The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1876-09-23 00:00:00

THE POTATO BEETLE.

Mr. E. G. Trebor writes to The Times :—" Having
lately returned from a tour in the United States,
where my attention was particularly called to the
depredations of the Colorado or potato bags, may I
ask the favour of a small space in your next issue to
give a ward of warning to the potato-growers of Great
B:itain and Ireland? These insects, one of the
peculiarities of which seems to be that of travelling
eastward, have already reached the shores of the
Atlantic. In one field in the State of Rhode Island,
I saw them on at least every second plant, and this,
too, was a field that had been picked clear of them,
as was supposed, but a few days before my inspection.
Au idea seems to prevail, not only in America, but
also on this side the water, that the broad Atlantic
must prove an insuperable barrier to their further
easterly pragress ; and it is this idea I wish at once to
dispel. Oae simple statement should be sufficient, and
it is this :—The vessel in which I left Liverpool for
New York had them on board. It must be borne in
mind that the vessel had crossed the Atlantic from New
York, had been lying in one of the Llverpool docks for
several days, and was several days out on it journey,
when, in campeny with a member of the editorial staff
of the New York World, I saw two—for they are
generally found in couples—of these insects creeping
across the upper deck. Two insects creeping across
the deck of a steamer may seem a trivial matter to
many about which to write to The Times, but 'great
events from little causes spring,' and in my humble
opinion this is one of those little CAUSES that ought not
to pass unnoticed."
Alistellantous
HOME, FOREIGN, AND COLONIAL.
BATHING ACCIDENT AT BO'ULOGNE.—A bathing
accident happened at Baulonge on Monday morning.
Between 7 and 8 o'clock Messrs. Vinicombe Herold,
Chepp, and Flint, visitors, went to the beach, but
the tide being low and the sea rough, none of the
bathing machines were out, and only one horse was to be
had. Chepp being a goods winorner, went twice through
the first nine breakers and swam across a deep hole,
where the water was smooth, to breakers beyond. He
heard a cry behind for help, and on looking back saw
Vinuicombe and Herold disappearing. He caught
and supported one of them for a time, but was unable
to stem off the shore current. Finding himself sinking
he released his hold and made for shore, which he
reached with difficulty. Mr. Chepp says that ha -I he
received help from shore he would probably have
saved both.

REMEMBERING OLD SOLDIERS.— Sir Lumley
Graham write 3 to The Times from Willey-place, Farn-
ham:—

"A short time ago you were kind enough to publish a few
words which I addressed to you respecting an old soldier
living in this neighbourhood, one of the cne.odians of
Napoleon.' The very day after the notice appeared in The
2inteB I received a note from the Commander in Chiefs
office containing a request for further information respecting
the veteran in question. On supplying this information I
took the opportunity of mentioning the cue of another old
soldier who served in the early part of this centnyy, and who
is now residing at Wokingham. On Sun :ay I received notice
that his Royal Highness the C unmaLder-ia-Chief has been
pleased to award a gratuity out of a fund at his disposal to
each of these two old soldiers, who are, moreover, in receipt
of pensions of ls. 3d and is. 6d. a day respectively. You
will see by the foregoing how carefully the Commander-in
Chief and his Staff watch over the interests of our Aim,, and
I thick you will agree with me that such facts should be
generally known, as they must tend to make the s?rvice
p3pnlar, an end which we are all anxi us to obtain."
SJMETHING NEw ! —A droll marriage proces-
sion was seen in the Bois de Boulogne, in Paris, the
other day (says the Court Journal). The happy couple
and their friends all went out on velocipede?. Each
gentleman had a lady en croupe behind him. The
party occupied fifteen velocipedes, and will led by an
active fellow who worked his way with his feet, and
used his hands with an astonishing amount of equili-
brium in playing lively airs on a violin. Next to the
fiddler cam,: the bride and bridegroom, then the brides-
maids behind the best men, and the elderly folks
pulling. up the rear. Bat every male of the party
teemed to be a more or les accomplished velocipedist.
They made the tour of the lakes in the park, and
alighted at the Chalet restaurant of the cascade, where
an excellent dinner was served. In the evening the
d
happy p trty remrunted their velocipedes, and d.
light .ed the wanderers the great avenue of the
Champs Elysees on their return to Paris, the only
difference in the tenuc of the procession being that the
man on the leading velocipede bore a lamp—the torch
of Hymen probably instead of a fiddle, in the
evening

THE GAME OF LA. Caossz. —About nine
years ago 18 Iroquois Indians were brought over from
Lower Canada by Captain Johnson with the view of
introducing the game of La Crosse into Great 13ritain
and for a little time there was some show of EUCCUS,
Clubs were formed in the neighbourhood of the metro-
pohs and elsewhere, and La Crosse bade fair to obtain
ultimately a place among our national pastimes.
G:adually, however, the interest in it began to wane,
most of the clubs were dissolved, and for years the
game was liAle heard of, much less played. Within
the past twelve months the visit of a Canadian La
Crosse team has caused the sport to be revived, but
whether it will be firmly planted in this country
remains to be seen. At any rate, it had been so
far popularized as to admit of sufficient pleyers
being found in Ea4and and SJoiland for an
international match which was played on Saturday
at the Caledonian Ground, Glasgow. The game Was
most closely contested throughout. Play began at
half-past three, and lasted little more than five
minutes when the first goal was obtained for Evgland,
and half-an-hour afterwards a second score was made
by the Southeners. The tide then turned in favour of
the Scotchmen, and for the next fifty minutes they
had matters pretty much their own. way Three
.
goals were obtained by them during this time. Then
England made another goal, thus bringing the score
level. Just before the call of time, Scotland secured
the decisive goal, and were proclaimed victors by four
goals to three. A dispute arose as to 9otthe
Scotch goule-, but it wee ultimately allowed.

RECOGNISING THEM.— A curious zoological
story comes from Berlin. A party of negroes, who
were visiting the German capital, went to view the
Zeological Gardens, and produced the most startling
effect upon all the animals -hailing from Africa. The
giraffes rushed abcut tia their cages in a frantic
manner, and the negroes were requested to move on,
the keepers fearing that their charges would hurt them-
eels en. Then the African lions caught sight of them,
and set up a mighty roar. But ths elephant seems
chiefly to have been moved by the unwonted spectacle,
and fears were entertained that he would break loose.
The power of remembrance exhibited by these animals
is certainly wonderful.
MISTAKEN ADVlCE.—Dickens tells us that
his friends dissuaded him Lorn undertaking a work to
be issued in monthly part', price one shilling, because
it was " a low, cheap form of publication," by which
he would ruin all his " rieing hopes." Macaulay, on
his essay on Addison' ban recorded a few of the in-
stances in which the friends of an author have adjured
him not to undertake the parkicular work by which
he raised bitrself to that eminence which now makes
him widely known. Herder entreated Goethe not "to
take up to unpromising a subject as Faust." The
History cf Charles the Fifth gene Robertson immense
reputation, and put forty-five hundred pounds in his
pocket; but Hume tried to persuade him not to choose
such a ;a riod for the exerc'se of his hi4orical talent.
Pope advised Addison to print the tragedy of Cat) but
not to run the risk of its being biseed from the stage.
One of Sco` Vs best friends predicted the failure of
Waverley, and urged him not to peril his reputation by
publishing it. The list might be indefinitely exten-
ded of intelligent persons who, with the most cordial
good-will to an author, have advised him not to think
of doing tbe epfcial thing which his taste or genius
prompted him to do.—Atlantic Monthly,
TIMES OF FIRES.—A. Return laid before the
House of Commons Select Committee on the Metro-
politan Fire Brigade shows that in the last ten years
the month in which the largest number of fires occurred
in London was July, and next to it in the Return
stands August, and then December. The days on
which the largest number of fires happened were
Saturlay and Wednesday. The hours at which the
largest' number of fires broke out were from 7 p.m. to
11 p.m.
TEE Losr Totriust —Mr. Walter Barnard
writes to The Standard :
I should like to correct one of the many misstatements
which have appeared in the papers respecting the loss of my
poor brother and finding of his body. I allude to one whieh
has now gone the round, and bas thrown upon me some cor-
respondence and caused much anno)anco. It is this, that
"the family intend to erect a bronze statue to mark the
spot. I can say that the family do not intend to per-
petrate such a grim piece of absurdity. The fact is, that
loving ones with willing hands have been realicg a small
cairn on the spot, and that a plain oval bronze plate is now
fired to the stone against which he was found lying, with the
following inscription deeply cut on it :- •
" The body of EDWARD BARNARD, of Angel-street and High-
bury-grove, London (who was lost in this district, August
14), was found on this spot, Sept. 10, 1870."
TESTAMENTARY OBLIGATIONs.—'Cute Little
Girl (who has heard conversations between her parents
of the like import) : "Uncle, have you made your
will?' Uncle (startled) "Eh ?" 'Cate Little Girl :
"'Cause I hope you haven't forgotten my dills 1"
Punch.

Tax CLAIMANT AT DARTMOOR.—The Birming-
ham Oczzette informs its readers as to the daily life of
"Sir Roger. "at Dartmoor. He rises in the morning
at five o'clock. He then has to dress himself, clean his
cell, get his breakfast, wash up the utensils employed
therein, and then to be in readiness for chapel at a
quarter to seven. The service is brief, lasting only
about fi'teen minutes, and, should the weather permit.,
at its conclusion the prisoner is taken out for parade.
Before commencing his day's labour, which he is sup-
posed to enter upon at half-past seven, he has, like the
whole of his fellow.oonvicte, to undergo the operation
of searching. His daily task is to work a sewing-
macll'ne, at which he has become quite an adept.
After working for three-quarters of an hour he is al-
lowed a quarter of an hour's rest. At the termination
of this respite be is summoned to dinner, and con-
fiaed to his cell until one o'clock. Previous to resum-
ing his task he is again-searched, and then works the
-machine entrusted to him Int'. ten minutes past five.
His day's employment is then at an end; he is escorted
to his cell, served with tea, and, at a quarter to eight
on week nights and an hour earrer on Sundays, he re-
tires to rest. Our contemporary, after giving the
Claimant's dietary table, remarks that his knicker-
boclqrs have had to be altered several times, and
some significance may be attached to the fact; that he
is reduced in girth about 17 inches.
St/SIGHT OF HAND.—" Vigil" writes to The
Timds :—" Oct Saturday last, between four and five
o'clock, I was 'looking in at the window of the
SAreoscopic Company, in Regent-street, along with
some score other persons. Presently I felt a sort of
tickling against a finger on which I had a valuable
ring, and, catching the re fiection in the window glass,
I saw some fingers working very suspiciously against
mine, and thought that they were trying to push off
my ring. I moved five times, each time taking care
that I could g t the shadows in the window, and each
time was I closely followed. I have no doubt I was
too cautious, and, getting tired of the game, I went
away and sent a policeman; but he, being in uniform,
could not do any more good than simply act ' scare-
crow.' I then discovered that the fellow had neatly
extracted a stud out of my shirt sleeve, no doubt
effecting this without my suspicion when he was
tickling my finger. This, however, I could freely have
forgiven to have witnessed privately his emotion when
he found cut that it was a brass one that had cost but
a penny. Your giving publicity to this will remind
people that the honourable profession of light fingers
is represented even at this time of the year and in
broad daylight in the comparative solitude of out-of-
season Regent-street."

INDIAN WlLows.—Allen's Indian. Mail says:
"In the marriage market an Indian civilian used to be
reckoned as worth £3OO a year, dead or alive. The
nominal value of Bombay Civilians now bids fair to
rise yet higher, although the real value will remain
much as it was, in view of the growing cheapness of
money. Owing to the flourishing state of their
Widows' Fund, it has been proposed that £4OO instead
of £3OO per annum should be the pensiin granted to
ladies who come on the fund as widows after the let
of July. 1876. This, says an Indian journal, will be
equal to a marriage settlement, in the ordinary
manner, of £12,000 in Consols—a sum which not one
man in twenty belonging to the upper, middle, and
professional classes is able to settle on his wife when
he marries. A counter proposition, which is even
more liberal than the original one, is also going round
for signature, to the effect that all the widows now on
the fund should also get the increased pension, and to
this amendment there is said to be little or no opposi-
tion. As w:dows on the Bombay Civil Fund forfeit
half their pensions if they marry again, it follows that
each one of these ladies who takes unto herself a
second husband will have £2OO a year to help in keeping
up her new home. That au 011 is equal to a settlement
of £6,000 or so in Consols, and it is not every lady,
whether widow or maid, who can command so useful
a dowry. Thus the now regulation will not only raise
the value of Bombay Civil Servants as husbands, but
also of the widows they leave behind them."

_
A MESSAGE FROM THE SE.—At an early
hour on Friday morning in last week an old sailor
named Mitchley, while walking along the beach at
Hunstanton, picked up a bottle which contained the
following letter :—" June 28, 1876.—The Mary Jane,
Ilamburg.—All is lost Goodbye to all friends,
especially to Alice, my love. Tell her lam faithful to
the last. Don't forget me. Though sinking, I think
of thee; good-bye, dearest.—W. F. J. Love to all.
We are just sinking; no time for me."
FRIENDLY AITENTF3N. Loving Husband:
"Matilda Ann, though I love you most dear, bein'
newly married you may not know any Waits ; so I do
'ope another time when you sees me talkie' to a
strange genelman at the corner of the street you won't
slap him in the eye s,a 'ard."—Fond Wife: " Lawks,
'Enery, I wouldn't a-took sich a liberty if I'd known 'e
were strange. I thought 'e were a friend o' yourn.”—
Fun.
THE MURDER OF GENERAL PB.Im. —A letter
from Madrid says that the investigation into the mur-
der of General Prim commenced on the 27th of Decem-
ber, 1870, has just terminated. The proceedings fill
32,000 folios of manuscript, and have been carried on
by 18 judges. One hundred and twenty persons have
been sought after as implicated; of these, 40 have been
discharged for want of proof of complicity, the risi-
dance of 4i others could not be found, six are dead,
ten are in prison, and two of those absent are out of the
country, and have not obeyed the summons to appear.
During the proceedings it has been shown that some
fabricated evidence was offered. Notwithstanding all
the efforts which have been made it has not been
found possible to fix the guilt of the crime on any one
by absolute proof.

GOOD NEWS ! —The American Correspondent
of The Timf.B writes :
There is a general indication of a revival of the recently
much depressed trade in cotton goods. A recent large
aucHon sale of prints in New York attracted buyers from all
parts of the country, developing a spirited competition for
the goods and a decided advance In prices. This result, with
some other indications of a reving demand for cotton goods,
has put our manufacturers in better spirits, and there are
several annotince.nents cf this atreing of idle factories and
of full•time running where heretefo.e there has been only
partial time. These statements come from different sections
of the coaLtry, showing that the better prospect in the
cotton manufacture is general. The A. arid W. Sprague
Mills at Providence, employing 10,000 hands, started yeetee r. _
day. Half- dozen mills in Philadelphia diner havestarant
and
other are about starting. At Fall River, Lowell. Lawrence.
other New England factory
uoryiatuouwfancsturtheres purieNeociatEloolig;lafnodr
starting are vigorous. 1t
think there will be an advance in cotton and woollen goods
801 l cotton buying an
advance in wages at Fall
this autumn, and they
wool
tbotyoinrgepalreenisbhristkheudrndletroctlikiss
impetus, and there may be a slight adva.
i a
d n which ha
ivvene r. u Tmhue
chbreehaeka
pienr tchoae
h` caosahl
acdo
muchrnb ri
ttoi
promo-
log the revival in manufactures.
nONwasTHtEhe BeußbAjleNct. —of
TlO o
Association by Mr. C. T.
a paper read to the British ThTellaloAn of alcoholcl oAuLtChell°brlai
Kingz3tt, F.C.S., who stated atsheconactilluosuitont softhaalteohhaodl
a at •—Fin.tt that
been arrive •
not increase with the con.
holic diet • therefore, as all the
eeddaalLoilay .must. of necNisity be disposed
alcoholte
ni
al nu c toceodcn perut consumed
certainly not e trial d
Secondwithin
ttdhhaaaiittliimhanee;iiiamt must
siniiol was
e nioest
of
alcohol
in t y
foil
lla'wing the taking of
a dose was completed in 24 hours after thee dose was
taken ;and third, that the amount eliminated both in
breath and urine was a minute fraction only ot the
amount of the alcohol taken. Dr. Percy was able to
procure a much larger proportion of alcohol from the
brain than from a greater quantity of blood that could
possibly be present within the cranium of the animal
upon which he operated. Dr. Marcet held that alcohol
operated upon the brain by means of absorption of the
nervious centres. Other experimenters had taken
alcohol from brain matter in the case of alcoholic
poisoning. But these researches still left us ignorant
as regarded the true action, if any, of alcohol en
cerebral matter, and no method of investigation was
possible until the chemical constitution of the brain
was known. The President said there was a delicate
connective tissue in the brain by operating upon which
alcohol had the effect of interfering with the action of
the brain.

PEDLARS' CERTIFICATES.—In the year ended
the 31st of March the stamp duty on pedlars' certificates
in the metropolis amounted to £1,351 63. 63.

CREMATION. —The Duchy of Saxe Gotha has
taken the lead in allowing cremation, and the town of
GJtha bas granted a site. for the purpose. The G-er-
man society for the introduction of cremation has paid
a sum of 15,000 marks to the town of Gotha to cover
the necessary expenses for erecting a cremation ap-
paratus. Strict regulations have been published by
the police, ordering the examination by competent
medical officers of all bodies to be burnt, E 0 as to pre-
vent cremation in all cases where the cantata of death
have not been properly ascertained. B Joies sent from
abroad are subject to the same or even more stringent
rules. At first no corpse is to be burnt unless the de-
ceased has expressed a wish to that effect, and his re-
latives have approved of it.
GOLD AD MO.NEY. —The Financier says that
during the next two or three weeks £OOO,OOO or aim
£700,000 in sovereigns ia expected to be sent to
Ireland, in connection with the autumnal fair there. Lid
and the usual expansion of the note circulation of the 't A
various banks; but in presence of the enormous stock
at the Bank, this effect will scarcely be felt. It may
be reasonably assumed, however, that the question of
peace or war will be shortly decided, and, in either
case, the money market may receive some impulse, it
being the uncertainty which now prevails that chiefly
checks fresh operations in all quarters. Previous to
the occurrence of the Franco•Garinan war, operations
were generally restricted, but its actual outbreak was
followed by an important recovery on the StoCk Ex-
change, and subsequently a Large amount of mercantile
business was diverted to this country. There was
then no prospect of England being involved in the
struggle. _ _

itIGHTHANDI DNESS. "—Mr. James ShaTr,
Glasgow, has contributed a papEr to the British Asso-
ciation on "Bighthandedne3s." There Was, he sub-
mitted, a constitutional reason for the preference given
to the right hand; but this tendency he believed had
been very much strengthened by habit. A curious
fact was that elephants had been frequently known to
use the right tusk more than the left in digging up
roots and in doing other things. Lefthandedness he
regarded as a very mysterious habit. By Professer
Buchanan, Glasgow, it had keen sought to be accounted
for on the theory of a transposition of the viscera, but
this was not, in his opinion, a satisfactory solution of
the difficulty, as cases of lefthandedness were much
more frequent than that physical condition the profes-
sor referred to could be supposed to be. After a few
remarks by Dr. Sharp, Thornhill, Dr. Robertson, of
Glasgow, pointed out that it had been ascertained by
Professor Struthers, Aberdeen, that there was greater
solidity on the right side of the body than on the left,
and this fact probably accounted for the tendency to
use the right hand.

FAMILY INTEBM4RIIIAGES.—An author in a
recently published book speaks of the direful effect of
family intermarriages. He says :—lt is in Germany
that the ffects of marriages are most severely felt.
If money there is in a family, the host of the house
insists that it shall not go out of it. Hence, both in
the case of gold and land, marriages and intermarriages
go on generation after generation, the relationships
growing ever nearer and nearer, more and more con-
fused, and the result, as may be readily imagined, ever
more and more disastrous. In no other country does
one meet with the same number of goitrous throats,
scarred neck, spinal diseases, hip diseases, bad teeth,
and generally defective bone structure, as in Germany.
In one family, where cousins had intermarried with
cousins apparently since the Flood, the sole heir to a
vast property was a delicate, spineless boy, a child
whose bones had a cruel tendency to work through the
skin, and so to slough away to the agony of the little
sufferer: It was not possible that he should live, and
when, after a few years of terrible existence, death
came and mercifully set him free at last, the childless
father, looking round, picked out another cousin, took
her to wife, and lived to have three more children, ad.,
whereof two were grievously afflicted in mind and -
body, but the third, a hectic boy, survived to in-
herit the estate. Comment is unnecessary,

? i
FOR VINEANCIAL REASONS.—The I/
Government has prohibited the importation of grapes. t-Al
What a vine notion! We presume the Government "
tor
has its own raisins for adopting it—Fun.

THE SUBLIME POBTP.—The Idustrated London -et*
News remarks :—The Meaning of the term "Sublime #
Porte "must be left to our omniscient acquaintance the
"merest schoolboy," to whom a late Ar‘thhishop of .#
York aecrlbed the power of disposing offhand of all the -
theological difficulties raised in "Essays and Review,"
and the writing of Dr. Coleus°. There is a story of
the "merest schoolboy," grown to adolescence, being
asked at an examination why the Republic of Venice
used to be called the "Serene." "Because she reigned
over the sea," replied the M. S., who in that particular
case was pos.:ibly of Irish extraction. There is a some-
what mole feasible derivation of the phrase "Sublime
Porte." In the old days of the supremacy of the
Grand Turk in EAstern Europe the Ambassadors of
the Christian Powers when they were honoured with
an audience by the Sultan or his Vizier, were not
allowed to penetrate beyond the great gate of entrance
(in Lingua Franca " Porta " or " Porte ' ) of the old
Seraglio. There is such a gate to the Alhambra and
Alcazir, and the keystones of these porches are
adorned with inscriptions in Arabic setting forth the
attributes of Providence among which is obviously that
of sublimity. The old Turks were too pious a race to
qualify their government as sublime; but their Sultan
In his intercourse with the Giaours sate in the gate or
Porte bight Sublime. Ttarough an easily understood
process of association the name of the building in which
political affairs were transacted was transferred to the
government itself.