Great Men

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COMMONWEALTH

(British Commonwealth of Nations)

Where does Old England stand as the New Year opens? The question is best answered in terms of her great men. As the year closed a volume,* well spiced yet sound and seasoned, was set on the world's book shelf. Therein that shrewd and keenly discerning British editor emeritus, Alfred G. Gardiner, has sketched the great men of his country, and several others, in a style brilliantly quotable. Quotations:

Stanley Baldivin, Prime Minister, First Lord of the Treasury and Leader of the House of Commons; "There are times when he seems to be a prophet coming with a message hot from Sinai, and there are times when he suggests that Alice has wandered, round-eyed and innocent, into the Wonderland of Westminster. . . . The truth is that Mr. Baldwin is unintelligible to the politician because he is the least politically minded person who has ever reached great office. . . . Like Diocletian, he would be happier among his cabbages than in Parliament. . . .

"He means well, but he is not always clear as to what he means.

"His merits are of the heart rather than the head. . . . You cannot dislike him if you 'try with both hands,' as Humpty-Dumpty would say. . . .

"I like to see him taking his week-end tramps among the woods and hills, . . . always alone, except for two stalwart figures that follow at a discreet distance, his hat off, his cherry-wood pipe in full blast—he once confessed that he had never given more than a shilling for a pipe—and his long strides devouring the miles with an air of lusty exhilaration. He is English to the core and loves his country for the right things. . . .