The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1879-03-22 00:00:00

Mistellane oils 4ntelligentti

17.0 ME, FOREIGN, AND COLONIAL.

AN INGENIOUS NIGHT LAMP.—A recent number of
La, IVtiture describes a simple and convenient night
lamp, the invention of M. Behn, indicating the hour
by the extent .of combustion of the oil. From the oil
reservoir rise two vertical glass tubes ; one contains oil
and 's graduated for the hours, the other contains the
wid iaturated with oil and giving the light. The con-
strucuim is such that one hour is required to consume
the quantity of oil between two graduations of the first-
mentioned. tube. A reflector placed under the flame
at the side throws a luminous beam across the
graduated tube. During the night one can thus see at
what height the oil stands in the tube and read the
corresponding hour.
WRONG ON THE FACE OF IT.—We often hear of
masked batteries, but it is a mistake to suppose that
they fire "masked balls."—Fun.

A NEW INSECT DESTROYER. -An experienced
gardener tells of a new and effectual way of extermi-
nating insect pests, both in and out of doors. Take a
barrel and half fill it with coal tar. Then fill the
barrel with water. After standing awhile, the water
may be sprinkled upon the leaves and stems by means of
a whisk-broom or watering-pot. According to this
gardener's positive statement, it will at once kill all
the insects with which it comes in contact, without the
least harming the plant. It has also been frequently
noticed that worms which happened to be under
newly-laid gas-tar walks would soon after the walks
had been made appear lifeless along the edges.
Owners of vineyards in France have ordered large
quantities of the sulphocarbonate of potassum to be
applied as a remedy for phylloxera.
SINGULAR EXHIBITION IN A DRAPER'S SHOP.—
"Thirty dozen full-bleached Irish."—Fan,

EDUCATION IN SCOTLAND. —The magnitude of the
educational work which the School Boards are doing in
Scotland may be seen from the report of the Account-
ant for Scotland to the secretary of the Scotch Educa-
tion Department (says the Glasgow News). There are
982 school boards in the country. Their income for
the period ended Whit-Sunday, 1877, was £1,317,122,
an their expenditure £1,456,025. In addition to this
expenditure the School Board had at the date named
outstanding liabilities amounting to £302,159. We
may assume, therefore, that fully a million and a half
is spent annually in the work of elementary education
in this country—that is, about 9s. per head of the
population.
AN ASTUTE DIPLOMATIST !—The Continental Gazette
relates the following amusing anecdote :—Although
rents still continue to rise in Paris, notwithstanding
the scarcity of lodgers, proprietors are becoming day
by day more absurd in the restrictions they put on
their tenants. Some will not let you keep a dog.
Others will not permit you to keep any pet whatso-
ever, and some even will not allow children to be in
the house. A clever individual has just managed,
however, to overcome this last objection. He had seen
an apartment he liked, and well knowing that the pro-
prietor objected to children, he said nothing of the
existence of his only child, a boy of two years of age,
but simply had the lease made out in the infant's
name. When he came with his family to take pos-
session, at the sight of the baby the proprietor flew
into a rage and objected. "Pardon," replied the as-
tute diplomatist, "but it is nfiy child and 'not myself
who has hired the apartment. You have made no ob-
jection to his asking his parents to stay with him, so
here we are The proprietor had to grin and bear
it, for he had no legal ground of complaint.

A FAIR INFERENCE.—The reason that ladies dye
their hair of a light gold colour must be that by so
doing they get rid of dark care.—Fun.
THE PUBLIC LIBRARIES Am.—The question of the
adoption of the Public Libraries Acts has been under
discussion in Richmond for some time. Two large
public meetings have been held, and last week a vote
was taken on the subject by means of voting papers.
The Richnnd Select Vestry had passed a resolution
advising the ratepayers to vote against the' adoption
of the Acts, but at the meeting of the vestry )
Tuesday the vestry slerk reported that the result of
the voting was as follows :—For the adoption of the
Acts, 1,140; against, 618; majority for the adoption,
522.

A LAOUSTIIINE DISCOVERY.—The Geneva Corre-
spondent of The Times writes under date March 14
" M. A. Bore!, of Chaux-de-Fonds, has Just had the good
fortune to find in the Lake of Neuchatel, between Bazuge
and Chatelard, a pre-historic canoe, probably the finest
specimen of the sort that has yet come to light in Switzerland.
Hollowed out of a single piece of oak, the vessel is 8 metres
long, 90 centimetres wide, and 65 centimetres high. It is
well finished, and in a perfect state of preservation. The
stern carries a spur, and the prow is curved in the form of a
hook, probably for the purpose of attaching it by a rope to a
landing place. The canoe is sufficiently large to carry 12
persons. There is no appearance of rowlocip, but the sup-
ports on which the thwarts formerly rested pre still plainly
to be seen. M. Borel proposes to present this interesting
' find' to the Museum of Chaux-de-Fonds."

THE SHAKESPEARE THEATRE AT STRATFORD-ON
AVON.—It is known that a memorial building is in
course of erection at Stratford on-Avon on a site on
the banks of the Avon which has been given for that
purpose. The surrounding ground will be laid out as
gardens, and the building will contain a small theatre
for the occasional performance of Shakespeare's plays,
&c. ; a library of dramatic literature and a picture
gallery are to he added. The amount of subscriptions
as yet received is not sufficient to complete the whole
of the memorial building, but the theatre is now'
finished with the exception of certain ornamental
details, and will be opened on the next (the 315th)
anniversary of Shakespeare's birth, and an inaugural
festival has been arranged, to occupy four days—the
23rd, 24th, 25th, and 26th of April. There will be a
dee-finer on the afternoon of the 23rd, the Mayor in
the chair; and in the evening will be given the first
play in the new theatre, Much Ado About Nothing.
Mr. Barry Sullivan and Mrs. Theodore Martin (Miss
Helen FAucit) have kindly undertaken to play Benedick
and Beatrice. Next evening Hamlet will be given,
with Mr. Barry Sullivan as the Prince, and this will
be repeated on the 26th. On the `isth there will be a
concert, the music associated with the words of Shake-
speare, at which Madame Arabella Goddard, Mrs.
03good, Miss Kate Field, Madame Antoinette Ster-
ling, Mr. W. Shakespeare, Mr. W. H. Cummings.
and Mr. Santley will assist, Sir Julius Benedict being
conductor.

THE YEOMEN OF THE GUARD.—The yeomen of
the guard were among the quaintest features of the
pageantry at the Duke of Connaught's marriage (says
the Court Journal). There are a hundred of them,
and their services are required only on special 'occa-
sions. They were on duty in the chapel and at the
grand entrance to the Castle, clad, of course, in the
picturesque costume of the time of Henry VII. The
Gentlemen-at-arms share the duty in the chapel, and
i
also mount guard n the State apartments. Of these
two bodies the yeomen are the most ancient. They
were instituted shortly after the accession of Henry
VII., and at that time their functions were "to wait
in the first room above stairs, forty by day and twenty
by night. They are to bring up the dishes for his
Majesty's table, and deliver them to the servers, who
place them on the table. They are to attend on
the King's person on all occasions of solemnities, or
of the King's going abroad by land or by water."
Six of them are "yeoman hangers," whose special
function recalls a very interasting phase of social high
life in the past. They were to remove the tapestry
from the P,,.)yal apartments when the Sovereign pro-
ceeded from one palace to another, and to replace it
in the King's new abode. There were also yeomen
bed-goers, who did the same thing with the beds and
bedsteads. The rank of Gentleman-at-arms dates
from the reign of Henry VIII., by whom they were
inctituted rel a body-guard, hpy were originally
designated "Gentlemen Pensioners," and were fifty in
xaimber. Charles 11. reduced them to forty; and
that, we believe, is the number at the present time.
A Gentleman at-arms has the social rank of a captain
in the army, and the corps is required to attend on all
State occasions, half of them during the new year and
Midsummer quarters, and half during the Lady-day
and 4ichaelnaas 9.nartpp. •
A KNOWLEDGE Oi' COMMON THINGS. —A scheme
for promoting the general acquirement of a "know
ledge of common things," or popular science, is just
now exciting some interest in Paris. M. Lon
Jaubert proposed to found a public observatory where
anyone, native or foreigner, rich or poor, could study
astroLotny, and steps were recently taken to procure.a
site on the Trocad4ro, whereon a large building could
be erected containing an observatory, a le.boratory forl
microscopical reseweh e, popular science lecture halls,
school workshops for the construction of apparatuc,
and' a library to contain all the works necessary for a
study of the principal branches of science, corn-
minion of the French Chambers was appointed to
report on the scheme, and there is a probability that
it will be carried out on a larger scale, with branches
in the provincial towns of France. Private subscrip.
tions, either in money or apparatus, are sought, as
well as State help, •