The wards were ready by
the required date; 500 sick men were received in them; and all
the utensils, including knives, forks, spoons, cans and towels,
were supplied by Miss Nightingale.
This remarkable woman was in truth performing the function of an
administrative chief. How had this come about? Was she not in
reality merely a nurse? Was it not her duty simply to tend the
sick? And indeed, was it not as a ministering angel, a gentle
'lady with a lamp', that she actually impressed the minds of her
contemporaries? No doubt that was so; and yet it is no less
certain that, as she herself said, the specific business of
nursing was 'the least important of the functions into which she
had been forced'. It was clear that in the state of
disorganisation into which the hospitals at Scutari had fallen,
the most pressing, the really vital, need was for something more
than nursing; it was for the necessary elements of civilised
life-- the commonest material objects, the most ordinary
cleanliness, the rudimentary habits of order and authority. 'Oh,
dear Miss Nightingale,' said one of her party as they were
approaching Constantinople, 'when we land, let there be no
delays, let us get straight to nursing the poor fellows!' 'The
strongest will be wanted at the wash-tub,' was Miss Nightingale's
answer. And it was upon the wash-tub, and all that the wash-tub
stood for, that she expended her greatest energies.
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