MR GLADSTONE AT SOME.

Tuapeka Times, Volume XX, Issue 1414, 21 December 1887, Page 6

MR GLADSTONE AT SOME.

A writer in the "Kidderminster Shuttle" givaaa very interesting account oi the reoent visit to Mr Gladstone at itawarden by a, deputation of Kidderminster Liberala; J "jflfc BRILL HIAK NO UOBfS OF HIM !" '{. Aljg&B conclusion of his speech Mr QiadifoiA invited the whole party into ml.library/, When the number and arrangement of his books were' admired he tibasMSi that there were more books there t tan w ihe same given apace anywhere in Bhglandi Look! Yonder is Disraeli's bittr^and the medallion of Bright has not beeh deposed from its place of honour.- i Asked tp pnt his signature to a Inge photograph brought for the purpose, m seats himself at the desk. As he does | so he tanoTea a small brochure he has b^en rel»|iing. —Putting it in tha hand of the^depntationt.he proceeds to eulogise ft* «nth<sr and contents. You only retanVVagne idea of a green emblematical cd^er and the words-" Justice for Ireland.!" for Mr Gladstone, seeing an inten- ' ts?n "to appropriate it, immediately attempted „*©; resume possession, saying : f I'MtiMbn^ri proof ; it is not published £yet,*J>ut fvjrecommend it to you strongly. YotLmoat^get it when published. I intend to order twVtfty or thirty copies." The pamphlet -was' .then surrendered back to h|m, with the remark : " Yon have read it very . carefully, Mr Glads one. I see there is] no,page but what you haVi marked' and noted." "Yes," he replied, 'VFhereis not; a sentence or a word but what U f approve. The author is a Mr Kingsl^y.. >He is a old advocate of Irish rights, frit jis a remarkable book for a man of seventy-three years of age." What a remarkable thing for a man to say wh-> is' fijre yean 'older, and who is hiras-lf eiip^ple of turning out three or furf >ur such trifles as this every month ! " 1 iWX'I KNOW WHETHER MY POSITION IS ALWAYS UNDBRSTOOO."

Her£ another member of the deputation struck Jn with — "My father was a great admirer ofyours, Mr Gladstone- But he used to say yon would never be a good Radical till you were kicked out of Oxford." Of course there was nothing bat the warmest admiration of Gladstone in the tone and heart of the speaker ; but it was h»rdly felicitous. If there was one thing of which Mr Gladstone was proud it was of being the representative of the university. If there is one unhealed sore in his past history, it is the memory of the blow he felt at being cashiered by it. A faint twingle of pain passed over his face, and he answered slowly, as if sadly reviewing the past, " Well, I don't know," he said ; " I don't know whether my position is always understood.. I am not the ■ man of extreme views and tendencies lam often said to be." " STILL A FEW TARES LEFT AT HAWARDEN." ■ Soon after Mr Gladstone remarked that .. there waa a very fine magnolia tree he . wished them to see, and all trooped out of the' window, he leading the way bareheaded; T 'The tree was thought to be killed by the frost of 1860 61, and was out down to within two feet of the ground. . " All that you :see," he said, with an j

admiring wavft of' the hand, " has grown since." Well, it covered a space of about "■ thirty feet by thirty feet, and was a marvel of a tree, with its massive leaves •- and here and there a great flower like a roll of ivory sticking out. A large hawthorn, perhaps in the eye of a gardener very much out of place among the flower beds, was admired. (( Well, now, would you believe it, Mr So-and-so, a famous landscape gardener, wanted that to be cut down ?" When he had finished chuckling at the recollection, one of them said, "Mr Gladstone, we half expected to find Hawarden a howling wilderness, owing to your to-called mania for catting down trees.

Bat we see that there is still a little timber

left." "Ha !" he laughingly rejoined, j "that is just the way our Tory friends - speak of Liberalism ; they always represent it as catting down, destroying, and levelling, till they are induced to come and look for themselves, and find the • state of thing* improved by what has been ■ done. As you say, there are still a few

trees left at Hawarden. " I NEVBR TAKK COLD BY EXPOSUEE." •:. Presently Borne of the party in the library looked out and saw him explaining.; to Mr Edward Perrin the whole art and craft of timber felling over an immense trunk which lay prone upon the award, and which figured in the latest popular photograph which I had seen a few days before at Jenkins' in Mill street. jjfost of the. party were now gathered rotfnd him, all wearing their hats except Me Gladstone, who seemed in the distance, with tna white head and marble features, like a Druid of the olden time, amid the greenery and the boscage. The air was now getting very chill, and it occurred to cur anxious observer to walk across the

' lawn and respectfully ask whether Mr 'Gladstone did not run the risk of a cold by being out uncovered. "No," he •calmly replied, " I never take cold by exposure." Mrs Gladstone was close by, aod, as sbe showed no anxiety, it was evidently all right, and no further expostulation was needed. " A HEROINE AND A SAINT." To have had nearly two hours' free and unrestrained intercourse with Mr Gladstone, to have wandered with him through the rooms and over the Gardens of

flavrarden Castle, to have felt an unbounded admiration for him and yet to nave felt no fear or trepidation, to have talked to him as thoueh he were an ordinary acquaintance, is,' I am persuaded, no ordinary experience, and must seem like a •dream. The leave-taking was dilatory ■and; long drawn out. Mr Gladstone would say something which would cause --the party to gather round him. Sorae'ibody would make a remark which caused Mr ' Gladstone to stand and give his •opinion, ft was the same when they got <ndt of the cistle gate into the park. Mr Gladstone,' ■ still bareheaded,' was with them.' Something was said, as he sauntered' along apart with one or two, about the Lyttelton family. " Yes," lie said, they are good. All of them are good. Bat the belt of them all is Lady Frederick Cavendish." "She he is a heroine," some one remarked. " She is a heroine and a saint,'' he rejoined, in his' earnest tonei. At last hands had been shaken and' re-shaken, and all are mounted. Mr Gladstone stands erect and observant. The whole party rise, take off their hats, jnd wish him " Good-bye," with cries of '• God bleu you " and " God speed you." Us wared his hand in reply as they started, looked after them for a moment or tiw, then turned round, and with erect (form , a»d , steady step moved along the 3jas and OBtered the castle gate.

Che nojabefc of female physicians in ' 9ew York U4K>raething over eight score. The extent of their practice ranges from a •rnsll mia J to £8,600 a year.