The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1876-04-08 00:00:00

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ALAS! Too WELL.—Which should he the
most civil portion of the Civil Service ? The Post
Office, because its employs all know Manners. —Fun.
DOMESDAY BOOK AND THE LADIES. —lt ap-
pears that of the 269.547 landowners who possess one
acre of land in Englan I and Wales, 37,806, or one-
seventh are women. In the county of Hereford the
number of women owning 1 acre and upwards is 829, or
1 in 5 of the total number of owners above an acre; in
Monmouth the number is 464, proportion to tot,'
number 1 in 6; in Salop, 776 or 1 in 6; in Worcest
911 or 1 in 6; in Brecon, 207 or 1 in 5 ; in R +(Thor,
or lin 8. There is no reason to suppoEe that the '
portion of women is smaller among the freeholders
own less than an acre, and in that case the numb,
women landowners would be above 137,060, but as
names of these small freeholders are not p ihlish,
there are no means of positively ascertaining this to be
the fact.

tal
sten •
, 136
Ifro-
who
,er of
the

ErFECT OF EXTREME COLD ON MIND AND
BoDr.—M. Parr, the eminent Arctic ex plo7er, re-
ferring to a certain day on which the thermometer in-
dicated 58 deg. Fahr. below zero, says that so great an
amount of cold paralyses the will, and that, under its
influence, men, from the unsteadiness of their gait,
their stammering talk, and the slowness of their
mental operations, seem as if they were intoxicated.
Another effect of such cold, mentioned by M. Payer,
is a tormenting thirst, which is due to the evaporation
of the moisture of the body. It is unwholesome, too,
to use snow to quench the thirst, as it brings On in-
flammmation of the throat, palate' and tongue; be-
sides a temperature of 35i deg. to 58 deg. below zero,
Fahr., makes it taste like molten metal. Snow.
eaters in the North are considered as feeble and
effeminate lathe same way as is an opium-eater in the
East.
NAUTICAL.— Why are two insane couples all
over the ship at once !—Because they are fore and
daft at the same time.—Fun.
ALCOHOLISM AND SANITATION.—III the course
of a review on a pamphlet on "Crime in England and
Wales." the Sanitary Record eliminates the startling
fact that the amount of money expended in intoxica-
ting drinks in this country during the six years 1869-74
reached the astounding sum of £763,587,061, or
£40,000,000 more than the total of the National Debt.
The Sanitary Record remarks that, when this matter is
looked at in a sanitary point of view, it is evident that
the good effects which are likely to be produced by
better sanitary legislation are rendered comparatively
useless by the injurious consequences of the excessive
use of alcoholic drinks. There is no doubt that the
bad sanitary and domestic arrangements so often met
with in a working-man's home drive him to the public.
house, and it is to be feared that the present mode of
building a majority of their dwellings is not likely to
diminish the evil. It is scarcely the province of a
sanitary journal to discuss the best method of preven-
ting drunkenness and crime, bat the Sanitarg Record
considers it to be its duty to point out the injury to
health which results from the pra2tice, and to express
a hope that better sanitary arrangements in the dwel-
lings of our working-classes may be accompanied by
greater self-control on the part of their occupiers.

„,
THE PHILADELPHIA EXHIBITION.—The price
of admission to the Exhibition in Philadelphia will be
50 cents, payable in one note. The receivers at the
recording turnstiles will have nothing to do with the
notes, except to decide whether they are good or bad,
and to drop them in the boxes, where each one will
register itself. An exchange office of the Centennial
National Bank will be established near each entrance,
to change money for visitors not having 50 cent notes.
The Centennial Commission, after much inquiry and
careful consideration, concluded that the whole system
—absence of season tickets and all—was cheaper and
more secure against fraud than any other known. In
order that the cash in the boxes may correspond with
the indicators, a dollar note will not be received at any
gate for the admission of two persons, nor two 25. cent
notes for that of one person.
AWFUL ALTERNATIVE.—Mistress (Low Church)
to follower discovered in tha kitchen on a Sunday:
"Now it is getting late, Sir, and you must leave the
house at once, unless you'd both like to come upstairs
with me, and read you a sermon I”—Punch.
THE QUEEN'S VISIT TO GERMANY,— " ESSe et
Viden " writes to the Daily News :--
A good many people have been puzzled by the explanation
which Mr. Disraeli gave some time ago of the reason of the
Queen's withdrawal from England. He said; it the concur-
rent report in all the newspapers is to be trusted, that "the
present reasons for Her Majesty's leaving England are strictly
domestic, and arise from the bereavement of Her Majesty 'a
nearest and dearest relative." What can this mean? Hap-
pily none of the Queen's children has lost wife, or husband,
or child; so that those words of the Prime Minister must be
understood in a non-natural sense. It is a relief to learn
from your columns that the Queen visits Germany
only in order to be present at the institution of
a memorial of her half sister, the late Princess
liohenlohe-Langenburg, who died nearly four years
ago. The feeling which influences Her Majesty is
a natural one, and everyone will sympathi-e with it. But
surely arrangements might have been made by which the
ceremony and the Vllll4 might have fallen within the Easter
Recess Her Msjesty's high office implies corresponding
duties, which ought not, even in appearance, to be subordi-
nated to any private feelings, however becoming and grace-
ful. In the tierce light which beats upon a throne is often
safer for a monarch to scan without being laboriously and
self-sacrificingly attentive to the obligations of his post than
to be so without seeming. Appearances can never be safely
neglected by Royal personages, and this truth it is the busi-
ness of the Queen's advisers to keep permanently before their
illustrious mistress.
EVIDENCE BY CABLE.—In the Court of Com-
mon Pleas Philadelphia on the 13th of March, in
an argument on the right of telegraph companies to
erect poles in the highway, it was alleged on one side
that underground wires work satisfactorily in Europe,
and on the other aide that they have been almost en-
tirely abandoned. City Solicitor Collis, at 11 o'clock,
cabled a message of 128 words to the London General
Post-office for information on the subject, which was
transmitted to its destination in 23 minutes, and it re-
quired but 22 minutes for a reply of 108 words to re-
turn to the Court-house. The whole was therefore
done in 45 minutes. Mr. Winter, Assistant Engineer
in Chief of the London Post-effice, in reply to Mr
Collis's inquiries, Lays:—
" The underground wires in London referred to in Mr. Fleet-
wood's recent paper are in successful operation. It would
not be possible to carry the same number of wires through
London by overground work, nor would it be desirable, con-
sidering the atmosphere ,• but there are some overground wires
which are carried over the housetops. there are no poles in
in the streets_ All the important wires have been carried
underground through Lcndon for the past 25 years. Ade and
underground lines are in use in Continental cities."
iIoNEYbUCKLES IN THE DWELLING-HOUSE.—
Some years ago, as I was passing through a room only
used occasionally, I perceived an odour of fresh
flowers that surprised me, as none were ever kept
there; but, being in haste, it soon passed from my
mind. Not long after, being in the room, I noticed
the same perfume again, and this time I proceeded to
investigate the matter. On raising the curtain of the
east window, I found that a branch of honeysuckle
had found its way between the two sashes at one

corner while groiving in the summer, and had ex-
tended itself quite across the window; and on the .
branch inside there were three or four clusters of
well.developed flowers, with the usual accompaniment
of leaves, while on the main bush outside, there was i
not as yet a leaf to be seen. The flowers nside were
just as beautiful and fragrant as if they had waited
until their natural time of blooming. Since then I
have tried the experiment purposely, and always with
the same result.—M. A., in the Garden.
On! HORROR !—Tommy (suddenly—on his
way home from Church). "What did you take out
of the Bag, Mamma! I only got Sixpence': Look
here I"—Punch.
TIGHTER STILL !—A Parisian gossip remarks:
—lt has become quite a art to rota lady's skirt so that .
she may be elegant, fashionable and, to some extent,
modest. Each time that I write to you I am com-
pelled to state that dresses are tied still tighter round
the figure, and I have still " tighter " to write this
month. Our skirts are now so tight that our sitting
and walking are seriously inconvenienced; and the
sleeves of bodies are also so closely fitting to the arms
that we can hardly raise them, even to half their
usual height. In a word, exaggeration is still the order ;
of the day. Unfortunately, also, these very tight ;
dresses are more frequently disadvantageous to the ;
greater portion of the ladies than they are becoming.
THE FIRST NIGHTINGALE. —The Rev.,. W.
Fleming writes to The Times from Camden Parsonage,
Chislehurst :—" At a quarter to five o'clock on Thurs-
day morning (the 30th ult.) we heard a nightingale re
singing distinctly close to our windows, and answered ,
by another from a distance. Remembering the very
recent severity of the weather, this fact may be of
Interest."
Fnncu BILLIARDS.—A great billiard match
between Mr. William Sexton, the celebrated Ameri-
Aan player, and M. Vignaux, of Toulouse, the French
chrOnpion, came off on Friday night at the Grand
Hotel, Paris. The stakes were 5,( 00f. and an inter-
national challenge cup carried off by the Frenchman,,
at New York. Friday evening's contest exeited cone'
. siderable interest among anuateure, and the large
dining room of the hotel in which it took place was,
consequently crowded. The game was 600 up. Play.,
commeuced at nine o'clock, and lasted until one am.,' :
M. Vignaux winning easily, the score at the close •
standing 600 to 449.
A COSTLY VIOLIN.—At a recent sale by
auction at Dresden one of the objects sold was the
iambus violin which the Count Frautmansdorf, Grand •
Equerry to the Emperor. Charles VI., bought from the
celebrated maker Stainer on singular conditions (says the, Globe), He paid in cash .66 golden carolusee, undertaking',
to supply him as long as he lived with a good dinner
n.
yo f d ac
tohlfheoesob
eusfie'
hir°t,urhiulnlogdBdo
glidn
agisiiproeyir:si enaegsve:vrmeayrnaydn
year,yml
igo nhaattrshi
bares
Isnal enhawaet
further,
hcears,k casks f
suit
tnight want, with two baskets of fruit annually for
himself, and as many more for his old nurse. Ail 3,ju
Stainer lived sixteen years afterwards the violin must
have cost the count 20,000 florins in cash. The inetru-v
ment, which was last in the hands of an Austrian
nobleman, was sold to a Russian for 2,500 thalers
(about 10,000 I.).
• LIM IL
STAGGERERS F.OR SPELLING BEES.—The Stan-
dard remarks :—For the benefit of interrogaters at
spelling bees, a correspondent of a contemporary has. r 1. Tr
been. at a great feast of languages, and stolen the"
scraps," and some of them are of portentous dimensions.
His first suggestion is taken hem the mouth of Custard
in Love's Labour Lost, "thou art not so long by the
head as honoriticanilitudiniatibus," says the Clown,
and the word occurs in several old plays. Lord Lytton's
" Amoronthologosphorus," from "The Pilgrims of the
Rhine," is comparatively simple-to some of the other
words this student of " staggerers," has diecovered, and
perhaps he will never meet with a more awkward one
;than " AntipericatameanaLaperbeugedamphic Ri-
brattonestoordecantium," a compound which is likely
to interfere with the fluency of anyone who is reading
Ribelais aloud. There is at present in Madrid an
othceri who hewn() less a name than Don Juan Nepo-
, innceno de Burionagonatorecagagezoecha, and it is to
be hoped that hers not often caled upon to sign it in
full. In al, Isle of Mull there is a town called
" taidhvrickhillichatte n," and if the competitor
gets through these without floundering it is suggested
that he should be tried wirh " Jungfrauerzimmerdureh-
schwindsuehttoedlungsgegenverein,""Nitrophenriene-
diamine," and " Polyphrasticontinomimegalondula-
tion." Should he spell these correctly there cannot be
the slightest doubt that heawilliriohly deserve A
some prize.