THE .LADY W THE LAMP.

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 1940, 24 December 1913, Page 10

THE .LADY W THE LAMP.

ITlprenco Nightingalo in her lifo bo- . ca.'uci a legend; to us of this generation'., she is a figure traditional, historical, remombored. by our fathers in ~ their youth; yet sho died only three yean' ago. Threo years is a short time,.to write a biography on tho ficalo of thri.t of-Sir Edward Cook's, published' last nijOiith by Messrs Macmiilan. "Tho * index a 'ono (it is tho best ive havo ever Keeir.iii' a book of this kind) must Jaavo taken' months to do. _ Add to that'tho f inero .labour of writing, - and. tho fact " . that, in'-a>life which lasted ninety years, ' Nightingale sepius to have kept every lofcOoi." or paper sho received, and copies or n/emoranda of almost ovary 'ouo sho wrote, down to soiled Whcets of bioi 'ing pnper, 011 which a'ho had inado penc'il notes, and the, nature of tho work 110^' so successfully Iw.om;ht ;to its end can b dimly realised. Tf.iat ! jfc shookl hiwo hi 'on- douo at all is juiuonK ; sliing; it. i,s moro difficult- find I wards'- to congratulate Sir Edward G:fok for having de,'rio it- so well. His biwlc not pnly 3. &»'. t! >® ,!' rst , an adequate- ac«mt o\ a lifo which .has been -admired', '■ sentimentalised, about, i 'and worshipped, but ilever till now -.soberly assessed i">r its. solid and ocmtinuon.f.swvlce U » tho community; ilj i» also a document i n tho emancipation, or l.womeii, seen. igh tho life jjt.-pno'.of 'the greatest leactei s of that movement. ' I,perhaps the..brat A ocument of the, Ina d 'at present.ava&tbU • will take . a long time.to readl fully; but it is wortli ; 'tho reading.. ' . . To the English an'.agination, hungry, for tho..symbolic aid. dramatic,_ Miss Nightingale began Mill ended with the \ ' Crimean War, a latfy walking m the, | '.night-time,.lamp in h.a\id, through tho i ;bare and dingy,wards of, the hospital at 1 Scutari, a light in the. darkness to. stricken and dying men.' Yet when tho \ war began sho was a? wo!»ian or thirty'i four, and after it ended slit 's, lived oil-tor over half, a ccuturv. "'™ Crimean ' iAVar was not the first tiling," writes Sir ! Edward Cook, "and still lost', the:Jast, that, ia significant in Itt.iss Night- ! iugalo's life. Tho story, of lier earlier years is that ..of the building up of a character.- It'shows us a girl of high natural ability and of, .considerable at- . : tractions ■ feeling her ; way . to an_ ideal ' i alike in practico and .-in, speculation. , 'Having found it, she .was.'thrown into I I revolt against tho. environment of her jhomc.. . Sho had already served an r 9 ' ! apprenticeship, when tho call to the.Cril.mea, .camo." In .fact,.- apart alto- .: 'pother from,her, inner life—tlio growth of heif. cpiiyic.tio'ns.. ,in religion and in liJio c,oiiduqti i of: lifo—which is so oloqucntly described in the pages of this biography,!/sho. was already by_ 1804 ! probably .". wore capable and experienced i | 'in 'tho art, and/science of nursing than ' | any woman ,of'her time. For cloven j years before'-tho 1 war began she-had i been visiting' and studying in hospitals I both in t ?ud tho, Continent— . carefully inspecting- thoso- in Alexan- / dria, paying , a prolonged visit to tho. German . Deaconesses? _ Hospital at i Kaiserwerth, On'the Rhine, v/liero she went through a regular course of training as )ai'sick; nurse,./walking, tho hos- > pitals/o'fi-Loudon, Edinburgh, and Dublin. - r; In 1853 sho spent'months iu-dif-i'erentiinstitutions:.-in Paris, and in the samo lyeari'becamo superintendent of a isJjondtiiiiihospitaliilfor, .itivalid gentle--1 women.Sr. :So that'it was .not-surprising ' that'at v tho very moment-(their letters - crossed) wlienshe; was. writing -to. tho War Minister's wife, announcing her intention-to go privately to Scutari, tho Minister himselfnvas-asking her'co go 1 oul on-behalf of : the-Government. She. A know , what she.'could do ;. 110 knew he was chuosing'themosf.competent- person '• in England foi- thd'-work, malting tho i(\ ouo sound and-sensible-choice-mado 111 tho. worst-condncted war in tho modern. '4—-history of British arins. _ When sho ,1. went out she was Miss Nightingale— lady of-private means in London, with a fad. for nursing. When she came back /;:/ sho was. Florence Nightingalo, as much

\f n. Dart of tho tradition of nobleness as St. Catherine, and ; tho Government of-

fered a warship to bring lior home. The story of tho black and ovil horrors of tho mech'eal service in.tho ivar, and ! what sho didto roliovo it, has been often told. Sir Edward Cook gives it luoro [fully than before, and with rilany letters and. documents not hitherto printed. The obstacles of ignorance and prejudice which slio had to encounter were .incredible—hardly' less mountainous .Whan. tho tangible horrors of dirt and disease. "Nowhore, so clearly as in Sterling's | : iJ#;hland Brigade in the Crimea,' havo •J found' contemporary evidence of the prejudices against which, the experiment 'of Mr, Herbert and Miss Nightingale ■ jihad to ■ contend. During Miss- Nightengale's visit to Balaclava in 1855 somo 'disputo-arose-among, tho nurses. 'Misa |- — has adrlcd herself,' wrote Colonol .Sterling, 'to the hospital of the 42nd; and will not acknowledge tho voice of jllio • Nightingale, who has written an official ietter to Lord Eaglau on the [subject. I suppose ho will order a 'court-martial composed of nurses, who |fwill ' administer queer justice.' Our ; Colonol is somotliingof a wag. He canhiot help laughing at 'tho Nightingale,' libecause; as he explains, ho has such 'a 'keen sense of thoridieulons.' Hois so 'pleased with his quip about tho female jcourt-martial that ho returns to it in Wuiothor letter. Ho is tickled, too, by a 'saying of tho mess-i-oom, that 'Miss fNiglitingalo has shaved her head to lccep •out vermin:' One can almost 'hear tho ihonest. Colonel's gnll'aw as ho wonders (whether 'sho- will' wear a wig- or a liel'lncfc?' ■ Women, ho- supposes, imagine .that 'war can; bo made without wounds'; 'thay' will bo teaching us how to light 'next',* and as for their ideas of nursing, [why soino of tho ladies actually took to f 'scrubbing floors!' It amused him, but | angered: him no loss. He lias to admit [that he believes 'tho Nightingale' has Lheenof somo use; but- he bitterly resents flier 'capture' of orderlies for mere purjposes of'nursing, and when, ho is asked, |'When will sho go home?' answers with .Christopher Sly, 'Would it were done.' I 'However,'-he writes, ' .(presumably Sidney Herbert) is; gone; and I hope I th'cro'-is not'to be found another Minister who will allow these absurdities.'"' i. The state of tho hospitals beggarred description "It is impossible," sho told tho Royal Commission afterwards, "to describo tho state of tho atmosphere of t'lfo barrack hospital at night. I have been well acquainted with tho dwellings 'of tho worst parts of most of tho great cities of Europe, but havo.never,been in j any atmosphero which; ;eould compare with it." There were no hospital comforts or even necessaries. "The sheets wero of canvas and so coarse that the wounded me.i tagged to bo left in their blankets. . • ■ There was no bed-room'-furniture of an;{ kind, and only ' empH' beer or wine bottles for candle'sticks" 'Ssioh (not to quote horrors mnfpeakable) was the stato of affairs ' when she wont. Before many months were past'she,'had become Purveyor to '•-the' Hospitals, a clothier to the British ■' -rmv-'aivd'' rtu' authority consulted ami defcrrtd'.to-.bytho commanders in the ' 'W t ! : and the Oovernment at Homo k.ie ; .'trinmplied ' oVer the opppsgon of the .' ,i b ' 1 Srl-lvlfc and of the thousand and , wT.o thought that a has- ' Si vhero :tho doath-rato was 42 per " cnt' was a dispensation of lWence: : brom'ht order into chaos, hght and •' S icsr into darkness and disease, :: :Sffilly, -iiub Ji'Jt til .peace was deQumd, tlio Government, and the Farlia

inient and people for whoso interests si 1 .ad done more tlian the generals und u'honi she served.

But her work did not end with the conclusion of peace. In a sense it only Tho work which she had 1111dci taken for the British soldier in the field sho continued at home, visiting hospitals, drawing up memoranda, working 1 on Commissions, publishing books with all tho authority of ail expert. For ton y.?ars sho worked for the advancement of medical and sanitary science in the public services; overywhere her authority was regarded as paramount; during tho American Civil War her advice was sought (as it was later in the Franco Prussian War) by tlje Governments .concerned. Slio laboured for tho advancement of civil hospitals, for the spread of district nursing, and for medical services amongst the poor. Then, lu the early years of Crown government after the Mutiny,' she took up the question of sanitation in India. In some ways, Sir Edward Cook thinks, and wo agree, her work there- was as important as that accomplisfyd in the Crimea itself. The following; letter is her own, and it is, besides boutg a good example of her way of writir.g, a striking summary of results for which sho ' was more responsible than any other single person: — "I am all in the arithmetic line now. Lately I have been makiny up our Returns in a popular form for ono of the Cabinet Ministers (wo are obliged to be very 'popular' for hush I my r/bject respcct for Cabinet Ministers prevails). I find that every ' year, taken'" upon the last four years for which wo have reinrns (1864-7) i', there are, in tho Homo Army, 7'2 l J won v ilive every year who would have been A'ead but for Sydney Herbert's measures, X.id 5184 men. always 011 active duty yy.ho would have been 'constantly sick' i a bed. In India the difference is still n yiro striking, Taken on the last two yi'urs, the.'death-rate of Bombay (civil, m , p'tary, and native) is lower than that of London, the healthiest city of Em »pe. Ami tho . death-rate of Calcutta is lower than that of Liverpool or 1 \Galldllcster I But this is not the groa, \cst. .victory. Tho Municipal Commissi ©iter of Bombay writes that the 'liudd Iml native masses clamorously iuvoko. tiio aid of tho Health Department,' if but one death from cholera or sma li.pox occurs; whereas formerly half of Vthem might bo swept away and t-lio oth.'ar half think it all light. Now they att i ibute theso deaths to. dirty foul water and tho like, and openly declaro them pro ventable. No hopo for future civilisation n among tho 'masses' liko this."'' ' Wo lVay 0 no space to touch on the more porsnn side of Bliss Nightingale's life the 'cq nteniplativeness that went on witiiin tlie.. lifo of action and found-ex-pression in,, tho love and study of Pluto and tho mystics, in her friendships with J'owett ai ti tho like. The reader will find it sj Apathetically studied by Sir Edward G iofc. One final passages-de-lightful in its acuteness and unexpectedness —we must quote:— "Do (to Madanie Mohl, September 8, 18(35) read, if you havo not read Swinburne's ■ 'At olanta in Calvdon.-' Eorgivo it its b; >ing an imitation of a Greek play. fhat'i'is its worst fault. As you said; of.' Macaiilay's.. c Lays 1 ' i , l Thoy. i are like an edd man-in a, pinafore; "or as I should nay of this, It is like a Puritiin foggeti out as a Priest going to say mass. But road it. Tho Atalanta horself, though'sho is only a sort of Ginii mid riot a woman at all, Jias moro reality, more character', more individuality (to.'tiso a bad word) than ! all tho jeiines premieres in all the men novelists I ever havo Tend—Walter Scott, Bulwer Lybton, and all of them. But then Atlanta is not a sound incarnation of any 'social - or economic principle,' is. slie? S'o men will say." —G. H. M., in- - the "Manchester Guardian."