A beginner's history

by William H. Mace

FRANCES E. WILLARD, THE GREAT TEMPERANCE CRUSADER; CLARA BARTON, WHO FOUNDED THE RED CROSS SOCIETY IN AMERICA; AND JANE ADDAMS, THE FOUNDER OF HULL HOUSE SOCIAL SETTLEMENT IN CHICAGO

Frances E. Willard, 1839

Family moves to Wisconsin

222. Frances E. Willard. In 1839, when Frances Elizabeth Willard was born, thousands were leaving the eastern states for the new West. Her father and mother were successful teachers in New York, but when Frances was two years old they decided to move with the westward current. After living five years at Oberlin, Ohio, the family went on to Janesville, Wisconsin, settling on a farm in the midst of picturesque hills and woods. There Frances and her brother and sister grew up healthy, happy children, playing together in the forest and fields. The parents were religious and were total abstainers, and the children never forgot their teachings.

Stands at head of her class

At fifteen years of age Frances went to school in Janesville, and at eighteen to a Milwaukee college for girls. The following year she entered the Northwestern Female College at Evanston, Illinois. At graduation she stood at the head of her class.

Death breaks up the home

Miss Willard began teaching. Then the death of her sister Mary, and shortly afterward, of her father, broke up her home. That home had been an ideal one. There the father and mother were equal in all things, and discussed together the affairs of the household. It was a perfect home, orderly and temperate. Frances Willard made up her mind to spend her life in spreading abroad a knowledge of such homes, and in helping women to become equal with men before the law.

FRANCES E. WILLARD

From a photograph

President of W.C.T.U.

In 1874 came the anti-saloon crusade. Miss Willard saw that this movement was part of the fight for better and happier homes, and threw herself ardently into the work. When the Woman's Christian Temperance Union was organized in Chicago, Miss Willard became its president.

In 1879 she became the president of the National Union. Her work was never-ending. She wrote books; she lectured all over the country. For twelve years she held an average of one meeting a day.

Favors woman suffrage

Miss Willard had seen that unless women had the right to assist in making laws, their cause was hopeless. Accordingly she declared herself in favor of woman suffrage. A few years later the Woman's Christian Temperance Union followed their leader into politics in an effort to encourage temperance legislation.

Women united for the protection of the home

Miss Willard's work constantly became wider. The organization of which she was the head became international in its influence, and the World's Woman's Christian Temperance Union was organized in 1883, with Miss Willard as president. She had united the women of the world in a great league for the protection of the home. Miss Willard remained to the end of her life president of the World's Woman's Christian Temperance Union. She died in 1898.

CLARA BARTON

From a photograph by Charles E. Smith, Evanston, Illinois

Clara Barton, 1821

223. Clara Barton. Clara Barton was born in 1821, near Oxford, Massachusetts. She was educated to be a school teacher, and for many years followed that profession. In 1861 she visited Washington, and there felt the impulse that led to her great life work.

Nurses the wounded

The injured soldiers from the first battles of the Civil War were being brought to Washington. Miss Barton at once felt it her duty to help in caring for them. She not only nursed the wounded, but she encouraged those who were on the way to the line of battle.

224. Goes to the Battle Field. The men that were being taken to the hospitals received no care until they arrived there. Miss Barton saw that her place was on the battle field.

Constantly in danger

Received no pay

She secured a pass to the firing line, and for four years she followed the Union soldiers. She was constantly in danger; her clothing was pierced by bullets, her face blackened by powder. But she was undaunted. The soldiers needed her, and she must be there to help them. When she could, she nursed wounded Confederate as well as Federal soldiers. She received no pay for her work.

Red Cross Society in Europe

When the war was over Miss Barton went to Europe. There she learned of the Red Cross Society, founded in Geneva in 1863. The purpose of the society was to care for the wounded of any nation on the field of battle. A treaty among the nations agreed that the Red Cross nurses should be safe from capture. Miss Barton was asked to organize a branch of the Red Cross in the United States.

American Red Cross

In 1882 President Arthur signed the treaty, and the American Red Cross, with Miss Barton as its first president, was established. She continued as president until 1904, when she resigned.

Goes to Armenia

In 1896 Miss Barton went to Armenia at the head of her Red Cross to relieve the suffering caused by the massacres. She saved thousands from starvation and disease.

Again she nobly responded to the call of President McKinley to go to the help of Cuba in the Spanish-American War.

Miss Barton lived to see the Red Cross a world-wide society carrying comfort and cheer to all nations. In the World War after every great battle the Red Cross nurses worked on the field or in the hospital to lighten the awful sufferings of the wounded.

Work of the society in times of peace

225. The Red Cross Society in Times of Peace. It was Miss Barton's firm belief that the world needed the services of the Red Cross in times of peace as well as in times of war. Accordingly an amendment was made to the Geneva treaty. Local Red Cross societies sprang up in every part of the country. The suffering which followed the great Charleston earthquake, the Galveston flood, forest fires, mine explosions, and all similar accidents found the Red Cross Society on hand with aid and supplies.

The greatest calamity that has befallen our country since the Red Cross was well organized was the burning of San Francisco following the great earthquake of 1906. Five hundred millions in property was destroyed, and two hundred and fifty thousand people were left homeless and without food. The Red Cross alone spent three million dollars in giving aid to the sufferers.

Rural work of the Red Cross

An important new undertaking is the rural work of the Red Cross. This is not limited to health questions, though a nurse is the first person sent into a country. But also if possible another worker is sent to help the country people with their social problems, their amusements, and the building up of a spirit of neighborhood coöperation.

JANE ADDAMS

From a recent photograph

Jane Addams and the cause of the poor

226. Jane Addams. There was still another great and vital field of service waiting for a leader. This was the cause of a better chance in life for the very poor. A better understanding among all people, rich and poor, and a knowledge of the interests which all have in common are aiding in this. Education, reform of unjust working conditions, and social service—the help or relief of poor or unfortunate people—are all means of progress through which people like Jane Addams have worked.

In 1883 while traveling in Europe, Jane Addams, a daughter of wealthy and distinguished parents, was deeply touched by the terrible poverty and misery she saw everywhere around her. She herself had never known want or hunger. Indeed she had more wealth than she knew how to spend for things she herself needed or cared for.

Devotes herself to social service

She determined to devote herself and her fortune to a fairer distribution of the world's goods and pleasures among those who were always hungry and in want. It was a vast undertaking, but Miss Addams was not dismayed. She hoped that some day the rich and the educated would see that all men are equal and would unite with the unfortunate in one great brotherhood.

Hull House Social Settlement founded

She returned to Chicago, and there with a group of workers established a social settlement in a building in a poor quarter of the city and called it Hull House.

There everyone, however poor, was welcomed. People could come there for advice or help. Through personal influence they were led to become acquainted with the best books, to cultivate their minds, and to meet each other at times for study or social enjoyment.

The settlement a success

Men and women from all parts of the country and from abroad visited Hull House to see what Miss Addams and all her fellow-workers, through personal service, were doing to make the lives of the poor people around them a little brighter and happier. They found Hull House a success. The neighborhood was like a great family whose members sought each other's welfare. They regarded Miss Addams as one of themselves. This was a bit of the human brotherhood of which Miss Addams had dreamed.

Greater opportunities for women

227. What Has Been Accomplished. These great women of whom we have read have worked for the advancement, not alone of their sex, but of all mankind in the United States and the world over.

Through their efforts great changes have taken place in woman's position. Throughout the country she has a place more equal to man's in the eyes of the law, almost unlimited opportunities in education and business, and whatever openings in public life she proves fitted for. Now looking back, we can see that the greater part of what Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony so relentlessly strove for has been gained. Woman suffrage will doubtless soon cause the more backward states to give women full legal rights, and it will also enable women to work more freely for the progress of the nation.