Aberdeen herald. [volume] (Aberdeen, Chehalis County, W.T.) 1886-1917, 1910-05-26
ANGEL OF CRIMEA
AT NINETY Years
Renaissance Of Florence Night.
lnga|e, Famous War Nurse.
A VISIT TO Her BEDSIDE,

@'No pilgrimage to Holy Shrine
Says Mrs. Florence Howe Hall, Her
Goddauehter-Great Heroine Favors
Suffrasism, but With a Peaceful
Campaign.
Florence Nightingale, the "angel of
the Crimea" and the most famous of
the worlds living heroines, was ninety
years old on May IL, and 1t was upon
this anniversary that the following
reminiscence Of the great womun's
golden aging and the leaning toward
suffrage was told recently by Miss
Nightingale's goddaughter, Mrs. Flor
ence Howe Hall.
ut was only the briefest visit" said
Mrs. Hall at the Hotel Judson. in New
York city, made in 1902 to Miss
Nightingale's pretty home in Mayfair
London, where she had lain bedrid-
den invalid for many years. But to
me 1t has always seemed like a pill
grimage to a holy shrine.
strangely enough. you know it was
partly upon the advice of my father.
DR.. Samuel Howe, that she undertook
that great work to the Crimea forty
years before.
Honeymoon on Battlefield.
my mother. Mrs. Julia Ward Howe,
and my father had just been married
in the early forties and were back In
England ON their honeymoon after Wis.
iting the scenes where father had
fought and 'nursed In the Grecian
war.
Miss Nightingale. hearing Of his
presence. came to him and asked if Il
great work for humanity did not lie
in the foundation Of such u movement
as has since developed into the Red
Cross. I think SO, and l think it Is
woman's place to lead It, said my
father, and two years later Miss Night
ingale was away ut the German hos
pitfalls preparing for the events that
even she could not then have fore
seen.
"Meanwhile she had become firmly
attached to my mother, and when
some years later was born she asked
that be given her name. She sent
me q beautifully bound volume Of
Shakespeare as a birth gift. and
think 1t the most treasured heirloom
in our family today.
Long. long afterward, when her
fame had become worldwide in the
Crimea and after mother had also
won note through the writing of the
Battle LYNN Of the Republic Miss
Nightingale wrote to send lock Of
her hair to mother and to ask that
her goddaughter visit her If ever
came to London. And years after that
when | finally did get to London l re-
called that invitation which l had
heard of as girl and went upon the
pilgrimage to Mayfair.
"As | remember now Miss Nightin-
gale was sitting propped in bed facing
a window that looked out upon a long
vista of pretty cottages. tiny groves
and timer gardens.
Sne was elSuty-IWO tueu, uilU c"CH
as she lay in bed could see that be-
fore disease wasted her form she must
have been a very tall and a very beau
tiful woman.
"T am very glad to see you, god
daughter, she said. putting forth her
hand and smiling sweetly.
"Then she asked after my mother;
said she had never heard such an in
spiring anthem as The Battle Hymn
and wished me to convey her dearest
love to my parent. whom she remem-
bered to be just little more than a
year older than herself.
Believes In Suffrasism.
81 did not press her to tell me Of her
Crimea experiences. for that was a
subject which she had long since put
by. But l did discover that she believ-
ed in suffragism-not the militant suf-
fragism Of the English radicals. but in
a peaceful campaign that should go on
gathering volume peacefully through
the years until 1t should conquer from
the sheer weight Of its business.