“No wonder that she came to Europe completely broken down in health, so exhausted by her long, severe labours that her physicians told her she must rest several years.  But hardly was she settled here in Switzerland when the Franco-Prussian war broke out, and the Red Cross sought her aid, knowing how valuable her long experience in nursing would be to them.  She could not refuse their appeals, and once more started in the wake of powder smoke, and cannon’s roar.

“But I’ll not start on that chapter of her life, for, if I did, I would not know where to stop.  It was there I met her, there she nursed me back to life; then I learned to appreciate her devotion to the cause of humankind.  This second long siege against suffering made her an invalid for many years.

“The other nations wondered why America refused to join them in their humane work.  All other civilised countries were willing to lend a hand.  But Clara Barton knew that it was because the people were ignorant of its real purpose that they did not join the alliance, and she promised that she would devote the remainder of her life, if need be, to showing America that as long as she refused to sign that treaty, she was standing on a level with barbarous and heathen countries.

“For years she was too ill to push the work she had set for herself.  When her strength at last returned, she had to learn to walk.  At last, however, she succeeded.  America signed the treaty.  Then, through her efforts, the American National Red Cross was organised.  She was made president of it.  While no war, until lately, has called for its services, the Red Cross has found plenty to do in times of great national calamities.  You have had terrible fires and floods, cyclones, and scourges of yellow fever.  Then too, it has taken relief to Turkey and lately has found work in Cuba.

“I know that you would like to look into Miss Barton’s jewel-box.  Old Emperor William himself gave her the Iron Cross of Prussia.  The Grand Duke and Duchess of Baden sent her the Gold Cross of Remembrance.  Medals and decorations from many sovereigns are there—­the Queen of Servia, the Sultan of Turkey, the Prince of Armenia.  Never has any American woman been so loved and honoured abroad, and never has an American woman been more worthy of respect at home.  It must be a great joy to her now, as she sits in the evening of life, to count her jewels of remembrance, and feel that she has done so much to win the gratitude of her fellow creatures.

“You came to visit Switzerland because it is the home of many heroes; but let me tell you, my child, this little republic has more to show the world than its William Tell chapels and its Lion of Lucerne.  As long as the old town of Geneva stands, the world will not forget that here was given a universal banner of peace, and here was signed its greatest treaty—­the treaty of the Red Cross.”

As the Major stopped, the Little Colonel looked up at the white cross floating above the pier, and then down at the red one on Hero’s collar, and drew a long breath.