Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1876-03-03

DIsRAELI ~ HIS OLD ACE i question
whether ever saw an older face than that
of Mr. Disraeli seems TO be in certain lights
We have older men-iar older men-in our
public life here, where q man Of fifty Is
| still only political stripping. Mr.. Dis
raeli Is set down IN the d" Parliamentary
| Companion" as scarcely vet quite seventy.
| believe some ill-natured person has lately
| taken pains TO prove that he Is a year older.
Still. even If that were 80, seventy-one years
would place him in the second rank. ac-
cording to seniority, Of our statesmen. But
Disraeli has not yet accepted the decrees OF
fate. He has not yet put of the appear
ance and the way= OF youth. lie dresses
| like 4 Young man; he tries to walk ike
young man, at distance, and when he is
erect and not in motion. be still looks al
most like sort OF Young man. But the
face, with its fallen cheeks and lips. ITS
deep, shaky wrinkles, its awful h0llUws. its
frequent eOnyulsiye movements, the thin
wisps Of hair striving to keep their color
and to cover the bald places, the yellow,
muddy, ghastly hue spreading from fore
head TO chin. the eyes that are occasionally
aroused under the impulse Of great excite
ment to an unnatural glitter-all this seems
to suggest one of the most fearful forms in
which yindictivs old age Furnishes and hum
bles those who have shown themselves too
obstinate IN resisting her approach.
Sometimes | cannot look at the Prime Min
lister of Great Britain without being re-
minded of Mrs. SkewtOn in " DOmbey and
Son. Sometimes, indeed, a more pictur-
esque and heroic idea suggests itself. and
Mr.. Disraeli looks like a broken-down,
plucked, tattered OlG eagle, whose fights
and foes have lett him almost nothing of
his early self but eyes, and claws, and beak
But always the face of late years suggests
that like Campbel's " 0utalissl" it is
" deathlike old" 1t is curious to observe
the little pause which Mr. Disrael makes
at the bar of the uouse-or at least the
place where the bar ought to be-betore he
ventures on the task of walking up the
floor to his seat on his ministerial bench.
Evidently he still loves to show an appear
ance of jaunty and youthful vigor as he
passes up the floor under every eye. So he
stops for moment at the bar and steadies
himself as YOU sometimes see a man who
has drunk too much endeayOr to steady
himself before crossing a street. He sur
vsys the distance, making perhaps little
false start or two, and then goes at 1t. The
attempt is usually very successful little
too well done perhaps for reality. lie ac-
complis hes the journey in one stroke, il !
may use such an expression, without stop
ping or taking breath or faltering. but
with sort of determination and self mas
terry which shows how much it costs to be
young and jaunty still. Disraeli is believed
to initiate Lord Palmerston. But Palmer
s.on at eighty had no more idea of collect
ing his strength, Of pulling himself togeth-
er Tor jaunty walk up the House. than
man of forty would have. He bowled
along without thinking OF it. | fear our
statesmen are growing degenerate. Mr..
Gladstone retires at sixty-six and Mr.. Dis
raeli has to affect to be still young al seven
ty. | heard Lord Lyndhurst make very
effective speech in the House of Lords when
he was ninety years old and Earl Russell
is still busy in writing books and pam-l
phlets upon all manner of subjects, whether
he knows anything about them or not. and
corresponding with the representatives of
foreign revolutions, whether he understands
what they want or not and he Is. | think,
eigLty-four years old and be made the ac-
quaintance in Florence Of the Countess of
Albany. the widow of Charles Edward. the
young Chevalier just turn that over in
your mind. The House of Lords was ad-
dressed more than once last session by
nobleman who had in his day talked with
the widow of Bonnie Prince Charlie There,
II you like, Is a statesman Tho might fairly
be allowed 20 pause and gather strength
before attempting q rapid walk up the
floor Of Parliamentary hall.-JuStin Ne
Cdrthy, an The GALAXY.