The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1876-12-30 00:00:00

Our IConbon COtrtsponbtut.
(We deem it right to state that we do not at all times
,doutify ourselves with our Correspondent's opinions.l

Between the Bank Holiday of the first Monday in
August and Boxing Day intervenes the longest time
which separates any of the four. It would be impos-
sible for such a period to divide Christmas from
Easter, Easter from Whitsuntide, or Whitrantide
from the August holiday. Between early Augustand
late December, there is at the same time all the dif-
-ference, so far as the accessories of recreation'are C3:l-

corned. The weather which prevailed in July aid up
to the middle of August has not yet been forgotten.
On Sunday the ltla of the month last mentioned, the
wave of heat which had been bsrne towards us from
the tropics culminated in a temperature of 96 degrees
In the shade; strong men were prostrated, and ani-
mated nature drooped and died under the anu'e &fez
and sweltering rays. Night brought no relief bona
the hot and oppressive atmosphere, for the earth
retained the heat poured down upon it during
the long hours of the day, and the very

slight breeze which passed over the laud, seemed more
like the breath of the desert of Sahara than one from

the cooler surface of the A tlantic waves. Such was
thekind of weather, and the conditions attending the
observance of the Bank Holiday immediately pre-
ceding that which follows Christmas Day. Nothing,
therefore, could be in greater oontrast than the two.

Instead Of people making a general rush to
_suburban

placee of resort, habited in the lighteet of summer
attire, Boxing Day sees them mostly in town, wending

their way in multitudes towards the ntunerous places
of amusement. The sun, no longer high in the
heavens, has apparently taken leave of the earth for a
while ; for those of his beams which reach us are oblique
and comparatively powerless; but oftener than not
vast banks of cloud cover the sky for days and
weeks together, effectually excludimg from our gaze

the lipe of the brilliant orb which poets have
deliglired to call " the great luminary of the

day." Overcoats, winter wraps, and comforters, well-
lined gloves and mittens, fur-tipped garments, and all
the rest of it, the very sight of which in Aig-ast, would
have conduced to an increase of perspiration, are now
regarded with the utmost complacency; for although
the weather may not be bitterly cold, with frost and
snow upon the ground, the air is damp, and raw, and
chill, rendering additional vesture highly acceptable
to those who are possessed thereof. The holislay upon
the 26th December is always of a more jolly character
than at Easter, Whitsuntide, or in August. That is
plainly discernible in the streets where, without being
positively Bacchanaliin, there are many whose
appearance and gait sufficiently indicate the fact that
"Christmas comes but once a year." The human
heart has many ways of erjoyment, and that
is one of them; and there is no doubt that the police
magistrates of the metropolis just now overloek many
an offence against the laws for preventing intoxication
which at other times would not be so leniently dealt
with.

Amongst the ten millions of visitors to the Phila-
delphia Exhibition, there was a large representation

of Her Majesty's subjects; and to those who had tra-
velled in America for the first time, nothing seemed
more remarkable than the general consumption of ice
amongst all classes. It is net only in summer time
that the ice bowl is placed upon the table at every
meal; but in the winter no difference is made in this
respect. One of the latest illustrations of the value of
ice has been found in the establishment of refrigerator
cars wLich run from the chief cities of California to
the eastern markets, and especially to Chicago,
Boston, New York, and Philadelphia. California,
with its seaboard open to the soft breezes of the
Pacific, possesses one of the most delightful climates
in the world, and produces an overwhelming supply of
grapes, peaches, pears, plums, apricots, Nectarines,
strawberries, pine apples, and other fruit. Hitherto the
only way of dis Posing of the surplus quantity has
been by preserving it—either fresh, in hermetically-
sealed tin caw, or else in the form of jam or jelly.
The city of San Francisco at this moment keeps at
work six large establishments in which both kinds of
preservation are conducted on a very extensive scale.
The fruit growers, however, not finding this the most
profitable way of disposing of their produce, have made

arrangements, by means of refrigerator care, which
enable them to develop a regular trade with the great
markets of the east. Californian grapes, with the bloom
still upon them, can thus be brought into Philadelphia
in ten days, and it is stated that the ice will keep the
fruit perfeotly fresh for an entire month.
A saying of Grotius has often been quoted,
that he passed his life in laboriously doing nothing.
In our own days, however, which witness a con-
siderable dislike to anything like hard work, the
peculiar error into which Grotius fell need not be
the cause of much apprehension. Yet there is no
doubt that no matter to what class it may affect, work
of some kind is essential to health and happiness as well
as to the very condition of existence. Medical men are
agreed upon the fact that brain work of some description
is essential to good health and longevity. The brain is
as much a part of the body as any other organ; and
if either is overlooked—any function neglected—disas-
trous results frequently ensue. It is common enough
to utter a warning note against very sedentary people
who spend too much time in reading and writing, and

refrain from active exercise. Yet an exotusive devotion

to the sports of the field, or as it is commonly called,
" knecking about," without a due and proper exercise

of the intellectual faculties, Is likely to produce sleep-
less nights and imperfect digestion as ever fell to the
lot of the student or the recluse. The mental as well
as the physical energies must be called into play if the
human frame is to be kept in a state of sound health.
Although the idea of being enabled to reach the
North Pole in a balloon has been held by some of our
eminent wronaute to be impracticable, there can be
little doubt that the science of xrial navigation is yet
In its infancy. Daring a recent ascent which was
made off Cherbourg, the rocks at the bottom of the
English Channel, where the sea is nearly 300 feet deep,
were distinctly visible and clearly defined, and not
only so, but the course of the submarine currents was
easily traced. The use of the balloon naturally
suggests the possibility of making general observations
of the bottom of the sea over large tracts for various
purposes. In time of war these machines might be
used most advantageously for finding oat the where-
abouts cf torpedoes. Operations of this kind could be
carried on at night by suspending one of the powerful
submarine lamps in the water, and sending up a
balloon under coverof the daoknese, to observe the con-
dition of the Uktminated depths.
Anything which comes from the pen of Mr.
Tennyson is read with pleasure, and his new
drama, Harold, has formed no exception to the
general rule. Indeed, the study of the Poet
Laureate's works has now become a part of a literary
education. He is a consummate literary artist,
and has attained the most perfect melody of which our
lipguage is capable. The main secret of his success is
perhaps that he is the beat interpreter of the age to
Itself. He reproduces it essential characteristics; and
even when he goes back to the early twilight of English
history, it is still the modern spirit which animates the
Arthttrian legend. Ho is quoted abundantly, without
a doubt. In the Parliament, the pulpit, the press, on
the platform, and in college examinations his works
are brought into requisition. They are found in the
palace and in cheap forms in the cottages of faiely in-
structed artisans. A regular literature has indeed
grown up around his writings, which some of his
admirers have not hesitated to declare are equal to
those of Shakespere himself.

The passing away of the old year and the arrival of
the new have in many an age and in many a land given
a theme to the moralist and a text to the man of
thought and contemplation. There must be compara-
tively few who are insensible to the impressions pro-
duced by the disappearance of a clearly-defined epoch
In the chronicles of the world's history. For a year
Is unlike any other Period Into which Time upon this
earth is divided. We give far more consideration to its
removal than to the dissolution of either of the other
divisions of hours, days, weeks, months, seasons or
quarters. The names of our days, our months our
moveable festivals, and our seasons, are the same
now as they were centuries ago, and will endure
for ages and ages yet to roll over the heads
of the children of men. Sunday and Monday, January,
and February, spring
and Summer, Michaelmas
and Christmas, possess the same signification now as
In the days of our forefathers, and will be invested
with just as much, and no more, in the days which are
yet to come. The month, the season, and the festival
roll round again; not so the year. The breeze has
become its winding-sheet when the lad stroke of
midnight has tolled forth upon the silent air on the
31at of December, and the listener who is anxious to
catch the sound of the last expiring reverberations
knows full well that the year which has gone can
never come back to him again. Its title as a distinc-
tive period upon the scroll of Time is then unmis-
takeably marked; it takes its place amid the long
line of predecessors which have gone before it; and
becomes like a sealed book, no more to be opened by
human agency. Whether in the mighty city, whose
streets, a fe w hours hence, will teem with life and energy,
or in the sequestered hamlet "far from the madding
crowd's ignoble strife," the wayfarer never fails to
recognise the solemnity of the lesson taught by these
midnight chimes. Their deep-toned melody tells often
enough of wasted opportunities, of revived hopes, of
lost chances, of the ruthless scattering of expectations,
and of the total destruction of those good resolutions
which were formed with such determination only
t feive months before. To a erealler proportion these
eachering embers of the dyini year, as they are sent
cut into spate, tell of lamming reputations, and of

the rising tide of fortune. At ouch a time he who
hearkens to the midnight bells may well ponder over
the pleasures of memory
"Then does she rise, with searohing glance pursue
Some long-loved image, vanished from lost view,
Dart through the deep recesses of the past

O'er dusky forms in dreams of slumber cast,
With giant's grasp fling back the folds of night,
... . .. . . ..

And snatch the faithless fugitive to light." - -
But the faithless fugitive speeds on far up into
cloudland, and the sound of the knell which rings out
yr...di of 80-crow over the departed is soon num-
bered amongst the phantoms of the darkness. But no
time is allowed for regret A over the hastening away of
the old year. No sooner has its successor made its
appearance than those same bells, which were so mourn-
ful a few short minutes ago, now send forth a merry
peal of welcome. Their voices are a sound of joy at
the birth of the New Comer. The song which -they
sing, as it is echoed over the sleeping city, carried
high -..pon the hill tops, or borne along the peaceful
plain, conveys a 7.t.-sful lesson to ell. Neither the pro-
gress of Time, nor the advance of life can stand still a
moment. Whatever the shortcomings of the old year,
or of those who failed to make the best use of it might
have been, when it has gone regrets over its hurry-
ing away are vain. No sooner has it left us than
there is another upon the scene, bidding us not to stand
idle in the market-place of life. Young and energetic
in itself, it seems to say to all "Whatsoever thine
hand findeth to do, do it with all thy might," In
forming good resolutions, and in determining to make
the beat of tie life which is permitted to us here, it
points us to the steadfsetness of its own purposes, for
with it there will be no variableness, nor the shadow
of turning back upon its path. May Eighteen
Hundred and Seventy-Seven be one of peace on earth,
and prosperity to its people; and with the expression
of this hope we heartily convey another, and wish all
our readers
"A HAPPY NEW YEAR 1"