The life of Florence Nightingale

by Sarah A. Tooley

And thunder-like the pealing din

Rose from each heated culverin:

And here and there some crackling dome

Was fired before th’ exploding bomb.

Byron.

On May 2nd, 1855, Florence Nightingale, having completed six months’ continuous labour in establishing a system of good administration in the hospitals at Scutari, set out for Balaclava. She was anxious to see how the sick and wounded were faring at the actual seat of war, and it was also her duty as Superintendent of the Nursing Staff in the East to inspect the hospitals in the Crimea.

LADY HERBERT OF LEA.

[To face p. 192.

There were some sad good-byes to say before she quitted the scene of her work at Scutari, for death would have claimed many brave fellows ere she returned to her old post. Sorrowful eyes followed the gleam of the familiar lamp as she went her final rounds on the night before her departure, and heads were pathetically turned to catch a last look at her shadow as it passed on the whitened wall.