DETACIIMENT OF MIND,

Otago Witness, Issue 2308, 26 May 1898, Page 23

DETACIIMENT OF MIND,

j The following stories of Mr Gladstone's "marvellous deUehuiPub of miud" appeared ! I in the Sheffi Id Irnlep< udenb: — "I remembered , I one nighb a$ l)«.\w<ny, afc, the crisis of the j general election of 1892 ( when all the world was wonder ing wliiU. would »c the end of it, the topic of couversaHon Mr Gladstone ted off at the dinner table w.*s as to the genesis of fish forks, their iulroduolion to t.feis o< untry, j and the.now universal spr«ed of their use. At ] dinner in X^ondcn on the evening of ths day he J had moved the third reading of the Home Ru!*: | Bill, he, like the Walrus f-o the Carpenter," ' j ' talked of nanny things.' Oae of th« o'des'j upon which he difcouvsed, with «.« much rivacifcy as if it were a question of Sfato, ar.fi with a niHrvollous display of knowledge, was about the London 'bus. He stnr'ted the proposition, ceitaiuly not novel, but suggestive as i coming from him, that the best place to see Loi;i don from is hhe top of au omnibus, adding th&t ; i not only could one see everything, bub one w«s j I himself uunotioad."' Mr Gladstone remembered j ', fcheearlipstornnibus, and took note of their vastly improved coiuHUou ; above ail, the improvement iv the bread %ud appearance of the horses 'in the shaf-.s. " One never," hs said, "see* a j 3ame horse pulling an omnibus, or one showing *ign» of old age, poor ft e ling, or ill health." i Mr Gladstone rs<nfi«jberad how, sitting for his ' bust to Maroehefcti, he used to -take a 'bus in '" P-coadilly aud proceed westward. (Ia 1859 B.iron Marocuett? lived in Opslow -square, tiext door to Thackeray* b'ouae ,) " The fare was 6d then," he added in grave ton<s, reminiscent of the other .Scotsman who had not been iv London a quarter of au hour when " bang , weut sixpence."- -" ' , r |- HIS EXTENSIVE KNOWLEDGE. 1 Two geatlemen, invited as gueits at a table where Mr Gladstone w»3 expected, made a waser that they would s ( ,*ut a conversation on a sui-jecb about which even Me Gladstone would , know nothing. To accomplish this end they " read up " an ancu-ri!- magaz-ne article ou some unfamiliar subject , connected with Chinese snaunfacture?. When the favourable oppor-■-tuuifiy came the topic was started, and the bwo ! conspirators watched with amusement the grow- i iug interest iv the subj.'ijt whu-h Mr Gladstone's j face b«br»ye<s. Finally he joined in the cou- I versai/ion ; and their amiuemenb was turned j into quashing of teeth — to apeak figuratively — I when Mr Gladstone said, " Ah, gentlemen, I perceive you have been reading an article ; I wrote in the Magazine some 30 or 40 : years »go."

T»E P6MATUM BiTrl/B,

The la's Mr Montmgu VitM'iams, Q 0., related in his remini»cimce« how m 1874- he went down t.) Bl&ckhftath ou one occasion to heir Mr Gkdafeone speak, and ha thus refers to the famous pomatum bottle which used to invariably, accompany the " Grand Old -Man "'when he had an important speech to. make : " Shortly after Mr Gladstone had taken his seat in the vehicle, he put his hand in his great-coat p-cket and produced an article that closely resembled t;siosß wooden pomade pots that are so often sf>eu upon ' tho • dressing table. /Having unscrewed the top he ( tookout from the wooden ' case a glass vessel containing a yellow liquid, ia appearance not unlike., egg and sherry. This he proceeded to drink, and, as He did so, I overheard some ainu^ing -remarks pass between two rough looking cu^c-mers standing by my cirie. One of them s*id, ' What is that Bill ? What's ho taking there ? ' ' Don't you know ? ' was tha reply, 'why i'-'s Borne of- the butter he intends lo spit out. presently .'" OHIGIN OJP "GBAND OLD MAN."

The origiu of the phrase " Grand Old Man " has been the subject of some dispute. Aocording to Mr H. W. Lucy, the honour of its invention belongs to Sir William Harcourfc. It will be found in. one of his <parly addresses to his constituents iv Derby, feud had its birth amid the exultation that followed on Mr Gladstone's return to power in 1880, on the ruin of Lord Beaconsfiefd's Government. Mr Lucy adds : ] " There is still another name for Mr Gladstone, i reserved for the inner circle of his official col- > leagues. To them he ia always 'Mr G.' f . i jnf] the amount ot' expresßion tbis initial is \ capable of can be t>atim»fced only by those, accustomed to hear it spoken in the varying muods in which Mr Gladstone leaves his colleagues." "bock of ages." la Mr Hare's " Memorials of Charlotte, Countess O*nnn>g, »cd Louisa, Marchioness of Waterford," there ar6 several interesting references so Mr Gladstone. A few years ago he spant a Sunday with Lady W&tsrford at .Highcliffe. "Wesang 'Rock of Ages,'" she wrote, in describing the visit to a friend, "for the Sunday evening hymn, and, Mr Gladstone afterwards said it wa 1 ? quite his 'favourite, also that the wording ia the book was not the correct one ; and in five minutes he wrote out the right ons and read ib to me, and I hava his name to the documeut, which is a.taluablo autograph." MrGladgtor.e was the author of a Latin version of the ssrne hymn.

SOME ANECDOTJSS. During the course of" his lecture last evening the Rev. J. J. Lewis nartatsd the following characteristic anecdotes respecting; Mr Gladstone :—: — ' , ' On one occasion at Hawarden Oaslle t'aev»' was a fet.ive gathering of 'all classes, including the artisans and the poor. Amongst those expected was an old shoemaker and his blind son. I As they approached the oa'ctle door Mr Gladj' stone went to 'welcome them, and, taking-them > to a table, placed the father on one side and the son on the other. Just then a'fashionably- [ dressed young man, evidently one of the local j magnates, cama up and motioned fco one of the two to get away, because he wanted to eib next to Mr Gladstone to have a confidential talk. His lordiv motion was unheeded, and he put a hand on Ihe shoulder of one to move him away. That was too much for the hospitable host, and he said to the fashionably-dressed young man : " That is your seat down there. I want my friends to remain where they are."

Quite recently there was living, and he is perhaps living now, a man named Griffiths who wal engaged one day in carting a heavy load on the Queen's highway. - When he was driving along a gentleman came up and asked him how muoh he was able to carry iv his cart," and how much he received for every load. As they strode along the gentleman said, "How will you get up that hill ? " " Oh," said the man, " I shall have to take a shoulder to the cart and do the best I can." " Well," was the reply, "I- don't mind taking a shoulder too, 1 two may -be able to ,do< the. work" better," They did so, - and pushed and pushed away, for the ' hill was steep and the load heavy. When they got to the top Griffiths said, " You could do the work of a chain-horse." " Well," said the gentleman, '• I don't know abou!; a chain-horse, but my lega t ache." What was the astonishment of tha carter afterwards to learn that the gentleman who had given him a push up the hill was Mr Gladstone.

On one occasion Mr Gladstone was cutting down a tree (his opponents said he must always be cutting down something;, and an onlooker said, "You had better tttlce it easy, you are working too hard." With the characteristic energy of the man Gladstone replied, •♦ I eannai: take, xh easy uniil the treft is dawn."

I tsA.b one of the local flower shows Mr Glad- ; stone was seen runnir.g about through the crowd i with an old huckster »vho w&s eugaged in ,c«uversiticn vvii.h tbegreAr Miiiinicr,- and ibis old lady Mr Gladr.toue was ictn ducing as Lady Marei^ret. After 3&rJs «oms l<«3s asked iuvol<? lady if shs bad sren to " Ibe owd djod.'* and >.he said "Yea, I will cj.U biro to y^u." Wtab was tboir asfconirhmen"; to fiitd rbat it was M.te. I Gladstone wbo ciUed the ''and raon " to sers them. j , Commo'^mg <in \hssc. incidents, and referring I to the cbai-ac£ftr of Mr Gladstone, the Rev. Mr ' Lewja mv} : " "tVfiafc bus been underJjing this gonisj. (ic'txii.7, broiherlr c nduct to the poor. nn<i She b*s-vi-«-oi kin^, and the neglected ? What

Hp« l -\iv\f-(~ bhia aiiiu in his beneficent; public m ■z-'tci. ±.\\d has made him ever the advocate of aft .'iha!; >.s good anc 1 - pure aud true? Ucd. übh«d'y one answer is, his whole-hearted oonnecrejbioo. to God and his Saviour, and his unfaltering faith ia the trixth* of. resvelatioa." arx? Gladstone's amusembsts.

Writing in " Pearsou's Magaz'nn '' on " The Personal Interest's of Mr Gladstone, " Me Woodward says th&t Mr Glad»ton« permitted Hawarden Park to be open to bicyclists on Sunday, on the ground that the bicycle is no more thau a perfect means of locomotion. -Mr Gladstone- had never cared for fishing or gardeniog, although' he had studied botany, and waa a lover. of flo'vere. Hs hated the" "telephone, detested .the camera, thought that chess and whisi^were too exacting for real relaxation, , but played backgammon nearly every every evening. He detested ,the* smell of tobacco. Mr Woodward says Mr Giadsjbone had 50;000 volumes in his library." He read- constantly iu^ix languages. '.'Of foreign., languages he liked Greek and Italian the best." Mr Gladstone is said to have re(?srd«id Eodile' Zola as the first contemporary wiit'ir cf fiction. Of Mr Gladhtone's out-of-door amusements Mr Woodward s*js : "Though Wlr Gladstone was never a whip hs was always' a keen horseman. Il> is true ,that he never found time for hunting, but even during the, most absorbing period of his parliamentary career he was to be seen ridißg every morning before bnaltfxst vi Rotton Row. And this habit of riding before breakfast he continued until nearly 70 years of age. I think it is hardly known how .much Mr Gladstone was of a ] sportsman. At school he made a favourite j game of. football, and was in the second ele\«.i at cricket. While at college he earned quite a reputation as an oar, and until late in life a day spent on some quiet reach of the Upper Thames was. a pleasure ha reserved for relaxation after any particular stress of mental harassment. He would frequently ptay from Saturday to Monday at. Clieveden with the Duchess of Sutherland, and part of his visit was nearly always Spent sculling ou the river. Mr Gladstone, who- is * good sailor, loves the sea. Another sport in which Mr Gladstone showed a keen interest was shooting. He was indefatigable trampicg ovfr the ftslds *fter \ partridges, or tbrccgh wood* that surrcun i >Jio park when the pl.easwit season oonimeuced. In the gun-rack in " Mr Herbert's " room ,is pre- j served thebeau'oifu lly balanced Westley-Riohardf. j muzzle-loader which Mr Gladstone always carried. The gnu has aa almost historic interest, since it was while' loading, it — more than 50/ y<"ara ago new — thfct the first finger' of. Mr' Gladstone's left hand was sWUe'ed so badly by an explocion , tbat :hc finger Lad j.j once to bo amputated. . ■ . - i