Since 1894, when his failing eyesight forced him to leave public life, he has lived very quietly at his home in Hawarden.
But he has continued to take an active interest in public affairs, and he has devoted himself to the studies in which he has had a life-long interest. On several occasions, too, he has spoken out on subjects of grave importance, showing his old-time vigor and courage.
His death would be a loss not only to England, but to the world at large.
He has always taken a deep interest in the American Government and in the American people.
In this country, "the Grand Old Man," as Mr. Gladstone has long been called, is regarded with great admiration and affection.
An account of Mr. Gladstone's career will be published in a later number of The Great Round World.
It will show why he is so highly honored as a statesman, a writer, and as a friend of his fellow-men.
Many readers of The Great Round World doubtless remarked the great strike that took place in Chicago more than three years ago, and the share in it of Debs, the political agitator, which led to his imprisonment.
Within the past few months Debs has been busily engaged in making plans to found a colony for unemployed men and women, where they will be given opportunities of earning a living.