The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1878-10-19 00:00:00

MR. BRIGHT ON THE LIQUOR
TRAFFIC.

Mr. Joseph Leicester, President of the Workmen's Political
League for the Annihilation of the Liquor Traffic, having
forwlirded to Mr. John Bright, MP., a resolution passed at
a meeting of working men, on Sunday, the 2Rth ult., at St.
John's Hall, Clerkenwell, calling upon the right hon gentle-
man to frame a Bill for the purpose of controlling the liquor
traffic, has received the following reply

"Rochdale, Oot. 7.
"Dear Sir,—l thank you for your letter, and for
the copy of the resolution which you forwarded me.
I cannot undertake to frame a Bill on the subject of
the drink traffic, or to take the part you and your
friends invite me to assume. I watch the discussion
which is now in progress, and I hope it may yield some
fruit, some plan of procedure which may prove useful
to the cause of temperance. The subject is one of
great difficulty—the inveterate custom of our people,
their belief that stimulants are wholesomeand necessary,
their habitual and almost universal self-indulgence in
them, are -obstacles which seem insurmountable.
Whilst these opinions and habits prevail it is difficult
to alter the law; a change of law, though not abso-
lutely useless, will do much less for temperance than
many sanguine people expect. I hope, however, that
what change of law can do may be done, and that a
more intelligent public opinion may gradually be
created to do more than even the wisest legislation
can do. I hope the •extension of education may give
our people more -self-respect,, and, thus. save them from.,
the miserable degradation to which multitudes of them
are now subjected by a pernicious indulgence in in-
toxicating drinks. lam sorry Ido not see my way to
say or do more in connection with this great and diffi-
cult question. If an opportunity offers in which I can
be of service I hope I shall not neglect it.—l am,
very respectfully yours, "JoBN BztioßT."

CUTTINGS FROM AMERICAN PAPERS.

She used to keep bits of broken china and crockery
piled up in a convenient corner of the closet, and, when asked
her reason for preserving such domestic lumber, she would
shoot a lurid glance at her husband, and merely remark, "He
knows what them's for.

An American contemporary gives the following
version of the opening of a a well-known song :

_
My mother bids me bind my hair,
But does not tell me which;
Does she mean that piece on my bed-room chair,
Or my fifty-dollar switch?

A Canadian Indian has accomplished the feat of
running twelve miles an hour. His wile chased him the
first two miles, however.

A young man advertises in a New York paper for
a situation as son-in-law fa a respectable family. He would
have no objection, he says, to go a short distance into the
country.

A school district in Massachusetts has a committee
of three, consisting of a man, his wife, and his daughter.
Strange to say, the daughter got the appointment as teacher
against all competitors.

An American paper asks, "How can a woman
make home more attractive to her husband?" There is no
general answer, but in some cases the thing can be done
by inviting the Widow Smith round to spend the evening.

The last new word ushered into the world by some
Transatlantic lexicographer is " nuptuated " for "married."
A man in Detroit, going home at a late hour of the
night, saw that the occupants of a house standing flush with
the street had left a window up, and he decided to warn
them and prevent a burglary. "Hallo, good peop--"
That was all he said. A whole pailful of water struck him
in the face, and, as he staggered back, a woman shrieked
out, " Did't I tell you what you'd get if you wasn't home by
nine o'clock?"

A widow in Baltimore put crape on the door, after the
American fashion. The crape remained there about a week
before the landlord made bold to interrupt his grief, and
when he entered he found nothing there but the house.
Her grief was so intense that she had inadvertently removed
all the furniture. The debt of nature which had been paid
was supposititious. The debt for rent remains utnancelled.
And yet they say that women are not calculated for busi-
ness.

The philosopher of the Kentucky Times in the
corner of the paper he fills with paragraphs, says:—" We
don't know that any man ever owned an umbrella for two
years—that is, the same one. If there is any such man in the
country, we should be pleased to receive his name and
address, not necessarily for publication, but merely as a
guarantee of good faith. We think he would be a curiosity,
and would, furthermore, be quite an acquisition to some
travelling show. Besides, we should like to borrow his
umbrella."

There is a smart man in San Francisco who thought
that he had discovered a new method of advertising his
business of tailor. He swore that he would make ,the very
sharks in the sea declare his fame to the world. He went
about his business systematically. He placed poisoned
meat in a bottle, and threw the bottle with his
own name and address enclosed into the sea, where a
hungry shark finding it swallowed it, and soon turned his
mouth to the sky. Being picked up in the bay, the shark
declared in the memorandum found entire in the bottle the
means whereby he had come to an untimely end. The
notiee was, as the tailor expected, sent to the papers. But
the journalists out West are 'cute people. Instead of his
name and address being printed in the paper, the tailor re-
ceived an intimation that he might, by applying to the
manager's office, secure the publication of his name at the
usual rate.