Page:Notes on Nursing What It Is, and What It Is Not.djvu/17

FLORENCE NIGHTINGALE. The appearance of the delicate, tender, thoughtful nurses was hailed with delight and raptures of gratitude by the objects of their sympathy and devotion. One poor fellow burst into tears, and exclaimed, "I can't help crying when I see them. Only think of Englishwomen coming out here to nurse us; it is so homely and comfortable!" The heavy cares and duties which awaited them were terribly increased, within a few hours of their coming, by the arrival of six hundred wounded, sent down after the battle of Inkerman. The over-worked surgeons, "one and all," acknowledged that their services, at such a juncture, were invaluable; even the most "hard-headed old Scotch surgeons," whom some of the croakers had feared would be constantly resenting raps from the scented fan of Miss Nightingale, admitted that the tender nurses "were not in the way except to do good."

"Miss Nightingale," says one letter, in November, "appears eminently qualified for the noble work she has undertaken. Her labors will spare the clergy many a sad sight of men sinking for want of proper nursing, and because food cannot be administered often enough. This is impossible, with only the hospital orderlies; but with the nurses, all who need will be supplied." But food, clothing, medicines, and extra medical aid were wanting; and the men were constantly sinking through exhaustion, when, if it had been at hand, a timely stimulant administered might have saved them.

Linen, flannels, stockings, and other necessary articles of clothing, were not to be obtained; the vast freights which had been sent from England were either rotting under the snow at Balaklava, or hidden in the mud outside the custom-house at Constantinople. The strength with which Miss Nightingale supported the difficulties and duties of her position surpassed even the expectations of those who were best acquainted with her character and the resources of her nature. Every day brought some new complication of misery to be unravelled. "Each day," observes a qualified witness, "had its own peculiar trial to one who had taken such a load of responsibility in an untried field, and with a staff of her own sex all new to it. She has frequently been known to stand twenty hours, on the arrival of fresh detachments of sick, apportioning quarters, distributing stores, directing the labors of her corps, assisting at the most painful operations where her presence might soothe or support, and spending hours over men dying of choera or fever. Indeed, the more awful to every sense any particular case might be, the more certainly might be seen her slight form bending over him, administering to his ease by every means in her power, and seldom quitting his side until death released him."

Yet the difficulties of Florence Nightingale's position were increased tenfold by the continual struggles which she was obliged to undergo with System and the prejudices of individuals. By petty, daily contests, she was compelled to extort from the authorities a scanty allowance of the necessary materials required by her and her band of nurses. Etiquette and "service" regulations impeded her movements at every step; "indolence, indifference, and incapacity" combined to clog her exertions; for "no one would take 'responsibility' upon himself, even to save the lives of hundreds." Happily, the presence and able cooperation of Mr. Macdonald, the distributor of "The Times Fund," enabled her at length to lay in stores, to institute proper culinary and washing departments, and to introduce some order and comfort. Had it not been for their mutual exertions, a large proportion of the poor prostrate sufferers must have been condemned to wear the tattered, v