Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1890-01-21
TOPICS IN EUROPE.
Gladstone's Birthday.-POets OF the
People. - Religious Fiction. :
Spread OF the Epidemic.-Death
OF Brazil's Empress, Etc.


~ NEWS. lon December 29th at n
Il house at Hawarden, Mr.. GIadsion
ne celebrated his eightieth birthday
y, So numerous were the messages
congratulation that 1t required :
. special staff at the telegraph oiiic
n to receive them. Not merely from
is Great Britain aud 1teiand, buI
i likewise from France and Italy,anl
l from lands beyond the Rhine, CANT
= good wishes aud testimonials Of re
: gard. Nor was this all. America
: also sent her congratulations and
far-ofr Austmlia and the isles Of the
. SEA took up the refrain and echoed
their best wishes 10 the "Grand Old
Man." 1t has often been remarked
that the month Of December has
exercised dominant influ-
ence on the destiny of the
great orator and statesman, over
whose vigorous mind and frame
fourscore years have passed without
imlairing their singular powers.
Thus on December 29th, is09, a
child was born OF Scottish parents
lat Liverpool who has since lived to
l.share with Pitt, Peel, Palmerston,
and Beacons6eld, the honor Of be-
ing one Of the five great British
statesmen Of the nineteenth century.
Ii was in December 1882 that Glad
stone was sent TO Parliament for the
first time as member for Newark.
In December 1916 he was appointed
Secretary OF State Tor the Colonies.
and ia December 1852 he became
Chancellor of the Exclequer. II
was also in December 1865 that Mr..
Gladstone reached the pinnacle Of
his fame by becoming Prime
Minister Of the British Empire.
Sixty -eight years have elapsed since
he began life as an Elton sehool-bOy,
and from that day to this he has
allowed no particle Of time to 20 to
waste. The superiority Of Gladstone
over so many Of his cOtemporaries
seems to lie in his wonderful health
and untiring energy. Like many
other light and sineWy men, without
sn ounce OF unnecessary flesh, Mr..
Gladstone, despite his enormous
load Of work and responsibility, has
had very few hours OF sickness.
Progressive 10y temperament, he
broke away from the conservatism
Of his early Yeas and became the
advocate Of ali measures which
seemed TO him for tie good of his |
fel!Ow-men. No sooner is one adj |
vance gained than his vigorous |
mind Immediately makes another 1
step in the highway Of reform. In 4
power or out Of il, he is one Of the I
mOst persistent aud energetic OF
workers Even at this moment |
it would be difficult TO name
a man Of any age who is capable OF
doing greater amount Of intellec-
tual work. In his last great public
speech, delivered at Manchester n
few weeks ago, his voice rang out
with wonderful clxarness. and the
close he seemed scarcely more
wearied than when, in 1858, he held
the House of Commons syell-bOund
by his eIoquence for nearly five
hours and a half. In his mind there
are but few symptoms of decay. His
thirst for. knowledge seems rs great
IS In former years. his writings are rs
logical and terSe as they were thirty
years ago. He Is n grand example
Jf what the brain and frame OF man
IRE capable Of doing.
During the past three months have
passed away four Of England's liter
iry personages-EliZa Cook. Martin !
F. Upper, Wilkie Collins and Rob
ert Browning. Many are asking
who are going to take their
places. In the estimation Of
he upper classes Tennyson
md Browning occupy the first rank.
indeed Carlyle, RUskin, Tennyson
md Browning are often spoken Of
- the four great teachers of the
century. Whenever
heir works have been published, a
'ew thousand aristocratic families
and persons Of a literary turn have I
bought up the editions; but if we ;
20 into the public libraries and ask
The nance o. heauthors Of the books ,
which the people mostly ask for, We {
need not be surprised 10 hear The I
names OF Dickens and Irving. Burns a
and Charles Aiacliay, LongfelloT Q
md Whittier, William Morris and
VII Carlton. Except among
siggling girls and senseless fors
he reign of sensuous fiction i {
lassing away. Even among the
;O-called Christian sects II is
ierceived that the p.,lpit has
Ost its influence over the minds
4 the people. The C.rissial, Her. c
th(?), The Christian World Tie
,hTIstIdR Globe, The CATit.a,, Milton.
md in fact nearly every religious !
ournal now employs fiction for 4
ne dissemination of its doctrines.
This earnest, active. thinking age
demands religion that has life and
over IN 1t. Not a religion Of cold u
ormality and narrow sectaricnism: =
mt religion that will satisfy the d
Intellect with its truths, touch the 81
Ieart with its love. sway the VIII -
With its persHasiveness. CRAFTY the $
lste with its beauties and fiji the b
with It's sIblimities
religion is wanted that will enlist
pom It's side the whole nature of o.
nan, and command his willing and d
evoted homage. These quaiifica- n
ons tie religions of the wOrld well ?
now they do not possess. Hence b
ley seek Tor the romances to dreama te
ictulre OF what they wish thew were II
al then the preachers try to fancy
nat the dream Is real. Aiens. nIeJf Il
Let t7Ohdrsfl--" Thou art weighed IN ii
ne balance and found wanting. ;; 4 Of
rtten over the portals OF the d,
lurches, but the wise men OF this In,
&c cannot decipher the inscription. e,
Tough writer in the plainest OF bl
laractens. a,
Inc terrible epidemic known ms 81
le "hussian influenza still con- ia
nues TO spread. Never, so far as
story records, has there heer ca of
UGH sickness in almost all Inc n,
untries OF I-utope as at the present de
ne. Coming events cast their dc
adows before. There are many te
no look upon this pestilentisl visit de
ION anu sudden corruptien OF the Re.
hlosphere rs pnemouitsrv WI
reshaaOwing of the auddennscs h.
10 which predicted pestilenees VI
vi GENE upon the world In pu
{ lstter dnys; and that the voic, on "a
% speaks by this influenza resti. \,
nee as distinctly % the nations NJ M,
SPOKE of yore by the plaques Of Ia,
sypt, in the days of Pharaoh. Rnt
E greater humber by far paw mol fic
cd to the divine voice OF warn. as
2; aud attribute this sudden out. IN.
AK oil pestilence TO natural causes lea
70 every capital of Continental m,
nope there Is an amount OF raj thi
hneSs OF Frustrated strength, and hu