The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1876-10-28 00:00:00

IVE STOURBRIDGE OBSERVER

All the Australian Meat in the Kingdom has been ordered
to be purchased by the Government, with a view to supply-
ing the messes of the Household Cavalry and Infantry with
food whilst their respective regiments are on their line of
march.

The shares of the Chelsea Bun Company (Limited), have
fallen i to i.
The Bears at the Z lological Gardens, Regent's Park, have
been desired to consider themselves "under arrest."

Mr. John Bright has recently been appointed a sergeant in
the Volunteer Corps, lately raised at the instigation of Sir
Thomas Chambers, Q C., the Common Serjaant.
The Lord Mayor's Trumpeters have been armed with new
bugles; the Sword-bear,r has had his weapon sharpened,
and the Common Crier hoe ordered his Mace to be loaded
with lead. The corps of Ancient Men in Armour isteing re-
organised.

Buckingham Pa'lee. Temple Bar, the Duke of York's
Column, ard the Marb:e Arcl are immediately to be nip-
plied with 81-ton wins.

And lastly Mr. Punch has given Toby Instructions to hold
85, Fleet-street to tne bitter end—witti a pop-gun.

THE COLORADO BEETLE.—Aceording to Pro-
fessor Sir Wyville Thomson, that terrible insect, the
Colorado beetle, which has several times half ruined
agriculturalists and farmers in the United States and
Canada, will prove a comparatively harmless creature
in Great Britain, for, so far 38 he had been able to
observe or t.) learn, our climate will prove a fatal
obstacle to its propagation in our midst. Any beetle,
therefore, now on his way to the English coast, if he
has any regard for his family, will return at once.—
Judy.
CONSUMPTION OF HORSE FLESH IN PARIS.—
The French committee for promoting the consumption
of horse flesh has issued the following note :—" Daring
the summer six months of the present year the
butchers' establiehmente for the sale of horse flesh have
delivered for consumptien 3,869 horses, 193 asses, and
15 mules, which yielded 747,610 kilos (211 b. each) net
of meat, without taking into account the liver, heart,
tongue, , which are used like those of oxen. Accord-
ing to these figures the consumption of this article of
food is extending in the capital ; and the same condi.
tion applies to the large 'towns in the provinces.'.
GIRTON CJLLEGE.—MiS3 Shirreff writes to
The Times:—" May I beg of you the insertion of the
enclosed letter, written under the followihg touch-
ing circumstances. The eldest daughter of the
writer, Edith Taylor, a girl of unusual promise, both
as to intellect and character, was to have entered
Girton Callege this term, when she would have
attained the requisite age of eighteen. But during a
tour in Switzerland this summer with her father and
mother she was attacked by typhoid fever and died
at Geneva after a few days' illness." The following is
the letter referred to :
A ton llowant, Tetsworth, Oxon, Oct. 10, 1876.

"My dear Miss Shlrreff,—To you, as one of the members
of the Executive Committee of Girton College and a friend of
our late daughter Edith and ourselves, I send the enclosed
cheque for £l,OOO, which I shall thank you much to give to
the treasurer of the building fund of the College. It was the
wish of my daughter to enter Girton as a student this term,
and, knowing the great interest she took in the Colage and
her sincere desire for its success, Mrs. Taylor and myself feel
that we cannot better show our respect and love for her
memory than in making this 'ln Xlemoriam 'gift to its funds.
In doing this I feel that I am carrying out one of the earnest
wishes of my daughter to help forward the cause of women
and advance their higher education.—With sincere regards,
believe me, ever yours faithfully, THOMAS TAILon.
AN IMPERIAL AUTHOR.—It IS stated that the
Emperor of Brazil is about to publish an important
book, altogether the work of his own hand. It will be
entitled •"Recordacoes da Minba Viagem," and will
treat largely and in detail of the experiences of the
Imperial traveller. The work will.be printed in Paris,
and the text will be in Portuguese • but, it is said, the
Emperor has already ordered to b made translations
in French, English, and German. The Emperor, it is
added, has been in the habit during his travels of taking
copious notes with respect to his impressions on
manners, customs, and cowitries, and he has now put
them into shape, and will issue them in a book form.
It is well known that the Emperor of Brazil is a man
of excellent education, a great observer, and a fast
friend of literature and literary men. When in
Portugal, various writers of note who visited him, and
with whom he conversed amiliarly, remarked the inti-
mate knowledge he displayed of some of their works,
and the apt remarks he made upon them. His book
will, n o doubt, be read with great interest, for certainly it is
very rarely that a writer born in the purple enters the
literary arena so frankly, and under such good auspices
of producing a readable and notable book.—Athencrunt.
THE OLD SfYLE AND THE NEW.—In military
circles, it has lately been rumoured that many of the
movements of the English soldiers, both in the cavalry
and infantry, are in future to be carried on by
whistling, signs, and signals, instead of by word of
command. This must be unpopula,r among the men;
and if an attempt is made to upset a system which has
so often led British soldiers to victory, it is easy to
predict that the signal system will meet with signal
failure.—Judy.
THE " CLAIMANT 2' IN PRISON.—It is under-
stood that the reason why the "Claimant "has lost his
chance of early release from penal servitude is that he
committed the first act of insubordination by refusing
to make up his bed—a thing he did with unusual exact-
ness generally. His punishment on the refusal was
ex:remely slight, but he was ordered to do some work
In the yard of the prison, work of a very easy kind.'
To this he objected, and said he would see the governor
and officials far enough before he would submit to
such treatment. He has been, in consequence, treated
with extra severity.

THE RED CROSS S ORGEONS.--0010/lel Loyd
Lindsay writes to the Daily News as follows :
" have founeso much concurrent testimony to the
great service performed by the English surgeons of the Red
Cross Society attached to the headquarters of the Turkish
army before Alexinatz, that I am induced to ask you to men-
tion their names, which are as follows :—Dr. Leslie, Mr.
Pitts, Mr Barker, and Mr. White. Dr. Leslie writes to me
from Alexinatz that he and his colleagues have tended to
more than 2,000 wounded during the three days' fighting at
the beginning of the month; that they were engaged from
Thursday till Sunday, day and night, with only short intervals
of rest, and that the estimation in which they are held by all
parties in the camp stands very high. Be adds that the
camp has proved a very healthy place.—National Society
for Aid to the Sick and Wounded, Turco-Servian Relief,
Oct. `.3."

RUSTIC INNOCENCE.—OId Countryman (to
Artist, who wants him to sit) :—"ls it very hard
work, master ?"—Artist : "Hard work! I should
think not! Besides, I'll give you sixpence an hour."
—Old Countryman "I'd rayther not • have the
money, master, 'cos my old woman puts it in the
bank; but I'll take it out in beer, it you don't mind."
—Fun.

A MAGIC LIQUID !—Passing round almost a
third part of the world, from Australia to South Africa,
we find that the Kaffir princes before they go out to
war, raise the courage of their princes,
by displaying a
fragment of clothing, the shaft of a upear, a snuff-box,
or any other property of their opponents which they
have been able to procure. The court Shaman has a
magic liquid ready prepared, in which in the presence
of the assembled company he steeps and dissolves some
portion of the captured treasure. The chief has only
to swallow this draught to possess irresistible power
over his antagonist. This explains the fact that a
Kaffir king, whenever he moves to a new hut, has the
old one carefully swept out, and that, as Theophilus
Hahn relates, an entire kraal (village) has been burnt
down, only to prevent the enemy from obtaining any
household implement by means of which to exercise a
spell.—From the Races of Man.

Tint Lung Saamort. —Under this quaint title
and in accordance with the bequest of Sir John Gayer,
a sermon was again preached at St. Katherine Cree, on
Monday (in last week, says the City Press). Sir John
Gayer, merchant and Lord Mayor in the time of
Charles L, and distinguished for his loyalty to that '
unfortunate monarch, during his travelling in Africa,
was wonderfully delivered—ln answer to his earnest
prayer—from a lion, and on his return home corn-
memorated his escape by endowing an annual sermon
In his parish church, accompanied by a distribution of
gifts to the paor. For more than 200 years this sermon
has been preached, and descendants of the Gayer
family are frequently to be seen among the c nagrega-
tion on these occasions. The rector's text was, "He
will regard the prayer of the destitute and not despise
their prayer : this shall he written for the generation
to come "(Pm. cii. 17, 18). Dr. Whittemore showed
how the reasonableness and efficacy of prayer rested
on the great fact of the atonement of Christ, and met,
in this way, some modern and specious objections to
the use of prayer. He also appealed to the records of
the past as furnishing the clear testimony of actual ex-
perience to the value of prayer, instancing among these
the case of Sir John Gayer and his evident desire that
God's regarding his prayer...should be written for the
generations to come.

CUT, NOT PLUCKED !--‘g An Ostrich Farmer,"
home from the Cape, writes to correct a misappre-
hension at the bottom of a late lament of Mr. Punch's
over the cruelty of Ostrich-plucking. It seems that
the eight months' crop of feathers is not pulled out by
the roots, but cut with scissors. Punch loses no time
in recording the correction, in justice to our Ostrich
Farmers. He can understand, as the feathers are
"cut," that they should, "come again."—Puneft.
SINGULAR CASE OF DROWNING AT OXFORD.--
Au inquest was held at Oxford last Saturday, touching
the death of Herr A. Stein, of Pesth, Hungary, aged
about forty-five, who was found drowned in the Cher-
well the previous afternoon. The deceased, who had
stated that he was a friend of Professor Max-Muller,
had resided at St. Aldates for a few weeks, and pro-
ceeded on Saturday, in company with an attendant
named Cox, to the riverside for the purpose of angling,
at about twelve o'clock. They cro,sed to Deep Martin
Island, but became separated in the pursuit of their
pastime by some fifty yards. Cox, having called to
his companion several times without receiving a reply,
went to look for him, hut to his horror found he was
missing. His hat was on the island, and there were
footmarks as though he had slipped into the water.
On obtaining the assistance of one of the University
water bailiffs, the body was diseovered in about six
feet of water three yards from the bank from which he
had been fishing. Sergeant Keen having deposed that
there were no matins of violence on the body, the jury.
returned a verdict of "Found drowned."
YOUNG ANGLERS.—TWO days back, says
Galignani, several lads were seen to enter the main
sewer on the left bank of the Seine at Paris by one of
the barred outlets to the river. A policeman, curious
to know what they were about to do, followed them,
and found them seated on the edge of the turbid cur-
rent fishing for rats with a strong line and hook, the
latter baited with a morsel of bacon partially fried.
When taken to the Commiesary of Police they ex-
plained that they sold the skins of water rats at from
20c. to 30s, each according to size, for manufacturing
into "kid" gloves for ladies. One of them, who was
not fishing, when questioned as to his means of earn-
ing a livelihood, stated thatle was " un fiot " (a wave),
that is to say that in the evening, at one of the theatres,
he passed backward and forward beneath a canvas
painted in shades of blue, to imitate the motion of
waves at sea; but the official detained him for vaga-
bondage, considering the calling in question too vague
to give a living.
THE KHEDIVE AS A GENTLEMAN FARMER.—
The Times' Correspondent at Alexandria remarks :--
In addition to very extensive house property in the
great cities, such as, for instance, almost the entire
aristocratic quarter of Cairo, one-fifth of the whole of
the cultivated land of Egypt he Viceregal property.
Moreover, these 900,000 acres are the beat in the
country. They have always enjoyed an abundance of
water, even when other estates were suffering from
drought, and they are consequently in the best condi-
tion. The Khedive's cotton and the Khedive's grain
have been always good. His sugar has much improved
in quality. There is now no better sugar produced; it
commands the best prices, and those who are most
competent to judge maintain that the vast sugar
plantations and refineries would be a most lucrative
property in the hands of a great commercial company.
The reason why all this fine estate has become
embarrassed is not far to seek. It is notorious that
gentlemen farmers fail to make a profit even when
they look after their own farm, and live within their
incomes. It is not necessary, therefore, to explain the
failure of a gentleman-farmer with a Royal disregard
for economy, a passien for new palaces, a hobby for new
machinery, and engrossing occupations of State which
have obliged him to leave his lands in the hands of
underlings, who have contrived to enrich themselves
without filling the coffers of their master.