The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1876-01-15 00:00:00

AN HISTORICAL SWORD.

An Occasional Correspondent writes to The Times
"I believe the Catabanas.naik mentioned by your
Special Corresposident with the Prince of Wales as a
Poligar Chief and former posse.sor of a beautifully.
tempered sword of steel, which is to he presented to
the Prince of Wales by the RATIFR Of Shivagunga, and
as having been executed in 1799, must be identical
with Catabomia Naig. This great Poligar Chief, hav-
ing for some time succe,sful!y defended the Fort of
Paujalunicoorchy, in 1799, against a force und, r
ColonelTannerman, was at length taken prisoner. In
1801 he escaped with others from custody and became
the formidable leader of the Southern Poligars. At
the close of the Poligar War, October, 1801, this Cata-
bornia Naig was again taken prisoner, and this time
hung. In Colonel Welsh's Military' Reminiscences'
(Smith, Elder, and Co., 1830) may be found a most
interesting narrative of the Poligar War. The same
writer also furnishes a graphical account of the instal-
lation of Wo.)dia Taur, appointed by the Madras Go-
vernment Zemeendar of the Stutvagungah Districts'
in 1801; and who, if not ancestor in a direct line of
the present Ranee, seems to have been the first to be
appointed to the dignity of a Ruler in those parts by
British authority. Colonel Welsh's information may
be relied on as that of an eyewitness of and participator
in the Poligar War, first as Lieutenant and Quarter-
master of Brigade, and then as Captain."

.

,

A FREE SUNDAY BREAKFAST.
The Echo givel the following account of a "Free Sunday
Breakfast," which is given in London by several benevolent
gentlemen, to the "poorest of the pcor" :
Few out of the many evangelistic agencies in the
Metropolis could present a scene so creditable to the
labours of its workers, and yet, by reason of the
materials upon which these operations are exerted, s
depressing as that witnessed on Sunday morning in
Gray's-yard Ragged Church, James-street, Oxford-
street. Here were gathered on the outskirts of
wealthy Tyburnia eight hundred of the poorest of the
poor—woebegone, shivering beings, who had come to
partake of the hospitality so freely vouchsafed by
their more fortunate fellow-creatures. They came
without recommendatory cards or documentary
guarantee that they were suitable guests for such a
banquet. Indeed, no other proof of eligibility was requi-
site tha,n a glance at their pinched fae.es and wretchedly-
clad bodit. s, which told plainly enough of a long as-
quaintance with poverty and suffering. The males
and females are conducted into separate rooms, gey
with illuminated Scripture texts surrounded with ever-
greens. Their demeanour is as quiet and orderly as
that of any Sunday morning congregation. Hot coffee
ad /ibitutn, and two thick slices of bread and butter are
handed round and consumed with a voracity indicating
that this simple fare is keenly relished. The repast
over, the committee of ladies and gentlemen, which is
entirely composed of voluntary workers, proceed to
"improve the occasion" by delivering short, homely
addresses and singing hymns. The chair is taken in
the men's room by Mr. G. Hanbury, in the absence,
owing to a slight accident, of the president, Mr. F.
A. Bevan. The first speaker is Mr. Gurney Shep-
pard, who, after a few kindly words full of Christian
sympathy, gives way to Alderman Sir R. W. Carden.
The genial City magistrate, with a naivete that pro-
vokes a smile' assures his hearers that, although he
may have met some of them under less happy circum-
stances, he very much prefers to stand before them on
such occasions as the present. There they meet on
rme of perfect equality, kr in the eye of Heaven
their prayers are all of equal value. It would be
interesting, Sir Robert continued, to know the be-
ginnings of many of his auditors. Doubtless many
of them wire conscious that they had thrown away
a good chance. Drink, which was the most fruit-
ful cause of crime, had brought many of them to their
present position. Two working men on casually
meeting, if they had only twopence between them,
would spend it in beer, although they were not at
all thirsty. Let them shun a socud glass, and he had
no doubt that before long many of them, at all
events, would be in a better position in life. Mr. J.
Mills follows, and in a few simple sentences brings
home the Christian message to the wayfarer. "He
shall feed His flock" -is then excellently sung by
Miss Kay, with harmonium accompaniment. Mr. E.
Trotter, the next speaker, fervently welcomes the
outcasts to the Christian fold. Mr. A. Woods' who
succeeds, tells them that although none of them
may possess a cheque-book on an earthly
bank, yet God's cheque-book is the Bible; its
cheques are payable to order only, and may
be presented over and over again without
fear that they will be dishonoured. Surveying,
during the progress of the addresses, this aggre-
gation of human misery, we find that most are listen-
ing with deep attention, and apparently laying to
heart the wise counsels being uttered. A few are
drowsy, and many look decidedly bored, as if regard-
ing the proceedings as an inevitable penance prior to
the distribution of the more substantial alms. Their
faces are not generally beautiful to look upon, they are
dirty, besotted and depraved, sometimes positively
brutal. Some are old and worn, others are young and
strong, and many are in the prime of a vigorous man-
hood. It is not difficult to see that some have been
worsted in the struggle through physical weakness and
infirmity, but many, it is palpable, through their own
folly arid improvidence.
In the women's room the same work is in progress.
The females for the most part are less vicious in aspect
than their male companions in misfortune; a goodly
number are accompanied by their little ones, to share
in the morning's meal. At noon the service is con-
qiuded with a prayer. Then comes what is to the
guests the most important event of the day—the dis-
tribution to each of a paper bag containing a Vb. meat
pie and a currant cake. On retiring from the room
each receives a cloth-bound portion of Scripture, the
annual gift of Mr. S. Morley, M.P. This work is car-
ried on every Sunday by the committee, and at the
close of the service about one pound of bread is given
to each, the attendance varying from 300 to 500.

THE SAD ACCIDENT ON THE NILE.
Th Times Own Correspondent" gives the following
account of the sad accident which happened to a dahabeeah
on the Nile on the night of the 23rd of December, and which
resulted in the loss of three nieces of Mr. Russell Gurney,
the Recorder of London :

It appears that Mr. Russell Gurney himself had
started on the Nile voyage first, leaving the rest of
his party, consisting of his nephew and nieces, to
follow him as rapidly as possible in a second boat,
the Flora, with a dragoman, reis, or captain, and
the ordinary crew. It is usual, on account of the
sandbanks, shallows, awl many curves of the river,
for dahabeeahs on the Nile to moor at nightfall ;
but, in order to lose no time, the Flora pushed on
after sunset, against, it is said, the opinion of the
reis. At 9or 10 in the evening they were some 16
miles off Minieh, a strong northerly breeze blowing
with squalls. They were passing Gebel el Tags, the
Mountain of the Bird, whose lofty, precipitous cliffs
rise abruptly from the river several hundred feet. The
Nile, having no tributary for ths last 1,800 miles of its
course, only decreases in size as it nears its mouth, and
is much wider here than i; is at Cairo. It is as broad
as the Thames at London-bridge, and the winds rush
down the ravines with great force. The Flora was
under full sail—that big lateen.sail, twice as big asthe
boat itself, which makes a dahabeeah look 1 ke a great
swan upon the water. As she rounded the
point a sudden squall took her, and before the
sheet could be let go she had capsized in the
darkness. The ladies in their cabins, most of the
crew, the reis himself, were all lost in the deep,
rapid stream, and only one passenger and the dra-
goman were able to reach the shore. A bright-eyed
donkey-boy, well known to frequenters of Shepheard's
Hotel at Cairo, who had begged to be taken on the
trip to avoid impressment as a soldier for the Abys-
sinian war, was among those lost. As yet the bodies
have not been recovered; but divers have gone up to
the scene of the disaster, and it is hoped that their
efforts will be attended with success. The sym-
pathy for Mr. Russell Gurney and his nephew is
universal at Cairo, and the catastrophe has cast a
great gloom over all English travellers in Egypt. It
cannot be too strongly impressed on Nile tourists that
the dahabeeah is only a fair-weather boat. With its
comfortable house on deck, its 60ft. or 70ft. of length,
its enormous sail, requiring a yard to hold it nearly
double the length of the boat, and, with all this, haying
a draught of barely 31t„ a Nile boat is very easily
capsized, and accidents would be frequent if travellers
did not, as a rule, prefer safety to speed, and always
seek the shelter of the banks when there was Anything
like bad weather.