_AT EVENTIDE_
Miss Nightingale to-day--Her Interest in Passing Events--Recent
Letter to Derbyshire Nurses--Celebrates Eighty-fourth
Birthday--King confers Dignity of a Lady of Grace--Appointed
by King Edward VII. to the Order of Merit--Letter from the
German Emperor--Elected to the Honorary Freedom of the City of
London--Summary of her Noble Life.
The golden evening brightens in the west;
Soon, soon to faithful warriors comes their rest.
DR. WALSHAM HOW.
The shadows of evening have fallen about the life of our revered
heroine. Miss Nightingale has not left her London house for many
years, and remains principally in bed. Her mind is still unclouded,
and she follows with something of the old eager spirit the events of
the day, more particularly those which relate to the nursing world.
She is no longer able to deal personally with her correspondence, all
of which passes through the hands of her secretary. Nothing gives her
greater pleasure than to chat over past days with her old friends and
fellow-workers, and she occasionally receives by invitation members of
the nursing profession who are heads of institutions with which her
name is connected.
She followed with intense interest the elaborate preparations made for
dealing with the sick and wounded in the South African War, bringing
home to her as it so vividly did the difficulties of the pioneer work
at the time of the Crimean campaign. It gave her peculiar pleasure to
receive and bid God-speed to some of the nurses before their departure
for South Africa.
Even at her great age Miss Nightingale retains the distinction of
manner and speech which gave her such influence in the past, and now
and again a flash of the old shrewd wit breaks out when views with
which she is not in agreement are advanced. Her friends marvel most
at the almost youthful roundness and placidity of her face. Time has
scarcely printed a line on her brow, or a wrinkle on her cheeks, or
clouded the clearness of her penetrating eyes, which is the more
remarkable when it is remembered that she has been a suffering and
over-worked invalid ever since her return from the Crimea. The dainty
lace cap falling over the silver hair in long lapels gives a charming
frame to Miss Nightingale’s face which is singularly beautiful in old
age. When receiving a visitor, she seems, as one phrased it, “to talk
with her hands,” which retain their beautiful shape, and which she
has a habit of moving over the coverlet, as from a sitting posture she
inclines towards her friends in the course of conversation.
A delightful trait in Miss Nightingale’s character is the honour which
she pays to the women of a younger generation, who are now bearing the
heat and burden of the day. “Will you give me your blessing?” said
the Superintendent of a benevolent institution to her recently, when
taking her leave. “And you must give me _your_ blessing,” replied
Miss Nightingale, as she took her hand. On another occasion she said
to the same lady, after listening to an account of good work going
successfully forward, “Why, you have put new life into me.”
No subject interests Miss Nightingale more to-day than that of district
nursing. She inquires minutely into the experiences of those engaged
amongst the sick poor. “Are the people improving in their habits?”
is a question she often asks, or again, “Tell me about these model
dwellings, which they are putting up everywhere. Have they had a good
effect on the personal habits of the people?” If a Sister chances to
mention some new invalid appliance, the old keen interest comes to the
surface and Miss Nightingale will have it all explained to her, even to
the place where the apparatus was procured.
[Illustration: MISS NIGHTINGALE.
(_From a memory sketch._)
[_To face p. 340._
]
The popularity of nursing as a profession is another topic of great
interest to Miss Nightingale, and when she hears of more applications
to enter the Training Home at St. Thomas’s than the Council can
entertain, she recalls the very different state of things when she used
in the early days to issue her urgent call for recruits. While she is
particularly anxious that a high standard of character and efficiency
should be maintained amongst nurses, she keeps strictly to her original
attitude that “a nurse should be a nurse and not a medical woman.” Miss
Nightingale feels that ability to pass a technical examination does
not necessarily prove that a woman will make a good nurse. It is a
profession in which natural aptitude and personal character count for a
great deal; to use a familiar axiom, a nurse is “born, not made.”
Often Miss Nightingale’s mind travels back to her old Derbyshire home.
Embley has passed out of the family, but Lea Hurst is occupied by a
relative, Mrs. William Shore Nightingale, and Miss Nightingale keeps
up her interest in the old people of the place. In August, 1903, the
late Hon. Frederick Strutt, the Mayor of Derby and a distant cousin
of Miss Nightingale’s, entertained the nurses of the borough at Lea
Hurst, which was specially lent for the occasion, and Miss Nightingale,
hearing of what was about to take place, wrote the following letter
to Mr. Strutt: “Will you,” she said, “express to each and to all of
them my very warmest wishes for their very highest success, in the best
meaning of the word, in the life’s work which they have chosen. We hear
a great deal nowadays about nursing as a profession, but the question
for each nurse is, ‘Am I living up to my profession?’ The nurse’s
life is above all a moral and practical life--a life not of show, but
of practical action. I wish the nurses God-speed in their work, and
may each one strive with the best that is in her to act up to her
profession, and to rise continually to a higher level of thought and
practice, character and dutifulness.”
The reading of this letter from Miss Nightingale to the nurses
assembled in the garden of her old home was an occasion of impressive
interest. Fifty years ago she would not have predicted that Derby would
ever possess such a large body of nurses, and still less that the
members of the profession in Great Britain should have reached such a
large total.
Oh, small beginnings, ye are great and strong,
Based on a faithful heart and weariless brain!
Ye build the future fair, ye conquer wrong,
Ye earn the crown, and wear it not in vain.
So far as her own personality is concerned, the founder of this
sisterhood of ministry is “a veiled and silent woman,” shunning
publicity. Her name has circled the globe, her deeds are known in
every clime, and people cite her noble heroism without even knowing
that she still lives, at such pains has Miss Nightingale been to keep
herself in strict seclusion. The power of her fame, the brilliance of
her example, and the wisdom of her counsels are a national heritage.
Women who now wear the garb of a nurse with honour and dignity owe
it to the lofty tradition which has come down with the first of the
gracious dynasty.
On May 12th, 1904, Miss Nightingale was the recipient of many
congratulations from her friends on the attainment of her eighty-fourth
birthday, and the King paid a graceful compliment to the lady who is
without doubt the most illustrious heroine in His Majesty’s Empire, by
conferring upon her the dignity of a Lady of Grace of the Order of St.
John of Jerusalem. Miss Nightingale received the Red Cross from Queen
Victoria.
A more unique honour was however yet in store for the heroine of the
Crimea and the founder of the modern nursing movement. In November
1907, King Edward VII. appointed Miss Nightingale to the Order of
Merit, which was founded by His Majesty in 1902 and first announced
in the Coronation Honours List. The King is Sovereign of the Order,
which originally consisted of twelve men distinguished in war, science,
letters, and art. Other names have since been added, but Florence
Nightingale is the only woman placed amongst these Immortals. The
conferring of the Order was not accompanied by any ceremony, as Miss
Nightingale was unable, through failing health, to receive Sir Douglas
Dawson, the representative appointed by the King, and the insignia was
simply handed to Miss Nightingale’s nephew. The badge of the Order is a
cross of red and blue enamel of eight points, bearing the legend “For
Merit” in gold letters within a laurel wreath. The reverse side shows
the King’s royal and imperial cipher in gold. Members of the Order rank
after the Order of the Bath, and use the letters O.M. The appointment
of Miss Nightingale to the Order was received with great enthusiasm
throughout the country.
The German Emperor, who was visiting our shores at the time, took
occasion to pay Miss Nightingale a very graceful compliment, by sending
her a bouquet of flowers, accompanied by the following letter from the
German Ambassador:
“DEAR MISS NIGHTINGALE,--His Majesty the Emperor, having just
brought to a close a most enjoyable stay in the beautiful
neighbourhood of your old home [Embley Park] near Romsey, has
commanded me to present you with some flowers as a token of his
esteem for the lady who, after receiving her education in nursing
by the Sisters of Mercy at Kaiserswerth, on the Rhine, rendered
such invaluable services to the cause of humanity during the
Crimean War, and subsequently founded a house for the training
of nurses in England, which is justly considered to be a model
institution of European fame.
“His Majesty sends you his best wishes, and I have the honour to
remain,--Yours sincerely,
“P. METTERNICH,
“German Ambassador.”
The following letter was sent in reply:
“YOUR EXCELLENCY,--I have the honour to acknowledge, on behalf of
Miss Nightingale, the receipt of your letter of to-day, and of the
very beautiful flowers, which she greatly appreciated.
“Miss Nightingale desires me to request you to be good enough to
convey to His Majesty the Emperor how much she values his Majesty’s
gracious expressions of esteem and good wishes. She has always
thought most highly of the nursing of the Sisters of Mercy at
Kaiserswerth.
“She also recalls with deep gratitude the friendship and sympathy
with which his Majesty’s august mother, the late Empress, was
pleased to honour her. Miss Nightingale would write personally but
that failing health and eyesight prevent her.--I have the honour,
etc.
“K. SHORE NIGHTINGALE.”
The City of London might most fittingly have bestowed its honourable
freedom upon Miss Nightingale when she returned from the Crimea in
1856, but the heroine’s retiring disposition and the conservatism of
an ancient corporation stood in the way of that honour being bestowed.
The late Baroness Burdett-Coutts was the first woman presented with the
freedom of the City, and she has had no successor until, in February
1908, the Corporation, with the Lord Mayor presiding, passed with great
enthusiasm the following resolution moved by Mr. Deputy Wallace:
“That the honourable freedom of this City, in a gold box of the value
of one hundred guineas, be presented to Miss Florence Nightingale,
in testimony of this Court’s appreciation of her philanthropic and
successful efforts for the improvement of hospital nursing and
management, whereby invaluable results have been attained for the
alleviation of human suffering.”
Mr. Deputy Wallace in moving the resolution said that, “never in the
history of the freedom of the City, including on its roll of fame the
names of monarchs, statesmen, soldiers, and famous men of all kinds and
of all callings, had it enrolled among the recipients of its honorary
freedom a nobler name than that of Florence Nightingale.”
In accepting the honour of the Freedom of the City, thus offered, Miss
Nightingale requested that the sum of one hundred guineas, which
it was proposed to spend on the gold box for containing the scroll,
should be given as a donation to the Queen Victoria Jubilee Institute
for Nurses and the Hospital for Invalid Gentlewomen, Harley Street, of
which Miss Nightingale was the first Superintendent.
The Court of Common Council acceded to Miss Nightingale’s request and
arranged for an oak box to be used instead of the traditional gold
casket.
Miss Nightingale was unable to make the journey to the Guildhall to
receive the Freedom, and it was arranged that the presentation should
be made, on her behalf, to her nearest relative.
The ceremony took place March 16th, 1908, in the Council Chamber at
the Guildhall, the Right Hon. the Lord Mayor, Sir John Bell, Kt.,
presiding. There was a large attendance, invitations having been issued
to leading medical and hospital authorities and to other representative
people. There was a goodly gathering of nurses.
The City Chamberlain (Sir Joseph Dimsdale) asked Mr. L. H. Shore
Nightingale, who represented Miss Nightingale, to accept the casket
containing the Freedom, and made a most felicitous speech. A cheque for
106 guineas, to be devoted to any charities which Miss Nightingale was
pleased to name, was given with the casket.
Mr. Shore Nightingale replied, regretting that Miss Nightingale was
unable to be present, and accepting the honour on her behalf.
Mr. Henry Bonham Carter, for many years secretary of the Nightingale
Fund, gave an interesting account of his early recollections of Miss
Nightingale, and related that on one occasion when they were young
people she had given him first aid after an accident. In conclusion he
spoke of the high qualities of heart, mind, and character which had
enabled Miss Nightingale to achieve such great and signal success in
the work to which she devoted her life.
We honour the soldier and applaud the valiant hero, but it required a
more indomitable spirit, a higher courage, to purge the pestilential
hospital of Scutari; to walk hour after hour its miles of fetid
corridors crowded with suffering, even agonised, humanity, than in the
heat of battle to go “down into the jaws of death,” as did the noble
“Six Hundred.” A grateful nation laid its offering at the feet of the
heroine of the Crimea, poets wafted her fame abroad, and the poor and
suffering loved her. In barracks, in hospital, and in camp the soldier
has cause to bless her name for the comfort he enjoys, the sufferers in
our hospital wards have trained nurses through her initiative, the sick
poor are cared for in their own homes, and the paupers humanely tended
in the workhouse, as a direct result of reforms which her example or
counsel prompted. No honour or title can ennoble the name of Florence
Nightingale; it is peerless by virtue of her heroic deeds.
[Illustration]
In Memoriam
The death of Miss Nightingale occurred somewhat suddenly on the
afternoon of August 13th, 1910, at her residence 10, South Street, Park
Lane. The cause of death was heart failure. She sank peacefully to
rest in the presence of two of her relatives. Until the day before her
death she was in her usual health and bright spirits. In the previous
May she celebrated her ninetieth birthday, spending the day quietly
with her household. On that occasion she was the recipient of many
congratulations from her friends, and her room was gay with spring
flowers. The King, in the midst of his own bereavement, in the recent
death of his father, was not unmindful of the heroine of the Crimea,
and sent her the following message:
“TO MISS FLORENCE NIGHTINGALE, O.M.
“On the occasion of your Ninetieth Birthday, I offer you my
heartfelt congratulations and trust that you are in good health.
“(Signed) GEORGE R. & I.”
On receiving the tidings of Miss Nightingale’s death, the King sent the
following telegram from Balmoral to her relatives:--
“The Queen and I have received with deep regret the sad news of
the death of Miss Florence Nightingale, whose untiring and devoted
services to the British soldiers in the Crimea will never be
forgotten, and to whose striking example we practically owe our
present splendid organisation of trained nurses. Please accept the
expression of our sincere sympathy.
“GEORGE R.I.”
Amongst the soldier heroes in St. Paul’s, or with the great ones
in Westminster Abbey, would have been the fitting burial place for
our greatest national heroine, whose deeds will live for ever in
the records of our country. But she ever shunned publicity, and in
deference to her wishes her funeral was not of a public character.
The offer of the Dean and Chapter of Westminster of a burial place in
the Abbey was declined by her executors. She was quietly laid to rest
on Saturday, August 20th, in the little churchyard of East Wellow,
Hampshire, near to her old home of Embley Park, and within sight of
the hills where, as a child, she found her first patient in the old
shepherd’s dog.
An impressive Memorial Service for those wishing to pay a tribute of
love and honour to the heroine of the Crimea was held on the day of the
funeral, in St. Paul’s Cathedral.
“On England’s annals, through the long
Hereafter of her speech and song,
A light its rays shall cast
From portals of the past.
“A lady with a lamp shall stand
In the great history of the land,
A noble type of good,
Heroic womanhood.”
PRINTED BY CASSELL AND CO., LTD., LA BELLE SAUVAGE, LONDON, E.C.
10-1-16
Transcriber’s Notes
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