The daily morning journal and courier., 1896-11-21
GUIDED BY THEIR WIVES
CLEVER W0MEN Wno INFUENoE THE CONDUCT OF EMINENT MEN,

Historical Examples-Mrs. Gladstone a
 Potent Factor in Molding Her Husband
 Lady Salisbury Disliked-Lords Bea-
 consfteld and Palmerston Helped.
 Among the many peculiar features of the stay of the czar and czarina in the French metropolis last week has been the strange and altogether unjustifia- ble attempt on the part of certain portion of the Parisian press not only to push Mime. Faure into the back ground, but even to prevent her from any participation whatsoever in the festivities organized in honor of the H. | lustrious visitors. It was argued that inasmuch as there isano provision made | by the constitution either for her status or precedence she should have no place in any state ceremonies or en- | tertainment; jn a word, that she is a mere nobody and unworthy, from an official point of view, of being taken | into any account.
 | Now.this contention is not only alto gether incompatible with the justly merited reputation of the French for high bred courtesy toward women. but is also at variance with common sense. For it stands to reason that if Presi- dent Faure is the first and foremost of all the citizens of France and the most important parsonage in the state, Mme. Faure must necessarily be entitled to the highest consideration, not only as the chief lady of the land, but also on account of the fact that she is her hus- bands partner, most intimate friend and most trusted counselor. There are few wives worthy of the name who do not exercise a preponderance of infiu- ence upon those who are satirically de- scribed as their lords and masters" Sometimes the influence is of a direct and undisguised character, while at other times it is of such an insidious nature that neither the husband nor the public has any idea that he Is be- ing gently guided and led in this or that direction by clever and devoted wife. In the table of precedence drawn up by the college of heralds in Great Britain, which, sanctioned by the crown, has gradually become part of the law of the land, there is no place assigned to the wife of the prime min 1ster Of the empire. Yet who would dream of questioning the right of the Marchioness of Salisbury to remain by her husbands side during any function of state? And who would doubt the part which Mrs. Gladstone has played in the career of the grand old man?
 Mrs. Gladstone is in her way one of the cleverest women In England. Her existence has been almost entirely pub lie for more than half century. Dur ] ing that time she has been brought into contact with the most distinguished Englishmen and Englishwomen, from royalty downward. A silly woman any woman, indeed, but a. remarkably shrewd one-must have perpetrated under these circumstances a host of blunders. Mrs Gladstone, however. has steered clear of them all. She is to appearances all artlessness. the el- derly incarnation of guileless naivete and the matronly essence of impulsive simplicity. It is only in appearance. however. No one has ever known her to make mistake, and her aplomb is as remarkable as her discretion. To | her MT Gladstone is indebted above everyone else for that marvellous re- tention of his faculties, physical as we'll as mental, in his extreme old age. It is she who throughout all his declining years has watched over him with a so- licitude that has appealed to almost every honest heart, to preserve him from every kind of harm-nay, even from everything that could even annoy or distress him. Heaven only knows how many objectionable people she has kept away from him, switching them off, so to speak with so much tact and delicacy that they failed to realize at 1 the time how they were being turned away; and nothing used to be more amusing at dinner parties at which the Gladstones were present than to watch the warning way in which she smiling 1 ly shook her finger at any one who ventured to broach topic distasteful to her illustrious spouse.
 As far as the masses of the people are concerned, she is one of the most popular women in the United King dom,. constituting as she does in their eyes, the ideal of what a wife should be. Of all the pictures of MT. Glad stone none has found such widespread IldVCT dS IlldL WitllLA ASPl CoNhNo AAiAAA IVY 1 livering an open-air speech on some great national issue with the once beautiful Catherine Glynne standing throughout the entire address by his side holding an umbrella over his head to shield him from the glare of the sun
 It was at Greenwich, and sometimes those who recall the demonstration of popular enthusiasm on that occasion are tempted to ask themselves whether 1 it was the eIoquenee of the old man or the spectacle presented by the white haired and devoted woman by his side which was chiefly responsible for the success of that political meeting. Cu- riously enough, the queen does not like Mrs Gladstone, and has shown this in a number of ways, most conspicuously, perhaps, by her neglect to invite Mrs Gladstone to accompany her husband when the latter, as prime minister, was "commanded' to Windsor or to Os- borne. It is usual for her majesty, when her ministers visit her on official business at either of these two places, l to ask their wives along with them. Lady Salisbury almost invariably ac- Dcompanies her husband, and the failure of the queen on numerous occasions to accord this honor to Mrs. Gladstone has been in consequence somewhat marked. It is difficult to assign any reason for this royal dislike of Mrs.