The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1876-07-29 00:00:00

-osERVE-h.
RIDGE
;I'l NSTOUBB

persons in Becker's house, eight of whom were drowned, told this morning that any English surgeon would be
James Pearce, his wife and two daughters, were all gladly welcomed and immediately employed by the
lost. Peter Becker. his housekeeper, and five c'^il- Government.' In another letter I had from him a few
dren, his entire family, were drowned. John days since he says : I have done a little work in the
Klassen, wife, and five out of six children were drowned, hospital, and Ihn itten praying that an English
rr
The stream gathered immense quantities of driftwood, ambuluce might: g iot up. The want is dreadful. If
earth, and fragments of bridges and buildings as it, half a .'q,n good stout English nurses would come out
went, depositing them in great bars in several places I they isiikitt do much. lam afraid that at present all
along the creek, and in the middle of these many of the severely wounded are left in the fielii.' He also
the dead bodies t'n‘re found. Eight of the nine railway says: 'The rumour that a public meeting is to be held
bridges within ten miles of the city were swept awn', in London has caused the liveliest gratification here."
and the telegraph lines torn down. The storm, how- -
ever, was not conned to this locality. It parted east
, ~ .
of Ottumwa into three routes, one branch going down IMPORTANT TO BATHERS.
the Desmeines River, destroying hoims and fences. At
Franklin Mills, Lee county, the wooden mill was de-
stroyed. A' Danville, west of Burlington, the rain came .During the recent hot weather the number of bathing
accidents has seriously increased. The Royal Humane Society
down in a deluge, falling in a solid sheet of water, and
destroying many barns has issued and widely circulated the following notice :
was
only a few moments be factories, and houses. It
fore the whole country was one "Important to Bathers. -Avoid bathing within two
vast lake. Many orchards were torn to pieces and
hours after a meal, or when exhausted by fatigue or-
utterly ruined, The crops suffered terribly, and small from any other cause, or when the body is cooling after
grain was in some instances beaten into the
perspiration; and avoid bathing altogether in the open
ground.
air if, after having been a short time in the water, there
Later advices show that some 25 persons were killed in
hete,'-
Warren County alone, that six or eight were killed in is a sense of chilliness, with numbness of the
Madison County, that probably 1150 houses were
feet; but bathe when the body is warm, provided no time
com,-
e:
pletely destroyed and as many more badly injured, and is lost in gtting into the water. Avoid chiling the
that the destruction of crops, fences, and animals
body by sitting or standing undressed on the banks or in
by
Tuesday night's storm was immense. The persexes boats after haying been in the water, or remaining too
killed and wounded in this district were mostly the long in the water. Leave the water immediately
wives and children of farmers. The train on the Des-
there is the slightest feeling of chilliness. The vigorous
moines and Indianola Railroad, which left on the 6th and the strong may bathe early in the morning on an
inst., was weter-bound between the North and Middle empty stomach, but the young and those who are weak
Rivers. Reports from Norwalk state that Mr. Gideon's had better bathe two or three hours after a meal; the
residence was swept away, and his wife and three sons beat time for such is from two or three hours after
drowned. Between Winterset and Norwalk eleven per. breakfast. Those who are subject to attacks of giddi-
sons were killed—seven drowned and four struck by ness or faintness, and those who suffer from palpita-
lightning. tion and other sense of discomfort at the heart should
not bathe without first consulting their medical
adviser."

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GEOGRAPHY AND Fteuvroz.—Lady Visitor (ex-
amining the School), "What's the,Caxifits' of
Turkey ?" Bright little Scholar, "Please, it ain;
got none—Us bankrup' ' p--Punch.
A UsE3ul. Hir. Every little while, says a
rre.sponaitt, we read of some one who has stuck a
,seity nail In his foot or some other part of his person.
and lockjaw has resulted therefrom. All such wounds
can be healed without any fatal consequences following
,them. The remedy is simple: It is only to smoke
each wound, or any wound or bruise that is inflames)
with burning wool or woollen cloth. Twenty minute
In the smoke of wool will take the pain out of the
worst case of inflammation arising from a wound we
rev! n
saw. r r; -crf
Viviszcoi dpputation UNA
e Society for toe Abolition of Vivi.ectiou has waited
upon Mr. Cross at the Home Office for the purpose of
as.king_the._Governmenc. should the- Vivisection BP"
not pass this session, to frame a measure of a rom
,more stringent character next session. The HOE
Secretary, in reply, said the Government were tryii
-" ' . • • • .

-,"-- to rec9nile the-
kande and i ,he c • -

the -medical profesiiiiin find the anti-vivisectioniits. He
hoped the matter, if discussed at all, would be the.
cussed dispassionately and calmly. The Government
were in no way influenced by passic nate appeals' bnt
acted from a point of common sense and without pref.
rjudice.. He hoped the question would be settledsoon on
tray or the other.
COLLECTING A MILLION POSTAGE STAMPS.
For some reason not explained, a little girl has bee
iddring the New York public to give her a million postagi
stamps—cancelled ones. It is not said whether shel
llehnts to lick them or not. However that may be,
The New York Evening Post announces her triumph;
not in a second edition, in these words: "The HUI('
girl is certain, to collect a great many more than thti
required number of stamps by the time specified. II
may be of interest to persons who regard it as a well,
nigh impossible ta,k to collect a million of defaced
postage stamps within a few weeks to know that we
have had stamps to the number of nearly a million
offered to us within less than a week for this little girl
—one correipendent alone offering to give her sis
hundred thousand at once, and a well-known businee(
firm of this city promising from two thousand to thre(
thousand a week for any length of time." Here th(
story ends, and we add, it is wonderful how generom
people are in fiesto wing that which is of no use So them-
selves.

A MIXED FAMILY.—The following is told by
the Les Angeles (Cal) Republican There is a f atnii
in this town with nine varieties of children. The hue
band and wife have each been married twice before,
and had one child at each former marriage, whic
makes four children, each one having different parents.
The present wife's former husbands had each been,
married before, leaving a child by their former wives,f
which makes six children of different parents. The:
present husband's two former wives had been previously,
married, leaving each one child, making eight of
different parents. The present husband and wife by
this marriage have one child, making nine, all living,
and no two having the same parents."
HOLIDAY IN A Rix LWAY Tn&IN.—A London
correspondent writes :—The uppermost question on
everybody's lips is "Where shall we go?" London'
is emptying fast, and each person is supposed to fiod,
according to his means, some place in which he
can subject himself and family to the annual
eclipse required by custom. The moet original idea
I have heard of Is that of a party of ladies and
gentlemen, sixteen in all, besides servants, who have
chartered a Pullman car, or rather a service of cars,
with all the accessories of dressing-roome, dining.!
rooms, kitchens, smoking-rooms, &c., and who are
about to travel over Eugland wherever the railway
companies will allow theta to range. The travellers
will first go down to the West of England, then back
through Wales to the English lakes, and after a short!
stay there will cross the B erder and get as far North!
as possible. It is understood that all will sleep "on
board" and breakfast there; but unless on long
journeys and with rare exceptions, they will dine at
the hotels of the places where they stop, or at the
houses of friends living in the neighbourhood. The
party start about the Ist August.

A SWISS TRAGEDY. —A tragical occurrence at 1
the prison of Basle, in Switzerlaed, is related by the t
journals ef that town. The prisoners had concerted to
escape: one, an Italian, murdered two gaolers and a
comrade with whom he had quarrelled, then finding '
that- flight was-impossible blew out his brelns with a
pistol taken from one of the turnkeys he had killed.
The other prisoner also killed one of the attendants and
then scaled a wall; being pursued he also attempted to
commit suicide, but was prevented, and, being secured
was again lodged in his cell.
• • •
SHOCKING TRAGEDY IN NEW YORK.—Advices
from New York state that three Germans named
Theilhomm, living there independent of business,
were incensed against some-,. witnesses who bad given
evidence - against theniNni a petty charge. The
brothers threatened the witnesses, and in consequence
were ordered to be arrested. The police proceeded
to their lothings, when a terrific fight took place.
One policeman was shot dead, and another wounded.
The three men then ruehed from the house,
firing with revolvers at everyone they met. Several
persons, inclueing two ladies, were slight'y wounded
or had narrow escapes. The men ru.ned to an
office where two of the former witnesses against
them were employed, and shot them both dead. Tney
were pursued by an armed crowd, at whom they
inert edly fired, wounding several persons. At length
they were chased to a spot at which they must either
face the crowd or swim the river. They chose the
latter, after a fight with knives with the foremost of
the crowd, but when in the river they were pelted with
stoves, and sank. Six lives weir lost, and other
sufferers were in a dangerous state.—Daily News.
NOT A BAD SUGGEsTION„—A radical reformer
has come forward recently with the proposition that
a new item should be included orneriest toe subjects
taught to boys in the elementary schools. He wants
them to be instructed in plain needlework. " Nothing,"
he says, "stands in the way of this admirable move-
ment bet a prejudice that a puff of common-sense will
blow quite away." It may be objected that needle-
work Is not a manly occupation. Sailors, however,
practise it, and no one ever heard that it did them any
harm. It won't do, also, to say that there is no titbit
for its being taught. In the London School Boards,
girls are taught to work well in two hours a week, and
were the necessity admitted, this time could easily bid
spared for boys. Our reformer does not propose that
boys should be initiated into all the mysteries of the
art. He only wants them taught to sew on buttons; i
darn stockings, and mend and even make their own
clothes. That such knowledge would be useful, few
whom hard fate has knocked about the world will
deny. Every one does not grow up to have a nest of
his own, and woman's kind and willing fingers to work
for him.

"VOYAGES OE STUDY." -••••• There is inore
trouble in store for the schoolboy. A society has been
started in France for the formidable purpose of prose.
cue:rig "voyages of study" round the world. M. de
Lesseps has interested himself in the project, and next
year a fine steamer of 1,200 horse-power will take a
cargo of boys, with tutors, regulations, and everything
necesmry to enjoyment, on a long cruise, in which
plea,ure is to be duly seasoned with instruction. The
ship will weigh anchor at Havre, and sail in the first
instance ft;,r New York, touching at Lisbon, Maderia,
and the Bermudas.'. From New York the students
will proceed to Charlestons Havannab, Martinique,
Para, Rio, and Buenos Ayres. They will avoid Cape ,
Horn, sailing through the Stiaits of Magellan, on to
Valparaiso, Callao, Tahiti Auckland, and Melbourne.
From Melbourne the floating school will make for
Sydney, pause for a moment at Noumea, thence '
proceed to Yeddo, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Singapore,
Bombay, Aden, Alexandria, Naples, and Marseilles,
when the young gentlemen will be let loose to teach
-Ng; aged relatives.—Pall Mall Gazette. I
CAN DOUR Spinfite r Excursionist the (least,
elderly). "Two tickets to Broaastairs, please.7e
Facetious Clerk. "Single ladies t " Spinster (with a
weak•minded sense of humour). " I regret to say wel
are, sir ! First class, if you please !! "7
-Punch. 4
PRACTICAL NATURAL HISTORY .—The Ministeii
of Agriculture in France is endeavouring to inculcate
the doctrines of practical nal ural history by the beige
of placards giving instructions as to the fate to be
meted out, not only to small birds, but to other
creatures useful or noxious to agricultural interests. A
printed- notice has been posted in' all the crossways of
the forestal domains by order of the Ministry of
Agriculture, setting forth the habits of the hedgehog,
the toad, the mole and the May-bug. Of the first
three creatures the Government naturalist states that
are " farm assistants." The toad is said to "kill'
fromt wenty to thirty insects an hour," while the mole
ee1:6411..11y doetv..y d n ;inetons worms_ and
"does more good than ham" At the end of each
paragraph is an appeal to all whom it may concern
"Don't kill" the particular animal mentioned. But
of the May-bug it is stated that it is a "mortal enemy
to agriculture, and instructions "to kill the May-
hem." ate accordingly issued, while a premium of 25
centimes is promised to children for every 500 of these
insects which they bring to the garde champthre. The
placard winds up with the assertion that each depart-
ment loses several millions annually through insects.
Birds are the only enemies able to contend against
them victoriously. 4.

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