Little Falls weekly transcript. (Little Falls, Morrison Co., Minn.) 1894-19??, 1898-05-24

*
"ALL AROUND POLITICIAN"
cartoon In Punch.]
Their son, Stephen E. Gladstone, the rec
tor there, follows the practice Of college
chapels, where one of the students is usual
~ selected to read the Scripture lesson.
The selection Of devout laymen for this Of
flee, however, is a common practice in the
English church, a. it was in the early
churches and in the Jewish synagogue.
MIR. GlsdstOne's Town Life.
Columns on columns have been written
Of Mr.. Gladstone's wonderful strength rs
an old man. 1t is doubtful If the world has
seen such another. When in 1892 he was
made prime minister for the fourth time,
he was 81 years old, and though he had
just passed through most exciting cam
paign he entered upon his duties rs head
of the government with seemingly unim-
paired vigor. It was doubtless to his ex-
IRENE simplicity and purity Of life that he
owed his phenomenal virility.
His time was usually about equally d.
vided between London and Hawarden.
When he WAS prime minister his London
residence was OF course the famous house
in Downing street, that has for SO long
been the official home of the premier. At
other times he has rented. Between 1885
and 1892 he was the yearly tenant Of q
house in St. James square, Pail Mall,
where he had for neighbors the Dukes Of
Cleveland and Norfolk, the Earl of Derby,
the Marquis of Bristol, Earl Cowper and
other great men. His rising hour when In
town was $50. He dressed for the day at
once, and II the weather was good, some
times when it was bad, took an airing be
fore breakfast.
The morning meal was always q plain
one, lasting half an hour, during which
time he usually absorbed all that was of
interest to him In three or four morning
newspapers After breakfast he disposed
of his correspondence In his library. When
he was in office he always employed several
private secretaries. When tout" he had
but one assistant, usually his son. After
his letters were attended to it was his Gus
tom to devote the remainder of tho morn.
l.
taken alone and consisted of small slice
of beef or mutton and glass of claret.
The afternoon, and often the evening, was
devoted to political duties. For many
years Mr.. Gladstone was accustomed when
In London and not busy with politics in the
evening to dine out. He rarely gave din
nera. Sometimes he visited the theater or
opera. Midnight was his hour for bed, and
he used to light himself to his room with u
candle He used to say that he always left
business outside his bedroom door, and
hence always slept we'll. He never used to-
bacco in any form. His drinking was con-
fned to clnret, Of which, however, he was
not professed connoisseur.
He was always neat but never smart in
his attire, and he had profound dislike for
old clothes In town in winter he used to
which included short overcoat with q
long, queer cape. In summer he wore
gray cashmere and a tall white hat. TO
Mrs. Gladstone was left the task Of caring
for his wardrobe.
Gladstone's Scholarship.
In 1885 Mr.. Gladstone visited Winchester
college, which had in his student days been
a sort Of rival to his own college at Oxford.
OF course the students gave him royal
welcome, and their orator for the day ad-
dressed the premier in a somewhat lengthy
speech in Latin. Mr.. Gladstone listened
with the closest attention, as politicians
and statesmen always do on such occasions,
and the waggish ones probably thought bis
attentive manner mere form and politeness.
To their surprise, however, he replied at
once with equally classic Latin and in such
detail az to show that not u statement in
the address had escaped him.
An average lifetime had passed since he
left college, and in that time he had been
one of the busiest men in the world, yet his
knowledge Of tho classics had constantly
improved. The principal Latin authors
were still as familiar to him as the English
authors OF the same rank, and Greek as his
second native tongue.
Every American college has its standard
foxes about the various Englishmen who
have put forth 80 many varying views on
the "Iliad" and "Odyssey," the same man
sometimes changing his views completely
within few years, but Mr.. Gladstone is al
ways honored rs the consistent and almost
convincing advocate Of the unity of Homer.
It Is a very curious fact that down to the
middle of this century American scholars
and colleges were practically unanimous in
maintaining the unity Of Homer; that q
change came 20 rapidly that ut one time the
great weight of authority was the other
way, and that in many cases the same pas
sages were relied OH to provo various au
thors that had been to prove unity, while
many men who had when students thought
'Gladstones reasoning unanswerable lived
to wonder that it should ever have seemed
to them weighty.
In his "Studies on Homer and the Hor
meric Age" (ls5s) Mr.. Gladstone maintains
that one man wrote the entire poems, and
that they are historic-that is, there was
real Troy which was destroyed by the
Greeks. In his "Juventus Mundi" 1850
and his latest work on Homer (lS74) he goes
still further and attempts to fix the date OF
Troy's destruction. The argument is, II
anything ADLER, yet the first convinced, and
the last did not. The world is now in an
era of skepticism rs to all ancient stories.
The most ardent admirers of Gladstone's
genius merely smile ut his views on such
subjects and say that he is by nature dew
otee, whether as to the literalness OF the
Pentateuch, OF Homer or any other ancient
"orA' Mr.. GlaLstone's Library.
AZ C,,dc4nne's library contains about