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THE HESPERIAN
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al Guards, is due no little part of the success of the
day. The table below will show the standing of
companies for efficiency in drill and for attendance
for the yrar: Company C 97.20 company A 96.
68, company B 96.10 company D 94.02
accordingly company C secured the sword.
CLARA BARTON.
KNICHT l'KIZr, KSSAY, 1IY MISS MAKIAM F. IIIIMIAUI).
There arc ninny women in the world whose efforts as writers
and spankers have gained for thcin the admiration and honor
ol nations. They have accomplished great good and are
worthy of all the praise they have received. Hut women who
live nobly arc far more worthy of honor than those who only
write, or speak wt'll. Grcatjinspirations accomplish good only
when embodied in action. Woman's every day life is full of
heroism. Such heroism is none the less real because it is
found in obscure corners where the world knows nothing
of it. Hut when an unusual occasion reveals a duty that must
be done before the eyes of the whole world a true woman docs
not shrink fiom it. It may be that she dreads notoriety with
all the strength of her modest, womanly nature, but in such an
hour she forgets herself, thinks only of the good she may
do for others, and performs the public service as simply, and
earnestly as though it were a home duty.
Clare Harton never came before the public through any
wish of her own. She simply saw a great work waiting to be
done, and feeling that she could do it, she laid aside all .her
dislike for publicity, and did the work with the strength and
courage, and self-denying love for it that is seldom equaled.
Miss Barton was born in North Oxford, Mass., on Chris
mas day, 1830. She lived a happy childhood brought up in
all the freedom of country life. When she was eleven years
old she began her woik of love. At that time her older bro
ther received an injury that resulted in his utter prostration.
During the two years that he lay ill his faithful little sister
was his constant nurse, never leaving his bedside during all
that t..nc but for one half day. After his recovery, she re
turned to school and continued licr studies till she was about
sixteen. She then taught school in her own neighborhood
for several years, meeting with marked success in all her
schools. After this she took a thorough course of study in
Clinton, N. Y., and then resumed teaching in the state of New
Jersey. A little later she established a free school in Bordon
town. The place was violently prejudiced against such a pro
cceding, and it was only on condition that she would bear the
whole expense of the undertaking for the first three months
that Miss Harton was permitted to begin her work. At first
there were only six pupils, but within a year the school had a
roll of five hundred, and a fine building had been erected in
place of the tumbled down shanty in which sho began. Her
health now began to fall through her constant and fatiguing
labors. She went to Washington for rest and change of cli
mate. About this time some trouble arose in the patent office
caused by the dishonesty of some of the clerks. Miss
Harton was recommended to the head of the department as a
trustworthy and capable person, well fitted to do the work he
wanted done. Her services were at once secured, and she be
gan her work.
The male clerks were unwilling that a woman should in
vade their province, and at once set about making Miss Bar
tons position as uncomfortable as possible hoping thus to drive
her from it. Evciy morning they ranged themselves in two
rows along the walls of the long corridor she must pass through
going to her work, and when she came stared hard and
whistled at her as she passed with downcast eyes. It was a
terrible ordeal for her sensitive nature, but she bore it for the
sake of principle. Not satisfied with going this ' far, these
men afterward tried to secure her removal by slandering her,
but only succeeded in losing their own positions while Miss
Harton remained for three years doing her work faithfully
and well.
When the war broke out she looked about for what she
could do to help her distressed country. Ways soon opened
to her, but they were ways th.it would test her stiength and
courage to the very utmost. Miss Harton did not hesitate.
From her early childhood she had always done the most self
denying woik as though it belonged to her by right. She be
gan her work for the soldicis, and first became identified
with thcm'in their risks and sufferings while in Washington.
She was there when the soldiers came i;i from Baltimore after
the first bloodshed of the war. No preparation had been made
for properly taking earc of so many hungry and wounded men.
Miss Harton helped to care for the wounded and had great has
kcts of food distributed among the hungry men thus doing,
as she always did, just what others neglected to do.
During the campaign of the peninsula she regularly went
down the river on the boat that carried the supplies to the
soldiers, and returned with the loads of wounded who were
brought back, caring for them as best she could. She was
always well supplied with medicine and all other necessaries
for making the sufferers more comfortable.
While doing this work of mercy, she was greK Ay distressed
by the sight of much suffering that might have been prevented
had the wounded been properly cared for on the battlefield.
Her great anxiety now was to find means of carrying to the
army the supplies that were constantly coming in to her as
donations from churches, benevolent societies, and individ
uals. About this time she was called home to the sick-bed of
her father during his last illness. She tnlkcd with him of her
plans and told him of her desire to go to the front and render
all the assistance and comfort as she might on the battle-field.
She feared that she might meet with insult in such a work but
her father, who was an old soldier, assured her that every '
true soldier would respect her and her mission.
She soon returned to Washington and set about securing
a pass beyond the army lines. She was unsuccessful for
sometime. The officers could not undsrstand what this
young girl was attempting to do that she was so earnest about.
Miss Harton was so discouraged that she could hardly speak
for tears, when she made her last appealfor help. Fortun
ately, she had now found a gentleman whose large heart un
derstood her plans and lesponded to her call. She was, im
mediately provided with the necessary means for transporting
her stores, and was given freedom to go when and where she
wished.
It would be almost impossible to estimate the amount of
good Miss Barton did dining the war. She did not hestilate
to run the greatest risk in the very front of battle. She went -without
a thought of herself into places where the very nir
was poison from surrounding swamps, and the sun beat down
on the bare sands with almost unbearable heat. She often
worked all day relieving the wounded on the field and when
night came stopped only to snatch a brict sleep on the wet
ground in her tent which lay almost in the path of flying cav
alry. She seemed everywhere present, always quick to see
and prompt to act and always supplied through her own fore
sight and care with all she needed to work with. She did not
( leave her work to be done by otheis, but did it herself with n
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