The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1869-02-27 00:00:00

THE ScoTett—Gotn—torilios. The weather A MOTHER OF TIVENTY—CHILDRIaIf-7--lire-
during the past week has been most unfavourable for mote part of the county of Westmoreland there was
the gold diggers; but great numbers continue to per. interred, on Sunday afternoon, thebody of a woman,
severe in searching for it, and the average luck has who in her time had been the mother of no fewer than
been sustained, (says the Scotsman.) Reisgill burn has twenty children. Deceased was the widow of a
rather fallen out of favour, and a good many diggers , tenant farmer mimed Park, who resided at Preston-
have returned to Kiltlumut. A number of new ar- Richard, a small township in the northern county.
rivals have taken place, among whom are a good I She married at the age of silteen years, and at the

sprinkling ii-cociniral diggers, and they gave as
thvir opinion that the prospects at Kildonan for the
time they have been at work are equal to some of the
more vaunted goldfields of Australia. A new party
from Caithness, with wooden house, " cradles, ' and
other appliances, are now squatting on Kildonan burn,
and busy washing. Several crews of fishermen from
Ross-shire reached Helnisdale en route for the digging;
but their stay was short, as they found that gold could
not be picked up by the handfuL A party of old
hands have constructed a sluice, colonial fashion, at
Seisgill, and have washed out a great quantity of stuff.
We cannot report exactly what they have done, but it is
understood that they are well pleased with theirsuccess.
It is rather difficult to ascertain the average luck at the
diggings, but the gold sold weekly in Helmsdale
amounts to a good deal of money, which is a fair in-
dication that a good many ars successful. Mr. Loch,
M.P. visited Kildonan and Seisgill last week, and
gave it to be understood that for the present every one
is at liberty to continue to search for gold along the
margin of the streams, but that :thinking shafts will
not be permitted until the Duke of Sutherland has
come to some arrangement with the Crown.
A GIFT icc PIiftrETITITY.—A meeting of the
freeholders of the pariah of Sevenoaks was held in the
vestry-room of the parish church on Monday to select
forty poor persons, not receiving alms, to receive one
bushel of wheat. The wheat is given under the will
of Sir Henry Ferumr. Bart., dated 1732, who charged
all his lands, hereditaments in Hadlow and Great
Peckham, for ever with the payment and delivery of
three loads of the best white bread corn, one to each of
the parishes of Gyudhurst. Rotherfield, and Sevenoaks
in memory of two honest men, the Right Hon. the
late Lord Chief Baron Gilbert, of Burrs, in the county
of Kent, and the Hon. John Fermor, late of Seven-
oaks. The wheat was divided as follows :—T'o Seven-
oaks 13, Riverhead Liberty RI, and the Weald 8.
How TO PCT OUT FlftES.—The following ex-
tract from the Japan Gazette for Dec. 16, 1868, may
perhaps amuneassavell as interest our readers
One edict of the new government, recently promulgated
In Yedo, is of a character so extraordinary that we are not
surprised to had all the Japanese thoroughly alarmed by it,
especially as it has already had its penal obtuse carried into
effect in one instance, and more are exporting the extreme
rigour of the law. It is to the effect that -every one with

time of her deces.seinZil only attained her fifty-lif th
year. What is most remarkable, perhaps, is the
fact that the youngest of the twenty children is but
eight years of age, while several of the others are either
grown up or married ; and they are all fine healthy illus-
trations of the young people to be met with among "the
hardy sons of Westmoreland." Moreover, it is ednewhat
remarkable the father died and was buried within
three weeks of the mother ; and on each occasion did
the twenty children follow their deceased parent to
the grave—twelve daughters and eight sons. As may
he supposed, the well-known family peculiarity of the
"Parks, of Milton," drew a large concourse of
people to the funeral, in fact, from all round the
country aide; so that the procession was unusually
large, and the interest attaching to it proportionately I
deep. It is worthy of remark that the united ages of
the twenty orphan children represent -lOU years—that
is, by taking each child with another on an average of
twenty years.
MR. GEORGE TRAIN CANDID.—Mr. George
Francis Train having been asked by the American
, Working Women's Association to deliver a lecture,
I replied :
My opinions are too pointed, my Ideas too strongly defined,
my Radicalism too practical, I an afraid, to do any good; I
tread on too many corns; I raise too much antagonism; my
audiences are too mixed; caste is too severely marked. Na
the, mist, my acts create hisses hence even your aasociation
will be at loggerheads, I fear, with my views.
MRS. PARTINGTON AND HER MOP. " This
labour in vain" will be found illustrated in the
following passage from the Rev. Sydney Smith's
speech at Taunton, on the rejection of the Reform Bill,
October, 1831
The attempt of the Lords to stop the progress of reform
reminds me very forcibly of the great storm of Sidmouth, and
the conduct of the excellent Mrs. Partington on that occasion.
In the winter of 1824 there set in a great flood upon that
town; the tide rose to an hicrethole height, the waves rushed
In upon the houses, and everything was threatened with
destruction. In the midst of this sublime and terrible
ienrin, Dame Partington, who lived upon the beach, Was
seen at the door of her house with mop and patte
trundling her mop, squeezing out the sea-water, and vigor-
ously pushing away the Atlantic Ocean. l'he Atlantic was
roused ; Mrs. Partingttas spirit was up ; but I need not tell
you that the contest was unequal. The Atlantic beat Mrs.
Partingtou. She was excellent Shim slop or a puddle, but she
should not have meddled with a tempest.

The Americans, however, lay claim to the first use
of the Partington and Mop image ; she has latterly
become a very popular personage in the States, and
the American humorist, B. P. Shillabeer, has collected
and recorded the old lady's laughable saying—so Kays
Mr. Timbs, in his Historic Ninepins.
AND A GOOD THING, TOO.—We suppose that
Miss Saurin would not be "takes in" at any other
convent !—Judy.
Ursa BISHOPS.—The scheme devised by the
Royal Commissioners on the Irish Church proposes to
leave eight bishops in Ireland. The Archbishop of
Armagh, with £6,000 a year, would have 223 benefices
in his diocese and a church population of 185,939,
according to the last census ' • the Archbishop of Dublin,
with £5.000 a year (or £4,500 if reduced to a bishop),
259 benefices, and a church population of 129,055 ; the
other six bishops would have £3,000 a year. The
Bishop of Down would have 151 benefices and 149,952
church population; the Bishop of Derry, 112 benefices
and 65,951 church population; the Bishop of Cork,
212 benefices and 49,652 church population ; the Bishop
of Ossory, 222 benefices and 43,381 church population;
the Bishop of Tuam, 161 beneficea and 41,662 church
population; the Bishop of Limerick, 178 benefices
and 27,765 church population. The number of bene-
fices, however, would really be smaller than is here
given, as the Commissioners prapose that many of
them should be suspended on account of the small
number of their church population. The church
population of the dioceses is such that, under the
scheme of the Commissioners, there would be four
bishops for 162,458 of church population, and these
would be bishops, we suppose, not required to be
absent from their dioceses every year to attend Parlia-
ment, but only in turn. Whatever the Irish Clmrch
might want, it would not want bishops. But such is
the existing Episcopal establishment that this change
would cause a raving of £28,000 a year in the amount
of the funds of the Church appropriated to the bishops.
THE VOCALIST'S REAL "FRIEND AND PIT-
MR."— Mr: Sims Reeves.—Punch.
FIGHT WITH A SNAKE.—On Saturday evening
(says the Southern Arous), a son of Michael Delany,
aged 16, who resides with his father on Mr. Zouch's
farm, at the -Vass river, was, while working in a field
on the bank of the river, attacked by a huge snake,
which caught hold of his trousers at the knee and took
a piece of them away. The cries of the lad attracted
several persons, and his father was the first to run to
his assistance, who' upon hearing his son cry out "a
snake," seized a large hoe and ran up; but as he came
near to where his son was standing, the snake became
furiously mad and rushed at the father. A regular
battle now took place between the father and the
snake. As he niade a blow with the hoe at the snake,
it would take a spring and leap higher than his head,
twisting itself into various attitudes, thus bespeaking
the manner in which it was enraged. After seven or
eight false blows Delany succeeded in disabling the
monster, which alien killed mea.on,l a little over
eight feet, and was of the brown species. It is be-
lieved that the cause of the snake's anger and dis-
position to show fight was occasioned by its nest
having been disturbed on the previous day and the eggs
broken. This snake makes,the ninth that has been
killed near the same place this year.
THE IRISH JUDGE AND THE QUAKER:— AD
Irish judge, who was not very remarkable for his ele-
gance or courtesy, although an able and observant
man, was sitting as Judge of Amine, in a town in the
north of Ireland, on a very hot day in July, when the
court was insufferably close and ' stuffy. ' It hap-
pened that a Quaker (a man of some position in the
place) had occasion to be in court, whether aS a witness
or a juryman we eannot say, but, like the Quaker at
Liverpool, he, on principle, refused to take off his hat.
This was his usual custom at the assizes, and to accom-
modate his conscience, a policeman or tipstaff used to
take off his hat for him, and he then remained un-
covered for the remainder of the time he had to stay in
court. Judge B---, however, was not a man to
countenance this kind of nonsense, and accordingly,
when on the occasion in question a policeman was
about to remove the broad-brim from the conscientious
caplet of the follower of William Penn, he prevented
him, and said, "No, leave his hat on him, if he likes
to wear it." This was, in realty a serious annoyance
and disappointment to the Quaker, who was most
anxious to be relieved from the weight of his heavy
beaver hat. After some hours, the Judge turned
round to the Quaker, down whose face the perspira-
tion was pouring, and who looked the picture of suffo-
cation and misery, and thus addressed him :—" I say,
you sir, with the hat, do you breakfast IF your hat!
Do you dine in your hat Do you sleep in your hat?
and then added, in a tone of contempt, ," A most
absurd custom 1"
A NEW INVENTION.—A new method of trans-
port has lately been adopted in Leicestershire for con-
veying stone from Messrs. Ellis and Everard's granite
quarry to the railway, a distance of three miles. The
plan has been worked out by Mr. Hodgson, C.E., and
consists in the employment of an endless wire rope
supported on pulleys, which are carried at a consider-
able height from the ground on stout posts, the entire
arrangement having much the appearance of an or-
dinary telegraph wire. A portable steam-engine
drives the rope at about five miles an hour, and it
carries vsith it a continual stream of boxes, each hold-
ing 1 cwt. of stone. The rope is endless, so that the
full boxos travel at one side of the supports and the
empties return at the other, and the pendants by
which the boxes are hung are specially formed to allow
of their passing the points of support, which they do
with perfect ease. This line crosses the country
boldly as an ordinary telegraph would, and from its
cheapness, the rapidity with which it can be con-
structed, and the ease with which it can be moved, it
seems probable the method will be found of consider-
able use in the development of the resources of new
countries as a kind of precursor to the railway system.
A HAT AND COAT CONTRACTOR.—Every gentle-
. .. . .

;Zorn, or in whose house a fire originates, whether acci-
dentally or not, shall be decapitated, without any appeal."
I Ise man has been already beheaded under the statute.
Few large fires occur In Japan in which some lives are not
sacrificed.
A SUBSTANTIAL ADVERTISEMENT.—During the
whole of Thursday, in last week, tickets were distribu-
ted in the streets of Paris to the public, announcing
a gratis distribution of broth to all corners at 9S,
Boulevard Hausmann, Paris. As may be supposed a
great number of persons availed themselves of the
permission, and during the day 1,200 litres of bullion
had been supplied, and was considered of good quality,
being made from a new extract of meat, which the
proprietor of the establishment desires to bring into
general use.
To TIIE SPECULATIVE IN ENGLAND.—Many
speculations have at various times been brought for-
ward under the guise of investments, but now the
Prospectus is issued of a project is hich is avowed to
be a purely speculative venture. It is unique in other
respects, and has for its object the recovery of Spanish
treasure ships sunk in the harbour of Vigo by the
English and Dutch fleet, in 1702. It seems that. under
the powers granted by a concession from the Spanish
authorities, efforts have already been made for this
purpose, and the position of nine of the ships ascer-
tained. Colonel Gowen, who raised the war ships and
other vessels snnk in the harbour of Sebastopol, has
recently visited Vigo, and reports that the galleons
discovered can be more easily raised than those with
which he formerly dealt. It is proposed to raise
1:25,000 by debentures of £5 each, for the purpose of
carrying on the necessary operations, the debenture to
be repaid at the rate of 1.110, with interest at 10 per
cent., and, in addition, each debenture to be entitled
to one share of I:5 of the capital by way of bonus.
The Spanish Government appears to have stipulated
for 25 per cent, of the amount recovered. The title
selected is the "Galleon Treasure Venture (Limited)."
The Secretary is Mr. Adams, at the Offices, Corner
of Lothbury and Moorgate Street, London.
DREADFUL DEATH AT BOLTON.—OR S'ltUrday
morning a man named Baxter was discovered to be
dead, having met his fate under most appalling cir-
cumstances. Deceased and his son were ladder-makers,
and worked tegether in a cellar. As the latter reached
the place early on Saturday morning, he saw through
the window that it was on tire. Being aware that his
father sometimes passed the night on a bed of shavings
in this wretched hovel, he hastened inside, anti was
horror-struck at the spectacle before him. In a kneel-
ing position, with the face turned to the wall, was the
lifeless body of his father, his trowsers, stockings, and
clogs burnt off, and the lower parts of his body charred
to a cinder. On the previous night deceased left a
beerhouse in a state of intoxication, and went to the
cellar, where by some accident he set tire to the shav-
ings. and becoming suffocated, perished in a state of
helpless drunkenness.
ARSE N ICAL PLAYTHINGS.—At the last meeting
IA the Pharmaceutical Society, Professor Atttield
said : —" I recently sat watching the pretty play id
two children in whom I have special interest. The
one—a boy about two years old—was charmed with
the movements of a toy bird suspended by an elastic
thread • the other—a baby girl—equally delighted with
a simple cotton reel. Each testified joy by suddenly
stuffing the plaything into its month. But the wings
of the bird were coloured green, so was the label on
the reel. The articles were, therefore, quickly taken
from the children, subsequently analysed, and found
to contain arsenic. Now, this statement need not
alarm anyone. Arsenical paperhangings, paints,
artificial flowers and birdies, and even arsenical labels,
are all useful and pretty in their way. These green
piginentfi or powders—green dyes are harmless--like
Blimp knives, needles, and scissors, have their ap-
pointed place. But they must be kept out of the
mouths of children."
CARRIED WITHOUT A DIVISION.—A Dinner was
lately given at tine of the great hotels, to bring the
Australian preserved meat into notice. If, by the
introductioninto England of these provisions, which
' seem to be moderate in price, some of those amongst us
who now seldom, if ever, taste animal food, can get a
good nourishing meal, everyone must wish success to
such a meritorious case of Dish-establishment. —Punch.
LONDON TO BRIGHTON BY VELOCIPEDE.—Oft
Wednesday in last week, Mr. John Mayall, jun.,
son of the well-known photographer, accomplished
the journey from London to Brighton on one of the
new two-wheel velocipedes. He was accompanied by
two friends, Mr. Spencer and Mr. Turner, also on
velocipedes. They had a preliminary run round
Trafalgar-square, and then started ott at the rate of
eight miles an hour on roads which proved to be
generally good, but against a very strong wind all the
way. They kept pretty well together SS far as
Crawley (30 miles), after which Mr. Mayall took a
decided lead, and arrived in Brighton in time anti in
good condition for dinner, and the second part of
Ruhe's concert at the Grand HalL l'art of the
journey—down hill from Clayton to Brighton—was
run at the speed of one mile in four minutes.
VERY ROMANTIC !—The following story, which
will furnish a pretty little illustration for the compilers
of stage anecdotes happened at one of the minor
theatres of Paris. One night the leading star of the
place—a young lady who played all the principal
characters—after her last scene, saw a modest two-sou
bouquet of violets fall at her feet. She had the gentle
tact to take it up graciously, and for several successive
evenings a similar tribute WAS offered her. On inquiry
she learnt that this gallantry came from a boy of four-
teen, an assiduous frequenter of the upper gallery, who
had squeezed the price of his offerings out of his very
small savings. The =trier, a kind-hearted girl, was
touched by the affection of her modest adorer, and got
one of the ligurantes to hunt him out and bring him
to her. The enamoured youth was standing behind
the scenes when the lady of his dreams rushed off the
stage. With a cry he threw himself upon her, much to
the astonishment of the tystander Was be mad?

No; he had seen a tongue of flame creeping round the
gauze robe of the actress, and was trying with all his
might to put out the fire. He succeeded so well
that the girl escaped unhurt, but the courageous
youth was conveyed to the nearest hospital fearfully
burnt.
THE MARQUIS OF BUTE AND THE POPE.—
The Tablet says :
Lord Bute had the honour to he admitted to a private
audience by the Pope on the 9th instant. on Ash-Wednesday
he received the ashes from the hand of his Holiness in the
Sextine Chapel, and on the following day was permitted, by
a special favour, to hear the Pope's Mass in the private
oratory of the Vatican, on which occasion the Sovereign
Pontiff gave him the sacraments of confirmation and the
holy eucharist Lord Bute having made an offering Of £l2OO
to the Peter's Pence Fund, Pius IX. presented him with a
reliquary of great value, which is described in a letter from
Rome as "a truly loyal gilt"
A PAINFUL CASE—At Nottingham, Mr. Dun-
nington, formerly a member of the town council and
of the board of guardians, has been charged before
the sitting magistrates with having violently assaulted
his wife on the previous Saturday evening, The de-
fendant went home drunk, and struck his wife several
violent blows on the head, rendering her insensible.
He afterwards kicked over the tea-table, at which his
children were partaking of that meal, and used very
had language. The bench considered the case an
aggravated one, and sentenced the defendant to two
months' imprisonment with hard labour, without the
option of paying a line—at the expiration of that
term to find sureties to keep the peace for six months
longer.
COUNTY COURT PROcEEDINGS.—A short mea-
sure has been prepared by Mr. Norwood, Mr. Akroyd,
and Mr. Mundella, for facilitating proceedings in the
county courts. It simply provides that actions for goods
sold and on bills of exchange may be brought in the dis-
trict where the plaintiff carries on business, and extends
to county courts the Bills of Exchange Act, 1855, in all
cases in which the sum mentioned in the bill or note
exceeds, ti in amount, and is not payable by instal-
ments. Judgment may be had in default after personal
service in certain cases.
SOLDIERS FOR SCHOOLMASTERS.—Musters for
Preparatory Schools in Russia are to be selected from
the ranks of the Russian Army. Of course it is ex-
pected that they will teach the young idea how to
shoot.--Punch.
SEDAN CHAIRS.—The France says that sedan
chairs are coming into use again in Paris. Four of
them have been seen in the old faubourg. One was
observed at the hotel of the Princess she Metternich,
a second at that ~f Madame de In Rocha, .ucault-
Risaccia, a third of the Princess de is Tremouille, and
the fourth of the Marquise she Fancenes. tip to this
time the chairs in question have only been used for
going to church and for short morning visits. A
special toilet has been invented for this sort of convey-
ance, consisting of a black mantilla trimmed with
guipure, and the costume is called a "sortie d'
43‘lase.'

„
man who comes into dinner has his hat and greatcoat
respectfully taken from him by one of my assistants,
ticketed, and placed on the oak pegs which form part
of my moveable stock in trade. He receives a dupli-
cate ivory ticket. At the conclusion of the dinner his
hat and coat are cautiously returned to him on the
delivery of the ticket. No charge whatever is made
for the accommodation. I find by careful study that, if
it is left entirely to the generosity of gentlemen to give
what they like, the average amount so given, take one
with another, at a publio dinner, for the care of a hat
or coat, amounts to eighteenpence per head. If I were
to charge this for the service, they would complain. If
they were forced to pay a &tea sum before dinner,
sixpence would look dear ; but r find eighteenpence so
accurately represents the appeal to the generosity of
gentlemen after dinner, that I can tell to a very close
shave if my assistants rob me. Shillings preponderate
of course; but the half-crowns tell up. About one
person and a half give shillings to one who gives a half-
crown, and that allows for one or two here and there
who meanly remark: "No charge? Oh, thanks!”
and sneak off without giving so much as a copper. I
Was at the banquet to Her Majesty's ministers at X.
Thirteen hundred sat down. I took a hundred and
nine pounds bate and coats.—Chambers's Journal.
NOT A BAD IDEA.—A novel form of mutual life
assurance has been proposed among the persons em-
ployed in the banking establishments of New York.
All may join irrespective of health or age, and the
subscription is to be a dollar. When a member dies
the whole of the money in hand is to go to his family,
and a new subscription of a dollar into be made, to go
in like manner to the heirs of the next deceased. The
inequality of the benefit from the fact that the best
lives would be taxed to insure the feeble and infirm
would give the plan a charitable rather than an econo-
mical character, but in that case it would, of course,
relieve many cases of temporary distress.
THE VALENTINE MANIA. The Liverpool
Mercury says that the total number of valentines de-
livered this year in the postal districts of Liverpool
was 115,000. As in former years, an immense number
of 'babies" and dolls were sent as valentines( About
300 objectionable articles, such as terl herrints, black
puddings' and rats, were also sent; but these were, by
order of the Post-office authorities, stopped and de-
stroyed. One gentleman was favoured with a night-
cap, which was superscribed, "To—, a sleepy-headed
gentleman," eltc. About 45.000 valentines were posted
at the Birmingham office and at its sub-offices. Of
these about 28,000 were for delivery in the town and
rural districts, and 17,000 for other towns. A corres-
ponding number was received from other towns for de-
litery in Birmingham, making the number delivered
coequal with the number posted. Birmingham being
a "forward" office, about 35,000 valentines were re-
ceived there from other towns to be sorted and again
dispatched; making the total number of valentines
dealt with at the Birmingham office 97,000. The
valentines which passed through the Leeds Post-office
numbered nearly 55,000, of which 20,000 were de-
livered in the town.

EPITOME OF NEWS,

BRITISH AND FOREIGN.

The Great Northern and Midland Railway Com.
',allies have Fignite,l their fotention of titaTritinuiiig t pa)-
. . he .

went of church ratel in emr.equeune of the passala of tlie
Compulsory Chdrch Rates Abolition Act, 1868.
A fanner livingne•Ar Sheffield has been sent to prison
for three weeks for having sold a diseamed cow for human
food.

Mr. Mitchell is about to publish a work entitled
The Highlanders of Scotland," containing portraits inns-
trative of the prtucipal clans and the retainers of the Royal
Household at Balmoral.

A Boston (U.S.) paper states that a man in that
locality is riding a hog through the streets, as a preparatory
practice to managing a velocipede
The reported convent searilal in Belgium—that of
six Tams having been found haniureil in a cellar—is officially
contradicted

The mail from South Australia brings dates to the
sth of January. The harvest Lad nearly beeu completed.
The average yield was twelve bushaa to the acre. which,
giving a total of 6,000,00 U bushels, pikes had further de-
clined, and wheat was now 48. per bushel and flour s;l2 per
toll

Mr. Catlin, the prairie traveller, lute communicated
to “Truhner's American and Oriental Literary Roc:And " the
curious fact—if it should prove to be a fact—that a great
ricer, "larger thus the Mississippi," flows under the Rocky
Mountains !

"A marriage is on the told* between a danhing
Colonel, formerly of Cavalry, and a fascinating du 'Lowe
Court Journal.

The gold shipments from British Columbia during
the past year am ted to £200,000, being a decrease of
about 8 per cent front those of 1867. The falling off is
attributed to the excessive droucht which plevailed iii
the northern ruining districts, cutting off the usual water
supplies.

The Columbus (Ohio) Journal pays the following
compliment to the hew Indiana senator:—'' harlot Davis
has a voice like a three weeks' fall rain, but Pratt can wash
him high and dry with one squirt.
In the Court of Common Pleas, Mr. Morrison, the
member for Plymouth, brought an action against a printer
of that town for a libellous squib published oaring the elec-
tion. The printer, who avowed his ignorant, of the author's
name, withdrew all imputations on Mr. Morrison, and a
verdict was taken for CM. by consent.

The Sporting Gazette says that the Turf is about to
receive all accession from the highest ranks of no ciety. An
illustrious personage, whose love of racing Is well known
intends to keep a few horses in training; and, aho the well,
known colours of a noble duke, which swept all before him
at a former period, will re-appear during the present
season.

The chestnut-tree in the garden of the Tuileries, in
Paris, called Le ingt Mars, has this year anticipated, by
more than a month, the usual time for putting forth its
blossoms, as several are already in Mil bloom.

An actor recently had a benefit at the Salt Lake
Theatre, at which the receipts consisted principally of coru
in the tar, sweet potatoes, white mice, young pigs, and 200
axe handles.
A celebrated actress has refused to fulfil an engage-
ment at the Brussels theatre in consequence of an epidemic
mcarlet fever, in that town, which attacks women especially.
A French court of law will be called upon to say whether the
excuse is sufficient.
Professor Fawcett, M.P., gave a lecture, at Brighton,
on Saturday evening, on national education. Ile said that
when the question of the Irish Church had been settled then
. .

..
national etlucation would he the great question of the day.
In his place lathe House of Commons he intended to
.. .

-----
oppose, to resolutely all he could, any proposition to levy 1111
educational rate, unless that proposition was accompanied
by another giving power to local authorities to compel the
attendance of neglected children at school.

Mr. Ralph Barnes, the Bishop of Exeter's secretary,
whose death has been reported this week, was the oldest
practising lawyer in England. lie was admitted as a solisitor
in 1602. lie held the office of clerk to the cathedral chapter
of Exeter for more than sixty years, as well as the Mikes of
I, shop's secretary and deputy-registrar of the diocese of
Eater from the time of Bishop Philipotts's appointment in
Itiral. Up to within ten days of Ida death he attended regu-
larly at his otliee in Exeter, where he was in practice for
sixty-seven years.

A fire broke out on Monday night in the shop of a
dealer in paraffin oil at Manchester. Mrs. Milton, wife of
the proprietor, and her son , who conducted the business)
lost their lives.

A physician writes to the Dublin Journal of Medi-
cine in support of the old notion that people sleep much
better with their heads to the north. He has tried the
experiment in the case of sick persons with marked effect,
and insists that there are known to exist great electiicai
currents, always crossing in one direction around the earth,
and that our nervous systems are in some mysterious way
connected with this electrical agent.
There has been a race across the Atlantic from New
York to Liverpool between two mail steamers, the City of
Patric !of the Inman line, and the Rtaria of the Cunard)
The former arrived first. Great excitement with regard to
the issue of the race prevailed in Liverpool, and many bets
are said to have been made.

Hippophagy does not appear to be making much
progress in France, notwithstanding the exertions of the
authorities to push the sale of horseflesh. The poor people
do not believe in the fancy accounts got up by medical non.
eaters of the nutritious qualities of the animal, and still
prefer their beef or mutton, at whatever price it may be
Statistics just published show that the amount of horse-
flesh sold for human food throughout the wile I of France
does not exceed four tons per day, which about the
thirtieth part of the supply.
. -

• • -
By an overwhelming majority the House of Repre
sentatives at Washington has accepted the Senate's cow
stitutional amendment doing away with all differences of
colour in regard to the suffrage.

A terrible calamity is reported from Triestv, The
Austrian frigate Raderzki, has been blown up near Lissa.
Three hundred lives were lost, and only twenty saved.
The whole sum charged on account of the return of
Lord Ronald Cower, as fueinber for the county of auther
land, amounts to only .37 In. 3d.

•
A ve,sid, which afterwards proved to he a French
or Prussian schooner, was wrecked on the Godwins on Sun-
day night. The greater portion of the crew reached Leal,
on Monday morning, in their own boats. One man was re-
ported to be left in the rigging. The Ramegate lifeboat went
out, but when it reached the vessel the nian had disappeared.
lie is supposed to have stropped from the rigging, and to lost
his llfe.

A young rascal it Farmington, Me., poured water
into the letter-box at the post-office one night recently.
In the morning the letters were frozen into a solid mass.
An influential meeting was held at Leamington on
Tuesday to consider the best steps for suppressing the evils
of the vagrancy system. The speakers laid great stress on
the necessity of inducing the public to doist from indiscrimi-
nate alnugiving, which was deemed to be at the root of rnen-
ilieancY- The meeting utinniinously resolved to establish a
Nlendicity Society on the principle of a similar society exist-
ing at Blackheath.
A meeting of the West Suffolk Chamber of Agricul
tore has been held, to consider the desirableness of starting
the beetroot sugar manufacture in that district.
In a case heard at the Bristol county court the
other day, a witness was called who objected to be sworn.
On being asked by the court what his religious denomina-
tion was, he said he was a member of an American sect
called the Christos Adelphos." its believed he was the
only one of the denomination in England. 00 assuring the
court that he conscientiously objected to taking an oath, lie
was allowed to give his evidence without doing so
A somewhat singular case of child murder was in-
vestigated in London on Tuesday. A woman named Baker,
who, although young, appears to have been frequently in
prison for acts of dishonesty, was sentenced, on the hind of
December, to live years' penal servitude She had an Infant,
four months old, which was not separated from her. On
Monday the child was found to be dead, and on being ques-
tioned the prisoner mid she had intentionally suffocated it
by pressing it to her breast. A poge-mortem showed that the
cause id death was suffocation. A verdict of wilful murder
was returned.
The German journals state that Colonel Elwing,
the Russian Military Governor of Volltynia, has hanged him-
self at Gitimir. The suicide is attributed to the accidental
Ira of 5,000 roubles tann belonging to the public
treasury

Wisconsin paid last year 10 dollars bounty for each
of 1,231 wild cats, 194 lynxes, and 241 wolves.
"A human skeleton, presumed to be the remains of
the Rev. Samuel Bromley ,who was suddenly missed about
twelve months since', was found, on the let instant, in a
blind gully leading into Pyramul.Creek, on the Mores."—
Sydney Herald, Dec. 31.
During the visit of Wombwell's menagerie to
Oxford, a sweep named Hathaway was teasing the lioness
and her cults, whtn the mother sprang to the front, thrust
one of her huge paws beneath the horizontal bar, and
caught Hathaway, tearing the flesh off his arm, and biting
off his finger.
The following resolution was passed by the Exe-
cutive Committee of the Reform League meeting at Man-
chester, on the 19th inst.:—'' That the best thanks of this
meeting be presented to Sir. Taylor, 11.1'., for the action
taken by him in favour of the old English custom of payment
of member."
It is estimated that Sir Arthur Guinness, who has
just been unseated at Dublin, spent from first to last in the
election contest about £30,000.
At Cashel, on Saturday, Baron Fitzgerald pro-
nounced Mr. O'Beirne guilty of bribery personally and by
agents, and unseated him. The petitioner, Mr. Munster, he
also declared guilty of bribery by his agents.
A surgeon dentist, carrying on his business in Not-
tingham, has recovered £5OO damages from the Great
Northern Railway Company, for mmpensatim for injuries
sustained while travelling from Grantham to Nottingham.
It was admitted that the plaintiff was injured, and that his
eyesight was impaired by the accident The plaintiff, in his
declaration, laid his damages at £2,000.
- It is stated that the Prince of Wales has taken for
three years the Duke of Devonshire's villa, at Chiswick, on
the loop line of the South-Western Railway.
A good deal of astonishment was caused the other
day by the discovery that a girl under fourteen years of age
had been Imprisoned in London for a supposed debt. It
turned out that the attorney in the case assumed the girl,
whom he had never seen, to be of age ; and the arrest was,
therefore, a niistake. From what Mr. Bruce said on Tuesday
night in the Home of commons, however, it would seem that
there was nothing really illegal in the proceedings. Accord-
to the text-books an infant may not only Inc arrested on a
writ of ,pies ad ratirjaciendust, lint may be outlawed if
above the age of twelve. or even under that age if a female.
A strong feeling has been aroused amongst the
working officers of the navy by Mr. Childers's recent ap-
pointment nf a sinecure visitor and governor to Greenwich
Hospital, with a salary of £1,200, year, at a moon-nit when
mthenchnients are being severely carried out in the lower
branches of the service. It is worth notice that on slag 25,
1885, Mr. Childers said in the House of Commons, He
hoped the House would resist the attempt to retain sinecures
at Greenwich. and that the illices if governor and lieutenant-
governor would not be maintained."
The Empress of Austria appeared at her last State
ball at Vienna in a dress composed of the green and golden
wings of South American seorabeii, sewn with gold thread on
a tiasue of white silk. A splendid milt of emeralds and
diamonds completed this gorgeous costume, which marvel-
loudy Bet off her extraordinary beauty. The wings of the
reoraberi remould° those of the Indian beetle 40 frequently
employed by Indian embroiderers for the decoration of their
gold tissues, but they am of a lighter green, and less bronzed.
After the return of the French troops from Mexico, quanti-
ties of these bright-winged insects were to he seen In the
windows of curiosity shops.
A St. Potershurg letter says :—"The fct.ridi Pattica
Is raging here with more intensity than ever, provoking fits
of enthusiasm amongst those who have obtained subscrip-
tions and fita of annoyance amongst those who have not. A
box for the second representation was paid 800 roubles for
E. 128 , and an arm-chair in the twelfth row, 150 rouldes
E 231. The tickets of a concert where the diva song only
one short cavatina were bonght up in. few hours at ex-
travagant prices, and the rectapte anumited to 26,040 fr.
The Vicksburg Sentinel states that Dr. Peters, who
killed General Van Dorn, has recently been united in the
holy bonds of matrimony with his former wife, from whom.
ho was divorced in consequence other intimacy. as claimed,
with General Van Dorn. Mies Peters, his daughter, has, in
consequence, renounces, her design of imooming a nun.
Tine yield of tine precious metals in the 'United
States during 18601, estimated at 66.500,000 dole. California
produced the largest amount, 20,000,000 dots., and after it
come Nevada, 18,000,000 dots. •' Montana, 12,000,000 dote,:
Idaho, 6,000,000 dub.; Oregon, 5.000,000 dol. and Colorado,
4,000,003. Washington, New Mexico, and Arizona territories
produced smaller amounts. The yield is regarded as sta-
tionary, with the prospect that the opening of the Pacific
Railwa4 which runs through several of the gold and silver
regions will have a tend °increase it.