"
Out of chaos she made order, and there were no more complaints of
waste and inefficiency. She never quitted her post until the war was
at an end, and on her return to England she received a national
welcome. She was received by the Queen and presented with a jewel
in commemoration of her work, and no less than fifty thousand pounds
was subscribed by the nation, a sum which was presented by Miss
Nightingale to the hospitals to defray the expenses of training
nurses.
[Illustration: Florence Nightingale]
Since this time no war between civilized peoples has taken place
without trained nurses being found in the ranks of both armies, and
at the Convention of Geneva, some years later, it was agreed that
in time of war all ambulances, military hospitals, etc., should be
regarded as neutral, and that doctors and nurses should be considered
as non-combatants. Nursing rapidly became a profession, and from the
military it spread to the civil hospitals, which were used as
training schools for all who took up the work.
Florence Nightingale's advice was sought by the Government and
freely given upon every matter which affected the health of the
people, and it is entirely owing to her influence and example that
speedy reforms were carried out, especially in the army.
Her noble work was celebrated by Longfellow, in his poem "Santa
Filomena," often better known as "The Lady with the Lamp":
Thus thought I, as by night I read
Of the great army of the dead,
The trenches cold and damp,
The starved and frozen camp,
The wounded from the battle-plain,
In dreary hospitals of pain,
The cheerless corridors,
The cold and stony floors.
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