Then there arose a great cry in Britain; and every one demanded that
something should be done to remedy this state of things. But nobody
knew quite what to do or how to do it, except one woman,--and that
woman was Florence Nightingale.
Mr. Sidney Herbert, the War Minister, was one of the very few people
who knew anything about her great powers of organisation; and happily
he did know how thoroughly fit she was for the task of properly
directing the nursing of the sick soldiers.
So, on the 15th October, 1854, he asked her to go to the Crimea to
take entire charge of the nursing arrangements; and in less than a
week she started with about forty nurses for Scutari, the town where
the great hospital was situated.
All Britain was stirred with admiration at her heroism; for it was
well known how difficult was the task she was undertaking. But the
quiet gentle woman herself feared neither death, disease nor hard
work; the only thing she did not like was the fuss the people made
about her.
Scutari, whither she went, is situated on the eastern side of the
Bosphorus, opposite Constantinople. Thither the sick and wounded
soldiers were being brought by hundreds.
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