  Junior Membership and School Activities Patriotic Service In September, 1917, President Wilson sent out a letter from the White House in Washington to the school children of the United States. He called this letter a proclamation. To proclaim anything is to tell it to everybody. So in this proclamation, President Wilson told the children that he was also president of the American Red Cross, and that he would like to have them all join the Red Cross as Junior Members and help in the work. This letter meant that the twenty-two million school children of the United States would not have to wait to grow up before doing actual Red Cross work, but would be able to begin right away to take their part as young citizens. If a story were written telling of the services of the children during the war, it would fill a book larger than the biggest dictionary. Two years later, the president sent out a new proclamation, urging the children to continue the work of the Junior Red Cross. A PROCLAMATION
You know what they did. They helped in the great work that the Red Cross was doing in the World War. They made bandages and splints and clothing for the wounded soldiers and sailors. The girls knitted sweaters and mufflers and mittens to keep them warm. The boys made stretcher poles, knitting needles, packing cases, and many, many other useful articles in their manual training classes. All the children stopped wasting food. Many gave up some foods, of which they were very fond, in order to save them for the army. They helped by sending to the Red Cross what they made and what they saved, to be used in the work of the Red Cross. This work is: First.—To care for and nurse the wounded among our own soldiers and sailors, and even the wounded of the enemy who fall into the hands of the Red Cross. Second.—To care for the families of the soldiers and sailors who have given their services to their country. But happily wars do not last all the time. Some day we hope wars will be done away with, but we cannot expect wars to cease while kings and their friends make the laws for the people. When the people make their own laws, wars will cease because the people know best what is good for all. What golden deeds then does Red Cross do in times of peace? Always, in times of war or in times of peace, the work of the Red Cross is helping people who are suffering. How do people suffer in times of peace? Perhaps from disease. In many cities Red Cross nurses go about from home to home taking care of sick Perhaps floods or fires come, bringing suffering. The Red Cross is the first to send out help to the sufferers. The San Francisco Earthquake and the Refugees in Tents The San Francisco Earthquake and the Refugees in Tents. Can you tell about what happens during a flood? What work can the Red Cross do? The Explosion at Halifax in 1917 The Explosion at Halifax in 1917. Who were the first to send doctors and nurses, and medicine and food to the suffering people of Halifax? Yes, the Red Cross. I think if the great Red Cross could be made into one picture it would be a picture of the good neighbor. The good neighbor takes what is needed to a neighbor who is hurt, or sick, or in need, and stays to do what can be done for the sufferer. Is that the kind of a picture you have in your mind of the Red Cross? Now, just imagine a city made up entirely of people who are good neighbors. What kind of a place would it be? Wouldn’t you like to live in such a city? Such people would show by their deeds that they loved their country, wouldn’t they? How can we show that we love our country? When we say we love our country, we do not mean only the land on which we live. We mean the people who live on the land, and the land on which the people live. The people and the land make up “our country.” America! America! God shed his grace on thee, And crown thy good with brotherhood From sea to shining sea! —Katherine Lee Bates. What they stand for— What does Humanity mean? Do you have two flags? Do you wear the Red Cross button? Do you ask your friends to join the Red Cross? Has your school an American Red Cross Auxiliary banner? When we say we love our American flag, we mean that we love what our flag stands for. We mean that we love our people and the land on which we live. But there is a flag which means that we love all people who need us as good neighbors, no matter where they live, no matter who they are. May that flag some day fly in every country of the world to show that all boys and girls have learned to be Good Neighbors. The Red Cross flag is the second flag of American citizens. Do you know how many members the American Red Cross would have, if every American citizen were a member? One of the best ways to show how much you love your country’s flag is to enlist in the services of your country under the Red Cross flag. Before you can learn about that, you must find out how the Red Cross first came to be. You must think about two people. One is Florence Nightingale; the other, Henri Dunant. You have heard about the little English girl, named Florence Nightingale, who loved to play she was a nurse. You remember that when she grew up she went in a ship all the way to the Crimean peninsula to nurse the soldiers during the dreadful war between England and Russia in 1854. You remember, too, that when she wanted to go, the men in charge of the army told her that it was a foolish idea. They said that no one had ever heard of such a thing—that women would not be able to do any good in such a dreadful place. But Florence Nightingale was not the kind of person to be discouraged by such talk. She managed to go; and she did so much for the wounded and sick soldiers that they called her the “Angel of Mercy.” Do you remember that the very men who had discouraged her found out that the work she and her nurse friends did was the most wonderful help they ever had? When Florence Nightingale was eight years old, a little boy was born in Geneva, Switzerland. His name was Henri Du-nant. Little Henri grew up like other boys; he was full of sport, but he was always sorry for any creature which suffered. After he grew to be a man, he was made very sad because of the sufferings of wounded soldiers. He knew the story of Florence Nightingale, and often wondered if something could not be done to help all soldiers. After seeing a terrible battle in which nearly forty thousand men were killed and wounded, he wrote a story about it. In the story he asked the question, “Why couldn’t people of all countries make plans to care for the sick and wounded during wars?” And from his thought came the great Red Cross work. That work began before there was an American Red Cross. Now we are ready to find out about our own Red Cross. It makes you glad to think how proud the English people must have been of Florence Nightingale, doesn’t it? You will be very happy to know that an American woman did just the same kind of work for American soldiers as Florence Nightingale did for English soldiers. Her name was Clara Barton. I. The Christmas BabyClara Barton was a Christmas baby. The Barton family lived in a farmhouse on a hill near Oxford, Massachusetts. There were four other children, two boys and two girls. On Christmas morning of 1821, the four children woke to find a lovely Christmas present—a baby sister whom they loved from the minute they saw her. This was Clara Barton. Little Clara grew up very happily. In winter she loved to coast on the snowy hills and to skate on the ice-ponds, and to take the long walk to and from the country school house. In summer she played in the green fields and waded in the cool brooks. She and her brother David used to do many daring, dangerous things. They would ride upon the bare backs of unbroken colts. They would climb high places. II. The Little NurseOne day David climbed high into the peak of the roof of the barn. Suddenly a board gave way and David fell. Although Clara was only eleven years old when this happened, she would not let any one but herself nurse David. For two years she took care of him. “You will get sick yourself,” her mother told her, but Clara said that she could not leave her brother. “I would rather nurse sick people than play,” she said. It was because of her tender care that David got well. “Clara is a born nurse,” he would say. “She knows just the right things to do.” III. Clara Grows UpClara Barton Clara Barton You would think that when she grew up, Clara would have studied to be a trained nurse, wouldn’t you? If there had been trained nurses in that day no doubt she would have done so, but there were none. Instead, she became a school teacher. When she was only sixteen, she began to teach in a little district school near her home in Oxford, Massachusetts. Afterward she taught the first public free school in New Jersey. She worked so hard in her teaching that her strength gave out, and she decided to do some other kind of work. You see, she could not bear to be idle. As you know, Washington is the capital of the United States. Most of the business of our national government is attended to in this city. Soon after Clara Barton went there she was asked to take charge of the Pension Office of the government. She was asked to do this because she could be trusted to do her duty. IV. The Civil WarWhen she had been in Washington about three years, the terrible Civil War broke out. You remember what the quarrel was about, don’t you? There were fierce battles, after which wounded soldiers lay on the battlefields without help. The thought of their sufferings touched Miss Barton’s tender heart. “Oh, if I could only go nurse them!” she thought. She knew that many other kind women were having the same thoughts. “I will go!” she finally decided. At first the men in charge of the army did not want her to go, and said that such work was too hard for women. But Clara Barton, like Florence Nightingale, was not the kind of person to be discouraged by such talk. She managed to go. V. The Army NurseI wish I could tell you about the noble deeds she did, but this book would not hold all the stories. She carried food and medicine to the soldiers. She bound up their wounds and put on their bandages. Sometimes as she was dressing the wounds of a soldier in the open field a bullet would come whizzing by. Once one passed between her arm and her body. She wrote letters for the men to their families, that their loved ones might know where they were. In the cold winter weather, in the heat of summer, she did everything she could for the wounded and sick soldiers. You do not wonder that they called her “The Angel of the Battlefield,” do you? After the war was over she was so tired and worn out that the doctors said she would have to take a long rest. So she went across the ocean to Switzerland. VI. Miss Barton Hears of the Red CrossThe story of Miss Barton’s great work had reached Switzerland before she left home. While she was there in Geneva some gentlemen who had heard the story went to call upon her. They told her that they had formed a society called the Red Cross. The work of the people of the Red Cross was to care for the wounded soldiers. They said that the people of the Red Cross wore a certain badge, a red cross on a white ground. On the battlefield persons wearing this badge were allowed to give help to the wounded soldiers. They said that twenty-two different countries in Europe had joined in this work, and they asked Miss Barton if she would try to get the United States to form a Red Cross Society in America. Miss Barton was very thankful to learn about the Red Cross and promised to do all that she could, for she could understand better than many other people how great a good could come from such work. VII. The American Red CrossWhen Miss Barton returned from Europe she kept her promise and tried to interest the American people in the Red Cross. But many years of weary waiting and hard trying passed before anything was done. At last, in 1882, President Arthur signed the Red Cross Treaty and enrolled the United States with the other nations under the Red Cross banner. This is the story of how the American Red Cross came to be. In the year 1859 a wounded soldier lay upon a European battlefield. The battle was over and night was coming on. Only the dead and dying were left on the field. “Water! Water!” the soldier moaned, but no one heard him. His severe wound brought on a high fever and his lips became parched with thirst. “Water! Water!” he cried again. “If I only had a drink of water!” Then he heard a sound as if some one was creeping towards him. Opening his eyes, he saw in the falling darkness another wounded soldier lying by his side. This soldier reached over and held his water bottle to the feverish lips of his suffering comrade. Eagerly he drank and then asked, “Have you enough for us both?” “Yes, yes, drink!” was the answer. “You need it more than I!” Again he drank and then fell back exhausted. “I wonder if they will find us?” the second man said, and he too fell back exhausted with the effort he had made. All that night they lay there, and all the next day; but no relief came. As the weary hours dragged by they tried to help each other; but it was little they could do, except to lie there and suffer. The second night the severely wounded man died, and In the morning a kind farmer, who had been searching for the wounded, found him and carried him to his home. The farmer’s wife bound up his wounds with clean bandages and nursed him until the army surgeon arrived. If help had been at hand, the lives of thousands of heroes who lay on that great battlefield would have been saved. But there were no plans of rescue and no care for the wounded such as we have to-day; there was no Red Cross. In 1918 an American soldier was wounded in the Great War. As soon as he was able, he opened his first-aid kit and poured iodine into his wound. “Oh, how I wish I had a drink of water,” he moaned. He lifted his canteen to his lips, but it was empty. He lay back and closed his eyes. Quite soon he was roused by the touch of something cold and soft against his face. He knew what it was. Yes, it was a Red Cross army dog, which had been sent out to search for the wounded. To the dog’s neck was tied a canteen full of water, and from his collar hung a short strap. While the soldier loosened the bottle the dog stood still. Then he grasped the end of the strap in his mouth and speeded away. Like all Red Cross dogs, he had been taught to seize the strap in his mouth whenever he found a wounded man, and to return home with the news. When the Red Cross workers saw him coming with the strap held in this way, they knew that a man lay out on the battlefield in need of help. It was not long before the brave dog was again standing by the side of the wounded soldier, this time with the helpers he had led to the spot. Very soon he found himself in a clean hospital bed with an army surgeon using all his knowledge and skill in dressing his wounds. When his wounds were dressed, he looked up to see a quiet, cheerful Red Cross nurse standing by his bedside with a bowl of warm broth for him to drink. His life had been saved by the Red Cross. QUESTIONS
Sonny Sonny Sonny, a big, gentle, and affectionate dog was offered as a prize to the members of the Junior Red Cross by one of the large woman’s magazines of this country. Sonny was to be given to the school children who sent in the best account of the work they had done during the first year of the life of the Junior Red Cross. The prize dog was sent to the children of Maplewood School, Maplewood, New Jersey, in time to march in their Fourth-of-July parade, and he and the children were very, very proud of themselves and of each other. Everybody cheered them and they had a delightful time. The Maplewood children decided to send the prize dog to serve in the trenches during the World War. As he was a real police dog, with plenty of courage, this just suited Sonny. Here is a part of the prize essay: “We have had a most interesting year of Red Cross work in the Maplewood Grammar School, and we believe that the results have been worth while. “In that short time, every child in the school of five hundred and ten pupils had been enlisted in the Junior Red Cross army, dues of one hundred and fifty dollars had been paid, and our officers had been elected. “We have given our school sewing-periods to the making of games, and posters for Victory Gardens and War Savings Stamps campaigns. On Wednesday afternoons, the whole school is dismissed at two-thirty, and we all do Red Cross work until five o’clock. In addition, we take home extra work and return it completed. As the result of our efforts, we have made 14,975 articles. All of the articles have been made since we became part of the National Junior Red Cross army. We were notified that many of our first articles had been sent to other units to be used as models. “This is a record of what we have done for the Junior Red Cross. It is only a little compared with what the Junior Red Cross has done for us in teaching us perseverance, thrift and thoughtfulness, and in giving us a fine chance to prove ourselves patriotic.” —From the Delineator When the Junior Red Cross was one year old, 8,000,000 children had become members. 50,000 refugee garments had been made by the members in the first six months of its existence. A fund of more than $10,000,000 had been raised by the Junior Red Cross before its first birthday. Crop harvesting, berry picking, and gardening are some of the ways in which the 8,000,000 members saved money and made money for their country—for their United States. The cutting of a Red Cross emblem with one stroke of the scissors is a thing quite easy to master. Fold over a piece of paper six inches square until the lower left-hand corner meets the upper right-hand corner, and the paper forms a triangle measuring 8 × 6 × 6 inches. With the longest side toward you, fold the lower right-hand point until it rests on the lower left-hand point, making a triangle 6 × 4¼ × 4¼ inches. Repeat the process, making a triangle 4¼ × 3 × 3 inches. From the point marked A in the illustration measure one inch toward B. From this point draw a line parallel with the fold marked A—C. Using a pair of In a certain company fighting in the World War were two brothers, one a captain and one a private. As their company stormed the ragged top of the mountain opposite where they were stationed, the young captain was mortally wounded. Covered with blood and terribly hurt he dragged himself to the shelter of a shell crater where he lay protected under heavy machine gun fire. His company was forced to retire to a shelter a few hundred yards back where the lines were re-formed and they were waiting orders. Saluting his commanding officer, the young private requested the privilege of going back for the body of his wounded brother. The officer objected. Would it be wise to risk a life in the face of such a rain of fire? The captain was mortally wounded and probably dead. Finally he gave his consent and the lad crawled out to the shell crater on his hands and knees. Tenderly raising the body of his captain brother he started to crawl back towards his company lines. As he reached their shelter the life of his brother passed out and he laid the body tenderly upon the ground. The commanding officer came to him and as the private saluted, “Well,” said the officer, “your brother is dead. Your trip was useless. Was it worth while for you to run such a risk?” —Adapted from “Association Men.” QUESTIONS
Motto on the Liberty Bell Proclaim Liberty Throughout All the Land unto All the Inhabitants Thereof. I pledge allegiance to my Flag, and to the Republic for which it stands—one Nation indivisible, with Liberty and Justice for all. The American Flag is a symbol of the brotherhood of man; it stands for courage, for chivalry, for generosity and for honor. To bear the “Star Spangled Banner” is an honor; to own one is a sacred trust, for it is the emblem of freedom, equality and justice for all. The flag should not be hoisted before sunrise, nor allowed to remain up after sunset. When being raised or lowered, it should not be allowed to touch the ground. When the national colors are passing on parade or in review, and when they are being lowered at sunset, and the “Star Spangled Banner” is being played, spectators should, if walking, halt, and if sitting, rise and stand at attention with hats off. When the flag is used as a banner, that is, suspended across a street, the union, or field, should fly to the north in streets running east and west, and to the east in streets running north and south. When the flag is hung against a wall or in decoration, so it can be viewed from one side only, the blue field should be at the upper right corner as one faces it. When hung horizontally, the field should be at the upper left corner. When a flag is displayed on a rope, the field should be away from the residence of the one displaying the flag, in the same position as it would be if attached to the staff. The flag at half staff is a sign of mourning. In Edward Everett Hale’s Story, “The Man Without A Country,” retold by Edna S. Knapp. IOnce there was a man, an officer in the American army, who said something dreadful, when he was only a mere boy; he cursed his native country! He pretended for a while that he did not care when he was punished, but in the end he was very, very sorry. Because he wore his uniform without the official buttons, the sailors on the ships where he spent his life called him “Plain Buttons.” His name was Philip Nolan. He had been brought up on a southern plantation where the most welcome guests were Spanish or French officers. He spent half his time with an older brother hunting horses in Still, when he grew up he became an officer in the army of the “United States;” he swore, on his faith as a Christian, to be true to the “United States.” Nolan was a lieutenant in the “Legion of the West,” as our western army was called in those early days, one hundred years ago. At that time the Mississippi valley was the “far West” to most people, and seemed a very distant land indeed. We had a number of forts along the river bank and Nolan was stationed in one of these. Nolan’s idol was the brilliant and dashing Aaron Burr, who visited the fort several times between 1805 and 1807. He paid some attention to Nolan and obtained a very strong influence over him. Burr got into trouble and some of his friends were tried for treason, Nolan among them. It was very plain that Nolan would do anything Burr told him; that he would obey Burr far quicker than his country, in spite of his oath. So when the President of the court asked Nolan, at the close of the trial, whether he wished to say anything to show that he had always been faithful to the United States, he cried out in a fit of frenzy, “Curse the United States! I wish I may never hear of the United States again!” Colonel Morgan, who was holding the court, turned white as a sheet. Half the officers who sat in it had served through the Revolutionary War and had risked their lives, not to say their necks, cheerfully and “Prisoner, hear the sentence of the Court! The Court decides, subject to the approval of the President, that you never hear the name of the United States again.” Nolan laughed, but the whole room was hushed dead as night for a minute. Then Colonel Morgan added, “Mr. Marshal, take the prisoner to Orleans in an armed boat and deliver him to the naval commander there. Request him to order that no one shall mention the United States to the prisoner while he is on board ship.” IIColonel Morgan himself went to Washington and President Jefferson approved the sentence, so a plan was formed to keep Nolan constantly at sea. Our navy took few long cruises then, but one ship could carry the prisoner as far away as it was going, then transfer him to another vessel before it sailed for home. Nolan wore his uniform, but with plain buttons. He always had a sentry before his door, but the men were as good to him as his sentence permitted. No mess wanted to have him with them too steadily because they could never talk about home matters when he was present,—more than half the talk men liked to have at sea. They took turns inviting him to “Breathes there the man with soul so dead Who never to himself hath said, This is my own, my native land? Whose heart hath ne’er within him burned, As home his footsteps he hath turned From wandering on a foreign strand? If such there breathe, go, mark him well; For him no minstrel raptures swell; High though his titles, proud his name, Boundless his wealth as wish can claim,— Despite those titles, power and pelf, The wretch, concentred all in self”— Here the poor fellow choked, and could not go on, but started up and flung the book into the sea and fled to his stateroom. It was two months before he dared join the men again. There was a change in Nolan after this. He never read aloud from anything unless he was sure of it, like Sometimes he tried to trap people into mentioning his country, but he never succeeded; his sentence was too well known among the men who had him in charge. I think there was only one day that he was really happy except when he knew his lonely life was closing. Once, during the war of 1812, the ship on which he was staying had a fight with an English frigate. A round shot entered a port and killed the officer of the gun and many of the gun’s crew. The surgeon’s people carried off the wounded and then Nolan appeared in his shirt-sleeves with a rammer in his hand and took command. He finished loading the gun with his own hands, aimed it and bade the men fire. There he stayed until the enemy struck, getting that gun loaded and fired twice as often as any other gun on the ship. The old Commodore thanked Nolan publicly, gave him his own sword, and mentioned him in the dispatches. IIIAt another time Nolan went with a young officer named Vaughan to overhaul a dirty little schooner which had slaves on board. Nolan was the only one who could speak Portuguese, the language used by the slavers. There were but few of the negroes. Vaughan had their hand-cuffs and ankle-cuffs knocked off and put these on the rascals of the schooner’s crew. Then Nolan told the blacks that they were free and that Vaughan would take them to Cape Palmas. As they were rowing back he said to a young midshipman of whom he was fond, “Youngster, let that show you what it is to be without a family, without a home, and without a country. And if you are ever tempted to say a word or do a thing that shall put a bar between you and your family, your home and your country, pray God in His mercy to take you that instant home to His own heaven. “And for your country, boy, and for that flag, never dream a dream but of serving her as she bids you, though the service carry you through a thousand hells. No matter what happens to you, no matter who flatters you or who abuses you, never look at another flag, never let a night pass but you pray God to bless that flag. Remember, boy, that behind all these men you have to do with, behind officers, and government, and people even, there is the Country Herself, your Country, and that you belong to Her as you belong to your own mother.” And then Nolan added, almost in a whisper, “Oh, if anybody had said so to me when I was of your age!” Years passed on, and Nolan’s sentence was unrevoked, though his friends had once asked for a pardon. The boy saw what a little shrine poor Nolan had made of his stateroom. Up above were the stars and stripes, and around a portrait of Washington he had painted a majestic eagle with lightnings blazing from his beak, and his foot just clasping the whole globe. Nolan said, with a sad smile, “Here, you see, I have a country.” Over the foot of the bed was a great map of the United States, drawn from memory. Queer old names were on it, names such as he had learned, like “Indian Territory” and “Louisiana Territory.” “Danforth,” he said, “I know I am dying. I am sure that you know that there is not in America,—God bless her!—a more loyal man than I. There cannot be a man who loves the old flag as I do, or hopes for it as I do. Tell me something,—tell me everything before I die!” Then the young midshipman redrew the map and tried to tell all that had happened to our great and growing country in fifty years. Only he could not wound his friend by mentioning the Civil War. Nolan drank it all in and enjoyed it more than we can tell. After that he seemed to grow weary and asked for his Bible, telling Danforth to look in it after he was gone. This is the text he had marked: “They desire a country, even a heavenly: wherefore On a slip of paper he had written, “Bury me in the sea; it has been my home, and I love it. But will not some one set up a stone for my memory at Fort Adams or at Orleans, that my disgrace may not be more than I ought to bear? Say on it: In Memory of “He loved his country as no other man has loved her; but no man deserved less at her hands.” QUESTIONS
Democracy means Government of the people, by the people, for the people. QUESTIONS
THE FUTURE The Future—What Will It Bring? Just What You and and All of Us Make It Bring. Let Us Then do Our Best to be Good Citizens, and so Help Our Country. Ark of freedom! Glory’s dwelling! Native land, God makes thee free! When the storms are round thee swelling, Let thy heart be strong in thee! |
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