The Life of Florence Nightingale

Thought and deed, not pedigree, are the passports to enduring fame.General Skobeleff. At a dinner given to the military and naval officers who had served in the Crimean War, it was suggested that each guest should write on a slip of paper the name of the person whose services during the late campaign would be longest remembered by posterity. When the papers were examined, each bore the same name"Florence Nightingale." The prophecy is fulfilled to-day, for though little more than fifty years have passed since the joy-bells throughout the land proclaimed the fall of Sebastopol, the majority of people would hesitate if asked to name the generals of the Allied Armies, while no one would be at a loss to tell who was the heroine of the Crimea. Her deeds of love and sacrifice sank deep into the nation's heart, for they were above the strife of party and the clash of arms. While Death has struck name after name from the nation's roll of the great and famous, our heroine lives in venerated age to shed the lustre of her name upon a new century. Florence Nightingale was born on May 12th, 1820, at the Villa Colombaia near Florence, where her parents, Mr. and Mrs. William Shore Nightingale, of Lea, Derbyshire, were staying. "What name should be given to the baby girl born so far away from her English home?" queried her parents, and with mutual consent they decided to call her "Florence," after that fair city of flowers on the banks of the Arno where she first saw the light. Little did Mr. and Mrs. Nightingale then think that the name thus chosen was destined to become one of the most popular throughout the British Empire. Every "Florence" practically owes her name to the circumstances of Miss Nightingale's birth. It seemed as though the fates were determined to give an attractive designation to our heroine. While "Florence" suggested the goddess of flowers, "Nightingale" spoke of sweet melody. What could be more beautiful and euphonious than a name suggesting a song-bird from the land of flowers? The combination proved a special joy to Mr. Punch and his fellow-humorists when the bearer of the name rose to fame. However, Miss Nightingale's real family name was Shore. Her father was William Edward Shore, the only son of William Shore of Tapton, Derbyshire, and he assumed the name of Nightingale, by the sign manual of the Prince Regent, when he succeeded in 1815 to the estates of his mother's uncle, Peter Nightingale of Lea. This change took place three years before his marriage, and five before the birth of his illustrious daughter.

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