The Lady with a Lamp

Florence Nightingale wanted to be a nurse. Friends laughed at her. “It’s a dirty job,” they said. “You’ll hate it.”
Florence didn’t care what they said. She read books, and she went to visit hospitals. She became a nurse. But her friends were right about one thing. It was a dirty job.
One day, she walked into a building to find soldiers on bare beds. Even though they were hurt, they didn’t have a pillow or blanket. Rats ran around them. Bugs bit them. Dirt was everywhere.
“I will help these men,” Florence said. She cleaned each room. She chased away the bugs and rats. She worked twenty hours a day to nurse the men back to health. At night, she held up a lantern to make sure each man’s room was clean. That is why they loved her. They called her “The Lady with a Lamp.”