THE NIGHTINGALE MEMENTOES.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1286, 15 November 1911, Page 11

THE NIGHTINGALE MEMENTOES.

Tho Royal United Service Museum in London contains at the present time a group of interesting and valuable mementoes of Miss Florence Nightingale's career, which will appeal very strongly to all those who have been fascinated by the self-sacrificing life of tho greatest of all nurses. When Florence .Nightingale, returned from her great work in tho Crimea, she devoted herself to the Hospital for Invalid Gentlewomen in Harley Street, London, and splendid work was accomplished there. Clue of the rarest of. honours" which can be conferred on im individual is the Order of Merit, and this King .Kdward bestowed on the grandest of women. She was also honoured with tho German-Order of the Cross, tho Badge of llonour oi the Norwegian Red Cross Society, tho French Gold Medal of Seconrs aux Blesses Militaires, a gold enamelled brooch given her by Queen Victoria, and tho cross and ribbon of tho Order of the Royal Red Cross of Scandinavia. Such full recognition as this seldom falls to tho lot of one woman, but there was but one Florence Nightingale, and for all time her name shall be called blessed throughout the British Empire.

THE MAKING OF PANAMA HATS It is not generally known that tho popular headgear known as tie "Panama" hat is not made in the Republic of Panama, but in Peru, Ecuador, and Colombia, and that the material, the "toquilla" ftraw, is exclusively' an Ecuatorian product. The city of Panama was, and is yet to some extent, a trading' centre for this article, hence the -name.I'rora an article on the subject in '!Peru To-day" we gather that theso hats are waterproofed and sunproof, and can-be "roughly handled and washed many times." But great care should bo taken in the latter process, as manv hatters in the north rum these hats "by excessive bleaching, acids, and stiffening glues. They should be washed in warm wafer with Castile soap. and shaped over a form, or stuffed with cotton if no form is available and sun-bleached only. The finest grades of hats are mndo in Ecuador. The material used is torquilla sitraw, which is obtained from the leaves of a. squatty plant of the palm family (carludoviea palmara). The manufacture is carried .on in the homes of the weavers and taken to tho wholesale dealers on certain market days. They work about six to eight hours every day, fine hats being made only in tho earlvmorning or evening hours when there is greater humidity; while the coarser grades are woven at any time. The qualitv and value of the hats depends upon their weight, evenness, oomwtetness, and colour. They should be held un to tho light to see if any accidental tears have been patched up, and their colour should be while, not bleached up, ami not of vellow or greenish hue." In Ecuador, where the finest hats are made; it is not uncommon, for the wealthy planters to wear hats valued at ono hundred sucres, about SAO. and manv fancy prices have been paid for specially made hats, particularly when use'd as gifts to nrinc-es or potentates. Until within tho last few years, when these, hats came into lashion. the prices thev brought, outside of their district and within tho trom'cs, were entirely out of pronortion to their real value. This was due chieflv to tho difficulty of getting the hats direct and in suitable styles. During the "vear 1010 Peru exported 18.39-1 dozens of Panama hats manufactured in the country, for a total value of