The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1879-10-11 00:00:00

Misatiancous

ROME, FOREIGN, AND COLONIAL.

A MEXICAN MUNIAIY.—A curious mummy has boon
bonght by the Suth Kensington Museum the
remains of a Mexic;n Prince, uncle of the famous
Montezuma. This Vrince was wade prisoner by the
Spaniards, and confined with his little girl in the
Convent of San Isidro, where he and his child were
ultimately walled-up alive. The chemical properties
of the surroundings preserved the bodies intact, and
they now look as if made of dark yellow wood. The
Prince's body is much contorted, but the little girl,
who was not immured in the same cell, looks calm.
The mummies are enclosed in a crystal box, and
were sold in Paris for £95. Only one other specimen
of the kind exists in the world, which was also found
in a Mexican convent.

AFFECTION OF A CAT.—H. M. Webb, writing in
Land and Water, says :—" The following interesting
facts were described to me by an eye witness who was
living in South Australia, on and adjoining the River
Bremer, then in the occupation of the South Austra-
lien Company as a sheep-run. He one day in his
walks observed a cat protecting the young puppy of a
sheep-dog from a large eagle-hawk which was hovering
over it, ready to dart upon its prey. My cousin's
attention was drawn to the hawk by the singular movd-
meats of the cat, which, with an erect and thickened
tail, was springing in the air at the hawk, several times
with great ferocity, and when he drew nearer to the
scene of action he perceived that the cat was moat
carefully watching over a small puppy of about a
month old, and preventing the talons of the hawk
from seizing her protégé. The courageous cat brought
the puppy home in her mouth in great triumph, and
from that day there existed the greatest attachment
between these animals, and they were scarcely ever
apart. When one considers the size and power of an
eagle-hawk, which can carry off a lamb, this authentic
story is a singular instance of the bravery and affection
of a cat." •
A LUNAR PHENOMENON.—On Sunday (says the
Journal de Bore eaux) the sky presented a outdone
field'of observation and study. In the north a singular
phenomenon was noticed in the shape of a milky gleam
which followed the zigzag form of a flash of lightning,
and remained visible for at- least, ten minutes. The
lower portion terminated in a sort of globe, which
gradually disappeared without exploding. On the pre-
vious night another strange speetacle was witnessed at
Talence. The moon seemed to be supported by two
luminous rods, which afterwards formed a sort of
cross, one being in a vertical position right across the
planet, and the other appearing as a tangent on its
upper perimeter. On Sunday night the moon seemed
partially enveloped in a luminous, milky-white vapour,
which gradually formed a triangle above it, and it was
curious to notice the vapour glowing at intervals like
an agitated fistne. Tile phenomena lasted two or three
hours.
"CATCH 'EDI ALIVE, OH I "—Costerreonger. t` I call
yours a sighnocure, Jim. You claps that 'ere paper
round yer 'at, and there you are—a penny each I'—
Fly-catcher. "Ali, but look at the labour of catchin'
'em, and stickin' of 'em on at the outset, Bill I"—
Punch.
MINNESOTA WHEAT.—ilnterviow with Minnesotan
in Aurora (Ill,) News.] "Let's see, they raise some
wheat in Minnesota; don't they ? " "Raise wheat I
Who raises wheat? No, sir; decidedly, no sir. It
raises itself. Why, if we undertook to cultivate
wheat in that State it would run us out. There
wouldn't be any places to put our houses." "But I've
been told that grasshoppers take a good deal of it."
"Of course they do. If they didn't I don't know what
we would do, The cussed stuff would run all over the
State and drive us out—choke us up. Those grass-
hoppers are a God-send, only there ain't half enough
of 'em." "Is the wheat nice and plump y " "Plump I
Well, I don't know what you call plump wheat, but
there are seventeen in our family, including ten ser-
vants, and when we want bread we just go out and
fetch in a kernel of wheat and bake it." "Do you
ever soak in water first?" "Oh no, that wouldn't do;
it would swell a little, and then we couldn't get it in
our range oven."

AVERAGE PRICES OF BRITISH CORN.—The following
are the average prices of British corn for the week
ending October 4, as received from the inspectors and
officers of Excise I—Wheat, 475, ; barley, 40e. 7d.;
oats, 235. 4d. per imperial qr. Corresponding week
last year :—Wheat, 40s. 4d.; barley, 40a. 6d.; oats,
22e. 3d.

WHICH IS iv?—As we've got him at last, possibly
we shall be able to settle the pronunciation of Cete-
wayo (says "The Tatler," in the Pictorial World). At
present there ia a lively variety of opinion about the
business. Sometimes the African Monarch is called
Ketsawayo, sometimes Ketchaway, sometimes
Kitsawa. Newsboys at the stations even yell it
out as " Kitchenwayo.' Once I heard a lively
youth bawling, energetically, " Captcher o' Ketchup-
wayo ! ''—the association of ideas evidently suggesting
the notion of somebody or the other being in a state
of pickle.
HEAVY Guisis.—lt haa been ascertained that the
Italian Goveminent has ordered eight more 100.
ton guns from the firm of Sir William Armston and
Co., at a cost of £l6 000 each. The cost of the Krupp
70-!on steel gun is £'22,000 each, and of the Woolwich
80-ton gun £lO,OOO each. The four 100 ton Armstrong
guns in possession of the English Government are
being sent to strengthen the fortifications at Malta and
Gibraltar.

THE SEA SERPENT.—The Lake Champlain serpent
has again appeared, says the New York Herald, and
again been seen by St. Albans people. Major W. W.
Scranton, of Scranton, Pa., while out on a boating trip
to Wood's Island, with two ladies, saw, about 1,000
feet from the island, the dreadful monster In rapid
motion. The gentleman in question hastillicollected
a lot of stones and rowed out in the direction of the
moving object. Although he succeeded in pereceptibly
lessening the distance between them and kept the
serpent in sight for some ten minutes, he could not
overtake it, and soon after it disappeared frnm view.
The major describes it Its being of dark colour, with a
head about the thickness of a man's, and at least three
or four feet of body was visible at times, while it was
certain that the entire length was at no time to be
seen. .
THE ELECTRIC LIGHT. —Some months agoan experb
ment was made in New York State to test the distance
from which the electric light would illuminate a given
spot, and it was found that a concentreted beam
carried seven miles' turnished enough light to read by.
A more crucial test of the great penetrating power of
the electric light is furnished by the expetiments of
the officers of the French Algerian Triitngulation
Service, who a few days ago saw the electric light at
the Spanish station of Zetica from a distance of more
than 16i miles. This observation is proo , if praof
were wanted, of the great value of th light.- for
i
maritime purposes, when it is exhibited rom suffi-
ciently elevated positions.
„
ONE OF THE RIGHT SAVT.—The new swora-bayonet
• now being issued to the Royal Artillery ii) straighter
and much longer than the old bayonet, artd the back
of it forms a crosscut saw—a saw'd bayonet with a
vengeance. Ten or twelve inches of such a weapon
thrust into the stomach of a wily Afghan would de-
:
cidedly saw place.—Fun.
REVIVAL OF TRADE IN AMERICA.—A telegram from
Philadelphia says:—" Great activity still characterises'
the American iron manufacture, with extensive orders
going to England, that cannot be executed'here. The
following have been the iron importations at Phila-
delphia during the months of August and September:-
8,430 tons of nig, chiefly spiegeleisen ; 42,788 tons of
ore, and 14,752 tons of iron rails. It is estimated that
orders have been sent abroad for 10.000 tons of pig
iron, 85,000 tons of iron rails, and 10,000 tons of steel
blooms, yet to arrive at New York and Philadelphia."
PEASANT FAEMING.—SmaII farms are the rule not
the exception in the United Kingdom. Oat of
422,000 holdings 228,000 do not exceed 20 acres, while
118,000 holdings more still fall short of 100 acres each,
and only some 76,000 occupations rise over the NO
acres limit. Very nearly three-fourths—in actual
figures seventy-one per cent. —of all the agricultural
holdings of England are farms never exceeding fifty
acres in size, while the larger holdings are mostly in
pasture. The average holding of an occupier of land
under all kinds of crops, bare, fallow, and grass does
not stretch over more than fifty-six acres either in
Scotland or in England. In Ireland the average is
less than half that, but for peasant farming we must
go to the Channel Islands, the average holding in
Jersey being nine acres, and in Guernsey six acres.
VERY MUCH BACK Row.—Small Husband (who,
whilst his wife is away in the country, asserts his
authority) : It comes to this, cook • am I the master
of this house or am I not ?—Cook: Well, sir, you pre-
cious well ain't when the missus is at holne.—Jutly.
WEATHER FORECAST.—The following cable message
has been received at the London office of the New York
Herald, from the Herald Weather Bureau, New
York :—" A storm centre, preceded by depression,
will arrive on the British and Norwegian coasts
between the 7th and 9th inst.; heavy rains, south,
veering north-west, gales; high temperature.
PACKING FOR SARATOGA.—" The man who takes
over ten minutes to pack a trunk is a dolt !" said Mr.
Bowerman, as he slammed down the lid and turned
the key. Mrs. Bowerman had been at it just seven
cloys and seven nights, and, when the husband went
upstairs at ten o'clock, she sat down before the open
trunk with tears in her eyes. "You see how it is,"
she exclaimed, as he looked down upon her in awful
contempt, "I've got only part of my dreeses in here,
saying nothing of a thousand other things, and even
now the lid won't shut down. I've got suet' a head-
ache I must lop down for a few minutes." She went
away to lop and Mr. Bowerman sat down and mused:
"Space is space. The use of space is in knowing how
to utilise it." Removing everything, he began re-
packing. He found that a silk dress could be rolled
to the size of a quart jug. A freshly-starched lawn
was made to take the place of a pair of slippers. Her
brown bunting fitted into the niche she had reserved
for three handkerchiefs, and her best bonnet was turned
bottom up in its box and packed full of underclothing.
He sat there viewing sufficient empty space to pack in
a whole bed, when she returned and said he was the
only real good husband in the world, and she kissed
him on the nose as he turned the key. "It's simply
the difference between the sexes," was his patronising
reply as he went down stairs to turn on the burglar
alarm. When the wife opened the trunk last night
—! But screams and shrieks would avail nothing.—
Detroit Free Press.

AN ERRATIC TORPEDO.—A Lima correspondent
writing to New York papers, states that an attempt
made by the Peruvian steamer Huascar to destroy the
Chilien ironclad at Autofagosta resulted in a singular
episode. A new fish torpedo was despatched towards
the Chilien ship, but when it had travelled half the
distance it changed its course and travelled slowly
back direct for the Huascar itself. She had no time
to get out of the way, but a lieutenant jumped over-
board, swam to the torpedo, and diverted its course so
that it passed to the stern of the Huascar.
A MEAN ADVANTAGE. For pure artfulness it
would be hard to beat the Eskimo method of catching
polar bears, as related by the American historian,
Mr. H. H. Bancroft, in a volume of portentous size,
being one of four which deal with the native raees of
the North Pacific. The Eskimos—Esquimaux we
used to call them—begin by taking some strut pieces
of flexible whalebone, curving them well, and staffing
;hem with balls of blubber, which they then carefully
freeze. The blubber thus holds firm the bent bow,
and laden with these appetising but destructive
morsels the men go to hunt the bear. A discharge of
arrows when the animal is found reverses the order of
thingd, and the bear begins to hunt the men, who
throw balls of the succulent delicacy which the bear
loves in his path. He is angry, but he is also greeds,
and invariably eats as many balls as he can find.
"Soon a strange sensation is felt within.' the writer
sass and e can quite believe it. The heat of
body thaws the blubber, the pieces of whalebone fly
straight, and "play havoc with the intestines,"
speedily bringing the bear to "a painful and ignotne
nions end.". Ido not exactly see why "ignominious,"
when such a mean advantage has been taken of him.—
Illustrated Sporting and Dramatic News.
A NARROW ESCAPE.—Two ladies in a phaeton were
crossing the track of the New York branch of the
Pennsylvania Railroad the other day, on the Lamb
Tavern Road, when a heavily-laden freight train,
proceeding northward at a high rate of speed, came
almost upon them. Miss Helen Leed, who was
driving, endeavoured to hasten the horse over the
track, when the animal turned and rushed up the
track just in advance of the moving train, and upon
the same line-of rail. Miss Leed's cluipanion, Mrs.
Richard Harper, sprang from the phaeton, alighting on
the south-bound track, from which she had only time to
escape as a fast express train passed by going south.
Meanwhile, the lady in the phaeton strove to turn the
frightened animal from the track, and urged it to greater
speed to escape the fast approaching freight train, the
engineer of which reversed his engine, and sharply
whistled for brakes. The next crossing east of the
Lamb Tavern Road is a partly graded street, just
west of Germantown Railroad Junction, and a little
less than a mile from Lamb Tavern Road. Miss Leed,
finding she could not tarn the horse from the road,
urged the animal towards the crossing as the only
means of escape. She reached it just in time, and,
with a desperate pull at the reins, turned the horse's
head down the steep hill so quickly, that he fell into
the ditch at the road side, bringing the phaeton and
its fair occupant on the top of him.
POPULATION OF TIFLIS.—The population of Tiflis
Is quite kaieidoscosic in the variety of its elements. Out
of 104,0-1 inhabitants, 37,308 are Armenian% 20,390
Georgians. 10,574 Russians, 2,P6 Tartars, 2,005
Germans 1.692 Persian% 1,592 Poles, 1,145 Jews, 388
Greeks, 293 Osse es, 263 French, 227 Aissors, 163
Italians, 123 Turks, 123 Mingrelians, 81 —English,
Scotch, and Irish, 52 Lesghiaus, 37 Chece 32 Gonriane,
28 Swedes, 15 Lithuanians, 10 Latiches (?), 10
Roumanians,
•9 Slovacs, and 8 Mordoins and
Chouva thee. The sexes are as unequally distributed;
there are only 37,E77 women to 66,147 men.
THE ELECTRIC LIGHT IN EURITAII—The Times
of India says :—An extensive business transaction has
just been concludei between the Indian Electric Light
Company and the King of Burmah. Attracted by
the experiments which have been mede in this country
with the electric Light, King Theebaw sent an agent
over to Calcutta to purchase the largest portion of the
company's raac`niaes and plant in Calcutta and Bom-
bay, Including the apparatus that was lately employed
in illuminating tne Hooghly Bridge. Tue Burmese
agent paid down Re. 80,000 in hard cash, and we are
informed that the entire cost of the lights—forty of
Jablokheff's and eight of the Regulator system—and
fixing them in the Royal palace and gardens at Igan.
daisy, will be no leis than 1,00,000 is. Evidently the
treasury of his Majesty is in a healthy condition.
CLERICAL Ccetarumeamos.—The cloak of religion
sometimes has a fine nap in church.—Judy.

A TBA4NV4Y 131) MOUNT Vzsuvws. —What would
Pliny or Strabo have said to the announcement that a
tramway up Mount Vesuvius was nearly completed
and would soon be open to the Pompeii= public? (asks
the Daily Telegraph), Engineering operations on a
bold scale were as familiar to the ancients as they have
ever been to modern generations. But steam enginp
and tramwayi do not seem to have entezed into the
minds of any Egyptian, Assyrian, Greek, or Roman
institution of civil engineers, by whom the bridges,
canals, and cloaca of the old world were • constructed
for the admiration cf later times. Windlasses, no
doubt, there were in the days of the sandalled
Sineatons who took the ceminanris of Tarquinius
Vriscus ; but, for wart of stem and rile, they could
not be employed on Spielg's system, which will be in
Operation early next year on the cone of the burning
mountain, to draw the cars him the Naples Observa.
tory up the steep gradient. Yet there is nothing left
for us to wonder at in the wildest incongruity, since a
railway station wris opened at Pompeii, and Albert
Smith was enabled to record his linnresaions at hearing
the name called out by porters op the platform,

AMERICAN AND CANADIAN Foop.—The following
steamers arrived at Liverpool during last week con-
veying live stock :—Brazilian, 604 cattle and 420
sheep; the Scandinavian, 202 cattle and 1,803 sheep;
Teutonic, 214 cattle and 755 sheep; Minnesota, 380
cattle; Illyrian, 338 cattle • and Thanemore, 200
cattle; amounting eellectively to 1,93 cattle and
2,984 sheep. The Illyrian hset also on hoard Iy6 live
pigs. These figures are considerably in excess of the
previous week as regards cattle; but of sheep there is
a slight decrease when similarly contrasted. The
steamers conveying freeh meat were six in number,
bringing 4,499 quarters of beef, 972 carcases of mutton,
and 100 dead pigs, whigh is en increase on the previous
week in each inetance.
A REMINDEII.—There are things which remind us of
our boyliood days. and bring one particular occasion
distinctly to mud (says an American paper). We
thought we would play truant; and we did, The first
day was so serene that we tried it again. This time
we were troubled. There came up a heavy thunder
shower in the afternoon, and we were scared, badly
scared, and when we arrived at the maternal
mansion late in the afternoon we were met with a re•
quest for a private interview. It was granted. The
slipper had a good heel on it, and we are not sure but
what the imprints are on our person yet. Tears huge
tears, chased each other down our cheek. When we
departed for cchool the next morning we were given a
sealed envelope for the teacher. We were suspicious.
We were always kind, and we gave that envelope to
another little boy who wanted an excuse for being
late. He was late—the clock marked 9,15 when he
arrived. rhe teacher read the note, and followed the
instructions therein contained to the letter, We were
sorry for that boy, but rejoiced that it was not us,
The -note read thus; "Please whip the bearer, and
whip him hard." That little boy and us were never
more friends.
Pic y STAmrs.—The net produce on receipts
drafts, and other penny stamps in the last financial
year was £825,559 lls. Id,

THE SECRET OF BEAUTY.—The secret of beauty is
health. Those who desire to be beautiful should do all
they can to restore their health, if they have lost it, or
to keevit if they have it yet. No one can lay down
,specific rules for other petple in these matters. The
-work which 'ode the.?rest he musk. to, - '-
baths, his diet, his exercise, are matters orifidtvidL
consideration, but they must be carefully thought ca
and never neglected. As a Tula, when a person feels
well he looks well, and when he lobks bad he feels bad
as a general thing. 'There are times swhen one coal&
guess, without looking in the glass, that his eyes were
dull and his skin-was mottled. - This is not a case for.
something in a pretty bottle from the perf tuners, or for
the lotion that the circulars praise so highly. To have
a fresh complexionnnd bright eyes, even to have white
hands and a graceful figure you must be well. Health
and the happiness that usually comes with, It are the
true secrets of beauty.—Quarterly Review.
BUILDING IN NEW YORK.—The statistics of honsr.
building in New York during the present year pro,ty
clearly indicate a change for the better in the general
state of business in that city, and, therefore, in other
portions of the States likewise. Daring the eight
months ending on the 31st of August there were 1,458
houses erected, at a total cost of 16,351,512 dole.,
against 1,128, at a cost oi 10,702.200 dole, in the corre-
sponding period of 1878, showing an increase of 322
houses built and 5,649,312 dols, expenditure in favour
of.the present year. Ili the same period of 1E79 there
were 1,071 houses rebuilt or altered, at a cost of
2,568,616 dole. against 943 at a cost ot 2,918,147 dole.
in the parallel period of 1878.
HARVEST THANKSGIVINGS. A "Bedfordshire
Farmer" writes to The Times:—" Will you kindly
allow me to suggest to the clergy that the offertories
at harvest thanksgiving services may, in such a disas-
trous season as the present, be well devoted to the
Royal Agricultural Benevolent Institution? It is
much to be feared that the number of candidates for
relief from the funds of this excellent institution will
be terribly increased by the almost overwhelming
troubles that have during the last few years befallen
the agricultural interest."
MOTTO FOR THE GAME OF LAWN-TENNIS.—" The
Deuce is in it ! "—Punch.
"A VITAL QUESTION."—Brown (picking up Volume
from Club table) : Ullo ! what's this? 'lB life worth
living?' What do you say, Jones? "—Jones: " BAR
—it depends. If I'm going to have curried lobster
and Welsh rabbit for supper, Yes 1 If I 've had
curried lobster and Welsh rabbit for supper, Yo! But
I 've not had curried lobster and Welsh rabbit for
supper, you see; and, what's more, I'm not going to.
So I give it up ! " Brown: So do I 1" [Exeunt, each
to his respective business or pleasure, as the case may
be.—Punch.

'dill

AN AGRICULTURAL NOVELTY !---" Thefe is alway.
something appearing to pester the agricultural corn
munity. Sometimes it is a new•fangled bug, and
again it is an improved worm, and next a double back.
action fly; but they all apparently come for the same
purpose, and that is to eat up something. It is our
sorrowful duty to announce anew pest, that will carry
- dismay to many a happy homestead. It is a small red
insect, something like a shged ant, ad it is exceed-
ingly hungry. These insects do not dare for wheat,
or oat, or turnips, or cAbbagse, but they love to
dine on that unprotected pet of the farming com-
munity, the guileless potato bug. This miser-
able insect destroys the larvae of the bug, and
if the old bug himself comes in the way and ob.
jects, it makes no bones of dining on the bug himself.
The grief of the farmer who purchases Paris green as
a delicacy for his pet bugs may be imagined. It is
not yet known whether anything can be done to save
the unfortunate potato bugs from the ravages of this
marauder, but no doubt science will yet devise a means
of protection, and therefore it is to be hoped that the
agricultural interests of this great and glorious country
will not be paraly zed by the advent ot this voracious
insect. Still, this hope is tinged with sadness, for we
hear from the West that many estimable potato bugs
have already fallen a prey to the insatiate destroyer,"
—Detroit Pave Press.

A PARADISE FOR SERVAIIT Gums. The Sydney
Mail says of the Colony of New South Wales :
" Verily this is the Paradise for servant-girls A few
days ago a number of female immigrants, recently
armed, were on hire at the Hyde Park depOt; and
among the ladies who attended for the purpose of en-
gaging servants was a smart, good looking person,
attired in silks, satins, and feathers. Less than 12
months ago this young lady was one of the new
chums on hire in that very room, and was engaged by
the wife of a professional gentleman in this city as
general servant. Among the visitors to the family
where she was employed was a prosperous young
tradesman, a bachelor, who was struck by Sarah Ann's
good looks and modest behaviour. He made her an
offer of marriage, and was accepted, and the conse-
quence is that the fortunate slavey 'is now mistress of
a comfortrkh P home, and an employer of labour her.
self."

NAMES OF PLACES IN THE UNITED STATES. —A
correspondent of the Sheffield Telegraph supplies the
following "hints to letter writers" to the Unite
Statrs :—" Persons who forget, or else do not consider
it necessary to write the name of the State c,n their
envelope will do well to note the following facts :
There in the country 12 Bostons' 25 Springfield; 18
Brooklyns, 5 Baltimore; 16 Buffaloes, 17 Burlington;
17 Charleston; 4 Chicago; 8 Cincinnati; 10 Cleve.
lands, 19 Colt:in-Muses, 23 Dayton; 5 Detroit; 2 In-
dianapolises, 15 Lowels, 8 Mernphises, 3 Milwaukee;
14 Nashville; 5 Omaha; 8 Pittsburgh; 7 Philadel-
Phias, 14 Portlands. 14 Quinceys, 22 Richmond; 15
St. Louises, 12 St. Pauls, 7 Toledos, 30 Washington;
1;3 Wilmington; and 28 Williamburghs."
STORY FOR STORY !—lt is nil usitior an Eastern man
to try to tell a big story when there is a Western man
about. "When I was a young man," said Colonel 8.,
an Eastern, "we lived in Illinois. The farm had been
well wooded, and the stumps were pretty thick. But
we put the corn in among. them, and managed to: raise
a fair crop. The next seaeori I did my share, of the
ploughing. We had a 'sulky' plough, and I-sat in
the seat and managed the horses, , four as handsome
bays as ever a man drew rein over. One day I found
a stump right in my way. I hated to back out so I
just said a word to the team, and,, if you will believe
it, they just walked that plough right through that
stump as though it had been cream cheese.' Not a
soul expressed surprise. But Major S. a Western
man who had been *quiet listener, remarked quietly,
' "It's curiouq, but I had a similar experience myself
once. My mother always made our clothes in those
days, as well as the cloth they were made of. The old
lady was awful proud of her homespun—said it was.
the strongest cloth in the State. One day I had just
ploughed through a white•oak stump in the way you
speak of, Colonel. • But it was a little too quick for
me. It came together before I was out of the way.
and nipped my trousers. It felt mean, I can'tell you,
but I put the string on the ponies, and, if yor'll be-
lieve it, they just snaked that stump out roots and
all. Something had to give, you know."