THE LADY WITH THE LAMP. FLORENCE NIGHTINGALE'S ROMANTIC LIFE STORY.

Otago Witness, Issue 2651, 4 January 1905, Page 71

THE LADY WITH THE LAMP. FLORENCE NIGHTINGALE'S ROMANTIC LIFE STORY.

At a dinner given to the military and naval officers who had served in the I Crimean war, it was suggested that each guest should write on a slip of paper the name of the -pex'son whose services during the late campaign would be longest remembered by posterity. When the papers were examined, each bore the same name — "Florence Nightingale. " That was a bold prophecy of 60 years ago, yet it is fulfilled to-day, when every man and woman throughout the British i Empire could tell who was the heroine of the Crimea. Her deeds of love and sacrifice have sunk deep into the nation's heart, and few. would hesitate to speak of her as the noblest Englishwoman of her time. Yet not until now has the full, romantic-life-story of this noble woman been told for the pleasure and appreciation- of her ' country-women. _, — England's Darling. — It "is 50 years ago — to be exact, on October 21, 1854 — since Miss Florence •Nightingale^ with. 38 sister nurses, started from London for 'the Bosphorus to take charge of the Crimea wounded. - She went out in consequence of the revelations of Sir ' (then Mr) William Howard Russell, .The Times' war correspondent. "The commonest accessories of a hospital,"'" he had written/ "are wanting. There is not the least attention paid to decency or cleanliness ; and, for all that I can observe, the men die without the least effort to save them. Are there no devoted women amongst us 'able and--willing to gc. forth to' minister to, the 'sick and suffering soldiers of the East? "Are. none of the daughters of England at this extreme hour of need ready for such a work of mercy?" The appeal- roused 1 Englishwomen and their country to a sense of duty; the authorities were 'immediately inundated with applications fr,om women of all classes ; but there wasjio organisation, and no leader. In this difficulty Mr Sidney • Herbert, who "was at "the head of the War turned to his honoured friend, Florence • Nightingale, as , the one woman in England fitted in- every way to take a nursing staff to the aid/of the suffering soldiers. . The -woman was ready for hei * work, for while he was writing asking her to undertake the great task, ;she wrote offering to do "so, and their letters crossed. — Feting the "Angel Band."-i . "This unique coincidence gave a rounded completeness to the' call of Florence jtaghtingale, which \:ame as tie voice of Gpd> speaking through the tender woman's heart." / .t'~ Only a week elapsed before she had her first contingent of nurses in ma'rching^order. The War Office officially -proclaimed her appointment as Superintendent"" of Nursfeaat Scutari, and she forthwith prepared for her own departure. ■ On the evening of October 21, 1854, the pai*ty of 38 N nurses, with Miss Nightingale, left Londton. The departure was very x quiet, almost- secret, but" their reception in France was in -niarkec 1 :ontrast to. their English farewell. They were feted and' cheered on their way by our enthusiastic allies, ond arrived' on the scene of theirlabours on November 4, the day before the battle of Inkerman. The condition of the wounded when the. "Angel band" arrived was too terrible for words. Beds were reeking with infection. Invalids were set to take care of invalids, and the .dying nursed the djing. A viyjd account _of those heartbreaking experiences is given by Mrs Sarah. Tooley in her excellent "Life of Florence Nightingale" (Bousfield), just, 'published. There was no provision for -washing, no kitchens, culinary conveniences, and no sanitation. But even the task of reforming this state of affairs *nd the superintendence of the whole nursing and hospital work at the front was not- enough to exhaust Miss Nightingale's energies. She found time to organise _• an extempore money office at Scutari for the benefit, of those .desiring to s^nd remittances home ; she supplied the men with stationer/ and stamps to writs to their families ; she promoted cafes and reading -rooms for their- benefit ; she organised work at Scutari for the soldiers' wives and- widows, -many of whom were in a. State of horrible destitution. Almost her last act before leaving the Crimea was to rescue some 50 c or 60 -women -who, having followed their husbands to the front * .without leave, were actually being left behind at SebastopoL Through her influence they were sent home in a British ship. —"At the Front."— The picture of the "Lady with the Lamp" passing at dead of night through the long sick wards' is familiar to every man and woman. Yet it will not be out of place to quote the description given in Mrs Tooley's delightful book: "Her benignant presence is an influence for good comfort, even- among the struggles of expiring nature. She is" a ' ministering angel ' without any exaggeration in these hospitals, and as her slender form glides quietly along each corridor every poor fellow's face softens with gratitude at the sight of her. When all the medical officers have retired for the night, and silence andi darkness "have settled down, upon those miles of prostrate sick, she may be observed alone, with a lamp in her hands, making her solitary rounds." £uj Another note, in the same spirit is toMl by Mr Sidney Herfostt, -who said: M "I kav-e. just heard » grettj account fr<Stf

a soldier, describing' the comfort it was even to see Florence pass. ' She would speak to one and another,' he said. ' and nod and smile 'to 'many more ; but she could not do it to all," you know, for we lay there by hundreds ; but we could kiss her shadow as it "fell, and lay our heads I on the pillow again content.' " — Her Health for Her Country. — The Crimea ruined Florence Nightingale's health, and active nursing became henceforth impossible for her. In 1866. a strong appeal reached heT from Florence to come to the aid of the Italian Hospital Department in the war with Austria ; .- and the pathetic terms in -which her inevitable refusal was eoaiohed show , how painfully she felt her incapacity, and how keen was her interest in the struggle for Italian unity. "I am a hopeless invalid," -she wrote, "entirely a prisoner to my room, and overwhelmed with -business. Otherwise, how gladly would I answer to your call, and come and do my little best for you in the dear city where I was bom. If the giving of my miserable life could iiasten your success but by half an,' hour, how gladly -would) I give it ! But you will not want for success ,or, /for martyrs, or for volunteers or for- soldiers." . -Last May, in. her -eighty-fourtb year, Miss Nightingale from the King tfte. dignity of a Lady of Grace of , the Order of St. JpEh of Jerusalem. But, as, Mrs •Tooley concludes, no' honour or title could make the' name df IFJor-ence ' Nightingale i more peerless.'; it ■is ennobled* by virtue of "her deeds.