The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1885-04-04 00:00:00

‘..!' • MAY„k.P Rll, 4th,:188:).
E AST ERTIDE.

;7- EASTERTIDE, from the solemn festival of
Good Friday to the day following ftat 01.
whieh the Christian world celebratuS
rising of its Redeemer from the thad, IQ*

come to be regarded as a holiday oce:'sioe
through the length and breadth of the land
Falling as it does in +he early days of spring,
when the welcome sunshine is temptiml
nature with a warm and irresistible per-
suasiveness to don anew her beauteous garb
of greenery, there is little room for surprise
that the event should be a popular one
among town-pent people, to be utilised for
securing a brief respite from life's duty
amid the noise of trade and toil. The song
of the birds is heard in the suburban gar-
dens, primrose and daffodil have borne the
breath of the woodlands into the City mar-
ket, a brighter sky and a strong sun have
roused with their voiceless eloquence the
longings for freedom—be it never so short—
to roam at will in the free, fresh country
air, somewhere far from the smoke cloud
which hangs ever above the crowded town.
6104 Friday, from its sacred significance,
is a rest-day, a supplementary Sabbath,
standing in the same category with C hrist-
--nuo Day, with the difference that it can,
nnder ordinary climatic conditions, be spent
much more agreeably and much more largely
out of doors than the "merry" mid.winter
feast. Saturday is a nondescript sprt of
day, connecting Friday with Sunday, on
which many are unable, because of business
calls, to cease from work. Not that much
real labour is done, nor ttny great amount of
trade transacted. But business keeps its
hold upon the day, in some places unrelaxed,
and in others with a partial grasp. Hence
it is not regarded as a general holiday.
Easter Sunday succeeds, and, thanks to Bt.
Lubbock, all then look on to the day to
follow as one on which to give way to such
enjoyment as their station in life will allow ;
and the great bulk to an outing in which
sunshine and rural scenes form the chief
points of fond hope and expectation.
Easter Monday enjoyment and healthful re-
creation depend in the main upon the
weather being auspicious, and the pleasure
of millions bangs on the good behaviour of
the. elements. All, from father and mother.
down to the tiniest of the toddlers, eagerly
-wish for bright sunshine and breezes of the
Outlast. The railways and other methods
of transpoit for holiday makers are taxed
severely to find their fullest accomodation,
and even the most rickety of waggonettes,
and the oldest of railway carriages are
dragged out of the dusty shed and brushed
up to do duty on the occasion. The guards
and drivers, porters and -station-masters,
and officials of every grade are worked hard
te enhance the enjoyment of the first spring-
tide carnival; 'busmen, steamboat men, and
coach proprietors, have a busy time, and
"mine host" finds his resources strained to
the utmost to provide the entertainment for
man and beast which is demanded of him.
Every favourite resort at the seaside and in
the country receives its earliest batch of
pleasure seekers of the season, and right
welcome tl,ey are after the months of dreary
win ter.we_a- her and its accompaniment of
bad trade. Since bicycle and tricycle have
grown into such widespread popularity,
thousar.ds of young men :caree7- along the
country roads, mounted on their strong, yet
lightly-oonstructed, and . swift-spetding
vehicles. Though their holiday on wheels
is purchased at the expense of sustained ex-
ertion, it brings with it a rich reward in the
way of pure air inhaled, health invigorated,
and muscles developed; and while the en-
joyment the cyclist derives from his outing
is certainly quite as keen as that participated
in by the indulgent pleasure-taker who pre-
fers more orthodcx modes of annihilating
space, the balance of benefit is doubtless
with the hardier young Englander -who steers
himself upon the Queen's highway to his
holiday goal. There are not a few seekers
after ozone and exercise too, who, staff in
hstia, sturdily set out to accomplish long
journeys through rural lanes and roads on
foot during their short period of absence on
leave from shop and counting-house. Like
the riders of the cycles, they are masters of
their own movements, delightfully indepen-
dent of railway regulations, and able to
drink deep of the delights of the country.
But the pedestrian can take short cuts over
inviting field-paths and through alluring
woodland byeways which the traveller on
wheels is precluded from exploring; so that
after all the man who trusts entirely to stoat
legs and strong boots for his Eastertide
pleasure is best able to follow his own will
and way, and abandon himself altogether to
the unrestricted joy of doing just as he
chooses. Latterly, no inconsiderable pro-
portion of Easter holiday-keepers have
given up their brief vacation to emulating
the movements of the military, and posing,
pro. tern., as soldiers on the march. or taking
a taste of life in camp or barracks. Whiie
thus thoroughly enjoying themselves, and
making valuable additions to their credit
account in :;he Bank of Health, our citizen
soldiers are also doily, good work in practi-
cally increasing the defensive strength of
Aheir country. In turn, too, the spectacle
'presented by their Easter volunteer man-
cenyrcs affords enjoyment to many thousands
of pleasure-seeken who are -themselves un-
conrn eted with her Majesty's service. 'Nie
sympathy with all things military excited
by the stirring chronicles of our expedition
in the Soudan has roused a higher interest
than ever in this year's volunteer field work

at Brighton and Dover and elsewhere, as
also in the bearing of those corps whose
detachments undertook to do garrison duty
at various barracks. The -spirit of patriot
urn is displayed by such large bodies of
British subjects in not only devoting them-
selvee to master the iitsXlits operandi of keep-
ing their country's defent=e sure in the hours
o' regular leisure, but offering as well their
Eastertide holiday on the :altar of duty to
tl,e nation is most pleasing. They spon-
taneonsly surrender the «I;aadon associated
with the idea of full freedom from work in
their various spherai of labour, and freely
elect to become amen lal)le to restraint and
Unitary discipline, an.] undertake much that
• entails hard exertion and deprivation. The
•Elcitish vo!unteer is the admiration of the
- foreigner, and his readiness to forego con-
- :Aerations of self when his country calls is
nal w:11 be for the future, a powerful
inctor in making envious rival nations pause
ere-they awaken the war-wrath of England.
-.For-the full til-mccess Of the military 'Easter
"holidaY-en-dutv," the approving smile of
s es-
old Sol, is as necessary as his favour i
seLtial to the general enjoyment on the
occasion of the -young year's great open air
pleasure-day, and we can only hope that the
Light-giver will beam out his brightest on
the Easter Monday of 1885.

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