Litchfield enquirer., 1857-02-12
EDWARD c. GOODWIN, Editor and Publisher.
Florence Nightingale,

. state of affairs in our hospitals at the seat of
 war, the year before last, reached this country, | filling every heart with the deepest commisera- ton and dismay, there were thousands of wo- men who would gladly have undertaken to do what in them lay to mitigate the awful amount of suffering which the daily papers laid bare to their readers but there was perhaps, but in one woman the sense of due preparation and practical experience to qualify her for taking ] the lead in such an undertaking. It was Flor ence Nightingale alone who not only possessed the high natural requirements to fit her for the task, whose whole previous life had been in some respects preparation for it-but, above all, who had especially trained herself for nurs- 1 ing the sick and wounded, and for understand ing the systematic organization of hospital, and the government of a staff of assistant nurses. It was, perhaps the first in the chain of secondary causes which prepared Florence l Nightingale for such devotion of her life to her fellow-creatures, the fact that her ancestors on both sides were remarkable for bcnevolence and philanthropy Eaternal grandfather, the late Mir. w. Smith, of Norwich, having 1 been the coadjutor of Clarkson and Wilberforce in their long continued efforts in the cause of slave emancipation in our Colonies. In further ing many other schemes of bcnevolence and moral reform, Mir. Smith was equally remarka- ble for intelligence and practical sagacity, while the excellence of his private character, his su- perior understanding, cultivated taste, and strong religious feelings, could not but leave a deep impression upon his own and his children's children. The memory and example of a life devoted to high and noble aims is of itself a precious bcquest for the head of a family to
 leave to his descendants, and such an inherit ancc cannot but have it's influence in the for nation of character and habits and thus it came naturally to be the habit of the family to which Florence Nightingale belonged to employ themselves in works of benevolence, and to earnestly concern themselves in the wei fare of their felow-creatures. From her earli- est childhood, when surrounded in her home with all that wealth and cultivated taste could bring together of refined luxury, it was still to l the poor around her that she saw the thoughts of her parents ever directed as prominent duty. At her fathers dnner-table and in her mothers drawing-room she was early accus- toned to listen to some of the philanthropists of tho day discussing various schemes and thco- ries which had for their object the relief and education of the poor.
 She had been born at Florence during tem-- porary residence in Italy and on their return to Eugl gland the inheritance of large fortune and estates led to the formation of two family homes in the Counties of Hampshire and Der byshire, where the early lives of herself and her sister were passed in more than usually close contact with the surrounding peasantry. To their benevolent father and mother these poor neighbcrs were held of even more impor- tance than their wealthy acquantanccs and
 it was part of every days duty of the little girls to visit the cottages of the poor who dwclt on or near their fathers estates. In sal lying forth on their morning walk, a basket packed with some little comfort or delicacy for an invalid, or book from which to read to some old or infirm neighbor, was never-failing accompaniment In the adjoining village, schools were established by their father and mother for the education of the children of the poor-not as a mere relief to their conscehces, that in the spending of large fortune so much should be given towards a generally acknowledged good purpose, bu: with deep and earnest de- sire that through those schools number of their fc!low-creatures shcu.d be raised in the scale of beng and trained to usefulness and happiness both here and Hereafter. These schools built and founded by their father be- came, as his daughters grew up, their esI ecial object of care. It was their task to organize them on good priuci oles, to find efficient teach CTS for them, to give instruction in them, and to make personal acquaintance with each and every child, and through that acquaintanceship, aud hy kind words, lcoks and acts, to influence
 them to good. To realize 10 herself more com | pIetely the life and duties of a teacher of the poor, Florence at once took up her abode with a village schootmistress, living with her in her little cottage, and teaching with her in her little school, so as to observe at the closest point of view the relations of teacher and pupil, and thus gain knowledge and experience avail, able for the better organization of the schools in which she was personally interested.
 Then came the time when yet larger schemes ! of benevolencc began to occupy her mind. The condition of the poor in the hour of sickness, 1 at all times matter of interest to her when l visiting their cottages, led naturally 10 con- sideration of their fate when consigned to hos pitals. Some casual exposure of neglect and inattention on the part of hospital nurses led her to consider the. advantage of a better train ing of woman for such employments 1; and the chance perusal of an article in review on the subject, and with reference especially to an i'i-
 stitutiou in Germany for the express purpose
 of training nurses. first led her thoughts and
 sympathes into the channel where they were henceforth to exercise themselves for life. She
 felt at once how well such vocation could em- 1 ploy her own energies and satisfy her yearn- Iings for wider sphere of usefulness, and saw
 how the more skillful nursing nf the sick might employ many independent and educated wo-
 men while at the same time by qualifying l themselves to become narses. hundreds of poor , romeu might find rcmuncrative occapation