never again could she be claimed by any one country. But it is as the
guardian angel of our soldiers in the United States that her story
concerns us, although there is reason for great pride in the part she
played in nursing the wounded at Strassburg, and later when her
presence carried comfort and healing to the victims of the fight with
the Commune in Paris.

As tangible results of her work abroad, she was given an amethyst cut
in the shape of a pansy, by the Grand Duchess of Baden, also the
Serbian decoration of the Red Cross as the gift of Queen Natalie, and
the Gold Cross of Remembrance, which was presented her by the Grand
Duke and Duchess of Baden together. Queen Victoria, with her own hand,
pinned an English decoration on her dress. The Iron Cross of Germany,
as well as the Order of Melusine given her by the Prince of Jerusalem,
were among an array of medals and pendants--enough to have made her a
much-bejeweled person, had it been her way to make a show of her own
rewards.

Truly Clara Barton belonged to the world, and a suffering person had
no race or creed to her--she loved and cared for all.

When at last she returned to America, it was with the determination to
have America sign the Geneva Treaty and to bring her own country into
line with the Red Cross movement, which she had carefully watched in
foreign countries, and which she saw was the solution to efficient aid
of wounded men, either in the battle-field or wherever there had been
any kind of disaster and there was need of quick aid for suffering. It
was no easy task to convince American officials, but at last she
achieved her end. On the 1st of March, 1882, the Geneva Treaty was
signed by President Arthur, ratified by the Senate, and immediately
the American National Red Cross was formed with Clara Barton as its
first president.

The European "rest" trip had resulted in one of the greatest
achievements for the benefit of mankind in which America ever
participated, and its birth in the United States was due solely to the
efforts of the determined, consecrated nurse who, when eleven years
old, gave her all to a sick brother, and later consecrated her life to
the service of a sick brotherhood of brave men.

On the day after her death, on April 12, 1912, one editor of an
American newspaper paid a tribute to her that ranks with those paid
the world's greatest heroes. He said:

"On the battle-fields of the Rebellion her hands bound up the wounds
of