The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1869-02-06 00:00:00

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CONE, FOREIGN, AND COLONIAL.

Loss OF IDENTITY.—Lady Scott, in one of her
novels, tells a touching story of a lady who, being
obliged by a sudden alarm of fire to leave her room
without having her " body prepared," as the phrase
is, could not be identified by her nearest and dearest
friends. Without hair, complexion, teeth, eyebrows,
bust, and other artificial continuations and surround-
ings, she was an absolute stranger to everybody but
her maid.
FRIGHTENED OUT or ins W ITB.—A strange
story—stranger than fiction, as truth sometimes is—
came from Wairoa—says a New Zealand paper.
After eight days from the engagement at Moturoa, a
missing man has turned up. On Saturday one of the
garrison was out after horses, when he saw a man
armed and accoutred as our men are. He cooeyed, but
the poor half .demented man (as he proved to be), fear-
ful of everything, ran as terror-stricken at the sound.
The other pursued him, and in time overtook the man,
and brought him back to the redoubt. He proved to
be a man of the name of Kennedy. of the 6th division.
His story was that he, along with three comrades, was
leading out of the fire Serjeant Kerwin, of the 6th
division, who was wounded in the neck. While 90
engaged they were discovered by a party of Han-
ham, and fired upon. Self.preeervation actuated
them in each looking for safety. They scattered in all
directions. From that time Kennedy, unhurt, had
been loot in the bush, living through eight days and
nights as he best could on fern-root and nikau palm
fruit. He knew nothing of the country, and wandered
about over the country. In the course of his journey
he had reached the Moturoa pals, which our forces
had AO unsuccessfully attacked. He found the place
deserted, and, as far as he could judge, the wtiole
native force had withdrawn from the district. He states
it as his belief that if, after the battle, a bugle had
been sounded, or rockets fired, the majority of the
missing men, nearly all of whom were strangers to the
country, would have come in.
MIDDLE-CLASS EDUCATION.—A spirited effort
was set on foot some two or three years ago in Bed-
fordshire to ir eet a want felt in most of the agricul-
tural counties of England—viz., a thoroughly good
education for the sons of farmers and other middle-
class people at a cost within their reach. A large
school, calculated to receive 300 boys as boarders, has
been built at Kempeton, near Bedford, and which is
about to be opened. The necessary funds were raised
by shares among the landed proprietors and leading
farmers. The Duke of Bedford supported the move-
ment by taking shares to the amount of £lO,OOO.
Lord Cowper, the lord-lieutenant of the county, also
subscribed largely, and is president of the school hoard,
An education of a superior order, with board. lodging,
Btc., without extras, is to be imparted for the low sum
of CtO per year, the object in view being, not so much
a commercial project, as to bring down the cost of a
suitable education for the middle dames to the lowest
remunerative point. The school will be open to boys
from all parts of England.
LOGIC FOR LADIES. —The Madrid Correspondent
of The Times quotes, in connexion with Spanish affairs,
the saying of somebody that "no religion is better
than the best." Who originated this aphorism? The
Delphic Pythoness, one would think. In the same
way we might say, "No costume is better than the
beet," a proposition which might have been affirmed
by the Gyinnosophists, and would not be denied by
the readers of the Queen. But then, you see, dears,
that there is a very considerable difference between no
particular costume and no costume at all. --Punch.
A LADY FINED FOR FURIOUS DRIVING.—At
the Marlborough-street police-court, Lady Henry
Paget has been summoned for furious riding in Hyde.
park. Police constable Cowell said about one o'clock
in the afternoon of the 26th of December he was on
duty in Hyde-park, near the Albert-gate, when he saw
the defendant on a high-spirited horse going at a furious
rate towards Kensington-gardens. The horse was
galloping at the rate of at least fourteen miles an hour.
'rhe defendant returned through the park at the same
pace, knocking down a boy who was crossing the Row.
Police-constable Ford corroborated the statement as
to the furious riding. There were not many persons
in the Row at the time. The groom was riding as
feet as the defendant, but as the witness considered
the man Was compelled to follow his mistress he did
not summon him. The magistrate said it was a pity
there was not some place where persons could ride at
full speed without endangering other people. The
defendant must pay a fine of 40s. and costs. The
solicitor who appeared for the defence paid the fine.
The defendant was not present Mr. Tyrwhitt said
that if the boy had sustained any injury, he could have
his remedy at the County Court.
A STARTLING OCCURRENCE.—On Sunday fore-
noon great alarm was created among the worshipper)
of Restalrig Church, Edinburgh, by the bursting of one
of the pipes of the heating apparatus, and several mem-
bers of the congregation sustained rather severe,
although, happily, not dangerous injuries. The pew
occupied by Mr. Douglas, merchant, which was the
scene of the explosion, was rent in pieces, and Mr.