Show THE GRAND OLD MAN The grand old man the foremost statesman of the age has retired from his position as premier in the British government It is l not altogether because be-cause he ls old and feels the weight of years that he seeks relief from the onerous burden of the place He finds himself handicapped in his course and blocked in his way to the accomplishment accomplish-ment of his plans by the powerful House of Lords which represents the aristocracy of the British Empire He does not intend yet to retire from public life He simply lays down the leadership he has held so often and so well and maTteS way for a younger and more active man He will occupy his place In the House of Commons and as a factor in the government It is a mistake to suppose that Gladstone Glad-stone the great and the grand is going go-ing down as a wreck or sinking into political death or that as suggested he views his life with its struggles and triumphs as ali vanity and vexation of spirit and that looking back upon it he finds there is no profit under the sun Nor is there any sourness in hi soul He has not been able to accomplish ac-complish all he set himself to do The liberty of Ireland is not achieved But he has the satisfaction of having done his best and bothIreland and the world will praise him living and Venerate i him dead for what he intended and I tried to perform I Gladstone is too much of a Christian Ito I I to regard his life as vanity or his political po-litical opponents with bitterness He is jio wreck either whether as a manor man-or politician And he may yet serve his country for years and lend the riches of his experience and the worth of his wisdom to his colleagues under a new premier All the world honors Gladstone whether they agree with him or not And he will rank among the most splendid men of his age in the history of his country and of the times |