When Florence Nightingale was eight years old, a little boy was born in Geneva, Switzerland.
His name was Henri Du-nant.
Little Henri grew up like other boys; he was full of sport, but he was always sorry for any creature which suffered.
After he grew to be a man, he was made very sad because of the sufferings of wounded soldiers. He knew the story of Florence Nightingale, and often wondered if something could not be done to help all soldiers.
After seeing a terrible battle in which nearly forty thousand men were killed and wounded, he wrote a story about it. In the story he asked the question, “Why couldn’t people of all countries make plans to care for the sick and wounded during wars?”
And from his thought came the great Red Cross work.
That work began before there was an American Red Cross.
Now we are ready to find out about our own Red Cross.