Florence Nightingale

1240 Words3 Pages

"Nursing is an art: and if it is to be made an art, it requires an exclusive devotion as hard a preparation, as any painter's or sculptor's work; for what is the having to do with dead canvas or dead marble, compared with having to do with the living body, the temple of God's spirit? It is one of the Fine Arts: I had almost said, the finest of Fine Arts." (Florence Nightingale)

Who was Florence Nightingale? Some knew her as the “Lady with the Lamp”, in view of the fact that she carried around a lamp as she visited her patients during the night hours. In addition too, she was also known as “Nightingale in the East”. (Florence Nightingale Biography) Florence Nightingale was born in Florence, Italy. She was named after the city of her birth by her parents, William and Frances Nightingale. (Nurse) Nightingale was very close to her wealthy landowner father. William Nightingale home schooled Florence, along with her sister in Greek, Latin, French, German, Italian, History, Philosophy and Math. (John Simkin)

At the age of 17, Nightingale felt a calling from God to help others. Florence’s mother didn’t approve of her plans to be a nurse, as nurses were associated as “working class women”.

Her mother wanted Florence to have a social life and a good suitor. Florence also hid from the “public life”. Her mother preached to her that women of her class were expected to throw parties for other wealthy families in England and also get married. Florence was not happy with the way her mother planned for her life to be as she believed she could make a difference and help other people live healthier lives. When she turned the age of 25, Florence made an agreement with her father. If he were to let her go to Kaiserwerth hospital in Germany to stu...

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Spears, Jay. Florence Nightingale. 20 July 2009. GayHeros. 18 April 2011.

Stevens, Patsy. Florence Nightingale. 2001. Garden of Praise. 15 April 2011.

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