Hide Article Text (OCR)
May 21, 1892*JTHE WOMAN’S HERALD.5i».,. ;\ *v, *while the fish-wives of Boulogne insisted upon carrying their baggage as theywent through on their way out.Few of us in these days of well-organised hospitals can imagine what Miss Nightingale’s work meant. Everything was in absolute chaos in the vast hospital at Scutari; the building was three- storeys in height.; every room, every corridor, and every available space was crammed with wounded soldiers and dying men. It was calculated that “ four miles of beds set nearly as close as they could stand ”, occupied the hospital. “ In seventeen days,from the end of December, 1854, to the beginning of January, 1856, 4,000patients arrived from the front, many in a state impossible to describe.Surely it needed a man’s heart and strength, with a woman’s gentleness and sympathy, to combat with this scene of confusion and suffering; happily it was now in the moment of trial that Florence Nightingale showed herself the noble, true woman, She quickly set to work, every detail was considered, and soon order reigned instead of chaos. She was so dignified and yet sympathetic that the soldiers took fresh courage in [seeing this young, charming woman always at the post of duty, ready to encourage and strengthen all in their hour of need, and would face the terrible ordeal of the operating table, or the horrors of death, with calmness and dignity. A nurse wrote fromScutari as follows :—“ I don’t know which sight is most heartrending to witness : fine strong men and youths, worn down by exhaustion, and sinking under it, or others coming in, as many hundreds did yesterday, fearfully wounded.” __—- — — — — A MlaFLORENCE NIGHTINGALE' .“ A Lady with a Lamp shall stand:In the great history of the land,A noble type of good,Heroic womanhood.”Kinglake, the historian, wrote of Florence Nightingale in glowing words: Wi th all the rare attributes that make her gracious presence a blessing at the patient’s bedside, this gifted woman, when learning how best to compass the objects of a largely-extended benevolence, had become well versed, well practised in the bus ness of hospital management; and none knew better than she did that if kind, devoted attention will suffice to comfort one sufferer, or even perhaps four or five, it is powerless to benefit those who number by thousands, unless reinforced by method, by organisation, by discipline.” SheLongfelloiv. I is described at this time as tall and graceful, with small, well-shaped head,N Sunday last, the 15th of May, Florence Nightingale attained her seventy- her eyes were extremely soft and sympathetic, her upper lip and mouth showed^ second year, and the occasion seems to me a very appropriate one to indomitable courage and will. What she undertook she was resolved shouldrive the readers of the Woman’s Herald a short sketch of one of the noblest be carried through to the end. She had enormous influence with men,, andvoroen in the world. The name of Florence Nightingale conjures up a host was possessed of that true womanly refinement and delicacy which enabled,f recollections, probably no woman is held in greater reverence, and there is her to pass untouched and unhurt through scenes and trials which might havemt a country in Europe, Asia, or America, where the tale of her devoted self- robbed many women of their greatest charms. Her one word was duty, andlacrifice to the call ol duty has not become almost a household word. But surely no soldier ever did his duty more nobly than our grand woman, Florence Florence Nightingale belongs to the band of noble women who “ do good by Nightingale. Her public work and life durmg thc Crimean War has become stealth and blush to find it fame . She is of singularly retiring and modest Part of the nation s history, and will ever he held up as one of its noblestlisnosition and objects strongly to any personal record at the hands of the pages so long as the world endures.Interviewer, thus I have been obliged to glean hither and thither to fill in my Florence Nightingale returned from the Crimea after two years, but itpresent sketch, and am indebted in great measure to the Hospital, in whose speaks volumes for the exceptional strain placed upon her that during thiscolumns an admirable biography of Miss Nightingale appeared in July, 1889. short space she lost her health, and returned alas! an invalid. She has forFlorence Nightingale was horn in fair Florence, May, 1820, her father was many years been confined to one room, and sees only her friends and those. . , n a +i f rr» la mpnriH atiH tip himself superintended who have business with her. A grateful nation, m recognition of Florencea cultivated, refined gentleman of ample means, and he mmseit supeimtenae ■ .U A hut shethe education of his two daughters. Her childhood was passed in England Nightinga.e s magnificent work, subscribed £50,000 as a testimonial, but she_ ,. •ditt TTnrof nprlwsViirp and in these earlv begged the sum might be devoted to the formation and maintenance of anat Embley Park, Hampshire, and Lea Hurst, Deibyshne, and m tnese eauy .* . f Thomas’ Hosnital,l.„. wJL~ wsA.tfa.~U first, learned and nractised those lessons of self- | Institute for the training and employment of nurses at St. Thomas Hospital.Undoubtedly it was due to Florence Nightingale that the presentdavs Florence Nightingale first learned and practised those lessons of self-1.1 1 1 -A 1_.\ i Lor fn+iirp work Her I Undoubtedly it was due to luorence xnignuugBiv nmtlemal and charity which were the mainspnng 01 her luture worx. tier .... , „ , . , Q0+0u;aii0ii and it would hp aFafv.nw v.,na „ mao and without doubt his influence was the first admirable system of trained nurses was ever established, and it would be afather was a philanthropic man, and without doubt his influence was first brought to bear upon the young girl. She visited hospitals, schools, lefoi-matories, etc., with a view to a practical knowledge of the life led by the poor in these institutions, she even spent some months in Paris amongt the Sisters of Mercy, and thoroughly investigated even the minutest details before com-sorry return for all she has done, if any women who follow in her steps should forget this. She made it possible, she laboured, and we to-day have entered into the fruits of her labours. By her own gentle dignity and earnest perseverance she has raised the profession of nursing to an art. whose members include our best and noblest women. “ By the power of her fame, by the• V 11. OL a o+valfo™,! ow an manv have been bv include our best and noblest women. xy me puwei ui uw «*u.0, ^ —mencing her own labours. She was not stiaitened as so many nave Deen uy . ? if nn« mav sn sneak awant of means, but, blessed with this world’s goods, she gave liberally, and wisdom and authority of her counse s she ^d 1if^one ’established a small Sanitormm in Harley Street, which she entirely organised thlTdene of miser^and maintained.and even brings solace, brings guidance, brings hope into those dens of mise*......TheBut^erhaps Florence Nightingale would never have become famous if her that until the blessing has reached them, seem only to harbour despair.? , f ,, -.nw A Fnp-Iand was under the shadow presence of noble refined women in the sick room cheers and comforts, and theiropportunity had not come. In the year 1854 hingland was unaer tne snauuw ^ . iiB Bnffn,or ond Hallows the chamberof a terrible war, thousands of our soldiers were out in the Crimea, fighting | sympathy and gentleness soothes the weary sufferer, and hallows for home and country against fearful odds, ill-provided with necessaries, in a- .mm t _ -.11of death.men who had earned a nation’s gratitude and won Alma, were lying strickenSir Robert Peel’s | other papers, have been widely read.trying eiimnte, they had“ to wage war against peetilenee and famine as well I Florence Nightingde’e heart is still with b^as against the foe. The hospitals in the Crimea were badly managed, and the interested to-day as m the yearsmJ A „ and won Alma, were lying stricken nursing, and her “ Notes on Hospitals and Notes on Nmsing , with manyHer “Notes on Nursing”, publishedin 1860, have had a sale of 100,000 copies!In addition to her more public and better known work, Florence Nightingale rendered valuable assistance to Lord Herbert, when he was head of the War Office, in framing measures of sanitary reform, by which the health of the soldier has been so much benefited. In India she did good work amongst thedown, slowly dying of preventible disease and want, letter to the Times, calling attention to the state of things in the East, roused the sympathy of everyone, money was freely offered, a Patriotic Fund was established, and in an incredibly short space £25,462 had been collected. But money can do so little by itself, the gentle hand of woman was needed toIt wassoothe the sick and suffering, and to ease the weary hours of pain. It was soldier has been so mucn oenenma « ^ eanitary 8tate of heresolved to send out a band of trained nurses to onr soldiers, who would Hmdoo women, and greatly a,ded to mprov he *undertake the management of the military hospital. In these days the task is an easy one, military nurses are always to the front in case of war, but it must be remembered that in the year 1854 trained nurses scarcely existed.This was Miss Florence Nightingale’s opportunity, and she nobly responded to the call made. Her experience already gained amongst the ick and suffei * 3 gave her the necessary qualifications, and in November she established herself with her staff of nurses at the Scutari Barrack Hospital, happily in time to receive the wounded soldiers as they poured in from the battle of Inkerman. She had eight Protestant sisters, six St. John’s nurses, six Catholic ditto, withThe enthusiasmseventeen from various other hospitals, thirty-seven in all. created by the self-sacrifice of these noble women was unbounded, and 1^ a A I 1abarracks and stations out there. At the time of the Franco-German War, and again during the American War, she gave much good advice about nursing,and was over ready to do what she could.She lives a life of the utmost retirement during late years; occasionallycoming to London, she spends the greater part of the year at Lea Hurst, loved and reverenced by young and old alike, and influencing by her shining example thousands of women to go and do likewise. Well did Longfellow name her “The Lady of the Lamp”, her candlestick is indeed set on a hill, and from thence givetli light to a whole world; she is a worthy example of what awoman can do and suffer.Our picture of Florence Nightingale is from a portrait by H. Lentliall,matter of history: in France, hotebkeepers refused to accept any fees from them, { Bournemouth.
Newspaper Details
London Woman Herald
London, Middlesex, GB
Sat, May 21, 1892
Page 10
Full Page
Clipped by
Lois L.
CA 16 May 2020
Other Publications Near London, Middlesex
Bingleys Journal
Arminian Magazine
London Daily Mail
London Stars and Stripes
London Daily Universal Register
