Red Cross Department [pp. 178-191]

OVERLAND MONTHLY
,tav in all that time. Women of leisure have been
,doing clerical work, writing letters of thanks, of in-,uiry, of explanation, from morning to night: 2597 of
them have been written by four or five. They have
been blundering along on the typewriter, adding up
head-splitting columns of figures. and answering tiresome questions, since the first of May. Others have
been day after day at the Ferry at six in the morning,
dispensing coffee and greetings, often remaining late
in the evening. The novelty and excitement of that
sort of thing soon wears off, and there is nothing to
fall back upon but grit.
Men as well as women have given us much of their
time. They have sat during their precious forenoons
two or three times a week in meetings, helping to devise schemes for the advancement of the Society,
Lending invaluable assistance from their larger knowledge of affairs.
We have had a war veteran for advice in military
matters, Colonel WAV. R. Parnell. Mr. John F. Merrill,
Mr. A. Mack, and Mr. F J. Symmes, have given us the
advantage of their extended business experience.
Mr. W. B. Harrington, as Treasurer, is almost con:stantlv at the Headquarters. Mr. J. B. Stetson has
added an element of good cheer at the Ferry which
has done much to sustain the enthusiasm of the ladies.
The Rabbi Voorsanger. with his characteristic enthusiasm, devoted a great part of his time to us until
called away to the Eastern States, and as an appointed
,ldelegate to the National Society we hope he may bring
;back to us much valuable information.
Special thanks are due to Dr. Foute. Surgeon General
,Hopkins. Father AWeyman, Dr. Stebbins, and Mr. W. S.
.AcLure and others for their valuable services in the
early days of the work. The Willing Circle of Kings'
Daughters deserve the gratitude of the Red Cross
,.ocietv for the ambulance which was given by their
efforts. The telephone and telegraph companies have
rendered gratuitous service. Mr. Duncombe has pro-vided his ambulance whenever needed for the trans,portation of the sick soldiers from the trains to the
hospitals.
Men and women both have trudged day after day
from camp to camp, looking for sick and suffering
men. from post to post, looking for information which
seems to be always eluding the pursuer. and hardest
of all, from business house to business house, looking
for the dollar which is called nimble but which never
even tries to e.scape from us.
We shudder at the thought of war, but while the
xvorld waits for that devotion to just principles which
must everywhere prevail before war can cease, in the
mnercy of a divine Providence its horrors are mitigated
by the stimulation of generous and self-sacrificing impulses and the performance of noble deeds. Men are,
after all, better than we think, and we are in these try
ing times constrained to live up to our highest conception of right. which may perhaps be a better development of the human creature than an unending peace.
ANN.A W. BEAVFER,
for The Executive Committee.
RIEI'ORT OlF THIE REI) C('ROSS WORK IN THE SCHOOLS
THE REI) ('ROSS has no more ardent, enthusiastic
friend than the children of our schools. Their response to the appeal made to them was immediate and
generous, sums — not to mention copper pennies,
whic(h were in some instances brought — from five
cents upward being donated.
This contribution is alike valuable to the Society
and the children: to the Society for the substantial
aid it has received, and to the children for the deeper
lesson in patriotism it has instilled. Not the least of
its benefits is that splendid sense of responsibility, the
feeling that each has something at stake, which later
gives to our country its noblest product, the American
citizen.
The patriotic songs they sing, the soul-stirring sentimnents breathing love of country they memorize, the
Pledge of Allegiance they take to " Old Glory," are
all good, but when the child has given up a cherished
pleasure, walked a long distance to save a nickel, resorted to all sorts of ingenious devices to earn the
coveted dime to give to the "boys in blue," it means
something more to him, he has learned a practical
lesson in patriotism.
The children are proud and happy when their donations have amounted to a dollar, so that their names
may be enrolled on the books as regular members of
the Society and the much-prized Red Cross badge is
received. Many of the public schools will contribute
monthly as long as the war continues.
Thus far the schools have contributed:
Public Schools................ $3,574 27
Private Schools........................ 332 40
Parochial Schools.................. 93.,)O
Total............................$3,)72 97
ALICE M. STINCEN,
Chairman Committee on Schools
June 27, 18(.l,.
REI'PORT OF THE HOSI'ITAIL VISITING COMMNINIITTEE
THE Hospital Visiting corps of the Red Cross Society was organized by the Chairman, Mrs. W. B. Harrington, almost simultaneously with the organization
of the Society, beginning the work on May 23d. The
Visiting committee was composed of Mrs. Frank
Powers, Mrs. Charles S. Wheeler, and Mrs. Julius
Weber. These ladies visited daily the hospital tents
of the regiments then stationed here- the First,
Sixth, and Seventh California Volunteers; also the
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