GREAT MEN'S BODIES
life as 'cushiony' as possible. She would display a world of patience and cunning diplomacy to keep any disagreeable thing out of his way; even to the extent of sitting down upon the Times for a whole evening, if it should contain an article that was calculated to ruffle his equanimity. Besides these two, his religion and his wife; two outside influences which kept him in perennial youth by minimizing the worry of life; throughout the whole of his life he has had sleep at instant command; and, what is more remarkable, wakes up bright and fresh within ten minutes of going to sleep. He has always been a famous sleeper. His nightly allowance of sleep is fixed at seven hours. His methodical regularity, his horror of unpunctuality; his saying that every piece of meat should be bitten thirty-two times; his not using tobacco; his rare concentration on whatever work he is at, taking such hold of him that he has to be aroused from it, as most men are aroused from sleep, making him totally indifferent to his surroundings; his keen enjoyment of his rural life at Hawarden; his always having lived a country-life when he could; his famed habit of felling trees; and his always being a great walker—are pointed out as causes of his rare staying power and surpassing accomplishments."
"Friends and foes alike are marvelling over the magnificent speech with which Mr. Gladstone (at eighty-three) brought the debate on the second reading of the Home Rule Bill to a close; and over the matchless eloquence of its delivery. It was a far finer effort than the speech with which he introduced the bill a few weeks ago. It is, indeed, pronounced by competent opinion to be the greatest utterance of Mr. Gladstone's life, both in matter and in manner. The moment he took the floor, the great and Grand Old Man seemed
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