The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1876-01-01 00:00:00

CLIMATE AND CONSUMPTION.

degree. Fortunately, .the vessel was not more than a
hundred yards from the shore, and the great volumes

emoke which issued from the old Goliath in the
light of the early morning were speedily_ seen, and
_

assistance was promptly at hand. These training ships
fulfil a most useful purpose. Thousands of boys who,
but for such institutions, would probably grow up to a
life of crime in our large towns, are in theme prepared

for a maritime life, either in the Royal or the mer-
cantile navy. Every year large numbers of lads, care-
fully trained for their work, are drafted into the ranks
of our marine forces, so that the maintenance of the
supply is not only a tribute to the efforts
of our philanthropists, but a _national duty.
The Arethusa, the Chichester, the Worcester
the Conway, and other vessels of a similar character,
have, therefore, all good wishes for their success; and
although the Goliath has been destroyed by fire, there
are plenty of wooden liners laid up in ordinary to
take her place. Great Britain has, truly enough, been
said to whiten the ocean with the sails of her com-
merce, and to send her traden into every port where
the marts of men teem with traffic. She anchors her
navies in all the harbours of the habitable globe. The

number of her seamen must be equal to that of many
an army of the ancient kings, and the profession is
one in which, although courage is essential, it is better
that it should be developed by skill and training.
This is what is furnished by such ships as the charred
and blackened Goliath; and as long as we remain
tuistress of the seas, and the flags of all nations are
dipped to ours, such institutions cannot fail to com-
mand the support and sympathy of all who rejoice in
the maritime supremacy of their country.

To the most callous and unthinking there is some-
thing suggestive of reflection in the dawn of a new
year. Once more has the earth performed its annual
journey round the sun; and, impelled by an unseen and
irresistible hand, has, without pausing for an instant,
started for another twelve months' circuit. This, how-
ever, is not altogether the case with the vast human
freight which it carries. Those of the thousand mil-
lions of its people who are at all capable of thought
seize the occasion for a retrospective glance over the
fifty-two weeks which have sped. away, and also look
forward with interest and curiosity into the year
which lies before them. They turn over in
their minds the good resolutions made at the
beginning of the year which has just been
gathered in by the veteran Time; they ask themselves
how far these have been carried out; how the hopes
existent on the—ist of January have been realised by
the 31st of D7,c'enaber ; how the anxieties which then
overcast their minds have turned out to be realities,
or mere phantoms of the night which disappear in the
stTang as the mist fades in the valley when it is
rteken with the sunbeam The night that terminates
a "b"tous ,day is sw.
eet ; the Sunday which

-

AN INGENIOUS INN-BEEPER.—An ingenious
wine shop keeper in Paris has adapted himself to the
exigencies of the hour, which demands in everything
a spice of politics, by hanging conspicuously a placard
in his parlour, inscribed, Sooner or later he will re-
turn.' The Bonapartists look up at it and say, " Ah,
ha! that means our boy "—the young Napoleon. The
Orleanists think the allusion is to the Count de Paris;
the Legitimists opine that it can only mean the Count
de Chambord, whilst the Republicans are convinced
that it refers to "little Theirs." So all are pleased,
and the honest quiz, when questions are asked, merely
smiles, winks, and shrugs his shoulders. "He " really
meant his Zonave boy on African service.

ENE!!

ftlimimm

--4;r"a6°

At this date' when we are in the habit of gathering
around us 'all friends within reach, how many fami-
lies are there who sadly miss some absent member
who is seeking, far away amongst strangers in a
foreign land, a cure or palliation of the dread disease,
consumption! Would that we could prognosticate,
with any degree of certainty, the return of the parent,
the husband, wife, or child in something like restored
health But, in too many cases, those who have
been lured mte visiting the south of 'Europe;
merely because the sky appears blue and serene,
and the sun shines' discover too late that their
hopes of restoration to health have been-misplaced,
and, instead of a refuge, they find a grave. To speak
plainly, they would have done better had they stopped
at home. For some reason or other, a common im-
pression seems to have become deeply rooted in the
British mind that consumption is a disease peculiar to
our own country, or, at any rate, that it is much more
severe 'here than in more highly-favoured lands where
the sun shines often, and where fogs are comparatively
unknown. But such is not the fact. There is not a single
country or locality south of the latitude of Greenwich
in which this disease does not exist to a greater ex-
tent and with greater fatality than in England.
Heat is injurious in all cases of actual con-
innirition, and various causes, such as great variations
opqnnerature.,and. malaria, are at work in the over-
praised-healtli-resorteof the south of Europe, Algeria,
and Madeir4. The only countries where consumption
is unknown amongst the natives are Iceland and Lap-
land. It is also comparatively rare in Sweden,
Denmark, and Russia, as well as in Canada—all of
them countries which present climatic characteristics
entisielyopboeitn'to thoo bOhe- much vaunted places
*here thousands of Englislmen and Englishwomen go,
every year, to—die. Unfortunateli, for these invalids
who mould _Nishtry clinol,l,*d who
are sensibly impressed with the act tha Hentone,
Nice, Naples, and Rome, in Europe, and Algeria, in
Africa, are not altogether the desirable places of
resort for phthisical patients that they are supposed
and represented to be—the ratio of deaths from con-
siimption as compared with those from other dis-
eases is 1 in 233 in Naples, 1 in 44_,i in :Rome,
and lin 8'33 in London—the climate of the countries
in which the greatest immunity from consumption
exists is so rigorous that a consumptive invalid would
be prevented to' a very great extent from taking out-
door exercise in winter. Consequently, when every
argument for and against travel in search of health for
consumptives has been gone into, the only conclusion
that can be drawn is that they would have a better
chance of recovery at home, while they.would then,
under any circumstances not be deprived of the -com-
fort and .qonsolation, derivable from the ten-
der 'nursing- and' the • kind sympathy of rela-
tives and other friends. The practice of send-
ing consumptive persons abroad has become almost a
mischievous monomania; to say the least, it is often a
delusion and a snare. In Leamington, Cheltenham,
l&th, Tunbridge Wells, Buxton, or ..ii'arrogate,i a
ginhisical patient would, other things . being [equal,
have a much better .chance of recovery,: or,, at, apy
M rate, prolongation of life than at Nice, entone,
Naples, Rome, or Pisa; and, in every respect, the
former are superior to the latyrkAticttt idfie Fe si-
pyip_l
cl en,c4oo,r,Pagl 4.consumpttves.—Public Heala.
U. 1.1 U

New and stringent regulations, similar to those
which govern the Royal Arsenal cartridge factories and the
public works and magazines at Waltham Abbey, and else-
where, are to be put in force, on and after the Ist of
January, for ensuring safety daring the manufacture,
removal, and storage of gunpowder, dynamite, and other
explosives. .
A statement relative to the recent strike among the
Warwickshire miners has just been issued, from which it
appears that the centest involved an expenditure on the
part of the men of nearly £20,000. The greater portion of
this money was subscribed by the miners of Durham
Northumberland, South and West Yorkshire, Nottingham
shire, Lancashire, and other parts of the kingdom.
In London, at ten o'clock on Christmas night, a
young man of respectable appearance was observed wander-
ing aoout the Surrey end of Westminster-bridge, near St.
Thomas's Hospital. Two gentlemen spoke to him, but re-
ceived no reply. They had scarcely proceeded a few yards
when they saw the man leap over the parapet of the bridge
Into the river. He rose to the surface and struck out, but
as he was wearing a large Ulster coat he soon became power-
less and went down. Mr. Watford, of the Thames Police
and boat's crew, stationed at the floating pier, Waterloo-
bridge, rowed to the spot, but failed to recover the body.
According to the annual statistical report of the
Army Medical Department which refers to the year 1873, in
' the United Kingdom the most healthy troops were those
stationed at the seaport towns and camps and at the smaller
' stations, the dockyards, large manufacturing towns, and the
• city of Dubllis presenting, as usual, a high death-rate, and a
, large proportlon of men conttantly sick and ineffective.
. Thus, while in the camps the number constantly sick was
36 in every 1,000, in London and Windsor it was alt anti iii
Dublin 43.
-•--- * ....--s
• A letter from Florence states that a Pole, named
Mackzuski, has just accomplished the feat of playing simul-
taneously five games of chess, at the Philological Club,
without in any case seeing the board. He had offered to
sustain six contests, but five competitors only presented
themselves. These were an American lady, an Italian, an
Englishman, a Mexican, and a German. The play lasted
from half-past one in the day until eight in the.evening, and
resulted in Maczuski winning three games and losing two..
The lady was one of the saccessful combatants.
Mr. Spurgeon preached for the first time since his
return from the South of France on Sunday (26th). Before,
proceeding with his discourse he said he was glad to return,
to his own congregation again, and also to see that the sun
had got back to England once more. He regretted that theY.
had had so many wet Sundays, especially because, in oon-
sequence of it, there had been a financial going backwards
in the receipts. The weekly offerings alone were £lOO less
in the aggregate than they were generally there at the end
of the year, and he trusted some of his friends who were
bounteously endowed would not let the year close witheut
emancipating them from the difficulty.
The Times says. that "the number of letters, news:ii
papers, and Christmas cards posted in. London .and the.
country on Christmas Eve was far beyond all precedent, and,
as many of the • trains were behind time, thus increasing the
difficulties with which the Post 'Office had to contend, it
A STORY OF SPIRITUALISM was found to be impossible to complete the sortieg in time
for the despatch of- the night mail trains from London.
(From Punch's Pocket Book for 1876 ) Indeed, so great was the pressure of business that, although
. ,
In ' the aechided ham'lt of tli
.A., near e-toi-vn Of B.; all the available force, numbering nearly 1,000 persons, was
in
.the county of 'C., welt a y6ung fax:Filer,' 6ortly after De forwarded could not even be opened.
I whose on, duty at the. Chief Office, some bags containing letters t
name suffice i t give the initials 'G Sh 4
._ .„ .
arriiing at man's estate, S. G. grew weary of celibacy, The Paris Municipality has under consideration a
"
• t o S': .
and as, he used 'gall?, to say, of being a, husbandreaa
'and brick,
advanced.
a a d the
e whul
safes c l
proposal to construct a fireproof room at the Mon t-de-Piete
„
,:ithout having awi e. He waFi of a I ive turn.ly " Ac- for the security. of articles. of value on which a sum, of net
. lessa e tohaaa
cordingly he paid his addresses to a young woman, the b
daughter of pcor, but respectable parents. Notwith- would have an outer casing of masonry which would pre-
standing her inferior station, Mary—.---was uniVer- ' terve their contents from the flames even in the!event of a
sally, and justly, votedthe village belle ll: ' ' disaster. in ' ter. The building would be of sufficient size to contain
. , ntru a constructed uselhntdireflryan oct s ihroand '
1- Though S. G, occupied but a smallizar, . j • ewelry, plates, silks, cashmeres for a value of millions of
ro, he was a . francs. The door would be secured by three locks, the keys
tall young fellow, and certainly a catch for a girl, of ' of which would be confided to different emn/oyes who could
lowly position. Hie addresses were therefore readily ! only use them simultaneously. The room nas already re
accented by Mary, and a day, _was, AX 6 d for , theiT , ceived the name of .
the „Amber net mute
union. In the meanwhile S. G. mrphaeed. aoring to? The Bishop Of Exeter having been interrogated by
supplement.as a guar4 the Plain hopp Ofrold, intended ! a fereign ecclesiastical dignitary as to whether apostolic
for his bride's, fourth finger. 'Upon it, in a concise , succession is a doctrine of the Church of England, has replied
couplet, was engraven a motto, which briefly, expressed ' s,i:i follows: "The Church of England desires to include
thin her pale both those who hold the doctrine of the
the faithful saying, that the k apostolic succession and those who do not. 'To meet the
of no avail to severe the genuine tie of mutual affection. need of the latter she nowhere requires any of her members
But what earthly ligature can resist, the viewless or ministers to hold that doctrine. To meet the need of the
blades of Destiny? The duration of life is for eaeh of former she provides that all her ministers shall profess that
us altogether doubtful. Qn the day Appoiptea for the: succession as a fact."—Pall Mall Gazette. ,
nuptials of S. G. and Mary ______, the vitall4lament of I The Bank Holiday of Monday was very generally
the affianced bridegroom was suddenly 09BA. IrA, observed in London and its suburbs. The weather was dull
coroner's jury returned the verdict usual in spell de-1 and cheerless, the mild temperature of the previous few
, days having been succeeded by a dull and heavy atmosphere,
plorable cases. t" '' = ' ' ' • i accompanied at times by a drizzling rain. Notwithstanding
On receiving the sad intelligence, of her • lover's : these unfavourable circumstances, however, the railway
decease, Mary fell senseless. She remained in a states stations were crowded by large contingents of excursionists
of apparent coma until nighti Returning coneciousness. to the various suburban places of recreation and amusement,
• • the theatres in the metropolis at the same time maintaining
brought tears to her relief. She immediately retired. the traditional character of Boxing Day.
to bed, but not to sleep. She lay awake still weeping,!• In Paris, on Monday morning, by order of the
nor ever once closed her eyes, which were wide open! Government, a
rnment, a solemn funeral service was performed at the
when she distinctly heard the parish church cloc,k.strike! Church of the HOtel des Invalides, in memory of the late
the hour of midnight. As nearly as she .could, judge,. Generals Lecomte and Thomas, who were the 4.rst victims of
twenty minutes after that, her little bedroom became the Commune. A great number of State dignitaries and
filled with a phosphorescent vapour, which gradually deputies of the Right and Left were present, and afterwards
condensed itself into the semblance of a human form a procession, accompanied with military honours, proceeded
shrouded in a white vestment. There stood S. G. to cemeteryhlner atare buPrirel Lag
ihinteiawn
ehoez thweirttginastoltaht:
seemingly in his habit BA he lived—a rural blouse. But
. to the two first victims of the CommunetheYstatue of Napoleon
he appeared taller than in life, nearly equalling m L was hoisted a considerable distance up the column in the
stature the post of the bed, nigh which he stood. Place Vendome.

-1
1 THE MARKETS:44ffi'E"
•
ittriu4 ,t- - 4.4
,c4if ifd •14 MARK-Lk/U.—WEDNESDAY.:
At Mark-lane to-day, with a thin attendance of millers,
business was on a limited scale. The supply of English
wheat was only moderate, but the market was thinly supplied
with foreign. A limited inquiry prevailed, but for Choice
old samples steady rates were paid. In the barley trade
there was no feature of importance. With moderate supplies
and a slow demand prices were unaltered. Malt was dull at
late rates. As regards oats, transactions have not beep
brisk Very few fresh samples earns to hand; and the mica
realised, were about on a par with those previously current.
Maize sold slowly, at about late rates. Beans and peas to.
active and unaltered. The flour market remained much in
the same position. , '

GAME AND POULTRY.
Capons, Ss. to 105. ; fowls, 3s. to 4s. 6d ; chickens, is. to
25. 6d. ; capercalizie, 45. to 6s. ; black. game, 2s to 3s. 13d.%
partridges, 2s. to 3s. ; geese, 6s. to 10s. 6d. ; turkeys, es. to
12s. ; pheasants, 3s. 3d. to 4s. ; ducks, Is. 6d. to 3g.; widgeon,
is to is. 6d. ; woodcocks, 2s. to 3s. 3d. ; hares, 2s. to ss. ;
rabbits, 6d. to 2s. 6d.; snipe, 10d, to is. 3d. each.
FISH.
Turbot, 55. to lls. 6d. ; brill, 6d. to is. 3d. ; dory, 10d. to
25. ; cod, 3s. 6d. to 6s. ; crimped ditto, Is. to 135. t3d. ;
gurnard, 9d. to is. 10d. ; plaice, 6d. to 2g. ; lobsters, is. to
3g.; crabs, 10d. to 2s. Bd. each ; haddocks, 3s. 6d. to 75.'6411:
native Oysters, 181. to 20s. ; pearl ditto, 10s. 6d. to 125.13d.1:
Dutch ditto, 11s. 6d. to 13s. ; and common ditto, as. ed. to
Bs. 6d. per hundred. •
FRUIT AND VEGETABLES. • -
Fresh supplies of vegetables were limited; the chief
sales were in Cornish brocoli at 2d. to 6d.; savoys and
cabbages, 2d. to 4d. ; lettuces, 3d. to 4d.; and endive, 24,
each; onions, 3s. to 4s, ; and potatoes, 3s. 6d. to 55. pep
bushel ; Brussels sprouts, 4d. per lb ; spinach, 3d. to 6d. ; and
brocoll ditto, 3d. ; turnips, 3d. to 6d. : carrots, Bd. to 10d. ; and
coleworts, 6d. to 9d. per bunch; seakale, is 6d. to 3s. per
basket; and asparagus, 2s. to 53. per bundle. Fruit: Dessert
apples and pears, is, to 12s. per doz. and common sorts, 35. 641.
to 6s. per sieve; oranges, 9d. to 15d. ; lemons, is. to is. ed.,;
pomegranates, 6d. to Bd. per dozen; grapes, is. to 7s. per
lb. ; filberts and Kentish cobnuts, is. ed. per lb. ; chestnuts.
25.: walnuts, 25. to 4s. per hundred. There is a quick tutla
in Spanish nuts and almonds. Flowers in great variety,
from is. to 10s. per pot. Fancy baskets of growing flowers.
105. to 15s. each; cut flowers and large fancy bouquets, 2s.
6d. to 215. per bunch ; holly, mistletoe, and evergreens, have
a large sale.

-.:
-----
,
va..
~_
..,
' ._
-____...
... _-.. -. ,

*

'%ll

7..
- -