during the past twenty-five years will be of interest to the American
people. In a volume of this size it must of necessity be but a brief
outline, sufficient, however, to convey a clear impression of what the
Red Cross really means to every individual in this great country of
ours.

To the thousands of American men and women whose generous bounty has
made the work of the Red Cross possible, to the stricken and distressed
who because of it have been helped back to life and hope, and to all the
friends of the great, universal humanity which it typifies, this small
book is lovingly dedicated.

CLARA BARTON.

GLEN ECHO, MARYLAND,
_May 15, 1904._

CONTENTS

I
PAGE
EARLY HISTORY. 1880-1884 1

II

THE TEXAS FAMINE AND THE MOUNT VERNON CYCLONE. 1885-1888 30

III

YELLOW FEVER IN FLORIDA. 1887 38

IV

THE JOHNSTOWN FLOOD. 1889 54

V

THE RUSSIAN FAMINE. 1891 70

VI

THE SEA ISLAND RELIEF. 1893 77

VII

ARMENIAN RELIEF. 1896 94

VIII

CUBA. 1898 115

IX

GALVESTON. 1900 164

A STORY OF THE RED CROSS

I

EARLY HISTORY

1880-1884

"I have lived much that I have not written, but I have written
nothing that I have not lived."

It was a little blue-eyed girl of ten who sat on a low hassock at my
feet, slowly drawing the soft auburn curls between her fingers, when,
suddenly lifting her head and looking me earnestly in the face, she
exclaimed: "What is the Red Cross? Please tell me about it; I can not
understand it."

There was a pleading earnestness in the tone not to be resisted, and
laying down my pen I commenced to explain to her the principles,
history, and uses of the Red Cross. She listened anxiously, the pretty
brow knitted; she seemed more and more perplexed, until, as if a light
had broken over her, she exclaimed, half impatiently:

"Not that--not that, tell me something it _does_--it and you, I can
understand it better then."

A light had broken over me. It was a story the child wanted to
illustrate the principle and bring it home to her. A story she must
have.

In a half hour