Omaha daily bee., 1896-06-21
CLADSTONE'S SCIENCE OF LIFE
Lively Character Sketch Of the e1-Premie
by an English Journalist.
SECRET OF HIS WONDERFUL VITALITY
No Rad Habits, n Good sleeper and n
wife Who Knows How to Elimi-
nate Worry from Ills Life
Routine ut Hnwnrdcn.

his library and sit himself on the stone
steps that lead from the castle front to
the lawn. He carries in his hand a book
I'm which, as soon as he has seated himself,
he is completely absorbed. The old man Is
Mr.. Gladstone, the book he is studying Is
one Of the innumerable volumes which he
Is devouring in the prosecution OF the study
TO which he has devoted his closing years.
and he seats himself on the steps in order
that his impaired eyesight may catch and
utilize the last rays OF the setting sun.
The old statesman, scholar and student to
the last, is now Sc years of age, but his in
tellectual vigor is not abated, nor has he
lost the sinewy grip with which he fastens
upon the subjects to which he devotes his
attention.
No one who reads the strenuous argument
with which Mr.. Gladstone summarizes the
reasoning of Bishop Butler on the future
life is conscious of any weakening in the
vigorous dialetic which has so often been
employed with brilliant success in the
House of Commons.
In that polemic Mr.. Gladstone is all
there, but as a recent visitor to Hawarden
remarked, although Mr.. Gladstone is Mr..
Gladstone still, when the eye flashes as OF
old in keen debate, or when you listen to
the inexhaustible stream of his vivacious
conversation, you are regretfully compelled
TO admit that ii Is but a temporary triumph
of mind over matter; when ten minutes
later you see him again in the corner
of the pew in Hawarden church, dimly
visible in the subdued light OF the chancel,
you are bound to change, however re-
luctantly, your recent opinion. 1t is in
deed a very old man who sits there, with
bent back and pale wrinkled face, holding
his book close to his eyes, apparently un-
able to find or to follow the text. A stray
sunbeam, white as sunbeams usually are,
falls upon him from behind, the ivory white
of the bald majestic head CLEAN in the
light and the few silvery hairs round the
base of the head, from a striking contact
of the glittering gilt edges OF the
book he holds. The day is far spent, and
you turn sadly from the contemplation of
the sad, quiet figure Frail though he
is, as indeed he may well be, weighed down
as he is with the burden of four score years
and six, still Mr.. Gladstone is far and away
the most potent personality in Great Britain.
He had retired from politics. but until
death has closed that eager eye and stilled
that eloquent tongue, nothing can dim
inish or impair his authority; he must ever
remain the first among us all.
WHAT is MIR. GLADSHTONE'S SECRET?
What is Mr.. Gladstone's secret? How
Is it that he has preserved ~unimpaired for
eighty-siX years, both his physical and men
tai powers? That he has dope so is adj
mitted. although the body is at last ex-
hibiting somewhat Of the infrmities of old
age. Mr.. Gladstone is still vigorous, alert,
resourceful, capable OF reading and writ
ing for hours together, and also able on
occasion to take long walks. We hear a
great deal of the eight-hours day and the
eight-hours movement. but Mr.. Gladstone,
we'll on 10 his pinptipth vnar docs ton
hours work, and no mistake. How has he
contrived to do it? What is his secret? For
If so be that we can discover it, 1t may
mean years of life to many men who, al
though they have no desire to be great states
men, do not wish to trouble the undertake r
before their time.
Mr.. Gladstone started well. He was born
OF healthy stock in comfortable circum-
stances. with a constitution of iron. He had
enormous driving power and physical en-
eIgy; the evidence of which may still be
seen ~palpable to all men in the massive
of the back of his head. From
his parents he had every advantage of hered-
ity and environment from his youth up.
These things cannot be bespoken by any one,
and 1t Is well, therefore, and it will be more
profitable, to devote attention to the meth
DDS with which he was early endowed.
HIS STRONG RELIGIOUS FAITH.
The first thing that forces itself upon our
attention is the fact that Mr.. Gladstone
from MS youth Up mas COntTlNeu III some
way or another to appropriate for himself
all the advantages which come from a sturdy
and assured faith in the government of the
Looking at 1t altogether apart
frcm the question Of the truth or falsehOOd
of religious belief, there is no doubt that
from a purely hygienic point of view a man
who feels that there is outside of him and
above him, Il moral order controlled by some
being infinitely wiser than himself, has ad-
from the point of view of a life
,an.a ,nA HnAIAtv urnatlN tnnrtnr 10 fhncnl
by a man who has no such con
Mr.. Gladstone has probably had his doubts
Ike most men, but they have been as waves
10 a strong swimmer, which carry him on
ward to his goal. Mr.. Gladstone is one of
hose men who are never so convinced of
he truth Of anything as when they are set
10 work to defend 1t against the
IF its opponents, and Mr.. Gladstones faith
ias waXed all the stronger because, like
he oak planted on a wind-swept hill, 1t has
been compelled to drive its roots deeper in
he soil because of the tempest, which hurls
through its branches. over the mantel-piece
N Mr.. Gladstone's bedroom, there is en-
,lazoned a text which explains a good deal
IF the tranquility which has saved Mr..
from nervous exhaustion. The
runs. Thou wilt keep him in perfect
peace whose mind is set on thee
INFLUENCE OF FORTUNATE MARRIAGE.
If Mr.. Gladstone's simple but fervent re-
igious faith is the first element In the secret
If his continued and continuing yigor, the
second place must be awarded to the happy
of a fortunate marriage. II Mrs.
had been a ~cleverer woman she
might have been less helpful, for some
have such an oyerpowering individ-
lality OF their own, that what they seek in
/ companion is not a positive so much as
/ negative capacity. AS iron sharpeneth
ron, so a man sharpeneth the countenance
If his friend; but Mr.. Gladstone was not
particularly In need of being sharpened, but
ne was in need of being rested. Therefore,
Gladstone was not so much as another
word blade clashing with his, as the scab.
bard of his sword.
Mrs, Gladstone, however, rightly or
wrongly, held the view that II was the
duty to make life as "cushiony" as
for her husband; she would dis
play a world of patience and cunning
diplomacy TO keep any disagreeable thing
of his way, even to the extent OF sitting
upon The Times for a whole evening
( it should contain an article that was
to rufle his equanimity. There
are a multitude OF little stories current
concerning the way In which she eased OF
he pressure OF the outside world, using no
nd of innocent domestic strategy in order
% save him wear and tear and nervous
strain. Neither has she ever been known
o have given him the slightest trouble on
he score OF jealousy. The prime min
ster, especially a prime minister like Mr..
1ladstOnC. who is gallant and courteous IN