The Portland daily press., 1896-03-20
GLADSTONE IN HIS WoRKRooM.
How He Succeeds in Getting Through So
e~ Many Books.
(From the Westminster Gazette ,

Many Books.
(From the Westminster Gazette.
Three writing tables stand in the
Hawarden castle libarry, and not one of
them is for show. At one of them Mrs
Gladstone writes many of her letters: the
second, standing between two windows,
is Mr.. Gladstone's political desk. 1t
looks now too neat, too tidy by far, for
| the taste of any Gladstonian politician:
the blotting pad has an unused air about
it; the pen wipers, racks, knives and
other appurtenances stand about with q
mathematical precision which means
want of use, and there is neither note nor
lea1et to be seen. The political desk. at
all events for the present. must be num-
bered among the unemployed. But turn
to the third, the literary writing table in
the niche by the window, which Is the
most peaceful corner in that place of
peace. You may there at any time dur
Ing the day see sight that will make
| your heart rejoice, and that will Iinger
in your mind while pictures hinge r
| there at all.
The whole desk is covered with refer
enoe books of all shapes and sizes They
form wall round TIL ee SIDES, and there
Is only an opening in the front of the
desk just wide enough to allow Mr..
| Gladstone to place the sheets Of foolscap
paper on which he writes. There at this
desk the 6. o. NJ, sat lately all day
long. with very short intervals, absorbed
in Bishop Butler the man whom he
gives place among the best of men that
| have ever lived. The number of volumes
required by Mr.. Gladstone for reference
is almost endless; he has often to search
through one bulky tome after the other
| for some chance paragraph that may help
him to elucidate a dark place in the
| ANALOGY" There he sits, absorbed in
| his work; now writing rapidly and Gag
| erly for some minutes; now throwing
down his pen, and dipping deep into one
of the books with which he has sur
rounded himself.
Sometimes specially favored artist
has been admitted to take Mr.. Glad
stones portrait, but it is on express con-
| dition that the "sitter' shall not in
any way be distracted from his work.
Not once does Mr.. Gladstone's atten.
tion flag. though you may perchance be
sauntering about the room in company
with mem Der of his family, or be priv
| ilege to have chat with Mrs. Gladston n o,
as, with the loving pride in all her hus
bands doings, she points out to yor
this, that or the other Of the objects in
| the library to which attaches a special
| interest for him. Not that Mr.. Glad
stone Is altogether Indifferent to violent
| Interruptions. In fact he objects te
to say so. But when it happens thai
he himself has invited you to "oome into
my ROOM" he forgives you If you appear
| while he is at work, and works on, un,
disturbed by your presence or your voice,
| with an absorption in his occupation
Whatever the WORK may be which be
has in hand, it takes hold of him SO en-
tirely that he has to be reused from it as
most people are reused from sleep. Mr.
Gladstone does not, as a rule, care to tall
of his idiosyncrasies, since he holds the
sincere opinion that he is very much like
the rest of the world. But he &C.
knowledges that his faculty of concentra
ton is his special gift, the cone by which
he is distinguished from other people.
| Another reason why Mr.. Gladstone geti
through SO astounding an amount o.
work in his extraordinary habit of using
up odds and ends of time. One day, mo-
long ago. he was going for drive int
Chester after luncheon. His pudding
was very hot, SO he went away from thu
table,, changed his clothes, got ready
for the drive and came back and finished
his pudding, thus saving the ten min
utes during which his pudding cooled
| From 10 am, to luncheon time Mr.
Gladstone spends regularly in the library
hard at work. But when the gong sound
he puts down his pen, for promptness IL
everything has become second natur
to him, and he is probably in tho dinin
room before anyone else arrives. Pet
alone, If that little creature can arrang
it SO, is as prompt as his master, TO
his two ruling passions-love for hi
master and love for his dinner-oom
into play at the sound of the luncheon
gong.
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