“Would you tell Mrs. Herbert,” wrote the Queen to Mr. Sidney Herbert, “that I beg she would let me see frequently the accounts she receives from Miss Nightingale or Mrs. Bracebridge, as I hear no details of the wounded, though I see so many from officers, etc., about the battlefield, and naturally the former must interest me more than any one.
“Let Mrs. Herbert also know that I wish Miss Nightingale and the ladies would tell these poor, noble wounded and sick men that no one takes a warmer interest or feels more for their sufferings or admires their courage and heroism more than their Queen. Day and night she thinks of her beloved troops. So does the Prince.
“Beg Mrs. Herbert to communicate these my words to those ladies, as I know that our sympathy is much valued by these noble fellows.
“Victoria.”
This kindly letter, coming straight from the good Queen’s heart, without any official verbiage to smother the personal feeling, was forwarded to Miss Nightingale, and on its receipt she placed it in the hands of one of the chaplains, who went from ward to ward reading it to the men, ending each recital of the letter with “God save the Queen,” in which the poor sufferers joined with such vigour as they possessed. Copies of the letter were afterwards posted up on the walls of the hospital.
Although the Lady-in-Chief’s work and personality had already overcome much official prejudice, there is no doubt that Queen Victoria’s letter greatly strengthened her position. It was now evident that it was to Miss Nightingale that the Sovereign looked for tidings of the wounded and in her that she trusted for the amelioration of their terrible sufferings.
When Christmas Day dawned in the great Barrack Hospital in that terrible war winter of 1854, it at least found its suffering inmates lying in cleanliness, with comfortable surroundings and supplied with suitable food. Not a man throughout the huge building but had such comforts as the willing hands and tender hearts of women could devise. This change had been brought about in less than two months by the clear head and managing brain which ruled in the Nurses’ Tower.
The “Merry Christmas” passed from man to man was not a misnomer, despite the pain and suffering; the men were at least “merry” that the “nightingales” had come. When the Queen’s health was drunk, in some cases from medicine glasses, each man in his heart coupled with the loyal toast the names of the Lady-in-Chief and her devoted band.
CHAPTER XIV
GRAPPLING WITH CHOLERA AND FEVER
Florence Nightingale describes the Hardships of the Soldiers—Arrival of Fifty More Nurses—Memories of Sister Mary Aloysius—The Cholera Scourge.