Evening Republican, Volume 21, Number 165, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 23 July 1918 — Page 2

The LADY of the LAMP

[From the Inspiration of Florence Nightingale Has Grown the Great Red Cross o[Today

-4HE died only four years before this great war and she was called the Lady ■ with a Lamp —a lamp If destined to shine for ages m at a time. When Brit* ,W lsh soldiers were dying '! of neglect in military : hospitals and the British nation was startled with the horror of the cry of the perishing at Scutari, It was a beautiful, cultured woman that answered the cry. And from this woman’s inspiration has grown all the Red Cross societies of the world. Florence Nightingale went out like an angel to the Crimean war, says a writer In the New York Sun. She scoured corruption and uncleanness from the hospitals, she gave food to the starving, clothes to the naked, comfort to the sufferers. She made the hospital a place of healing, not a foul couch on which famished, fevered victims were thrown to die. Born in Florence in 1820. She was bom in Florence on May 15, 1820, and was named after her birthplace, and she died eight years ago on August 13, 1910, at the age of ninety years. Her parents were rich. Her mother was kind, clever and charming, but she did not in the least understand her daughter. Florence did not really understand herself. She was brilliantly educated; she became an accomplished linguist and musician, a witty and graceful letter writer, and she thought deeply about politics and religion. She traveled in Europe, she went to Egypt, studying not only the treasures of art unveiled before her, but human life and suffering, too. It was this study of suffering that moved in her the desire to take up nursing. She saw the enormous need for organized nursing. In spite of great opposition she managed to study at various hospitals In England and Paris. At’ last she approached her heart’s desire by securing an appointment as principal of a sanatorium for governesses in Harley . street. She was there when the Crimean war broke out. . The English troops were sent to the Crimea and such a wretched apology for a hospital as they had was established on the spot, but the Turks made over to them certain buildings at Scutari, on the eastern shore of the Bosphorus, opposite Constantinople. To get the sick and wounded from the battlefield to Scutari took eight days, and a quarter of the men who made the voyage died on the horrible ships. At Scutari the commonest appliances of a workhouse sick ward were wanting.

Never Recognized Women Nurses. One day a strange thing happened. The British army had never recognized the existence of women nurses, but one morning two letters on the subject crossed in the post. One was from Florence Nightingale, suggesting that she should go out with two or three nurses at no cost to the nation; the other was from the husband of the lady she was writing to find was addressed to Miss Nightingale, suggesting that she should go at the expense of the government. The man who wrote to Miss Nightingale was Sidney Herbert, a member of parliament, who held an appointment at the war office. He and his wife were friends of Miss Nightingale, knowing her ambitions, and'they felt that her hour had come. She was appointed superintendent of the women’s nursing establishments in the English hospitals in Turkey. She started with 38 nurses, some welltrained, some not —good, bad and indifferent, the best that could be got in the time available. Her masterly organizing powers asserted 1 themselves at once. After traveling across France she took ship at Marseilles and there laid in a great store of all manner of needful things. The task before her would have appalled most women, but it only served to inspire her with a firmer determination. There were several hospitals at Scutari, some bad, others worse, none good. There were five more hospitals to which she afterwards went, all horrible.

The first thing the lady in chief did

Crowded Washington

When one stops to think that about the time America jumped into the war whirl there were, all telfl, only about 65 persons In the offices of the ordnance department, including everybody from the boss to the office boy, and that before the following Christmas there were In the same department in IWftShlngton about' thirty-five hundred souls, which promises to be closer to fen thousand by the time these lines

was to get down on her hands and knees and scrub the floors, and then cry: “Now, the strongest to the washtubs!” They were 'needed. Such washing of bed linen as had been done had been done in cold water, and as it came back Florence Nightingale burned it. The doctors and officers objected to her. Books written at the time by the men who helped to officer the Crimean army show with what scorn they met her. Little by little she got her stores together until she became the feeder and clother of the army at Scutari. She provided 50,000 men with shirts and great numbers with other clothing; she provided all the things that were missing from the hospitals. “I have met only two men in the Crimea, and one of them was Miss Nightingale,” said a traveler. She worked 20 hours a day. She received the wounded, she dressed their wounds until the surgeons could take them in hand. She washed and clothed and comforted them. She sat with them, encouraging them before an operation. She gave them life and hope. She made them feel that mercy had come on angel wings Into their bitter lives.

Drunken Orderlies Vanished. Her nurses were here, there and everywhere —wherever the doctors would allow her to send them. The rough, drunken, unskilled orderlies vanished from the nursing and skilled and tender hands took their places. Florence Nightingale herself was the Lady of the Lamp. When the long day’s work was done she would go to her little stuffy room to begin her correspondence; then, after a time, when the surgeons had retired and the wards and corridors were dark, she would take her little lamp and steal quietly through the silent rooms among the sick and dying men. She would kneel by bed after bed to speak a word of comfort; she would give medicine here, food or drink there. ' No wonder the men worshiped her, though at first they were a little afraid and shy. “Never be ashamed of your wounds, my friend,” she would say in her gentle, musical voice. Her gentleness made poets of some of these rough men. There was a giant Highlander who wrote home of her and her work: “What a comfort it was to see her even pass! She would speak to one and nod to another, but she could not do it to all, you know—we were lying there by hundreds—but we could kiss her shadow as It fell, and lay our heads on the pillow again, content.” It was a beautiful idea, and this soldier’s letter' traveled round the world. Longfellow used it In his poem on “The Lady of the Lamp." She stayed the winter at Scutari and made a revolution. Whereas the deaths had averaged 42 In every 100 they were now down to about two in every 100. So in the spring of 1855 she went to the Crimea itself to attend

stagger into print, then one must see that this, plus a like swelling of forces in innumerable other governmental departments, early resulted in a considerable hatful of new white folks around town.—Frank Ward O’Malley in Century Magazine.

Exposed Throat Healthful.

Several American physicians practicing in Paris, have corroborated the announcement made by the French throat specialist. Doctor Mangnlllere, at the academy, that the new winter

THE EVENING REPUBLICAN, RENSSELAER, INP.

to the hospitals there. The Crimea surgeons objected and reminded her that she was superintendent of the nursing staff in Turkey, and the Crimea was in Russia. But she went nevertheless. Stricken by the Camp Fever. She set to work reforming, as she had done at Scutari, but she had done very little when she herself was struck down with fever. She was carried to a hut Immediately behind those of the soldiers. In England the news of her illness created a sensation as profound as If a great battle had been lost. . She Was very near death, yet she managed to pull through, but she recovered, with her beautiful black hair cut off, looking like the ghost of her former self. When she was well enough she was taken back to Scutari, feeble, unable to feed herself or to speak above a whisper, but she would not go home. She worked on until the last British soldier had left the hospital and the war was over. At home by this time she had become a national heroine. Hundreds of poems were written about her; pamphlets describing her life were sold in. the street. Her face was stamped on pottery, on tradesmen’s paper bags, on showmen’s booths, on notepaper in a thousand homes. Lifeboats, emigrant ships, children, streets, waltzes, race horses were named after her. She hated it all, but one thing her—the founding of a Nightingale fund, which she ’was to spend as she liked.

Started Many Great Reform*. • Her fund grew to over $200,000, and with this money behind her she established a training school for nurses and began many great reforms. She set herself to reform entirely the health arrangements of the army, not only in time of war but in peace; for she was able to show that horrible as were the civil hospital records,® the death rate among soldiers in peace time was twice as high as among civilians. She turned her attention to the workhouse system of hospital nursing and cleansed it of its horrors, and finally she assailed the entire hospital system of the country. She became the Lady of the Lamp indeed; she became the high priestess of - light and air. She founded modern nursing, and all the great nursing Associations and all the Red Cross societies throughout the world have spre'ad from her work. Yet all this time Florence Nightingale was an invalid. She never recovered from the hardships and overwork of the Crimea. For over half a century she was a chronic sufferer. She lived out of sight of the public, and very often out of the sight of friends; but cabinet ministers would go to isee her, architects building new hospitals or barracks or schools consulted her. From all lands appeals came for her help, and she denied her aid to none. Thirty-three thousand letters are dealt with by the British ministry of pensions every day.

style of wearing low-cut blouses has reduced the number of sore throats among French women by 75 per cent this winter. , Three-fourth of the patients suffering from bronchitis, laryngitis, tonsilitis, bronchial pneumonia and similar complaints are men, say these doctors, in direct corroboration of what Doctor Manguiliere asserted, according to a cable letter from Paris. They agree with him that the new mode that makes women expose their throats and necks Is directly responsible.

Quality, Style, Timely Question

New York.—One of the several discussions which have been thrown into the modem hour —which breeds discussions as a field does mushrooms — is whether it is better for a woman to look for quality or for style in her clothes, notes a leading fashion correspondent. The argumentative and problematical side of the clothes is by no means a small issue in the work of winning the war. No woman has a soul so dead that she does not want to concentrate her efforts in the right direction, and to bring to all the minor phases of life, which she may have heretofore waved away with a careless gesture the deep thought and high efficiency which the hour demands. Qncft upon a time the talk of clothes turned only to fabrics, shaping, accesyfories > and colors. This was enough to gossip about, and it gave the public and the dressmakers a lively time. But we have gone upward—or downward, whichever one wishes to call It —in a series of spirals to another stratum of air. We are intent upon the discussion of what is good or bad, what is cheap and nasty as opposed to what is cheap and worthy in woman’s apparel. Intelligent women, and otherwise, find that the gauntlet of argument thrown into the arena is instantly snatched up by everyone who has a voice, and the problematical side of war-time appareling makes an enlivening discussion that puts scandal, society and love affairs in the background. Controversy Between Quality, Style. This problem, which has been presented to every woman during the last six months, as to whether she should

GYPSY GIRDLE GROWS INTO A BODICE; MEDICI COLLAR ARRIVES.

The girdle Is shown in this afternoon frock of blue taffeta and silk voile. The bodice is slipped over the head and end* at each hip with a streamer The voile is embroidered In soutache. The Medici collar I* of embroidered net on thi* gown of net, which i* worn over a black satin slip. The medieval chemisette I* offset by a black velvet Jacket, which fastens in front with a tassel.

buy a gown which lasts and .pay a big price for it, or buy one which she may discard soon, and at a much lower price, is of high interest. It is settled by the Individual and yet it is important to the mass. There is an advocate for each side in every crowd that foregathers to discuss the problem; and, more to the purpose, there are many advocates for each side in the commercial world. The people who do exquisite work are loud In their claims that it is better to pay a high price for material and workmanship, that will last as long as economy demands, than to pay a fifth of that price for a ready-to-wear gown that windfall apart after a few months’ service. Opposing this argument, and conducting a brilliant and usually successful offensive, is another line, made np of those who insist that in a day like this women prefer style to quality "nd workmanship; that they would rather pay somewhere in the neighborhood of S3O for a ready-to-wear frock that incorporates the newest fashion features and gives one a smart look, even if It has to be thrown away before long. It has always been the method of the woman on a small Income, who wishes to dress fashionably, to care little for quality or workmanship and spend all on style. It is for this reason that America presents the roost brilliant and dashing conglomeration of young women in the world. The shops cater to this Immense crowd, which prefers five cheap gowns that are smart to one admirable gown that is conservative. • It looks now as though American women are to Ae divided into two camps—those who put all their money

Into one conservative, well-built gown that must last, and those who now and then buy frocks that are chic and that incorporate the new fashion features. ' ; . Height* to Which Cheap Clothe* Aspire. America learned a good trick from Paris when she arranged to have the best models Instantly copied in cheap materials, and sometimes slipshod workmanship, to be sold at small prices. It is this trick over here, however, that is the despair of the high-priced dressmakers and the delight of the shops that sell cheap clothes. The dressmakers rest their increasing optimism concerning high-priced clothes —an optimism based on the fact that the dressmaking business has not suffered since the War —on the idea that women will always need to be fitted for good gowns. The average figure can buy the cheap gown; but the fastidious woman cannot wear It because it does not fit her, and the woman who has a figure that departs from the normal, cannot even contemplate such a gown. However, one must 6ay this in praise ‘of the cheap ready-to-wear frock in America: It Is cut oh the most exceptionally good lines that can be expected at such a price. Even the best workers of the Galeries Lafayette do not surpass, and sometimes do not equal, the American cutters, who work by the hundreds on gowns that are sold by the thousands. We must have an exceedingly good national figure. That is the comment of the foreigners who see our women in the ready-to-wear, quick-to-b’uy, smart-to-look-at, cheap gowns that

are. sold in every city on this continent Watch for Medici Collar. Two 'women have worn French gowns with high, wired, outstandingMedici collars of lace and tulle. Don’t let this fact slip your memory for an Instant, If you are vitally Interested in the new things that come up suddenly over the horizon and promise many followers. The Medici collar Is a symbol of the history of human nature pressed into a few short mad years of French life. It represents what the Three Feathers of Great Britain represent It Is more than a fashion; it is the symbol of a dynasty. Now and then, it has flickered in and out of fashion. It was taken up by other queens beside Catherine and Mary; it was worn by debutantes on stately gowns with trains a quarter of a century ago; it has been maintained in a -measure in half the courts of Europe, and it may be revived this summer. It was made of point lace, wired to its extremest points and worn with a black satin dinner gown that was guiltless of all trimming and received its high light from a string of pearls. It was also worn in a black embroidered net gown dropped over black satin, with a curious little Jacket of black velvet fastened in front, below the hip-line, with a glittering tasseL There are one-piece frocks creeping into the fashions that show the Medici collar of double tulle, hemstitched at the edge, and there are soft voile gowns over colored taffeta -flat “have upstanding neck ruffles of white chiffon that are deftly and carelessly held up by wires. (Copyright, 1818, by the McClure paper Syndicate.)

HOW THIS NERVOUS WOMAN GOTJfELL Told by Herself. Her Sim cerity Should Convince Others. . Christopher, 111.—“ For four yean 1 suffered from irregularities, weakness, ■ nervousness, ana was in a run down condition. Two of our best doctors failed to do me any good. I heard so much about what Lydia E. Pinkham’a vegetable Comand was cured. I am no longer nervous, am regular, — and in excellent health. I believe the Compound will core any female trouble.”—Mrs. AUCB Heller, Christopher, 111. Nervousness is often a symptom of weakness or some functional derangement, which may be overcome by this famous root ana herb remedy, Lydia E. Pinkham’a Vegetable Compound, aa thousands of ■ women have found by experience* If complications exist, write Lydia EL Pinkham Medicine Co.. Lynn, Mass., for suggestions in regard to your ailment. The result of its long experience is St your service.

TVPUnin | I I r lIIJIII experience has demonstrate* !• ■ ■ the almost miraculous efftCacy, and harmlessnees, of Antityphoid Vaccination. Be vaccinated NOW by your physician, yoo an* Soar family. It la more vital than house tasrjjance. Ask your physician, druggist, or send for Hay* Ton had Typhoid? ’’tel ling of Typhoid Vaccine, tenuis from use, and danger from Typhoid Carriers. Prodntlai Vatelnaa and Serums under U. S. Useat* Iks Cutter Laboratory. Berkeley, Cal.. Chleaqo, HL

Itching Rashes —— Soothed —— With Cuticura All druggists;Seap 15,Ointment25 A BO.Talcum26. Sample each free of **Cutlenrse Pept* B, n**ton.”

DAjSYFmaUERg^MS omament.l, eonT.nl.nl. E3XB cheap. Lun .ll naaon. E I .ntood »ffectlT». Sold by HAROLD SOMERS, ISO DC KALB AVI., BROOKLVH, *. V. PATENTS Bates reasonable. Highest references- Bestserrlees. RHEUMATISM cured or money refunded, cured or money refunded. Radeiur, noepital, iii«Ul«jl,(l,

Rice Flour and Rice Polish.

The question of grinding flour from rice was recently discussed by a conference es rice millers in Louisiana. They decided that rice flour does not possess sufficient merit to Justify its manufacture on a large scale. Rice flour is not a complete substitute for wheat flour because It lacks gluten. It can be mixed with wheat flour in conservation bread. There is a real opportunity, however, to broaden the market for what Is known as “rice polish.” This Is the product of the brushes used In polishing rice when its brown coating Is removed to produce the familiar white rice of commerce. Rice polish has been sold chiefly for stock feed, but it is a highly concentrated food, more nutritious than rice itself because it contains valuable chemical ingredients from the surface of the grain.—Syracuse PostStandard. |

Leads in Silk Manufacture.

As a result of “he effects of the war on the silk Industry in the several countries engaged in it, the United States has become the leading nation in the manufacture of that commodity. About 20;000 tons of silk and silk waste are used in America each year. In the far East silk is also being manufactured more extensively, while Japan leads the world in its production. —Pathfinder.

A Scorcher.

With deep scorn in her eyes thd haughty girl swept toward the door. “You need not fear that I shall reproach you with your perfidy,” she said. “I waive all claim, sir, to your miserable, fickle and undesirable affection.” "Whew!” muttered the crestfallen young man, as he was left alone with his thoughts, “that was a hot wave, all right”—Boston Evening Transcript In order to dramatize some novels It Is only necessary to amputate the plot

a^nasa-i EveryTimelEat POST Toasties (Ma&e Of Corn) Dad says Eat ’em up Bob You’re saving PBjf wheat for l%£( the boys in }£% France 5§ » * • ? \