The beloved angel of mercy has died.
Surely, in all fields relating to the philanthropic side of life, the nineteenth century produced no finer figures than Florence Nightingale and Clara Barton. Both were, in their prime, great executives. They knew how to set to work to remedy evils before which statesmen seemed helpless when not indifferent. Their visions benefited not one nation, but several, if not the world. They thought in terms of all humanity &mdash to win the simple title of angel of mercy. Their contributions to mankind remain of a permanent character, even though they left their mark on no great canvases and chiselled their names on no stirring monuments. Both rose from the ranks, coming from middle-class surroundings to prove that if any soldier may have a fieldmarshal’s baton in his knapsack, any woman may have within her the spirit to make the whole world kin again by her touch of compassion. How many monuments have been erected to men the world over whose sole claim was that they laid waste and killed where Clara Barton and Florence Nightingale and their followers built up and brought surcease of pain to uncounted thousands!
