The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1899-01-10
1.-THE LADY WITH THE LAMP"

Florence Nightingale was the daughter
of wealthy English household, but born
in Florence, and taking her name from
chat city. In St Thomas's Hospital.
London, stands her statue She wears the
dress Of a nurse and carries in her hand a
nurses night-lamp. The figure Is tall
and slender, not to say fragile; the face
Is refined, with q look Of reserve upon 1t
Ia yelled and silent woman" she has
been called. The living face, however
would kindle with a strange luminousnass
in conversation, and the dark and steady
eyes took what keen observer has de-.
soriped as "star-like brightness"
That Florence Nj htingale was II
woman of line intellect. clear Judgment
and heroic quality of will cannot be
doubted. Dean Stanley, indeed-not
given to cheap praisa-has called her "a
woman of commanding genius" and her
accomplishments tell how swift and pene-
trating was her intelligence. She spoke
French, German, Italian was good
classic, and had all the social gifts of her
order. But all her genius ran in woman
ly channels. She proved herself, in the
Crimea, II Is true, TO have great powers
Of admi nistration. her Intelligence,
again, had "a crystalline quality which,
within a certain range, made questions
that puzzled statesmen easy TO her. she
hated shallowness ssnd pretence.
Florence Nightingale practised what
she preached. Born to the ease and lux :
ury of rich woman's life. she yet turned
aside and spent ten years studying nurs.
- wNf Rha u a ~
Ii spital ut kaiserwerth, next with the
Sisters of St. Vincent de Paul In Paris.
Then she organized Hone for sick
Governesses in London. Then came the
opportunity of her life In the call to the
East
On October 81, 1854. she sailed with n
band of thirty eight nurses-of whom ten
were Roman Catholio Sisters Of Mercy,
and fourteen members Of an Anglican
sisterhood-for Scutari ~ am naturally
"A very shy person." she says; certainly
she had a keen horror OF parade. and she
started with her gallant band without
public notice or farewell AT Boulogne,
however, 1t became known that this com
pany of ladies, with the uniform dark
dress, were nurses on their way to the
Crimea, and the white-capped fisher
women of the place thrOnged around them
and carried their luggage to the railway
station, scornfully refusing TO let man
so much as touch AN article. The band
Of heroines reached Scutari on November
5, the very day OF Inkermann. The great
barraok hospital there was hugs quad
rangle, "a quarter of mile on each face;
its corridors rising story above story had
linear extent OF four miles. The hos
pital when the nurses landed held Z, $40
patients; no less than two miles, that is,
of sick beds-beds foul with every kind OF
vileness The mattresses were strewn two
dam in the corridors. the Wurus were
rank with fever ana cholera and the odor
of undressed wounds. And to this great
army of the sick and dying the wounded
from Inkermann in "a few hours were adj
ded, bringing the number up to b.OOO.
Into what Russell calls 1.-THE hell' of this
great temple of pain and foulnenss moved
the slight and delicate form OF this Eng
lish lady, with her band of nurses.
Clumsy male devices were dismissed,
almost with gesture, into space. Dirt
becam crime, fresh air ana clean linen
sweet food, and soft hands a piety.
great kitchen was organized which pro.
yided we'll cooked food for thous and
men Washing was lost art in the hos
pital; but this band Of women created, as
with breath, u great laundry. and
strange cleanliness crept along the walls
and beds of the hospital. In their war
fare with disease and pain these women
showed a resolution as high as the men of
battalions of lnkermann, or in the frozen
trenches before Sebastopol. Middle head
ed male routine was swept ruthlessly
aside. II the commissariat failed TO sup
ply requisites, Florence Nightingale. who
had great funds at her disposal, instantly
provided them herself. and the heavy -foot-
ed officials found the swift feet of these
women outrunning them in every path Of
he Up and pity. Only one flash of anger Is
reported To have broken the serene calm
Will oh served as mask for the steel-iike
and reasoIute will of Florence Nightin-
gale. Some stores had arrived from
england; sick men were languishing for
the III. hut routine required that they
should be inspected by u board before
being issued, and the board. moving with
heavy footed slowness. had not completed
it's work when night fell. The stores,
were, therefore, with official phlegm
locked up. and their use denied to the
sick. Between the needs OF hundreds of
sick men, that is and the comforts they
required. was the locked door, the symbol
of red tape. Florence Nightingale called
u couple of oroerlies walked to the door.
and quietly ordered them to burst 1t open
and the stores TO be distributed
kinglake says that the part played by
the male oiiicialsand by Florence Nightin
gales band OF nurses in the hospitals Of
rne Crimea constituted an int resting
trial Of bo.h brain power and speed be-
l seen tne two sexes; and ne Is inclined
u pronounce, with emphasis that in
this duel of wits the femin inc brain
comes out best, Women supplied exactly
that "agile brain-power. that organizing
or governing aoulty" which the state
NJ eded, I which its male officials at the
moment failed to supply. The males at
th. time In England, he says, suffered
f.. M "A curious lameness in the use of
| ra r-power." They had lost the faculty
o.. initiative, and We're slaves. TO custom.
-Cornhili Magazine.