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Clara Barton Physical Description

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I got to know my saint, Clarissa Harlow Barton through a variety of mediums. These included books from the Regis College library as well as online articles, poems, biography videos and documentaries. Along with these various sources I found through my research images of Clara. These images ranged from self portraits at different ages in her life to her working in the field as well as teaching students in a classroom. Clarissa Harlow Barton was born on December 25th of 1821, in North Oxford, Massachusetts which was located 50 miles West of Boston. Her parents were Stephen and Sarah Barton and her four siblings were Dorothea,Stephen, David, and Sally. Her and her siblings grew up in a middle-class household and earned enough money that her …show more content…

She was described as short, plump, and homely, she had yet to gain the character that would render her face so interesting according to her parents and siblings. Clara’s mother also neglected the child’s thick lustrous dark brown hair which was noted to be her one good feature. Her hair was close cropped which only served to emphasize her broad forehead and sallow complexion. Along with this, Clara had a speech impediment which caused her to lisp and this lead to increasing her bashfulness. Due to all of these difficult things Clara had to deal with on a daily basis, her timidness grew to be excessive. Clara’s mother regarded her daughter as shy and troublesome as well as “difficult to manage” this attitude only reinforced Clara’s own sense of being a burden. As she began to grow older, Clara gained a particular interest in helping others that could not help themselves and directly alleviating sickness or trouble. Her brother David grew extremely ill and sought to his sister for help. She spent large amounts of time trying to nurse her brother back to health. Clara refused to leave his side for nearly two years and acquiescing to his demands that she alone administer his medicine. Despite all of her relief Clara sensed a

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