The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1878-12-14 00:00:00

Misallautous

HOME, FOREIGN, AND COLONIAL.

CHRISTMAS CARDS.—In an article on the subject of
the great artistic merit of Christmas cards The
Standard remarks :—. . . . "Christmas cards are sent
to everybody. Parents despatch them to their
children, and the children in their turn to their
parents; brothers, sisters, cousins, exchange them
with one another. Even middle aged folk, who, were
it not for the cheery influence of the season, might be
supposed to be superier to any such small follies, have
been known to rush incontinently into the stationer's
shcp,buy Christmas cards by the dozen, and post them
off to their friends. And why not? It is always
pleasant to remember and to be remembered. A
Christmas card, with the sender's name on its back, is
a Christmas letter saying in effect, "I have not for-
gotten you; and I hope you are well." There are
many customs of the season more childish and less
kindly than the sending of Christmas cards. The poor
postman alone excepted, nobody is the worse for it,
and many are the happier.
THE AMERICAN METHOD. —An American journalist
professes to have solved that difficult problem—How
to manage your husband. This is his advice :—" A
wife must learn bow to form her husband's happiness
by seeking to know in what direction the secret of his
comfort lies; she must not cherish his weaknesses by
working upon them—she must not rashly run counter
to his prejudices. Her motto must be never to irri-
tate. She must study never to draw too largely upon
he small stock of patience in man's nature, nor to
his obstinacy by trying to drive him. Never,
if possible, to have "scenes." If irritation should
occur, a woman must expect to hear from most men a
strength and vehemence of language far more than the
occasion requires. Mild, as well as stern men, are
prone to this exaggeration of language; let not a
woman be tempted ever to say anything sarcastic or
violent in retaliation. The bitterest repentance must
needs follow such indulgence if she do. Men fre-
quently forget what they have themselves said, but
seldom what is uttered by their wives. They are
grateful, too, for forbearance in such cases, for, whilst
asserting most loudly that they are right, they are
often conscious that they are wrong."

THE DISTRESS IN SHEFFIELD.—Me. MUndella,
M.P., has sent £5O and a supply of blankets for the
distressed poor in Sheffield; and Mrs. Mundella has
sent £5O worth of warm clothing. The distress, more
particularly in the ironworking districts of the town, is
exceedingly great, and there are distributions of soup
and bread almost daily. Children's dinners are also
given in various parishes, and a committee of ladies,
over whi,th the Mayoress presides, are making an
organized effort to supply sempstresses and the wives
of unemployed men with sewing, om the understanding
that when the clothing is completed it shall be lent to
the poor. The fund has now (Monday), reached the
sum of £5,381.
A LEG-ITIMATE CONCLUSION.—A thin man has MOTO
legs and arms than he wants, as he possesses spare
ones.—Fun.

SHAKESPEARE'S TOM.—The curse pronounced on
the tomb of William Shakespeare against any one who
shall "remove his bones" is not likely to take effect.
The last number of the London Gazette contains a
notification that, the Home Secretary having reported
in pursuance of the Act of Parliament, his opinion
that burials shall be discontinued in the parish church-
yard of Stratford-on-Avon, such representation will
be taken into consideration by "a Committee of the
Lords of Her Majesty's Most Honourable Privy
Council" on the 12th of January next. The recom-
mendation is to the effect that burials shall forthwith
be wholly discontinued in this church and churchyard,
"except in now existing vaults and walled graves,
every coffin, buried in which shall be separately
enclosed by stonework or brickwork properly cemented
and except in now existing family graves which can be
opened without the exposure of coffins." Similar or
neE rly similar recommendations will be taken into
consideration on the same day by the Privy Council
with respect to several other parishes.

AMERICAN FOOD.—There was a perceptible increase
in the quality of fresh meat landed at Liverpool last
week when compared with recent periods, while the
arrivals of live stock showed a considerable decrease.
All the steamers conveying fresh meat came from
New York, bringing 5,415 quarters of beef, 1,575
carcases of mutton, and 190 dead pigs. Ten barrels
of turkeys also came from Canada. Four steamers
arrived with live stock, the total being 647 cattle,
1,009 sheep, and 30 pigs.

ADVICE TO NEW HOUSEKEEPERS.—Never pick your
locks. Take them as they come.—Fun.
ABOUT SHRIMPS.—A young lady staying at the
Palace Hotel, San Francisco, wrote to one of the papers
asking if it is really true that "those dear little shrimps"
really eat dead bodies, and, further-more, inquires
'why they are not so nice as usual." The editor replied,
saying, If our fair correspondent means that the
dead bodies are not as nice as usual we would infer
that their want of appetising qualities is one of the
drawbacks to a residence in this latitude. But if as
we apprehend, she refers to the shrimps themselves as
not nice, we respond that these nutritious creatures do
eat dead bodies—there are certain physical obstacles to
their eating live ones.
HER FIRST SUNDAY AT CHURCH. Little Girl.
Nurse, please, give me a penny to give to the organ
grinder; be's coming round begging with a dish.—
Judy. _

THE RINDERPEST.—The Berlin correspondent of
the Times says :—" The rinderpest having made its
way from the Russian frontier to the neighbourhood
of Berlin, stringent measures have been adopted to
prevent the infection from penetrating to the capital.
The worst feature of the calamity is the impossibility
of preventing its recurrence. Rinderpest never dies
out in Russia and Poland; but the indemnity paid to
the proprietors of infected herds officially slaughtered
by Government butchers is so very insufficient in
those countrifs that the moment a single ox is found
to be clileased there arises the temptation to smuggle
the whole herd across the Prussian frontier. It has
been calculated that to close the long extent of open
frontier effectually some 10,000 men would have to be
permanently employed in this tiresome duty."

MR. SPURGEON% HFALTH.—The attack of illness
with which the Rev. C. H. Spurgeon was visited some
three of four weeks ago shows but little signs of abate-
ment. The following letter was read to the congrega-
tion at the Metropolitan Tabernacle from the pulpit
on Sunday morning :

"Beloved friends,—l have from day to day been looking
for the high pleasure of worshiping with you to-day. Alas 1
it must not be. I cannot stand for even five minutes.
During the night I have been fiercely attacked by rheuma-
tism in the back and loins, and I now feel quite prostrate.
How I long to speak again in the name of the Lord 1 Accept
my hearty love. May God bless the two brethren who so
kindly fill my place. Pray for me, and let nothing fiag.—
Your devoted minister, C. H. SPURGEON."

EXTREMES MEET.— A week old baby, if allowed to
live to its second childhood, will end in becoming a
weak old man.—Fun.

AN OTTER CAPTURING LARGE SALMON.—The Deutsche
Fischerei-Zeiklng records an incident which confirms in
a remarkable manner the opinion often expressed, and
frequently corroborated, that otters do not hesitate to
attack fish of very large size when in search of the
wherewithal to break their fast. A. correspondent,
resident in Norway, states that he recently found on
the bank of the Laerdabselo, near Seltun, the fresh
remains of an otter's breakfast or dinner, in the form
of the head and tail ends of a salmon' which weighed
silb. and 18ilb. respectively. The marks of the otter's
forepaw were plainly visible on the tail end. Judging
from the ascertained weight of the remnants, the fish,
as a whole, must have weighed about 501 b., and if all
the missing portion had been devoured, it follows that
an otter is capable of gorging at least 201 b. of filth at a
meal.—The Country.
THE TELEPHONE.—The New York papers report
that Mr. Edison has stated that he has made an im-
proved receiver for his telephone, by means of which
persons standing 15ft. from the instrument can hear a
whisper uttered miles away.
UTILISING PRISON LAI3OER.—The Commissioners of
Prison iin their last report, state that steps are in con-
templation for the classification of prisoners. One of the
most obvious arrangements is that the shortientenced
prisoners of a district should be concentrate 4 in one
prison, to be devoted almost entirely to enforcing first-
class hard labour, while the other prisons .would be
devoted to industrial employment. It is anticipated
that it may also be found possible, within certain
limits, to appropriate different prisons to different
industries. This subject has been under the con-
sideration of a departmental committee, and they
suggest, by way of example, that shoemakers might
be sent to Warwick and Northampton, straw-
plaiters to St. Albans, stocking-knitters to Leicester,
these trades being generally followed in these neigh-
bourhoods, so that a nucleus of skilled workmen
would generally be found in the prison, to be rein-
forced by drafts from elsewhere. Wandsworth, with
its many flour mills, would grind wheat; Holloway
make clothing; Kirkdale and Salford, in the cotton
district, weave linen for sheetings, shirting, and
female under-garments; and Waßefield, as a woollen
district, would turn its vast plant and great steam
power to the manufacture of blankets and rugs. These
articles might be supplied, not solely for prison use,
but also for other branches of the public service. The
local prisons might thus supply, at prices considerably
below ordinary contract rates, such articles as cloth-
ing and necessaries for soldiers, sailors, and police,
furniture and fittings for offices and barracks, and other
articles. The Commissioners of Prisons are of opinion
that this system, already adopted to some extent in
the Convict prisons, may now very well be extended,
with great pecuniary advantage to the public depart-
ments in whose service prisoners' labour may be
employed.
THE WHOLE HOG OR NONE.—We heard of a
thoroughgoing man of business lately who would not
only do nothing by halves, but even refused to buy
wheat, at a most advantageous price, because it was
sold by the quarter.—Fun.
A NEW ROYAL PALACE.—The King of Bavaria is
erecting at Herren-Chiemsee a Royal chateau on the
plan of that of Versailles. When completed it will be
at least as large as the Royal Palace at Munich. The
building is to be spread over 15 years and the estimated
cost is 36,000,000 marks (21,800,000). Three hundred
workmen are at present engaged upon it, who are
lodged in barracks temporarily erected for their accom-
modation; and by the orders of the King the greatest
care is taken to ensure their comfort and to enable
them to provide for their wants at moderate expense.,
WINTER IN LONDON.—The Astronomer Royal re-
ports that the duration of registered bright sunshine
in London during the first seven days of December
was less than three hours and a half, or about nix per
cent. of its possible duration.
Puller' v. Patrisus.—Will the gentle reader cast a
contemplative eye upon the following announcements?
"THE LAST Div; or NOTEMBER.—The Registrar-General
reports that during the last seven days of November the
duration of registered bright sunshine in London was four
hours and six minutes."_ _ _ _

-,-,-avii-P-IJBLISHiII7.-- Punch's Pocket-book for 1879."

Half an hour of sunshine daily is indeed a paltry
pittance. But the meditative mind may find food for
sweet reflection in the next announcement quoted.
Just when the days are at their darkest, Punch pro-
duces his Pocket-book. More brilliant than the electric
light, its pages illumine the gloom of the spoon, and
intellectually dazzles the mental eye. 0 forttvnati
nimitort 1 0 too happy. Britons who, when Phkgsbns
fails to shine, may rely for their enlight:Onzetelt nu their
never-failing Punch /—From Punch.