Not the least quality of the Lady-in-Chief was her influence over men in authority. She was not dictatorial, she was not aggressive, but she possessed the judgment which inspired confidence and the knowledge which compelled respectful attention. Her letters to the War Minister at home, and to Lord Raglan, the General in the field, were models of clear and concise documents, devoid of grumbling, rancour, or fidgety complaints, but they contained some appalling facts. Unerringly she laid her finger on the loose joints of the commissariat and hospital administration. By the enlightening aid of her letters from Scutari the Home Government was enabled to pierce the haze which surrounded the official accounts from the Bosphorus, and gradually the hospital management was put on a footing which harmonised with the Lady-in-Chief’s recommendations. Lord William Paulet, who succeeded Major Sillery as Military Commandant at Scutari shortly after Miss Nightingale’s arrival, soon learned to place entire confidence in her judgment. “You will find her most valuable, ... her counsels are admirable suggestions,” wrote the War Minister to the new Commandant and Lord William proved the truth of the statement. Lord Raglan in one of his dispatches to the Duke of Newcastle said, “Lord William [Paulet] like Brown [Sir George Brown] speaks loudly in praise of Miss Nightingale,” adding that he was confident that she had “done great good.” As the weeks passed by, Lord Raglan grew to consider the Lady-in-Chief a most efficient auxiliary “general.” CHAPTER XIII _AT WORK IN THE BARRACK HOSPITAL_ An Appalling Task--Stories of Florence Nightingale’s interest in the Soldiers--Lack of Necessaries for the Wounded--Establishes an Invalids’ Kitchen and a Laundry--Cares for the Soldiers’ Wives--Religious Fanatics--Letter from Queen Victoria--Christmas at Scutari. Neglected, dying in despair, They lay till woman came, To soothe them with her gentle care, And feed life’s flickering flame. When wounded sore, on fever’s rack, Or cast away as slain, She called their fluttering spirits back, And gave them strength again. FRANCIS BENNOCH. The events of the war in the autumn of 1854 will convey some idea of the number of wounded men crowded into the hospitals on the Bosphorus when Florence Nightingale entered upon her duties at Scutari. Balaclava was fought on October 25th, four days after she left London; the battle of Inkerman followed on November 5th, the day after she landed. Before the average woman would have found time to unpack her boxes, Miss Nightingale was face to face with a task unparalleled in its magnitude and appalling in its nature.