The Norfolk Virginian. [volume] (Norfolk, Va.) 186?-189?, 1896-07-09

luS to his vitality from the friendly IN
tercourse of women OF high and low degree
and of all manner of morals status might
have found In the jealousy or resentment
OF his wife. a formidable addition to the
burdens OF state: but Mrs Gladstone al
ways showed smiling face. She always
had very good health and u self-satisfed
temperament she ,,,, was ao, also gGod
anthropy, with plenty of little interests of
her own with which she solaced herself
when the absorbing cares of state swept
her husband temporarily out of her orbit
HIS FACULTY FOR SLEEP.
Besides these two. his religion and his
wife, the two outside influences which
kept Mr.. Gladstone I'm perennial youth by
ting the rapidly revolving wheels Of this
human dynamo, Mr.. Gladstone had var
ious habits which conduced greatly to his
longevity and physical vigor First OF
these unqucstionably Is ths gift of Sleep
gift he shared I'm common with Napoleon
and other notable commanders in history
Mr. Gladstone throughout the whole OF
his life has slept at instant command, he
could go to sleep ut moments notice.
and what Is more remarkable, wake bright
and fresh within ten minutes or going to
sloep. He has always been u famous sleep
err. his nightly allowance of sleep Is fixed
at seven hours Is n man who likes sleep
and could enjoy an extra hour, but the
habit of getting UP after seven hours sleep
has been formed and Mr.. Gladstone adj
heres to it. When Mr.. Gladstone lays his
head on his pillow he is able TO shut his
mind off from all the business of life:
when he goes to bed 1t is to sleep and he
sleeps with all his might Mr.. Bright used
to lay awake for hours thinking out his
speeches and the curse of insomnia has
played havoc with more than one promi-
nent statesman on both sides of the AT
luntic. / do not think there was ever q
time when Mr.. Gladstone could not go 10
sleep.
After his faculty for sleep must be men
toned the methodical regularity, the al
most automatic persistence with which he
adhered TO hab,s which he found benei-
cial to his health. Mr.. Gladstone's body
was like II chronome:er: it was adjusted to
u certain time and kept SO year I'm and
year out without a shadow of variation.
His orderly mind possessed horror of
unpunctuality, and the endless uncartain-
~ that follows the lack of fixed rule. Not
that he was martinez or pcdant but
he took care OF his health. A saying
of his that every piece of meat should
be bitten thrty-two times Is one of the
many instances which might be cited as
to the attention he pays to small things.
NO BAD HABITS.
Mr.. Gladstone, although not u teeto-
taller has never emulated the exploits OF
some of his more bibuous predecessors
l Mr.. Gladstone is not Il tectotaler he is
at least Z total abstainer from tobacco: he
neither snuffs. chews or smokes either pipe,
him to the seductions of the fragrant
weed. Another quality of his was the
| rare gift OF concentration. The bump Of
concentration. must, IL there is ANYTHING
In prenology, he enormously developed.
whatever the work may he he has in
hand, snid n recent visitor ut Harvard
| en-, at takes hold OF him so entirely that
| he has 20 he reused from 1t as most AFRO
| reused from sleep" This enabled him TO
| be almost totally indifferent to his sur
| roundings. IL faculty simply Invaluable to
| him, when as leader of the House of Com
| mons, he had to sit for hours listening to
the monotcnous drone OF irrelevant de-
bate; Whilst able to concentrate himself
so absolutely upon the subject in hand as
| TO be oblivious of all the world. he was
| capable with the utmost ease of varying
| his subjects. 1t has long been his habit
| always to have three books in reading al
| the same time, and with all his strenuous
| ness, Mr.. Gladstone is well aware of the
advantage of occasionally unstringing the
bow. He reads novels with hearty gtisto.
and Miss Friedrichs In her charming lit
tie volume, Mr.. Gladstone I'm the Even
ing of his Days. mentions that when laa
was worn out with several hours' steady
| continuous work Mt indexing Hishop But
tier he recovered the tone OF his mind by
resalng himself in the evening with
| Nights Entertainments"
HE READS BUT ONE NEWSPAPER.
Another thing which might perhaps be
| classified as merely another phase of the
same faculty, but one which nevertheless
helped TO prolong his vigor was that he
seuuiously eschewed the practice of pro-
miscuous newspaper reading. Arthur hal
| Iour, the present leader of the House of
Commons has always made n point OF
Is compelled to do so, rule which has
certainly its advantages, but which could
hardly be adopted by anyone less au-
dacious or less happily constituted than
MIR. Baifour. lie told me once that not
only did II save great deal of time to
lei your newspaper reading he done by
other people, but ii was so much more in
tcresting TO hear things at first hand for
yourself instead of taking them second
hand from newspaper reporter. Mr. Glad
stone In the matter OF newspaper read
ing stood midway between Mr. Balfour
and MIR. Bright. Mr.. Balfour read nothing.
Mr.. Bright read every word in n morning
newspaper, devoted regularly two hours n
day to its pcrusal Mr.. Gladstone usually
reads one newspaper regularly. 1t used to
hands and latterly il has teen The West
minister Gazette. The Times Mr. Glad
stone has never read regularly. | remem-
Der him telling me in 1877 that he never
looked at the Times for any other reason
excepting to read the kilograms which J.
J: Stilmnn. the Times correspondent in
Montenegro. dispatched TO the progress
of the campaign against the Turk
ENJOYS ABOUT EVERYTHING BUT
| RACING AND GAMBLING.
Another achievement that must be
taken into account is the immense diver
ty of interests which Mr.. Gladstone en-
joys In life. He touches lii. at every
side. with the exception of racing and
gambling. and whenever ne touches II he
thrills responsive to its touch Merely ia
be Prime Minister of the Queen is of Itself
sufbcient to provide topics of interest for
any ordinary person for the rest OF his
life. But Mr.Gladstone was never able "a
devote more than section OF his time
10 politics; he has probably spent more
nme over Homer than he ever did over
the question of Parliamentary reform
and at all times his interest in theology
Iagg tt,t