FLORENCE NIGHTINGALE

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2757, 28 April 1916, Page 2

FLORENCE NIGHTINGALE

A MEMORIAL IN ST. PAUL'S. On Monday (February 14) the Queen unveiled the memorial to Florence Nightingale which has been placed in the Crypt of St. Paul's Cathedral, states, an English newspaper. lho memorial, the sculptor of which is Mr. Arthur G. Walker, takes the form of a mural tablet in marble, with the.figure in bust of the "lady with the lamp ministering to the needs of a wounded soldier. Above is the motto "Blessed are the merciful," and at the base are inscribed the dates of birth and death of Miss Nightingale. The Queen, who was accompanied' by Princess Mary,, was. conducted. to the Crypt by., ,the, Dean'and Chapter. Here were assembled the Lord Mayor and Sheriffs, the Archbishop of Canterbury, and a number of others, including representatives of the Overseas Dominions and of several of , the principal nursing services.

The Archbishop of' Canterbury, inviting' the Queen to unveil the memorial, said:—"May it please Your Majesty,—lt is my privilege, as spokesman of those who are here and of very many who are not here, to ask your Majesty to unveil a monument of beauty and importance in itself, with a signilicauce onhancod tenfold by the circumstances which, in the nation's life, surround this hour of its /unveiling. More than half a century has passed since the dark and anxious winter of 1854, when, under the clear eye and the firm hand of a lady whose vision and capacity were on a par with her splendid devotion, chaos and mismanagement began to disappear from our Army hospitals, a new era of nursing was inaugurated, and the name of Florence Nightingale was on every lip. In a few short weeks the puzzled curiosity and the half adulatory, half critical surprise with which her enterprise was greeted had been merged in the universal acclaim of gratitude and praise, and into the modern 'life of 'this troublesome world' a new benediction had been born. For half a century we have thanked God for what Florence Nightingale has wrought and taught, but we did not know its range or its greatness until now. So it is fitting that Your Majesty, on behalf of English womani'hood, should unveil this monument in a year when, in the nation's need, tens at thousands of women are, with persistency of quiet dovotionjand a ministry of steadily increasing skill, following the path . wherein 'tho lady with the lamp' was pioneer. It is easy, or rather it is not easy, to measuro what the difference might have been had that pioneer been a woman of unbalanced enthusiasm, however eager, or of mere plodding devotion . however j praiseworthy. Tho lead she gave might easily have been discredited, and, therefore fruitless of result. But when.to a buoyant faith, a courageous hope, aud a largo love-were superadded the gifts of penetrating judgment, of potent personal influence; and of almost urfrivalled administrative skill, the fruitfulness of the leadership was immediately secure. England, and through England, tho whole world knows how to. a degree- they _ nover | knew before, in camp and hospital, on i land and sea, the priceless value of the gentle deftness and'the skill of the trained womanhood, both in peace tinio and when the horrors of war aro at their worst. We do well to ' set here in our Cathedral among our warriors' tombs the monument of one to whom we owe so much, and I ask Your Majesty to make visible to all of ub a beautiful and enduring reminder of the I lessons of her life."