EfTF A. R. C. 601 Nov. 1917 THE AMERICAN RED CROSS C JUNIOR MEMBERSHIP AND SCHOOL ACTIVITIES Story of the Red Cross November, 1917 WOOD ROW WILSON President of the United Slates and President of the American Red Cross To the School Children of the United States: A PROCLAMATION THE President of the United States is also President of the American Red Cross. It is from these offices joined in one that I write you a word of greeting at this time when so many of you are beginning the school year. The American Red Cross has just prepared a Junior Mem- bership with School Activities in which every pupil in the United States can find a chance to serve our country. The school is the natural center of your life. Through it you can best work in the great cause of freedom to which we have all pledged ourselves. Our Junior Red Cross will bring to you opportunities of service to your community and to other communities all over the world and guide your service with high and religious ideals. It will teach you how to save in order that suffering children elsewhere may have the chance to live. It will teach you how to prepare some of the supplies which wounded soldiers and homeless families lack. It will send to you through the Red Cross bulletins the thrilling stories of relief and rescue. And best of all, more perfectly than through any of your other school lessons, you will learn by doing those kind things under your teacher's direction to be the future good citizens of this great country which we all love. And I commend to all school teachers in the country the simple plan which the American Red Cross has worked out to provide for your cooperation, knowing as I do that school children will give their best service under the direct guidance and instruction of their teachers. Is not this perhaps the chance for which you have been looking to give your time and efforts in some measure to meet our national needs? President. September 15, 1917. HOW THE RED CROSS BEGAN DID you ever think what war would be like if there were no nurses to take care of the wounded men? It wasn't so long ago that there were no women to go into the military hospitals to see that the soldiers brought in from the battlefield were properly bathed, fed, and cared for. The name of Florence Nightingale is dear to every soldier and sailor, for it was she who founded nursing as a profession for women. Florence Nightingale, an English girl of wealthy parentage, was bom almost one hundred years ago. All her life she tried to protect helpless or injured things. As a little girl it was flowers and animals that she couldn't bear to see hurt or in- jured. Later it was the soldiers of her country for whom she labored. One winter in London—it was the year she "came out" —Florence Nightingale visited a hospital. She was appalled by the dirty, unsanitary conditions and decided then and there to become a nurse, in order to make just such places clean and wholesome for the sick. In spite of the protests of her family and friends, she gave up her society life and for twelve years traveled on the continent of Europe visiting and studying in hospitals. Shortly after her return to England to found a hospital there, the Crimean War, in which France, England, and Turkey fought against Russia, broke out. There was terrible mis- management in the military hospitals. Supplies were lacking; two thousand wounded men at Scutari were lying for days in mud and filth, just as they had been brought in from the battle- field; sick men were packed together in hordes, sometimes on the bare floor; the place, it could hardly be called a hospi- tal, was alive with rats and vermin; there was no soap nor towels, and only one kind of food, Irish stew, for men so ill that they should have had the most careful nursing and delicate food. Into this scene of misery and squalor came Florence Nightingale, called by the British Government as the first woman nurse to enter a British Military hospital. She came with a group of women from her hospital and seemed a real angel of mercy to those sick and dying men. The dirt was cleaned away; the men were bathed and given fresh clothing; 4 new temporary buildings were built; good food was served the men; letters home were written for them; and the num- ber of those who recovered from their wounds was increased greatly. All this was due to the work of this one woman, Florence Nightingale, and her corps of workers. It is no won- der that the soldiers of the Crimea have idolized her and that they raised a large sum of money in her name to show their gratitude. This money Florence Nightingale accepted on the condition that it be used to found the first hospital training FLORENCE NIGHTINGALE school for girls. The school, bearing her name, is in London today. But Florence Nightingale's work did not end with the Crimean War. Her service awakened in others a responsive chord of sympathy. Among these was a young Swiss, Henri Dunant, who, several years later, published a book called "A Souvenir of Solferino," giving an account of horrors which he had witnessed on the battlefield of Solferino. As a result of these experiences and under the inspiration of the work of Florence Nightingale, there came to Dunant the idea of an international organization to carry on what she 5 had dene alone. Its purpose would be to prepare in time of peace for war so that the scenes of Scutari might never be re- peated; and to work for this, not nation by nation, but all nations together. He saw that, as in playing a game, one per- son alone could do but little; if all worked together, much could be accomplished. His book was widely read and many people became interested in his idea. Seeing that one nation alone could not work out such a vast plan, he and a group of interested men called together a council of fourteen nations at Geneva, Switzerland. This meeting resulted in the adop- tion in 1864 of an international treaty which gave to the world the organization of the Red Cross. Under the terms of this Convention, each nation pledged itself to work with other nations in caring for the sick and wounded of all countries alike and never to fire on a doctor, nurse, or ambulance that bore the sign of the Red Cross. There were many other pro- visions but those two were the most important. Siberia, China, Egypt, and Algiers are among the many nations allied in this way. The Convention adopted the emblem of the Swiss ban- ner with the colors reversed, as a tribute to the nation which called them together. Thus, the Swiss national banner is a white cross on a red field, and the banner of our Organization, the Red Cross, is a red cross on a white field. The two words "Humanity" and "Neutrality" were used as watchwords of the Red Cross; to care for those who need it regardless of race or creed is the aim of the Red Cross. All this you remember was over in Europe. Here in America few knew of the Red Cross, or of the work of Florence Night- ingale. In the year i860 the great Civil War broke out in our country. Care of the sick and wounded was under the charge of what was known as "The Sanitary Commission." But aside from this organized group of men and women working to take care of our soldiers, there were many individual women who devoted their lives to the same cause. Among these was Dorothea Dix. Before the war Dorothea Dix was well known in America and Europe as a worker for reform of prisons. After the war broke out she saw in the Baltimore station ill-treatment of government troops. The next train took Dorothea Dix to Washington and immediately upon volunteering her services she was made Superintendent of Women Nurses. This was an enormous task, involving the selection of nurses, guiding their work, distribution of supplies, and care of soldiers. 6 Many of the surgeons and nurses disliked her because of her severity with careless or lazy workers. No one could have accused Dorothea Dix of laziness. During the four years of the war she never had a holiday. Nor could any accuse her of working in her own interests, for when the Secretary of War asked her what the nation could do to thank her for her work she answered "I would like a Flag!" The two beautiful flags given her by the country she later presented to Harvard College and they now hang, in her memory, over the doors of its Memorial Hall. Another woman known in the Civil War for her fearlessness and will was "Mother Bickerdyke." It is said that she once visited a hospital ward of wounded men at eleven o'clock in the morning and found that her patients had had no breakfast because the surgeon had been on a spree the night before. She ordered him off with the words, "Pull off your shoulder-straps, for you shall not stay in the army a week longer." The surgeon laughed scornfully but turned pale, for he knew she would keep her word. Within three days he was discharged. Major General Sherman, in charge of the army, listened to his tale of woe and asked who ordered his discharge. "I suppose it was that woman, Mrs. Bickerdyke," replied the offended surgeon, "Oh," said Sherman, whose word was law through .the army, "If it was she I can do nothing for you. She ranks me." Such was the respect inspired in the sternest of generals by the type of woman devoted to the work of humanity in the Civil War. A third worker for the soldiers was Clara Barton. Standing one day in the station at Washington, she saw, as had Dorothea Dix, in Baltimore, a train-load of wounded soldiers roll in. The men were in a dreadful condition, in pain, hunger, cold, and filth with almost no nurses and no doctors to care for them. Clara Barton had them carried to the hospital where she saw to the washing and binding of their wounds, fed them clean, wholesome food, and wrote letters for them to their families. The boys' mothers heard of Clara Barton through their letters and wrote, sending supplies of food and clothing which she distributed. Later she obtained a pass from the Govern- ment to go behind the lines. There in the midst of dirt and disease she stayed during the remainder of the war, nursing Northerners and Southerners alike. When the Civil War work was over, Clara Barton went abroad for a rest and there for the first time she heard of the Red Cross Society. In the war between France and Germany 7 in 1870, she saw for the first time the medical staffs of two opposing armies working together in the care of the wounded soldiers. Wherever there was a battle, there she saw a squad of doctors and nurses in white, each with a cross of red on his or her sleeve, working back of the firing line to repair the damage done by the bullets. Not one unskilled woman working alone for an army, but a whole group of trained men and women, serving with the sanction of their government, each having a definite share in the nursing. They accomplished so much in a short time that Clara Barton was inspired with the idea of introducing this same Red Cross in America, for she found that the ideals that had led the great women of the Civil War to work among both Northerners and Southerners, were the same as those of the Red Cross—"Humanity" and "Neu- trality." Largely through her efforts which extended over five years, the Geneva treaty was signed by the United States in 1882 and the American Red Cross was established. This act was the achievement of her life. She was its first President. Straightway her problems began. For now that she had this Red Cross established to do nursing in time of war—there was no war. What should she do? While she was wondering came the news of a terrible forest fire in Michigan that burned hundreds of people out of their homes. She did the nearest thing at hand. If the ideal of the Red Cross was service for others, why not make use of it here, where there was need, war or no war? So with the help of her Red Cross nurses she set up work rooms, sent out a call for clothes, food, money— anything to help—and the replies poured in. Supplies were packed into huge boxes, stamped on the outside with the seal of the Red Cross, and shipped to Michigan where they were received by relief workers and distributed to the homeless refugees. What a welcome surprise they must have been! Eighty thousand dollars in all was spent in this way. From this act developed the idea of making the American Red Cross a relief organization for time of peace as well as for time of war, as had been done by some foreign Red Cross Societies. That is, it was to come forward and offer its ser- vices wherever there was need to relieve suffering and distress. It was to be from now on an emergency relief organization. Surely the Michigan forest fire had been as great an emergency on a small scale as the war was on a large one. But this is a story long enough to make a new chapter. 8 THE RED CROSS IN PEACE THE work of the American Red Cross in the Michigan forest fire became well known through the country and people began to realize that here was the seed of a great force for good that needed nourishing. So they began to join, a few here and a few there, giving their support in money and WAITING FOR RESCUE, MISSISSIPPI FLOOD, 1882 interest. Branches began to spring up over the country as the work progressed. By the time another great disaster came, the Mississippi flood of 1882, work through Local Red Cross branches, organized much as they are today, was well started. Millions of acres of cotton and sugar plantations were under 9 OPEN-AIR DINING ROOM DURING THE SAN FRANCISCO EARTHQUAKE TELEGRAPH HILL IN SAN FRANCISCO AFTER THE EARTHQUAKE !0 water and thousands of homes destroyed. Within three days seed for replanting all the devastated land was on its way with full directions for planting and soon the valley was again green with crops, due to the planning and thoughtfulness of the American Red Cross. In the years that followed came other disasters. The Johns- town flood left 4,000 dead and 20,000 unfed and homeless in the path of the great river. These dead had to be identified; the hungry must be fed; the sick cared for; clothes and homes must be provided for those left alone with neither family, friends, homes nor anything that had been theirs before. In all this work the Red Cross was an active agent. The San Francisco earthquake and fire many of us remember. Here 300,000 people were fed in the long bread lines. The sympathy of the entire country was aroused by the stories of suffering that went forth. Money by telegram, by check, by letter, and by hand poured into the Relief Headquarters at San Francisco. Colonies of tents and wooden shacks were built to house the refugees. Many thousands of people came to know and appreciate the American Red Cross through its work in this great emergency. Here is a Red Cross nurse's account of what she saw during the flood of the Ohio river at Dayton, Ohio. "In the dripping rain, the 'bread line,' an appalling line of patient waiting people, two nurses hurrying up and down its length, helping a mother with her child; bestowing packages more securely in a basket; fastening a cloak about weary shoulders; giving a smile here; a few cheerful words there; carrying away a fretful child until the mother is ready to go home; helping a fainting woman to rest and shelter." Here too she saw a school house turned into a relief station in which were rest room, dining room, kitchen, hospital. The recitation hall was made a First Aid Room. Drugs and bandages were on the teacher's desk, and there was always somewhere about a blue- gowned young woman with a Red Cross on her sleeve, bandag- ing cuts and bruises. In what had been a city church she saw a Red Cross nurse cutting bread and butter, pouring coffee, sorting and giving out clothes, bathing children who had lost their mothers. Outside in the streets were river mud and wreckage piled shoulder high. Here were houses rocking on their foundations or entirely washed away. Here and there could be seen a Red Cross worker picking her way around among wrecked furniture, soaked mattresses, ruins of porches, 11 RED CROSS RELIEF STATION DURING A FLOOD RED CROSS RELIEF SUPPLIES FOR THE DAYTON FLOOD SUFFERERS 12 wagons, and sheds, taking charge of every kind of work from feeding the baby to digging ditches to let the water drain off. Each of the great disasters where the Red Cross serves has a story like this of its own. Since the winter of 1905 there have been more than seventy-five calls for the Red Cross, due to earthquakes, fires, volcanic eruptions, floods, cyclones, famines, epidemics of sickness, shipwrecks and mining disasters. And not only in America has the American Red Cross worked. During the massacres in Armenia where people starved by the thousand, only the Red Cross could give aid. Why? Be- cause the Turkish Government had signed the Geneva treaty and was bound to live up to its promise to grant right of way to Red Cross workers. "Neutrality" and "Humanity" were symbols of a law they obeyed even in time of public massacre. All these places described and many other scenes of suffering were the rightful place for the Red Cross emblem. Wherever that emblem was seen, filled with pain though the place might be, you may be sure that there quick and effective work was being done to heal the wound. The American Red Cross does more than give help when disaster has come. It goes before and tries to prevent the disaster. RED cross How does it do this? Here are some of the Christmas seal ways. The stamps with which you seal your letter at Christmas are not merely Christmas seals; they are Red Cross stamps, and the money that you pay for them goes to help take care of some man or woman, boy or girl, who is suffering from tuberculosis. You see even Santa Claus works for the Red Cross. The money has been spent both in caring for the sick and in educating the well so that they will learn not to spread the terrible disease by unsanitary habits. Another place where you will find the Red Cross at work is at the shore bathing places. Hundreds of lives are lost every year through drowning, a good many of them because no one is near the drowning man who knows how to swim with him to shore or what to do to revive him. So the Red Cross has es- tablished First Aid courses in which it teaches boys and girls to swim, while supporting another person. They learn, too, how to revive a man who has been long under water. Many lives have been saved by these "Water First Aid" Corps. Not only in 13 AN AMERICAN RED CROSS LIFE-SAVING CORPS MAKING RED CROSS SUPPLIES IN THE SCHOOLS '4 case of accident in the water does the Red Cross First Aid help; it teaches people how to treat cuts, burns, attacks of heart trouble, and to act quickly and intelligently in other emergencies. Always eager to show people how to live clean, healthy lives, the Red Cross saw that in many remote country districts, especially among the "poor whites" in the South, people do not know that disease comes from dirt; that proper food, well cooked, is necessary to health; that babies must be carefully bathed, clothed and fed, that they may grow into strong men and women. So it established a Red Cross home nursing service, and now Red Cross nurses, women carefully trained in nursing, preparation of food, household cleanliness, care of THE GOOD SHIP "RED CROSS" babies and prevention of disease, go into these poor homes all over our country and show the mothers and fathers how to keep their homes so that these children may be well. Among the many other activities of the Red Cross, there is the Red Cross Magazine, owned by the American Red Cross. If your mother and father are members of the Red Cross, you have probably seen the magazine in your home and know how attractive it is, and how much it tells of the work all over the world that the Red Cross is doing. The work described in this chapter gives only a suggestion of the many ways in which the Red Cross is growing in its in- «5 fluence and helpfulness in our country. Wherever there is the need, it organizes new committees and meets the difficulty. From 1905 to 1916 this work was done under the management of Miss Mabel Boardman, to whom much of the success of the Red Cross in this period is due. The Red Cross owes its beautiful home in Washington, of which you will find a picture on page 34, to Miss Boardman's untiring appeals to our Con- gress and the public. This was all before the war which America is now fighting. Before April of this year the American Red Cross was on all the battlefields of Europe. Millions of dollars were spent in equipping ambulances, nurses, surgeons, and in sending hospital supplies to the front. Then came the President's Proclamation, April 6th, that we were at war with Germany. 16 THE RED CROSS IN WAR ONCE more the Red Cross was to be on a National war basis, as it had not been since the Spanish War. But with what a difference this time! Those years between the wars had been spent in organizing; in building up a Nursing Service whereby thousands of the best professional nurses were ready to answer the challenge of their country; in studying hos- RED CROSS NURSES MARCHING DOWN FIFTH AVENUE, N. Y., IN HONOR OF THOSE OF THEIR NUMBER ALREADY IN FRANCE pital methods and ambulance service of our allies; and more than all, it had been learned that the work of the Red Cross is not merely on the field of battle, but in building up strong men and women to work for their country. So when we entered this war the Red Cross took upon itself, along with its hospital and ambulance service, the duty of caring for the families of those left behind—of seeing that they were properly clothed, fed, and housed in order that the children of these families might not be neglected, but might grow up into strong and healthy men and women. '7 BUFFALO'S CONTRIBUTION TO THE $100,000,000 CAMPAIGN CAME BY AIR-LINE But before this work could be done and the much needed supplies shipped, money must be raised to pay for it all—so much money that we can hardly grasp what the figures mean. A campaign of one week was planned during which the Red Cross War Council was to raise $100,000,000. Telephone and telegraph wires began to hum with the requests of committees in every part of the United States. Men left important positions to offer their services to the Red Cross campaign. Artists, the best in the country, gave their time and effort in designing the many posters you saw in the streets and shop windows. A RED CROSS CAMPAIGNER l8 Cities vied with each other in novel ways of advertising. Buffalo sent its contribution to Washington in an aeroplane. In Ohio one woman sold a hen and a dozen eggs at auction for $2,002 by advertising that the money was for Red Cross. A descendant of Betsy Ross made a flag that sold for S500. Thousands of working men gave a day's pay. And so it went all over the country. At least one-half of the cities raised more than had AMBULANCES GIVEN BY YALE AND HARVARD UNIVERSITIES AT THE FRONT been asked of them, and the total sum raised was far more than had been asked for. Not only must money be raised but people everywhere must be interested in working. It is not enough to give your mem- bership fee and think your part is done. Since February of this year the membership of the Red Cross has grown from 400,000 to 5,000,000—it is more than ten times larger now than it was in February. Think what that means—5,000,000 people to be set to work. Many of these people volunteered their entire services to the Red Cross. These are some of the ways in which these services are used: In the first place, there are, recruited from the Red Cross, the ambulance units that go to France and Russia to carry 19 A GROUP OF RED CROSS AMBULANCES STATIONED AT WHAT ONCE WAS A 1 RENCH VILLAGE JUST BEHIND THE LINES EACH AMBULANCE CARRIES TWO OR THREE WOUNDED AT ONCE MOTOR AMBULANCES IN PARIS WAITING A CALL 21 wounded men from the trenches to the base hospitals. Each ambulance company consists of 124 men; officers, privates to drive the ambulances, mechanics to take care of the cars, cooks, etc. The men wear the regular United States Medical Reserve Corps uniform. They are volunteers chiefly from the colleges of the country and are often exposed to great danger. Calls for ambulances to move the wounded come at any time and neither the darkness of night nor shot-shelled roads hinder the Red Cross ambulance driver when he has received orders to set out. Then there are the Red Cross base hospital units. These hospitals are back of the line of trenches and are equipped with A HOSPITAL INSTALLED IN A CHURCH AT THE FRONT beds for 500 men each. Trained nurses and doctors, dentists, specialists in all kinds of diseases and surgery are working day and night to nurse these men back to health. There are more than 2,000 Red Cross nurses now in active service at the front and 9,000 more stand ready to go in answer to the call. At the Front, when a soldier comes from the trenches, tired and dirty, on his way home for a furlough, he often has to wait days for a train to take him out. Near the station he finds what is known as a Red Cross canteen. As he enters the door in search of food, he sees American women in the Red Cross 22 uniform standing back of a porcelain-tiled counter, pouring coffee, ladling soup, and passing out sandwiches as fast as they can work. The line of soldiers fed at this counter is unending, 5,000 a day. Here, for thirteen cents, our soldiers may get a meal of soup, beef or lamb, vegetable salad, cheese, pudding or fruit, coffee, chocolate or bouillon. In the same canteen he may have his dirty clothes sterilized, get a hot shower bath, go to the movies in a bomb-proof picture theater, and sleep in a clean bed—and all is free except the food. There are twelve THIS PICTURE SHOWS A BARN WHICH HAS BEEN CONVERTED INTO A HOSPITAL, READY FOR USE of these canteen stations being prepared to serve the soldiers of the Allied Armies in France. Here in America also the Red Cross is helping the Govern- ment in its problem of feeding the soldiers. When troops are moved across the country, there are bound to be delays of supplies, late trains, and lack of good food, simply because of the size of the army. Here is where the Red Cross canteen service helps again. A train pulls into a station and unloads several hundred soldiers. There are the Red Cross canteen workers in their movable kitchens distributing sandwiches, soup, coffee, and cake. 23 Did you ever hear of the dogs of war? Not only do men and horses go to the front, but hundreds of Red Cross dogs, each supplied with a First Aid kit on his back, go on scouting trips to find wounded men. Each brings back some article of clothing to tell the doctors that somewhere "out there" lies a man who needs help. To a wounded, despairing man, lying alone and seemingly forgotten on the field, think what it must mean to have one of these dogs appear! The Red Cross dog stands patiently by the soldier's side while the soldier bandages his wound from the First Aid kit, then off he trots bearing a A RED CROSS HOSPITAL IN FRANCE ONLY THREE HUNDRED YARDS FROM THE FRONT TRENCHES cap or piece of clothing to tell of his discovery. A group of these dogs are being trained in America now, and will be the first American dogs to help "win the war." But the Red Cross in Europe works for others than the soldiers themselves. Where the German army has gone, where battles have been fought, the French families have lost their homes, their money, their furniture, their clothes. To these families the Red Cross ships food, clothes, blankets, beds, mattresses, stoves, kitchen utensils, garden tools, farm machines, and hun- dreds of other articles that will enable the French Nation to 24 25 start afresh to live. Not only to France have such supplies been shipped, but hundreds of Belgian men, women, and chil- dren have been cared for, and far away Armenia, whose people have suffered massacre and torture from their Turkish masters, has been given thousands of dollars worth of aid. The Red Cross has another kind of service here in America directly connected with the war. If your father or your big brother is at war or in camp you know what difference is made by the absence of a grown-up man from the family. Father is often the one who earns the money, pays the bills, settles insurance policies, plans how much shall be spent for food, how much for clothes and how much for rent. He is often the one who decides where you and your brother and sister shall go to school or where you shall work. It is his care that sees that you have a doctor when you are ill, it is he who sees that you have play times mixed with the work times. Perhaps in your home it is Mother who does all this, but in many homes it is Father's council that makes the home run smoothly. Now what happens in some of these homes when the father of the family goes to war? The mother is left alone with from one to a half dozen children to take care of and no husband to help her out. Uncle Sam gives her an allowance based on the size of her family, but this does not entirely solve the prob- lem. The need is for advice and counsel rather than for money. The family has to relearn how to manage for itself. Who will give this help? The American Red Cross has added to its many activities a Home Service Section, whose purpose is to fill just this need. It will try to do the work which the government cannot do for the families of our soldiers and sailors. Trained workers will come into the houses where they are needed, giving the perplexed mother the benefit of years' experience in planning, buying, and dealing with business affairs. They will find out where boys, girls, and women are working under unhealthy conditions; they will see that medical care is given those who need it; they will plan good times for children and grown-ups in families whose good times ceased with the entrance of America into the war. These Red Cross Home Service workers will try to find work for those in the families of soldiers and sailors who need it and they will try to settle difficulties when the work and the worker do not agree. They will look out for the neglected insurance policies; they will ward off the crooked money sharks, always ready to prey on a woman who knows little of business; they 26 will get lawyers for the families who need legal advice to settle the problems that arise even in time of peace. They will see that children are not taken out of school to work when they are too young. The problem of the Home Service workers is to care for the families of our soldiers and sailors so well that our men need not worry about their homes while fighting in France, and may find their wives and children well and happy on their return after the war. ENGLISH MOTHERS WHO WORK IN MUNITIONS FACTORIES HAVE THEIR BABIES TAKEN CARE OF DURING THE DAY BY RED CROSS NURSES The Red Cross will work with the Government for the dis- abled soldiers and sailors in America. Soldiers who come back from war, blind, wounded, perhaps having lost an arm or a leg, not fitted to work at their old occupations, must be taught by some one to adjust themselves to their new life. This work our Government has taken on itself. The blinded are taught to read and write, to knit, to do basketry; men who have lost their right hand are taught to work with their left, and men who could once, but can no longer, walk about as we do must be given some occupation that will help to keep them busy and make them self-supporting at home. Wonderful work in this 27 line has been done in the Canadian hospitals and we shall profit by their experience in reeducating our American soldiers. The Red Cross stands ready to help the Government in this work by helping these reeducated men to find work; by encour- aging them to keep at their study; by making them realize that every real man wants to be self-supporting. With all the care that has been taken of the grown people in the invaded countries, the Red Cross feels that the children, especially the little children, have been neglected. So it has sent over a group of doctors and nurses to look out for the babies. They will teach mothers what and when to feed their children, how to clothe them, how to care for them when they are sick. The Red Cross means that those who are children now shall not become weak men and women because of hardships caused by the war. Shortly after the nurses and doctors arrived, there came an emergency call which shows what kind of work they are to do. Near a small town in France, the Germans were exploding gas bombs. Older people could escape by wear- ing face masks, but these did not protect the children: they must be sent away at once. Telegrams were sent to the Red Cross head- quarters at Paris and the next day eight workers, a doctor, a nurse, and six others left for the invaded dis- trict. They found that twenty-one of the chil- dren were under one year of age, and the rest were under eight years. Sick and well children were herded together in dirty, unfinished sheds. Within two days the children had been given fresh clothing, clean new barracks to live in, good 28 AN ITALIAN SCHOOL PROTECTED BY SANDBAGS AGAINST BOMB SPLINTERS GROWN-UPS "GOING TO SCHOOL" TO THE RED CROSS healthy food, and those who were sick had been put to bed and taken care of. The workers are expecting five hundred more children before long and are ready to receive them in new buildings where twelve shower baths have been set up, and schools and games are ready. All this v/ork abroad cannot be done without preparation for it at home. Supplies for the American Red Cross hospitals are all made in the United States. Surgical dressings are needed in enormous quantities, so the Red Cross has instituted surgical dressings classes, and women and children all over the United States are working day after day at Red Cross rooms on gauze compresses, wipes, rolls, and pads to bind up our soldiers' wounds. Hospital garments, pajamas, bath robes, surgeons' robes are turned out in thousands by our workers at home. Nurses must be supplied not only to go abroad, but to fill the places here of those who have gone. Educational courses have been established by the Red Cross and aside from the professional nurses many women are learning to care for their own sick in their own homes. This will in turn free more to serve in the hospitals. 29 HOW CAN I HELP? IT is children like these of France just described that you in America can help. They need clothes and food terribly. Most of them haven't had a single new dress or piece of underclothing since the war began and their old things are in rags. Their mothers patch together tiny pieces of cloth to make dresses, but when the cold weather comes, they will suffer unless we help them out. SOME ITALIAN BOYS AND GIRLS THE JUNIOR RED CROSS IS GOING TO HELP See this group of Italian children above who are going to need food and clothes this winter. Their fathers and brothers are fighting in Austria and Italy now; our fathers and brothers will be with them before long. Aren't we going to help take care of them? There are 22,000,000 school children in the United States. If everyone of these children—you are one of them—started to work for the hungry, ragged children of the countries where our battles are being fought they need 30 ORPHAN BOYS BUSY WITH A RED CROSS CURRANT CROP THE SAME CURRANT CROP READY TO BE SHIPPED OVER THERE 3' suffer no more. That is why the Junior Membership of the Red Cross was organized—to give you a chance to work for them. Our President Wilson, who is President of the Red Cross as well, has told you in his Proclamation to you in the front of this book that this is your part in the war. We all want a part in the war—don't let your chance slip. There are many ways of working for your Red Cross. On another page you will see some orphan asylum boys picking currants that were given to the Red Cross. The loaded baskets of berries were shipped to a school at Yonkers, N. Y., and there made into jelly by the Red Cross cooking class as the next LEARNING TO MAKE A RED CROSS HOSPITAL BED picture shows. The glasses and jars were given to the Junior Red Cross workers. In the carpentry department the boys packed them in large cases. From there they were shipped to the hospitals in France where they will be a welcome surprise. If you haven't a Junior Red Cross in your school, ask your teacher about it! If you have one, work for it! The best thing about the Red Cross is that it takes in every- one, men and women of all nations and creeds, and now with its Junior Membership it may include every boy and girl in 32 America. It is one big club, including people of every nation instead of just Americans, banded together by a common pur- pose. Its work is what we call "social service work"—that is, it is work done by some members of our big human family who are in more fortunate circumstances, for others of the same hu- man family who need help. If everyone worked, each for him- self, we would waste time and effort, but by working together, each doing that for which he is best fitted, we make a whole body that can accomplish much. The help of each one is needed in any kind of social service. As an engine will not run THE WASHINGTON IRVING HIGH SCHOOL GIRLS AND AN AMBULANCE THEY GAVE THE RED CROSS smoothly if one little part is lacking, as a dynamo will not work if the contact is not established, so the help of each boy and girl is needed to make this big Red Cross run well. I low can I help, you ask? What kind of social service can I give? Did you ever wonder where the money comes from that does all this work? It comes largely from the memberships that each person pays as he joins the Red Cross. Boys and girls who join through their schools will know what this means. The Red Cross wants your help in money when you can give it, but in any case it needs your work. When you are work- 33 ing for tjie Red Cross in your school and wear a Red Cross button that shows you are a member, you will be proud to think that you are working under the same badge worn by the soldiers and nurses at the front—the button that means wher- ever you see it that the wearer is making a sacrifice for "social service." You can work too by telling other people what the Red Cross is, what it means to the men abroad, what it means to families here, and what it means to you. Start out today by telling moth- er and father and asking them if they belong to the American AMERICAN RED CROSS HEADQUARTERS AT WASHINGTON Red Cross. See how many people you can tell about it every day. Then they in turn will tell others and you will be a real Red Cross Campaigner. Every true American must want to help win the war. Your fathers and brothers may be fighting. You can't fight yet, but that doesn't mean you can't help win the war. The Red Cross stands as the first aid to our Government; our President is also President of the Red Cross; our army works with the Red Cross; our Congress has recognized the Red Cross as the only relief organization that receives its special protection and can render it special aid. In short, the Red Cross has the confi- dence and support of the United States—of our native land—in 34 every way. The last proof of this is the beautiful marble building in Washington, a memorial to the Heroic Women of the Civil War, built by the United States Government and some patriotic private citizens and dedicated to the use of the Ameri- can Red Cross. To be a member—Senior or Junior—of the Red Cross is to be part of a big movement with big ideals—the ideals of Florence Nightingale, of Henri Dunant, Clara Barton, Dorothea Dix, as well as the ideals for which our country is fighting today. When you wear the Red Cross button you are showing yourself a true, high-hearted, patriotic American boy or girl. You are helping your father, your big brother, to win the war. The following list of books has been added that you may know where to look for more about the work of the Red Cross abroad and the lives of its heroines and heroes. In the Red Cross Magazine, which is published every month, you will find the best stories and pictures of the war. Barker, Granville. Red Cross in France. Doran, 1916.....$1.00 Gives a vivid idea of the hospitals, soldiers, graveyards, ambulance trains, ruined villages, and suffering bravely borne.—■ Athenaeum. Beith, J. H. The First Hundred Thousand. Houghton, Mifflin, 1916...................................................$1.50 Boardman, Mabel Thorp. Under the Red Cross Flag at Home and Abroad. Lippincott, 191s............................$!-75 Red Cross work at the time of the Chinese famine, Philippine typhoon, Messina earthquake, and other great disasters, as well as work since the European war began. Bowser, Thekla. Britain's Civilian Volunteers. Moffat......Si.50 An account of the Volunteer Aid Detachments of England which have formed the nucleus of the Red Cross workers in the war. Many sorts of work done in France, Belgium, and Great Britain by these volunteer workers, men and women, are described. Buswell, Leslie. Ambulance No. 10. Houghton, 1916.......$1.00 Personal letters, direct, interesting, even thrilling, of a young American at the front in France with the American Ambulance Service. Cable, Boyd. Grapes of Wrath. Dutton, 1917..............$1.50 A "Big Push," as seen by four infantry privates,—three Eng- lishmen and one American. Based on the battle of the Somme. The words of "The Battle Hymn of the Republic" might be called the theme of the book. 35 Empey, Arthur. Over the Top. Putnam.............. . . .?i .',o Will be liked bv boys. Written in popular style, with plenty of armv slang, and gives a very vivid and realistic picture of hie in the trenches. Friends of France. The Field Service of the American Ambulance, Described by its Members. Houghton, 191O................$1.00 Extracts from letters, diaries, and magazine articles. They all show simplicity, devotion to duty, disregard of personal danger, with vivid account of the difficult work and the havoc of war. Hall, J. N. Kitchener's Mob. Houghton.................|i -25 An account of the training of Britain's volunteer army. Hankey, Donald. Student in Arms. Dutton, 1917.......• • ?i-5° These short essays show the soldiers' attitude toward life at the front, toward religion and the church, toward their officers and to each other. It humanizes war. Huard, Frances Wilson. My Home in the Field of Honor. Doran, 1916.'...................................................$!-35 The author stayed in her home, sixty miles northeast of Pans^ helping the stream of refugees, until forced to escape. She tells of her wanderings, her return to her indescribably ruined home, and her Red Cross work. Hunt, Edward Eyre. War Bread. Holt, 1916. . . .......---82.00 A personal account of the relief work in Belgium, with charac- ter sketches of Brand Whitlock, Herbert C Hoover, Cardinal Mercier, and others. Jones, Fortier. With Serbia into Exile. Century Co., 1916.. .81.60 A young American writes of his relief work and of his adven- tures, in company with a party of English nurses, on the Serbian retreat. Kellogg, Mrs. Charlotte. Women of Belgium; turning tragedy to triumph. Funk, 1917..................................$1.00 Written by the one woman member of the Commission for Belgian relief, with special reference to what the Belgian women have been doing for themselves and their countrymen. Kipling, Rudyard. France at War; on the Frontier of Civilization. Doubleday, 1915..........................................•? -5° Vivid, dramatic sketches of the destruction wreaked upon France, the resolution and devotion of soldiers, civilians and women. They show again his wonderful observing power which overlooks nothing that tells. Livingston, St. Clair, and Ingeborg Steen-Hansen. Under Three Flags, with the Red Cross in Belgium, France, and Servia. Macmillan, 1916.........................................§1.00 Page after page tells of unpretentious daring and self-sacrifice. It is passages like these that make us feel that now we really know something of the war. 36 McGill, Patrick. The Great Push. Doran, 1916............81.25 This book impresses upon the reader, as few have done, the frightful sacrifice of human life, the suffering, bravery and forti- tude which are the daily round of the European battlefields.— Springfield Republican. Mademoiselle Miss. Letters from an American Girl Serving in a French Army Hospital at the Front. W. A. Butterfield, 1916.8. 50 They are slight, but they are real and alive with the writer's enthusiasm about the hospital service as well. Ollivant, Alfred. The Brown Mare. Knopf, 1916..........$1.00 Pictures of life in war time, drawn in homely tenderness, show- ing fortitude and patience in all the common, human, universal things. A Soldier of France to His Mother. Letters. A. C. McClurg, §1.00 Seeger, Alan. Letters and Diary. Scribner, 1917...........81.00 Toland, Edward D. Aftermath of Battle; with the Red Cross in France. Macmillan, 1916.................................$2.25 The authors were members of the Red Cross party which was sent into Belgium. The book is from their journals and letters and is the story of unusual, devoted, unflinching, most intelli- gent service in the midst of Belgium's agony. Turczynowicz, Laura Blackwell de Godzdwa. When the Prus- sians Came to Poland. Putnam, 1916......................81.25 In a very simple, straightforward way the author tells of what she suffered, of her work for the Red Cross and her journey to America, and gives a good idea of war conditions in Poland. The following list gives the names of stories written about American History. Here are lives of heroes in other wars and tales of other battles that were as real as the battles we are fighting to-day. Any of these books can be found at the near- est public library. Abbott.................Battlefields and Camp Fires The Story of Our Navy The Story of Our Army Andrews..............The Perfect Tribute Baldwin...............Four Great Americans American Book of Golden Deeds Historic Americans Discovery of Old Northwest Barton................Story of My Childhood Birdsall..............Perry's Battle on Lake Erie Stories of the Republic Blaisdell and Ball. .. . Heroic Deeds of American Sailors Hero Stories from American Progress 37 Bolton................Famous Leaders among Men Famous Leaders among Women Burton................Four American Patriots Brooks................True Story of Christopher Columbus True Story of George Washington True Story of Benjamin Franklin True Story of Abraham Lincoln Canby.................Evolution of the American Flag Coffin................Boys of '76 Building Up a Nation Boys of '61 Daughter of the Revolution Eggleston.............Stories of Great Americans for Little Ameri- cans Stories of American Life and Adventure Elson.................Lydia Darrah (A Child's Guide to American History) Fiske..................The War of Independence History of the United States—1 vol. Gordy.................American Explorers American Heroes and Leaders Guerber..............Stories of the Thirteen Colonies Hawthorne............Grandfather's Chair Hale..................The Man Without a Country Jacobs.................Brave Deeds of Revolutionary Soldiers Brave Deeds of American Sailors Lessing................(In the book "Two Spies ")—Nathan Hale, The Patriotic Spy Lodge and Roosevelt. .Hero Tales from American History Longfellow...........Paul Revere's Ride in Tales of a Wayside Inn Lodge.................The War with Spain Markman..............Romance History Battle of Lexington and Concord Martin................The Little Monitor and the Merrimac (Hart —Romance of the Civil War) Matthews.............Our Navy in Time of War Morris................George Dewey and the Battle of Manila Bay Heroes of the Navy in America Clara Barton—Heroes of Progress in America Mowry.................American Heroes and Heroism McMurray............Pioneers on Land and Sea Nicolay...............Boy's Life of Lincoln Boy's Life of U. S. Grant Olcotts...............Good Stories for Great Holidays Page..................Robert E. Lee (The Southerner; Patron................Captains of Industry Pratt.................American History Stories (Series) 38 Richards..............Florence Nightingale Ross..................Heroes of Our War with Spain Sparks................The Men who Made the Nation Stevens...............The Story of Our Nations Seawell...............Twelve Naval Captains Battle of Bon Homme Richard—Paul Jones Southworth...........Builders of Our Country Suedder...............George Washington Seele.................The Story of George Washington Skinner...............Boys Who Became Famous Men Tappan................American Hero Stories Our Country's Story Tomlinson.............Stories of the American Revolution Wiggin................The Flag Raising Wright................American Progress Whipple...............The Young George Washington Wade.................Building the Nation 3Q The trow Press, new *ork .' ' Name of School -._; CITY or TOWN STATE NAME OF CHAPTER OR BRANCH American Red Cross School Auxiliary The Banner That May Which is a School American Hang In Every School Auxiliary of the Red Cross