eved in the Union and she believed in the freedom of the
individual. So eager was she to help the government in the coming
national crisis that she offered her services as a clerk, to do the
work of two dishonest men; for this work she was to receive the salary
of one clerk, and pay back into the Treasury that of the other, in
order to save all the money possible for an emergency. No deed gives a
clearer insight into the character of Clara Barton than that. As it
was in the case of the school in Bordentown, so was it now. If public
service was the question, she had no thought of self or of money--the
point was to achieve the desired end. And now she was nearer the goal
of her own personal service to the world than she dreamed.

Fort Sumter was fired on. President Lincoln called for seventy-five
thousand troops, and all those who were at the seat of government knew
that the hour for sacrifice of men and money had come. Massachusetts
responded to the call for troops with four regiments, one of which,
the Sixth, set out for Washington at once. As they marched through the
streets of Baltimore they were attacked by a furious mob who succeeded
in killing four soldiers and wounding many more, but the troopers
fought them off as bravely as possible and marched on to the station,
where they entrained for Washington, many of them arriving there in a
pitiable condition. When they detrained at the national capital they
were met by a large number of sympathetic women, among them Clara
Barton, who recognized some of her old friends and pupils among those
who were limping, or with injured arms, or carried on stretchers, and
her heart went out to them in loyalty and pride, for they were giving
their services to their country in an hour of need.

The men who had not been injured were temporarily quartered at the
Capitol, while the wounded were taken to the Infirmary, where their
wounds were dressed at once, any material on hand being used. When the
supply of handkerchiefs gave out, Clara Barton, as well as other
impromptu nurses, rushed to their homes and tore up sheets for
bandages, and Miss Barton also filled a large box full of needles,
pins, buttons, salves and other necessities, and carried it back to
the Infirmary, where she had her first experience in caring for
wounded soldiers. When she could leave the Infirmary, she went to the
Capitol and found the poor fellows there famished, for they had not
been expected and their commiss