It took four or five days to
get them from the field of battle to the hospital, their wounds during
that tame being generally unattended to. When they arrived at Scutari,
it was difficult to land them; after that there was a steep hill up
which they had to be carried to the hospital, so that by the time they
arrived they were generally in a sad condition. But their trials were
not over then. The hospital was dirty and dismal. There was no proper
provision for the supply of suitable food, everything was in dire
disorder, and the poor fellows died of fever in enormous numbers.
But "the lady with the lamp" soon brought about a revolution; and the
soldiers knew to their joy what it was to have proper nursing. No
wonder the men kissed her shadow! Wherever the worst cases were to be
found there was Florence Nightingale. Day and night she watched and
waited, worked and prayed. Her very presence was medicine and food and
light to the soldiers.
Gradually disorder disappeared, and deaths became fewer day by day.
Good nursing; care and cleanliness; nourishing food, and--perhaps
beyond and above all--love and tenderness, wrought wonders.
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