Some of the old folks had passed away and the young ones had settled in homes of their own, but no change in the family history of the people escaped Miss Florence. She ministered through her private almoner to the wants of the sick, and bestowed her name and blessing on many of the cottage babes. By her thoughtful provision a supply of fresh, pure milk from the dairy of Lea Hurst was daily sent to those who were in special need of it. People on the estate recall that before she left in the autumn “Miss Florence” always gave directions that a load of holly and evergreens should be cut from Lea Woods and sent to the Nurses’ Home at St. Thomas’s, the District Nurses’ Home in Bloomsbury Square, and the Harley Street Home, for Christmas decoration. [Illustration: CLAYDON HOUSE, THE SEAT OF SIR EDMUND VERNEY, WHERE THE “FLORENCE NIGHTINGALE” ROOMS ARE PRESERVED. (_Photo by Payne, Aylesbury._) [_To face p. 320._ ] On February 1st, 1880, Miss Nightingale suffered another loss in the death of her beloved mother, whose last years she had so faithfully tended as far as her strength would allow. Mrs. Nightingale, to whose beautiful character and example her famous daughter owes so much, passed away at Embley and was buried beside her husband in East Willows Churchyard. Her tomb bears the inscription:-- Devoted to the Memory of our Mother, FRANCES NIGHTINGALE, WIFE OF WILLIAM EDWARD NIGHTINGALE, ESQ. _Died February 1st, 1880._ “God is Love.”--_1 John_ iv. 16. “Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all His benefits.”-- _Ps._ ciii. 2. _BY F. PARTHENOPE VERNEY AND FLORENCE NIGHTINGALE_ After the death of her mother, Miss Nightingale still occasionally stayed at Lea Hurst and Embley, which had passed to her kinsman, Mr. William Shore Nightingale, and continued her old interest in the people of the district. In 1887 the members of a working men’s club in Derbyshire presented Miss Nightingale with a painting of Lea Hurst, a gift which she received with peculiar pleasure. It was about this time that she paid her last visit to the loved home of her childhood.