The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1898-03-30
HIS WORK is OVER.
THE GRAND OLD MAN SLOWLY
sUCCUMBING.

Three Score and Ten Years WA
liam Il. Gladstone VIII Rest-What
1t Means to the World.
Ex-Attache in Pittsburg Dispatch.
Hidden away in the corner of the daily
papers-some of them did not publish the
item at ALL noticed a few days ago
London dispatch of three lines which, in
spite of its brevity, was fun of pathos.
1t was to the effect that Mr.. Gladstone
had at length stopped work." and that
his days were now spent in being read to,
talked TO, sung and played to and enter
tanned In every possible manner consistent
with his age and inirmities by the men,
bers of his family and by faithful friends,
such as Lord Rendel and Sir Algernon
West and others, who seem TO devote their
whole time TO the comfort. solace and well
fare of the Grand Old Man, esteeming ir
a privilege to be permitted to do so. In
order to realize what the announcement
means that Mr.. Gladstone has at last
stopped work." it must be borne in mind
that relaxation and rest from his allah
sorbing duties as minister of the crown
and as leader of one of the two great po'
litical parties of Great Britain during
public career of nearly three score years
and ten have never in his case meant idle
ness and cessation of work, but merely the
turing of his attention to other fields of
intellectual and physical activity.
When, four years ago. he was com
PEELED by his difficulty of hearing and by
other troubles due to his advanced age
to resign the premiership to Lord Rose
berry, and to retire from parliamentary
| life he Immediately set to work upon
a translation of the poems OF Horace
into English verse, and upon a COM
mentary of certain books of the Old les
lament, alternating these to him delight
full diversions by the writing of a num-
Der of monographs, pamphlets ana re-
view articles upon topics of the most
incredibly varied character. This, after
all. was quite in keeping with the ma
ture of the man. who found the chief
in telectual recreation of his long ana
extraordinarily busy life in the study OF
Homer and merely the most important
of whose essays have been gathered ana
published in seven fat volumes entitled
"Gleanings Of Past Years" The sub
jects dealt with are as widely diverse
as porcelain and electricity, abstruse
problems of theology and American poll
tics. questions of finance, of astronomy,
of Chinese policy, of ancient Greece ana
Neapolitan despotism. Ineed, 1t is dif-
fcult to find any Important matter or
controversy that has cropped up during
the entire reigns of Queen Victoria and
her predecessor, King William ~, on
which Mr.. Gladstone has not written, and
that, too, with entire mastery of his
subject, and in the most interesting.
eI0nuent and Instructive manner.
But his "magnum opus" the principal
literary achievement of his lifetime, is
undoubtedly his Studies on Homer and
the Homeric Age" embodied in three
large volumes. One of the most eminent
of literary critics described these tones
as "a very great work which would be
the worthy fruit of a life spent in learned
retirement, but which, coming from the
pen of one of ouuIfirst orators and states
men, is altogether wonderful" The critic
In question described II as the work of
lifetime, and so it would appear to most
people But to Mr.. Gladstone, whose ac-
tivity has been so eXuberant that even In
his 8Oth year he could not be satisfied with
the ordinary and conventional forms OF
physical exercise, but had to restort 10
the chopping down of huge trees in his
park at Hawarden, the writing of these
volumes on Homer and the research they
entailed were nothing more than mere
in tellectual pastime and recreation.
Mr. Gladstone is by no means the only
statesman of the Old World who has
sought recreation from his political and
administrative duties not in cessation Of
labor, but merely in some other kind OF
work; and, indeed, there seems to be a
disposition on the part of the various ma
tons of Europe to select as their leaders
statesmen who have achieved distinction
and fame in walks of life other than those
merely political. Thus Lord Salisbury
finds relief from the labor involved by his
tenure of the joint offices of the minister
of foreign affairs and prime minister, in
chemistry and electricity. Every leisure
moment is devoted to the superb labora-
tory fitted up in his home at Hatfield and
there Is scarcely any learned problem
or scientific question of the day that does
not receive his attention-an attention
characterized by such breadth of view as
to invite regret that he cannot see his
way to impart at all times these most de-
sirable qualities to his political opinions.
Never did he appear to such advantage as
a scientist as on the memorable occasion
when, some years ago, he delivered the
opening address at the meeting of the
British Association at Oxford. With
modesty conspicuously absent from his
political utterances and craving indulgence
on the ground of his being a mere lay
man, he delivered speech that was full
of charm and knowledge, at once learned
and literary, with fine touches of irony
and every suggestion of a clear vigorous
and progressive mind. He chose for his
theme the depth of human ignorance rath-
er than the extent of human knowledge.
The lesson which he sought to enforce
particularly opportune in this present age,
when so many third-rate deVotees OF
science affect a swagger, as If the uni
verse no longer possessed any secrets for
them-was that I'VE live in a small, bright
oasis of knowledge, surrounded by vast
unexplored desert OF impenetrable mys-
terry. While he admitted the full value of
the achievements of scientific research.
he pointed out that the vast majority of