Z LADSTONE'S / _ #
112 LIFE-s TORY, 112
fILLIAM EWART
GLADSTONE,
the great Com
moner, the Grpnd
Old Man, is dead.
The foremost
Britisher of his
time has found
peace and rest af
ter a loug life of
strenuous and
splendid activity
in the highest
realm of human
V ''l William Ewart
. ~ =■—-*«■ * Gladstone was
born in Liverpool, England, on De
cember 29, 1809. He was spinning
tops, at five years, when Bismarck
was the new baby at Schoenhausen.
He was learning Greek, at the age of
ten, when Victoria putin an appear
ance. He entered Parliament when
Andrew Jackson was in his first term
as President, and did not leave it un
til Grover Cleveland had begun his
second term. He and Daniel Web
ster were serving their first terms as
a _
GLADSTONE AT THE ZENITH OF HIS PAR
LIAMENTARY CAREER.
Cabinet officers in the Administrations
of their respective countries at the
same time.
Although born in Liverpool, Glad
stone was fond of proclaiming that
every drop of his blood was Scotch.
He came of the Gledstone family, of
Lanarkshire, where the Gledstones are
first heard of. Centuries ago—away
back in 1226—Herbet de Gledstone
figured in the Ragman Roll as one of
the lairds who swore fealty to Edward
I. William Gledstone, the last sur
viving scion of the family, removed to
Biggar early in the seventeenth cen
tury, and by the time William's grand
son had been born the family name
had been altered to Gladstones. The
Premier was baptized Gladstones, but
in 1835 his father, John, dropped the
final "s" from his name.
GLADBTQSE iN aawnß ,
His father was Sir John Gladstone,
i wealthy merchant, who relinquished
a small business in Glasgow, about
1785, and removed to Liverpool, where
he acquired a large fortune in the
East India trade, being created a
baronet in 184G. This fourth son was
sent to Eton, and while there gave
promise of the splendid brilliancy
which marked his course at Oxford,
from which he graduated at Christ
church in 1831 as double first class,
the highest honor and one rarely at
tained. Then he became a fellow of
All Souls'.
After traveling for a short period he
entered Parliament in December, 1832,
as member for Newark, a nomina
tion borough belonging to the Duke
of Newcastle, which he continued to
represent till 1846.
It is a mark of strong character
wl.en a man who finds he is headed in
-■» path turns completely
leads in the other direc
ue, when he was first
< House of Commons,
passage of the reform
'nprlish representative
government, previously a mockery,
into something like a reality, was a
Tory of the straightest, old-fashioned
sect. His maiden speech in the
House was in the debate upon the
measure abolishing slavery in the
British colonies, and was a defense of
the slaveholders against attacks made
by radical abolitionists. For nearly
twenty years he was one of the shin
ing lights of the Conservative party
and the foremost lieutenant of Sir
Robert Peel, its great leader. Then
he gradually drifted into Liberalism,
and, after being for some time more
or less "a free lance," he became a
member of Lord Palmerston's cabinet
in 1859.
At the death of that statesman he
succeeded him as leader of the Lib
erals in the House of Commons, and
when his party regained office in 1868,
after Disraeli's first government,
Gladstone attained the premiership.
He held it for six years, and again
from 1880 to 1885, when 1 e declared
himself in favor of the Irish demand
for home rule, which up to that time
he had strenuously opposed. The re
sult was the secession of a large body
of his supporters and his defeat at the
polls in 188(i — p. defeat which the
dauntless veteran afterward retrieved.
A glance at the following chronol
ogy will show the principal events in
Gladstone's career as a statesman and
author:
1809—December 29, born lit Liverpool.
1831--Graduated at Oxford.
1832—Entered Parliament.
1834—Junior Lord of the Treasury.
1835—Under Colonial Secretary.
—Resigned.
1838—Married.
1839—"The State In Relation to tlie
Chu roh."
1840— "Church Principles Considered."
1841— Vice-President of the Board of
Trade.
1842—Revised the tariff.
1843—President of the Board of Trade.
1845—Resigned.
—Colonial Secretary.
1846 Resigned.
1847—Advocated freedom for Jews.
1852—Chancellor of the Exchequer.
1855—Resigned.
1858—Lord High Commissioner to the
lonian Isles.
—"Studies of the Homeric Age."
1859--Chancellor of the Exchequer.
1865—Leader of the Commons.
1866—1n opposition.
1863—Prime Minister.
—"Ecce Homo."
—"A Chapter of Autobiography."
1809—Carried Irish disestablishment.
—"Juventus Mundi."
1870—Carried Irish land bill,
1871—Unveiling of his statue by Adams
Acton in his nutlve city on September 11.
—Abolished purchase of army com
missions.
—Abolished confiscation In penal
laws.
1873—Irish university reforms proposed.
—Resigned, but resumed power.
18<74—Dissolved Parliament.
1876—"Homer Synchronism."
1879—Mid Lothian triumph.
—"Gleanings of Past Years."
1880—Prime Minister.
1885 - Resigned.
1886—Prime Minister.
—lrish home rule proposed.
—Resigned.
1892—Prime Minister.
1893—Irish borne rule passed Commons;
defeated by Lords.
But Gladstone, the Eton boy, was
as interesting as "the Grand Old
Man." His special and inseparable
friend was Arthur Hallam, the subject
of Tennyson's "In Memoriam." The
friendship commenced when Glad
stone was in his thirteenth year and
was never weakened until death came
to loose the silver cord.
On July 25, .1889, Mr. Gladstone
celebrated his golden wedding. His
eighty-first birthday anniversary, in
1890, was made the occasion for the
unveiling of a memorial fountain at
Hawarden. He carried out another
Midlothian campaign in 1892, and was
returned at the general election by a
small majority. In August he became
Premier for the fourth time.
There had been many rumors of
Gladstone's retirement, but when it
came few were prepared for it. His
last speech as Prime Minister was
made in the House of Commons on
March 1, 1894, and was a memoriable
protest against the jurisdiction of the
House of Lords.
Thus Mr. Gladstone closed bis pub
lic life in an attaok upon the House of
Lords, against which he fought many
a battle before. Few of his auditors
seemed to realize that this was to be
his last utteranoe m the assembly,
plain as his words were. Many a
man would have been pathetic, tragic,
perhaps, at such a point in his career.
H AWARD Eft CASTLE, THE HOME OF THE GLADSTONES.
"It is well understood," says Justin
McCarthy, "that Mr. Gladstone, on
his retirement from public life, re
ceived from the sovereign the offer of
an earldom, with, of course, a seat in
the House of Lords. Mr. Gladstone
gratefully and gracefully declined the
title and the position. He had already
made a name which no earldom or
dukedom or any other rank could
have enhanced."
Mr. Gladstone, in 1838, married
MRS. GLADSTONE AND DOROTHY, MR. GLAD
STONE'S FAVORITE GRANDCHILD.
Catharine, daughter of Sir Stephen
Richard Glynue, of Haworden Castle,
Flintshire, a descendant of Sarjeant
Glynue, who was Lord Chief Justice
in Cromwell's time. Mr. and Mrs.
Gladstone have had eight childres,
seven of whom survive—four sons and
three daughters. The eldest son, Mr.
W. H. Gladstone, was elected M. P.
for East Worcestersliirt\ having pre
viously represented Whitby in Par
liament; the second son, Rev. Stephen
Edward Gladstone, became rector of
Hawarden; the third son, Henry
Neville Gladstone, keeps up the com
mercial reputation of the Gladstone
family, and the youngest son, Herbert
John Gladstone, was elected member
for Leeds.
Two of Mr. Gladstone's daughters
married clergymen. Agnes, the eldest,
became the wife of the Rev. E. C.
Wickham, M. A., head master of
Wellington College. Mary married
the Rev. Henry Drew. She prac
tically lives at Hawarden Castle with
her husband and little daughter
Dorothy. Little Dossio, as her family
calls her, is a little more than five
years old.
Miss Helen—the youngest daughter
—was the pet of her illustrious father,
and for several years had devoted al
most all her entire time to him. On
his retirement she resigned her posi
tion as vice principal of Newnham
College so she would be able to devote
herself to him.
The last years of Gladstone's life
were passed at Hawarden Castle, the
property of his wife, which is practi
cally in the gateway to Wales. The
residence is on the hills overlooking
the valley of the beautiful Dee, six
miles east of Chester, in a picturesque
park of 700 acres. And there he lived,
surrounded by four sons, three-daugh
ters and seven grandchildren, who
loved him with intense devotiDn.
The London News prints a descrip
tion given by a friend of the family
who visited the death chamber in
Hawarden Castle from which the fol
lowing extracts are given:
"I walked to the side of the narrow
little iron bed, whose head was sur
rounded by a simple screen of black
with a pattern of gold. This back
ground was in sharp coutrast with the
MISS HELEN GLADSTONE.
snow-white bed linen which partially
covered all that remained of the great
statesman. If this was the chamber
of death it was also the abode of peace.
The figure upon which I looked down
might have been some beautiful statue
of grayish-white marble recumbent
upon a tombstone. Yet stern the
features still are, severely aquiline
the nose, tight drawn the lips. It
was in death the face of some great
leader of men, a mortal hero whose
earthly pilgrimage had ever been over
the most arduous and rugged paths;
though dumb, it still seems to say,
'I have striven. I have done my
duty.'
"I turn away with profound venera
tion and dim, unutterable wonder at
the mystery of it all. Not a sound
from the world without; only this
rigid, praying, exquisitely sculptured
piece of clay, which not so long ago
moved Senates, multitudes, whole
nations by its fervor, its eloquence and
its great purpose."
LEND A HEXPINC HAND.
llow Girl* May Make Tlieiiiattlves Very
Cfteful to Our Brave Defeiulrrs.
The Red Cross Association lias* is
sued an appeal to the women of the
United States for 10,000 emergency
bags to be sent to the soldiers and sail
ors now on duty and to volunteers.
In answer to the many requests for
suggestions for "emergency bags,"
housewives, the sailor's "ditty bag"
and the contents thereof, two patterns
are given by the New York Tribune
which are almost equally convenient.
No. 1 has an oval or round Hat bottom
of leather or covered cardboaid, about
the size of a large egg. It is made, as
the sketch shows, of two thicknesses,
and serves as a needle-book, pin
cushion and scissors case, the sides be
ing kept closed with a button and an
elastic hook. The under side is made
like a flat pincushion, and is furnished
with large pins. Next comes a flannel
leaf for needles, darning needles and
safety pins. The flat pincushion might
also, without taking up any more room,
include an envelope or pocket for court
plaster. The upper side of the bottom
SOLDIER'S "HOUSEWIFE."
of the bag has a small pair of scissors
held in place by an elastic band, a
steel punch which is valuable formak
iug extra holes in leather straps and
mending and a pair of tweezers. The
bag part is made of red silk and should
be marked with the name of the owner,
and has a doubled ribbon as a draw
string. It should contain two spools
of coarse thread, bone and tin buttons,
two pairs of shoe laces and two cards
of darning cotton. The same bag is
large enough to hold bottles, each of
which should have its own soft flannel
case. A bottle of three-graiu quinine
pills, a box of liverpills, carbolic salve,
a box of spirits of ammonia capsules
and a roll of mustard leaves are
enough.
The other pattern for a "housewife"
is in the form of a wallet. Have the
tinsmith roll a piece of tin five inches
long and turn over the edges so that
they will not cut, leaving the tube
on.-quarter opeu. Place within two
'pf
os~||
ip'U'nV
I.A. i ... |. _ ,
SAILOR'S WALLET "HOUSEWIFE."
spools of coarse cotton, one black and
one white, with a piece of wax be
tween them, and through the three
articles thrust a short knitting needle,
each end of which is firmly fastened
with a pincushion, which fills up the
holes at the ends. The spools are
now safe and cannot be lost, aud the
wax, without which, they say, a man
cannot sew, on occount of tangling
his thread, is "handy." The tin tube
is then covered with the strong linen
which forms the wallet; this is turned
under tho edge of the tin and glued
and the poiuts are sewed to the pin
cushions. The rest of the wallet has
pockets, needle-book, etc., and con
tains about the same articles as the
bag.
Massachusetts contemplates the ex
penditure of S2OOO for the illumination
of the dome of the statehouse.
pfe.
T"AKH
Here'o -d (lattlp.
The English Hereford cattle will
itaud severe cold better than the
shorthorns, and are therefore pre
ferred to the latter iu some parts of
the northwest. Their especial dis
tinguishing mark is a solid, beefy
body and broad white faces. The
Hereford cattle come more quickly to
naturity than shorthorns, and will
,'atten quite readily when two years
lid. This early maturity means that
»a a rule most Herefords will make
iheaper beef than will shorthorns.
Nitrate of Soila for Tea*.
It is a good plan to drop a little ni
;rate of soda iu the drill rows where
jarly peas are put in. It is true that
;he pea roots later in the season will
I lecompose air and supply nitrogen to
;he soil, but they will do this much
: aore quickly if some is given at the
| arst to start vigorous growth. All
j mccess with peas comes from making
i Ihem grow rapidly from the first.
| There is little plant food in any soil
i .u early spring as the winter rains and
j mows have washed most away that
| was in soluble form.
I.lve Fence Post*.
; An indestructible fence post, tlint
nstead of growing poorer will con
i jtautly increase in value, may be
nade of willow stakes. If these are
jut in the ground right side up to the
lepth of a foot, the lower part of the
j itake will put forth numerous roots
hat will brace the tree so that 110
A'ijid can overthrow it. In two or
;hree years the tree will be big enough
j :o drive nails into it to hold the boards
or a fence. By keeping the top cut
lown the willow may be made to
;hicken up in its trunk and yet will
lot occupy much land." But if the
loil is very wet there will soon be too
liuch tree in the fence. The stakes
ire harder to root on dry land, but
' >nce rooted they will make a slow,
! iteady growth, and the trees may bo
lsed as fence posts for many years.
How l'hidter Help* C'lovor.
Laud p'aiter has a great affinity for
water, and where it is sown early it
probably takes some moisture from
.he air which it carries into the soil,
til this air moisture there is some car
aolic acid gas and a trifling amount of
tmmonia, as there is in all dew. This
tmmouia is direct food for all plants,
jut for clover it acts as a double stim
ilus, for it excites the formation of
•hose nodules on the roots which are
tnown to decompose air in the soil,
md make even its free nitrogen avail
i ible. All air has 80 per cent, of ni
| rogen, but except as the roots of
j ilover decompose it, plants cannot get
| iny benefit from it. So the small
imount of ammonia in the dew which
.lie clover attracts from the air may
3e likened to bait, as it secures in a
ew weeks an amount hundreds of
limes greater than itself.
Seed Bed for Onions.
| In growing the onion crop the
| preparation of the seed bed is of the
! jreatest importance. It should be
i ine and mellow at the surface but
night not to lie deep. This condition
s best secured by fall plowing laud
.hat has been already plowed and cul
tivated with some hoed crop a year to
! lessen the weed seeds in the soil. A
j :rop of potatoes is the best to precede
! >uions. Corn is objectionable becauso
: ;he stubs of corn butts when plowed
I lnder do not decay rapidly, and will
1 .emaiu under the furrow next year,
| ettinß in air, and making the bottom
>f the furrow too loose. For the same
•eason sod la'id should not be plowed
lor onions. It is best to leave the
loil slightly rough after the fall plow
ug, but not iu ridges as the breaking
lown of these will make the mellow
toil too deep. 80 soon as the ground
s dry enough, harrcw anil roll this
mrfaoe so as to compact it while mel
lowing it. Mark the rows straight,
uaking them an inch (leap. Then
■oil a short roller over the drill mark,
packing the soil over the seed. If the
mion seed is soaked so that it is near
;y ready to sprout, the young onions
vill be up, so as to see the rows be
'ore the weeds come up. This en
ibles the grower to destroy most of
Jie weeds by hoeini* before they are
lp. Only the weeds in line with the
mions will have to be taken out by
land. A still better way, perhaps, is
;o grow onion sets, planting the seed
in greenhouses some time during fall
>r winter, and saving the sets to be
transplanted when the ground is fit
!or them iu the spring.—Boston Cul
livator.
Soaking Corn for Seed.
Whether soaking seed corn in water,
.n which some nitrogenous fertilizer
Das been mixed will benefit the crop
is very doubtful. Early in our farm
ing experience we always soaked corn
JI hot water into which a little tar had
oeen put, which gave it a taste not
ike.l by crows or wire worms, and
dried it by mixing some powdered
ame with the seed. This did possibly
seep the crows off to some extent,
sspecialiv so long as we had neighbors
who planted their corn dry. But we
always found that our neighbor's
corn planted the same day and with
no more care than our own was up
first. The lime made our hands sore
when planting and therefore we used
plaster as being less likely also to
dry the seed too much. Still our
corn would not come up after soaking
so stroug as that which we planted
dry, even though we made it early by
swelliug the seed until the germ was
nearly ready to put forth. We made
up our mind theu that soaking such
large seed as corn was a mistake. The
seed needs to swell in the soil so as to
press the soil around it and give its
roots soil, instead of an air space to
root in when they first put forth.
A little fine manure in contact with
seed makes a great difference increas
ing the vigor of its growth.
Handling tlie Cow.
One of the best dairymen writes: I
have often asked myself if I could af
ford to have a cow spend her vital
force trying to digest indigestible
food. I cannot see the profit in such
work, and fully believe it shortens the
period of a cow's usefulness. I have
learned that cows prefer warm to cold
water, and I practise warming their
drinking water iu cold weather. I
have never watered in the stable. I
have thought considerable about it,
but am less disposed to do it now than
I was several years ago. I believe it
is to the advantage of the cow togo
out of the stable loug enough daily to
get what water she wants. When the
weather is such that the cow prefers
to stiyr outside for a time it is pretty
safe to allow her to do so. A milch
cow cannot resist much cold weather
and will soon want togo into the
stable in severe weather. The cow
stable should be ventilated, not by
having the windows open at the top,
but by flues in the walls opening out
side at the bottom and inside at the
top. This is for the fresh air supply;
and the foul air should be drawn from
near the floor through a flue reaching
to the highest point of the building.
Have these flues with a capacity of
one square foot for each ten cows.
Have plenty of windows in the stable,
it needs light as much as our dwell
ings.—Western Plowman.
Practical Sheep Hiifiliaiulry,
If the fleece is becoming loose be
fore sheariug time it is an indication
of some disease of the skin, and this
is best treated after shearing. Shear
such a sheep, and if the weather is
unfavorable protect it for a time until
it is safe to turn it out.
The first early grass is very apt to
loosen the bowels of the ewe and
cause diarrhoea, which is to be allevi
ated by small doses of castor oil, half
a teaspoonful for each ewe. This
acts, not as au aperient, but a tonic in
such small doses, aud is oue of the
best remedies for diarrhoea due to the
change of food.
Very ofteu the food of the ewe is a
cause of trouble to the lamb by its ef
fect on the milk. It is to be thought
of at all times that the milk is a direct
product of the food, and is greatly in
fluenced by its effect on the ewe,
which escapes by reason of this drain
age of the system, aud, of course, the
lamb's suffer.
From hay or other dry food to grass
is always a critical time with all farm
animals, especially sheep, so that this
chauge is to be made with due care to
accustom the flock to it gradually. It
is well to turn out the ewes early, be
fore they can get a full bellyful, and
thus get accustomed to the change.
The prevalent custom of docking
lambs is based wholly on danger of
fouling by indigestible food. It is
a question if it is not easily possible
to avoid this operation, which in a
largo flock is somewhat costly—by
due attention to the feeding and the
use of an occasional dose of medicine
given in some of the feed.
The nibbling of the wool indicates
some irritation of the skin, which
should be atteuded to immediately, or
the wool may be swallowed and gather
iu the stomach, forming balls in the
intestines, which will surely cause
death in time unless treatment is
taken. An oily laxative in this case
should be given; half a teacnpful of
■sweet oil or melted lard will ah'ord re
lief.
The writer of this, when quite a
small boy, but the owner of a lit tie
flock entirely under his own manage
ment, hud some good advice given hi:n
by a gray-headed old shepherd. And
one of these things impressed on his
mind was never to drive sheep over
bars only partly let down, or through
a gate not securely fastene 1 back.
Forgetting theso good lessons his
flock was once driven over a set of
bars only partly let down, and two
broken legs was the result.
A broken leg may be easily mended
if atteuded to at once in this simple
way. Secure the sheep so it cannot
struggle. Get some thick brown
paper and soak it in water. Wrap the
leg first properly putin position with
several thicknesses of this wet japer.
Sprinkle some calcined plaster over
this and then wrap over it a bandage
of stout cotton cloth. Keep the sheep
up two or three days, after which it
may be turned loose. If the bandage
is well applied the break will be
healed in two or three weeks. It is
equally applicable to the shepherd's
dog. Indeed, to the shepherd him
self in the absence of a surgeon.—
America Sheep Breeder.