Merlin Rorke (1 results)

Hardcover. Condition: Fine. Dust Jacket Condition: Good. Florence Nightingale of Boer War Woman's Amazing Career of African Adventure. Although Melina Rorke, who has been described as "the Florence Nightingale of the Boer War," published her autobiography at the age of 64, her remarkable story ends when she was only 27. At that early age, however, she had had as many thrills as the most adventurous man could expect to experience in a lifetime and a long one at that. Her experiences from the age of 14 to 27 fill "Melina Rorke, R.R.C.," a large volume and she doesn't waste words, either. We meet Melina Rorke first at a Convent in Wuyberg, South Africa, but within a few pages the star of the visiting football team has fallen in love with her and she has eloped with and married him. At 15 years of age, she has a son, but her husband has been killed. The father refuses to have her in his home. At 17, with her brother and son, she set out for Bulawayo. It was a 200-mile trek through jungle and desert to a town of mud huts. On this journey they encountered all the hazards of an adventure story shooting lions, hyenas, and leopards; having their servants stolen by lions in the night; missing death from venomous snakes by seconds; watching native trials and seeing their horrible methods of administering justice. Babies As Bait They were invited to a crocodile hunt, in which naked babies were used as live bait fortunately without harm. Strangely enough, it was not through need that the author under- took this most dangerous trek. She had planned just such a trip with her brother when a child, and, when the reality came, it was her idea of heaven! In the next two or three years Melina Rorke miraculously lived through two native uprisings in the tiny town in which she had her home, saving her son and sister-in-law from a native warrior by quick thought and a steady hand on the trigger of a gun. Decorated By King At about this time she rejected a suitor and took a nursing course in London. On her return to South Africa, she started a nursing home, made money and lived very happily till the Boer War. After serving as a nurse right through the war and working with the force which relieved Mafeking, she was presented by Lord Baden- Powell with the flag which flew above the hospital during the siege. The author decided that the person who should have the flag was Queen Alexandra. When presenting the flag to the Queen in London she received from King Edward VII. the Order of the Royal Red Cross, with Coronation honors, for her untiring service and bravery. Dj has wear, tears, see photo.