothered the sad children and made them all more contented and as happy as children could be under such abnormal con- ditions. There was Philippe, for instance, who arrived at the hospital with sore eyes and sore ears, and then had the chicken pox, and then the measles! But in spite of it all, he was such a fine, jolly little chap and gave such promise of developing into a boy to be proud of, that the mayor of the city said he would adopt Philippe as soon as he was entirely well. "THE GREATEST MOTHER" 313 Other children were adopted temporarily by companies of American soldiers who agreed to pay a certain sum of money during the year to the Children's Bureau of the American Red Cross for the support of one or more orphans who would then become the son or daughter of that company. In the "Welcome Home" parade held in the American cities after the soldiers returned, marched several orphan boys who had been adopted by individual soldiers or by companies of men. Another way in which the Red Cross helped both mothers and babies, was by arranging a sort of "day-nursery" near factories and munition plants, where women who had to work every day — because the men were all away fighting or doing some sort of government work — might leave their babies and very young children to be taken care of by Red Cross workers. Sometimes there were several hundreds of women employed in one factory, many of them with tiny babies. Canteens, hospitals, and dispensaries were also conducted for such women workers, in which the Red Cross cooperated with the government and the Y. W. C. A. There was team work here as elsewhere. The American and French Red Cross, and in many places the British Red Cross, worked together or alongside happily and effi- ciently, each trying to regard the varying 314 GIRLS' BOOK OF THE RED CROSS methods and appliances of the others, all work- ing for, the one great end. The Red Cross tried to mother the mothers, you see, as well as their men and children. On the mothers, those brave mothers of Belgium and France, rested heavy burdens, heavier still be- cause humble though necessary, generally of un- perceived and unheroic character. There were women who hid away from the German taubes by day, and worked by night in the fields, wear- ing masks sometimes for protection from deadly gases still hanging over the country. Weren't the Red Cross workers glad to care for the chil- dren of such brave, patient mothers? Then there were mothers who had nothing in the world left but a little son or daugliter who had to be sent away for safety. If such a mother was near enough to reach the place where her child was being sheltered, she would hardly be refused permission to visit her darling. Sometimes such a mother would find the child in bed with a con- tagious disease; oh, dear, she didn't know when- ever she could come again; and the tears would begin to roll down her cheeks. The Red Cross nurse never hesitates. Action — speedy action — is her characteristic. Away she speeds from the weeping woman; holds a hurried consultation with the Red Cross doctor, who beams through his glasses, shakes his head dubiously for an in- ''THE GREATEST MOTHER" 315 stant, and then nods assent; off rushes the nurse, reappearing with sterilized garments such as the doctors and nurses wear in the contagious wards ; in the wink of an eye the astonished mother is robed in the white garments and conducted to her darling's bedside! A FAITHFUL FRIEND Of course, dogs can't be dressed in sterilized garments and admitted to the bedroom of a patient ill with a contagious disease! That is, the dog might be dressed up in Red Cross ap- parel all right, but he would be sure, if let into the room of some one he loved, to jump straight onto the bed and lick the patient's face. A pathetic story is told of a faithful little four- footed friend in this connection. "Our hospital has one small black-and-white dog living there. It belongs to a very sick little lad up in the scarlet fever ward, and all day long that little dog sits on the steps watching the door. Many children are carried in and he shows little interest, but let a child come out and every hair quivers." ^ CARE OF RAPATRIES Later in the war there came back through the railroad stations other forlorn wayfarers, the rapatries. Social service of the American Red 1 Lucas, June R. 3i6 GIRLS' BOOK OF THE RED CROSS Cross in France included work among people of three classes: first, the refugees, those who had fled from their homes at the approach of an in- vading army; second, the evacues, those who were allowed to leave their home towns or their home land after the enemy had taken posses- sion; third, the rapatries, those who after having been taken prisoners or driven away from their homes were sent back because they could be of no use, and the enemy could not afiford to feed those who could in no way repay — a boy of four- teen, for instance, who, after being obliged to dig trenches for the Germans for several months developed tuberculosis and when he became too weak to dig any more was ^'repatriated." A social worker of the Red Cross might re- ceive notice at any time that hundreds of per- sons were about to arrive, that temporary quarters must be provided and food ready for immediate serving. That homes must be found, medical care given, and work found for as many as could be employed. Unforeseen situations were always arising. Soon after the armistice was decreed, Germany sent rapatries in steadily increasing numbers, and so many hundreds would arrive each day that it soon became im- possible to provide enough beds for the people to sleep on. In spite of all sorts of clever schemes, thousands of refugees were obliged to "THE GREATEST MOTHER" 317 sleep on hard floors. So the Red Cross was forced to go into the bed-making business on a large scale. In cities situated in the timber regions, which are railroad centers for large areas in which thousands of refugees are living, arrangements were made to manufacture at once a special Red Cross bed which is strong, practi- cal, good-looking and, including the springs, costs only five dollars. The rapatries were mostly old men and women and little children. Sometimes the children were in care of women, oftentimes they were alone, just like a herd of frightened little cattle. More often than not their fathers were at war, their mothers had been killed; or the children had been separated from their mother or grand- mother or aunt and never had been able to find her. When a train arrived it was met by the social worker of the Red Cross, nurses, ambu- lance men, and perhaps other volunteer workers. The ambulance men with their cheery ways and kindly words and gentle attentions did much to encourage the sick and feeble as they helped them to the ambulances, trundling some in wheeled chairs, carrying others on stretchers. Smiles and tears met on the faces of the older people; it was good to be coming home, but at the same time it was so sad a home coming. While the older ones were being settled in the 3i8 GIRLS' BOOK OF THE RED CROSS ambulances, the children were stowed in a big bus, and as the vehicles drove away the rest of the arrivals followed afoot. All were taken to the Casino, a big, bright, roomy, two-storied building where they were fed and entertained. The children — and about one- half of each trainload were children — were taken upstairs into the balcony. Then the Red Cross workers began to investigate and to "sort out," as it were, the various families or groups or solitary individuals. Many were put in touch by telegram or letter with relatives or friends. The sick were sent to hospitals. Arrangements of one kind or another were made for all. The Children's Bureau looked after the boys and girls, many of whom were too young to know their names or to give any kind of information about themselves. Nearly every one was suffer- ing from having been neglected as to food and care for three years or more; thin, pale, dirty, with skin diseased from lack of bathing and from vermin. The records of one hospital tell the story of one family of eleven children, all in ex- treme filth and resultant disease. "May such a fate never overtake our dear American chil- dren," sighs the Red Cross nurse, "and may their young hearts be moved to do all they can for the relief of these poor French and Belgian girls and boys." ^ 1 As a matter of fact, "the first American rapatrie" was an "THE GREATEST MOTHER" 319 "For, my dear," says Doris, who was stationed at one of these clearing centers for a while, "in case of war it might happen to you ! Don't think for a minute that I didn't see girls just as lovely as you, Janet, whose hair had to be cut ofif be- cause of the frightful condition of the head; and they felt just as bad about it as you would, and cried just as hard when their curls fell away from those cruel Red Cross shears. "Then there was a girl whose father lived for a while in lodgings in the village, while the little daughter was receiving treatment at our hos- pital," continues Doris. "The father was a most distinguished-looking elderly gentleman — I am sure he used to be a professor or a clergyman before the war — and he came almost every day to see his child. She was all that was left to him, except a great beautiful dog who always accompanied his master. "I recall one family of five children, between the ages of four and sixteen. They had not seen their father for two years, since he had left home American boy, who with his mother was visiting in France when the war broke out. When his mother returned, the boy was not very well, and remained for a longer visit in his aunt's home. He was taken by the Germans and held by them for nearly three years. Finally, he was sent back to France in company with thousands of French and Belgian rapatries. The Red Cross repre- sentatives, through the Washington Headquarters, at once got into communication with the boy's parents. Until his safe return could be arranged, the lad served as chasseur at Red Cross Headquarters in Paris, — one of a corps of uniformed messengers running neces- sary errands between the Red Cross offices and warehouses. 320 GIRLS' BOOK OF THE RED CROSS to go to the trenches, and they had heard that their eldest brother was a prisoner of war. Their mother had been killed while the town in which they lived was being shelled. The children had lived in cellars for safety, and had been rescued by the Red Cross and sent to my hospital. They were the sweetest, best-man- nered children, and always doing what they thought their mother and father would wish them to do. The oldest sister could always bring little brother to terms by saying, 'Do you think it would please dear mamma to do thus and so?' They showed by their comments and questions that they had been accustomed to a good home and to the things enjoyed by people of means and refinement, and their voices were soft and gentle and unlike the loud, harsh voices of the peasants. The oldest boy, too, was in high school when war began and was expecting to go through; this in itself was an indication, as only boys of prosperous families attend high school or go to any school after they are fourteen or fifteen, as they must then go to work. When I came away from the hospital the father had not yet come to claim his patient, faithful little family. I only hope he did sometime. *We did occasionally witness and participate in happy reunions," said Doris. "I remember one nine-year-old girl in the hospital whose "THE GREATEST MOTHER" 321 mother had been lost in the flight from their home town, and whose father had been in the war from its beginning. One day, without a word of warning, in walked the girl's father. Such joy! Then, after a while the soldier began to make inquiries about other children in the hospital ; and because his heart had ached so bit- terly for his own little daughter, he knew just how other hearts had ached for these other chil- dren, and he interpreted the sad, yearning look in the eyes of the girls and boys who gazed so wistfully at the fortunate child in her father's arms; and the man walked around through the hospital 'fathering' those little waifs, saying sweet bits of comfort to the girls and talking real soldier talk to the boys. "When Rene's father came to claim him, their meeting was a strange one, for neither recog- nized the other. Rene was only a toddler when his father had gone away three years before, and three years was altogether out of the question for such a toddler's memory. He was not a toddler now, but 'a big boy' (take his word for it!) and had grown entirely beyond recognition. How- ever, soon his devoted father began to recall the starry eyes, the determined chin, 'his mother's mouth,' and he held him tight to his heart at the word 'mother,' for they would never see her in this world again. 322 GIRLS' BOOK OF THE RED CROSS "A joyous occasion was that on which the X-ray man in our hospital discovered in a group of rapatries his own family, of whose where- abouts he had not been able to learn. Driven from their own home, taken he knew not where, living he knew not how — or indeed whether liv- ing at all — and now brought by the Red Cross straight to his very arms! Such excitement! It did not require any X-ray to convince onlookers that the happy man's heart was beating hard and fast" Then there was the wonderful day that came so unexpectedly to that Belgian soldier who was lying wounded in a French hospital and wearing his heart out for his wife and four children wandering he knew not where. Two things troubled his nurses: he would not smile and he did not seem to care about getting well. He just worried and worried and worried 1 So of course he could not get well! The nurses discovered that the soldier would almost smile when he looked out of the window and saw children playing in a neighboring yard. One day he waved his hand to a little girl. The next day the little girl brought a bunch of wild flowers and tossed them in the window to him. Then he really did smile. The next day the little girl came again with more flowers and with her came another girl. The soldier smiled and "THE GREATEST MOTHER" 323 waved his hand, and then uttered such a scream as to bring the nurse running to the bedside in alarm. The man pointed to the smaller child, and sobbed and tried to climb out of bed. Oh, the nurse must hurry before the children got too far away! For it was his little girl out there! And so indeed it was. And within an hour the amazed soldier folded his dear wife and four little ones all to his heart. Do you need to be told that he recovered rapidly thereafter? FESTIVAL OCCASIONS Festival days were the greatest kinds of days in the Red Cross hospitals, and Christmas natur- ally was the very greatest festival of all. A service of worship was quite generally observed on Christmas Eve or early Christmas morning, when a priest from a near-by church would come in and conduct the service, and frequently the patients would form some sort of choir. In the Children's Hospital where Doris was at Christ- mas, there were a few boys who had been altar boys in the good old days at home, and they gladly assisted the priest in his duties. After breakfast on Christmas morning the children were assembled to view the Christmas tree, beau- tifully lighted with candles and laden with simple gifts. While the girls and boys were still uttering a chorus of oh's and ah's, a great racket 324 GIRLS' BOOK OF THE RED CROSS was heard and in rushed Santa Claus! A regu- lar American Santa Claus, jolly, and joking, and shaking with laughter and fun. The children greeted him with several Christmas songs, then they lined up in procession and marched past in regular military style, each saluting Santa Claus with a regulation military salute. After which the ambulance boys who had been guarding the tree so that it should by no chance get afire, helped Santa Claus (who looked suspiciously like a certain big-hearted Red Cross doctor) to distribute the gifts. Are you wondering how it was that patients in a hospital were well enough to attend the celebration? Well, you see, boys and girls with sore ears or sore eyes or swollen glands, or with crippled hands or feet, and those who were simply suffering from lack of food and care, and those who were convalescing from disease and beyond the stage where they had to be separated from the others — these made up quite a party. And do you suppose for one moment that any Santa Claus — and especially a Red Cross Santa Claus — would forget the children who could not come to the tree exercises? Of course you know better! And you know, with- out being told, how Dr. Santa Claus bounded upstairs with a pack full of toys for the bed- ridden patients. Some of these patients were "THE GREATEST MOTHER" 325 too sick to smile as a dolly or other toy was slipped into their arms; some were too weak to lift the toy; and some, alas, would never be able to move a hand to lift anything again. The girls and boys who were able to be about downstairs spent a merry day, with songs and games and a specially good dinner with wonder- ful cakes and "sweeties." When all the children were tucked in bed for the night, a Christmas hug and kiss were given each of these forlorn bits of humanity; and the Christmas greetings were even more comforting to the givers than to the recipients. If you have ever been away from home over Christmas, you remember what a dreadfully "homesick-y" day it was! Our Red Cross workers across the seas realized how many miles they were from home at that precious sea- son of the year, and also how many chances there were that they might never see home again. A particularly sweet thing happened at Doris's hospital the afternoon before Christmas, when a company of French children from the little town near by came with the teacher of the village school to bring to the patients a basket of gifts. The nurses did not think it would be wise for the well children to come in contact with the dis- eased boys and girls, but they showed the little visitors the tree and lighted it all up for them, and then they treated the guests to cookies and 326 GIRLS' BOOK OF THE RED CROSS hot chocolate. As the visitors went away, they stopped beneath the windows and serenaded the hospital children. In the soldiers' hospitals, too, there was high carnival at Christmas. One of the devoted Red Cross nurses who was offered six days' leave of absence over the holidays, replied, "Mothers who love their children don't go off and leave them with empty stockings then." So she remained on duty and got up a Christmas entertainment. The windows of the ward were garlanded with ivy gathered by an orderly. A tree was set up and on Christmas morning glittered with candles and ornaments, while from its branches hung tiny gifts — bonbons, crackers, cakes, pipes; at the very top of the tree shone a tinsel star and with it the tricolor, little silk flags of the Allies and the Stars and Stripes. Here it was not a doctor but an aged orderly who personified "Pere Noel," as the French call the patron saint of Christmas Day. He was dressed in a blue-gray cape which covered him from top to toe, he wore a high peaked hood and a long white beard, and carried in his hand a cane and a lantern; his feet were tucked into deep turned-up wooden shoes, and on his back he carried a basket of oranges and cakes, enough for the whole hospi- tal. Each patient under this Santa Claus's care re- "THE GREATEST MOTHER" 327 ceived a "Victory .Packet" — four sheets of writ- ing paper, four envelopes, and an ink pencil, a tiny mirror, a small comb in a case, a bright ' package of bonbons, and a package of cigarettes. One poor chap had a glimpse of Pere Noel just as he was dropping into his last sleep. He looked puzzled, then pleased, stretched out his arms and smiled a marvelous smile; then the nurse bent low and whispered a Christmas mes- sage, the last words the dying soldier ever heard.^ Decorations and entertainment depended somewhat on the nationality of the soldiers. An American nurse on service in a war hospital in Italy sent home an account of the way the Red Cross did things in that country. Her Christmas tree was trimmed with yards of tinsel, gaily colored balls, paper chains of the national colors and Italian flags, small flags of all the allied and neutral nations, and Christmas angels shin- ing from shimmering silver discs. "In the center, low down, so that every one could see it, was the Persepio — the charming little colored panorama of the Birth of Christ. Over this I hung gold and silver stars, and a very special Star just above the dear Christ-Child, while a red light, very near, shed a soft radiance. When the one hundred and fifty candles were lit, it was a glorious sight! But the light from 1 "Mademoiselle Miss." 328 GIRLS' BOOK OF THE RED CROSS the tree was nothing compared with the radiance of the faces of our dear soldiers! Those who could walk or limp came on crutches or canes, others were carried on the backs of our Red Cross Orderlies, and several were brought in on wheeled stretchers. From the top of a huge jar that held the tree, down to the floor and out in a sort of fan-shaped circle, we put crepe paper of the tricolor, and on this the candy bags of tri- color muslin tied with red, white, and green ribbon. Then, one of our boys who is of an artistic turn of mind, printed (in orange) the word Auguri (Wishes) . Circling everything were rows and rows of golden mandarins and oranges!" For the few soldiers who were unable to be present at the "Festa," the nurse made "wee in- dividual trees out of huge pine cones used for kindling." Each large outspread petal held a tiny colored candle. "Each miniature tree was placed in a plate of sand and I wish you might have seen the fairy blaze of the gay little tapers, and the happy light in some weary eyes." After the distribution of gifts there was a program of music, singing, and speech making, concluding with hearty cheers for the nurses and a "Vivi I'America!" Then the boys, knowing the "Festa" had been for them and desiring to see the thing through to the finish, before any "THE GREATEST MOTHER" 329 one realized what was happening began to strip the tree of its gay trimmings and to appropriate the decorations. "They scrambled and reached and stretched; stood on chairs; pulled the tinsel; carried away stars, bells, flags, angels, gay little toys — all, all! In their excitement, however, they showed the Italian characteristic of thoughtfulness for others, and the soldiers who were on stretchers, or in any way incapacitated from joining in the merry pillage, were each and all given their share!" ^ In a French field hospital in Flanders, instead of one large Christmas tree, "eight sturdy baby fir trees were firmly planted one in each of eight chubby white wooden boxes," the boxes camou- flaged with paint to resemble the green slopes whereon the fir trees had grown. The nurses set to work unpacking "case after case and bale after bale of gifts from friends in England and America." The patients learned what was go- ing on and one after another would try to get a peep at the preparations. "Every now and then a convalescent Arab in one of the blue and red hospital dressing gowns, a little round cap on his head, would flatten his nose even more than its wont against one of the window panes; or one of the blesses on crutches, out for his morning airing, would 1 Porter, G. C, in Red Cross Magazine. 330 GIRLS' BOOK OF THE RED CROSS stump cautiously up our boardwalk to peep in through a crack in the door. I think it was the eager look on these faces, so recently haggard and drawn with suffering, that first made me realize that this was to be no ordinary festival. After the unpacking, we had to take the nurses aside and get from each a list of her charges with, however slight, an indication of each man's tastes. There were about no patients here at the time, about 90 orderlies and a long list of doctors, nurses, chauffeurs, etc. Each was to be personally remembered and his fragment of Christmas wrapped in paper and tied with colored ribbon. "In every spare moment of their days down would come the two youngest nurses to help to sew tarletan bags in bright colors, and cut, ac- cording to their fancy, to caricature the legs of friend or enemy. These bags were to be the 'stockings' and had to be filled. Walnuts, fil- berts and almonds stuffed out the foot nicely. Then, in graded sizes, tangerine oranges, and apples and, finally, as we got up to the calf, a nice big orange with a packet of tobacco and a pipe, or a cigarette holder with a packet of ciga- rettes, a miniature packet of playing cards, dominoes or any other foolish little game or puzzle, a brilliant painted or stamped handker- chief ; and for the most patient or in some other "THE GREATEST MOTHER" 331 way the most deserving of our large family, the prime favorites of all gifts, a small looking glass or a tiny comb in a leather case." The day before Christmas a tree w^as taken to each ward and trimmed in the presence of the patients, who made laughing suggestions and criticisms. Every now and then a patient who was able to walk about, would go from one ward to another "taking a look around" and report on the comparative progress of the trees. Then each nurse strove all the harder to make her tree the very most beautiful. The wards were trimmed with colored lanterns, flags, and red paper roses 'Vhich the men had been happy as schoolboys making for ten days at least." At dusk on Christmas Eve the lanterns and trees were lighted, and baskets of presents were sent to each ward. "By 7 o'clock the whole cere- mony had to be over, as our big sick children had had a long day and were to be put to bed before they were too tired to sleep. "No sooner were they safely and soundly asleep than the night nurses — this week the two girls who had helped to make the tarletan stock- ings — stole round and hung one of them at the head of each bed, and it was they who had all the fun of the Christmas morning awakening, for by the time the rest of us and the sun were well up, the stockings had all been emptied, their 332 GIRLS' BOOK OF THE RED CROSS precious contents carefully sorted and stacked on the shelves behind each bed and the wards cleaned up and ready for the doctor's morning rounds." The invalids had an extra good dinner, ham and stewed rabbit, peas, plum pudding, cheese, fruit, nuts, raisins, figs, dates and sweets, with coffee and wine. In the evening there was a dinner party for the doctors and nurses and the ambulance men. The orderlies had a tree all their own and a good dinner. This was Christmas in a field hospital. But the Christmas celebration did not end there. On the following Sunday the Red Cross had a big tree in the village for refugee children. "The Mayor lent us a large room in his house. We dressed one of our men up as Santa Claus in a dressing gown turned red side out and trimmed with swan's down off an old neglige of the Di- rectress. His cap was of red turkey cotton, also trimmed with swan's down, and a nurse made him a lovely wig and beard out of flax and then powdered it. He was quite a work of art. We had invited 125 children, but 331 turned up! Happily there were small things enough on the tree to go round." ^ The United States Government planned that every soldier and sailor in its service should re- 1 Mortimer, Maud, in Red Cross Magazine. "THE GREATEST MOTHER" 333 ceive a Christmas remembrance, and the Red Cross did all in its power to make the holiday a memorable occasion for every man. A Red Cross Christmas packet, containing a few useful gifts and, more especially, holiday treats, was sent to each man. These packages, which carried as much of Christmas flavor as possible, were made by the women and children of the chapters, in- cluding the members of the Junior Red Cross. The Naval Auxiliaries of the Red Cross per- formed a like service for men in the Navy. To one young fellow very near the end of life on the Christmas following the armistice, the nurses could bring no pleasure or cheer. The lad could see nothing but disappointment in his fate. He was the kind of boy who had cherished visions. He had hoped to be a man who did things. And here he was going to die before he had even begun to do things. The disheart- ened nurses reported the dying soldier's sad mental condition to the chaplain, who went at once to the boy's bedside. "Good morning," said the chaplain, cheerily; "I suppose I can't really wish you a merry Christmas, but I know this must be the very best Christmas you ever had." The boy looked perplexed, scornful, defiant, and refused to answer a word. "You know," continued the chaplain, "you are 334 GIRLS' BOOK OF THE RED CROSS the means of bringing to the world the happiest Christmas it has had for a long time — since the very first one, perhaps." The boy began to look interested. ''For you — and the other fellows like you — have really brought peace to earth. The Christmas bells will ring more sweetly, the Christmas trees will gleam more brightly, and troubled hearts will beat more serenely if not joyfully, than for sev- eral years. Why? Because you have helped to bring peace. My, but you must be a proud fel- low to-day! What a wonderful Christmas pres- ent you have made the world! Many a man will live seventy, eighty, ninety, one hundred years perhaps, and never have a chance to do the big, heroic, beautiful thing you have done. And so I have come to you as a sort of Christmas messenger from all the people who are happy to-day, to say Thank You. Greater things can no man do than to lay down his life for others. That's the real genuine Christmas spirit." The lad reached out feebly and grasped the chaplain's hand. Tears were running down his face. "Oh, sir, I thank you so much! 'Twas a heavy heart I had before you came. But you have made everything look different. I hope what you say is true. Yes, I know it is. So Merry Christmas it is, chaplain. Won't you pray for me?" "THE GREATEST MOTHER" 335 Again, at Easter, were exercises of religious nature followed by scenes of gaiety. Good Fri- day was observed with intensified solemnity. Holy days seem to have acquired new signifi- cance for those who have been so near death. In addition to flowers and candies and messages for the morn of Easter Day, in some hospitals nests were made by the nurses, 'Voven out of excelsior and lined with cotton and arbor-vitae" ; in each nest were placed several chocolate candy eggs, on top of which was perched "a white sugar hen with a pink comb and pompous tail, and a favor of the Allies round her neck." When the soldiers saw the Easter nests, they shouted their applause, and held out their hands — trembling, weal^, many of them bandaged — for the precious souvenirs. *'One poor little fel- low smiled for the first time since he had reached the hospital six weeks before." ^ "Fourth-of-July" has no special significance for Europeans. That is, it had no special signifi- cance previous to July 4, 19 17, when the Ameri- can troops marched through the streets of Paris led by General Pershing, to the shouts of wel- come from the Allies. The hearts of all patri- o^tic Americans beat high on that anniversary, and never did any representatives of the United States feel more like "celebrating the Fourth" 1 "Mademoiselle Miss." 336 GIRLS' BOOK OF THE RED CROSS than did the members of the American Red Cross abroad. In Doris's hospital a feast was served, with fifty French officials as guests, in- cluding doctors, priests, heads of the army in town, and heads of hospitals. The piece de re- sistance was a huge ham baked as we cook it in America with sugar sprinkled liberally over it and cloves pressed into the fatty part, and then baked brown! Doesn't it make your mouth water? It certainly did have that effect on the French officials, who never before had tasted ham cooked in that way. And later in the feast came another surprise, a strawberry shortcake American style, made of the most delicious sweet wild strawberries picked in the fields round about. Red Cross posters adorned the walls of the dining room, and the tables were decorated with jars of red poppies, white daisies, and blue bachelor buttons. No, not ]ars! The bouquet holders for that occasion were empty shell cas- ings, long hollow brass tubes. Probably you have seen some of the many which have been brought home as war relics. A TRIBUTE TO WOMEN On a New Year's Eve, when a number of nurses and doctors gathered to greet the incom- ing year, after the first ''toast" drunk to "Vic- "THE GREATEST MOTHER" 337 tory," a young lieutenant propased the follow- ing: "To our Women, who sent us forth with courage in their hearts and tears in their eyes! "To our Women at home who are sacrificing their all that we may win! "To our Women over here who give their own lives that we may live !" A Red Cross man has proposed the follow- ing: "Here's to our women. All over France you will find them. Mere slips of girls, barely out of their teens, driving great camions; middle- aged ladies, accustomed all their lives to luxuries, spending ten hours a day in canteen kitchens, sup- plying troops with hot dishes ; and in the cities gray-haired women working hour after hour rolling bandages or knitting sweaters, so that our boys may lack for nothing." MISS boardman's forecast At the beginning of the European War, when it became evident that the American Red Cross would be called on for service, Miss Mabel Boardman in a look-ahead, foreseeing the many lines of work opening for women, said : "Along the lines of the evacuation of the wounded rest stations must be established, where hot soup, coffee, and other suitable refreshments for the soldiers must be ready for every train. These 338 GIRLS' BOOK OF THE RED CROSS should be installed and operated by lay women, under the supervision of a Red Cross nurse. There will be men temporarily crippled, who will need the aid of the lay woman. Many must be taught how again to earn their liveli- hood by some method suitable to the loss of eye- sight, or of a leg, or an arm. There will be wives and children of the soldiers at the front who will need her assistance, and to her tender sympathy and care must be confided the widows and orphans. The woman, be she lay woman or trained nurse, who is willing to do what she is best fitted to do will find no limit to the field of her usefulness in the misfortune of war." Her prophecy was more than fulfilled. "For the first time in history a nation's first levies were made up largely of women." *'The women of the United States deserve a large share of the credit for the successes of the American forces," said General Pershing. "Many a time I have seen our men being fed on the often slow and tedious journeys in France ; seen those who were taken sick en route being cared for; seen them being amused by movies, lectures, libraries at rest canteens; seen letters being written by Red Cross 'searchers' for those who were too sick to write themselves, or witnessed the motherly oversight given the young women nurses when they came to the "THE GREATEST MOTHER" 339 cities on their brief vacations," says Major-Gen- eral Ireland, Surgeon General, U. S. A. "Do you know what an army medical officer thinks when he sees things like these? Just this: Such comforts bring the home influence to the battlefield; the home influence means morale, and morale means — victory!" CHAPTER VII The Future of the Red Cross What is the future of the Red Cross? This became one of the "burning questions" of the months following the close of the European War. Having been granted wider vision and almost limitless opportunity, was the organiza- tion to sit back and fold its official hands until another startling disaster occurred? Or were the members to say, "We have misery enough at home, we cannot be expected to send further help abroad?" Was the marvelous spirit of unity for one common purpose, which was re- acting in a wonderful development of the American spirit, to end for the time being, with all the busy units resolved into indifferent and self-centered individuals? All over the land a mighty chorus of "No's" was heard in almost unanimous protest. Chap- ters and branches demanded that they be con- tinued and kept ready for immediate response to any call for need or relief, and be allowed to work along the many lines of cooperation which had developed. Through the closer association 340 THE FUTURE OF THE RED CROSS 341 and mutual interchange of knowledge and ambi- tions and aspirations endless avenues of service heretofore unrealized or unconsidered have pre- sented themselves. It is always easier to keep on going when one is well started than it is to stop and start all over again. So the Red Cross said, ''Don't let's stop! Let's keep going!" If the whole organi- zation were always ready for any emergency, what a wonderful force would be at the com- mand of the directors and of the government at a moment's notice! One slogan of the present day is ''Service," another is "Community Service," and a third, now becoming universal, is "Coordination." The Red Cross, because of its remarkable flex- ibility and adaptability which render it so capable of cooperation — and so capable in co- operation — seems to fly the one flag around which all peoples, races, and sects may rally and under which all may march, leading on to intelligent, practical, efficient service. The American Red Cross with its new wide outlook is able to help us as individuals, by carrying out comprehensive programs for better health, better living, better education. It is able to lead us into wider fields of community service, consid- ering "community health and sanitation needs, recreation needs, special problems of immigrant 342 GIRLS' BOOK OF THE RED CROSS groups, or the more effective local use of state and federal resources for the protection of health, the care of the sick, the defective, de- pendent and delinquent." And it reveals to us obligations of world-wide service to the needy, the ignorant, the oppressed, and the suffering. A new spirit of service has been aroused by the war. A new realization of world-wide brotherhood has developed. ''There has been no single effort of the United States during the war that has amazed the people of Europe with its comprehensiveness and its spirit of service as has the country-wide expression of the Red Cross for the suffering people of Europe," says Mr. Frederick C. Munroe, General Manager, American Red Cross. "A message such as was never given the world before," says an army of- ficer, "was conveyed by a great people coming as a unit to help the suffering; it was the most wonderfully marvelous show the world has ever seen." "But the voluntary Red Cross fits naturally on a voluntary army. One is the free expression of a man wishing to serve his country in that way; the other is how men and women left behind can best express their feelings at his going to fight for them." ^ President Wilson has said that while the army demonstrated force, the Red Cross demonstrated 1 Barker, Granville. "The Red Cross in France." THE FUTURE OF THE RED CROSS 343 character. "Not that our men in arms do not represent our character, for they do, and it is a character which those who see and realize, appreciate and admire; but their duty is the duty of force. The duty of the Red Cross is the duty of mercy and succor and friendship. Friendship is the only cement that will ever hold the world together. And this intimate contact of the Red Cross with the peoples who are suffering the terrors and deprivations of this war is going to be one of the greatest instrumen- talities of friendship that the world ever knew, and the center of the heart of it all, if we sus- tain it properly, will be this land that we dearly love." "Never in all history has such an opportunity to exert a beneficent influence upon the welfare of humanity been presented, and never before has there been an organization so ready, so equipped, and so willing to embrace the oppor- tunity as is the American Red Cross," says Mr. Munroe. "Out of the world war with its in- credible tale of misery and suffering must come an awakened conscience, an aroused sense of brotherhood, a new spirit of service which we all believe the American Red Cross has already done so much to create and foster. We of the Red Cross fervently believe that this conscience, this new brotherhood, this spirit of service is to 344 GIRLS' BOOK OF THE RED CROSS prevail, and that the coming generations are to rebuild on the foundations of this war a better and more durable life, a greater happiness and a more secure liberty. What is to be the part of the American Red Cross in this rebuilding of the world? The Red Cross is face to face with the question of its future. In every way possible the Red Cross has sought to feel the public pulse, to consult the great organized agencies already in the field, and the country- wide response was so manifest, the demand as a whole so keen that the Red Cross should not give up but should go on and expand its work, that to have refused such a demand would have amounted almost to a betrayal of trust." But what is the Red Cross going to do? That is a question which presents peculiar difficulties. The Red Cross is really an emergency organi- zation. Originally having for its object the re- lief of those suffering from the one great calamity, the one great disaster, and later amending its constitution so that in times of peace it might aid those in emergencies arising from other calamities and disasters, just how does it fit in when times and conditions are normal? The Red Cross is very much like an umbrella, to be hoisted when needed. Emergencies, like showers, are apt to come any day, but no one can THE FUTURE OF THE RED CROSS 345 prophesy exactly when. The Red Cross can no more look ahead and predict the date of the next flood or fire or cyclone or earthquake than you can tell on which day of next week or next month or next year you will need your umbrella. Therefore the Red Cross can never say with certainty just what it is ''going to do." Thus far the Red Cross has always been ready for use in stormy weather, standing in the corner, as it were, like any respectable family umbrella between-times. Now, however, the Red Cross has outgrown the standing-in-the-corner period of its existence, and proposes to become one of the "rain-and-sun" style of umbrellas, useful in fair weather as well as in foul. The exact nature of the future work of the Red Cross will depend on the program of the associated governments. "The war program will steadily and rapidly merge itself into a peace program, and the American Red Cross is planning to develop its permanent organization in this country upon a scale never before con- templated in time of peace. Our abiding pur- pose is that the love, the sympathy, and the in- telligence of all America shall be rededicated to the personal service of mankind." ^ As the first duty of the Red Cross is to the men of the army and navy, therefore until all 1 Address by Henry P. Davison. 346 GIRLS' BOOK OF THE RED CROSS soldiers and sailors should be demobilized the Red Cross was bound to stay by them wherever they might be; and to leave nothing undone for the men in the war zone or in occupied terri- tory, for those in camps and hospitals, for those returning, and for their families at home. One of the best pieces of work undertaken by the Red Cross is the care it has taken of the return- ing soldiers, especially the returned wounded. This care in many cases will have to be con- tinued in one way or another for an indefinite time after the soldiers' return, as the Red Cross through its Home Service department will assist the families of disabled men while they are undergoing treatment and training for new occupations. For some time following the declaration of peace, much in the way of relief must still be administered abroad. The Red Cross of France, Belgium, and Italy will, for a long time, be obliged to care for refugees, to promote child welfare, to fight tuberculosis, and to assume the many branches of relief conducted during the war by the American Red Cross. Many of the problems confronting the Euro- pean countries in the way of reconstruction, in- cluding the feeding and caring for the distressed civilian populations, will prove so great as to require the cooperation of our country. After the signing of the armistice there were in- THE FUTURE OF THE RED CROSS 347 sistent demands for help from foreign lands. In response the American Red Cross sent commissions to Greece, Albania, Serbia, Monte- negro, Rumania, into the liberated country of the Poles and Czecho-Slovaks, and into Germany for the relief of prisoners; there were also commissions in Siberia, in northern Russia, and in Palestine. These commissions were made up chiefly of doctors and nurses, and were equipped with drugs and dieteti-c foods for children and the sick. The work of the Amer- ican Red Cross in foreign fields must be con- tinued or repeated as long as any obligation of brotherhood may require. In order the better to accomplish Red Cross work of world-wide character on a broad, wise, and efficient plan, an International Red Cross Committee called a convention of the Red Cross organizations of the world to meet at Geneva thirty days after the declaration of peace. The call was issued at the request of the Red Cross of the United States of America, France, Great Britain, Italy, and Japan, whose repre- sentatives constituted themselves a committee to formulate and to propose an extended program of Red Cross activities in the interest of human- ity. Such activities would foster the study of human disease, promote sound measures for public health and sanitation, the welfare of c'hil- 348 GIRLS' BOOK OF THE RED CROSS dren and mothers, the education and training of nurses and the care and prevention of tuber- culosis, malaria and other chronic or infectious diseases, and would provide measures for handling problems of world relief in emergen- cies, such as fire, famine, and pestilence. It is the belief of the committee that the ideals of the International Red Cross at Geneva for extend- ing relief in time of war can be applied with equal vigor and effectiveness in time of peace. Although the Red Cross was born for war, its influence and work have been so far reaching that it would seem to be wise to continue it in times of peace — to use the great organization to fight tuberculosis, carry on child welfare work, battle malaria and social diseases, and to instruct the people of the world in sanitation. Invitations to join have been sent to Argen- tina, Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Chili, China, Cuba, Denmark, Greece, Holland, India, New Zealand, Norway, Peru, Portugal, Rumania, Serbia, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Uruguay, and Venezuela. It is expected that eventually the league will include all the nations of the world. The experiences and experiments and inves- tigation of Red Cross workers abroad and at home have proved overwhelmingly that all the world are kin. Returning to the United States, THE FUTURE OF THE RED CROSS 349 those who have been directing the foreign work say, "We have exactly the same problems with us in this country that we found in the civilian population of France." The free traveling hos- pital with its nurses and doctor, visiting the tuberculosis patient who is too ill to go to the hospital, and giving him examination and treat- ment, is as valuable in the United States as in Europe. There are children in the United States to whom a traveling shower bath would be as much of a godsend as it was to the peasant babies of France. "We bath our baby every day now," said a proud "little mother" in a factory town, as she held up in her arms a clean, smiling baby. To "bath" the baby was evi- dently viewed as a new accomplishment by the American-born child of foreign-born parents, who had profited by recent Home Service in- struction. "Yes, we have a toothbrush in our house," eagerly said another child in reply to the social worker's question. "Only one tooth- brush?" asked the worker. "Yes, ma'am, there's only nine of us in our family." Problems of child health, problems of mortal- ity, problems of tuberculosis, problems of sani- tation, problems of social service, — all these the American Red Cross is eager to help solve, co- operating with already existing agencies, offi- cial or unofficial, if they are conscientiously working for the welfare of the nation. 350 GIRLS' BOOK OF THE RED CROSS One of the few objections offered to the con- tinuance of Red Cross work in the line of Home Service or civilian relief is the fear of duplica- tion or confusion of service. That is, if educa- tional, charitable, or social organizations exist in a city or town for relief or assistance or inspira- tion, the Red Cross Home Service section would be likely to be covering the same ground. This situation will be carefully guarded against in the future as it has been heretofore. The theory of the Red Cross is not to enter the field of Home Service in any communities where the field is already occupied and where there is no definite demand from the community for Red Cross participation. The Red Cross in such communities will always be ready to cooperate with existing agencies and aid them in any way they may wish. Social agencies have learned to exchange information in order to avoid getting in one another's way. Home Service must de- velop not only skill and patience in cooperating, but a genuine enthusiasm for working with oth- ers. Some tasks it will surrender to others, some it will share with others, and some it will inherit from others, but under all three of these sets of circumstances it will work with others in that it will seek and stand ready to receive all the guid- ance and help the community can offer — and communities are more willing to give these than ever before. THE FUTURE OF THE RED CROSS 351 The Red Cross ofifers social workers an un- paralleled opportunity of joining hands with the public in a genuine community of interest. The opportunity offered to thousands of Home Serv- ice Sections throughout the United States to as- sist families with counsel, service, and material relief, is almost boundless and carried out in the spirit in which the Red Cross proposes to carry it out will contribute in an inspiring degree to the progress of the people of the United States toward better and more healthful living condi- tions. It is intended that each community will decide for itself whether local Red Cross work is to be continued or extended along the new lines indi- cated. ''The war developed the striking and impor- tant fact that many men and women, some of whom had with great success devoted their lives entirely to business, came into the Red Cross or- ganization at the outset of the war simply that they might serve their country, but have realized such a satisfaction to themselves in the opportu- nity to serve mankind, that they desire to become a part of the permanent peace organization of the American Red Cross," says Mr. Davison. The first consideration in a permanent Red Cross program will be for a continuation and extension of the Red Cross Nursing Service. 352 GIRLS' BOOK OF THE RED CROSS This includes demonstrating to communities the value of organized effort for the conserving of public health, and an efifort to bring within all classes of the population courses of instruction which shall make households better prepared to meet problems of sickness and hygiene. Close cooperation between Red Cross visitors and local anti-tuberculosis agencies is advised. In com- munities that have no special arrangement for the care of the tubercular, the Red Cross Divi- sion Director of Civilian Relief may be able to procure advice as to treatment. "For four years," said Miss Delano, not long before her death, "wherever the armies of Amer- ica and Europe have gone, the Red Cross nurse has followed. Now that peace is within sight she is still the most-needed woman, and it is her privilege to lead in the nation-wide crusade against the ignorance and neglect which allow epidemics and preventable disease to drain the vitality and even the lives of our citizens. To every loyal Red Cross member comes the direct challenge to help her in this constructive fight for freedom." Accordingly, campaigns have been planned to be conducted by Red Cross nurses who have re- turned from duty in Europe and who will go throughout this country "preaching the gospel of public health." Through these nurses many THE FUTURE OF THE RED CROSS 353 communities will learn various interesting forms of social service which are embraced in the duties of a public health nurse. It will b© shown, for instance, how this nurse gives hourly nursing care to the patients in her district who may require it. It will be shown how the nurse may conduct inspection of school children, or- ganize committees to improve local sanitation and general health conditions, instruct mothers in the care of babies and small children so that in- fant mortality may be reduced to the minimum; how she fights epidemics and the increasing men- ace of tuberculosis, and in every way possible directs the energy and attention of the neighbor- hood toward establishing a high order of com- munity health. In addition to urging communi- ties to employ a public health nurse, the Red Cross nurses will endeavor to interest women and girls to take the Red Cross courses in Hom.e Hy- giene and Care of the Sick and Home Dietetics. MODERN HEALTH CRUSADE The Junior Red Cross is cooperating with the National Tuberculosis Association in a Modern Health Crusade, a disease-prevention movement which is being developed in the public schools, both elementary and high. The following health program is advised, which, subject to ap- proval or revision by parent or guardian ac- 354 GIRLS' BOOK OF THE RED CROSS cording to individual circumstances or tempera- ment, might be recommended for any boy or girl: ^'I washed my hands before each meal to-day; I washed not only my face but my ears and neck, and I cleaned my finger nails to-day; I tried to- day to keep fingers, pencils, and everything that might be unclean out of my mouth and nose; I drank a glass of water before each meal and before going to bed, and drank no tea, cofifee, or other injurious drinks to-day; I brushed my teeth thoroughly in the morning and in the even- ing to-day; I took lo or more slow, deep breaths of fresh air to-day; I played outdoors, or with windows open, more than 30 minutes to-day; I was in bed 10 hours or more last night and kept my windows open; I tried to-day to sit up and stand straight, to eat slowly, and to attend to toilet and each need of my body at its regular time; I tried to-day to keep neat and cheerful constantly and to be helpful to others; I took a full bath on each day of the week that is checked." The health crusade movement is not confined to America alone; the idea has spread to many foreign countries, including China, Korea, Canada, Cuba, and France. Thoughtful people are asking, "If world peace is a desirable thing, why should not the THE FUTURE OF THE RED CROSS 355 nations cooperate in insuring world health?" To this end an Inter-Allied Red Cross Congress was held in the spring months of 191 9, to form a central bureau ''to stimulate and coordinate the voluntary efforts of the peoples of the world through their respective Red Cross societies with a view to the creation of a world health con- science." The program of the congress was en- dorsed by distinguished physicians and scientists of Engl'and, France, Japan, and Italy, and by fif- teen of America's leading health specialists. AMERICAN women's HOSPITALS ORGANIZATION France and Serbia will be especially in need of health work for at least two or three years following the war. Several units from women's colleges have, upon request, gone to France to serve as doctors and nurses and drivers during the period of reconstruction. Serbia also sent calls for women doctors to come and help fight the epidemics and diseases raging during the year following the war. When the United States entered the war, the American Women's Hospitals organized and offered the service of its medical women to the government and the Red Cross. At first they were denied participa- tion in military work in this country because the medical reserve corps had neither precedent n'or plan for the enlistment of women doctors. 356 GIRLS' BOOK OF THE RED CROSS Then the association made a census of women doctors throughout the country. They enrolled 2500 women doctors who were ready for active duty. They organized the women of the various states for civilian and possible military service, furnished doctors and technicians to the Red Cross, assumed responsibility for the de- tails and equipment of the sailing of women, obtained three ambulances, and provided and sent to Serbia the first motor laboratory made in this country. So valuable was this assistance to the Red Cross, that a close affiliation was ef- fected by the two organizations through which eventually the American Women's Hospitals realized its ambition to send units abroad both for civilian and military work. The work planned by the organization was approved by the Surgeon General. Women physicians were sent to France, with nurses and technicians especially trained in courses established by the hospitals. This "Battalion of Life," as the women physicians were called, worked in close coopera- tion with the Red Cross, and six of its members were decorated by the French government. The organization established hospitals and dis- pensaries, and had seven units overseas during the war. THE FUTURE OF THE RED CROSS 357 MEDICAL-SOCIAL SERVICE WORKERS In connection with hospital work a new line of service has developed which may help some girls to answer a question most of them have to face sooner or later: What am I going to do after I leave college? The Red Cross Home Service now asks for medical-social service workers; it asks young women of intelligence, education, energy, and sympathy, to train for social service in public health hospitals. Doctors do not have the time to give mental, moral, industrial, and educational help to their patients; yet the hospitals of to-day find that the giving of sympathetic advice, encouragement, instruction, and friendly help in finding suit- able work, helps greatly in conserving human life and energy. The Red Cross has been asked to place medical-social workers in the public health service hospitals in this country, where federal employees, disabled soldiers, sailors, and marines, army nurses and such men as are drawing war risk insurance, are treated by the government health department. The director of this special department says: "The demand for medical-social workers is in- creasing, both in government hospitals and civilian hospitals. The war has brought home to us the facts that social work is an indis- 358 GIRLS' BOOK OF THE RED CROSS pensable ally to good medical work, and disease cannot be fought on a large scale in hospitals, dispensaries, schools, or factories without de- tailed education in hygiene and without finan- cial aid and advice. Again, the problems raised by the wounded or maimed soldiers will call for the best of team work from the doctor and social worker." A PROGRAM OF PREPAREDNESS The war also brought home the wisdom of a greater degree of "preparedness" for both mili- tary and civil disasters. A plan has been de- vised which is considered to present a most com- plete idea of preparation to meet disasters and relieve the distress and suffering that arise from floods, fires, and kindred things. The plan "originating in the office of the Surgeon Gen- eral of the Army came to the Red Cross and opened the most inspiring possibility for making the Red Cross a well-organized and effective force to meet sudden demands. This plan was built around the fifty base hospital units which the Red Cross from all sections of the country organized and sent to Europe. The plan pro- posed by the Surgeon General's office is, that our fifty base hospital units after their return to this country be held intact as reserve organizations to operate not only for military necessities, if THE FUTURE OF THE RED CROSS 359 such should arise, but also in cases of civil dis- asters. The plan is, that these fifty units would be so scattered throughout the country that some one of them would always be within a reason- able distance of any disaster that might occur. The Surgeon General intends, if possible, to have the United States Government from its own sources establish relief stations at the head- quarters of each one of these Hospital Units. Wherever there is a Government storehouse, complete equipment for, let us say, 500 or 1000 beds would be stored in such a way that it could be immediately used. The organization of the hospital would be kept intact as a reserve or- ganization and would be expected to be on call at any moment for duty. In cases of civil dis- asters the Red Cross would operate in exactly the same manner that it had always operated be- fore. In military cases the army itself would operate. With this plan in operation we feel sure that the Red Cross will always be prepared to meet instantly and in a businesslike way any call for its services that may come." ^ FIRST AID WORK AND THE JUNIOR RED CROSS Before the war First Aid work was one of the principal features of the Red Cross. The great importance of other all-engrossing events for ^ Frederick C. Munroe. 36o GIRLS' BOOK OF THE RED CROSS four years served to divert attention from this special activity. Future plans of the Red Cross contemplate an intensive development of First Aid, a development that will reach the general public, people employed in the industries, and school children. It is, indeed, upon the school children, upon the girls and boys in elementary and in high schools, in public and in private schools, that the future of the Red Cross really depends. Much thought and careful study have been given to the part to be played by the Junior Red Cross in the permanent peace program, until a plan has been inaugurated which sets up a great system of social help extending from the home, the school, and the community to wherever there is need of service. It is the aim of the Red Cross to convey the idea of international service throughout the entire community, so that children everywhere may be educated to dis- cover many new things in everyday life as it goes on. According to the plan the Junior Red Cross is to stimulate community activities appropriate to the spirit of the Red Cross, to develop inter- national understanding and good will, to furnish relief to suffering children throughout the world, and above all to inculcate ideals and habits of service. There are in the United THE FUTURE OF THE RED CROSS 361 States 23,000,000 pupils between the ages of four and twenty years attending school; there are 300,000 schools, 190,000 of which are one- room rural schools; in almost every school system there will be a Red Cross School Com- mittee to direct and encourage the pupils in Red Cross activities. Each school is a unit, and boys and girls become members of their school unit. Through the Junior Red Cross education is to include a new department, the department of service. The great war calamity has taught •the world that there are higher lessons than spelling and algebra, important as they may be, and that geography and history may be made more real if studied in the light of the higher education. This higher training — something newer than manual training or domestic science — this new branch of education is to teach un- selfishness and helpfulness. Girls and boys whose hearts have gone out in sympathy and whose busy hands have undertaken all sorts of new tasks for the sufifering, are ready now to be shown how "the things they learn in arithmetic and spelling and English are merely forms of equipment to help them in performing their real function in life, to help others rather than to get things for themselves." ^ 1 John W. Studebaker. 362 GIRLS' BOOK OF THE RED CROSS "In the future, therefore, education will emphasize service. It will accept as one of its fundamental responsibilities the development of a conception of life, which leaves in the learner the understanding that a good life is one which uses its best abilities for the purpose of con- tributing to the improvement of social condi- tions and to the happiness of people in general, and not in order that the individual in posses- sion of these abilities may use them selfishly and with the idea of getting the most out of life only for himself." ^ If all the girls and boys in the world learn to know and love and are ready to serve all the other girls and boys in the world, never in the generations to come can there be any war. If boys and girls grow up with an understanding of the situation and circumstances and disposi- tion and temperaments and abilities and limita- tions of all other boys and girls, and come to know one another so well that jealousy and hatred and greed which grow out of selfishness shall give way to brotherly kindness and love and cooperation and interchange of service, the men and women of the next generations will be united by bonds of understanding and conse- quent friendship. It is not easy to quarrel with friends. If misunderstandings arise, friends 1 Frederick C. Munroe. THE FUTURE OF THE RED CROSS 363 who love each other can "talk things over" and reach an agreeable and satisfactory explanation. If nations can be persuaded to unite in love and friendship, agreeable and satisfactory explana- tions can be arrived at without war, even when temporary misunderstandings arise. Brothers and friends work as earnestly for each other's success as for their own. Nations united by brotherly love and friendship will be ready to combine for the success and development of all. "For, after all," says Dr. John H. Finley, "the greatest league of nations we can promote is "to come through bringing the children of one country into conscious and mutually helpful re- lationship with the children of other countries." Nothing in the whole program of future Red Cross activities appeals more generally to the sympathy of the people than the effort to re- late the work of the Junior membership to the relief of suffering children in the war areas. "There are thousands of children in all the foreign countries involved who have suffered physically, mentally, and morally because of the depredations which were forced upon them," says John W. Studebaker, after close personal observation. "There are thousands of children left destitute and without clothing and food be- cause their parents, one or both, have vanished in the great struggle. They need the very best 364 GIRLS' BOOK OF THE RED CROSS kind of nourishment obtainable in order to build them up physically. There are in those coun- tries thousands of children, between four- teen and sixteen years of age, who are three or four years backward in physical development. Upon the care of such boys and girls hangs in a large measure the future of those countries." Meanwhile practical little Janet and Harriet and brother John are asking, ''What are we go- ing to do?" They have outgrown the notion that the life of a girl or boy consists merely in going to school and studying books a part of each day and spending the remaining hours ''having a good time." Like their Red Cross mothers, they have become so accustomed to do- ing something definite for somebody that they cannot imagine themselves idle. Neither does the Red Cross contemplate their remaining idle. Already the 10,000,000 boys and girls who have become members of the Junior Red .Cross have raised $3,000,000 for Red Cross work and have contributed 1,000,000 articles. There is still demand for clothing for refugees, and Janet and Harriet and every other girl may continue to use her "needle, thread, and thimble, too." Girls enjoy making the dainty articles for layettes, and for these there will con- tinue to be great need. In some schools most fascinating dolls are being made of cloth, stuffed, painted as to face and hands and feet, THE FUTURE OF THE RED CROSS 365 and dressed, ready to be sent over to bring com- fort and joy to the French and Belgian little girls who have no dollies to play with. Boys have turned out a wonderful variety of articles. Now they are working on furniture for refugees. French and Belgians coming back to their former homes, finding their houses burned and all the contents gone or destroyed, are living in cellars and dugouts until dwelling places can be constructed. A very considerable portion of forest land has been ruined, so that lumber has become very scarce. The mills and machinery also have been destroyed, so that nothing can be made even if there were material. In this emergency, American schoolboys are making tables and folding chairs of simple de- sign to ship overseas. The Juniors are supporting an orphanage in Paris where 10,000 children find a home. They have also taken a building on the very edge of Mt. Zion, from which is a view of Jerusalem, the Mount of Olives, and the hills back of Bethlehem. Into this home are taken children who have been orphaned by the war, whatever their nationality. These children become proteges of the Juniors, and all money required for the running expenses of the home will be provided by the Juniors. There are 20,000 destitute children left home- less along the Syrian coast, and the Red Cross 366 GIRLS' BOOK OF THE RED CROSS directors of Junior activities say: ''There is a dream that those children may be housed in homes where trained 'house mothers' and 'house fathers' may bring them up as little families." It is hoped that the Juni'ors may have a share in this attractive plan, so that those refugee children may be able to go to school and then "come home to play in their own back gardens like normal children." Such faith have the Red Cross directors in the Juniors, that they have promised that the boys and girls of America shall earn and give at least a half-million dollars a year for so long a period as may be necessary to send relief to the suffering children of foreign lands. Therefore, Janet and Harriet and John must think of all sorts of schemes for earning money and waste no time in carrying them out. During the summer the Juniors have been running "Red Cross farms" in cooperation with the Department of Agriculture and the Bureau of Education. "War gardens" were so popular and so successful as to encourage young people to continue their farming pursuits. Corn clubs and pig clubs will doubtless remain popular and bring in substantial proceeds for the Red Cross Junior fund.^ In some places girls are arrang- 1 The Red Cross pig club contributed $10,000 and six million pounds of pork for American troops overseas. THE FUTURE OF THE RED CROSS 367 ing for Red Cross waffle days, and Red Cross ice-cream sales, for garden parties, and tea rooms, for cake sales, and pie sales, and home- made bread sales. "I'll make cake if you'll make bread," said Harriet teasingly to Janet, who had proposed the idea of a Christmas Red Cross sale for the purpose of raising money for their school unit. Harriet had been to cooking school. Janet had not. Harriet was learning to make very good cake, cake that you could really eat. Janet knew nothing whatever of the mysteries of bread- making. However, she was not to be outdone, so she nonchalantly replied, ''All right, how many loaves shall we make?" Harriet laughed and went home to tell her sisters the joke on serious little Janet. "If she's so awfully in- terested in the Red Cross, let her see what she can do!" said Harriet, with a slight tone of superiority based on her cooking-school record. Janet went home and hurried to the kitchen for a conference with "Black Sarah." "Laws, honey, you never could make no bread; you don't b'long in the kitchen, honey, you don't; leave the bread to Black Sarah; she'll make you all you want to eat or to sell." No, Janet shook her serious little head until the long flaxen braids flew wildly about. No, she must learn how to make bread and Black Sarah must teach 368 GIRLS' BOOK OF THE RED CROSS her. Of course Janet had her way with Black Sarah in this case as always, and twice a week thereafter Janet "made the bread" under Black Sarah's direction. Christmas and the Red Cross sale at P. S. No. — arrived. "Home-Made Red Cross Cake — On Sale Here — Orders Taken" read a gay red and white sign over a table at which stood Harriet in a costume suggestive of the Red Cross uniform. Several other girls similarly dressed were with Harriet, helping to sell the loaves of cake which their cooking class had made. Each loaf when sold was wrapped in white paper, tied with a red ribbon, and deco- rated with a Red Cross Christmas seal for which the customers gladly paid. Business was good and the girls took in what seemed to them like "a lot of money," and they also received many orders for loaves in the future. Just across the hall was another table above which was another gay red and white sign. "Home-Made Red Cross Bread— The Kind Your Mammy Used to Make," it read. And underneath the sign stood several little persons in a costume which was a sort of mixture of Red Cross and "Mammy." Janet and her group — for she had told several of her friends the joke and they had learned bread-making at home, too — ^wore white dresses and aprons THE FUTURE OF THE RED CROSS 369 resembling those of the Red Cross, but instead of white veils or tunics on their heads, they wore bandannas which Black Sarah herself had tied in just the right manner and with just the right kind of knot. Of course the costume was ridiculous, but it made every one laugh who saw it, and that was good for trade! The girls did a thriving business, and as they wrapped the fragrant white loaves in dainty white paper and tied the red ribbon around and added the Christ- mas seal, they received "standing orders" from Red Cross women who were glad enough to be supplied with fresh home-made bread and help along the Red Cross at the same time. RED CROSS ANIMALS The number of animals pressed into Red Cross service is astounding. Bulldogs and ter- riers carrying Red Cross boxes in which to col- lect money became more or less familiar sights during the war. Pet dogs that had been trained to perform tricks appealed for contributions by standing up to ''beg" when passers-by disre- garded the boxes. Perhaps the strangest sight of all was a dromedary draped in a huge Red Cross banner, promenading the streets of Shanghai in China to advertise a Red Cross fete. The United States can boast no dromedaries; but in the state 370 GIRLS' BOOK OF THE RED CROSS of Oregon a sheep by the name of Bill draped in a Red Cross banner has been visiting the different chapters, where he was put up at auc- tion; one person after another would buy the animal and then put him up for sale again to a higher bidder. Bill has earned more than $5000 for the Red Cross. Red Cross pigs roam over western or southern acres or in rocky New England pastures, or dwell singly in suburban back yards, for Red Cross boys to sell. Red Cross hens lay Red Cross eggs and hatch Red Cross chickens for Red Cross girls to sell and Red Cross women to cook. Red Cross horses driven by Red Cross girls take summer visitors for picturesque rides through the country. Red Cross puppies are sold by Red Cross boys, also Red Cross rabbits and Red Cross guinea pigs! Perhaps the fun- niest of all are the Red Cross kittens — not beautiful Persian cats with a pedigree, but plain little homeless kittens. There are always kit- tens who need homes, and often there are homes which need kittens. So some of the most enter- prising Juniors have undertaken to bring the two together. Bob Sewall found a dear little black kitten crying pitifully in the back yard of a vacant house. Bob loves kittens. He picked pussy up, cuddled it (regardless of possible fleas!). THE FUTURE OF THE RED CROSS 371 tucked it under his overcoat, buttoned it in safe and warm, and walked home whistling. No one would ever have suspected a secret treasure hiding in Bob's manly breast as he entered the yard of his home. To the garage at the rear went Bob, and through to his own little "shack" in the garden. There the kitten was safely in- stalled and told to ''keep quiet." Bob went quietly into the house and from his own par- ticular storehouse in the playroom he brought old soft cushions and a blanket Rover used to sleep on. Ah, Rover! Bob certainly hoped that kitten had kept quiet! If Rover once dis- covered a black kitten — or any other kind of a kitten — on his premises, well, it would be *'Good-by kitten," thought Bob. With a saucer of milk added to his other articles, Bob pro- ceeded to the "shack" where Mistress Kits, as he called his new pet, was safe and soon very comfortable, thank you. Bob put on his thinking cap. Who was it his mother was talking about the other day? Some one needed a cat. House full of mice. Oh, yes, Mrs. Baxter. Well, he'd wait until he had a chance to bathe the kitten and comb its hair out nice. It would be a pretty kitten, he was sure, if it were clean. Only wished he could keep it himself. But Rover, no. Rover never would put up with it. Well, he was glad he'd thought of Mrs. Baxter. 372 GIRLS' BOOK OF THE RED CROSS The next day, with his own hair as well as that of Mistress Kits brushed "extra good," and his hands scrubbed extra clean. Bob presented him- self at Mrs. Baxter's home. Mrs. Baxter is al- ways gracious and smiling to small boys, so Bob very boldly and fearlessly announced to her that he had heard she needed a house cat and that he "had an extra good kitten for sale." "For sale?" repeated Mrs. Baxter. "Why, I don't re- member ever having bought a kitten. There are always so many kittens to be found for the asking." "Oh, yes," said Bob, "but this is an extra good kitten. And she's a Red Cross kitten, now." "Red Cross kitten?" again re- peated Mrs. Baxter; this Bob Sewall certainly was a boy of surprises. "Yes, ma'am," con- tinued Bob, as he stroked Mistress Kit's sleek black fur, "she's earning money for the Red Cross. Whatever I get for her goes to the Red Cross. Of course I wouldn't want to sell a cat and keep the money, that would be just like sell- ing a person in slavery. (Mrs. Baxter nodded. She certainly does understand boys!) But of course I want this kitten to have a good home. I wouldn't sell her to everybody, you know. And I think if a lady really needs a cat, and pays for an extra good one, she'll be good to the cat because she's paid for it. So I think I ought to sell this kitten. And as I couldn't keep the THE FUTURE OF THE RED CROSS 373 money, I'm going to give it over to the Red Cross school fund." Mrs. Baxter smiled and nodded again, evi- dently having followed Bob's line of reasoning, and agreeing with his conclusions. ''AH right, Bob, I think that's a very good plan; good for me, good for the kitten, good for you, and good for the Red Cross. How much do you ask for the kitten?" "Four cents," said Bob. 'Well, that's not exorbitant," said Mrs. Baxter, still smiling; "I'll make it a nickel if you don't mind, then you won't have to bother with change. Good-by." And that was the beginning of the Red Cross sale of Red Cross cats. THE GREAT WORK AHEAD The element of uncertainty — or rather of the unexpected — ^which enters so largely into the Red Cross is possibly one reason for its fascina- tion. One never can tell what girls or boys or men or women may think of next as a way of aid- ing the Red Cross either by gifts of money or by service. And one never can tell what the di- rectors of the various departments of the Red Cross may suggest or undertake, because one can never tell just what needs will arise or cease. Ever bearing in mind the emergency character of the organization, one cannot expect very definite prophecies or programs. "Wind and 374 GIRLS' BOOK OF THE RED CROSS weather permitting" is a condition which well might be attached to Red Cross plans. However, the Red Cross League with head- quarters in one of the oldest and most historic buildings of Geneva, with Major-General Sir David Henderson at the head, and representa- tives of the French, Italian, and Japanese na- tions as well as American men of prominence in attendance, and doubtless many other nations coming in as time passes, has under consider- ation such vast plans as to indicate that the work lying ahead of the Red Cross will prove "funda- mentally more important than even the work which lies behind." "Patriotic fervor may have subsided," says J. Byron Deacon, in speaking of the Red Cross Peace Program; "but I ask you, may there not have grown out of patriotism a deeper, broader fellowship, a clearer, sharper service-urge among our people? If so, and I have faith to believe it is so, for myself I should be well con- tent to accept in lieu of patriotic ardor the spirit of fellowship and the will to serve as the twin engines to drive our work." So now the American Red Cross receives the assurance from its directors that it is to go for- ward on a great scale — not alone for purposes of relief in war but as an agency of peace and permanent human service. Dr. Livingston THE FUTURE OF THE RED CROSS 375 Farrand, who became head of the American Red Cross when the War Council was dissolved, has promised that its peace activities will sur- pass its achievements in war. For those individuals who because of great age or great youth, or because of physical or other disability, are not privileged to enter into big or active service, many times has been quoted the song of "Pippa," to reconcile those whose years or strength do not match their ambition and desire to the performance of more humble tasks for the one great end: "All service ranks the same with God, There is no last nor first:" Nowhere is this truer than in Red Cross service. The words of Clara Barton, the woman who brought the Red Cross to America, are as true to-day as when she spoke them many years ago: "My dear, we all tumble over opportunities for being brave and doing good at every step we take. Life is just made of such opportunities. Not nearly all the sick and crippled are on the battlefield, nor is all the danger there either." Deacidified using the Bookkeeper process. 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