XLV
She had all the royal makings of a queen.Shakespeare.
She moves a goddess, and she looks a queen.Homer—Iliad.
Clara Barton, America’s uncrowned queen.
Hon. Francis Atwater.
Hon. Francis Atwater.
Hon. Francis Atwater.
Hon. Francis Atwater.
We crown you in our minds and hearts as a “Queen Among Women.”B. H. Warner,Chairman, Public Reception, Washington, August 8, 1896, to Clara Barton on her return from Turkey and Armenia.
Clara Barton’s “queenliness as a woman and womanliness as a queen” endear her to our hearts beyond all words.
President Economics Club, Chicago, Ill.
President Economics Club, Chicago, Ill.
President Economics Club, Chicago, Ill.
President Economics Club, Chicago, Ill.
Clara Barton should be exalted above queens.
Central Relief Committee of Galveston, Texas.
Central Relief Committee of Galveston, Texas.
Central Relief Committee of Galveston, Texas.
Central Relief Committee of Galveston, Texas.
In 1902 the International Red Cross Conference was held at St. Petersburg. At this conference the civilized nations of the world were either indirectly or directly represented. The Czar and Czarina gave Clara Barton a special audience. The Dowager Empress also gave her the honor of a state dinner. Of all the delegates present Clara Barton was the most sought after personage. Not only at St. Petersburg but wherever she went throughout Europe, similar queenly honorswere accorded Clara Barton by rulers and world-famed military officers.
When they came into her presence and were introduced, as to a queen, the greatest generals kneeled before her, and kissed her hand. They were invariably profuse in compliments and in undisguised praise of her services to humanity. Whenever the little, modest, timid woman attended the sessions of the Conference as she entered the hall the whole audience would rise to their feet and would remain standing while she was walking down the aisle to take her seat, and this was not infrequently accompanied by cheers and the waving of handkerchiefs, as if in the presence of royalty.
Referring to Clara Barton, at a public reception, one of America’s great women said: “No one loves a self-sacrificing woman as well as—as all other good women.” In America, as in Europe, Clara Barton was honored as has been no other American woman,—by the “First Lady of the Land,” by the Julia Ward Howes, by the Frances Willards, by the Susan B. Anthonys, by all great and good women—all recognizing her “queenliness as a woman and womanliness as a queen,” and graciously willing to crown her “Queen Among Women.” Writers also have referred to her as “The Angel of the Battlefield,” “The Angel of the World’s Battlefields,” “The Beautiful Lady of the Potomac,” “The American Lady with the Lamp,” “The Angel of Peace,” “The Angel of Mercy,” “The Angel of Humanity,” “Our Lady of the Red Cross.”