Show r 0 d W n F ht r aL aLa a J iD V nR a e J f r Y A W J v cN r a ac c e J as r R Rt t c it ro i 3 a aA r 1 ap app k ku kc u A V 1 M Mw J p y y k w w w s sk y a y Y F Ft t 8 k f 4 Is i Ail o rr r q qa a a 4 1 4 x z t vet 2 r r b r Q 7 A r rR u q R ia alu spy k kw 1 n fyn Y F L a ah wa h a an n d t t f J w x SURRENDER OF THE HESSIAN TROOPS TO GENERAL WASHINGTON AT TRENTON From an Old Painting Courtesy of the Mabel Brady Garvin Ganan Institute of American Arts Arb and Sciences SCience Yale Elt aBy ELMO MO SCOTT WATSON r liD gifts we e bestow up upon upon on our friends at Christmas Christmastime Christmastime time are as varied as their wishes and our ability to ful fill them Similarly the Christmas gifts presented to t our nation at one time or nn an ant another t other ha have e been a varied lot em a battle a treaty of peace ending d and dIsastrous war ar the he worlds world's obelisk and one of Its most famous I i to a min and Ia t but not least least babies destined for fame In the sen service Ice country I in point of time and first in tance was the battle t Its beginnings on Christmas day 1776 ough It was not fought until the tol fol daY the which resulted was the JJ Rd J Christmas gift thus thIs nation his ever re- re tor doubtful It if most of us realize fully the thee e I tude tade or of Washington's achievement that TI ber mornIng years ago To E Eber i Is significance it is necessity to take into t the situation which confronted the com com- comIn ea In fa chief as he rode toward McConkey's the sunset of that ChrIst f to cross the 3 fortunes of rc were S 1 t x If ebb In a year and an a half haU ot of fighting ad scored but t two 0 real they successes oI teed reed the BrItish out of Boston and had hadem rj b bem em out of Charleston In August Wash 1 i had bad lost the Battle of Long Island with a and 1000 captured In No No em em irli had lost New York city and with It 2 2600 GOO trapped nt at rOI t Washington Ne Nest t i ban a fallen to the British and with It its s of guns food and clothing By a fill ful retreat through ew Jersey he had the remnants of his army the end of the game seemed not far away esre ps were dwindling as hundreds of the I departed for their homes Finally he be had f i left and many of these were soldiers term term of duty would e expire at the end ot of J i Canada had been lost the BritIsh had 1 fir tt l thi fi rr OF 14 F dl fir I IA A r ri i CLARA BARTON 7 It at Newport and were threatenIng to cut i the MIddle States were swarm th lb TOries who ere givIng aid to the So certaIn was as Lord Cornwallis that at ar was almost over that he was packIng return to England Wonder tonder that Thomas PaIne on December aid uld write his Immortal words These are r mea that try mens men's souls CertaInly the soul Ul ot of the commander In chief chiet was sorely In those lose dark days tor the whole cause erty eny Hea rested on liis lii's broad shoulders He a victory needed It desperately it if It was lilted laved thea result ot of that desperate need was the a to attack the HessIan mercenarIes un onel Rail RaU with whom Cornwallis had oiled Trenton It was at best a gamble took the chance and won I At ande cost of four men wounded and andt t at e 22 killed he Inflicted upon the enemy a ah killed h he e did 84 wounded an and captured capture d de something more ne He won the price the ot of time to recoup hIs forces to toan toyd yd an and way for tor Saratoga and the trench alit aUl to 3 sate sa the Infant republIc from dying swaddling clothes That was Washington's nil gift to i the nation In 1776 1 S 1 t t It 1770 was brIght with vie vic des toas 1777 was correspondIngly dark II a r or It was spent ot at Valley Forge 1 Christmas j ly II b book 0 that day Washington noted In hIs the army was hutted for the I in cabins d a 8 thrown h own that were little more than plIes piles d also up hastily around holes boles in the had reported that at this time the not h a single hoof of any kInd to tour a and d ut ur II IIa new not more IDore than twenty five barrels ew men nen had bad I only nl Y the tiie more than one shirt It 0 moIety ot of one and some none o 9 lilting alt Owing to the lack of blankets numbers up all night k kas by fire fires as this hr Inc Picture It deserves a place In c e Ivor the gift whIch Washington h and his ragged stan staring Ing Continentals ga gate gae e to the nation that ChrIstmas In 1777 was an exam pIe or of fortitude and devotion which has been an Inspiration to their countr countrymen men for a century and a half and which should be an Inspiration for all time to come i I years later another and a brighter ChrIst ChrIst- ChrIstmas mas day rime to George Washington It was In Inthe inthe the year ear 1783 The Re Resolution was won On December 4 the commander In chief bade tare fare farewell well to his officers In the historIc scene in Fraunces tavern in New York city On Decem December December ber 23 in the statehouse at Annapolis he stood before the Continental congress In another his tonic scene hIs resignation as commander In chIef of the Continental army Then writes John JohnC JohnC C In hIs George WashIngton mm him himself self a biography published last year by the Bobbs Merrill MerrUl company On ChrIstmas Etie e he set out from rom Annapolis and reached his beloved Mount Vernon that same day His IUs aIdes Benjamin Walker David Cobb and DavId Humphreys s rode wIth him bim and theIr presence added to the ot of the ChrIst Inns mas festivities In PJ Philadelphia Washington had purchased toys and books and other gewgaws for the Custis children and the Christmas of 1783 at Mount Vernon was as a merry and happy one It t t It If Christmas 1783 was a happy one for tor the master ot of Mount Vernon Christmas 16 years ears later Inter was a sad one for or the nation because or of him For on December 14 1709 1700 the master ot of Mount Vernon had died So the Christmas cele- cele celebration celebration bration a fortnight later was shadowed by the passing or of one who had been fIrst In war first firstIn firstin In peace and first In the hearts of his country country- countrymen men But In the midst of their sorrow they were ere makIng plans for an endurIng tribute to hIs memory On December 23 his fellow VirgInIan John Marshall Introduced Into the United States house bouse ot of representatives a resolution pro providing viding that a marble monument be erected by bythe the United States In 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 Na National Monument socIety and financed construe construe- construction Uon tion of the memorIal until it rose to the height of feet But another 15 sears cars were to drag dragby dragby by before congress ga gage e official sanction to the project and another 36 years to elapse before the monument was as to be completed FInally on December 6 1884 the capstone was set In place and Christmas day of that year saw the foot shaft pointing skyward to remind Americans of the heights to which had risen the man In whose honor bonor this ChrIstmas gift to the nation bad been erected t i S The treaty ot of peace hleb was once such a agUt gUt gift to the nation was the Treaty of Ghent which In 1814 officIally brought to a close our second war with England Shortly after the outbreak of hostilities RussIa offered to arbitrate not because ot of any fervent desire for world peace but because cessation would allow Great Britain to concentrate her strength against France wIth whom RussIa was then fighting But the offer was as dIsregarded and for a year the war ar dragged along in a series serles ot of disasters to the American arms relieved only by occasIonal brillIant victorIes at sea New England was bitterly opposed to the war and for forthe forthe the first time in our hIstory long long before South Carolina ever er dreamed of It there was a threat of secession In the spring of 1813 Madison accepted Bus Rus sla's sias offer ot of mediation and appoInted James Bayard and Albert Gallatin to joIn John Quincy Adams American minIster at St St Petersburg as peace commissIoners But England declined to have RussIa a party to such an arrangement and made It known that she would consIder only dIrect negotiations These were ere opened in Ghent BelgIum in August 1814 with Jonathan Russell and henry Clay added to the American delegation tion From then on progress was slow The BrItish representatives es had bad been Instructed to make no concessIons to the main demands of the Amer AmerIcans scans but Instead to try to gain as many from them as possIble This combined with their arro gnat gant attitude Irritated the AmerIcans who sere ere s auspicious of virtually every SuggestIon offered by the Especially was this true of Adams whose irascibility increased as the con conference terence ference dragged on and on and only the tact and dIplomacy ot of Gallatin more than once saved it from breaking up After a deadlock that lasted for some time there came from America the news ot of the Brit BritIsh ash Ish defeat at This combIned wIth a change in the dIplomatic sItuation In Europe which made it advisable for I England to conclude as quIckly as possible finally put put an a peace of the commIssIoners end to the wrangling peace reached and on Christmas Eve Dve an agreement was the American point or of view tile the peace From unsatisfactory as the war had llad almost as was ot of otA Issue of The important b been not mentioned and settle settle- settlement seamen was A American Ican boun- boun bounes standIng disputes ov 0 er ment t ot of the long Newfoundland fisheries and darles es the tIon ot of the MIssissIppi was postponed for the future But it did put an end to hostilities and that was the ChrIstmas gIft of the American merIcan commissIoners to their nation nationS S S When on ChrIstmas Etie E e lS 1800 Mrs Lindsey Carson the Rife of a farmer In MadIson county Kentucky gave birth to a son she little realized perhaps that hers was as a ChrIstmas gift to the nation whose fame was to equal It if not surpass that ot of her relative e DanIel Boone More than a century later one of her sons son's bIographers Stan Stan- icy ley Vestal was to record the day ot of her travail as the time when hen an under sized towheaded bandy legged blue eyed boy sped Into the world squallIng lustily with an uncontrolled excite excite- excitement ment which no later adventure could arouse In hIm Small bandy legged blue eyed and sandy sandy- haired he remained to the en J of his days and to thIs unimpressive e appearance the sun added freckles Yet this boy typically backwoods as ashe ashe he heas was as and no different from other lads of his community was to exhibit s sY sr Y r t ax p std q ZM ry n Y Yr r N ti w tit Y L LK LA K A CF d N n t 06 t y K Y KIT CARSON such character dIsplay such competence and achIeve such fame as to distinguish few other lone adventurers in history This bo boys boy's s 's name was Christopher Carson bet bettel better tel ter known to hero worshipping American boy boy- boyhood boyhood hood as KIt Carson hunter trapper fur trader scout IndIan fighter and a man ten tImes more deserving Ing ot of the title ot of pathfinder than the theman theman man he guIded the pompous strutting egotist Fremont t s S i Fifteen years after Mrs LIndsey Carson had presented her bel ChrIstmas gift to the nation a aNew aNew New England mother offered to it a gIft that was similar and yet vastly in many ways In the Barton home In North Oxford Mass on Christmas day a baby was born Per Per- Perhaps Perhaps haps if the child had bad been a boy he mIght have followed In the footsteps of Father Barton who ho had fought In the Re under Mad Anthony Wayne I But the baby was a girl and although ough Clara Barton was destined to go to war it was not notto notto to help cause paIn and suffering but to alle- alle allevIate It- It it At the outbreak ot of the Civil war she turned her energies to caring for the tho sick and wounded soldIers and led in organizing the SanItary corn com commission mission She he served in the army of tile he Poto Potomac Potomac mac aIded the UIe prisoners upon theIr release and after that was ended organized at the bureau ot of records ot of missing men and traced out the fate of men In 1867 she vIsited Europe for the benefit ot of other her health and was at Gene Genetia Genea a when the Prussian war opened She joIned at once In the work worle of the Red fled Cross society founded In 1864 i helped to organIze the German hospItal servIce and nursed the sick and wounded Upon her return to thIs country In fn 1873 1573 she inaugurated a movement to secure e recognItion of the Red Cross socIety by the United States government and finally durIng the administration administration tion of President Arthur saw her labors reward reward- rewarded rewarded ed Naturally she became president of the branch ot of the society when It was founded In 1882 In the great fires In M tn she superintended tended the work ork ot of succorIng the afflicted and gate e a aId to the sufferers by the floods on the Ohio and MIssissippI rivers In 1881 1851 and at the great Johnstown flood In 1 1589 89 I So to the end ot of her days whIch came In 1912 Clara Barton labored In the Interests of the American Red fled Cross and sufferers from dIs- dIs dIsaster dIsaster aster today who look to that greatest mot er erIn In the world for aId In time of need can well be grateful to the New England mother for her Christmas gift to the nation nearly a century ago e br Union |