The Idaho Springs siftings-news., 1910-10-29

OF hundreds and thousands of soldiers
at the price of the exposure of her own
health In the severe physical. mental.
and especially emotional strain to
which she had voluntarily subjected
herself. And it is not too much to
say that the result was a permanent
breakdown in her own health. She
became chronic invalid.
Nevertheless. even in her sickrocm
her mind and heart were still busy de-
vising means for the permanent i'm
provement OF the health of the soldier
and the diminution Of the awful ex-
posures incident to war
When the Crimean war closed there
was a public sense Of the indebted
ness not only of the British army and
nation. but of the whole civilized
world to Miss Nightingale.
Surviving by all these years nearly
all Of her Crimean contemporaries. she
has borne a fame which none Of them
surpassed. II indeed any of them has
ever rivaled 1t. That war had the
advantage of being chronicled by one
Of the most engaging historians of the
century, and celebrated in song by the
most popular poet of the period. 1t
developed at least three Of the most
splendidly heroic warriors which war
has produced in later days, and heroic
deeds which will never cease to appeal
to the admiration of the human race;
but that great conflict was marked
with the most abominable horrors
which can characterize warfare. with
the most disgraceful examples of In
capacity and blundering In administra.
tion, and. worse than all, by what has
been called a sordid scoundrelism
which has greatly dimmed the luster
of what some have called the glori-
GUS war;" and the verdict Of intelli-
gent observers and historians Is that
it was not any soldier of Balaklava. or
Alma. or Sebastopol that deserves to
stand first in renown, but the humble
chief nurse of Scutari.
The work of Florence Nightingale
during that war was like the life of
Daniel in Babylon-one in which not
even an enemy could find fault If
it was exceptionally benevolent in
motive. 1t was exceptionally ef
fective in execution. She was de-
voted to her work as no Indian fakir
to his sacrifices. Yet she never de-
generated into fanatic.
She ventured to antagonize former
traditions and stubborn prejudices.
1t has been well said of her that she
set herself to overthrow the fetish 1T
can't-be-done." and of the supersti-
tiously supposed inevitable. Her sue
cess was beyond words. though her
task was a stupendous one. She was
not only missionary in the highest
sense to the sick and the wounded, but
she was a pioneer and leader. She
left the way open on the part of all
that might follow her to a success like
to her own Her work has been calm
ly and judiciously pronounced epochal,
like that of Lister and Pasteur in
therapeutics. The subsequent achieve
ments wrought In the department OF
military nursing and hygiene from
those days on. and down to the SAM
tary commission in the American war.
and the remarkable feats of the Japa-
nese surgeons and doctors In the late
/ war with Russia, are to be traced to
Florence Nightingale as their real
mother. Perhaps the greatest result
of all has been effected In providing
the impetus in the direction of the ra-
tioual. sanitary and scientific care OF
the sick and wounded