Her “enemies,” shielded behind “charges,” made accusation against her,—_without self-sacrifice_; she exposed herself to attacks of every character known to womankind, and made self-sacrifices for the Red Cross and for country. What is inscribed over the portals of the cell, near Brussels, of Edith Cavell, must be inscribed on history’s tablets, of Clara Barton: “She sacrificed herself for the Red Cross; she sacrificed herself for the country.” Slander I saw it tread upon a lily fair— A maid of whom the world could say no harm; And when sunk beneath the mortal wound, It broke into the sacred sepulchre And dragged its victim from the hallowed grave For public eyes to gaze upon. Yea, I have seen this accursed child of envy Breathe mildew on the sacred fame of her Who once had been her country’s benefactor. Human nature hasn’t changed since he, who became the first American President, suffered through the “Conway Cabal,” a cabal not dissimilar in the motives, the charges and the execution, to that through which suffered the first Red Cross President. But George Washington was a fighter; Clara Barton, a woman of peace. The Red Cross President was as patient as was the first martyred American President, under persecution, and who then said “I am nothing, but truth is everything.” She was as innocent and unsuspecting as was our last martyred American President, who said “I have never done any man wrong, and I believe no man will do me one.” Man, political, cowardly-man constructed the apparatus;—the tongue of woman, the sender; the ear of woman, the receiver. Of all the God-given good of earth, one woman is the best; TWO WOMEN, the worst. The only serious charge in history that will stand against Clara Barton is that she WAS A WOMAN; her most serious “misappropriation,” that of her confidence in _another woman_. Away the fair detractors went And gave by turns their censures vent. Elected for life? Yes. Then resigned? She was not a “war-woman,”—she had never filled a swiveled-chair;—yes, she resigned in the interest of peace and _harmony_. And from the facts, distorted, and the motives, impugned, as to why she resigned were taken the bundle of faggots to add fuel to the flames of her torture. Slander never wants for material; Virtue itself provides it with weapons.