The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1879-11-29 00:00:00

Elistellancousit el Eictc.e,

SOME, FOREIGN, AND COLONIAL„

CRUELTY TO ANIMALS.—Lord Aberdare, presi lent
of the It .iyal Society for the Prevention ot Cru-lty to
Animals, presided on Monday evening at the annual
meeting of the South Wales branch, held at the Town.
hail, Cardiff. In the course of his address, he said
that during the 55 years the society had been in OCR-
tete° it had obtained 35,000 convictions a ;ftinst
persons for cruelty to animal'. There were now 311
branches, with inspectors employed at them, and these
iorbed an in :once of £14,000 a year. List week the
Ladies' Committes sent a letter to the future Quen
of Spain, congratulating her that she had declined to
allow any bull fights among the festivities in com-
memoration of her aceeesion to the throne of that
country.
BROWNJONES HIS JOKI.—The Robinson Brown-
joneees were as conteatei and as model a couple as
you would meet with in the united highly respectable
neighbourhoods of Clapham and Brixton. The only
bone of contention (a very little one) between the
worthy pair was the sermons of the reverend gentle•
man under whom they sat. Last Sanday iaornihg as
ever was Mrs. B. grew quite excited during the walk
home from Church. Mrs. B, having had by far the
best of the argument (as usuat, of course), wound up
by putting this 146 t crushing " poser "to her inlet ior
half. "Then, Mr, 8., such being the case, what, in
goodness name, would you have the clergyman preach
about?" " says Brownjones, with a smile,
"childlike and bland," and taking out his watch, "I
should say, about fifteen minutes " His better half re
plied not. —Judy.
THE SUNDAY SOCIETY.—This Society's exhibition
of pictures in Alsersgate 'Ward, London, closed on
Sunday, and at a committee meeting subsiqaently
held, over which Professor Corheld presided, it was
unanimously resolved :—" That the success which has
attended the opening of a temporary collection of
paintings in the Ward of Aldersgate on four successive
Sundays has conclusively shown that there are large
numbers of persons in London desirous of taking
advantage of any oppoitunities for intellectual recrea-
tion which may be provided in the City on Sundays;
and‘thq.ishch oppi_orstimities atpres_olt 23,14,0111-,
Giiildhall Library and -Museum tieing stilreloged to the
public on Sundays), one of the City Companies be
asked to grant the use of a hall for the exhibition of
another temporary collectioia of works of art on
Sunday afternoons."

RETRIBUTION.—Papa. What's the matter, John?
Aren't you well 7—John. I don't feel quite well, sir,
please. I think it's the kitchen stairs a-top Of the
plum pie.—[He had then been at it as usual in the
passage. ]—Judy.
LOCAL AND DIRECT TAXATION IN PRllSSlA.—Ao-
cording to a report laid before the Lower Chamber of
the Prussian Legislature, the local or communal taxa.
tion amounted to 139,250,000 marks, or £6,962,500 in
the year 1876, that being the latest date for which the
returns had been made up. This sum rep-esmts an
annual payment per head of the population of only
34 marks, or nearly 3s. 53. in the province of Posen,
but of 9 48 marks, or nearly 9s. 63., in the province of
Brandenburg, the averages in the other provinces
being intermediate between these extremes. The
direct taxes vaid to the State amounted to 146,000,000
marks. or £7,300,000. The total direct taxation was
280,750,000 marks, or £14,037,500.
STEAM•SHIP BUILDING.—A. correspondent has sent
us some figures illustrative of the extent to which
steam shipbuilding is now carried on in this country
(says The Times). According to these figures, the
gross tonnage set afloat for 1879, up to the 20th mat,
was 426,285 tons. As the losses and sales to foreigners
over the same period have amounted to 133,315 tons
gross, it follows that the new tonnage actually added
this year to the steam shipping register bag thus far
been 292,970 tons gross, with 32,965 horse power.
Taking the cost of the total steam tonnage built—viz.,
426,285 tons—at £ll its, per ton, which is stated to
be low, the amount of capital sunk in this direction
during 1879 has been £4,689,135. It would be interest-
ing to know what proportion of this new steam
shipping is exported and what retained for the trade
of the Unitedaingdom.

LIGEiT COLOURED CLOTHING FOR WINTER.—The
Lancet remarks :—" We have more than once asked
attention for the undoubted effect of colour on the
radiating power of clothing. Remembering that the
only source of animal heat—during the winter season
especially—is located within the organism, and that
the use of clothes is to conserve the caloric, it is
Important to take advantage of every circumstance
which will help the result desired. Certainly light-
coloured substances approaching to white do not part
with their heat so readily as dark. The bear of the
polar regions is for this reason provided with white
fur, while his brother of warmer climates has a dark.
coloured integument. It therefore seems desirable to
prefer bright to sombre hues, and if this choice were
made the result would be an air of additional cheer-
fulness in the public streets. Fashion is, of course,
omnipotent and inexorable, but if not too late, we
should like to urge the -consideration suggested by
science and common sense on those who have not yet
laid in their store of winter clothing. The matter
may seem of small moment, but the life we live is
made up of small considerations and little affairs."
AMATEUR IST.—Tourist : " That's not badly painted
—that sketch. Do you know who did it ? "—Walter :
Sir; that's a bit o' Master's c-usin's work."
Tourist "Oh ! He's an amateur, I suppose?"—
Waiter: "A amatonr ? Well, I dunno exactly what
he is: I suppose he is something o' that sort; goes
travelling about doctorin' the live stock—."—Fun.
A WONDERFUL RRIDGE.—A new feature in the way
of a suspension bridge was seen across the Housatonic
River, a short distance north of Falls Bridge. It was
a single thread of a spider's web suspended from a
tree on one side to some °Wed upon the other, between
300 and 400 feet in length. How did the creature
manage to get it across? It is conjectured that the
engineering spider must have calculated the distance
and then spun a thread the required length, and then
at the right moment have thrown it out, when it was
carried on the wings of some favourable breeze to the
opposite side, where it becr.me attached. What was
the spider's object, unless to seek a retired spot to
prey, or else to seek new adventures? It is not known
whether the spider perished in the attempt at crossing,
or whether it gained the farther shore in safety. It
was a bold feat.—New Milford Bay.
CHICKENS IN THE GARDEN.—A correspondent (says
the Graphic) makes the revolutionary suggestion that
chickens should be admitted to the kitchen garden at
all seasons save only the Midsummer fruit period. It
is urged that the fowls eat so many slugs and grubs
that they do good more than harm. Fowls, however,
having a liking for seeds, and also for scratching, and
for ourselves we would prefer for some one else to try
the experiment of chickens in their vegetable gardens.
A ROYAL Gn/T.—The Queen has sent to Major
Chard a very handsome ring as a mark of her appre-
ciation of his heroic conduct at Rorke's Drift. The
gift is accompanied with an autograph letter. The
ring is a valuable diamond Waterkloof.

SIMPLE SYSTEM OF BOOKICEEPING.-13,nrow books
from your friends and never return them.—Pun.
JEWISH FARMERS IN RUSSlA..—According to the
Russian paper Rand, the total number of Jewish
farmers in Russia is now probably upwards of 100,000.
In the year 1858 there were 25,391 Jewish agricul-
turists enumersted in the kingdom of Poland. In
New Russia there were in 1859 35 agricultural
colonies, Nsith a Jewish population of 26,396, occupy-
ing an area of 205,603 deejatines. In the Governments
of Kiev, Volhynia, and Podolia there existed in 1869
56 colonies, whose Jewith population numbered
20,665 persons. Besides those above-mentioned, there
are isolated colonies of Jewish farmers scattered in
other provinces, especially in Little and White Russia,
the Caucasus, and Transcaucasia.

THE LONGEST AVENUE IN THE WOIILD.-Dr.
in his just published travels in Western Siberia, tells
us that the great road from Nijni-Novgorod to Tin-
men, in Siberia, is bordered, with a few gape, by an
alley of birchen, which are sometimes in double rows.
This, as Dr. Finsch ventures to conjecture, must be
the longest avenue in the world. It was planted by
order of Catherine IL, and was to have been con-
tinued to Irkutsk. It was forbidden under the
severest penalties—banishment to Siberia or death—
to fell the smallest of these trees, a precaution without
which this unique avenue would never have been
finished. Many of these trees are now shattered by
age, and those planted in their stead are no longer
protected against damage or destruction by laws so
severe as formerly. But it is pretty well known the
Russian is indifferent or hostile to trees. On the other
hand, as the winter snows became heaped up in
mounds around their trunks, which renders the road
difficult for sledges, it is a serious question whether
this avenue should not be taken away.

INDIAN IDEA OF A LOCOMOTIVE.—" The Sahibs,'
say the Indian country folks, "imprison a fire-fiend in
their railway engine, and coax him to set the wheels
&going by the promise of a good bagful of water at the
next station. His shriek resembles the sound of a
whistle, and the puffing of the chimney is but the
panting of the bosom."
A HINT TO WHIST PLAYERS. —" One of the bores
at card-playing," says, " Cavendish " is the partner
who constantly greets you with' If you had only done
so-and-so, we should have made so-and-so.' My
favourite retort is to ask, if he has ever heard the
story of 'your uncle and your aunt.' If he has, he
does not want to bear it again, and is silent. If he
has not, and innocently falls into the trap by express-
ing a desire to hear it, I say, in a solemn voice, 'lf
your aunt had been a man she would have been your
uncle.'"

THE EINDERPEST.—The news of a new outbreak of
tbe cattle plague in Russia is confirmed (says The
Times). Acccrding to intelligence from the Polish
capital, the disease has appeared in an acute form in
the city and district of Warsaw. In the Alexander
citadel, eight head, and in the Warsaw district, on the
Slazeviez estate, 120 head of cattle were at once
slaughtered. The epidemic is also raging in the dis-
trict of Sochaczevo.
COSMOPOLITANISM —As an illustration of the cos-
mopolitan character of San Francisco, an English
traveller lately visiting there writes :—" I had my
boots blackened by an African, my chin shaved by a
European, and my bed made by an Asiatic; a French-
man cooked my dinner, an Englishman showed me
a seat an Irishman changed my plate, a Chinaman
washed my table napkin, and a German handed me
my bill." This is nothing out of the way, for in South
Africa a similar state of things exists. One may have
his boots cleaned by a Zulu, his chin shaved by a
Crecle, and his bed made by a Hottentot; an Asiatic
may cook his dinner, a Cape boy quay show him to his
seat, a Frenchman may change his plate, an Irish-
woman may wash his table napkin, and a Jew
may hand him his bill. And not only in South
Africa, but in most British Colonies, coemopolituniam
may be found.
ANOTHER NORTH-EAST ARCTIC EXPEDITION.—In a
ltt:er to M. Sibrakoff, Professor Nurdenskjiild ex-
presses his intentlon of undertaking another voyage to
the northern coast of Asians EOOl3 as circumstances per-
mit. 'After my return," he says, "I think of spend-
ing a year on preparing an account of the voyage of
the Vega, and It is my desire then to continue the ex•
plor,t on of the Icy Ocean along the coast of Siberia,
making the river Lena the p Ant of departure and the
/sTc.w Sibernian Isles the basis of operations. For the
object I have proposed to myself—namely, the render-
ing of the northern part of Asia completely accessible
U commercial shipping—the prosecution of these re-
searches is of paramount impoitsnce."

AVERAGE PRICES OF BRITISH CORN.—The following
are the average prices of BritiQh corn for the week
ending November 22, as received from the inspectors
and offi2erB of Excise :—Wheat, 47e. 10d. ; barley,
ns. Bd. ; oats, 21s. 61. per imperial qr. Correspond-
ing week last year :—Wheat, 4 is. 2d..; barley, 395. 9J.;
oats, 21.5. 7d,
THE PEOPLE'S FOOD.—The Editor of the Estatcs
Roll in a vigorous letter points out how much money
is wasted on food yielding but little nutriment, and
how a large proportion of foreit ners' profits might be
reduced by an altered plan of home production. To
briefly sum up the advice given in this letter we should
say (remarks the Graphic)—EA brown bread instead
of white; when the family is large grind your own
wheat in a hand mill; eat more oatmeal; eat more
beans, peas, artichokes, maize, and rice ; eat more fish
and less meat; and let fanners produce more butter
and chot as, more honey, more poultry, more vegetables
than they now do. From another source we learn that
for foreign onions alone England yearly pa) s close
On half a wiliion sterli, g.

"FIGHTING JOE! "—The New York Ttnies says of the
lite M.ajor•General Joseph Hooker, wt.° was familiarly
called 'Fighting Joe :"—" Uotil dieabled by service,
General Hooker was tall, er, ct, compactly but not
heavily built, extremely muscular, and of great
physical endurance. lie retained until recently a
fresh, ruddy countenance, fall, clear, mild eyes. an
intellectual head covered with a vigorous growth of
gray hair, and was altogether a person of command.
ing appearance. Socially, he was frank and courteous,
fond of argument and apt to drift into invective
when discussing actions in which he had taken a part,
and for which he had been criticised. The title of
Fighting Joe' was very offensive to him. It was
obtained by accident, not iu the army, but through
the efforts of a telegraph operator to furnish a run-
ning head for the sheets of accounts of the action at
Malvern-hil Hooker would not accept it. It
always sounds to me,' he is reported to have said,
when allusion was ma le to it, as if it meant Fighting
Fool. It has really, done me much injury in makivg
ptibqkjeryeij, ,sigg.344Briami.lmadltrfo,B4.o4""
w6V aliZ7 firriauTTWitirat-YErdneurfr- have fought without good purpose and with fair
chancts of suc2ess. When I have decided to fight I_
have done so wi,h tell the vigour and strength I
could commaud."

SMART WORK- !—The Evening Standard of Wednes-
day said :—" Our readers will observe that we pub-
lish telegrams to-day giving full details of event's. - -
taking place yesterday in the heart of ' Afghanistan,
and deapatched late in the afternoon by our Corre-
spondents at Cabul and Candahar. This is altogether
without precedent. Nothing, perhaps, will bring
home more thoroughly to the minds of the English
people the grasp obtained of Afghanistan than that,
we should be able to publish to-day a -telegram
placed upon the wires yesterday afternoon at half-
past four o'clock, describing the news of the doings of 4at
our troops there, the goings to and fro of Sir Richard fi:*
Temple in his search for the most practicable route for
a railway across the Kojak range, and the tempera- •
tore prevailing during the day," .
ANTHRACITE FROM AMERICA.—The Americans hr.
ethreatening ) to send e
isuap ud theplies French of annthrchavcitice Imo-Paul en& *
shown Philadelphia
trce
can
norbtse thraantsepropretedrimanendtasloslhdi
patmaenfrofihtnavie..:
France at from El to Li 4s. per ton. The anthracite
Pennsylvania are said to cover an area .L 350
sbequdasreof miles.

TER HARVEST IN SOUTH AUSTRALIA.—The Agent
General for South Australia (Sir Arthur Blyth,
IC,C.M.G.) has received the following telegram from
the Government of South Australia, dated the 21st
inst. :—"Reaping commenced in the 'northern dii.
tricts of the colony; the season is exceptionally good:
a million and a halt acres under orb'); the expected
average is twelve bushels to the acre. It is estimated
that there will be for export 375,C00 tons of wheat.
Splendid rains have fallen throughout the outlying
pastoral country and all the dams are full." .

How To PRESERVE PEACE .—A German physidan
who has given much attention to the subject hareonie
to the conclusion that the only way to preserre-peate
among the women of a household when, at in weather
like the present, they are kept within dairy, is ,to
oblige them to absolute silence. When women are
much thrown together, their tongues, he says, should
remain in a state of perfect quiescence. They may, _
converse with each other, if necessary, by means of 1 ";, -
signs and symbols, but should on no account utter a .
word. He has found by experience that this regimen,
when strictly adhered to, produces the happiest results.
In one or two cases he has actually known feelings of
mutual regard and esteem to arise between women
who could not open their mouths previously without
disagreeable consequences. Their appetites-saw-l En.
proved in so marked a degree that theyaronld goon
eating luncheon till tea-time.—Paillifail•Gasett4,o;
A PETRIFIED BODY. —About nineteen • yeareit
Mrs. O'Neill, who died quite Atlddenly; tvalt,lstifieti- .16' 't
old St. John's burying ground in Albany. "'Miocene*
her children determined. upon the tern Oval of the ..oeabg!.
remains to Calvary Cemetery at +Babcock's Corneitto;l/41011pir
and the grave was opened on Thursday. When thne'sale...
coffin was reached it was ' found to be very hear/C./4.a.,
Upon opening the casket a strange sight presented., fp**.
itself. The body from the knees to the neck was as q %,
white as marble and of about the consistency of chalk,
possible a trifle harder. From the knees down
limbs had entirely decayed, leaving nothing but the.
dry bones, The head had also decayed, leaving only-. —.la
the skull. The burial garments had also disapneared.
Father Walsh, of St. John's Church, was hastily
summoned, and he sent for Professor. Hall,- of the.
Geological Institute, who thoroughly examined,
i
body, scraping it with a knife to ascertain whithisiit.4..-
.....
was really petrified. He reported that it was a case'
of petrification, such as is rarely seen. He. was of the ! Is?
opinion that in a few more years the body will be-as '• .
solid and hard as marble.—Troy (N.Y,) Times,
• • t*
FROZEN MEAT. —The Sydney Morning Herald of ' •
October 1 says :—" The steamer Strathleven, designed
to test the possibility of conveying frozen meat from
Australia, is to leave Sydney for London about the
middle of November. She will take from Sydney 600-s: ''s
carcases of beef, 200 of mutton, and a qamitity of ‘ ;
wool, and fill up similarly in Melbourne." .•:.
__
IMPORTATION OF SHEEP. —The Brazil and Bilannse'lss s,
•
Plate Mail says: "We are informed by •Inititss'is
esteemed correspondent that almost every steaniet•Alit
that leaves Bnencs Ayres, and* touches at Rio,. -.:-
takes to the latter port considerable consignment :e. -s'"
of flour and other Argentine produce, including live ss --
sheep. This last branch of commerce, already well - t )
organised and rapidly assuming important proportions,. ._ ,
would also appear to be likely to extend to Etimpet if :,..,./,`:
the experiments now being made in this directio3l.4,4";
prove suocessfnl, of which there is every Arobnbilit mot rio,
We learn that, in France, a wealthy proprietor.in
neighbourhood of Rouen, has signed a contract w ,
the Compagnie des Chargeurs Reunis, of Hay
which has undertaken by each of - their vessels,
every return voyage from Buenos Ayres, to convey to ;di:
Havre about 300 live sheep. The first arrival of 250 , s
sheep has just taken place, and it seems that out of I i
this number only five animals died on the tozagle.:lsl,ln - . ;
result is therefore very encouraging, and likely tag. iff•"6. !....
avt, 41.4.41Pir:
a very profitable return."
. ..-
....., _
_---'*rlaillitis
EGYPTIAN LEN TILS AS FOOD. —l` A nettle s -.maws .—awaje-
wife " writes to the Echo :—Kindly allow me space -to
confirm fully the sentiments of a "A- Frugal Wife,".., ..,..
in her letter of the 15th inst., from experience, halting *,
used lentils and lentil flour for a considerable time' in - •
my family, with the most beneficial results both to my .•
pocket and to our health. There is no doubt that, -.
with either the prepared split lentils or the lentil :* -
flour a most excellent and nutritious soup and .:.
vegetable can be made, To make soup Iwe haft ' • .
a pint of lentils to three pints •of -,bniling
water, adding a piece of celery or a littio Gaiety
seed, a carrot, and a few heris, with pepper and
salt. Thus, at a cost of less than threepence; an A
excellent soup is producedewithout any meat. If the • ••••
flavour of onions should be approved, add two oethrea *o'l '
small ones. Simmer for two hours. Two tat:rib/so% .46
spoonfuls of lentil flour, with the (Aber ingredients"SlMl
will produce the same results, For a vegetable, I riOs4
boil for about half an hour a pint of lentils in a cloth ,ii •
I serve in a vegetable dish, adding a little pepper and "maRP.*
salt, and I have sufficient for five or six perbens. • Itis ,',t 0*
a most nutritinus food, very easy of dightion, and .nos,
renders the use of meat almost unnecessery. r pur- <id.. .
chase the Egyptian split lentils and the lentil flour at a •4
the corn-dealers' shops." ;-. a I.' ..a, 0.
• • te' . • • , a
MOULDY CHEESES .—We (Graphic) gave onir min. t• 4. .
ber 8 an account of a German method of preseivipg
cheeses. This week a correspondent sends us an accopnt ..-
of another method :—" A very simple way of preserv-
ing cheeses for a long time is by dipping them occa-
sionally in either boiling broth or boiling milk. The
broth in which ham or bacon, has
.been boiled answers
the purpose well. The cheer.e should be 'wrapped in a IPP '
cloth, and immersed in tl-e boiling liquid for two .or
three minutes, when all animal life will be crestroyed • i"eme
without injuring the cheese." • •,. an
A BAD MEMORY. —Mayfair says :—" I have strop§ /....4,
thought a bad memory one of the greatest evils that '4O,
can befall a man. I met a curious sufferer only a few. lesoli
days since. 'My memery has become so bad,' said he,
'that my life is a burden. I am every day missing- • 7
appointments and making enemies, and all because I
have no memory. A friend of mine advised .nag to .
..
buy a pocket-book and write down all that•l veiehed to
remember. I did so; but what with forgetting what 'a •
to write down, and what with forgetting. to consult
sr_
the book after I had written things down, I foundit....7„,.
worse than useless to me. I tied knots in my hand. 7 ...'
kerchief, only to untie them again. Once I walked ' ;A
with a potato in my hat, that when I removed .:-.•4
my hat the potato might fall and recall the motive .
I had for putting it there. Bat I didn't take off bay 7,..„
hat in time • and when at last I did take it off and
the potato fell upon my toes, I wondered how the
deuce it had got into my hat. In desperation I re-
solved to smear my nose with black when I had an im-
portant appointment to keep, so that my friends, by
telling me I had a smut on my nose, might cause me to ! g;
recollect my business. But the only effect was, when
a friend said 'Jones, your nose is black,' I would .
pull out my handkerchief and wipe my-nose; and all .
my anxiety was that my friend should Bay 'lt's all .. !
right, now. Here he broke off and seixsd my_ arm.
'Do you see that man walking there!' he cried, point-
ing excitedly. 1 replied, 'Yes.' Two and twenty- .
years ago, sir l' he exclaimed, warmly, 'I lent that !
man fifteen pounds—and he has never repaid me to • .
this day.' Such is memory. A man forgets wife.
children, parents; he forgets his appointments, *xis , 't
promises, his intentions; but he never forgets while ,
the breath is in his body the man to whom he once •
lent money, arid who has never repaid him." •-',6 •
• # , rye J.e.

• - •
•