The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1879-09-20 00:00:00

SATURDAY, SEPT. 20, 1879.

A VENERABLE RAVEN IN TIE HIGNLANDS.—As Mr.
Macdonald, Calcraggie, was out some days ago, at the
invitation of Mr. Matheson, having a day's shooting
near the Dibidale forest, his attention was attracted by
a black object far away up in the sky, which proved to
be a raven. It was observed at the same that one of

dogs was very intent setting, so much so that it seemed
not to move. It looked as if the raven on the wing

imagined that the dog was dead, and that he might
become a ready prey to an expert bird. If the raven
thought so he was not long till he had something else
in his head ,f or Mr. Macdonald brought him down with
a bang. The bird proved to be one of enormous size,
meaburing from tip to tip four feet six inches, and
having claws almost worthy of an eagle.
STORMS IN AMERICA, —A. great gale burst over the
Southern States on Monday, the let Inst., causing
considerable damage to the crops. At Lewisburg,
Louisiana, the streets were flooded and the wharfs
were destroyed and carried away. In Madisonville
the water rote three feet over the wharf flooding the
front streets, and the lighthouse at the mouth of the
Tiche Junction river W 3.8 washed away. The destruc-
tion of a dozen sugar houses on the coast below Baton
Rouge is also reported. The reports from other parts
of the country are equally gloomy; in some places the
cotton in the lowlands is under water, and all the open
cotton on the hills is on the ground.
FIAT JuaTrrui. RUAT JURYMEN. "Gentlemen,"
said a Kentucky judge to the jury in a murder case,
"Have you agreed upon a verdict?"" We have,", made
answer the foreman, At this moment twelve men in
the audience rose, pulled out their shooting irons, and
covered each man in the box. There was an ominous
silence in the court, broken at length by the voice of
the Judge from behind the desk where he had
dropped :—" Gentlemen, the dignity of the law must
be respected. The first great principle of justice and
jurisprudence must and shall be maintained at all
hazards. Do you find the prisoner at the bar guilty
or not guilty ?', The foreman looked at his fellow.
jurors. They glanced nervously at him. There was a
hurried consultation that lasted less than half a minute,
and then the foreman spoke up like a little man :
"Not guilty, your Honour." And thus did they
emphasize the fundamental principle of jury's pm.
deuce—Canadian Puck.

"OUT OF SIGHT AND OUT OF MlND."—Diatracted
mother. "If you children make such a noise, I shall
go out of my mind."—Young Rip. "Go on, mother;
I'll mind the young 'tins while you're gone."—Pun.
A KNOWING BIRD I—A sagacious hawk daily
accompanies the trains between Mesgrigny and
Romilly near Troyes on the French Eastern Railway.
The small birds in the hedges along the line, frightened
by the noise of the engine, fly out as the train rushes
by.so the wary hawk hovers high above the locomotive,
hidden 'by the steam, and pounces suddenly upon its
prey. If unsuccessful, the hawk returns to its former
position, and travels along at the same pace as the
engine, unmoved by stones flung by the engineers, and
awaiting the next opportunity to catch its dinner. The
bird has been known to haunt the line, according to
the Paris Globe, for fifteen years, and invariably keeps
to the same hunting•ground.
WHO KNOWS ?—Someone wishes to know whether
Novi Bazar, about which the Austrian army have had
so much bother, is a bazaar got up for the benefit of
the Turks. At present it looks as if it had been got
up for the benefit of the 'Austrians, but there is never
any knowing how bazaars will turn out. —Judy.

FATAL COACH ACCIDENT.— OR Saturday afternoon
an accident occurred in connexion with the Loanhead
and Edinburgh coach at Liberton, near Edinburgh.
whereby two of the passengers were fatally injured and
a number of others severely hurt. It appears that the
coach was proceeding along a narrow part of the road,
when the driver drew it up to the side to allow another
vehicle to pass. One of the wheels struck a boulder,
which caused the horses to become restive, and the
coach capsized, the driver and passengers on the top
being thrown off. The driver had his collar-bone-
broken, and two of the passengers were so severely in-
jured from the effects of the fall that they died on
Sunday.
PARIS IN 1879.—" Paris," writes a correspondent of
the Graphic, "is undergoing a carious change, more
and more noticeable every year—it is becoming semi-
Anglicised. The women are fast beginning to leave
off their picturesque caps, and to take to hats and
bonnets. The servants are even trying to avoid wear-
ing caps; on Sunday, but for the generally happy and
holiday look about the people, you might believe
yourself in England, as the shops are nearly all closed,
except in the Rue de Rivoli and some other English
frequented places • there are bastard hansom cabs
on four wheels about the streets, while yesterday I
actually saw a real hansom cab. Moreover, every- :
thing Anglais," and "ii ['Anglaise," even to note
paper, is the rage, and " boule dogues,'' about as like
the real thing as they resemble a French poodle (who
I am glad to say still holds his own), are as common on
the Boulevards as in Seven Dials."
MUSHROOMS GROWING IN COAL-PITS.-At the bot-
tom of Raith Colliery shaft, in Fifeshire, which is
eighty fathoms deep, mushrooms grow to an enormous
size and are very superior. They have been partaken
of cooked and made into ketchup, and suggest the
idea that mushroom growing on a large and profitable
scale may very successfully be adopted "down in the
coal mines." Horses are employed in not a few
underground workings, and their droppings have thus
led to the discovery of mushroom growing in the
bowels of the earth. This edible fungus is found in
perfection all the year round. Think of abundance of
mushrooms being drawn from underground for A
Christmas dinner !—CRYPTOGAMIA. in Land and
Water.

PRINTERS' ERRORS.—A good-natured correspon-
dence has been going on in the columns of the lead-
ing journal of late about printers' errors in the
Prayer Book. Apropos of this (says the Court Jour-
nal), we would note that we have often wondered
while reading the grand "Old Hundredth," if there
was not some mistake about-
" We are bisitock, he deth us feed,
And for his sheep he cloth us take."

A correspondent of Notes and Queries convinces Us
there is. The lines, as our readers know, are a para-
phrase of the sentence "We are his people and the
sheep of his pasture," the rendering of which would
naturally be
"We are his folk, he doth us feed," cto.

The poet without doubt wrote "folk," the printer
blundered, and the error has been perpetuated. The
phrase " Thy people' and sheep of thy pasture,"
occurs in the, 'l9th Psalm (v. 13), and the same poet
renders it ta
"So we thy folk and Pasture sheep ;era
Shall give thee thanks always." 1.
It would be hopeless to attempt to correct the error
at this distant date, when the line, as it were, has
eaten itself into the national mind; but it is worth
pointing out, especially in this the so called "silly
season, when questions other than "burning ones "
come in for a fair share of newspaper attention.
A WONDERFUL MACHINE.—The other night at a
club some Americans were boasting about their in-
ventions, and the wonderful machines to be found in
the States. One of them told of the well-known
mincing machine which, a live pig being introduced
at one end, turned out the animal in sausages at the
other end. An Irishman, who was not going to have
the Yankees riding rough-shod over every other
nation, turned on them, and said, "Bedad, we've got
the same machine in Ireland, only ours is more per-
fect, sure, for if you don't like the sausages, you can
put them back into the machine, and by reversing tho
action they'll come out live pig agin where he went
Asg A am:, TuizTr.. —About the middle of June,
turtle was taken in the lit. John's River, Florida,
with the Spanish coat of arms and the date 1700
engraved upon its back. There was also inscribed
the sentence: "Caught in 1700 by Hernando Gomez,
in the St. Sebastian, and was carried to Matanzas
by Indians, from there to the 'Great Wekiva."
The "Great Wekiva " is the name by which the
St. John's River was formerly known. The turtle
was put back into the river with the added inscrip•
tion : "Eastern Herald, Palatka, Florida, 1879."
THE WET SEASON.—OId Gentleman (on his way to
bed, after several tumblers, tapping the clock-case):
" Glassh unconfly high, eahid'xin' quaray 'f wet we've
had (hic) ! "—Punch. _
• A GIGANTIC PEAR TREE.—There is to be seen at
' East Grinstead, a pear tree, at present laden with
its store of fruit, estimated at ten sacks, this quantity'
being about the average, as in some more productive
seasons it has been known to bear as many as fourteen
sacks. The trunk of the tree measures in diameter
three and a half feet, and its lower branches are
twenty-five feet from the ground. The gathering of
the fruit is by no means an easy task from such a tree.
It is effected by means of a ladder of fifty-four rounds
to each of the outer branches, from whence the fruit is
carefully lowered in baskets to the ground. The owner
(Mr. W. Hinwood), smith and farrier, of Grinstead,
is happy at any time to show to the interested visitor
this valuable and productive tree, which was planted
(a kernel) by an ancestor of the present owner, about
three generations since.
JOHANNISBERG V. CHAIIPAGNE.—In speaking of the
christening of the new German war vessel Gneisenau
a few days ago by the German Minister of Marine.
Admiral von Stoach, the Magdeburg Gazette says that
the German Admiralty has given instructions that
the ceremony of naming new vessels of the German
war navy in future shall no longer he performed with
French champagne as hitherto, but with the sparkling
Schloss Johannisberger wine, called Rheingold. "The
English," it is added, "christen their ships with
various sorts of wine, usually the fiery Spanish variety',
and the Americans, Spaniards, Italians, and French
likewise have no fixed rule. The French do not nse
champagne for the purpose, because it does not appear
to them to lata eufficiently generous or costly, Thei
employ the firance of vineyards of the highest clue.
racter for excellence, and accordingly use sometimes
white, and sometimes red wines."
WAGES AND LABOUR IN THE UNITED STATES.--
There has been a general rise of 4 per cent, among the
miners and workmen of the Reading Coal and Iron
Company, which is one of the largest concerns ill
Pennsylvania, and their example has been followed at
all the collieries in the Schuylkill Valley. The lend'
dlers and iron workers at Dunsville and Pottstown
have also obtained an increase of 10 per cent. A
strike has occurred among the railway employiis of
the St, Louis district, which has resulted in their
getting an increase of 53, a day to their pay, The
Arbitration Board of New York has decided in favour
of a rise of 10 per cent, to the cigar-makers. On the
other hand, the strike of the spinners in Massachusetts
for higher wages has been unsuccessful, the mestere
having been able to obtain as much labour as they'
required, and public) opinion generally having declared
against the conduct of the spinners, who had give°
way to intimidation and violence,
THE MAN WHO WOULD NOT BUY A Gimr.ET.—^" I
should like to sell you a gimlet," said a cara.worn
looking man as he walked into an office the other day"
"We have no use for one," replied the cashier. "Bat
you should always look into the misty future," went on
the fiend demurely, "Next winter you will want to
make holes in your boat heels, so you can get rtV,r.
skates on." "I use club skates—no straps required.
"You may want to screw some boards together Borne
time. The ohl•fashioned method of driving the screws
in with a hammer is pernicious, as it deteriorates th:3,,
tenacity of the fangs of the screw as it were.
"Nothing to-day, sir," "This gimlet acts aa a cork'
screw." 'I don't want it," "it also may be used as,
a tack hammer, a cigar-holder, and a tooth:brush."
don't want it." "It has an eraser, a pen, an inkstand,
a table for compntting compound interest, and a
lunch-box attachment' can't help it- I don't
want it." "I know you don't; you're one of those
men that don't buy a gimlet unless it has a restaurso
and a trip through Europe and an Italian opers'
company attached. You're the kind of man wh?
would% live near an electric light to save a gas bill
And the care-worn man walked out with his motto
plumage on the perpendicular.
A BIG LEAP I—The renowned robber in Bayern),
Eppelein von Gailingen, who flourished in the four
teenth century, was a rival of the celebrated Counts
of Bradenburg, of Nuremberg, all of whom "AO
fonder of stealing than working. As America"
would say, this von Gailingeu was a "big Injun " and
his dauntless feats are made much of. One feat io
, particular is espeolaily recorded. " Nuremberg," sell
a correspondent writing on the legend, is a walla"
city, the moat being about fifty feet deep by eight/
feet wide. The guide pointed out the 'exact spot
tw:perel3l3(Boerl,r
ahvodn
foGartihlieneseecnohmdatdiemehiesevwer
hdieertluifle laera
limb from the Exquisite' agonies of the torture charo.
be 1..
NsuTperheeedreiglbuyeirdege informedenereciomthneedgrmteoeetutnrhedaheth, mrgeronwtchh to
aestroetrchtaueprtjestuoy 0
eci.
0:
athned
the horrible Iron Virgin, Before the day kr,li
for 'aid execution the people clamoured for a pup"n;
exhibition of hire. This being granted, he was brougli;
forth, dressed in his armour, Just as when capture!:
He was the possessor of a wonderful horse, Bia, 0:
Lightning,' said to have been presented to him by "
Satanic Majesty, and to be half horse and half gobik%
When led forth for exhibition, he craved that he niig"
have the pleasure of showing himself to best advent'
see Apon the back of his favourite steed. The fav°4l
beiug granted, with a graceful bound, von Gailinger!
vaulted into the saddle, gave one piercing screanlf
his well-trained Lightning,' which made three boun
ever the heads of the stupid burghers, when he resells°
the moat. One more frightful shriek from his maetets
and at a single leap he cleared the moat ! To this chit
upon the opposite wall can be seen deep and distino'
indentations in the stone of a horse's two hind-feet—,
which proof, of course, is incontestable."—Land an 3
Water.