j THE HEROISM OF MERCY
jj By OPIE READ
HH p-... , There is no greater heroism than the
H| -V" " ' heroism of mercy. There is no truer
55= bravery than the bravery of tenderness.
== IJ' Out of the crash of nation against nation
== arises a Christ-like sympathy, and the
.. insignia of its tenderness is the cross of
1 ' s only remaining glow of a
| Christian hope. It is religion under
M&gjfl of sympathetic action. If a man who
ES SB® speaks truth should say to you, " With
== use G |- ve dollars y OU can save a
= useful life, alleviate a hundred nights of pain," you would
EE grant him the money. You would not feel that you had
j= lost, but gained.
This is what the Red Cross says to you: "Give of your
|H safe and secure substance and I will sooth pain. I will gather
= up men, heroes who have been shot to the earth, and housing
1= them I will nurse them back to life. For myself 1 ask no
== recompense. My reward is my conscience. My applause is
restoring man to his family."
H ~ Hearing these words and feeling thatthey are true,
* would you hesitate to open your purse, whose contents were
A gathered in times of peace ?
The Red Cross appeals to you personally. To you it
|H opens its merciful heart and begs you for assistance. The
== cutting down of one luxury a day would mean a soothing
Hi tenderness on the red fields of France.
j| George Washington
| Was Not Mentioned
H Youthful French Orator Seemed to Think Lafayette Was
Really the Father of This Country.
_ By DR. ESTHER LOVEJOY.
What is the attitude of the French
A people toward the Americans? The
French are a very polite people, and,
EES no matter what their inmost thoughts
= may be, they are not likely to express
== an opinion to an American other than
== complimentary. But the children of
== all the world are guileless. They can
= be depended upon to express in public
= the private opinions of their parents.
= The children of France are crazy about
= Americans in uniform, so we guess
H= what their parents feel for us.
s=3 On one occasion I was passing a pub
= lie school with another Red Cross wo
= man physician in uniform and a
= French visiting nurse. The school had
•i just been dismissed, and a group of
♦youn boys came trooping out. In
stantly we were surrounded, and after
J a second's parley a young Mirabeau of
j= about twelve years, the spokesman of
=== the group, stepped forward, bowed
= formally and delivered an address on
- Lafayette and America, which was
= punctuated by the applause of his ad
=i miring compatriots. The American
= Eaglet could not possibly have scream
= ed louder in the United States on the
= Fourth of July than it did on that back
= street of a munition town in France.
Washington Not Mentioned.
There seems to be some difference
= of opinion on the reintive importance
== of certain historic characters connect
= ed with the American Revolution.
SAVIOURS
*
i
§| By ANGELA MORGAN
Yours is the daring skill to tread
== The waters of a world at war; r
== Yours is the miracle to shed
== Where rocking seas of hatred are,
== Courage and comfort, like a star.
You cry unto an earth dismayed,
=§§ And God is thrilling in your tone:
== "Brothers, the ship is not alone;
=== Be not afraid!"
=== Ye are the Christs of this black hour,
= The Great Physician come again,
Within yOur sacred hands the power
JL To heal the race of men.
Ye hold the hurt world to your breast-,
j£ Ye bind her bruised and broken soul;
The sick, the maimed and the oppressed—
== Yours is the gift to make them whole.
And where the stricken miles unroll
Ye sound the'resurrection morn;
Above the bier where Justice lies,
== With visions of an age new born,
== Ye bid the dead arise!
§= O World, that walkest now in tears
Where Truth again is crucified
SEE After the thousand, thousand years—
See yet that Christ is not denied!
Lafayete is inseparately associated in
the mind of young France with the
United States and all It stands for.
George Washington wasn't mentioned.
According to the Juvenile French
version, Lafayette saved America.
This was the most glorious achieve
ment In the history of the world. Sin
gle handed and alone Lafayette sowed
the seeds of liberty in the United
States that has spread from the At
lantic to the Pacific and fired the souls
of a hundred million people. When the
American colonies were in a death
struggle with the Hanoverian monster
on the throne of England the Hohen
zollerns and Hessians and Hindenburg
ers and all the H's representing Hell
on Earth in that day and generation
Lafayette crossed the ocean on a slow
sailing ship—so slow, so slow for so
swift a soul —and saved America. And
now, after 140 years, the hosts of
million strong, are return
ing that historic visit for the purpose
of repaying the debt of gratitude.
To say that the audience followed
the speaker would be understating the
case. They all seemed familiar with
the speech, and their applause fre
quently anticipated its climaxes. Good
feeling was rampant We shook hands
with all the youngsters within reach,
and as we turned the corner we looked
back, and they gave us a final "Vive
l'Amerique!"
"A Great Net of Mercy drawn through |H|
an Ocean of Unsptoobable Pain"
Hie American Red y
When a Feller Needs a Friend
■
Contributed by Briggs. • N -
i
Caleb Rogers Does
A Bit of Figgerin'
By JOSEPH C. LINCOLN
Of the Vigilantes.
1 Caleb Rogers was seated at the little
desk behind the counter of his "gen
eral store" at Rogers' Corners. His
check book was open before hiafc and
he was tapping his front teetfc witfc
the end of a penholder and apparently
considering deeply. Daniel Griggs,
who owns the big farm half a mile up
the road, entered the store and stood
for a moment regarding its proprietor
with an amused smile.
"Well, Caleb," he observed, "you
look and act more like a Rockefeller
every day you live. I # presume likely
you're figgerin' whether you'll invest
this month's income in more Standard
lie or use it to buy your wife another
diamond collar?"
Mr. Rogers smiled also, but he was
serious enough a moment later.
"Dan," he said, "I tell you what I
was figgerin'. I was figgerin' whether
I hadn't better make the check I was
goln' to give the Red Cross folks a
hundred Instead of fifty."
Griggs' mouth opened in astonish
ment.
What About Jim Griggs?
"You give u hundred dollars to the
Red Cross, Caleb Rogers 1" he demand
ed. "You! Are you crazy? You sar
talnly ain't worth any more money
than I am, and I was caleulatln' to give
about ten—not more'n fifteen anyway.
The Red Cross is a mighty fine thing.
I know that well enough. But if you'll
tell me why folks no richer than you
1 and me should give"—
: Caleb's foot, which had been renting
over one corner of the desk, came to
1 the floor with a bang. He straighten
ed, leaned forward and shook his fore
finger earnestly at his visitor.
"Tell you?" he repeated. "Yes, Dan
Griggs, I will tell you. I'll tell you be
cause you've got a boy, same as I have,
up here at the big caihp, and It won't
be many weeks, or even days, afore
they're both over on t'other side of the
big pond flghtin' the most cussed,
cruel, unscrupulous gang of thieves
and murderers that eve v r rigged up in
uniforms and killed women and babies
for fun. Oh, of course you know all
that, you'll say. You know your son
has enlisted and is goin' to war, to
battle, to run his chance along with
the rest of bein' killed or wounded or
taken prisoner. You know It, yes. In a
general way yon do. Such things, the
woundln' and all that, happen to other
boys every day, but It's amazin' how
slow fellers like you and me are to re
alize that they're Just as likely to hap
pen to that one boy we set so much
store by. It's what I've Just been try
in' to realize. Dan. I've been sittln'
here thinkin' It out.
"Take my own boy—or take yours,
to fetch It right home—take your Jim.
Jim left here and he went off to camp
to be trained. And It was colder than
the northeast corner of an Ice chest up
In that camp, and he no sooner landed
thar than he realized be hadn't got the
heavy sweater he'd ought to have.
His mother would have knit it, but
'twould have'taken time, and he'd have
pretty nigh froze waitln'. So the Red
Cross gave It to him, along with
wristers and a comfort kit. On the
way up to camp wherever that troop
train he was on stopped there was
Red Cross women with hot coffee and
sandwiches, a-makln' him comfortable,
doln' the little kind things you and his
I uotfew *r Just longln' to do this min
is ute.
"Wben Christmas come who saw
that the bundles from home got to
him? Who gave Mm things—candy
and smokes and sack —on its own ac
count? The Red C*M% that's who!
And when he had the tad caM asd
fever who supplied th itinr that v 4hl
more than anybody else to fight th
pneumonia off? The Red Cross, Dan;
nobody else.
"And when he's on the ship goin'
across, when he's marchin' through
France on his way to them trenches
i we read so much about, when at last
he's In those trenches—who's lookln'
out*for him every minute of the time?
' Who's motherln' and fatherin' him,
; same as you and your wife would give
all this wide world to be able to do?
Why, the Red Cross, just the Red Cross.
"And when he goes over the top to
get his first real punch at the Kaiser's
gang of pirates, suppose he gets a bul
let through him somewheres. It can
just as likely be him or my Sam as
anybody else's boy, remember that.
He's lyin' out there In No Man's Land,
and it's night and cold and wet, and
he's in pain, awful pain, and"— •
Mr. Griggs interrupted.
"For mercy sakes, don't, Caleb!" he
i pleaded. "I can't bear to think of it."
"Then you ought to. 'Twill do you
good to think Just a little. For pretty
| soon who comes crawltn' along through
. the hell fire to him and gives him wa
. ter—and morphine, if he needs It —and
binds up his wounds and carries him
back to the place where the doctors
are? And whose doctors are they that
gives him the very best treatment
that's possible, and whose hospital
does he go to afterwards, and whose
doctors and nurses take such good
care of him yiere? Puttin' it all to
! gether, who makes Jim Griggs a well
: man again and makes It possible for
, his father and mother and sisters to
l lay eyes on him once more? Nobody
, on this earth l't the Red Cross. And
, God bless It, I say!
i What Is Your Son Worth to You?
"And now you wonder why a man no
i richer than I am is glvin' a hundred
( dollars to a society that's doln' all that
■ and a million times more for my boy.
' Look here, Dan Griggs. How much Is
• your son worth to you? If you could
■ save his life by doln' It wouldn't you
i sell the farm and the stock and your
■ house and the last shirt on your back?
' Wouldn't you give him the last cent
you had If he needed It to save himself
, from torture and death? Well, the
. Red Cross Is doln' everything humans
> can do to save him from those things,
i and It's warmln' him and comfortln*
i him and keepln' him well and happy
I besides. And what It's doln' for him
i It's doln* for every one of the soldiers
. In the fields or the tralnln' camps, the
t hospitals—even In the German pris
i ons. And It needs money—and you
I grudge glvln* It."
i Mr. Griggs shook his head,
s "No, I don't," he sjild. "I guess I
> can spare a hundred, too—for the
i boy's sake."
YOUR HUNDRED
MILLION DOLLARS
WAR FUND COMMITTEE
TELLS HOW IT WAS
I SPENT.
! No Part of It, Says John D. Ryan,
Went for Any Expenses of
| the Organization.
John D. Ryan, vice chairman of the
I War Council, recently discussed the
! disbursements of the first $100,000,000
American Re Cross fund and spoke
It the necealty for further funds,
, Re announced that the week Mt apart
for the drive Is Hfcy 20 to 27.
"We have collected $105,000,600,"
said Mr. Ryan. "We have allowed
1 refunds to chapters—as you know,
' chapters are entitled to retain 25 per
; cent, of the collections covered by the
, chapter. They have not In all cases
availed themselves of the 25 per cent.,
[ but we have allowed $17,006,121 on
; this account. We have appropriated
to date $77,721,918 and we have avall
• able for appropriation on March 1
' $10,371,217, with the addition of $3,-
1 500,000 we know to be perfectly good
' when called upon.
1 "The appropriations have been
1 made to the different countries as fol
• lows: France, $30,936,103; Belgium,
■ $2,086,131; Italy, $3,588,826; Russia,
I $1,243,845; Rumania, $2,676,368; Ser
vla, $875,180; Great Britain, $1,885,-
750, Including $1,000,000 that was ap
! proprlated by the War Council to the
British War Relief, and for other for
i elgn relief work, $3,576,300.
' "For relief work for prisoners we
i have expended $343,304, and this
• work is only beginning. These appro-
I prlatlons have been made to care for
i the prisoners that we feared might be
i taken. We also spent for equipment
t ahd expenses of Red Cross personnel
t sent abroad $113,800; for army base
I hospitals In the United States, $54,-
000; for navy base hospitals in the
1 United States, $32,000; for medical
. and hospital work in the United
I States, $531,000; for sanitary service
r In camps In this country, $403,000; for
, camp service in the United States,
j $6,451,150, and miscellaneous in the
I United States, $1,118,748. We have
funds restricted as to use by the
donors amounting to $2,520,409, and
we have as a working capital for the
' purchase of supplies for resale to
' chapters or for shipment to France
' of $15,000,000. We have working cash
• advances for France and the United
States of $4,286,000.
1 "People say we use 60 cents to
1 spend a dollar. The expenses of the
r Red Cross today are well within the
? amount of money provided by mem
t bershlp fees. No part of the $105,000,-
t 000 that we got is spent for carrying
5 on the work."
3
* ★
r ★ 1 want to say to you that no ★
i ★ other organization since the *
3 ★ world began has ever done tuch ★
s * great constructive work with the ★
- * efficiency, dispatch and under- *
i ★ standing, often under adverse ★
* circumstances, that has been ★
* done by the American Red Cross ★
[ ★in France.—General Pershing. ★
> * *
Ipl fjpj''
I . T SB
RED CROSS CANTEENS; % I
JUST WHAT THEY ARE (
American Woman Tells Vividly of Her Canteen—The §J
Gayest, Brightest Little Room One Ever Saw.
B 1
NEVER SO PROUD OF ANYTHING IN HER LIFE F |
Just what n Red Cross canteen Is,
how It Is outfitted, and the hundred
problems the American women have
to meet In feeding the French, Eng
lish and American soldiers Is well
shown In this letter from an American
Red Cross worker:
We have really a wonderful place.
It was given to us so rough and plain
and ugly. I had a coat of plaster put
on the walls, painted a bright blue
wainscot three feet high with a sten
cil of flowers of red, white and blue
above, white walls and celling, doors
and windows outlined with light green,
and stencils of bright colors between
the windows of trumpets, and over
the five doors delicious little paintings
by Miss Klrkpatrick and Miss Beckett
of soldiers and canteeners In the most
Clew and attractive way.
Brightest Little Room.
At the end of the room we have two
girls, one American and one French,
holding French and American flags.
We have red and white oilcloth on the
tables, red glass carafes and red tur
key window curtains, and always flow
ers on the counters. It Is the gaj'est,
brightest little room you ever saw.
However, it only holds about 120 men
seated at the tables and it is to be
used as a recreation room and even
movies. Our big room is to have a
Huge kitchen and seats for 1,000 men
or over, and will open right on to the
platform. It is to be decorated by an
artist from the Beaux Art, as Miss
Beckett has gone and Miss Klrkpat
rick Is too busy.
It will really be a splendid big place
and we can work in comfort Instead
TOOYOUN6TOKEEP:
GAS MASKS ON
The Myriad Things the Red Cross t
Does, That Government
Can Not Do.
Many people say: "Wtoj doesn't tl*
government do the work of the Red t
Cross?" There Is no better reply to
this question than to cite some of the
activities of the American Red Cross. t
Last August the American Red Cross b
issued an order for an automobile to s
be given to a French hospital for chil
dren of Toul, near Nancy. A lot of 8
chintzes for the bedrooms were sent
down to brighten them up, a lot of toys
for the children—French children v
brought In from the war zone, too
young to keep on their gas masks. To
day ten Red Cross automobiles are
hauling to Red Cross hospitals in
France French children whose parents,
held in slavery in Germany, are now
being dumped every day at Evlan, on
the Franco-Swiss border.
Fancy our government doing that for
French children. Yet It must be done
if the French morale behind the lines
is to be kept up. These deeds of the
American Red Cross are Just as much
a part of our military policy in France
and Italy as though they were done un
der articles of war.
Hired Knitters? Not
The government could, of course,
hire knitters; it could, of course, Issue
pensions for soldiers' families in Amer
ica. It could buy ether and bandages
and hire nurses. But these things are
so small a part of the Red Cross work
that with them alone our cause would
fall. Every man or woman who out of
his own heart here at home gives to
support the Red Cross in helping our
cause from an angle of attack that is
new In modern war. It Is the angle of
brotherhood. It stiffens the courage
of civilians. It puts heart Into our
soldier allies by the comforting knowl
edge that their home affairs are going
well. And every dollar put into the
Red Cross makes not only for victory
In this war, but for everlasting peace
between the great nations now fighting
together in this war. England and
France have been our beneflclarle not
merely with the blood of our soldiers.
But England and France and Italy
have seen how freely and how well we
spend our love of humanity upon their
people at home, how truly and effec
tively we are friends in need, brothers
in democracy. That Is the Red Cross
job—to make enduring the peace gain
ed by our guns.
of being put In straits as we are now
In to feed so many men with only six
gas burners in a long row. We make , _
the coffee, soup, cocoa, and ragout or
sometimes regular Irish stew on our =s=
stoves and the roasts are cooked for EEr m
us gratuitously at the bakers'. All SEE •
food except coffee, meat, cocoa and
sugar Is cheap down here. It is the
garden district of France. All the men ===
are so pleased and grateful and we ==
get such post cards and thanks. We ===
have stewed apples, stewed dates and =
figs for deserts and I tell you it keeps ==
us hopping to keep things going.
Sometimes we run out of meat and ==
then we fry eggs for them and they £=E •
love them. The dormitories are won-
derful. I never was so proud of any- = ■
thing before. Two Hundred canvas f
stretchers for beds. We never used
them before, but we can keep them I
clean and put them outside if there
is any vermin. ==- 1
Model of Cleanliness. §=§
We have a splendid fumigating plant SS
and an Incinerator, and the place is a ==
model of cleanliness. All the men =*
take off their wet and dirty boots. We ==§
have good felt slippers for them, two
woolen blankets for each bed, two big =
stoves and an orderly that wakes ==
them for their trains > good shower z=z
baths and wash rooms and altogether, =
when the big room Is finished, it will ===
be a model of everything it stiould be, === §
particularly as our last touch Is a bar- '=
i ber. Last year the men slept in the =="
road. We have adopted, the Auberge r
sabots as the only sensible footwear ■§
i as the roads and our floors are always
[ wet.
SOME STRINGS ON h I
RED CROSS GIFTS |
Eighteen Dollars Given for Relief H§
of the Chinese in
France.
One of the least known phases of ==§
the Red Cross Is the accounting. ™
In a talk recently given at a Red =: A
Cross luncheon by the Deputy Comp- jjp*
trailer, a mast interesting phase of T m I
this branch *6 Red Cross work was A
brought out In the story of the re- B
stricted gifts. =. ■
The fact that t person makes a re- === V
stricted gift to the great Red Cross in- == £
dlcates that that person Is particularly = *
anxious to know that his or her money HH 0
reaches a definite ploce of work in this g==
war relief.
Every penny that comes Into the Red === E
Cross has to be balanced on an edge === M
to see Into Just which of the more ==
than five hundred acceuts it shall =. I
drop. When that penny comes in It === I
must be spent in Just the way the == •
donor wishes. === •
On the very day the Onaptroller ===
spoke, there had come In a restricted ==? I
gift from a little Sunday school in a r
small California town —$18 to be apent
for relief of Chinese in France—not ■
$lB to be spent for relief of Chinese,
which could have been easily arranged
with the general work now being car
ried on In the flooded districts In Cht fl
na. Not that, but S3B, given possibly ~
in little penny and five-cent contrlbu- ™
tions by Sunday school children who == f
had learned somewhere that there =
were Chinese in France who needed ——
help. That money will be spent for =
the relief of Chinese in France. The =
restriction of the donors will be ob- 555
served. =
The same morning came sls for re- HES
lief of Belgian soldiers in Paris—not- j===
Belgian soldiers who might be In Os- =
tend or Belgian prisoners in Brussels ===
or Germany, but sls to go toward the === §
relief of Belgian soldiers in the city of 5=
Paris—and this restriction will be ob- sr
served and the sls will find Its right r I
place.
You may get an Idea of the amount I
of business conducted with the Red
Cross funds in thiß (inofficial work of Ss |
Mercy when you learn that the clear-
ance of the Red Cross for the month e=s 0
of February was greater than the s=s
clearance of the largest Washington 5S
bank.
Can any one donbt the care In the HI
expenditures of the American people's :==
millions when he learns that each SEE
penny Is carefully considered to see s==
where it must be charged, and that s=
every item of receipt and expense is ===
carefully scanned, not only by compe- 3S
tent officials of high business standing, = 0
but also by our own Government's z==
Wnr Department?