The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1884-05-17 00:00:00

Bur ronbon Corrtspodent.

[iVe deem it right to state that we do not at all times
ilmtifv ourselves with our Correspondent's opinions.]
When the Duke of Albany died, on the 28th of
March, it was felt that a calamity of considerable ex-
tent had fallen upon the Queen, and to a lesser
degree upon the capital. On the 30th a supplement
to the Londan, Gazette was issued, ordering three
weeks of general mourning, and six weeks of mourn-
ing for the Court. These six weeks have now ex-

pired ; and those who have to live by trade as carried
on at the West-end of the metropolis hope that the
A forty days of sorrow having terminated, they may be
enabled to see the dawn of a brighter and more
cheerful time. They have had many bad seasons
i* recent years; but nothing -worse than the

one throggh,. which they are now passing,
Winter • did not came at its proper time;
jiving was,. cold and ungenial, so that the
garenis which had done very well for the dark
months, were made to do service also for a time of
bleak east winds and gloomy skies. The forty days
of mourning also told against the success of general
business in the way of tasteful spring attire. But
these are now over; the days are nearly at their
longest, and will soon be at their hottest; the season
is slowly gliding away, and tradesmen who have
heavy expenses to.meet, whether they sell their goods
.or not, are asking what are the prospects of the two
g -months whicln the London season has yet to run. It
is not more than that, for the middle of July will
'certainly seethe end of it..
The pedestrian -who makes his way through St.
.Takics's-pqrls see upon any day of the week the
•ivt64-Alilids of 43uckingham Palace closely drawn, '
titiist,itS-they.have-been •ever since the death of the
armee Consort nearly three-and-twenty years ago.
'The hespitalli ies of the Prince and Princess of Wales,
:NON have been the leaders of life and fashion in
"- •
- !London during the past two decades, must for some
eOntt4nence of -the Duke of Albany's death,
be on a very restricted scale. There are no
IDrawinterooms or lev6es, State balls or State
_ 7COncerts. * The -Duke 7",:e _ ess of Connaught
are in India; the . Duke of Edinburgh is sailing
' fsurface -of the Mediterranean sea;
the Duchess takes no part in active social life ;
nor can the Duchess of Albany do so now that her
husban4:l7 4104 „Princess Christian lives at Frog.-
more ; altileilgli'Princess Louise is now living at
home, the health of her Royal Highness does not
enable her to take part as often as she could rsli in
the berie„wlent and philanthropic movements of • day.
London, Therefore, this year, must perforce be tent
with a quieter time than the metropolis has known
for some years past. Even the military spectacle
described as trooping the colours, which we have
always been accustomed to associate with the Queen's
birthday celebration on the 24th May, is on this occa-
skin to be' dispensed with.
Alteiiichilie the -published letters of the Princess
Alice to the Queen, written in the years of her warm
sunny life, have been read with deep interest by all
classes. There is no member of the Royal Family
whrttne i more belbVed• by the people of this
country. They think of her as the dutiful daughter
in attendance on her dying father, and seventeen
years later as the devoted mother whose life fell a
sacrifice to the inroads upon her constitution which
had been made by the anxiety caused though the
illness of her husband -and children. The pictures
which these letters present of the Princess's life
in Darmstadt will be a new one to many.
We are accustomed to associate the exist.
once of dwellers in palaces with riches and
luxury, and to suppose that if they cared to pass
'through the world in a condition of careless indolence
they coulsi do so. .But here we find that the husband
of the Queen's daughter had to borrow money to
build his house, the Princess writing to her mother
that they4ould have to live very economically for
years to come, and that she herself had made all the
summer dresses for her girls, and kept her own house-
hold accounts. We also find the Queen helping her
daughter with gifts of money. One wonders what
the income of Prince Louis of Hesse could have been.
The marriage dowry of the Princess Alice was
£30,000, with an annuity of .E6QOO. Why should the
beloved Princess have had to make her own children's
dresses? •
Although the Health Exhibition was opened by the
Duke of Cambridge before it was ready, and in the
days of Court mourning, there seems no reason why
its success should not
_equal that of the Fisheries
of last year. People do not go there so much for
business as for pleasure, and the evening fetes at
South Kensington last year, with the military bands
I.hd le- deltic lights, contributed very materially
b 5 the prosperity of the enterprise. The management
is in the same hands as last years, which for months
was not only the talk of the town, but the object of
attainment by every country visitor to London. Sir
PhilijOunliffe Owen is an eicellent.organiser, and in
arranging the, ninititudinons details of these vast
iliZpws, his -capibilitles have been taxed to the utter-
most. Some people imagine that they have done
these exhibitions by a single visit and a cursory glance,
but this is not .so. It IV like going to the British
Museum or the 'National etallry ; you may do it in a
day- or hi a month, just as taste suits.
-As the new Speaker of the House of Commons
settlerdoVen to his duties, it 'is seen that he possesses
a Irm
„grasp of the rules of procedure, and is ready
with deaiop on points of order, which crop up at the
mot uneiAtted times There is one thing which he
has clearly set his, face sigain.st, and that is a member
. ,
wdtaderihg Iroin the: question at issue in such a way
as to suggest the idea that there Was an intentional
waste of time. The light hon. gentleman is
,evidently
under the impression that Parliamentary obstruction
should bograppled with in a much more drastic form
thab. --any -which has yet been applied to it; and
although his powers are limited in this direction he
intends to use them.
t The arrival of the Australian cricketers in this
country has been. watched with a great deal of interest
in the sperling world. They have a very long list of
rnate.hes, arra.ngecl., and .taken altogether the coming
season. Rroiniseseto be more than usually interesting.
The team 'that' hal; honoured our shores this year is
elightly4igerept .in its make-up from that which
iisited • us-previously But still it is a very strong
•
eleven, and the important fact remains that
the
..men7 are 'always practising together. This
is •-nd 'Claat one of the main parts of their
successes, for it has been noticed before how well
they field, aiad this is one of the chief features of the
patnr. Our defeat in the great match between the
ciiipitsst4.anCtA.P England last time they visited Us,
was :`partly attributed to
_the English players not
having.piactisea tdiether before the match. Besides
the affraalieip'imt ntioiio(l 'T. .1,911 bn‘,.. fo,m of
Philad!lphiau•crigketers..ls-ere next month, They are
amateurs so Of
_course will not play against professionals
- t.iPectea, eZMi.i) to learn something of the
game, as. tiny :re not -likely to be able to stand against
geritlemen cii:Cketers. Two of the greatest
evetier4-..the;seaSonAre.the Eton and Harrow and
taxrcalt aneleCrabiiaie contests. In the struggle
b4tippre:th!ziTi4ivellkties, the Light Blues have been
the ratOrs:for the. 'last' three or foul. years. The
OatAaelf,4reUiel,y to have a better chance this year,
as iiier arp plefiti of good fresh men to come for-
war-d: this *seek that. Mr. C. T. Studd
wasioineto TOO.° from the captaincy of the Cain-
bric'eleVen7;;-:#ff does, this will be a great loss
to the-'llit : Blia;"'hs 7he is. nndoubte"dly one of
the: -Tea 5:11--potind cricketers _Ave .can boast of.
lielgcncii.oillp a good batsman, but a very fine bowler
to liset; ithkh is a combination seldom attained in the
cric.TEit_eeV. two i?roiliers, G. B. and J. E. K.
Studd, areebothin the Cambridge team, and, although
good plryers, :they "do not 'Come near 'the one just
mentth. *The Nieudid we.a-ther that has just set
in iS:all•kl fa.vour of cricket, andswe may hope to see
somesimsational.scoiiig. lAA rear was rather heavy
in thiSdepartmenteof the game, the highest aggregate
• .• _
score. in.ea •county Riatob, being. 650, compiled b
Surrerag-Anst,Harapshire at the Oval, May 24th. Y
169ba."),0i1l 'exiciOrt the English tourist
askeatpdralia lumherman, all this maple and
beech you where -does it go?" And the man
told tifu:tliitt Inuit of it went, direct to Scotland,
whereli'Vras woned tip into boxes and churns and
paper-loldiarS froM the rafters of Burns 's cottage and
the hanti'of Sir Walter Sco4. And the tourist said
f." tjejetkr` at 4. spmething his note-book.
Never, abefse,4,,,y, because she happens to keep
a boardie4
heartgbeln,,.. be is, in fact, 'a very tender-
.lo6 .opring chicken live as long
as it carLidets-it eiiioy 11fe-summer after summer,
springeafter.sprisige---eire fact, almost lets it die of old
age, and-knotat it can no longer find fun in this
life, b7o_eo7-sheepta_it..6,llth
e tAble. Kind hearts can
never die