“I have faith in the possibility of something better. It irritates me to be told how things have always been done. I defy the tyranny of precedent. I go for anything new that might improve the past.” -- Clara Barton -- December 25th (1821): Clarissa (Clara) Barton was born in North Oxford, Massachusetts. She became a teacher, worked in the U.S. Patent Office and was an independent nurse during the Civil War. She sought to help the soldiers in any way she could. At the beginning, she collected and distributed supplies for the Union Army, then began caring for wounded soldiers near the front lines, earning the nickname the angel of the battlefield for her work. After the war, while visiting Europe she worked with a relief organization known as the International Red Cross, and lobbied for an American branch when she returned home. The American Red Cross was founded in 1881, and Barton served as its first president. Religiously, Bartons views were progressive and nonsectarian. Raised in a Universalist family, she leaned toward Universalism and was also interested in Christian Science. In 1905 she wrote a statement of her religious beliefs to her friend, Mrs. Norman Thrasher, of Lakewood, Ohio: My dear friend and sister: Your belief that I am a Universalist is as correct as your greater belief that you are one yourself, a belief in which all who are privileged to possess it rejoice. In my case, it was a great gift, like St. Paul, I was born free, and saved the pain of reaching it through years of struggle and doubt. My father was a leader in the building of the church in which Hosea Ballow preached his first dedication sermon. Your historic records will show that the old Huguenot town of Oxford, Mass. erected one of, if not the first Universalist Church in America. In this town I was born; in this church I was reared. In all its reconstructions and remodelings I have taken a part, and I look anxiously for a time in the near future when the busy world will let me once more become a living part of its people, praising God for the advance in the liberal faith of the religions of the world today, so largely due to the teachings of this belief. Give, I pray you, dear sister, my warmest congratulations to the members of your society. My best wishes for the success of your annual meeting, and accept my thanks most sincerely for having written me. Fraternally yours, (Signed) Clara Barton uudb.org/articles/clarabarton.html
Posted on: Thu, 25 Dec 2014 18:01:59 +0000