Show Iii i ri Sifts to tn th N Nation I 1 ere J JS S Rr a k k 5 e tl Ix r a C a t tt t Me zaC i d di tiger S wr i h. h J I SURRENDER OF THE HESSIAN TROOPS TO GENERAL WASHINGTON AT AJ TRENTON From an a. Old Painting Courtesy of 0 the tb tb M Mabel b l Brad Brady Can Carria of American Arts Arti and ad Science i Y Yal U t By y ELMO SCOTT WATSON UE BE gifts which we bestow Ulon upTon up up- on our friends at Christmas Christmastime time are as varied as their T Ton wishes and our ability to fulfill ful till fill them Similarly the Christmas gifts presented to our nation cation at one onetime time or another another an an- other have hue been a varied lot ong rag nit them a battle a treaty of ot peace ending unpopular and disastrous war the worlds world's hest obelisk and one one of Its most famous to a man and last but not least leut veral babies destined for fame tame In the service f their count country First In P point pint of ot time and first In Importance was the battle I thaI had Its it beginnings on Christmas day 1776 nd d although it was not fought until the fol fol- owing da day the victory which resulted was the nest finest nest Christmas gift this nation has ever re- re elved Ived It Is le doubtful If most of us realize fully tully the of Washington's achievement that old Id December morning years ago To appreciate late fate Its significance It Is necessary to take Into account the situation which confronted the comander comander com- com ander nander In chief as he rode toward McConkey's ferry erry through the sunset of that dismal Christas Christ Christ- nas as day to cross the Delaware The fortunes of American revolutionists were at a low ebb In a year and a half half of fighting hey bey bad had scored but two real successes they successes they ad forced the British out of Boston and had kept them out of of Charleston In August Washington Wash Wash- ington niton ton had lost the Battle Dattle of Long Island with a aass loss ass of killed and end 1000 captured In November November November Novem- Novem ber be he had lost New York city and with It 2600 2000 Idlers trapped at Fort Washington Next Fort Lee had hod fallen tallen to the British and with It large supplies of guns food and clothing By a retreat through New Jersey he had ved aved the remnants of his army But the end of the game seemed not far away Eta BIs troops were dwindling as hundreds of the militia departed for tor their homes Finally he had arely barely left and many of these thue were soldiers Whose term of duty would expire at the end of he e year Canada had been lost the British had r I- I I rA f r e 1 CLARA BARTON BARTONI I landed at Newport and were threatening to cut cutoff cutoff off tt New England the Middle States were swarm swarm- I tag Ing with Tories who were giving aid to the I British So certain was Lord Cornwallis that I the war was almost over that he was packing up p to return to England Small wonder that Thomas Paine on December 19 10 should write his Immortal words These are the times that try mens men's souls Certainly the great soul of the commander In chief was lorel sorely tried In those dark days day For the whole cause or of liberty rested on his broad shoulders He needed a victory needed It desperately If It It was to be saved The result of that desperate need was the decision to attack the hessian mercenaries under under under un un- der Colonel Ball with whom Cornwallis had garrisoned Trenton It was at best a gamble But Washington took the chance chance and and won wont I At Atthe Atthe Atthe the Insignificant cost of four men wounded and not one killed he be Inflicted upon the enemy a 10 loss s of 22 killed 84 wounded and captured But he did something more lie He won the priceless priceless priceless price price- less advantage of time to recoup his forces forcel to pave the way for Saratoga and the French alliance alli atU- ance and to save the Infant republic from dying In Its swaddling clothes That was Washington's Christmas gift to the nation In 1776 1770 But nut If it Christmas 1770 1776 was bright with vl victory vie vic tory Christmas 1777 was correspondingly dark duk with despair For or It was spent at Valley Forge and on Christmas day Washington noted In his orderly book that the army was hutted for the winter In cabins that were little more than piles of logs loge thrown up hastily around holes In tit the ground lie also reported that at this time the army had not a single hoof hoot of any kind to slaughter and not more than twenty five barrels of f flour Few men had bad more than one shirt many only the moiety of one and some IOme none nonet t At t all alt alL Owing to the lack of blankets numbers tad bad a j to sit up all night by fires Dark as Is to this picture It deserves a place In Inthis Inthis Inthis this chronicle For lor the gift gUt which Washington and his bis ragged starving Continentals gave to the nation that Christmas In 1777 was wal an example example exam exam- of fortitude and devotion which has been an Inspiration to their countrymen for a century and a half and which should be an Inspiration for all time to come o tl r r Six years later another and a brighter Christmas Christ Christ- Christmas mas day came to George Washington It was In Inthe inthe the year 1783 The Revolution devolution was wal won On December 4 the commander In chief bade farewell farewell farewell fare fare- well to his officers In the historic scene Icene In Fraunces tavern In New York city On December December Decem Decem- ber 23 21 In the statehouse at Annapolis he stood before the Continental congress In another historic historic his his- tone scene scene his his resignation as commander In chief of the Continental army Then writes JohnC Johna John G. G Fitzpatrick in his George Washington himself Himself Him him- lm- lm self a biography published last lost year rear by the Merrill Dobbs-Merrill company t On Oa Christmas Eve he set out from Annapolis and reached his beloved Mount Vernon that same day dal Ills ls aides Benjamin Walker David Cobb and David Humphreys rode with him and their presence added to the gaiety of the Christ Christ- Christmas Christmas mas mae festivities In Philadelphia Washington had purchased toys and books and other gewgaws for the Custis children and the Christmas of 1783 at Mount Vernon was a merry and happy one S e e If It Christmas 1783 was a happy one for the master of Mount Vernon Christmas 10 years later was a sad one for the nation because of him For on December 14 1709 1790 the master of ot Mount Vernon had bad died So the Christmas celebration celebration celebration cele cele- bration a fortnight later was shadowed by the passing of one who had been first In war first Arst firstIn firstIn In peace and first In the hearts of his country country- men But Dut In the midst of their sorrow they thel were making plans for an enduring tribute to his memory On December 23 his Virginian fellow-Virginian John Marshall Introduced Into the United States house of representatives a resolution providing pro pro- viding Tiding that a marble monument be erected bythe by bythe bythe the United States In la the city of Washington However It was not until 1833 that several Influential citizens of the Capital headed by John Marshall then chief justice of the Supreme court of the United States organized the National National National Na Na- Monument society and financed construe construe- construction Uon tion of the memorial until It rose to the height of feet But Dut another 15 years were to drag dragby dragby b by before congress gave official sanction to the project and aud another SO years rears to elapse before the monument was to be completed Finally on December 6 1884 the capstone was set In place and Christmas day of that year rear saw the foot shaft pointing skyward to remind Americans of the heights to which had risen the man In whose honor this Christmas gift to the nation had been erected f The treat treaty of peace which was once such luch a gift to the nation was the Treaty of Ghent Obent which In 10 1814 officially brought to a close our second war with England Shortly after the outbreak of hostilities Russia offered to arbitrate not because of any fervent desire for world peace but because cessation would allow Great Britain to concentrate her strength against France with whom Russia was wu then fighting But Dut the offer was disregarded and for a year the war dragged along in a series of disasters to the American arms relieved only by occasional brilliant victories at sea New England was bitterly opposed to the war and forthe for forthe forthe the first time In our history long before South Carolina ever dreamed of It there was a threat of secession In the spring of 1813 Madison accepted Russia's Russia's Rus Rus- sias sia's offer of mediation and appointed James JamP J Bayard and Albert Gallatin to join John Quincy Adams American minister at St St. Petersburg as peace commissioners But Dut England declined to have Russia a party to such an arrangement and made It known that she would consider only direct negotiations These were opened in Ghent Belgium In August 1814 with Jonathan Russell and Henry Clay added to the American tion From then on progress was slow The British representatives had been Instructed to make no concessions to the main demands of the AmerIcans Americans Amer Amer- leans but Instead to try to gain as many from them as possible This combined with their arrogant arrogant arro arro- gant gent attitude Irritated the Americans who were suspicious suspicions of virtually every suggestion offered by the Especially was this true of Adams whose Irascibility Increased as the conference conference conference con con- ference dragged on and on and only the tact and diplomacy of Gallatin more than once saved It from breaking up After Arter a deadlock that lasted for tor some time there came from America the news of the British Brit Brit- ish lab defeat at Plattsburg This combined with a change In the diplomatic situation In Europe which made It advisable for tor England to conclude a peace as quickly as possible finally put an end to the wrangling of the peace commissioners and on Christmas Eve an agreement was reached From the American point of view the peace was almost as unsatisfactory as the war had been The Important Issue of of American seamen was WAI not mentioned and settlement settlement settlement settle settle- ment of the standing long-standing disputes over boundaries boundaries boun bonn daries the Newfoundland fisheries herles and nAYip lion tion of the Mississippi was postponed for the future But It did put an end to hostilities and that was the Christmas gift gut of the American commissioners to their nation e I e e e eWhen When on Christmas Eve 1809 1800 Mrs Lindsey Carson the wife of a farmer In Madison county Kentucky Kentuck gave lue birth to a son Ion she little realized perhaps that hers bers was U a Christmas gift to the nation whose fame was to equal If U not surpass that of her relative Daniel Dalel Boone Boon More than a century later Inter one of her sons son's biographers Stanley Stan ley Vestal was to record the day of her travail as the time when an under sized towheaded legged bandy eyed blue-eyed boy sped Into the world squalling equalling lustily with an uncontrolled excitement excitement excite excite- ment meat which no later adventure could arouse In him Small legged bandy-legged eyed blue-eyed and sandy sandy- haired he remained to the end of his hi days and to this unimpressive appearance the sun added freckles Yet this boy typically backwoods ashe as ashe ashe he was waB and apparently no different from other lads of his family and community was to exhibit 11 c het s s L tto I KIT CARSON such luch character display such luch competence and achieve such fame as to distinguish few other lone adventurers In history This boys boy's name was Christopher Carson Carlon better better bet bet- ter known to worshipping hero-worshipping American boyhood boyhood boyhood boy boy- hood as al Kit Carson hunter trapper trader fur-trader scout cout Indian fighter and a man ten times more deserving of the title of pathfinder than theman the theman theman man he guided the pompous strutting egotist Fremont 1 e Fifteen years after Mrs Mra Lindsey Carson had presented her Christmas gift to the nation aNew a aNew aNew New England mother offered to It a gift that was similar and yet vastly different In many ways In the Barton Darton home In North Oxford Mass on oa Christmas day a baby was born Perhaps Perhaps Perhaps Per Per- haps If the child had been a boy he might have followed In the foot footsteps of Father Barton Darton who had bad fought In the Revolution under Mad Anthony Wayne I But Dut the baby was a girl and although Clara Barton was destined to go to war It was not notto notto notto to help cause pain and suffering but to alleviate alleviate alleviate alle alle- It e eAt At the outbreak of the Civil war she turned her energies to caring for tor the sick and wounded soldiers and led In organizing the Sanitary com com- mission She served In the army of the Potomac Poto loto mac aided the prisoners upon their release and after that was ended organized at Washington tt the bureau of records of missing men and traced out the fate of men In 1807 she visited Europe for the benefit of her health and was at Geneva when the Franco- Franco Prussian war opened She joined at once In the work of the Red Hell Cross society founded In 1804 helped to organize the German hospital service and nursed the sick alck and wounded Upon her return to this country In 1873 she Inaugurated a movement to secure recognition of the Red ned Cross society by the United States government and finall finally during the administration ton tion of President Arthur saw her labors reward reward- ed Naturally she became president of the American branch of the society when it was founded In 1882 In the great fires free In Michigan she superintended superintended superintended tended the work of succoring the afflicted and gave aid to the sufferers b by the floods on tho the Ohio and Mississippi rivers In 1884 1 and at the great Johnstown good flood in 1889 Is So to the end of her days dayl which came In 1912 1012 Clara Barton Darton labored In the Interests of the American Red ned Cross and sufferers from dIsaster disaster dis die aster today who look to that greatest mother In the world for aid In time of need can well be grateful to the New England mother for tor her Christmas to the nation gift nearly a century ago O 0 br Wilt wet N. N tat VILI |