The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1876-04-01 00:00:00

atisattantous

HOME, FOREIGN, AND COLONIAL.

.

A NEW TEST.—Aunt (in alarm). "Surely
you've eaten enough, haven't you, Tommy ?"—Tommy
(in doubt). " F-f-f-feel me !"—Punch.

PEERAGE CLAIMS. —A petition was deposited
on Thursday last at the Home Office on behalf of Lady
Bertha! Rawdon Hastings), the wife of
;Captain Wykeham Clifton,late of the Rifle Brigade,
!for presentation to the Queen, praying that the
!abeyance on the Grey del Ruthyn barony (which ap-
pears to be vested in the Earl of Loudoun, as repre-
senting his late mother, Lady Bertha's eldest sister,
herself, and her younger sisters of the whole and half
blood) may be terminated in Lady Bertha ClifV_t)'s
favour. The peerage was created in 1324 in the person
of Roger de Grey, and it eventually devolved upon the
late Marquis of Hastings, upon whose death, without
issue, in 1868, the Grey de Ruthyn, the Botreaux, the
Hungerford, the De Moleyne, and the Hastings
har,,nies fell into abeyance. In November, 1871, her
Majesty terminated the abeyance of the four latter
baronies in favour of the petitioner's elder sister, the
late CounteFs of Loudoun, and it is under one of these
titles that the present Earl, who has recently attained
his majority, will sit in the House of Lords. Mr,
Edward Walmitley appears as Parliamentary agent
for the petitioner, whose claim, it is stated, has re-
ceived the sanction of the Earl, the senior representa-
tive of the family.—The Times.

A FRUITLESS VISIT.—Mrs. Malaprop has
suffered a great disappointment. Hearing of "the
fall in the price of silver," she thought it was a favour-
able opportunity to buy what she had long wanted—
a few additional forks and spoons. Her expectations
of a great bargain were rudely dashed to the ground
when she reached the silversmith's shop.—Punch.

FEARFUL ACCIDENT.—A fearful accident oc•
curred on Tuesday morning on the Glasgow and
South-Western Railway, near Dreghorn, in Ayrshire.
The boiler of the locomotive of a workmen's train,
which leaves Kilmarnock between five and six o'clock,
burst with a terrible noise, which was heard for miles
around. The effects were mo.,:t disastrous. The loco-
motive was shot into the air, while the tender, passing
underneath it, wheeled on beyond Dreghern station.
A third-class carriage, in which some of the workmen
were accommodated, was broken to pieces, but the
Van, keeping to the line, ran on after the tender. The
engine•driver, the fireman, and the foreman engineer
at Irvine were instantaneously killed, and nine other
men were injuted, two of them so seriously that their
recovery is despaired of.

FAST FLOWERS. - " Mad-cap" Violets,
Punch..
THE FASHIONS.—The spring fas‘hions have
been very much retarded by the stormy state of the
weather (says the Court Journal). The flowers and
plumes prepared,for headdresses have become drugs in
the market, as the summer colours will be immediately
in demand. The costly and appropriate costumes worn
at Her Majesty's recent Drawing-room have in con-
sequence become a comparatively dead type in the
hands of the copyist. The interval will make the
next crusade in dress all the more distinct, and the
prosp9ct is that India will largely throw cast into the
ball-room, if not into the street. The sunshine of our
brightest days will favour the loyal mania for Eastern
display. The effect on the trade and commerce of
India and Japan will soon manifest itself in the en-
hanced value of the recently depressed rupee as—

"Silver bells
And cockle shells,
And pyramids all in a row,"
will load the flowing dependencies of "the gems of
nature," instead of tucks and flounces.
FREE LECTURES TO JEWISH WORKING MEN.—
In London on Sunday evening Dr. Richardson delivered
a lecture on " The Mosaic Sanitary Code and its
influence on the vitality of the Jewiih Race" to Jewish
working men and their families in the Jews' Infant
School, (Jommercial-street. Sir B. Ellice occupied the
chair. The lecturer remarked that many years ago,
while engaged in an investigation into the cause and
nature of the cholera epidemic, a statement was made
that no Jew had died from cholera. The statement,
though not strictly correct, was yet so near the truth
that it struck his attention and that of others who
were engaged insanitary work. This he said, led him
to the study of the subject of the vitality of the Jews,
and the result of his research had shown that both on
the Continent and in this country Jews possessed a
• higher vitality than did the general community by
whom they were surrounded. Tracing the causes for
this greater longevity, the lecturer said he coitld not
attach too mtioh importance to tie sanitary laws that
obtained amongat the Jeivii instancing thpsei megard
e) diet-, cleanliness, altd abstinence from' strottg' drink.
In fact, the Decalogue from beginning to end was one
sanitary lesson, teaching them to subdue the passions
which tormented the brain and distressed the spirit.
The lecture gave evident delight to the audience, who
manifested their appreciation hp frequent applause.

A CHANGE OF NAME FORWRSTON THE WALKER.
—For " PAYSON " read "FACE ON."—Punch:

NOTHING NEW.—The following note, from,
the Naval Chronicle for 1800, has a curious interest at
the present time. It occurs in the notice of the desth
of Admiral George Vandeput, and refers to the period
of his commanding the Asia, of sixty-four guns, on
the North American station, 1774-1777.---" Daring
the time this ship was stationed off New York it very
narrowly escaped (through the sagacity of Captain
Vandeput himself) being blown up, in consequence of
an insidious, though, it must be owned; very in-
genious American contrivance A quantity of gufi-
'Powder was put on board a Biotin vessel, which is said
to(bave purposely thrown herself in the way of one of
the Asia's tenders. In One Of the .barrels was an
- alarm, or piece of clock-work, which, being wound up,
Ivi)atrea
do niastant to. its being
period,
and
dt
bi nytomtehaen
sb s.ro
fr e4l ,
mw
uo us
kl de
tg ol
lock
attached to it, firing the gunpowder which surrounded
it, would, on being taken
•into the magazine of the
Asia, have set fire to the whole store, a:,cl thereby.
blown lip the vessel. The whole scheme was, however,"
happily frustrated by the prudence of Captain Vande-
-nit, and the terrors of one of the American prisoners
rho was on board, and in the_secret.'N. 0' '
.: .
A SCENE IN A CHURCH ! ---A very pamnu scene
occurred in Bucks township, Ohio, a few Sundays ago.
It seems from the account given of the affair by the i
Dover Reporter that the Church has lately been under-
going repair. Among other improvements a new coat
of paint was placed on the pews, followed by a coat 0V
varnieh ; the result was most pleasing to the eye, buiP"
unfortunately the varnish had been applied so late in
The week that it had not time t t become hard befortr
Inday, when the congregation floclted to their seats.l
apparent inconvenience was suffered until the
clergyman was about to deliver the benediction; when
1
~the congregation were horrified to find that they were
,nuable to stand up— they were, in fact, glues or
rather varnished, to their sears. Their - spaittiodie
efforts to rise wet e most distressing to witness—in vain
did the clergyman exhort them from the- Pfilpit to
getignatim. Thew wen. NizepA a kiad of Panic--
all the more frightful because t ey wea to the moment
powerless; at last, by what seemed to be a simulta-
neous and Herculean jerk, they managed to tear them-
selves from their sittings; but at what a sacrifice ! The
pews were literally covered with Sunday apparel.
Shreds of silk, lawn, calico, broadcloth, and cassincers
were left as souvenirs of the terality of varnish used
in beautifying that church, and the hapless congrega-
tion, rushing from the doors, hurried home with an ex-
pression on their faces as though their hearts were even
more severely rent than their garments.

P'
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