Barbour County index. [volume] (Medicine Lodge, Kan.) 1880-current, 1890-02-05
THE GRAND OLD MAN.
Mr.. Gladstone Reads Any Thing an
Every Thing That Comes to Him.

Mr.. Gladstone Reads Any Thing and
Every Thing That Comes to Him.
Mr.. Gladstone is, in every respect, q
great reader. He spends more time now
in reading books than he did twenty
five years ago. Any thing and every
thing that comes to him is grist to his
mill. He doesn't mind wading through
chapter after chapter if he only finds a
kernel of truth or a nugget of pure gold
at the end. He is particularly fond OF
books of travel and politics; and there is
no country that interests him so much
as America, its people and its politicians.
A great deal of his reading is done as a
matter Of duty, or work, if you please,
and after he has finished that and is so
thoroughly tired out that most men
would take to the woods or to a sick
room, the great statesman turns to his
Latin or Greek for rest and repose. If
there is one subject dear to his heart,
after politics and state-craft, 1t is
religion. He has no favorite authors;
he finds good in all schools, and he
says, indeed, it must be a very
poor writer who can't find some-
thing to say that will interest even the
busiest of men and the most learned.
He has the faculty of skimming through
book and getting the salient points in
few hours. When Henry George pub
hshed his Progress and Poverty" Mr..
Gladstone felt so deeply interested that
he not only read the book. very careful
ly once, but half dozen times, and at
least score of books also bearing on
the subject. He viewed it from all
points, and felt no doubt that he was
adding TO his store of knowledge by so
doing.
To Americans it will be of interest to
know that Mr.. Gladstone receives a
large number of American newspapers
and magazines, and that he is very well
informed on all current American
topics. He keeps several secretaries
busy, and when he finds a striking
point In book or newspaper he turns
down the page or marks it to be clipped
by his daughter, Miss Helen Gladstone,
or his wife, or one of his secretaries, and
strange to say he can turn to it years
afterwards at a moments notice He
has wonderful memory, too, and
knows a great deal more of American
men of letters than most people would
suppose. He is an intense admirer of
James Russell Lowell and Bret Harte,
whom he met in London and learned
to love and respect for their talent as
well as personal qualities.
He has a magnificent library of ex-
ceeding value and is constantly adding
to it. He is one of the few great men of
this world who is not ashamed to be
seen alone in the street, and he often
spends an hour or so in some old book
sellers shop on the Strand or in Corn
hill. He is the owner of many rare and
valuable works, and whenever there is
an important book sale, either his son
Herbert, or one of the secretaries, is
present to bid in any valuable or rare
volume that may be offered. He spent
a fortune on his library, and when an
noyed by the cares of political life,
always finds rest and contentment there.
He is on familiar terms with many of
the lesser, as we'll as the greater liter
ary lights of London, and he is an espe-
cial admirer of the work of Sir Edwin
Arnold, the descriptive work of William
Black and the plots of Wilkie Collins
T.. w. Box, in Ladies' Home Journal