MR. GLADSTONE.

Kumara Times, Issue 1149, 4 June 1880, Page 3

MR. GLADSTONE.

Mr Grant Duff, in the course of one of his 'recent addresses to his constituents, Said that some years ago, when Mr Gladstone’s Administration was in power, a clever Tory, who hated both Mr Gladstone and his Administration, wrote the following acrostic :— ■ G was the great man, mountain of mind; E a logician, expert and refined ; A. Was an adept in rhetoric’s art, D was the dark spot he had in his heart; S was the sophistry led him astray ; T was the truth that he bartered away; O was the cipher his conscience became; N the new light that enlightened the same; E was the evil one, shouting for joy—“At it, and down, with it, Gladstone, hiy boy v’ This acrostic was repeated in a drawing room in the presence of a young lady bf good Liberal principles, and the daughter of a well-known member of who, without leaving the room, weiit to a table and wrote this answer to it:— G is the genius that governs the nation; L are the Lords, who requite education; A is the animus raised by the great ; D are the doftkeys Who fear for the State; S is the standard that Liberals raise ; T are the Tories who howl in dispraise ; O’s Opposition, wanting a head ; N is the natidn, not driven but led ; E is old England, shouting for joy. “Stick to the Government, Glad- ■ stone, my boy !” The reading of this reply was greeted tvith loud and prolonged cheering by Mr Grant Duff’s'friend's.