Milford chronicle., 1922-04-28
The Lady
with the Lamp

/ anniversary Ol Lu6 DlIIu u Il lOA ShSS
Nightingale-is to be observed by the
Milford Emergency Hospital. To the
grown-ups and children not familiar
with the life of "The Lady with the
Lamp" the following will be of in
terest:
zone hundred years ago there was
a pretty little girl living in beauti-
/ full English home, surrounded by a
handsome park, who played with her
dolls in quite a new and. startling
| fashion. She was fond of cuddling
these little creatures, and she un-
dressed them and put them to bed, and
made tea for them in dolls house
china, just like all other little girls
in every age of history. But she did
something else as we'll. She used to
pretend that they were i'll, and nurse
them; and also she used to pretend
that frightful accidents had happened
to them, and would bandage their legs
and arms with strips of linen, and
treat them with great care.
AS she grew older she used to go
into the cottages of the peasants
round her fathers estate, and if she
found any of them ill she would set
about nursing them and trying to
make them well. 1t was wonderful to
see this bright girl, who might have
spent all her time in games and
sports, giving herself with delight to
nursing the sick people in her village.
She was intensely fond of animals,
and the first patient she had was
dog.
. Well, the years passed away, and
this happy child, whose name was
Florence Nightingale, became hand
some young lady, who had to go to
London with her parents to be pre-
sented at Court. But she did not like
the easy and pleasant occupations of
society, and instead of going out to
parties she visited the London hos
pitfalls and studied how sick people
were nursed back to health ana
strength. In those days hospital
nurses were very ignorant, and Flor
ence Nightingale was shocked by the
roughness and stupidity OF Englands
hospitals. So she went away to Ger
many and studied nursing there; and
then she went to Paris and learned
all she could there. At last, when she
was quite certain she had mastered
her subject, she returned to England
and began her work of improving the
nursing in the hospitals.
While she was engaged at this
work a war broke out in the Crimea
between Russia and England. At first
people thought only of the glory OF
battle, and the courage OF soldiers
who went singing to death. But soon
other stories came home to England,
dreadful stories of wounded men be-
ing left to die, and of other wounded
men being operated on by surgeons
in the blood-sOaked trenches. England
was shocked by these things, and ev-
erybody cried out that something
must be done, something heroic,
something that would put stop at
once to the sufferings of the brave
soldiers. That was done by Flor
ence Nightingale.
The little girl who had nursed the
sheep-dog and bandaged her dolls
now stood forth as England's Angel
of Pity, and as long as England's
history is written the name of Flor
ence Nightingale will shine in golden
letters on the page. She went to the
Crimea with less than thenty nurses,
and in a few months from her arrival
she had made an absolute change IN
the nursing of the soldiers. Can you
not imagine the peace that came to
the poor wounded soldiers when they
found themselves tended by gentle
women, laid in smooth and comfort
able beds, and felt tender hands
which. shrank from causing the small
lest pain lovingly fastening the band
ages about their thrObbing wounds?
Florence Nightingale used to be al
ways in the wards, and at night she |
would go slowly between the beds,
carrying a lamp in her hand, to see |
that her patients lacked for nothing. |
The soldiers, looking through the |
darkness at the figure moving like an
angel among them, call her "The Lady |
with the Lamp" Her name, it was
found, contained letters enough to
make the sentence "Flit on, cheering
angel" That is what she was to those
thousands of tortured soldiers in the
Crimea-a cheering angel.
You will understand what wonder
full work this noble woman did when
we tell you that at the time of her
coming fOrty-two men died in every
hundred of the wounded, while soon
after her arrival only two died in ev-
cry hundred. She had as many as
10000 wounded soldiers to care for,
and when they had to be carried into
the operating room-and you must
remember that in those days there
was no such thing as chlOrOform-
Florence Nightingale would go with
them, and stay by their side and cheer
them to bear their sufferings.
England heard of all this splendid
work, and the name of Florence
became a household
word in the land. A subscription was
made for her, and 950,000 was raised
as a gift. A man-of-war was sent to
bring her home, and preparations
were made for a glorious triumphal
entry into London. But Florence
did not want fame. She
came home secretly, and went quiet
ly back to her fathers house. And as
for the 850,000, she thanked Eng i
land for the gift, and used it. all for
home for the training of
nurses. Her health was broken by
the hardships she had undergone;
but to the time of her death she did
nothing dearer to her heart than the
work to which she gave herself as a
little girl with her dolls. She never
asked for fame and glory; all she
wanted was to do good. 1t was her
Joy to lessen pain and alleviate suf-
fering."
Every hospital typifies the spirit of