“That societies, like those suggested, with a permanent existence should be organized so that they could be ready to act the moment war was declared. They should receive official recognition from their respective governments, with permission and facilities for continuing their noble work to the end. Among their officials should be the most honorable and esteemed men. In our century of egotism what an attraction for generous hearts and chivalrous characters to brave the same danger as the soldier, with a voluntary mission of peace and consolation! History proves there is nothing chimerical in counting upon such devotion. Two facts especially confirm this. While the Sisters of Charity cared for the sick and wounded of the French army in the Crimea, the Russian and British armies witnessed the arrival from the north and the west of two legions of noble women nurses. The Grand Duchess, Helene Paulowna, of Russia, widow of the Grand Duke Michael, engaged nearly 300 ladies of St. Petersburg and Moscow, provided them with supplies, and sent them to the hospitals in the Crimea, where these good women were blessed by thousands of the soldiers. “Miss Florence Nightingale, having received from the Minister of War a pressing appeal to help the sick and wounded English soldiers, left for Scutari in November, 1854, with 27 other women. In 1855 Miss Stanley, with 50 more women, went out. The image of Florence Nightingale, her little lamp in hand, passing at night down the vast wards of the military hospitals and taking note of each of the sick and wounded will never be effaced from the hearts of the men who were the objects of her noble charity, and the story of her work will remain forever engraved in history. “In many cases of similar devotion, ancient and modern, how many proved of little value because they were isolated and were not supported by the sympathy of others intelligently associated together for a common end? Had trained nurses and hospital orderlies been at Castiglione those terrible days of June 24, 25, and 26, how many human lives would have been saved? The sight of so many brave young soldiers crippled by loss of arm or leg returning disconsolately to their homes must arouse a feeling of remorse that no measures had been taken beforehand to prevent such consequences of wounds which would have healed had proper care been given them at first.