WOMAN'S WORLD

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LV, Issue 197, 9 January 1913, Page 6

WOMAN'S WORLD

(Conducted by "Eileen"). HEROINE OF THE CRIMEA fi/>i:f..\< k xrcnnxoALE's chief IIELPEU. siller Mary Stanislaus Joseph, who was Florence Nightingale's Ti<r])t-hand throughout flic noble 'work of nursing in the Crimen, has just celebrated iier ninetieth liirtlnlay in the ('(invent «> St. John and St. Elizabeth at St. John's Wood. London. X.W. I n sc ]f. .sacrifice unci in what proved far more u.-ei'ii'. -taught for organisation and management Sister .Stanislaus was not a whit behind the noble woman upon whose name has been showered all the glory of that crusade of (he Crimea. Florence Nightingale hi r>elf was never s.ow to speak with gratitude of the devoted band of Catholic Sisters of Mercy who enabled her to crown her great enterprise with success, and until her death she was a firm friend of tin- venerable lady who is now .spending her declining years in St. John's IVood. Sister Stanislaus is deaf, and her sight is going, but her eyes light, up when visited by the few intimate friends of her o'iri age. and with them she manages to carry on a lively conversation. .She celebrated her ninetieth .birthdav ,]>y coming out of her retreat nnd joining all her sisters at dinner, and there were some speeches by the leading sisters in honor of their guest. This gave the venerable lady great satisfaction. There are few women who can ',ook back upon such a life, so crowded with work of public usefulness. It was largely through her aid that Florence Nightingale achieved so much; it was 'large', v through her efforts that the Hospital of St. John and St. Elizabeth was established; and it was she who set goin« St. Mary's Orphanage at Walthamstow!' She entered the Convent of the Bermondsey Sisters of Mercy on August 21. 1846, and made her religious profession at the hands of Bishop Wiseman, afterwards- the celebrated Cardina',.

In the movement for succoring the British troops iu the Crimea. Bishop Oiant enlisted, the aitol the Bermond- [ sey Sisters, and several of them, ineludi ing Sister .Stanislaus, embarked on Oc- | tober 15, 18.W, for France, through which ; they travelled to .Marseilles 1 ■

They arrived with Miss Nightingale at Scutari the day before Tnkerman, when already the hospitals- were choked with wounded and disease-stricken soldiers. Sister Stanislaus remembers a touchnig episode when the chaplain read in each ward a letter from Queen Victoria to the Secretary of War: "[ wish Miss Nightingale and the ladies would tell those poor noble wounded and.sick men Hiat no one take.-', a, warmer interest or feels for their sufferings, or admires their courage and heroism more than their Queen. Day and night she thinks of her beioved troops. So does the Prince."

She often stood guard over a dyiii" soldier. There were no chairs. She' sat on the mud floor in some of the hospital shanties, and protected her charge from the attacks, of rats. Many a melancholy testament did she send home to sorrojvm<: relatives written ,by the dim Ij4it of an oil lamp. ' ° _ She stayed in the .Crimea administering to the sick right up to the end pi the war, returning to Eng'.and in 1858. She soon found a fresh outlet for her energies. f or Cardinal Wiseman and the bite Duke of Norfolk invited the Sisters of St. Elizabeth to found a hospital for women and children. This tliev did with Sister Stanislaus as the leading spirit in the enterprise, and for years the hospital did good work in Great Orniond street. W.C.

Then the Hospital of St. Elizabeth of Hungary became associated with the Order of St. John and took the double name, the sisters wearing the Maltese cross—eight points of silver on a blaek fie'.d. The development of the children's hospital necessitated the removal in 1008 of the St. John's Hospital to St. John's Wood. With it went the church —stone by stone and-brick by brick—and now hospital, convent and church lie compactly and conveniently facim* Lord's Cricket Ground. ' ° For many years she was superintendent of this hospital which now comprises six wards and a fine flat .affording a sp'iendid view of the metropolis. For two long periods Sister Stanislaus was superintemlnit of St, Mary's Catholic Orphanage, where she first went in 18S4.

One of Florence Nightingale'* nets on reaching her golden jubilee was to spn«l a gift of £.io to he'r old friend of the Crimea, and Sister .Stanislaus devoted the money to the orphanage. She is now (lie sole survivor of the English Sisters of Merer who accompanied Florence Nightingale to the Crimea.

AUSTRALIAN LADY BOUNTIFUL Mrs. Harry Richards gare a dinner to one thousand two hundred and fifty people in the Sydney Town Hall on Christmas Day. Her late husband instituted this annual feast nine years ago. Mrs. Riekards announces that in his memory the feast will 'be given as long as she lives. Eleven cooks had been employed for some days preparing the 'dinner: 11 carvers performed the task of cutting up the good things, and CO attendants, in addition to a number of other workers, waited on the battalion of diners. The menu consisted of ham, tongue, roast beef, corned beef, roast lamb, peas and potatoes, jellies and custards, plum puddings, beer, tea, eoll'ee. soft drinks, fruit, cakes, bread ( and butter and scones. ][ a |f a ton of 'meat was consumed—the chief items being 2.") hams of 12!b each. lewt. of corned beef, lewt. of roast beef, lewt. of lamb. Tall) of pork, and so forth, until the scales dropped down on the halfton. Considerably over a ton of plum pudding was cooked and served up. A ton of potatoes and half a ton of green peas were eateu. One hundred gallons of jellies shivered on the tables. One hundred dozen scones, oyer 2000 fancy cakes, and WW 21b loaves of bread faded away in the warmth of the hearty appetites like the snow at Kinandra when thi' sun touches it. Fifty gallons of tea. fifty gallons of lemon squash, fifty gallons of other drinkables, went out iii a continuous How. Even the condiments, salt, pepper and mustard, ran into pounds' weight, and would have been a fair burden for a man to carry. The ' laying of the table necessitated' the use of 12.000 pieces of catering gear—plates, cups and saucers, cutlery, glasses, etc! Over half a mile of table cloths were used. To arrange this feast two staffs were kept going. One staff worked all night, and the next stall came on and finished oil'. The dinner took a week to prepare—it disappeared in Ic.v* than one 'hour.