GLADIOLUS 



2504 



GLADSTONE 



of the people of the day, who found entertain- 

 ment in the shedding of blood. Schools for 

 gladiators were conducted, and the practice 

 grew to such proportions that it is said the 

 warlike Roman emperor Trajan gave one show 

 lasting over 100 days, during which 2,000 men 

 fought to the death. Such exhibitions were 

 finally abolished by Theodoric, in A. D. 500. 



If a gladiator were overpowered in these 

 contests the audience indicated, by pointing 

 thumbs up or thumbs down, whether he should 

 be killed or spared, there being a difference of 

 opinion among authorities about the signifi- 

 cance of the two signs. The victor, if a pris- 

 oner, sometimes received his freedom, at other 

 times a palm or garland. One of the most 

 famous gladiators of history was Spartacus, a 

 Thracian slave, who incited the War of the 

 Gladiators, 73-71 B.C. His story inspired that 

 favorite American recitation, The Gladiator's 

 Appeal, by Elijah Kellogg. 



Among gladiatorial statues are the celebrated 

 marble one in Rome, The Fighting or Borghese 

 Gladiator, and The Dying Gaul or Gladiator, 

 the original of which is in Paris. See COLOS- 

 SEUM. t 



GLADIOLUS, gladi'olus, sometimes called 

 the humming-bird flower, because those strange 

 little birds seek it for nectar, is a popular hot- 

 house and garden plant grown extensively in 

 America and Europe. 

 It is commonly grown 



GLADIOLUS FLOWER CLUSTER 



from the bulb, and will thrive in any good gar- 

 den soil where it receives the full sunlight and 

 free watering. The bulbs should be planted 

 in succession at intervals of two or three weeks 

 during March, April and May. The gladiolus 

 may also be raised from seeds. These should 

 be sown in March or April, and the plants 



be gathered in October. The little bulbs pro- 

 duced by the plants may then be planted the 

 following spring. 



The long, sword-shaped leaves gave the plant 

 the Latin name for dagger. The large, irreg- 

 ular, tube-shaped flowers are arranged in long, 

 one-sided clusters, the lower blossoms opening 

 first. If a spike of gladiolus is cut when just 

 the lower flowers are open the buds above will 

 open in succession and keep fresh for a week 

 or ten days. The colors range through all the 

 shades and tints of red to white, and even a 

 blue gladiolus has been produced. Luther 

 Burbank has worked extensively with this 

 plant, producing blossoms on all sides of the 

 stem instead of on one side only, also larger 

 flowers and rich combinations of color. 



GLADSTONE, glad' stun, WILLIAM EWART 

 (1809-1898), a profound British scholar and 

 statesman, four times Prime Minister, and the 

 most famous of the ministers and political 

 leaders of the long reign of Queen Victoria. 

 His name will 

 forever be associ- 

 ated with those 

 movements which 

 are identified with 

 the progress of 

 English democ- 

 racy free trade, 

 equal taxation, 

 the education of 

 the masses and 

 the extension of 

 suffrage-and he WILLIAM E. GLADSTONE 

 The most powerful British 

 was the first statesman of the nineteenth 



Prime Minister centur y- 

 to take up the fight for Irish Home Rule. He 

 was born on December 29, 1809, in Liverpool, 

 of Scotch parentage, and was educated at 

 Eton College and at Christ Church, Oxford 

 University. At the age of twenty-four he en- 

 tered Parliament, where he gave his support 

 to the Tory faction under the leadership of 

 Sir Robert Peel. Between 1845 and 1847 he 

 was Secretary of State for the .Colonies in 

 Peel's Cabinet, but during this period was not 

 a member of Parliament. To that body he 

 was reelected in 1847. 



During the next few years, in which he was 

 gradually swinging away from Tory principles 

 to Liberalism, Gladstone rose steadily in power 

 and influence, and as Chancellor of the Ex- 

 chequer, a post which he held at three differ- 

 ent times, he prepared budgets that showed his 

 marvelous grasp of financial problems. In 



