The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1876-09-30 00:00:00

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ur Felton Corrtspubtiti.

[We deem it right to state that we do not at all Ume3
sidsatify ourselves with our Correspondent's opinions.]

Among the discoveries of modern times that of being
able to foretell storms, will rank as one of the .strangest.
Formerly the probable state of the weather was held
by all intelligent people, though not by many among
the unintelligent, to be peculiarly beyond man's ken,
but science has conquered what was but a few years
since deemed an impregnable stronghold. A return
has just been issued by the Board of Trade respecting
the despatch of weather warnings to various stations
on the coast in the year 1875, and this shows that 76.2
of the warnings issued were justified by subsequent
weather—a remarltably good proportion, seeing that
this branch of meteorological science is still compara-
tively in its infancy. Accompanying the report is a
memorandum which states that the result of the six
years' work will show, it is hoped, that while the office
cannot be expected to be able to give timely warning
of all gales, it has yet been able to give such infer
mation as would, if attended to, have enabled our
coasting seamen to avoid the violence of almost all the
serious storms which have visited our coasts. It can-
not but be seen that such intelligence as the office has
been enabled to give must have saved many lives
during the few years it has been at work, for a great
number have annually been lost close to our shores,
many of these at such a distance that the storm warn-
ings would affect them. The preservation of life in
this manner is a matter to be thankful for, and the
office is to be congratulated on its exertions, in the
majority of cases successful, to forecast the weather.

Imitation is said to be the sincerest form of flattery
and therefore those who form the English and French
company for driving a tunnel under the English Channel
ought to feel rather gratified at the intelligence that it
has been proposed by some pamphleteer at Madrid to
similarly serve the Straits of Gibraltar, thus uniting
Europe with Afxica. Perhaps the idea of the gentle-
man who seriously proposes this is not so much to
formulate a paying speculation as to turn his scheme
to the political advantage of his nation. He suggests
that the tunnel should commence between Tarifa and
Algesirae on the Spanish, and terminate between
Ceuta and Tangiers on the African side, it thus being
proposed to be a little more than a third of the length
of that contemplated between England and France.
As there is in the minds of some a grave question
whether the last-named plan will pay, despite the large
amount of traffic which passes between the two coun-
tries, it is almost a certainty that the Spanish-African
tunnel would not be a great commercial success. The
engineering difficulties are no light inatter, but when
the disorgaeised state of Spain is considered in addi-
tion, it is almost too much to expect that the scheme
will, for very many years at least, exist, except in the
mind of some Niaionary Spainard.
The Thames Embankment has been so often the
source of envy and admiration on the part of foreign
visitors, in addition to being an ornament and boon to
London, that the information that it is to be extended
_ on the Middlesex side of the river from Westminster
to Millbank Penitentiary will be a pleasure to many.
The structure, as well as being a huge monument of
English engineering skill, forms a splendid boulevard
in the heart of a great city and, therefore, affords
the means of obtaining a pleasant walk to many,
who would not otherwise iet the chance for one.
After the heat and bustle of the thoroughfares, the being
joetlid to and fro heedlessly by scores and hundreds
of fellow wayfarers, it is a pleasant relief to stroll on
the Embankment from Blackfriars to Westminster, to
sit upon one of the too few seats whiela stud the way,
or to wander among the gardens so considerately pro-
vided by the Metropolitan Board of Works. There
on a summer's evening may be seen many whose pale
faces, thin forme, and wearied eye betoken the haid
worker, who is glad to snatch a breath of such fresh
air as he can get on the banks of the Thames in the
midst of London, xi the short intervals of his toil.
There also are to be seen children not yet inured to
the hardships of life in a large town, playing
together, heedless of the labour to which they
will be called in the future. Here and there
may be seen an old man, whcs3 life is swiftly
drawing to a close, and who watches with childish
delight the steamers plying their way up and down
the river, and the trains rushing rapidly over the
bridges close to him. Here, indeed, are to be found
specimens of the most strongly-marked of those who
combine to make up the great whole of London; and
even a casual passer-by cannot fail to be struck with
the various phases of humanity which are here
brought into contact. The study of mankind is man,
and the practical philosopher could do much worse
than stand upon the Thames Embankment of an
evening, and watch those who pass.
The love for oysters is becoming a passion in this
country, which it seems almost useless to attempt to
satisfy. Every year the cry goes up from the oyster.
eaters against what they consider the extravagant
price of their favourite relish, whilst an answering cry
is raised by the oyster dealers that at the present rate
of consumption it will not be long before the supply will
be exhausted. What with the eraving, and the lessen-
ing stock, the two parties are in something like despair.
Remedies, as might be expected, have been proposed
in abundance for this state of things, but they all seem
to ask too much from the endurance of the human
stomach. It has been proposed, for instance, that all
lovers of the "savoury mollusc," as its admirers like
to dub it, should abstain from eating any for a year,
and then, time having been allowed for growth, there
would be such a bountiful supply that every
oyster admirer would b 3 exceedingly glad. It
is to be fancied, however, that this is a remedy
which will not be tried. If one kept from eating
another would take his place, and so there would be
self-denial with no corresponding advantage.
If the numbers of newspapers published in a country
were any guide to the intellectuality of its inhabitants,
the United Kingdom would be singularly behind the
United States in this respect. In the last-named
country 8,129 newspapers are issued, and of these 6,235
are weekly, 105 fortnightly, 747 monthly, 67 quarterly,
and the rest daily. The city of New York alone sup-
ports 1,818 of these—a larger number by 542 than
those issued in the whole of the United King-
dom. The number of newspapers cannot, how-
ever, be accepted as a criterion. The mental
food of the Americans is chiefly what
can be gathered from daily and other journals, but it
Is not so with the English. In this country there is
far more book-reading, although it is held by some that
this is not increasing in the same ratio as newspaper
reading. It has often been suggested that a journal
conducted on purely American principles would succeed
In England, but the experiment would be a very
doubtful one. Whatever may be their sins, the English
do not appear to be so fond of personalities in politics
and religion as the Americans, and it is with these
that the ordinary states newspaper is filled. As long
as the daily papers of England, both metropolitan and
provincial, keep up to their present high star derd
of truthfulness and enterprise, there is not
much fear of their being beaten out of the
field by a competitor taking the American
newspaper as his model. A fact which has recently
gone the round of the papers may illustrate
this. The late " Commodore " Vanderbilt, when
lying in a dying condition at New York, is said to
have had waiting outside his house one morning at
two o'clock, thirty-flee reporters, anxious to carry the
first intelligence of his death to their respective
journals. They had arranged with a servant to die.
play from the windows a red skirt if the sick man
were dying, and a white skirt if he died. Vanderbilt
however, rallied for the time, and the thirty-five re-
elorters had to return without seeing the expected
signal. How far this is true must be left to the mind
of each reader. It shows, however, what devices
American newspapers are thought to be capable of,
devices which would not be tolerated on any respect.
able English journal.

The statement that some thirty years ago an Eng-
lishman was taxed upon everything he could eat, drink,
or wear from his cradle to his grave has long since
ceased to be true, but in France it may still be said
with a large amount of correctness. Even printed
placards are there taxed, and the French stamp office
has just issued a notice threatening with legal penalties
all persons who should issue handbills and placards un-
stamped and upon white paper—the peculiar objection
to white paper not being explained, but perhaps it is
IP-cat:tie that is the colour of the Legitimist flag.
Tnere is a tax upon public announcements, wherever
placed—on omnibuses, in caf44, hotels, steamboats,
&.—and this must press rather hardly upon those who
wish to make as much display of printer's ink as pos-
sible concerning the wares of which they wish to
dispose. This much is certain, that if a similar tax
existed in England wall.literature would not be cir-
culated to such an enormous extent as at present, and
then, although the revenue would benefit to some
small extent, the bill-posters, the letter-press printers,
and perhaps, trade generally would huller.
There are few subjects of general interest which
have been more harped upon from time to time than
the increased facilities of gaining knowledge afforded
by the present day over centuries happily gone by.
But although the enormous price of books in past ages
has been often dwelt upon, facts proving it are never
wholly uninteresting. For instance, there is something
consoling to the man who can buy a Bible for fourpence
cr sixpeuce to know that a few centuries since the ordi•
nary day-labourer would have bad to have given the
whole of the wages which he would receive in fifteen
years to have possessed the name book—with this
difference, that the former would be able to read his
se it is in English, whilst the latter could not have
Perused his because it was In Latin, Various instances

&rerecorded which shows that books were so precious
In what are called the Dark Ages that gifts of them
are recorded s.s acts of signal generosity, and as de-
serving of perpetual remembrance. It is stated that
in the year 690 the King of Northumberland gave E 0)
acres of land for a book containing such a history of
the world as could then be compiled. A countess of
Anjou gave 200 sheep and a large parcel of rich furs for
a volume of homilies; 120 crowns were exchanged for a
single book of Livy, the Roman historian; 105 crowns
of gold were given for a Concordance; and forty
crowns for a poem called "The Romaunce of Roses."
That ignorance flourished is scarcely to be wondered at
when such high prices for small books is considered.

Mr. W. G. Grace seems destined to live in cricketing
annals as one of the most brilliant batters of the age.
Although his average this year is not so high by 11
runs as it was in 1871. and by 6 as it was in 1873, it
exceeds by 5 that of 1872, by 9 that of 1874, and by 30
that of 1875. During the past season Mr. Grace has
played 46 innings, and has made a total of 2,622 runs.
Jupp has exceeded him by one in the number of
Innings, but has scored 1,609 less rune, his average
being 2429 against Mr. Grace's 6218. The highest
total score after the champion's is Lockwood's 1,241, his
average being 33.13. Mr. C. J. Ottaway runs Mr.
Grace very closely as to average, his being 62.2, but he
only played seven innings. These figures show that
the cricketing powers of England are far from being on
the decrease, and that, in this truly national game,
we have yet among us those who can wield the willow,
and toss the leather against all-comers.
It will be news to most people that the Prince of
Wales combines the trades of fishmonger and babel.-
dasher; that Mr. Gladstone is also one of the former

calling; that the Earl of Beaconsfield is a merchant
tailor; that Mr. Justice Lush is a corner; that Mr.
C. Newdegate, M.P., is a spectacle maker; that
the Solicitor-General (Mr. Hardinge Stanley Giffard)
Is a saddler; and that Sir Bartle Frere is
a turner. Yet these names appear under the respec-
tive callings in the list of freemen in the livery com-
panies or guilds of the City of London of which, great
and small, there are seventy-six. Many of these guilds
take no part in politics, but some are prominent in this
direction, notably the Fishmongers', who includes,
besides Mr. G:adstone, Mr. Lowe, Mr. S. Morley,
Baron L. de Rothschild, and other well-known
Liberals, whilst the Merchant Taylors' h.eve among
them the Premier, Mr. Justice Baggallay, and other
conservatives of note. The gatherings of these bodies
are often made the occasion of party deliverances by the
great leaders, and are then, therefore, of somewhat
more use than Meetings of the London liveries are
generally held to be.
The crop of hops this year is so bad that brewers are
beginning already to lament. In come parts there
have been most severe and persistent blights, whilst
in others very little of the flower has come to
maturity. The number of persons employed be hop-
picking is indeed surprising, and scarcely a more
striking sight is to be found than th 3 departure of
heavily-laden special trains crowded with these people
starting from the Holborn Viaduct and Ludgate hill
stations at the commencement of the season. Formerly
these had to walk the journey, but now the trains are
so cheap that they find it more convenient and much
more comfortable to ride.