Part 13 (2/2)
”What is it?” he exclaihted,” she said, ”and the house will be directly”
”Who did it?”
”I, doctor”
”Where did you get theht them with me”
”How many have you?”
”All you want, four boxes”
For a moment he stared at her as if to be sure he was not in a dream
Then he turned aithout a word, and never spoke of the ain, but his deference to Clara Barton froreatest a man can pay a woman
Not until all her stores were exhausted and she was sick with a fever would Clara Barton leave the battle-field of Antieta herself to the train, she went back to Washi+ngton to be taken care of until she was better When at last she was strong enough to work again she went to see her friend Quartermaster-General Rucker, and told hih supplies for all the wounded at Antietam With an expression of intense admiration on his soldierly face as he watched the brave volunteer nurse, he declared:
”You shall have enough next tinized the value of her efficient services, the Govern it possible for her to carry on her work on the battle-fields and in military camps and hospitals in the best way
Clara Barton!--Only theon the battle-field knew the thrill and the coain her life was in danger--once at Antietaive a drink of water to an injured boy, a bullet whizzed between them It ended the life of the poor lad, but only tore a hole in Clara Barton's sleeve And so, again and again, it seemed as if a special Providence protected her fro and wounded lay frozen on the ground, and there was no effective organization for proper relief, with swift, silent efficiency Clara Bartonthe snow cleared away and under the banks finding faures which were once men She rushed to have an old chimney torn down and built fire-blocks, over which she soon had kettles full of coffee and gruel stea over a wounded rebel, he whispered to her: ”Lady, you have been kind to meevery street of the city is covered by our cannon When your entire army has reached the other side of the Rappahannock, they will find Fredericksburg only a slaughter-pen Not a regio to certain death”
She thanked hi and later told of the call that cao across the river, and what happened She says:
”At ten o'clock of the battle day when the rebel fire was hottest, the shells rolling down every street, and the bridge under the heavy cannonade, a courier dashed over, and, rushi+ng up the steps of the house where I was, placed in my hand a crumpled, bloody piece of paper, a request froeon on the opposite shore, establishi+ng his hospitals in the very jaws of death:
”'Come to me,' he wrote 'Your place is here'
”The faces of the rough ht weeks before had flushed with indignation at the thought of being controlled by a wouessed the nature of the sued o withacross the swaying bridge, the water hissing with shot on either side
”Over into that city of death, its roofs riddled by shell, its every church a crowded hospital, every street a battle-line, every hill a ra line of forts
”Oh, what a day's as that! How those long lines of blue, rank on rank, charged over the open acres, up to the very rain before the sickle they fell and melted away
”An officer stepped to e While our hands were raised in the act of stepping down, a piece of an exploding shell hissed through between us, just below our ar away a portion of both the skirts of his coat and round a few rods from us like a harmless pebble in the water The next instant a solid shot thundered over our heads, a noble steed bounded in the air and with his gallant rider rolled in the dirt not thirty feet in the rear Leaving the kind-hearted officer, I passed on alone to the hospital In less than a half-hour he was brought toa street in the heart of the city when she had to step aside to let a regiment of infantry march by At that htened resident of the city who had been left behind in the general exodus, leaned froly:
”You are alone and in great danger, madam Do you want protection?”
With a rare smile, Miss Barton said, as she looked at the ranks of soldiers, ”Thank you, but I think I am the best-protected woht her words and cried out: