queen had made inquiries on the subject a year
before Miss Nightingale's return, Mr. Sidney Herbert replied that what
the Lady-in-Chief desired above everything was the foundation of a
hospital in which her own special system of nursing could be carried
out. The idea was welcomed with enthusiasm, but none of the sums sent
were as dear to Miss Nightingale's heart as the day's pay subscribed by
the soldiers and sailors. The fund was applied to founding a home and
training school for nurses, attached to St. Thomas' hospital, and Miss
Nightingale helped to plan the new buildings opposite the Houses of
Parliament, to which the patients were afterwards moved.

* * * * *

Miss Nightingale came home with her aunt, Mrs. Smith, calling herself
'Miss Smith' so that she might travel unrecognised, but that disguise
could not be kept up when she got back to Lea Hurst. Crowds thronged to
see her from the neighbouring towns, and the lodge-keeper had a busy
time. However, her father would not allow her to be worried. She needed
rest, he said, and she should have it; and if addresses and plate and
testimonials should pour in (as they did, in quantities) someone else
could write thanks at her dictation. All round Lea Hurst her large
Russian dog was an object of reverence, and as for Thomas the
drummer-boy--well, if you could not see Miss Nightingale herself, you
might spend hours of delight in listening to Thomas, who certainly could
tell you far more thrilling tales than his mistress would ever have
done.

We should all like to know what became of Thomas.

* * * * *

Miss Nightingale is still living, but the privations and over-work of
those terrible months had so broken her down that for the last forty
years she has been more or less of an invalid. Still, her interest is as
wide as ever in all that could help her fellows, and though she was
unable to go among them as of old, she was ready to help and advise,
either personally or by letter. If she had given her health and the
outdoor pleasures that she loved so much in aid of the sick and
suffering, she had won in exchange a position and an influence for good
such as no other woman has ever held.

* * * * *

Since this little account was written, the king has conferred on her the
highest honour he could bestow on a woman, the Order of Merit, while the
lord mayor of London and the corporat