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objects。 Her work upon hospital reform assumed enormous

proportions; she was able to improve the conditions in

infirmaries and workhouses; and one of her most remarkable papers

forestalls the recommendations of the Poor Law Commission of

1909。 Her training; school for nurses; with all that it involved

in initiative; control; responsibillity; and combat; would have

been enough in itself to have absorbed the whole efforts of at

least two lives of ordinary vigour。 And at the same time her work

in connection with India; which had begun with the Sanitary

Commission on the Indian Army; spread and ramified in a multitude

of directions。 Her tentacles reached the India Office and

succeeded in establishing a hold even upon those slippery high

places。 For many years it was de rigueur for the newly appointed

Viceroy; before he left England; to pay a visit to Miss

Nightingale。



After much hesitation; she had settled down in a small house in

South Street; where she remained for the rest of her life。 That

life was a very long one; the dying woman reached her ninety…

first year。 Her ill health gradually diminished; the crises of

extreme danger became less frequent; and at last altogether

ceased; she remained an invalid; but an invalid of a curious

characteran invalid who was too weak to walk downstairs and who

worked far harder than most Cabinet Ministers。 Her illness;

whatever it may have been; was certainly not inconvenient。 It

involved seclusion; and an extraordinary; an unparalleled

seclusion was; it might almost have been said; the mainspring of

Miss Nightingale's life。 Lying on her sofa in the little upper

room in South Street; she combined the intense vitality of a

dominating woman of the world with the mysterious and romantic

quality of a myth。 She was a legend in her lifetime; and she knew

it。 She tasted the joys of power; like those Eastern Emperors

whose autocratic rule was based upon invisibility; with the

mingled satisfactions of obscurity and fame。



And she found the machinery of illness hardly less effective as a

barrier against the eyes of men than the ceremonial of a palace。

Great statesmen and renowned generals were obliged to beg for

audiences; admiring princesses from foreign countries found that

they must see her at her own time; or not at all; and the

ordinary mortal had no hope of ever getting beyond the downstairs

sitting…room and Dr。 Sutherland。 For that indefatigable disciple

did; indeed; never desert her。 He might be impatient; he might be

restless; but he remained。 His 'incurable looseness of thought';

for so she termed it; continued at her service to the end。 Once;

it is true; he had actually ventured to take a holiday; but he

was recalled; and he did not repeat the experiment。 He was wanted

downstairs。 There he sat; transacting business answering

correspondence; interviewing callers; and exchanging innumerable

notes with the unseen power above。 Sometimes word came down that

Miss Nightingale was just well enough to see one of her visitors。

The fortunate man was led up; was ushered; trembling; into the

shaded chamber; and; of course; could never afterwards forget the

interview。 Very rarely; indeed; once or twice a year; perhaps;

but nobody could be quite certain; in deadly secrecy; Miss

Nightingale went out for a drive in the Park。 Unrecognised; the

living legend flitted for a moment before the common gaze。 And

the precaution was necessary; for there were times when; at some

public function; the rumour of her presence was spread abroad;

and ladies; mistaken by the crowd for Miss Nightingale; were

followed; pressed upon; vehemently supplicated 'Let me touch your

shawl'; 'Let me stroke your arm'; such was the strange adoration

in the hearts of the people。 That vast reserve of force lay there

behind her; she could use it; if she could。 But she preferred

never to use it。 On occasions; she might hint or threaten; she

might balance the sword of Damocles over the head of the Bison;

she might; by a word; by a glance; remind some refractory

Minister; some unpersuadable Viceroy; sitting in audience with

her in the little upper room; that she was something more than a

mere sick woman; that she had only; so to speak; to go to the

window and wave her handkerchief; for 。。。 dreadful things to

follow。 But that was enough; they understood; the myth was there…

…obvious; portentous; impalpable; and so it remained to the last。



With statesmen and governors at her beck and call; with her hands

on a hundred strings; with mighty provinces at her feet; with

foreign governments agog for her counsel; building hospitals;

training nurses she still felt that she had not enough to do。

She sighed for more worlds to conquermore; and yet more。



She looked about herwhat was left? Of course! Philosophy! After

the world of action; the world of thought。 Having set right the

health of the British Army; she would now do the same good

service for the religious convictions of mankind。 She had long

noticedwith regretthe growing tendency towards free…thinking

among artisans。 With regret; but not altogether with surprise;

the current teaching of Christianity was sadly to seek; nay;

Christianity itself was not without its defects。 She would

rectify these errors。 She would correct the mistakes of the

Churches; she would point out just where Christianity was wrong;

and she would explain to the artisans what the facts of the case

really were。 Before her departure for the Crimea; she had begun

this work; and now; in the intervals of her other labours; she

completed it。 Her 'Suggestions for Thought to the Searchers After



Truth Among the Artisans of England' (1860); unravels; in the

course of three portly volumes; the difficulties hitherto;

curiously enough; unsolvedconnected with such matters as Belief

in God; the Plan of Creation; the Origin of Evil; the Future 

Life; Necessity and Free Will; Law; and the Nature of Morality。



The Origin of Evil; in particular; held no perplexities for Miss

Nightingale。 'We cannot conceive;' she remarks; 'that Omnipotent

Righteousness would find satisfaction in solitary existence。'

This being; so; the only question remaining to be asked is: 'What

beings should we then conceive that God would create?' Now; He

cannot create perfect beings; 'since; essentially; perfection is

one'; if He did so; He would only be adding to Himself。 Thus the

conclusion is obvious: He must create imperfect ones。 Omnipotent

Righteousness; faced by the intolerable impasse of a solitary

existence; finds itself bound by the very nature of the cause; to

create the hospitals at Scutari。 Whether this argument would have

satisfied the artisans was never discovered; for only a very few

copies of the book were printed for private circulation。 One copy

was sent to Mr。 Mill; who acknowledged it in an extremely polite

letter。 He felt himself obliged; however; to confess that he had

not been altogether convinced by Miss Nightingale's proof of the

existence of God。 Miss Nightingale was surprised and mortified;

she had thought better of Mr。 Mill; for surely her proof of the

existence of God could hardly be improved upon。 'A law;' she had

pointed out; 'implies a lawgiver。' Now the Universe is full of

lawsthe law of gravitation; the law of the excluded middle; and

many others; hence it follows that the Universe has a law…giver

and what would Mr。 Mill be satisfied with; if he was not

satisfied with that?



Perhaps Mr。 Mill might have asked why the argument had not been

pushed to its logical conclusion。 Clearly; if we are to trust the

analogy of human institutions; we must remember that laws are; as

a matter of fact; not dispensed by lawgivers; but passed by Act

of Parliament。 Miss Nightingale; however; with all her experience

of public life; never stopped to consider the question whether

God might not be a Limited Monarchy。Yet her conception of God was

certainly not orthodox。 She felt towards Him as she might have

felt towards a glorified sanitary engineer; and in some of her

speculations she seems hardly to distinguish between the Deity

and the Drains。 As one turns over these singular pages; one has

the impression that Miss Nightingale has got the Almighty too

into her clutches; and that; if He is not careful; she will kill

Him with overwork。



Then; suddenly; in the very midst of the ramifying generalities

of her metaphysical disquisitions; there is an unexpected turn

and the reader is plunged all at once into something particular;

something personal; something impregnated with intense

experience a virulent invective upon the position of women in

the upper ranks of society。 Forgetful alike of her high argument

and of the artisans; the bitter creature rails through a hundred

pages of close print at the falsities of family life; the

ineptitudes of marriage; the emptinesses of convention; in the

spirit of an Ibsen or a Samuel Butler。 Her fierc

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