It must not, however, be supposed that in the early years of her womanhood Miss Nightingale gave herself up entirely to religious and philanthropic work, though it formed a serious background to her social life. Mr. Nightingale, as a man of wealth and influence, liked to see his wife and daughters taking part in county society. During the winter he entertained a good deal at Embley, which was a much larger and handsomer residence than Lea Hurst. Mr. and Mrs. Nightingale had a large circle of friends, and their house was noted as a place of genial hospitality, while their charming and accomplished daughters attracted many admirers.
The family did not confine themselves only to county society. They sometimes came to London for the season, and Florence and her sister made their curtsey to Queen Victoria when in the heyday of her early married life, and entered into the gaieties of the time.
However, as the years passed by Florence Nightingale cared less and less for the excitement and pleasures of society. Her nature had begun to crave for some definite work and a more extended field of activity than she found in private life. Two severe illnesses among members of her family had developed her nursing faculty, and when they no longer required her attention, she turned to a systematic study of nursing.
MISS NIGHTINGALE.
(From a Drawing.)
[To face p. 48.
To-day it seems almost impossible to realise how novel was the idea of a woman of birth and education becoming a nurse. Miss Nightingale was a pioneer of the pioneers. She herself had not then any clear course before her for the future, but she realised the important point that she could not hope to accomplish anything without training. The faculty was necessary and the desire to be helpful to the sick and suffering, but a trained knowledge was the important thing. In a letter which Miss Nightingale wrote in after years to young women on the subject of “Work and Duty” she remarked: “I would say to all young ladies who are called to any particular vocation, qualify yourselves for it as a man does for his work. Don’t think you can undertake it otherwise. Submit yourselves to the rules of business as men do, by which alone you can make God’s business succeed; for He has never said that he will give His success and his blessing to sketchy and unfinished work.” And on another occasion she wrote: “Three-fourths of the whole mischief in women’s lives arises from their excepting themselves from the rules of training considered needful for men.”
This was the spirit in which Miss Nightingale entered upon her chosen work, for she was the last person to “preach and not practise.” The advice which she gave to other women, when she had herself risen to the head of her profession, had been the guiding influence of her own probation.
The beneficent work which distinguished her as the squire’s daughter had given her useful experience, and had opened her eyes to the need of trained nurses for the sick poor. What is now called “district nursing” at this period exercised the mind of Florence Nightingale, and her attention to military nursing was called forth later by a national emergency.