Nor can I forgo cordial acknowledgments to the writer and also the publisher of the charming sketch of Miss Nightingale’s Life published some years ago by the Pilgrim Press and entitled “The Story of Florence Nightingale.”
To my friend Dr. Lewis N. Chase I owe the rare privilege of an introduction to Mr. Walker, the sculptor, who has so graciously permitted for my frontispiece a reproduction of the statue he has just completed as a part of our national memorial to Miss Nightingale.
I desire to thank Miss Rosalind Paget for directing me to sources of information and bestowing on me treasures of time and of memory, as well as Miss Eleanor F. Rathbone and the writer of Sir John MacNeill’s Life for help given by their books, and Miss Marion Holmes for permission to quote from her inspiring monograph; and last, but by no means least, to express my sense of the self-sacrificing magnanimity with which Miss E. Brierly, the present editor of Nursing Notes, at once offered me and placed in my hands—what I should never have dreamed of asking, even had I been a friend of old standing, instead of a comparative stranger—everything she herself had gathered together and preserved as bearing on the life of Florence Nightingale.
When, under the influence of certain articles in the Times, I undertook to write this volume for Messrs. Nelson, I knew nothing of the other biographies in the field. Nor had I any idea that an officially authorized life was about to be written by Sir Edward Cook, a biographer with an intellectual equipment far beyond my own, but who will not perhaps grudge me the name of friend, since his courteous considerateness for all leads many others to make a like claim, and the knowledge that he would put no obstacle in my path has spared me what might have been a serious difficulty. Had I known all this, a decent modesty might have prevented my undertaking. But in every direction unforeseen help has been showered upon me, and nothing but my own inexorable limitations have stood in my way.
If there be any who, by their books, or in any other way, have helped me, but whom by some unhappy oversight I have omitted to name in these brief documentary thanks, I must earnestly beg them to believe that such an error is contrary to my intention and goodwill.
CONTENTS
| Introductory Chapter | [15] | |
| I. | Florence Nightingale: her home, her birthplace, and her family | [25] |
| II. | Life at Lea Hurst and Embley | [41] |
| III. | The weaving of many threads, both of evil and of good | [55] |
| IV. | The activities of girlhood—Elizabeth Fry—Felicia Skene again | [62] |
| V. | Home duties and pleasures—The brewing of war | [71] |
| VI. | Pastor Fliedner | [90] |
| VII. | Years of preparation | [101] |
| VIII. | The beginning of the war—A sketch of Sidney Herbert | [117] |
| IX. | The Crimean muddle—Explanations and excuses | [134] |
| X. | “Five were wise, and five foolish” | [142] |
| XI. | The expedition | [162] |
| XII. | The tribute of Kinglake and Macdonald and the Chelsea Pensioners | [172] |
| XIII. | The horrors of Scutari—The victory of the Lady-in-Chief—The Queen’s letter—Her gift of butter and treacle | [200] |
| XIV. | Letters from Scutari—Kinglake on Miss Nightingale and her dynasty—The refusal of a new contingent | [216] |
| XV. | The busy nursing hive—M. Soyer and his memories—Miss Nightingale’s complete triumph over prejudice—The memories of Sister Aloysius | [235] |
| XVI. | Inexactitudes—Labels—Cholera—“The Lady with the Lamp”—Her humour—Letters of Sister Aloysius | [247] |
| XVII. | Miss Nightingale visits Balaclava—Her illness—Lord Raglan’s visit—The Fall of Sebastopol | [261] |
| XVIII. | The Nightingale Fund—Miss Nightingale remains at her post, organizing healthy occupations for the men off duty—Sisters of Mercy—The Queen’s jewel—Its meaning | [274] |
| XIX. | Her citizenship—Her initiative—Public recognition and gratitude—Her return incognito—Village excitement—The country’s welcome—Miss Nightingale’s broken health—The Nightingale Fund—St. Thomas’s Hospital—Reform of nursing as a profession | [292] |
| XX. | William Rathbone—Agnes Jones—Infirmaries—Nursing in the homes of the poor—Municipal work—Homely power of Miss Nightingale’s writings—Lord Herbert’s death | [312] |
| XXI. | Multifarious work and many honours—Jubilee Nurses—Nursing Association—Death of father and mother—Lady Verney and her husband—No respecter of persons—From within four walls—South Africa and America | [331] |
| XXII. | India—Correspondence with Sir Bartle Frere—Interest in village girls—The Lamp | [346] |
| XXIII. | A brief summing up | [360] |
| APPENDIX | [367] |