The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1893-03-05

purer than the original English. When
he il in town he dimes out almost every
day. though. ~ have said, he eschsws
formal and mlxed gatherings and affects
the small and early dinner party ct which
be can meet IN old friend or two and 80
. young face which he may Do Interested
In seeing. One habit Of his 10 quite I'M
varying He iikes 70 walk home. and 20
walk home alone. He declines escort and
slips away for bis quiet stroll under the
stars or even through the fog and mist on
. London winters night Midnight usu-
ally brings his busy. happy day to close.
trouble him. and 1t s. his nights are -
dreamless and untroubled - those Of Q
boy of 10.
His afternoons when in town and during
the season are Of course given mp pretty
exclusively to public business and tho
house of commons. which he usually
reaches about o'clock. He goes by .
side door straight to his private room,
where he receives his colleagues and hears
of endless questions and motions, which
fall like leaves in Vallambrosa around
the head Of prime minister. Prob
ably steps will be taken to remove
much of this irksome and somewhat
petty burden from tho shoulders of
the aged minister: But leader Mr.. Glad
stone must and will be At 83 quite az fully
IS he was at 80. Indeed, the complaint Of
him always has been that he does too
much. both for his own health and the
smooth manipulation of the great ma
chine which, as was once remarked, creaks
and moves rather lumberingly under his
masterful but over minute guidance. Dur
ing the last two or three years it has
been customary for the whips to arrange
that Mr.. Gladstone speaks early in the
evening. He will no doubt not ALWAYS be
able to do this while the home rule bill is
under discussion. but / do not think he
will ever again find it necessary to follow
the entire course of q parliamentary de-
bate. He never needed to do much listen
ing from the treasury bench. as he was
wont to do IN his first and second minis.
tries. do not think that any prime min
lister ever spent half as much time in the
house of commons as did Mr. Gladstone:
certainly nobody ever made one.tenth
part as many speeches. Indeed, it requires
all Mrs. G!adstone's vigilance to avert tho
physical strain consequent upon over
work. With thi. purpose she invari-
ably watches him in the house Of COM
mons from corner seat in the right-hand
Of the ladies' gallery. which is always re-
served for her, and which have never
known her to miss occupying on any oc-
casion OF the slightest importance.
l have before me two or three examples
Of notes Of Mr.. Gladstone's speeches; one
VI Sucut IClctS W Ou0 VI Tue most I'm port
ant OF his addresses on the custom cues.
ton. It was long speech extending. if
rememp Der rightly. to considerably over an
hour. Ye the memoranda consists purely
Of four or FIVE sentences Of two or three
words apiece. written on q single sheet of
note paper and no hint of the course of
the Grafton is given. OCCASIONALLY, no
doubt, especially in the case of the speech
on the introduction of the home rule bill.
which was to my mind the best Mr., Glad
stone has ever delivered, the notes were
rather more extensive than this, but as q
rule they are extremely brief When Mr..
Gladstone addresses great public meet
ing. the most elaborate pains are taken to
insure his comfort. He can now only read
the very largest print, and careful and
delicate arrangements are made to pro-
vide him with lamps throwing the light
on the desk or table near which he stands.
Sir Andrew Clark observes the most zeal.
Gus watchfulness over his patient A
curious instance of this occurred at New.
castle. when Mr.. Gladstone was deliver.
ing his address to the great Liberal caucus
which assemblies IS the annual meeting of
the National Liberal Federation. Sir An
drew had insisted that the orator should
confine himself tod spaach lasting only an
hour. Fearing that his charge would for.
get all about his promise in the excite
ment OF speaking, the physician slipped