The Red Book of Heroes | Page 7

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When they grew older, they went abroad now and then with their
parents, but Florence liked best being at home with her friends in the
village, who were very proud of her wishing to take their pictures with
her new photographic camera. If they had only known it, the children in
their best clothes standing up very stiff and straight did not look half as
pretty as the baskets of kittens with eyes half-innocent, half-wise, or the
funny little pups, so round and fat. But the parents thought the portraits
of their children the most beautiful things in the world, and had them
put into hideous gilt frames and hung on the walls, where Florence
could see them on her frequent visits.
Welcome as she was to all, it was the sick people who awaited her
coming the most eagerly. She was so quiet in her movements, and
knew so exactly what to do without talking or fussing about it, that the
invalids grew less restless in her presence, and believed so entirely that
she really could cure them that they were half cured already! Then

before she left she would read them 'a chapter' or a story to make them
laugh, or anything else they wished for; and it was always a pleasure to
listen to her, for she never stammered, or yawned, or lost her place, or
had any of the tricks that often make reading aloud a penance to the
victim.
For the young people both in Derbyshire and Hampshire she formed
singing classes, and some of her 'societies' continue to-day. She was
full of interest in other people's lives, and not only was ready to help
them but enjoyed doing so, which makes all the difference.
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There is much nonsense talked in the world about 'born' actors, and
'born' artists, and 'born' nurses. No doubt some are 'born' with greater
gifts in these matters than others, but the most famous artists or actors
or nurses will all tell you that the only work which is lasting has been
wrought by long hours of patient labour. Miss Nightingale knew this as
well as anybody, and as soon as she began to think of doing what no
modern lady had ever done before her, and devoting her life to the care
of the sick, she set about considering how she could best find the
training she needed. She tried, to use her own words, 'to qualify herself
for it as a man does for his work,' and to 'submit herself to the rules of
business as men do.'
So she spent some months among the London hospitals, where her
quick eye and clever fingers, aided by her cottage experience, made her
a welcome help to the doctors. From the first she 'began at the
beginning,' which is the only way to come to a successful end. A sick
person cannot get well where the floor is covered with dirt, and the dust
makes him cough; therefore his nurse must get rid of both dirt and dust
before her treatment can have any effect. After London, Miss
Nightingale went to Edinburgh and Dublin, and then to France and
Italy, where the nursing was done by nuns; and after that she visited
Germany, where at the town of Kaiserswerth, on the Rhine, she found
what she wanted.
The hospital of Kaiserswerth, where Miss Nightingale had decided to

do her training, had been founded about sixteen years earlier by Pastor
Fliedner, who was a wise man, content with very small beginnings. At
the time of her arrival it was divided into a number of branches, and
there was also a school for the children, who were taught entirely by
some of the sisters, or deaconesses, as they were called. On entering,
everyone had to go through the same work for a certain number of
months, whether they meant to be hospital nurses or school teachers.
All must learn to sew, cook, scrub, and read out clearly and pleasantly;
but as Miss Nightingale had practised most of these things from the
time she was a child, she soon was free to go into the hospital and
attend to the sick people. The other nurses were German peasant
women, but when they found that she could speak their language, and
was ready to work as hard as any of them, they made friends at once. In
her spare hours Miss Nightingale would put on her black cloak and
small bonnet, and go round to the cottages with Mr. Fliedner, as long
ago she had done with the vicar of Embley, and we may be sure any
sick people whom she visited were always left clean and comfortable
when she said good-bye.
But at Kaiserswerth Miss