The San Francisco call., 1910-08-15
MISS NIGHTINGALE
CLAIMED BY Death
Famous Nurse of the Crimean
War Passes Away After
Short Illness
Was Only Woman Decorated
With British Order of Merit
by King Edward

LONDON, Aug. 14-Florence Night
ingale, the famous nurse of the Cri-
mean war, died yesterday afternoon at
her London home.
Although she had been an invalid for
long time, rarely leaving her ROOM,
her death was somewhat unexpected.
week ago she was quite sick. but
then improved and on Friday was
cheerful. During that night alarming
sank until o'clock Saturday after
noon, when an attack of heart failure
brought the. end.
Her funeral will be as quiet as pos
sible, in accordance with her wishes.
During recent years, owing to her fee
bleness and advanced age, Miss Night
ingale had received but few visitors
CELEBRATED 9OTH BIRTHDAY
On May II last she celebrated her
ninetieth birthday
Florence Nightingale, named for her
birthplace, was born in Florence. Italy,
May IL, 1920, of wealthy English
ter of that William Smith, the famous
philanthropist and member for Nor
wich, who fought the battle of the
dlssenters in the ne English !, parliament th
slavery movement. Her father was
named Shore, and only assumed the
name of w. E. Nightingale with the
estates in Derbyshire that made him
In 1908 Miss Nightingale was deco
rated with the Order4of merit by King
receive this distinction, which, up to
that time, had been bestowed only on
19 men, each of marked eminence. The
order of merit was founded by King
especially distinguished service in all
walks of life.
WASHED SOLDIERS, CLOTHING
Prompted by philanthropic instincts,
Miss Nightingale early turned her at
tention to nursing and studied the sys-
ment under the Sisters of Charity in
Paris and later on the Rhine. During
the Crimean war she was sent at the
head of a band of select nurses for the
relief of the wounded soldiers at Con-
stantinople and there displayed mar
velous ability.
One incident of the beginning of her
work there has a homely interest. The
sick soldiers In that hot climate were
suffering as much from lack of clean
linens as from wounds. Many of the
poor fellows had lain for weeks in the
shirts they had worn in the CRIME of
battle and the bleeding of wounds. 1t
was impossible to get washing done,
said those in charge; there were no
laborers to do the work and there was
no soap. ThereupOn Florence Nightin-
gale announced that she would do the
washing herself.
PRAISED BY BRITISH QUEEN
Angel of Crimea' and Mother of
Nurses" she has been called, and the
words are sufficient to call UP to our
minds her heroism among the stricken
soldiers of that terrible war and her
magnificent labors In behalf Of nursing
generally After the war. and about
half a century ago. Queen Victoria,
who had just made her acquaintance,
wrote of. Miss .Nightingale's great
clear and comprehensive head" II
wish" the queen added significantly,
we had her at the war office"
was an autocrat. Lord Stanmore, in
his Memoirs of Sidney Herbert'-the
war minister whose letter inviting Miss
crossed her letter offering to go-has
criticised her severe tongue and de-
fiance of authority. But In the pres
ence of the appalling problem of hu-
manity that faced her and her band of
38 nurses, what were red tape and au
thority?
REFUSED NATIONS GIFT
The hospital was chaos. There were
neither hospital accessories nor medi-
cal appliances, nor changes of cloth
liiSy liol pIcpSI IOOu IL WAS time
for bitter speech and defiance of au-
thority. And Florence Nightingale,
her sight scared and her ears ringing
with the infinite agony, Numbered at
the war office until the crime was un-
done and her own powerful control was
set up over all the hospitals of the
east.
When the war was over she set sail
for England. The world was ringing
with her name. England awaited her
with demonstrations of national graft
tude unparalleled in history. She took
an assumed name stole back by an un-
expected route and escaped exhausted
and unrecognized to the peace of her
fathers house at Lea Hurst in the
quiet valley of Derwent And when
later the nation expressed its thanks
by raising a fund of $4,000 for her
benefit she quietly handed it over to
found the institution for training
nurses at ST. Thomas hospital, Lon
don. And with that act of radiant un-
selfishness she established the great
modern movement of nursing.
The Crimean episode was only an
incident in her career Nursing to her
was not pastime or an occupation; it
was vocation. She made nursing a
science and gave it laws.