THE SOLDIER'S FRIEND. In October, Her Majesty invited her to visit the royal residence at Balmoral; and at a ball given there, she was seated with the Royal family and the Court circleat one end of the hall. On this occasion it was noticed that her hair, which the severe attack of illness she had suffered in the Crimea necessitated cutting off, was "quite short," but a charming little cap made a very graceful head-dress. A subscription being raised by the working men of Sheffield to erect a monument in that town to the memory of their countrymen who had fallen in the Crimea, a request was made in October to Miss Nightingale, through her relative, Miss Shore, of Meersbrook Hall, that she would consent to lay the foundation stone. Miss Nightingale, in refusing, sent a check for twenty pounds towards the object proposed, but said, " It is with real pain that I feel compelled to decline the privilege, which they offer me, of laying the first stone; but I believe I shall best honour the cause of those brave dead by ab- staining from appearing to court that publicity which I consider to have been my greatest impediment in the work I have engaged in for their sakes; im- peding it by arousing in some minds a care for worldly distinctions." As an instance of her large-hearted benevolence, we may cite an incident which occurred on her return. In France there exists a charitable institu- tion,-the " Euvre de Notre Dame D'Orient, "-- 43
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