Florence Nightingale as seen in her portraits : with a sketch of her life, and an account of her relation to the origin of the Red Cross Society . igh order, and con-fesses in her diary that the last temptation shehad to overcome,before she was free to inter-pret that insistent inner call, was a desire toshine in society. All this was pleasant enough, and there wasno reason to suppose at this time that FlorenceNightingale would do otherwise than fulfil theexpectations of her parents, and be content tolive out the life of a happy English girl, andlater, perhaps, become the wife of some goodand
Florence Nightingale as seen in her portraits : with a sketch of her life, and an account of her relation to the origin of the Red Cross Society . igh order, and con-fesses in her diary that the last temptation shehad to overcome,before she was free to inter-pret that insistent inner call, was a desire toshine in society. All this was pleasant enough, and there wasno reason to suppose at this time that FlorenceNightingale would do otherwise than fulfil theexpectations of her parents, and be content tolive out the life of a happy English girl, andlater, perhaps, become the wife of some goodand worthy man. It was only after their returnto England, and a short London season, whenthey were settled again in the midst of the busyhospitality of their country home, that a senseof the inadequacy of the social pleasures anddomestic joys that surrounded her came uponher. It was to increase with the years, until,long before she attained her freedom, she strug-gled against the restrictions that bound her,with all the restlessness of a caged bird. Thevery happiness of the home that sheltered her,and the warmth of its affections, were gilded17. Plate III. Florence Nightingale as a Girl. From a drawing by Sir Hilary Boiiham Carter, and reproducedin Sir Edward Cooks Life of Florence Nightingale. bars against which she almost broke her understand the nature and the greatness ofthis part of Miss Nightingales achievement, thatconsisted in surmounting the obstacles that layin the way of her preparation, one must projectoneself in imagination into the age in whichshe lived, seventy years ago, when it was anunheard-of thing for a beautiful and accom-plished girl to do outside of the pre-cincts of her home. Her mother and sister, af-fectionate as they were, did not even under-stand her impulse, and when at last it formu-lated itself into a distinct sense of a vocation18 lo care for the sick, as it did when she wa^twenty-five, they felt towards it a real dis-favor. Nor ca
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1910, booksubjectnurses, bookyear1916
