Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1900-05-21
NOBLE WIOMAN'S
GREAT WORK.

Il H. y f.
Florence Nightingale celebrated so
for many sr=Is past in quiet spot In
the west OF Lardon, in a modest house.
whose every room Is filled with the
tokens Of esteem that have been show
cred upon her, both by governments
and individuals, belonging alike to the
old world and the new. Born In 1920 In
the city OF Florence. from which she
derived her name, she is the younger
daughter of a Sheffield banker named
sShone, who adopted the name Nightin-
gale in accordance with the terms of
the will of one Peter Nightingale
whose property fell to Shone. Born
thus to wealth and influence, She re-
scaiNed every advantage which money,
and education could supply, becoming
not only versed in the ancient Lam
guages, an ardent student of the higher
mathematics and the sciences, but pro-
ficient i'll French, German and Italian.
which she spoke as her own tongue.
However, she early turned to what
was to prove to be her life work, the
care of the sick, and during period OF
thirteen years devoted her attention
and energy to the organiza tion and in-
gprovement of hospitals, visiting all the.
hospitals of London, Edinburgh and
Dublin; all the hospitals OF Paris
gwhsre she studied with the Sisters OF
Charity; the Institution OF the Deacon
3esses, at kaiserwerth, on the Rhine
where she was twice in training as
nurse; the hospitals at Berlin, and oth-
sers in Germany: at Lyons, Brussels.
Rome, Constantinople and Alexandra.
and the war hospitals of the French
and sardinians. LII 1851 she took charge
of a hame for intirm and invalid gov
sernesses in London.
There the opening of the Crimean
war found her. An English army of
25,0 900 men sailed for the Crimea in the
spring of 1854. The battle of Alma was
fought in the following September.
Meantime. the troops remained inact-
i've, decin4ated by cholera and other
diseases. There We're over Il, 900 sick.
in the hospitals. The death rate at
Scutari was AZ per cent; in the Kululi.
hospital IL rose to % per cent. Four pa
stients cut Of every five who underwent
.amputation died of hospital gangrene.
WheE Knowledge of this, to which
every mail added new horrors. reached
England. 1t kindled the nation to pas
sion of mingled wrath and pity. More
than E1.000.0O0 We're poured by the peo-
PIE into various relief funds, and medi-5
cal supplies We're sent out by the ton
while the medical staff WAS multiplied
It'll there was doctor for every hun-
dred soldiers. The trouble. 1t was de-
CARED. lay not in a deficiency of sup
plies. bu: in want of brains and method
in their uses. One man, Sir Sidney
Herbert. Of the war department. said
1T is a woman's work. and there is one
woman in England who can set this
right Then he sat down and wrote
to Florence Nightingale asking her II
she would go to the east and organize a
nursing service In the great hospitals at
Scutari. AT the same time, so that
their letters crossed in the mails. Miss,
| Nightingale had written to the govern
ment offering her services and saying
that she thought the soldiers needed
| good nursing such as women alone
could give them.
Less than a week later party con-
l5sist:ns If Miss Nightingale Mr.. and
Mrs. Bracehridge, ten Catholic nuns of
different orders, eight Sisters of Mercy.
| If the Church of England. six nurses
| from st, Johns Institute and fourteen
from other hospitals. forty-nne in all.
| left England for the Crimea. The jour
ney thru France of this company Of
women, with their uniform dark dress.
was almost an ovation. All classes
showed their sympathy
l Tbs band vi iisIo,sia.; reached Sou Sag!
on Nov. a, the night before Inkerman.
There were then $500 sick and wounded
i -. sgSyre