On a dark lonely night on the Crimea's dread shore
There had been bloodshed and strife on the morning before;
The dead and the dying lay bleeding around,
Some crying for help—there was none to be found.
Now God in His mercy He pitied their cries,
And the soldiers so cheerful in the morning do arise.
So forward, my lads, may your hearts never fail
You are cheered by the presence of a sweet Nightingale.
Now God sent this woman to succour the brave;
Some thousands she saved from an untimely grave.
Her eyes beam with pleasure, she's beauteous and good,
The wants of the wounded are by her understood.
With fever some brought in, with life almost gone,
Some with dismantled limbs, some to fragments are torn.
But they keep up their spirits, their hearts never fail,
They are cheered by the presence of a sweet Nightingale.
Her heart it means good, for no bounty she'll take,
She'd lay down her life for the poor soldier's sake;
She prays for the dying, she gives peace to the brave,
She feels that a soldier has a soul to be saved.
The wounded they love her as it has been seen,
She's the soldier's preserver, they call her their Queen.
May God give her strength, and her heart never fail,
One of Heaven's best gifts is Miss Nightingale.
The wives of the wounded, how thankful are they!
Their husbands are cared for by night and by day.
Whatever her country, this gift God has given,
And the soldiers they say she's an Angel from Heaven.
All praise to this woman, and deny it who can
That woman was sent as a comfort to man:
Let's hope that no more against them you'll rail,
Treat them well, and they'll prove like Miss Nightingale.
1856
(8) Eastern Hospitals and English Nurses; the Narrative of Twelve Months' Experience in the Hospitals of Koulali and Scutari. By a Lady Volunteer. 2 vols. 1856; 3rd ed. in one vol. 1857.
The author, Miss Fanny M. Taylor, was a member of the second party of nurses, which went out with Miss Stanley.
(9) Sayah; or, the Courier to the East. [By H. Byng Hall.] London: Chapman & Hall.
Contains a general tribute to Miss Nightingale, from one who visited Scutari.
(10) McNeill. Speech by Sir John McNeill at the Crimean Banquet at Edinburgh, reported verbatim in the Daily News, Nov. 3, 1856.