The daily Gate City and constitution-Democrat., 1920-05-25
Her Mammoth Task.

Her Mammoth Task.
That she met with prejudice on the
part of the medical officers, themselves
overburdened with task almost be-
yond human endeavor, and hindered
by departmental red tape, was inevi-
table They scofI1ngly called her the
bird" but gradually they began to ask
for the services of her nurses which
she never thrust upon them. Her
power of administration was accom-
panied by tact, and for the sick and
wounded soldiers, great compassion.
The days found her everywhere in
the hospitals. The nights were spent
in writing long reports embodying sug-
gestions for reform to Sidney Herbert
and to her friends, while the fretting
of the straights beyond her window,
and the occasional moan Of soldier
in the endless wards broke the sill
ence. And then after the last LEI
ter had been sealed, she took up her
lantern, and began her rounds.
Small wonder that her patients
Nrned to kiss her shadow as 1t fell
across the walls! She met them
when they were carried up from the
transports to the doors of the hospital,
and her presence seemed never TO
leave them For the soldier craving
death rather than undergo the knife
of the surgeon, there was the lady-ln-
chief with lips compressed and folded
hands, steeling herself to witness
pain that he might find comfort and
support. For the dying, there was
her lamp emerging through the dark
ness, her fine hand on his forehead,
her quiet voice which recalled for him
home and wife and mother. Even for
the dead, there were letters to be
written.
The Popular Heroine.
Declining respectfully the "man-o-
war" which was to bring Miss Nlgtln-
gale home after two years.. the lady
superintendent went quietly to Lea
Hurst, broken in health. Then lol-
lowed the years of political yet unher-
aided leadership in which she fought
Sidney Herbert and her "cabf
metz for the health of the British army,
which resulted in the appointment OF
subcommissioners to put the barracks
in sanitary order; to organize a stat
istical department: TO institute an
army medical school; to reconstruct
the army medical department, revise
hospital regulations and draw up
warrant for. the promotion OF medlcal
officers WELDING a vast influence
her popularity, her friends
and her own insurmountable Will ana
dynamic personality, she also revolu-
tionized through the publication OF
notes on hospitals, the construction
and administration of hospitals.
The Nightingale Nurses.
Miss Nightingale's lifelong hope
was to found training school Tor
nurses. Broken health prevented her
actual presence in person, but the
publication of her notes on nursing
and the establishment of the Nlghtln-
gale school for nurses at st. Thomas
hospital, London, in which she had
continuous and intimate contact made
her veritably the lady-in-chief of pre-
of war nursing.
The story of the Nightingale nurses
is as full of interest as that OF their
leader. One after another her gradu-
ates began to receive appointments as
of hospitals and work
house infirmaries in London, Liver
also her creed of sunshine, cleanliness,
light air and proper diet to Canada,
Sweden, Germany and India. The
Nightingale system of hospital admin
istration and the training of nurses
was adopted in all parts of the world,
until the very character of nursing
changed from purely volunteer sick
relief to scientific application of we'll
tested theory. The establishment of
three training schools for nurses, at
Bellevue hospital, New Yok City; New
Haven, (Conn.) hospital, and the Mass
achusetts general hospital, Boston,
saw the beginning of the modern
nursing profession in the United
States.
DUNG the next thirty years, strong
marked the development
of this new profession for women"
AS various branches of nursing de-
veloped into highly specialized fields
of activity. its advocates banded to-
gether first under the American So
ciety of superintendents Of training
schools now called the National
League of Nursing Education. The
next step was the uniting of the
young alumnae associations into a
national body, which is now known
as the American Nurses association,
all alumnae societies and
Tho national orga.
nization for public health nursing fol
lowed in due time.
War Nursing in the United States.
Although the offer of the American
Nurses association to act as a nursing
reserve to the war department during
the Spanish American war was not ac
cepted, superintendents Of famous
training schools volunteered through
American Red Cross auxiliaries, nota
bly, No 8 of New York. and with units
of graduate nurses demonstrated at
Chickamaugua, Camp Black Cuba, and
other places what professional skill
in nursing could accomplish as op-
posed to the services of the we'll
born nurse" of the unframed
but enthusiastic patriot.
While this evolution was taking
place in the nursing world the reor-
ganization of the American Red Cross
,b,+ 1p beciD itc nrpprecC n the