The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1914-01-11
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the breast OF the "ministering angel, i
THE Lady with the Lamp" ragged con-
flict between the desire for love. home
and children. and n passion for lie
spent wholly in the pursuit OF moral
ideal
This moving self-revclaticn is shown I'm
letters to her friends and entries In her
diary AT the age of thirty, after she
had formed one deep attachment. she re-
nounced I'll ideas of marriage. She made
this declaration on her birthday in her
diary of 1850.
Il am %. the ago at which Christ began
His mission Now no more childish things,
no more vain things. no more love. no more
marriage. Now. Lord. let me only think
of Thy will"
The name OF the man who made such an
impression on her heart that she half re-
pcntcd her choice OF n single life Is not
given. He is spoken OF as the stranger"
For some years he pressed his suit. Friends
thought marriage with him promised every
happiness, and by many II might have
been called brilliant" Florence herself.
says her b!osrapher. was strongly drawn
TO her admirer. She had not come 10 this
state Of mind in hasty inclination. She vas
on her guard against any such temptation
Many years before in a letter 10 her
"brother Jonathan" as she called Miss
Hilary Bonham Carter. she had written
1T strikes me that In AL the most un-
worldly poetry Cloth prose and verse; In
passion qu'on nppcllc inclination is trcatcd
I'm N very extraordinary way. When one
finds n comparative stranger becoming all
Of n sudden more essential 10 one than ones
family Cvia nattcry. In general OF one sort
or anotherl. one is content with saying to
ones self. oh. that's love Instead OF
! saying. How unjust and how blind 'his
feeling is wonder whether. IL people
we're to examine. they would not fnc
(wha,ever 1t may ripcn 10 afterward) this
feeling at firs, is generally begun by van
ity or jealousy or seif-lovc. and that
what is very much to he guarded against
instead of submitted 10, is the stranger :
admiration (nnd | supp use everybody has
been susceptible ut one time OF their livcs)
having more effect upon one than ones
own family"
I'm this case. however" continues the
i biOgra DneT, INt adAhiaae'' '''N'
stood the test she felt drawn 10 him. not
by vanity or self-love, but because she adj
mired his talents and because the more she
saw OF him the greater pleasure ala she
find in his society. She leaned more ana
more upon his sympathy. Yet. when the
proposal first came she refused IT. AND
when IL was renewed she persisted.
Then. il may be said. she cannot have
been in love with him. And In one sense
that is, / suppose. quite true: for love. a.
the poets tell us, does not reason. and
Florence Nightingale reasoned deeply over
her case But il is certain she felt AZ least
as much affection az suff!ces to make half
the marriages in the world. She turned
away from the path to which she was
strongly drawn in order TO puruse her ideal
In one of the many pages of autooiographl-
cal notes which she preserved in relation
n This episode in her life she thus explained
her refusal to marry
~ have an intellectual nature which re-
ouires satisfaction and that would find II
IN him. have a passional nature whlch
REQUIRES satisfaction. and that would fino
ii in him have moral, an active nature
which requires satisfaction. and that would
not find 1t in his life. l can hardly tino
. satisfaction for any Of my natures. Some
tines / think 7 will satisfy my passional
naturc 1T all events, because that Will al
,a,s, secure me from the evil of dreaming
Rut would 1t? could be satisfied to spend
: a life with him combining our different
movers in some great object. would no'
) satisfy this nature by spending life VIII
III, in making society and arranging do
,o.,;c things. TO be nailed tt
n continuation and exaggcration of my
; present life without hope OF another Woui'
he ;ntolerable to me. Voluntarily TO put y
an, If nv power ever to be able to seize
NO chance OK forming for myself a true
and rich life would seem to me like sui
eide
/ "Florence Nightingale was no vestal as
, celtic" says her biographer =
az don't agree at all Ishe wrote in 1915
{ that n woman has no reason or she does
not care for any one elsc) for not marry
;ng , good man who asks her, and don
,h,nk providence docs either. l think flt
: ,,. as clearly marked out some to be sin
-, women as lie has others to be wives
, and has organized them accordingly iol
their vocation.
: .I think some have every reason Tor no.
: ,arrying, and that for these 1t Is mucf
> ,,o,ter Ia educate the children who are al
I'D, IN the world and can't be got out Of
!, The primitive church clearly though
90. too, and provided accordingly; aht
enough no doubt the primitive church was
IN many matters an old woman. yet thinf
INC experience of ages has proved her righ
: In this
!, ...peath,' she wrote In her notebook II
,s.s is often the gateway to the garden
). where we shall no longer hunger ant
i,nirst after real satisfaction. Marriage, OF
Tho contrary, is often an initiation into the