TOPICS OF THE DAY.

Press, Volume XLVI, Issue 7415, 5 December 1889, Page 4

TOPICS OF THE DAY.

Mr Gladstone has justfbeen use a word which seems to be very much required, and;, which SQra,e of tha YSlaine papers hate-adopted for the occasion. The work was entrusted to a young Irish sculptress,' Mifis Mary- Eedmond, who has, in consequence become famous' With as much rapidity ai -Lord'flyronditl.; 0/ course, she interviewefd by a newspaper representative,- who wished to know what so-Hrof-iiife*tho:'f Mfn*' made, and so forth. Bein.tr asked if she found him a good sitter, Miss Eedmond said — -. J •.- j;■:-.'■■ "Yea, very gopdrndeed, He was desirous of being so, and'hekhowa hbwtobe agood sitter. There was a great deal of animation and expression about him ail the time. He gave mc twelve or fourtt?sn sittings— each one was from 10 to 11.45 a.m. jthen came a quarter oi an hour's feat, and then he came back for ashorttime. Bnt he did not devote all that valuable time entirely to the sitting, lie was busy much of the time either readii_j;or writing. He seemed unable to be idle even for a minute. Never* theless, his iirßt consideration seemed to be to afford mc evS*ey facility possible. He received visitors, too, during the sittings.. Lord Granville, '..Mr Arnold Morley, aud other weu_nown politicians called while I was there. One ot them assumed an espre&sion of wonder aud inquiry on seeing mc, looking first at Mr Gladstone and then at mc, as though asking for au explanation, which Mr Gladstone soon gave. Sometimes after talking politics for a while eitaer host or visitor would say, 'Perhaps we hadnatter go into another hably not -sashing to run the risk of my hearing political secrets." There is something very, naive about this little narrative whioh we find rather entertaining. So there is also in Mias Bedmond'a account of her having previously seen the ex-Premier. It was in Florence a yew or two «* When I fiwt saw him in the street there,*' said Miss Eedmond, "I did neb' recognise him, because h.s collars were no larger than other people's, and I was then under the impression that?iie did wear very large collars." We are not ' $wara what kind of statue - MiS3 Bedmoad ia to produoe, but if Mr Gladstone is let <m-*oa^^]—- : -:w&---tote % *** b ? lived, we can i_»g_ae t_ose collars weighing heav*ly on an artisfa * mind. How /to give due prominence to suoh a characteristio wittent gatfcxug into trouble fey ; o tfrem, that must have been a knotty problem to bo obliged to solve. An entirely new oomrikuaaa is pat on fcbsjnattar, however, when we are told the big collars do not ewtafc,.; Fox yeax& thousand, of people have believed in _aoso collars as firmly as they have believed in Mr Gladstone himieif—some of them * good deal more so. It is a cruel blow, which has suddenly shattered this firmly-rooted idea. It is calculated to undermine tho vary springs of faith, and to make the publio feel that there will soon be nothing left

that one can believe in. Deprive us tf_r I Gladstone's collara, and i?e 1 doubt even his consistency! 1 The Home papers contain some amu«* B „ I particulars rPgarding the now tfaa2 I strikes of the schoolboys. At the B__f 1 fort street School, Liverpool (» s if from the Weekly Post) thebdys refused I go into school after the dinner hoi» I They drew a cordon of boy J | around the neighbouring streets, _T A I prevented some scholars who wished to I resume their labors from doing bo.. % i head master came out and addressed th* I ; boys, but the hubbub tho juvenile ms£ I neers, who numbered about 250, _>-; 1 effectually drowned tho sound of hia \_f I The boys then proceeded in a body dT** Beaufort street and Park street, where ft I were Boon followed by a woman, moth*? one of the boys, whom she seized to _? back to school. Just at this poUceman appeared ou the' *!y and toe strikers iinnnidiately B tr_J out for new fields. They meeting at the bottom of Park street Ja while tbe meeting was in progressjs? a-uozen little street arabs passed _t earnestly gnawing at lumps of" fiaj&Z raw sugar, ana the sight of this a_T coveted delicacy iniLiiued the SppefciZf the schoolboys. A proposition was at onol made "that this meeting- do adjonra Z cue Harrington Dock, wiiere togie sbiw are unloading/ and this was agreed to with aceiaru_„oa. The meeting Bpsedi i? moved on in the direction of the dock! cheered on by the inspiriting cries of "jfo home lessons," «■ Little lessons and much sugar," or words to that effect. Cardboard banners, bearing. various devices, were I carried by some of the boys. But I the Harrington Dock was evideutiT I too distant for the children, wheal i enthusiasm would not carry them so I tar, the procession bre-iking up into small parties. Ia the meantime, othfll boys nad heaxd of the so-called Strike and had also, refused to return to school in the afternoon, among ■ tiie*u_itiutio_i from which tne lads came beiog.Qr»fto_ street, Windsor street WelJeya&j &_ streec (St. nride's), and ParSshi , 0 J Higher Grade Board School, schools of St, John the Baptist', St Paul's (Byles street), St. Gabriel's, and Our Lady of Mount Caruiel (Chipping street.) From some of the soiiools but a very few ladl absented themselves, while from, others almost the entire boys' side was SusmW, Ou the door of St. John the Baptist*! -school there was written, during the dinaet hour, " Meet us at Beaufort street gohpojsi we are out on strike.'' Prom this.lattet school so many ol the boya wets away that the place was closed long before the usual hour. lads had a number of mottoes, whioh they passed to each other byword of moat*the most comprehensive being "Lowei ; fees, fewer home lessons, shorter hours, and less cane!" The police constables on duty were furnished w Lth short leather strap-, with which'to check any tendency tarjrioj , on the part of-the boys, but these judi« ciously selected weapons were not called into service. A ..few. cases of boyis*intimldatibn t<ibfc place, some 'of tha dissatisfied boys trying to induce others to share; in;aishow of disaffection." On tha other hand, the boys at one of the voian. ; tary schools declared in favor of "bug '< and order," and expressed a Wish to go and fight the iteaufort street boys w'*.%hm. View of quelling the(rebellion;: \£_e authorities, however, had. ,their doubts about the course of law and oroler being materially helped by this piaa, and so ***» . «re told the .policemen on duty " tactf oßj induced " the belligerent youngsters to go home. The strikes at Liverpool did, ttot last very long. Most of th«i boys put' in an appearance at the schools the day after the out. break, which was very cold, and sot favorable to parading the streets. * the children were reported to bo iv a very "electrical " condition, and a number of big-bearded policemen were told off to the different schools "ready," we are fold, " for any emergency." It seems thea to have occurred to the managers of-the Beaufort street schools that thera was a time-honored method of dW* iug with boyish insubordination ftn*J that in the days before ''strikes'- were even heard of, it jm4 usuAlly proved effectual. Accordingly tT» clerk and the other officials of the School Board visited the Beaufort street School, and the boys were drawn up in the big schoolroom before tho dinner hoar, sad addressed at some length by the bead master. He did not refer to the "crisis." as a strike, but preferred to call it by &£ Bofter name of "general truancy." • Aftft lecturing them on their conduct, he'picked out five of the ringleaders of the ravoftai-4 ordered them into a private classroom* Here they had to make the changes in their attire, and were souadly birched by the head-master with t-he.ssiie-tion of the Committee. The punMbracitS fr_3 administered with vigour, ss one qr twoof the boya broke clown and "howlea piteousiy.'- A g*eneral intimation was ate conveyed to the school, we believe, that although the authorities could not concetto the demandfor <* much sugar," the strike** could always depend upon getting tne c ane. These measures had a remarkable effect. Out of 848 boys for which tbe school has accommodation, no fewer thsa 345 put in an appearance ! So ended M great Beaufort street strike,