FLORENCE. NIGHTINGALE.

Taranaki Herald, Volume LIV, Issue 13663, 30 March 1908, Page 3

FLORENCE. NIGHTIN GALE.

Probably ,a. good man§r v pfeoploj.jvho road the cablegram announpeing that Florence Nightingale's nephew haa roceivocT al'the Giujdhall, on l(elKtlf'/>f his distinguished i-elative, tho freedom of the City of Lcnijidon, had forgotten that the "lady of the tymp" was still living. The Crimean Wa*> of which she became the heroine, is a dim meitfory, and its veterans are rapidly'lfwlnaling away. On March 28, i&H* 1 vfr£ was declared by the Allies ajjsdijsi TJ&sssia,, 'and. in the same" year Miss Nightingale organised a department of nursing at Scutari to cajre for. the . tick and I wounded. She wajj a Wbmajn bf^ealth,, bu^ had devoted Her early days to* 'the study of hospitaf work. v Diwing ;the Crimean ; campaign the miinfanage-' ment of the British Hqsrjilai SerVice. was simply ' orimiftal. , : Tjief c wa> ' a J dearth of doctors', and a vsjst ignorance of whafi to 'do and how to do it,. *p% airthough there "w%e modjcal supplies and rations in a^undanpc, they could not be- obtained ' teJtaept afteij long, unwinding oi official red' # .tap£. IJtteanwhilo thousands oK brave men were dy« ing of fever, of pubescent wpijnds, and of starvation. NJglttinjiaJe,' who possessed extraordinary, adnunistratira ( abilities, energy and courage, wont fo'f tlie oflicer in charge of tlie storehouses. •'Open these doofa/' she demanded. "I must havo food and medicine for tho sick :and wQg»ded r> me^.Vj" The officer, so the story goes,' stolidly declared that he' coiiM nbt t give them up without a,n o>dei< fi*oin , some* remote bureaucrat. Mis 3 Nightingale at^once called a. s^uad of • ' 'Break down those, doors ,'?'■ she commanded ; impel iously*.' No ono< dared oppose her* and from that time she. became the idol of.the army. .-Whon waswasovor she refiwed all pubHe notice or ro\yard, hnt'-a tntub-flf £S(HDOO was; subscribed for -tile of Onabliijig her to form HW'-fttstitutinn^ foi» the' Gaining of nurses. "King Edward conferred upon l her the Order of Merit, an order instiferffcod^m 1902. to which she is the first woman that has been admitted. No one can enter it save those who havo won distinction in science, art, war "or" the 'professions. Very few have so f&t received tho decoration, but ambhg^ thorn , are' Lord Roberts and Lorcf. nitchener, representing the army, liprd Hayjeigh and tho late Lord 'Kelvin, as leaders in natural science, ana tword Lister as iho greatest of modern contributors to our medical . knowledge, Florence, Nightingale" is now, in; her 1 eighty-eighth year. ,'