The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, May 22, 1898, Page 20

20 THE SAN FRAN ISCO CALL, SUNDAY. MAY 22, 1898 & WIUAM EWARG GCADSTONE. A Study of the Life of the Great English States- man. By One Who Knew Him. HE passing of England's Grand Old Man is an event of world- | wide interest. For more than half a century he stood in the front rank of the makers of his- tory. And he was a maker of not merely through the acciden birth or of political and social ¢ tions, but by virtue of the elements of | a strong and unique personality. His | :nfluence upon the life of his time w: due mot to lucky circumstance, but to the strength, wisdom and humane sym- pathies of his own personal character. In the last analysis and when his- tory issues its final verdict upon lh,” career of William art Gladstone, !t will be found that his v rsatility, his eminence as a schola financier and as a statesman W y to his sterling moral qualities as a man and a lover of mankind. In truth, his as a public man was the natural outcome of the T Hll’t]l.\\‘ of his personality and the I puints at which the sensitive qualities of hi character touched the interests of b fellow-men. For once the adage, r of the man,” wa versatility “The child is the belied by the | fath ; | life of Glad He first entered Par- | Tory of the old school, a | liament as a ning and on for which his tr Fee for i pad qualified and | Sredisposed him. Had he been con Pt With @ political career of a pr fessional and conventional order there Lo d to be no reason why he should ot achieve success as a great Tory| Jeader. What would have become o Disracli in that event it were ficult and useless to conjecture. 5 Gladstone and Disraeli crossed paths in almost opposite llhw'flnl‘l. Xl'l\:!}l(l- s! arting points, slad- rectly opposite starting p ‘H ISt stone, although born and raised a Tory, | nstitutionally predestined to be vas e :)\ Libcral and a reformer. An}ung his | innate qualities were those of a Lin- and a Garibaldl. (‘()'l'?!'hl«fhxr\ test good for the greatest as 1t was his political motto 1s he sufficiently understood him- 2d his political bearings to adopt And this otto ever re- motto. mained his p ar of cloud by day and night throughout his pillar of fire b all the changes of his great career. Gladstone, as a great leader and re- former, was unique in the posse! and control of two kindred e: 11 gres 1d enthu- of early he was not | of his publi a new political ideal, | eiv :d it was n lost | fight of. The more ardent progress- | fves of his party often grew impatient | t owness and caution with |n SFhich he took hold of a reform pro- ject, but when he had once taken hold | his ver relaxed, but rather | 1 the project took final < the statutes of the realm, | ‘tage and liberties and cus- | ple. litical observer once re- me “Ilow Gladstone grows quite true. In like manner ne grew upon the entire nation his entire career. His the | tter part of his life. His views of | ruth were ever broadening and his ries were ever intensifying, and so0 it came to pass that in Gladstone the world beheld the rare spectacle o . an toiling as a reform with the sympathy, ardor and enthu- siasm of youth. o render any estimate of the moral qualities of Gladstone's character is to suggest to all who knew the man a very striking contrast in the person of his great antagonist, Benjamin Dis- raeli, afterward the Earl of Beacon fleld. Disraeli was always a politician, often a political buffoon; Gladstone was never less than a dignified state: man. Disraeli was the “hired howler” of his party in the political game of cricket, and was so treated by his own side; Gladstone was the honored cap- tain of his party and always respected by the other side, whichever won the game. The political cartoons of Punch published from week to week during the years when these two men were antagonists in the political arena point the contrast in a very vivid manner. A few years ago these cartoons were republished in separate volumes—a “Gladstone” series and a “Disraeli” series. In the Disraeli series Disraeli is often the smarter of the two antag- onists, but his cleverness is usually that of the sleight-of-hand juggler, the political mountebank. In the Gladstone series, however, Gladstone is rarely exhibitel in any such characler. Many of these cartoons are laudatory and heroic in purpose and character and the mistakes which they occasionally expose or satirize are almost always mistakes that are con- sistent with honesty and sincerity of purpose. And Punch in so estimating and comparing the characters of the two men expressed in substance the judgment of the nation regardless of po}lucal party in those days. “listory may modify the judgment of Disraeli pronounced by his contempo- raries, but it will never rob the fame of Gladstone of the priceless gems of purity, honesty and sincerity. To these qualities of character, com- bined with the rative strength of his personality, was due in large measure the fascination which Gladstone's speech always exercised over his fel. low men. I was witness to a grand il- lustration of this which occurred one Saturday more than twenty years ago. greatest It was during the first excitement caused by the published reports of Turkish atrocities in Bulgaria and Gladstone had been announced to ad- dress his constituents at Blackheath. There leing no hall of sufficient ca- pacity in the neighborhood it was ar- ranged to hold the meeting on the open common. Before the time announced for the meeting i: began to rain and the rain fell in steady perpendicular torrents, continuously throughout the afternoon. There was no possible shel- ter except for the speaker and about a dozen others including members of the local political committee and represen- tatives of the London press. Did the rain spoil the meeting? Not at all. Gladstone spoke for over two hours, and throughout the whole of that time there stood around that hustings as many thousands of men as could pack together within hearing of the great orator's clear, sonorous voice. As I looked down upon that forest of heads I wondered wheth>r the man ever lived before who could hold such a host of men with his lips for so long under such adverse conditions. I can- not remember a single word of that ad- dress, but neither can I forget ts gen- eral drift, purpose and tone, cr the resultant impression of the speaker's feep feeling and intense conviction re- life one of the | sc WILLIAM EWART GLADSTONE. | From a garadir sle and its hor- rible res A few ults in witnessed an- : and memor- ion of Gladstone’s remark- ination as speaker on a scale. ent occurred 3 the in the main cor wee ouses, a paces of the House Jommons. stone had just passed out of the lol by, apparently on his way to the House of rds, when he met another member of iament and stopped to speak to him. nger and members were passing and repa ing. Suddenly, in less time than it takes to write it, 1 saw a group form around Mr. Gladstone and his friend. Two pass topped and almost stmul > passing the other way A crowd began to stoppe: £ gather which a police officer hurried up to disperse. As they were dispersed I kept my eyes upon the fi five who formed the group. One of them turning to me said: re 1 could similar inquiry, one. “Who's that man?” answer another made pointing to Mr. Glads Within a few minutes I found that neither of the five angers knew Gladstone by sight. They were simply all brought to a kalt when passing hir in the corri attracted, half uncon- the by subtle fascination of pleasant, but earnest tone and speech to his friend. Such n, the grand soul of him expressing itself even in small, ordi- | ual talk with a neighbor. Disraell once and G than once under provocation. The stammered, splut- rage; Gladstone possessed soul in calm dignity with resultant fiture to his foes. On one such n a small Tory meiaber sprung m in the House of Commons rently quoting from the records House a former opinion of Glad- stone’s widely at variance frog his later utterances. Gladstone quietly left his seat, went to the library, possessed himself of a volume and returned. The whole House was on the tiptoe of expectation, await- ing Gladstone's reply. At a suitable opportunity he rose, opened the book, remarked upon the accuracy with which the records had been quoted and reread the whole passage referred to. The reading was hailed by the Tories with a furor of derisive applause. Gladstone stood calmly until order was restored and then quietly remarked, “I find that the words I have read were uttered by Mr. Whiteside an insig- nificant member whom no one would have thought of quoting—and then quietly resumed his seat. On another occaslon a young mem- ber of Parliament, with political as- pirations, but who has since become mor: Tory leader fumed, tered with and is now a member of the Salisbury | undertook to win favor with his pa by baiting and taunting the great Liberal leader. The incident was dramatic, but cannot be adequate- ly described in_word: The impudence of the young Tory suggested a cur barking and snapping at a mastiff, and the question was, What would the mastiff do about it? Later during the evening Gladstone rose, his hands full of papers, to take a great and historic part in the debate of that time. For a moment he stood hesitant, then glancing across at the Tory benches, he seemed seized by a sudden impulse, and laid his papers on the table. Then he directed a steady gaze across te that point on the Tory benches where his young friend of the gibing speech sat (or rather lolled) back in his seat, his hands in his pock- ets and his hat tilted forward and rest- ing on the bridge of his nose. As Glad- stone’s first sentence made it evident that he was about to pay his young friend the compliment of a little atten- tlon, the Tory's hat was taken off. But the hands were returned to the pock- ets and an effort was made to main- tain the previous nonchalant demean- or. The great orator warmed to his task, and with calm politeness and dig- nity, treated his small antagonist, for once, as if he were somebody great, For the space of ten minutes, in chaste, classic, but scathing English, the great Liberal made the adventurous ydung Tory regret his rashness. But before the episode was half through attention was directed from Gladstone to his Government Gladstone | Photograph. , but | ! vietim, who no longer lolled who sat on the edge of hi at, his body leaning forward as far as equi- librium permitted, his features drawn, his e; bulging, the whole being of the | man fé inated, held as by a mesmeric | spell. ~ 'When ultimate Gladstone d and ched vard for his 1 5, in preparation for more serious matters of debate, his victim heaved a huge sigh of relief, and seemed to drop back into h as the cur had literally bee the jaws s\ :d from of the mastiff. } | That Tory troubled Gladstone no | more for many years, if, indeed, he | ever did so again. | In the old ds when the crying | abuse of purchase in the army was en- trenched in that last ditch of all hered itary political abuse, the House of it was under Gladstone's coun- sel that the Queen, by royal warrant, | abolished that evil forever. Every measure of reform that he introduced in more recent years had to face the hostility of that same foe to popular | | progress—the House of Lords. SAMUEL SLOCOMBE. HUNTING FOR ~ DURHAM'S GOLD NCE more the treasure hunting | craze has struck Butte County. This time people are digging for the long buried gold of old man Durham. | | It is true this gold has been be- | | neath the surface of the earth a long | time. 8o long, in fact, that many peo- ple have forgotten all about the man who put it there, and why he put it | there. But that does not hinder their | digging for it now. | Long ago, when golden nuggets fresh | from the bosom of mother earth were | | more plentiful than now, and sleek, fat | cattle roamed by the thousands over | the grass covered hills, Robert Durham | | rode on the top of the bright hued wave of prosperity. He had fortunes safely stowed away in different banks of the | State, and all the time his herds were | increasing in numbers, The world was | | going just as he wanted it to, and his | |only hope was that it would swing | | along forever in the groove that suited him so well. But as all lanes must have a turn- | ing, so did Robert Durham’'s road of |life. From good health he was one day :Su(lxl1-1:l}‘ brought face to face with the grave. “But I'll be all right to-mor- row,” he said. This happened one Saturday morn- |ing, and that afternoon a man called | on Durham and closed a deal for the | | sale of many thousands of cattle. The | papers were signed and the money paid | over. This sum with what he had on | | hand at the ranch amounted to about | $100,000 in gold. | | At this time Durham was living at | | his favorite ranch a short distance out | of Chico. Had he been well he would | have gone to town and put the money in bank, but as it was he was com- pelled to postpone his trip and secrete the money. “I'll go on Monday,” he told his wife. He was feeling 2 little better at this time. On the day following, Sunday, he was stricken with a nervous fear over the safety of so much money in the house. He thought that some inkling of the gold being there might get out and that thieves would break in and steal it. He must hide it. Weak as he was from his late attack he managed, without being seen, to walk some distance from his house, dig a hole, and then make several trips back to the house for his gold which he carefully covered up with sdds. “I'll dig it up again to-morrow and take it to the bank in Chico,” he said, to_his wife. But the morrow only found him pros- trated completely. The doctor who had been summoned shook his head and said 1t was only a matter of minutes before the end would come. Old Dur- ham then thought of his gold. He must tell his wife where he buried it. Calling her to the bedside he pointed | sent some god or s | the crew to eat th Tt’s—there—by—the —tree.——Don’t—you—see—it?”” he man- aged to gasp, while his hand shook like a leaf in the wind. i “Dig at the—" and then he drew a long breath and breathed his last. Of course a search was immediately made for the buried gold, but nobody ever found a trace of it. At least as far as is known. There are neighbors who firmly be- lieve that some members of the family dug up the gold before the old man’s body was cold. The story goes that they then divided it among themselves and kept the matter a secret. Others there are who believe just as stoutly that the gold is still in the place where sick, old Robert Durham secreted it. At any rate that is the gold some peo- ple are still digging for in Butte County to-day. out the window. SUPERSTITIONS ON WAR VESSELS HE most picturesque superstitions of the seas are those which gov- ern a modern man-of-war. Every old salt in the navy believes in hoodoos and spells which ~may work all sorts of evils on his ship and must be carefully guarded against. The powers of a ship's hoodoos com- mence before the ship has entered the water. It is generally accepted super- stition that if the first blow which is struck the keel brings eparks the ship is destined to suffer from a raking fire from the enemy. ' The old-time practice of stealing a piece of wood and imbedding it in the prow for good luck is, of course, im- possible in the case of steel ships, thoush it is considered lucky to have a piece of stolen wood on board. Another old superstition is satisfled by placing a silver coin in some crevice of the fighting-top of the mainmast or some place below decks where it} touches the steel mast. Originally it| was a very common custom to imbed a | silver coin, and preferably a Spanish | in the wooden steps near the | e been in high fa_\'r\r: remote antiquity. | carved to repre- Even to-day coin, mast. Figureheads havi with sailors from Originally they were a sailor would he: ironclad without such protect The ceremony of launching y a concession to an < fon. a ship is 1 super- rarious formalities of ship- jave followed with lit- me stition. The christening have been L carfation for centuries. ueln\ ;‘\-‘l‘L early days of shmb\lxllit:llninl({ as : n for the captal e fwir first meal stowed 4 e mold loft. Their meal in- Ty aoniats ‘:}l of eggs and :ul]\hur. From this custom has come the !)rps- ent-day practice of providing cakes ‘;:mx wine for the crew. And the old liba- tion which the priests used tn.'pmxr over the prow of the ship as she sl\ppl:d into the water has been replaced :1 the breaking of a bottle of champagne The modern man-of-war hes into the water with flags waving 'rn_»fm every masthead. In order to gratify thig old superstition it has been neces- sary to expend hundreds of dn}laxaflrnr the christening of a single sl\{p. ‘ut no one begrudges this extravagance. a way it is necessary. m'r?m gi.»d or ill luck of certain days is still a belief among sailors. Friday is a day of ill omen and Sunday is usu- ally a lucky day. The superstition about women is a relic of the old belief in witcheraft. It is thought that a woman by throwing sand In the air on shipboard can pro- duce violent storms, Not many years ago some women who traveled on English warships were tortured during & storm to make them quiet the waves. Thege barbaric beliefs, however, are partially compensated by the supersti- tion which sailors have held for cen turies that beautiful children Ibrmg a blessing of a ship, The “Neck" was a handsome boy with golden curls. It is said that he is always accompanied by 2 black lamb and carries with him a golden harp. Our old salts have es- pecial confidence in a ship which is christened by a child. The average sailor is superstitious about the ringing of the ship's bells. In olden time the bells were blessed before they were used. At present, if a mistake is made in striking the hour the sailors insist that the bells at once be struck backward to break the spell. And if by any chance the wind should catch the bells and swing them all the way around, or if they strike nine bells, it is believed that it will be the last of that ship. All good warships go to the “shores of Fiddler's Cireen” as a final resting place. Just where this mythical har- bor is situated no geographer has yet decided. It is in every way the anti- thesis of “Davy Jones' locker!” A warship which goes down to battle with her flags flying, as occurred sev- eral times during the Civil War, goes to “Fiddlers’ Green.” The tattooing habit is of course very common in the navy. It is belleved that an arm or a leg decorated with the design of a gun or a sword or some such a design will never be lost in battle. away variably cons! INSURANCE AGAINST SHOT. Risks from war in any form are ex- cluded from the standard Massachu- getts fire insurance policy, but the com- panies are apparently besieged with applications for such insurance, and the Attorney General has been asked to give an opinion to the Insurance Com- missioner respecting the right of the companies to waive the war risk clause. As he has already decided that a fire policy cannot be made to cover loss by explosion, he will presumably decide that it cannot be made to cover loss by bombardment or by fire which has been started by a shell explosion or other war device. This would leave the seashore cottages and exposed city property to seek insurance in some other direction against the shots of Spanish cruisers. Some of the fire companies in New York are writing war risks on shore properties, notably the expensive villas maintained on the Long Island and Jersey coasts. DOES THE COLD OF ALASKA CURE BALDNESS Stories That Beat Anything Told by ‘“Hair Restorative’ Agents Brought Back by Returning Prospectors. HE experience of Roderick Dhu Smith—who recently returned from the Klondike region with a big budget of experience, quite a little sum of money and a head of hair which almost qualifies him to take an engagement as a Cir- cassian girl in a circus—is of especial Interest to a large contingent of his fellow men and women. For be it known that Roderick, before making his perflous way to the Arctic regions, though otherwise pleasing to look upon and still on the sunny side of forty, was the owner of a head which made theater ushers, whenever there was a | | that vicinity for two years, ballet on the programme, escort him down to the front row without even glancing at his seat check. ‘While this might have been consid- ered an advantage by some people, it was not pleasing to Mr. Smith, who is an essentially modest man and averse to being made ungduly prominent on any occasion. It is said, too, that his baldness was the real cause of his starting out in search of gold, since he spent all his patrimony In the purchase of hair restorers, and it was necessary for him to do something, no matter how desperate, to retrieve his fallen for- tumes. and after a two years’ residence there has returned amodern Samson, as far as chevalure is concerned, and he de- clares that the transformation is en- tirely due to the rigc of the climate in that quarter of the globe. “The intense cold kills all germs and micro " he asserts, “and stimulates the Ip, and nature does the rest,” and he proudly exhibits his lion-like mane as proof of what nature can do when she takes a fancy, unassisted by washes or oils or unguents of any kind. P. J. McLeod, who has years in Alaska and the Northwest, al- though he has not the ple: re knowing Mr. Smith personally, and did not therefore see the sprouting and the bourgeoning of his pecial crop | pleasing little tales about Alaska, past, Be that as it may, ho went to Alaska, | (PIRKINE abouf it until his head Is ag modified epidermic cells, still corrobo- rates his story as to the virtues of that frigid clime as a hair-producer. “My hair was always thick,” he says, “so I cannot speak from personal ex- perience, but the way the dogs put on hair up there is a caution; they get as shaggy as Shetland ponies; and now I think of it, I never saw a bald-headed fellow anywhere around there. To tell the truth they all look, after they have got to work, as though a razor and a pair of scissors were far more needed than a hair restorer, and I think a mis- sionary barber could do good work among them.” G. H. Henderson, who has a claim on Dominion Creek, and has been up in heartily echoes Mr, McLeod's sentiments. There is something about the intense cold, he asseverates, that makes the hair on man and beast flourish might- ily. Dandruff and falling hair are un- known in that part of the country, but he thinks that the fact that people are too busy to “bother with” their hair has something to do with its unusual growth. “A man who Is vain enough to put his time in on trying to increase the thick- ness of his hair,” is this gentleman's decisfon, “will generally manage to worry off what little belongs to him naturally. He will serub it, and put fertilizer on it, and lay awake nights hot as a furnace and burns the roots of it to ashes; and end by getting up the shiniest kind of a bald head, but up there it is too cold to fool that way, and the hair s a chance for its life.” L. S. Woodstock, an Alaskan of five years’ standing, puts in his testimony in regard to the efficacy of good freez- ing weather as a hair rejuvenator or resurrector, and another gentleman re- cently returned from the Arctic gold flelds, who, not having “made his pile,” as yet, verse to “having his name in the papers, s seriously consid- ering the practi of establishing a r sanitarium in some reasonably where he will, for a accessible spot, satisfactory consideration, entertain bald-headed guests, and tell them present and future, to amuse and in- terest them, and a hair-raising ghost story occasionally for its practical ef- fects, while upon their denuded crani- ums will appear first the fuzz, and then the fur, and then the sleek and glossy hair, the possession of which is the one great desire of their existence. — ——e—— CURRENT TOPICS, In honor of the baptism of the four children of a Signora Rosa Zurio, all born on the same day, the Mayor of Fogial, Italy, recently granted a holi- day to the villagers. The children have been named Dante, Petrarch, Tasso and ‘Aricsto, after the four great Italian oets. pIt is probably not generally known to readers of English that the word “dad,” used by many children in place of “father,” is the purest Welsh. The opening words of the Lord’s prayer in Welsh are “Ein Dad.” Grog is served to the sailors and ma- rines in the navies of every nation in the world save the United States. The custom was discontinued in our navy many years ago, as it was found to be prejudicial to discipline and morals. The advocates of the cause of temper- ance in Great Britain have long been trying to persuade the Government to put a stop to the serving of grog, but in vain. A Roumanian manufacturer has an- nounced his intention of sending to the Paris Exposition in 1900 a pianoforte of such exceptional sonority that its tones will be heard at a distance of six miles. The man whose neighbor’s daughter is given to “practicing” at unseemly hours will have cause to be thankful that this instrument has not yet been put on the market. When a German servant girl reaches her fortieth year in the employ of one family she is presented with a golden cross by Empress Augusta Victoria. Last year 114 of these crosses were dis- tributed, only one of which went to a resident of Berlin. The ground in the vicinity of the Bank of England is estimated to be worth not less than $10,000,000 per acre. Land in Pall Mall has changed hands at $2,500,000 an acre. HANDLES WILD ANIMALS LIKE PUPPIES HERE 15 a tide In the affairs of men that taken at its flood leads sn to fortume.” Had it not been for this tide and the fast that he took advantage of it, Bidel would never have been a great animal tamer. Bidel has just written a book of his own life which in & way is a most interesting volume. It is full of narra- tives of intensely dramatic experience, but the great incident of his life stands out from these like a dlamond in a pile of pebbles. According to his own story, Bidel was born in Rouen, in 1839; his father, trav- eled for the fairs with a small circus whose principal ornament was an im- mense vulture. The unfortunate man was crushed to death under the car that gerved as his house. But the littie circus continued to be the chief source of rev- enue to the orphan and the widow. When she remarried they began to grow richer and more important. ———— I wnlum(] When Bidel's stepfather died his mother marrfed a third time, and her; third husband was the celebrated animal | tamer Faimall. It was through him that Bidel took up his dangerous profession. After Enga;{mg with different mounte- | bank shows he at I found employment in_the Circus Bernzbo. Bidel had been with this organization for some time before the chance of his life came that made him famous. At this time the circus was showing in Bajona and until _his opportunity was right be- fore him Bidel had not the slightest idea of the fame in store for him. Following are his own words of the event: “The place was filled with people and' the performance was about to commence. I was waiting for my turn to go on when suddenly some one shrieked out, ‘The big tiger has escaped from her cage! ““This animal was the only one in menagerie really dangerous. Everybgcll‘; was afraid of her. Instantly all was con- fli\slon ?ngl '.11e1 shr‘{eks of f!righlened peo- ple ren e alr. At once I realiz Iy chance had come. e *'I asked eagerly where the tiger was, and they told me that she had en ref- uge in a blacksmith-shop, and I wentafter her. Within myself there was a feeling of elation. “In a few moments I found the tiger. She was cowering in a corner, with her eyes aflams and her mouth wide open. Without waiting an instant for her to make the attack, I attacked her and let her see that I was the master. It was a short struggle. I used my whip with all my strength, and she began to howl and started to run. “This was my chance. Dropping my whip, I seized her with my powerful hands. One stretched the loose skin of her neck and the other held tightly fur- ther down her back. “Instantly 1 raised her on my shoulders and carried her back to her cage, into ‘which I threw her with all my force. She sank into a heap, shivering like a fright- ened rabbit. ‘At this moment the air was rent with laudits, cheers and the clapping of ands. Before an hour the country rang ‘with news of my deed and I was famous.” TARGET PRACTICE RECORDS MADE BY GUNNERS OF THE U. S. NAVY. Range three miles—Height of target 15 feet, length 40 feet; four shots from United States battle-ship Oregon, us- ing 67-ton guns.- by States cruiser Philadelphi. _inch dr.m.vy rifle. Weight o Gun Captain J. Callan, Range 2000 yards (a little over one mile)—Target 5x6 feet; five shots made with six- shell, 100 United Range 4500 yards (a little over two and a half miles)—Shots fired by United States flagship Olympia, main battery, 5-inch guns; high, 40 feet in léngth, target 15 feet Range 2000 yards (a little over one mile)—Twenty shots made with six- pounder Hotchkiss guns by Gunners F. J. Shinn and T. M. Ross of the Machias; target 5x6 feet. Range 5000 yards (a little less than three miles)—Target, a ship’s side, 20 feet high; and 12-inch heavy guns of coast bate tle-ship Monterey. s three shots from 10-inch