The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1910-05-26
From the Philadelphia Public Ledger.

From the Philadelphia Public Ledger.
| ONM May IL Florence Nightingale was
IL 80 years of age. 1t cannot ". be sa,a
~ that she celebrated her birthday,
for she has always deprecated anything
THAT could be construed as the exploita-
tion of her personality and the service
she has rendered to thousands of suner-
ing soldiers. For her influence has ex-
tended far beyond the field hospitals OF
the Crimea half a century ago. and she
has done more than any one else to ALE
viate the horrors of warfare by insurine
skilled surgical attendance on battle
fields throughout the world.
Miss Nightingale was co-heiress with
her sister of large fortune She was
given an education that was. at the
beginning of the Victorian era, consid-
cred extraordinary. At the age of is
she was presented at court by her par
ents, and a brilliant social career
opened before her, but a meeting with
Eliza beth Fry led to Miss Nightingale
determination to devote her life to the
improvement of the hospital systems
of Europe. When the Crimean war
broke out. in 1854, there was no one
so well qualified to take command of
the horrible chaos of the barrack hos
pital at Scutari She offered her serv-
ices, and her letter crossed In the mails
the formal tender of the position by
Sir Sidney Herbert, of the war depart
ment
The death rate at Scutari was AZ per
cent. In one hospital it rose to S.
Eighty per cent of those whose limbs
| were amputated died of gangrene. The
sick list amounted to over 1900. In
the Turkish barracks on the Bosphorus
there were two miles of sick beds, In a
double file along the corridors. The rats
ran over the wounds of the helpless patti
ents.
Miss Nightingale assembled party
of Al volunteer nurses including ~
Catholic nuns and eight Sisters of Mercy
Of the Anglican church. and took them
out to the Crimea. Upon her arrival at
scutari the Lady Of the Lamp" went
straightway to work to bring order
out of confusion, life out of the jaws of
death, heaven on earth from verita-
BILE hell The day after her arrival they
brought in the wounded survivors of
the charge of the Light Brigade at
b. ,Slava; the next day came the
wo .nded from the bloody field of mixer
mann. Red tape" insisted that all
stores should be inspected ere being
issued to the troops. When she found
that the inspection would take three
days, Miss Nightingale broke down the
doors and Communicated the supplies. She
had soon reduced the death rate from AZ
to 2 per cent. The wounded and the
ldying followed her with their eyes in
her progress from cot to cot as though
lshe were an angel visitant. When, at the
lclose OF the war. dinner was given the
military and naval officers, those present
voted for the one whose services would
longest be remembered by posterity.
There was but one name on every slip
of paper-that of Florence Nightingale.
She went back to England under an
assumed name, and reached her home
ere it was known that she had left
Turkey. The queen sent for her and
Il thanked her in person at Balmoral
Every soldier in the army contributed
days pay to a fund of $4,000 fol
their benefactor, but she gave 1t all tc
found the Florence Nightingale Train
ing School for Nurses in Hanley street
London. The Geneva convention and
the Red Cross society were the even.
tual outcome of her labors In the east
King Edward in 1907 conferred upor
Miss Nightingale the Order Of Merit
and also bestowed upon her the title O
, Lady OF Grace Of st. John Of JeruDa
iiem. In 1903 she was granted the hon