The name of Florence Nightingale lives in the memory of the
world by virtue of the heroic adventure of the Crimea. Had she
died - as she nearly did - upon her return to England, her
reputation would hardly have been different; her legend would
5 have come down to us almost as we know it today - that gentle
vision of female virtue which first took shape before the adoring
eyes of the sick soldiers at Scutari. Yet, as a matter of fact, she
lived for more than half a century after the Crimean War; and
during the greater part of that long period all the energy and all the
10 devotion of her extraordinary nature were working at their
highest pitch. What she accomplished in those years of unknown
labor could, indeed, hardly have been more glorious than her
Crimean triumphs; but it was certainly more important. The true
history was far stranger even than the myth. In Miss Nightingale's
15 own eyes the adventure of the Crimea was a mere incident -
scarcely more than a useful stepping-stone in her career. It was the
fulcrum with which she hoped to move the world; but it was
only the fulcrum. For more than a generation she was to sit in
secret, working her lever: and her real life began at the very
20 moment when, in popular imagination, it had ended.
She arrived in England in a shattered state of health. The
hardships and the ceaseless efforts of the last two years had
undermined her nervous system; her heart was affected; she
suffered constantly from fainting-fits and terrible attacks of utter
25 physical prostration. The doctors declared that one thing alone
would save her - a complete and prolonged rest. But that was also
the one thing with which she would have nothing to do. She had
never been in the habit of resting; why should she begin now?
Now, when her opportunity had come at last; now, when the iron
30 was hot, and it was time to strike? No; she had work to do; and,
come what might, she would do it. The doctors protested in vain;
in vain her family lamented and entreated, in vain her friends
pointed out to her the madness of such a course. Madness? Mad -
possessed - perhaps she was. A frenzy had seized upon her. As
35 she lay upon her sofa, gasping, she devoured blue-books, dictated
letters, and, in the intervals of her palpitations, cracked jokes. For
months at a stretch she never left her bed. But she would not rest.
At this rate, the doctors assured her, even if she did not die, she
would become an invalid for life. She could not help that; there
40 was work to be done; and, as for rest, very likely she might rest ...
when she had done it.
Wherever she went, to London or in the country, in the hills
of Derbyshire, or among the rhododendrons at Embley, she was
haunted by a ghost. It was the specter of Scutari - the hideous
45 vision of the organization of a military hospital. She would lay that
phantom, or she would perish. The whole system of the
Army Medical Department, the education of the Medical Officer,
the regulations of hospital procedure ... rest? How could she rest
while these things were as they were, while, if the like necessity
50 were to arise again, the like results would follow? And, even in
peace and at home, what was the sanitary condition of the Army?
The mortality in the barracks, was, she found, nearly double the
mortality in civil life. 'You might as well take 1, 100 men every
year out upon Salisbury Plain and shoot them,' she said. After
55 inspecting the hospitals at Chatham, she smiled grimly. 'Yes, this
is one more symptom of the system which, in the Crimea, put to
death 16,000 men.' Scutari had given her knowledge; and it had
given her power too: her enormous reputation was at her back -
an incalculable force. Other work, other duties, might lie before
60 her; but the most urgent, the most obvious, of all was to look to
the health of the Army.
Adapted from: Eminent Victorians, Lytton Strachey (1918)
The name of Florence Nightingale lives in the memory of the world by virtue of the heroic adventure of the Crimea. Had she died - as she nearly did - upon her return to England, her reputation would hardly have been different; her legend would 5 have come down to us almost as we know it today - that gentle vision of female virtue which first took shape before the adoring eyes of the sick soldiers at Scutari. Yet, as a matter of fact, she lived for more than half a century after the Crimean War; and during the greater part of that long period all the energy and all the 10 devotion of her extraordinary nature were working at their highest pitch. What she accomplished in those years of unknown labor could, indeed, hardly have been more glorious than her Crimean triumphs; but it was certainly more important. The true history was far stranger even than the myth. In Miss Nightingale's 15 own eyes the adventure of the Crimea was a mere incident - scarcely more than a useful stepping-stone in her career. It was the fulcrum with which she hoped to move the world; but it was only the fulcrum. For more than a generation she was to sit in secret, working her lever: and her real life began at the very 20 moment when, in popular imagination, it had ended. She arrived in England in a shattered state of health. The hardships and the ceaseless efforts of the last two years had undermined her nervous system; her heart was affected; she รับความเดือดร้อนอย่างต่อเนื่องจากการโจมตีที่น่ากลัวของสุดและซึมพอดีกับ กราบจริง 25 แพทย์ที่ประกาศว่า สิ่งหนึ่งเพียงอย่างเดียว จะบันทึกเธอ - เหลือที่สมบูรณ์ และเป็นเวลานาน แต่ยังไม่ สิ่งหนึ่งที่เธอจะได้ไม่ เธอมี ไม่ได้พักผ่อน ให้เป็นนิสัย ทำไมเธอเริ่มขณะนี้ ตอนนี้ เมื่อโอกาสของเธอมาในที่สุด ตอนนี้ เมื่อเหล็ก 30 ที่ สำคัญมันเป็นเวลาที่จะนัดหยุดงานหรือไม่ ไม่มี เธอมีงานต้องทำ และ มาอาจใด เธอจะทำ แพทย์ที่ปฏิเสธจ่ายเปล่า ๆ สู้ครอบครัว lamented และได้วิงวอน ขอ ใน vain เพื่อนของเธอ ชี้ออกไปเธอบ้าของหลักสูตรดังกล่าว บ้าหรือไม่ บ้า- มอบ - บางทีเธอไม่ เมามันก็ยึดตามเธอ เป็น เธอนอนตามโซฟาเธอ gasping, 35 เธอกลืนสีฟ้าหนังสือ การเขียนตามคำบอก ตัวอักษร และ ในช่วงเธอ palpitations แตกตลก สำหรับ เดือนที่ยืดเธอไม่เคยทิ้งเตียงของเธอ แต่เธอจะไม่เหลือ ที่นี้ แพทย์มั่นใจ เธอแม้ว่าเธอยังไม่ตาย เธอ จะเป็นการไม่ถูกต้องสำหรับชีวิต เธอไม่สามารถช่วยเหลือที่ มี 40 เป็นงาน และ เหลือ ส่วนมากมีแนวโน้มเธออาจพักผ่อน... เมื่อเธอได้ทำมัน ทุกเธอไป ลอนดอน หรือ ใน ประเทศ เนินเขา ดาร์บีเชอร์ หรือ ระหว่าง rhododendrons ใน Embley เธอ บ้านผีสิง โดยผี มี specter ของ Scutari - ใน hideous วิสัยทัศน์ที่ 45 องค์กรของโรงพยาบาลทหาร เธอจะวางที่ phantom, or she would perish. The whole system of the Army Medical Department, the education of the Medical Officer, the regulations of hospital procedure ... rest? How could she rest while these things were as they were, while, if the like necessity 50 were to arise again, the like results would follow? And, even in peace and at home, what was the sanitary condition of the Army? The mortality in the barracks, was, she found, nearly double the mortality in civil life. 'You might as well take 1, 100 men every year out upon Salisbury Plain and shoot them,' she said. After 55 inspecting the hospitals at Chatham, she smiled grimly. 'Yes, this is one more symptom of the system which, in the Crimea, put to death 16,000 men.' Scutari had given her knowledge; and it had given her power too: her enormous reputation was at her back - an incalculable force. Other work, other duties, might lie before 60 her; but the most urgent, the most obvious, of all was to look to the health of the Army.Adapted from: Eminent Victorians, Lytton Strachey (1918)
การแปล กรุณารอสักครู่..