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Show Birth of the Red Cross Its usual prompt and effective re-liof re-liof wc-k in aid of sufferers from recent re-cent floods in the South again brin the Red Cross into the .public eyr most favorably, reminding us of itd untiring zeal in the service of stricken humanity. In contemplating the devotion of ' this now world-wide agency of mercv , it is not amiss to give a thought to ' t-'iat kindly soul who was its founder, Henri Dunant, a Franco-Swiss bus!-jness bus!-jness man, born in Geneva in 1823. J Witnessing the sufferings of the ! wounded after the battle of Solferino. j Italy, in 1859, he organized a volun-jteer volun-jteer nursing service for their relief For three years thereafter he lectured j and wrote of the horrors he had wit-,npr-sed, traveling about Europe mak-j mak-j ing his plea for an organization to meet "such emergencies. Officials of in-j in-j fluence were interested and an inter- national conference was called at Gen-, Gen-, eva in 1863, with 36 delegates repro i senting 14 nations and six charitable .'organizations present. Thus the Reel Cross was born. Henri Dunant lived to the age of 32, by which time he had seen the great organization of which he was the father, spread to every civilized nation. Perhaps no man who ever lived contributed more to the cause of humanity than he, and millions vet unborn will be beneficiaries of the noble movement of which his great, sympathetic heart was the inspiration. |