Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1893-09-07
SHE IS A FIT COMPANION OF THE
STATESMAN
SIZE POSSESSES A NOTABLE
PERSONALITY OF HER OWN.
Daughter of Baronet, Whose Funeral
Is All She Can Recall of Her Faith
er-More than Half Century a
Wheeler Charities Many and
Practical.

OF the great Stateman who SWayS the
destinles OF Great Britain. She has
"a notable personality Of her own,
worthy in its energy and sagacity Of
him with whom her life is linked.
While the husbands career has al
ways been interviewer with the highest
affairs of state, the wife has shown her
genius for administration by the char
liable enterprises in which she has
taken so active part. Most things
come about naturally as the effect of
growth; and it is interesting to 90 back
to the childhood of Mrs. Gladstone to
trace the influences which directed her
| mind to deeds of beneficence. Things
have changed since Mrs. Gladstone was
a little girl, living with her sister and
brothers at Hawarden castle nearly
eighty years ago.
Mrs Gladstones father, Sir Stephen
! Glynne, died young, when his eldest
daughter Catharine (Mrs. Gladstone
! was scarcely 3 years old.
Tradition remembers him as a very
handsome, liyely-minded man, and it
is said that Catharine Gladstone grew
up very like her father.
| One of Mrs. GladstoEe'S first vivid
| impressions is Of the fright she got by
seeing the "mutes," then the fashion
at important funerals, standing about
the castle while her dead father lay
in state. 1t gave her lifelong horror
| Of elaborate and expensive funerals.
| SuocaQ6nI n
baronetcy and estates by his eldest son,
Stephen Richard, then but boy of s.
Lady Glynne, daughter of Lord Bra
brooke, was left with the sole charge
of the property and the children. She
was a beautiful woman of strong char
acter. Fortunately about this time
her brother, the Hon. George Neville,
| came to be rector of Hawarden Parish.
The castle and rectOry were within a
quarter of an hours walk of each other,
and it was precious boon for Lady
Glynne to have her brothers judicious
| help in the management Of the large
estates, and in the education Of her
! two boys and her two girls.
! This was about the year 1913. At
! that date Hawarden, in common with
a village in Cheshire, had the deserved
; reputation of being the most wicked
place in all the country round. Mr..
. Neville, with Lady Glynne's consent
closed the worst of the public houses,
and inaugurated a system of education
for the parish, setting up schools in
I Hawarden village and in the districts
round.
| In 1889 she married William Ewart
Gladstone, whose great genius already
fOrshadOWed his future eminence The
same day her youngest sister married
Lord Lyttleson. Those who were eye
witnesses of that double wedding and
all the wonderful festivities in the
village are becoming few, indeed.
! In her married life Mrs. Gladstone
found occupation to the full She was
always the true and careful mother
who would not give over her duties to
another, even to the best of nurses.
She was devoted to her husband in his
incessant political tolls.
Mrs. Gladstone soon became a center
for philanthrOpic work of all kinds.
! She and Mr.. Gladstone started Newport
Market Refuge, which is now carried
on at Westminster, with an industrial
school attached.
! Begun in Soho in 1868, it was Mr.
GladStOne'S idea, for he saw many
friendless wanderers as he went at
night between the House of Commons
and his home.
RS. Gladstone threw herself into
l is scheme, and the work was started
with an efficient committee. From the
be";nning Mr.. Gladstone has been
president and his wife a regular visit
or. The object Of the refuge is to give
shelter to persons out of work and 10
temporary distress, to enable them to
tide over their difficulties and to find
fresh employment. 1t does not take IN
the practical casual, or loafer, but the
weary, sOre-fOOted travellers, who have
walked far in search of work and
found none. Such are always admitted
as far as room permits, and have the
assurance of weeks lodging free, with
the prospects of an extension of time
If the committee see a reasonable
chance of their getting work.
In the course Of single year, writes
Mary G. Burnett in the current number
of McClures Magazine, about 1900
nights lodgings and 10000 rations have
been granted, and 800 men and women
have obtained employment, or else have
been sent home to their friends.
1t need scarcely be said to those who
have kept pace with recent events that
the most vital feature of General
Booths great work in London follows
closely the model set by the Gladstone
institution.
1t was soon found advisable to add a
Boys Industrial School to the work of
the Refuge. Many lads in distress
We're constantly being discovered, who
would certainly drift into a life of
idleness and dishonesty if not taken
in hand. SO the managers determined
to try the new combination-refuge
and school-which, hazardous as it was
as 1t commencement, has proved an /
entire success.
In 1866 a sharp epidemic of cholera .
reached England, and the East End of |
London was severely attacked. Mrs. |
her regular visits to the London hospi-
tai.
Whole families were brought in to-
gether, some to die, others to recover.
Parents dying left their children be-
/ ind them, friendless and helpless.
Y ~ 10