Page:The invasion of the Crimea Vol 7.djvu/417

 CARE OF THE SICK AND WOUNDED. 373 presence — bring himself to submit and en- chap, dure.(24) ^'- The growtli of lier dominion was rapid, was natural, and not unlike the development of what men call ' responsible government.' One of others accepting a task ostensibly subordinate and humble, she yet could not, if she would, divest herself of the authority that belonged to her as a gentlewoman — as a gentlewoman abounding in all the natural gifts, and all the peculiar knowledge required for liospital manage- ment. Charged to be in the wards, to smooth the sufferer's pillow, to give him his food and his medicine as ordered by the medical officers, she could not but speak with cogency of the state of the air which she herself had to breathe ; she could not be bidden to acquiesce, if the beds she approached were impure ; she could scarcely be held to silence, if the diet she had been told to administer were not fortlicoming ; and, whatever her orders, she could hardly be expected to give a sufferer food which she perceived to be bad or unfit. If the males did not quite understand the peculiar contrivances fitted for the prepara- tion of hospital diet, might she not, perhaps, disclose her own knowledge, and show them what to do ? Or, if they could not be taught, or imagined that they had not the power to do what was needed, might not she lierself compass her object by using the resources which she had at command ? Might not she herself found and organise the requisite kitchens, when she knew that the difference between fit and unfit food