Lunch with Mr. Gladstone is a very simple meal which neither at
Hawarden nor Downing Street admits of much form or publicity. The
afternoon which follows is a very much broken and less regular period.
At Hawarden a portion of it is usually spent out of doors. In the old
days it was devoted to the felling of some giant of the woods. Within
the last few years, however, Sir Andrew Clark, Mr. Gladstone's
favorite physician and intimate friend, has recommended that
tree-felling be given over; and now Mr. Gladstone's recreation, in
addition to long walks, in which he still delights, is that of lopping
branches off veterans whose trunks have fallen to younger arms.