Such was the Lady-in-Chief: she came to Scutari as something far more even than an efficient nurse. She brought the organising and governing faculty and the brain power of which the officials in charge seemed bereft. Delicate, high-bred, and retiring in nature as Miss Nightingale was, she possessed the subtle quality which gave her command over others, that undefinable something which broke down the opposition of the most conservative obstructionist when he came under her personal influence. She was unfettered by precedent or red tape, and brought to her task a clear idea of the administrative mechanism which was needed to afford due care and provision for the prostrate soldiery.
Her woman’s nature was roused to indignation at the sight of suffering which she could only regard as the result of unbending and unthinking routine, and she brought her quick intuitions and agile brain to remedy the evil. When men were dying daily by the score for the want of suitable nourishment, she declined to listen to under officials who feared to disobey regulations by opening stores without the usual order, and took the responsibility of having the packages undone. The Lady-in-Chief was herself a strict disciplinarian, or she would never have brought order out of chaos, but she had humanity enough to know when the iron rule might be relaxed in the interests of those under her care. Her common sense, her spirit of unselfish devotion, and her strong, though gentle, persuasiveness gradually overcame the prejudice of the constituted authorities against the new element introduced into hospital work.
Mr. Sidney Herbert in his letter to the Principal Medical Officer at Scutari (Dr. Menzies) announcing the coming of the nurses, had enjoined him “to receive with attention and deference the counsels of the Lady-in-Chief.” Great as was the power which the unflinching support of this distinguished man gave her, it was secondary to the influence which she attained by the force of her own character. The late Dean Stanley, who was not a man to misuse the English language, described Miss Nightingale’s faculty as “commanding genius.”
We read in the thrilling accounts of the period how the Lady-in-Chief went her rounds at night, passing along the endless corridors and through the hospital wards carrying a little lamp, the gleam of which lighted her progress of mercy and love. Dying men turned on their pillows to bless her shadow as it passed. In far-away New England the idea of “The Lady with the Lamp” inspired the muse of Longfellow:—
A Lady with a Lamp shall stand
In the great history of the land,
A noble type of good
Heroic womanhood;
and it has remained the most beautiful and popular title bestowed upon Florence Nightingale, but at the risk of appearing modern and prosaic we venture to re-christen our heroine “The Lady with the Brain.”
When Miss Nightingale began her work, her energies were concentrated on the Barrack Hospital already described, and on the General Hospital at Scutari, which was a little farther removed. The other British hospitals in the East also came under her supervision, but Scutari claimed at first her undivided personal attention. Attached to her staff were the thirty-eight trained nurses who had accompanied her, the Rev. Sidney Osborne, the chaplain, and her friends, Mr. and Mrs. Bracebridge of Atherstone Hall. Mrs. Bracebridge was to act as overseer of the housekeeping department. A most valuable helper also was Mr. Stafford, a young man of family who had left the drawing-rooms of Mayfair to go to Scutari and “fag” for the Lady-in-Chief. He wrote letters, went on missions of inquiry, and did anything and everything which a handy and gallant gentleman could do to make himself useful to a lady whom he felt honoured to serve.