Jerilyn Watson
(THEME):
VOICEONE::
I’m Ray Freeman.
VOICE TWO:
And I’mShirley Griffith with the Special English program, People inAmerica. Every week we tell about a person who was important in thehistory of the United States. Today we tell about a woman who spenther life caring for others, ClaraBarton.:
(THEME)
VOICE ONE:
Clara Barton was asmall woman. Yet she made a big difference in many lives. Today herwork continues to be important to thousands of people introuble.:
Clara Barton was an unusual woman for her time. Shewas born on Christmas day, December Twenty-Fifth,Eighteen-Twenty-One. In those days, most women were expected tomarry, have children and stay home to take care of them. Barton,however, became deeply involved in the world.:
By the time ofher death in Nineteen-Twelve, she had begun a revolution that led tothe right of women to do responsible work for society. As a nurse,she cared for thousands of wounded soldiers. She began the AmericanRed Cross. And, she successfully urged the American government toaccept the Geneva Convention. That treaty established standards forconditions for soldiers injured or captured duringwartime.:
VOICE TWO::
Clara Barton really began herlife of caring for the sick when she was only eleven years old. Shelived with her family on a farm in the northeastern state ofMassachusetts. One of her brothers, David, was seriously injuredwhile helping build a barn. For two years, Clara Barton took care ofDavid until he was healed.:
Most eleven-year-old girls wouldhave found the job impossible. But Clara felt a great need to help.And she was very good at it. She also seemed to feel most safe whenshe was at home with her mother and father, or riding a horse on herfamily’s land.:
As a young child, Clara had great difficultystudying and making friends at school. Her four brothers and sisterswere much older than she. Several of them were teachers. For most ofClara’s early years, she was taught at home. She finished school atage fifteen. Then she went to work in her brother David’s clothingfactory. The factory soon burned, leaving her without ajob.:
VOICE ONE::
Clara Barton decided to teachschool. In Eighteen Thirty-Six, she passed the teacher’s test andbegan teaching near her home in North Oxford, Massachusetts. Shebecame an extremely popular and respected teacher.:
Aftersixteen years of teaching, she realized she did not know all shewanted to know. She wanted more education. Very few universitiesaccepted women in those days. So Clara went to a special school forgirls in Massachusetts. While in that school, she became interestedin public education.:
VOICE TWO::
After she graduated,a friend suggested she try to establish the first public school inthe state of New Jersey. Officials there seemed to think thateducation was only for children whose parents had enough money topay for private schools.:
The officials did not want Bartonto start a school for poor people. But she offered to teach withoutpay for three months. She told the officials that they could decideafter that if she had been successful. They gave her an old buildingwith poor equipment. And they gave her six very active little boysto teach.:
At the end of five weeks, the school was too smallfor the number of children who wanted to attend. By the end of theyear, the town built her a bigger, better school. They had to giveher more space. She then had six-hundred students in theschool.:
((MUSIC BRIDGE)):
VOICE ONE::
Within ayear, Clara Barton had lost her voice. She had to give up teaching.She moved to Washington, D.C. to begin a new job writing documentsfor the United States government.:
Clara Barton started herlife as a nurse during the early days of the Civil War in EighteenSixty-One. One day, she went to the train center in Washington tomeet a group of soldiers from Massachusetts. Many of them had beenher friends. She began taking care of their wounds.:
Not longafter, she left her office job. She became a full-time nurse for thewounded on their way from the fields of battle to thehospital.:
Soon, Barton recognized that many more lives couldbe saved if the men had medical help immediately after they werehurt. Army rules would not permit anyone except male soldiers to beon the battlefield. But Barton took her plans for helping thewounded to a high army official. He approved herplans.:
VOICE TWO::
Barton and a few other womenworked in the battle areas around Washington. She heard about thesecond fierce battle at Bull Run in the nearby state of Virginia.She got into a railroad car and traveled there.:
Bull Runmust have been a fearful sight. Northern forces were losing a majorbattle there. Everywhere Barton looked lay wounded and dyingmen.:
Day and night she worked to help the suffering. Whenthe last soldier had been placed on a train, Barton finally left.She was just in time to escape the southern army. She escaped byriding a horse, a skill she gained as a young girl.:
((MUSICBRIDGE)):
VOICE ONE::
For four years, Clara Barton wasat the front lines of the bloodiest battles in the war between thenorth and the south. She was there at Antietam, Fredericksburg, andCharleston. She was there at Spottsylvania, Petersburg, andRichmond. She cleaned the wounds of badly injured soldiers. Sheeased the pain of the dying. And she fed those whosurvived.:
When she returned to Washington, Clara Bartonfound she was a hero. She had proved that women could work interrible conditions. She made people understand that women couldprovide good medical care. She also showed that nursing was anhonorable profession.:
After the war ended, Barton’s doctorsent her to Europe to rest. Instead of resting, she met withrepresentatives of the International Red Cross. The organization hadbeen established in Eighteen-Sixty-Three to offer better treatmentfor people wounded or captured during wars. She was told that theUnited States was the only major nation that refused tojoin.:
VOICE TWO::
Barton began planning a campaign tocreate an American Red Cross. Before she could go home, though, thewar between France and Prussia began inEighteen-Seventy.:
Again, Clara Barton went to the fields ofbattle to nurse the wounded. After a while her eyes became infected.The woman of action was ordered to remain quiet for months in a darkroom, or become blind.:
When she returned to the UnitedStates she again suffered a serious sickness. She used the time in ahospital to write letters in support of an American Red Crossorganization.:
((MUSIC BRIDGE)):
VOICE ONE::
InEighteen-Eighty-One, Barton’s campaign proved successful. The UnitedStates Congress signed the World’s Treaty of the International RedCross. This established the American Chapter of the Red Cross. ClaraBarton had reached one of her major goals in life.:
The nextyear she successfully urged Congress to accept the GenevaConvention. This treaty set the international rules for treatment ofsoldiers wounded or captured in war.:
For twenty-five years,Clara Barton continued as the president of the American Red Cross.Under her guidance, the organization helped people in all kinds oftrouble. She directed the aid efforts for victims of floods inJohnstown, Pennsylvania and Galveston, Texas. She led Red Crossworkers in Florida during a outbreak of the disease Yellow Fever.And she helped during periods when people were starving in Russiaand Armenia.:
VOICE TWO::
Clara Bartonretired when she was in her middle eighties. For her last home, shechose a huge old building near Washington, D.C. The building hadbeen used for keeping Red Cross equipment and then as her office. Itwas made with material saved from aid centers built after the floodin Johnstown.:
In that house on the Potomac River, ClaraBarton lived her remaining days. She died after a life of service toothers in April, Nineteen-Twelve, at age ninety.:
She oftensaid, “You must never so much as think if you like it or not, if itis bearable or not. You must never think of anything except the need— and how to meet it.”:
(THEME)):
VOICEONE::
This Special English program was written by JeriWatson. I’m Ray Freeman.:
VOICE TWO::
And I’m ShirleyGriffith. Join us again next week for another People in Americaprogram on the Voice of America.