Even the common soldiers proved themselves gentlemen under their
trials. At Agra, where so many poor fellows had been scorched and
wounded in their encounter with the enemy, they were brought into
the fort, and tenderly nursed by the ladies; and the rough, gallant
fellows proved gentle as any children. During the weeks that the
ladies watched over their charge, never a word was said by any
soldier that could shock the ear of the gentlest. And when all was
over--when the mortally-wounded had died, and the sick and maimed
who survived were able to demonstrate their gratitude--they invited
their nurses and the chief people of Agra to an entertainment in
the beautiful gardens of the Taj, where, amidst flowers and music,
the rough veterans, all scarred and mutilated as they were, stood
up to thank their gentle countrywomen who had clothed and fed them,
and ministered to their wants during their time of sore distress.
In the hospitals at Scutari, too, many wounded and sick blessed the
kind English ladies who nursed them; and nothing can be finer than
the thought of the poor sufferers, unable to rest through pain,
blessing the shadow of Florence Nightingale as it fell upon their
pillow in the night watches.
The wreck of the Birkenhead off the coast of Africa on the 27th of
February, 1852, affords another memorable illustration of the
chivalrous spirit of common men acting in this nineteenth century,
of which any age might be proud.
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