The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1898-05-19

per tiidl, Lnougn heaven blessed him with
sixteen children, he was amply able to pro-
vide for them all. The genius of the brood
was john, who early married a canny
Sc9 SEQ en- maiden, Anne Robertson BY name,
ana began business for himself in the wider
commercial field of Liverpool as an import
er ana general merchant. His ambition was
as Doundless as his energy. Such hand
some success did he make of life that when
ms fourth son, William Ewart Gladstone,
nrSt saw the light, on Dec 49, 1909 John
SIlad 81 owned ships on half dozen seas.
had DIG warehouses fat with goods, in Liv-
erpool, and possessed great landed estates
in the British West Indies worked by a
swarm of negro slaves Greater evidence
of wealth than all this was the fact that
he was the personal friend of the great
George Canning, and a merchant had TO be
very rich in those days to get on a friendly
footing with the prime minister However,
john Gladstone not only secured this foot
ing, but maintained and strengthened it. He
purchased rotten borough and went to
Parliament Here there is no record of his
voice, but his vote was always recorded
Tor I,4Eyism ana titles, and he was reward
ed with baronetcy by Sir Robert Peel in
1S45. Sir John lived to the ripe age of
elghty-elght years, and died happy in the
guiding star of the Tory party
HIS SCHOOL DAYS.
How valuable his fathers wealth, political
influence and untiring interest were to Mr.
Gladstone, possibly only the man who has
tried to carve out career for himself un-
aided can properly understand. The boy
was trained to greatness almost from the
very cradle. John Gladstone, merchant and
M. p, firmly believed from the time evil
lie" was a lad of six that his great three
story mansion Of smoky brick in Rodney
street, Liverpool, contained the future great
statesman of the British empire-and he
was a good prophet. And, believing this,
he gave him the very best of education and
training that money could buy, for private
a nf nTl nF1 hon Of
Oxford. For a while he went to school at
the outskirts of Liverpool to a preacher
and was pretty poor scholar, particularly
in mathematics. He was compelled to write
verses for eleven hours a week, and this
gave him something of literary facility.
Among his early poems are found these
lines:
Still. mid the cotton and the flax,
Warm let the glow of freedom wax;
Still, mid the shuttle and the steam,
Bright let the flame of freedom gleam."
How thoroughly Gladstones cautious
style of debate and untiring persistence
have been due to his early home training
is aptly shown by few anecdotes related
by the Temple Bar some years ago.
John Gladstone liked that his children
should exercise their judgment by stating
the why and wherefore of every opinion
they offered and a college friend of William
who went on a visit to Fasque, in Kincard-
ineshre, during the summer of 1929, fur
nishes amusing pictures of the family GUS
toms in that house, where the children
and their parents argued upon everything"
They would debate as to whether the trout
should be boiled or broiled. whether a win
dow should be opened, and whether it was
likely to be fine or wet next day. 1t was
always perfectly good humored, but curious
to a stranger because of the evident care
which all the disputants took to advance
no propositions, even to the prospect of a
rain. rashly. One day Thomas Gladstone
knocked down wasp with his handkerchief
and was about to crush it on the table,
when the father started the question as to
whether he had the right to kill the in
sect: and this point was discussed with
much seriousness as If human life had
been at stake. When at last it was ad-
judged that death was deserved because it
was a trespasser in the drawing-room,
common enemy and danger there, it was
found that the insect had crawled from
under the handkerchief, and was flying
to mock them ALL
On another occasion William Gladstone
and his sister Mary disputed as to where
a certain picture ought to be hung. An
old Scotch servant came in with a ladder
and stood irresolute while the argument
progressed; but as Mary would not yield
William CALAMITY ceased from speech,
though unconVinced of course. The servant
then hung up the picture where the young
lady ordered; but when he had done this he
crossed the room and hammered nail into
the opposite wall. He was asked why he
did this "Aweel, miss, that'l do to hang
the picture on when yen have come round
to Master Willie'S opeenion."
The family generally did come round to
Williams opinion, for the resources of his
father, who admired a clever feint as much
as a straight thrust, never failed to en-
courage him by saying: Hear hear; well
bore himself we'll in an encounter. An
other thing which John Gladstone taught
his children was to accomplish to the end
whatever they might begin no matter how
insignificant the undertaking might be. AS
Stunning that the enterprise had been COM
menced with a deliberate, thoughtful pur-
pose, it would obviously be weakness to
abandon it, whereas if it had been entered
upon without thought it would be useful to
carry it through as lesson against acting
without reflection. The tenacity with which
William Gladstone adhered to this principle
exercised, no doubt a beneficial moral dis
oipline upon himself, but was frequently
very trying to his companions. AT
Fasque." says his friend already quoted,
I'VE often had archery practice, and the ar
rows that went wide of the targets would
get lost in the long grass. Most of us
would have liked to collect only the arrows
that we could find without trouble and then
began shooting again. but this was not Will
liam's way. He would insist that all the
arrows should be found before we shot our
second volley, and would marshal us in In
dian file and make US tramp about in the
Once we were so long in hunting for par
ticular arrow that dusk came on and we
morning as ] was dressing l saw through
my window William ranging the field and
prodding into every tuft of grass with a
stick He had been busy in this way for
two hours, and at length he found the ar
row just before breakfast. / remarked that
he had wasted a good deal of time. Yes
and no. he said. L certain the arrow
could be found if I looked for it in a GER
tain way, but it was the longest way, and
I failed several times from trying shorter
methods. When / set to work in the proper
fashion I succeeded Well done, Willie,
concurred his always appreciative father.
HE HAD A STUBBORN WILL.
1t was the same at Oxford. Gladstone
would start for walk to some place eight
miles distant and make up his mind to go
Eat least more than half the way" Rain
might fall in torrents Ca serious matter in
those days when no undergraduate ever
carried an umbrella), but this would not
shake him from his purpose; SO long as he
had not passed his fourth mile post moth
ing would make him turn back. Directed
towards higher objects this stubbornness
could be dignf1ed with the name of perse-
verance, ard it was q master quality that
kept all Gladstones friends in subsection to
him more or less. Those who would not
give in to him from reason would do to
avoid a contest-thiS being world in which
there are more earthen pots than iron ones,
and the earthen pots try to escape collision
when they can.
At Elton Gladstone is remembered as a
good-looking, rather delicate youth-with a
pale face and brown curling hair-always
tidy and we'll dressed-not given much to
athletic exercises, but occasionally sculing,
PLAYING cricket and hockey. Neither Glad
stone nor his friend Hallem, nor Gaskell
nor Doyle, shOne so much in the scholar
ship of that day as the Selwyns-the So
called scholarship consisting solely in MAX
ing Latin verses. In fact. no school with a
great name could have sunk lower in point
of giving education than Elton in the time