The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1898-05-19


Leaving gap in the clouds and. with
the shock,
Rocking their Alpine brethren"
Manfred.
In December Of 1909. when William
-Ewart Gladstone was born, the paint
was still fresh on the only steamboat
in the world Thus far and no farther
had proceeded the evolution of human
passage by waterways and rivers. The
methods of preserving life and the
means of destroying it were scarcely
improved or modified since the middle
ages. In January Of that year Sir John
Moore. at Coruna. won his fatal victory
over the French with flintlock muskets.
All the arts of modern life were still In
the rudimentary stages.
In Great Britain it cost Il pence to send
a letter 800 miles. and in the United
States II cents for the same service.
There was not an iron barred tramway
on the face of the globe. Men hoped to
fly through the air. but had no eXpec-
tation of being propelled by steam. In
that year, after his sixty-siXth ascen-
son, died Francois Blanchard. first aero
naut to cross the English channel In
ihe farm sheds of the world there was
nerhaps not a single pillow with iron or
steel moldboard. The harvest hands in
tle wheatfields Of all countries from Po-
md to the Alleghanies cut their grain
Eith sickles The most rapid transit on
the earth or sea was the sailing vessel
and that might be surpassed in speed
oy race horses.
Mans knowledge of nature was only
rudimentary Uranus was then the
outside member of the solar system.
The first four asteroids had been dis
covered in the ten preceding years. Sir
Humphry Davy was just recovering
from the nervous fever with which he
was Frustrated on his discovery Of So
dunn and potassium. The greatest tel
escope of the world was the 20 foot re-
fiector of the elder HerscheL Young
Fraunhofer, in the Institute Of Munich.
was experimenting with his lenses and
prisms, trying TO analyZe the solar
spectrum.
The social and domestic life OF man
kind was equally far away. In Great
Britain the system of servitude was
still protected Only a year before the
slave trade in the United States had
been openly practiced by the merchants
of Boston under the constitution In
the home life of England the right Of
husbands to whip their wives as freely
as they might whip their slaves was
denied by a few scoffers who had no
influence.
In the political state of the world his
tory had appointed France and France
had appointed Napoleon to lead a revo-
lutionary storming party against the
ancient order in Europe. The European
countries were crouching down close to
the walls. hoping that the storm might
pass and that they might again emerge
to sit on thrones and hunt in parks and
gather beauty Of doubtful reputation
into courts where fashion reigned and
virtue was not even remembered.
In our own country the third Vir-
ginian president had in the preceding
spring come to the chief masistracy of
the young republic. Our brief federal
ascendency had yielded to a moderate
democracy impersonated in Madison
and his secretary of state. Hamilton
was five years dead. Henry Clay was
leader Of the house. The elder Adams
was contributing to the Boston Patriot
letters in defense of his policy while
president. Children born on the day OF
the death of Washington were COM
plotting their tenth year. Pitt and Fox
were three years dead. On the 9Th Of
July Napoleon fought his great battle
OF Wagram and on the 18th of Deem
Der he divorced Josephine.
1t was under these conditions and
was born. His life line has been drawn
lengthwise through the century. but
other great lines are there also Glad
stone did not come or go alone. The
year 1909 was as conspicuous for its
human products as had been that for
ticth preceding year which brought into
being the two world conquerors. Hum
boldt and Bonaparte. The planetary
tug was powerful in 1903. On the l2th
Of February in this year. and coiuci-
denially on the same day. came into
the world Charles Robert Darwin in
England and Abraham Lincoln in
America. In this year also was born
Alfred TennysOn. chief singer of the
Victorian era. and Edgar A. Poe, the
scmber spirit of the west. In this year
also came Mendelssohn the great and
Oliver Wendell Holmes. the chief wit OF
the new world.
Central in this group OF immortals
was the son Of Sir John Gladstone.
born in Liverpool on December g. 1909
to be educated at Elton. trained pri-
vately for two years by Or. Turner
tafterward bishop Of Calcutta) and I'm
ished enthusiastically by the university
discipline at Chrstchurch. Oxford.
from which he was graduated in 1881.
Gladstone began public life as a Con
Bervative. He was The son OF merchant
He inherited that commercial spirit
which regards business as the first con
Germ CT human life. II Is doubtful
whether Gladstone ever in his career
considered any great question without
FIRST estimating its business effects on
Great Britain and its commercial as
poets in relation with the affairs Of the
world. He was strictly q business
statesman. HIS temper was cautious
and reserved. lie believed in disturbing
lhings-with words. and in reforming
ihings-with legislative enactments.
The conservative spirit OF Gladstone.
manifested even in those parts of ms
life which are regarded as radical and
ANECDNTES n