Arrives Secretly at Lea Hurst--The Object of Many Congratulations-- Presentations--Received by Queen Victoria at Balmoral--Prepares Statement of “Voluntary Gifts”--Tribute to Lord Raglan. Then leave her to the quiet she has chosen; she demands No greeting from our brazen throats and vulgar clapping hands. Leave her to the still comfort the saints know that have striven. What are our earthly honours? Her honours are in heaven. _Punch._ Florence Nightingale, under a carefully preserved incognito, arrived quietly at Whatstandwell, the nearest station to her Derbyshire home, on August 8th, 1856, and succeeded in making her way unrecognised to Lea Hurst. According to local tradition she entered by the back door, and the identity of the closely veiled lady in black was first discovered by the old family butler. The word quickly circulated round Lea and the adjacent villages that “Miss Florence had come back from the wars,” and dearly would the good people have liked to light a bonfire on Crich Stand or some other available height to testify their joy, but all demonstration was checked by the knowledge that Miss Florence wanted to remain quiet. During the ensuing weeks hundreds of people from the surrounding towns of Derby, Nottingham, and Manchester, and from more distant parts, crowded the roads to Lea Hurst and stood in groups about the park, hoping to catch a glimpse of the heroine. “I remember the crowds as if it was yesterday,” said an old lady living by the park gate, “it took me all my time to answer them. Folks came in carriages and on foot, and there was titled people among them, and a lot of soldiers, some of them without arms and legs, who had been nursed by Miss Florence in the hospital, and I remember one man who had been shot through both eyes coming and asking to see Miss Florence. But not ten out of the hundreds who came got a glimpse of her. If they wanted help about their pensions, they were told to put it down in writing and Miss Florence’s maid came with an answer. Of course she was willing to help everybody, but it stood to reason she could not receive them all; why, the park wouldn’t have held the folks that came, and besides, the old squire wouldn’t have his daughter made a staring stock of.” [Illustration: THE CARRIAGE USED BY MISS NIGHTINGALE IN THE CRIMEA. [_To face p. 240._ ] London shared the disappointment of Derbyshire in not being permitted to give Florence Nightingale a public welcome, but the situation was realised by the genial Mr. _Punch_ in the sympathetic lines quoted at the heading of this chapter.