After the marriage they spent much time in Ireland, where Mrs. Butler painted “Listed for the Connaught Rangers” in 1879.  Her later works are “The Remnant of an Army,” showing the arrival at Jellalabad, in 1842, of Dr. Brydon, the sole survivor of the sixteen thousand men under General Elphinstone, in the unfortunate Afghan campaign; the “Scots Greys Advancing,” “The Defence of Rorke’s Drift,” an incident of the Zulu War, painted at the desire of the Queen and some others.

Still a young and very attractive woman, she has before her a bright future.  She will have exceptional opportunities for battle studies in her husband’s army life.  She will probably spend much time in Africa, India, and other places where the English army will be stationed.  Her husband now holds a prominent position in Africa.

In her studio, says her sister, “the walls are hung with old uniforms—­the tall shako, the little coatee, and the stiff stock—­which the visitor’s imagination may stuff out with the form of the British soldier as he fought in the days of Waterloo.  These are objects of use, not ornament; so are the relics from the fields of France in 1871, and the assegais and spears and little sharp wooden maces from Zululand.”

Mrs. Butler has perseverance, faithfulness in her work, and courage.  She has won remarkable fame, but has proved herself deserving by her constant labor, and attention to details.  Mrs. Butler’s mother has also exhibited some fine paintings.  The artist herself has illustrated a volume of poems, the work of her sister, Mrs. Meynell.  A cultivated and artistic family have, of course, been an invaluable aid in Mrs. Butler’s development.

FLORENCE NIGHTINGALE.

[Illustration:  Florence Nightingale—­From the “Portrait Gallery of Eminent Men and Women.”]

One of the most interesting places in the whole of London, is St. Thomas’ Hospital, an immense four-story structure of brick with stone trimmings.  Here is the Nightingale Training School for nurses, established through the gift to Miss Nightingale of $250,000 by the government, for her wonderful work in the Crimean War.  She would not take a cent for herself, but was glad to have this institution opened, that girls through her training might become valuable to the world as nurses, as she has been.

Here is the “Nightingale Home.”  The dining-room, with its three long tables, is an inviting apartment.  The colors of wall and ceiling are in red and light shades.  Here is a Swiss clock presented by the Grand Duchess of Baden; here a harpsichord, also a gift.  Here is the marble face and figure I have come especially to see, that of lovely Florence Nightingale.  It is a face full of sweetness and refinement, having withal an earnest look, as though life were well worth living.

What better work than to direct these girls how to be useful?  Some are here from the highest social circles.  The “probationers,” or nurse pupils, must remain three years before they can become Protestant “sisters.”  Each ward is in charge of a sister; now it is Leopold, because the ward bears that name; and now Victoria in respect to the Queen, who opened the institution.