The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1870-12-17 00:00:00

Pisullancous

HOME, FOREIGN, AND COLONIAL

A LILLIPUTIAN NItIVSPAPEIL—We (Daily Noes)
have received a rather curious specimen of French in-
genuity—a copy of Le Soir of the 25th November, coin.
pressed, by means of photography, into &sheet measurs
ing only three and a half by two and a half 'oche&
This Lilliputian journal, nevertheless, presents the full
contents of an ordinary full-sized number, and withthe
aid of a good microscope CAII be read easily. It is
printed on one side only of ,the little sheet, and is
headed with a notice that it must be read as a trans-
parency—that is, against the pane of a window, and
with a magnifying•glass. This reduction of 'Mews-
paper to a very small size is not new; it has often been
dons as a photographic curiosity; but it is the first
time that we have seen its application to practical
business purpiises ; for in this way Le Soir can be sent
out by the balloons in immense quantities, without any
curtailment of its usual contents.

Pope Pussy !—From "Food in Paris during
the Siege," in the Food Journal :—There has always
been a joke in Paris on the disappearance of cats, and
a c immon name for puss in" gutter rabbit," while a
dead cat is commonly called a "civet" (rivet de lierre),
jugged hare. A caricaturist fixed this firmly in the
publ,c mind years ago. He sketched a ch,ffonier and
a ehrifoniere in presence of a fine dead cat on a heap of
rubbish. After you with the civet," said the gentleman
to the lady, politely lifting his hat. Like many other
jokes, this one has come true; cat is eaten and sold
openly, and although I never had the pleasure of par-
taking of a tint of the kind- -to my knowledge—l can
seenre you that cats are relished by &good many people
and are quoted at 6 fr. each, while dog is quoted at 4
fr. the half animal. I have, however, doubts aboutthe
dog. Oae journal declares that more than 21,000 cats
have been sold and eaten. A student in medicine Font
the following note to a friend :—'('owe on Saturday
to my rooms and eat a broiled cat, seasoned with pis-
tachio nuts, olives, girkins, and pimento, and washed
down with Chablis. After dinner we will drink some
Rhenish wine to the indivisibility of France." At a
good house the other day—the hones of a gourmet—
the bill of fare was: Ott de Mewl rGli, escaloppes
d'anon, plum pudding, an graisse de bccuf.

_
- -
WARNING TO WAR-MARRRB.---M. Chaudordy
has issued, for European perusal, a circular setting
forth in detail the ravage, pillage, conflagration,
slaughter, insult, and humiliation which the German
troops, acting, he alleges, systematically under orders,
are inflicting upon France. Horrible atrocities. Let
us hope the French people will never, by abandoning
themselves to Napoleonic ileas, and being led to invade
their neighbours vaingloriously, draw the like upon
themselves again. —Pri nth.
THE broJticatr °arrow BONDB.—The follow-
ing is from Herepatlis Railway Journal:—

Many of our readers may have forgotten the exis-
tence of the Cotton Loan; but If any of them are hol-
ders, they will be glad to learn that the President of the
United States proposes to form a commission to ascer-
tain the rights of claimants using the British Go-
ventment under the Alabama attar, the United States
Government to liquidate the same, and then send in their
claim against the British Government. This being done, of
course our Government wid tabs a emitter action in respect
of the claims of individuals here upon the American Govern-
ment, in which cue holders of cotttn bonds may yet see their
money back to the last pound."

HOUSE OF COMMONS' DIVISIONS.—In the SEE.
Mon of 1870 the Howe of Commons divided no less
than 244 times—four times on private business, and 240
times on public business. In 1870 there were 37
divisions on the Irish Land Bill and 41 on the Ele-
mentary Education Bill. The largest number
of members present at a division was on the 4th of
April, when 521 were in the house on a division upon
the Irish Land BilL Seventy-eight of the divisions
occurred after midnight. The sitting which began at
four o'clock in the afternoon of the 14th of July lasted
until a quarter-past five on the following morning. The
discussion wan on the provision in the Elementary Edo.
cation Bill for the voting being by ballot; and thrre
werernine divisions on motions for adjournment, seven
of them after midnight; 108 members stayed to the
last division, which showed 146 against 21 votes.
11.F.R NEW LOSIIIN—MIN. Malaprop is collecting
autocrat., and will be grateful for any specimens of
the hand-writing of extinguished characters. —P ouch
bra MONT CENIS TUNNEL. The Union
Saroisienne contains the following:—

"On Sunday morning, the t?7th of November, the men
working on the north side of the Mont Ceids Tunnel heard
• rumbling sound on the Bardonnfthe side. To make sure
of what it was they ceased working for a short time, and
then distinctly heard the blasting, on the south side There
must have been at the time about 130 metres distant. The
grand problem, therefore, is nearly solved. By Christmas,
and even before then, the workmen will hive met, for they
seeable to work at the rate of five metres per day."

THREE BRITISH 13LIINDERE.—We made three
great mistakes in our conduct towards the United
States Government respecting the Alabama affair. In
the first place we should never have admitted that we
might possibly have been to blame at &IL In the
next, on the contrary, we ought to have complained to
them for not having agreed with us to abolish pri-
vateering. In the third, we should have sent them
Ins tremendous bill on account of the loss which we
had to sustain in consequence of the Cotton Famine.
These are the things which, had our places been re-
vered, they would certainly have done themselves.
Punch.
Tint Lan RAILWAY AOCIDENTE.—In the re-
cent collision at Harrow, one of the passengers who
was unfortunately killel, Mr. J. 11. Jordan, had
taken an insurance ticket of the Railway Passengers
Aasurance Company before commencing his jouruey,
for which at the cost of only threepence, he has
secured fl,ooo for his family. In the same accident
M. G. 11. Smith, of Manchester, was killed, who held
an annual policy for a like sum with the same company.
In the accident at 13rockley Whine last week, besides
many injured, two annual policy-holders for £l,OOO
each were also killed, one of them being the comedian,
Mr. Younge. It is eatiftfactory to find that, if the
present season Berms fruitful in disasters of the kind,
the number of those who have the wisdom to provide
against them by accidental insurance policy appears to
be on the increase.
THE NOVEMBER Myrzotte.—The November
meteors were watched for on the morning of the 14th
at Yale College, Connecticut, by six observers, who
counted 153 in four hours and 40 minutes,. Last year
the number was much larger, and in 1868 there were
shout 7,000 seen on one morning by a party ot
observers. From these observations the inference is
drawn that the great meteor stream had this year passed
by the orbit of the earth at the time of observation in
November. This belt of meteoric matter, it has been
calculated, is about 1,000 millions of miles long and
50,000 miles thick, spreads over about one-fourth of its
orbit, and has a velocity of 100,000 miles ad hour. The
November meteors, it is believed, will still be visible
for several years, but in smaller numbers each year
until they disappear entirely, to return again with
great splendour in the year 1900.

Baava WORDP.—,Says General Faidherbe, in
his proclamation to the "Army of the North"

" M. nambetta has declared that, to save France, he re-
quires from 3on three things—discipline, morality, and con-
t, opt of death."

how can contempt of death be bred except by famili-
arity? When a roan has died he may feel contempt
for death, if he exlsts b ,tter off. Before death, to con-
temn death, if he thinks, he needs to be sure that death
is contemptible,—Pusch.

TAXING A GLOOMY VIEW OF IT ! —ln an article
entitled " The Situation," the London Standard re.
marks :

There is reason to view with some apprehension the ap-
pr +aching Conference at London. The trial will be decleive
as to the futnre of Great Britain. Indecision may destroy
leer; firmness may save her. The diplomatic battle on the
point of taking place ought to constitute her the chief of a
large group of Powers, and leave to Russia only the disgrace
of • culpable attempt. If England compromises and yield.,
ehe will sign her abdication. Her allies, unsupported, will
withdraw, and leave her isolated. lies signs of our deca-
dence will then become visible—but too late—to all eyes.
And so complications and reeponsibilltim ash Imultiply and
accumulate. To get the clue to this labyrinth, and to gain
the path we ought to follow, it will be neceseary to look to
the meeting of Parliament. It is by free debate we can show
our sympathy towards our ancient ally, arrest war, and
moderate the terms of peace. It le by free discussion that
we can uphold and guide the repreeentatives of the nation in
the conflict raised by Rumba Parliament Is summoned for
the 17th January. Its meeting should not be delayed a single
day.
STRANGE DEATH FROM THE BITE OF A DOG.
—An inquest has been held at Liverpool, upon the
body of Fredrick Duckett, a lumper. It appeared in
evidence that the deceased was at the house of a friend,
when two dugs began to fight. The deceased separated
them, and in doing au hat his hand bitten, the flesh
having been torn from one finder. The wound bled
very much. He sucked the finger, and steeped it in
rum for ten minutes. He was able to go to work
next day, but the finger was much i uflamid. It grew
worse from day to day, extending to the ATM. He had
lost his appetite, but was able to drink all beverages.
Dr. Costine attended him. On Friday last he (de-
ceased) was very ill with a pain in the stomach, the
inflammation having extended to hiachest. On Satin,
day he died, having been delirious for an hour before
that event. The medical testimony set forth that
death 11010 from blood poisoning, to which the

deceased was no doubt predisposed, Dr. Contine stated,
by reason of intemperate habits, although the bite from
a man or an animal Wag dangerous irrespective of 610°1
poison. Verdict, "Died from blood poisoning owing
to the bite of a dog."
AN AFFAIR OF THR RICH ! —The Dail,/ Noes
has the following reflection on the recent London
Cottle Show :

The Cattle Show week has come and gone. After the
.pectacle, comes reflection. It ha. left, If not the Cattle
Plague, yet a Cattle Disease behind it We believe that the
malady Is MA general, and that the precautionary measure.
wli.ch have been taken will atop It. It illustrates, however,
the iisk of them gatherings. Still, the advantages of them
counterbalance their posalble danger. if, indeed, the Show
were nothing more than a collection of unwieldy oxen
crammed with distressful eil-cake. of apoplectic pigs, and of
diecomfortable muttons, there would not only bee terril le
sameness In the solemnity, but its economical benefits might
fairly be disputed. A vast live meat marketat the approach
of Christmas is, no doubt, an interesting and agreeable spec-
tacle to those who can afford to celebrate the season ip that
guzzling and gormandizing fashion peculiar to the wnrship•
pets of the groat god Comfort in tlie,e Islands. but from
the point of view of agricultural economy in its relivion to
the food supply of the p ,pulation, It may On doubted whether
the abnormal and happily artificial proc, veil to which the
go-were i lid feeders resort In their endeavours to heap
mountains of fat upoh their beat. In the shortest puietide
time. and without regard to coat or to the laws of Nature,
are in themselves very admirable results of all this whole-
sale rivalry in the production of grease and suet. Like ninny
other exhibitions In this oottntry, it is an affair of the
rich. The principal producers of these prize victims
are the rich ; the eaters, like the feeders, are the rich
also. Then it cannot be denied that there Ls a large
amount of inevitable cruelty involved in this struggle
of the graziers to outfatten one another; not so much,
perhaps, as in a great war between thousands of human
beings, but more than enough to distinguish the country In
which legislation against cruelty to animals MU originated.
Moreover, the condition of the prize-winner Is not one of
rude and vigorous health, but of disease. It is nothing more
or less than fatty degeneration. Softhearted people, who
when they eat a pare ile fed peas regret to think how the
poor gcese mut have suffered from liver complaint, fled it
easy to forget how the honours of a Cattle Show were
achieved, not to .peek of the horrors of the passage from
the distant fields and farms 0 the Coliienni of Islington.
There may be no sort of novelty In the remark that an exhi-
bition of agricultural labourers side by side with the fat
cattle would be an inatroctive contrast for those easygoing
statisticians who are alwaas telling us how wonderfully wages
have risen and prices diminished of late year*, but the re-
mark is worth repeating once every year.
" Ur AB-NE TRE WORLD so liton."—Even in
the realm of Nature all is not natural. The influence
of our artificial state of society seems to be felt in
scenes where it might have been thought all would be
simple and unstudied, for in the last monthly history
of the weather in The Times, we are surprised by the
intrusion of "the conventional black clond."—l'unch.
Mn. T. HUGHES M.P ON AMERICA.-011

Saturday evening, Mr. Haghem, in a lecture at the
Working Men's College, Great Ornoombstreet, Load iv,
gave a familiar description of some of the things
which had struck him during his recent trip to
America. Though he found the Americans exceed-
ingly courteous and civil, he at the same time found
it extremely difficult to open up a conversation with
them. All over the States, contrary to his impression,
he had found them a remarkably self-contained,
serious, and almost sad people. If ever he should
leave England, Boston, he said would be his reefing-
place for the remain& r of his life. He was graphic
in his description of the quaint old city, with its noble
common fringed with the residences of men whose
names are known almost as well in this country as in
their own ; and of Cambridge, the seat of the Harvard
University, where he stayed with Profestver Lowell,
and close by the house of Longfellow. Mr. Hughes
paid a visit to the falls of Niagara. Some enterpris-
ing Yankees have erected baths above the falls on the
Canadian shore, which enable the bather to enjoy the
sensation of a plunge—holding a rope be it understood
—into the rapids of Niagara. Though the that ire-
presion appears to be that of being torn limb from
limb, it is said, after getting used to it, to he a very
delightful sensation; and on the strength of his own
experince, the hon, gentleman strodlgly advised any
of his hearers who went to Niagara not to come away
without trying the rapids bath.
ANNWERSART OF True PRINCE CONSORT'S
Di.—On Wednesday morning (the 14th) her Ma-
jesty and the members of the Royal family at the
Cattle attended the anniversary service held within
the Prince Consort's mausoleum at Frogmore. The
Prince and Princess of Wales came from London, and
were present. The Dean of Windsor officiated. The
=laical portion of the service ctnsiated of Dr. Elvey's
anthem, "Blessed are the Dead," some chorales being
sung by the choir of St. George's Chapel, conducted
by Dr. El icy. After placing chaplets on the tomb of
the Prince, the Queen and the Royal family left the
mausoleum.