Omaha daily bee., 1896-06-21
From an Unpublished Photography
MR.. GLADSTONE.

rare gift of concentration. The bump OF
concentration, must, If there is anything
in phrenology, be enormously developed
Whatever the work may be he has in
hand" said a recent visitor at Hawarden,
lit takes hold of him SO entirely that he
has to be reused from it as most are reused
from sleep" This enabled him to be al
most totally Indifferent to his surroundings,
a faculty simply invaluable to him, when
as leader of the House of he
had to sit for hours listening to the
monotonous drone of irrelevant debate.
Whist abld 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 sub
jects. 1t has long been his habit always
to have three books in reading at the same
time, and with all his strenuousness, Mr..
Gladstone Is well aware of the advantage
Of occasionally unstringing the bow. He
reads novels with hearty gusto. and Miss
Friedrichs, in her charming little volume,
NJ Gladstone in the Evening Of His Days"
mentions that when he was worn out with
several hours steady continuous work at
i~ndeXing Bishop Butler, he recovered the
tone of his mind by RECALLING himself in the
evening with Robinson Crusoe," and THE
Arabian 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
sedulously eschewed the practice of promis-
cuous newspaper reading. Arthur Balfour,
the present leader of the House of Com
mons, has always made a point of never
reading a newspaper at all unless he is
compelled to do so, a rule which has GER
tainly its advantages, but which could
hardly be adopted by any one unless au-
daclous or less happily constituted than
Mr.. Balfour. He told me once that not only
did II save a great deal Of time to let your
newspaper reading be done by other people,
but 1t was so much more interesting to hear
things at first hand for yourself instead
OF taking them second hand from news
paper reporters. Mr.. Gladstone, In the mat
ter OF newspaper reading, stood midway be-
tween Mr.. Balfour and Mr.. Bright. Mr..
Balfour read nothing, Mr.. Bright read every
word in a morning newspaper, devoted
regularly two hours a day to its perusal.
Mr.. Gladstone usually reads one newspaper
regularly. 1t used to be the Pail Mall
Gazette before 1t changed hands and lat
terly it has been the Westminster Gazette.
The Times Mr.. Gladstone has never read
regularly. / remember him telling me in
1877 that he never looked at the Times for
any other reason excepting to read the
kilograms which w. J. Stillman, the Times
correspondent in Montenegro, dispatched as
to the progress of the campaign against the
Turk.
OPPOSED TO RACING AND GAMBLING.
Another achievement that must be taken
into account is the immense diversity of
interests which Mr.. Gladstone enjoys in
life. He touches life at every side, with the
exception of racing or gambling, and
wherever he touches 1t he thrills responsive
to its touch. Merely to be prime minister
OF the queen is of itself sufficient to provide
topics Of interest for any ordinary person
for the rest of his life. But MI. Gladstone
was never able TO devote more thar a sec
tion of his time to politics; he has probably
spent more time over Homer than he ever
did over the question of parliamentary re-
form, and at all times his interest in the
ology outbalances his interest in mundane
affairs.
1t is thoroughly characteristic that his
~fayorite hobby at the present moment
should be the institution OF the theological
library, which he has founded In the inn
mediate proximity of Hawarden, provided II
with a hosiery, where students who desire
to study the theological books may be
boarded and lodged for SO, or 25s a week. !
81. Deiniols library contains on its shelves
10000 volumes, chiefly theological, which
have been weeded from Mr.. Gladstone's own
library, and the institution has been en-
dowed by him to some $50 900. II is the
hobby OF his old age. and no theme OF con-
yersation ever aroused the veteran 30 surely
as an alluUon to st. Deiniols. which has
Rev. Mr.. Drew, his son-in-law, as Its
warden and librarian.
HIS CONVERSATIONAL POWERS.
II Us lmost impossible to start any sub |