The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1876-03-25 00:00:00

OUT Itonbr!! (for -Tonont.

elVe deem it tight to state that w do not at all timed
wissitify ourselves with our Corre,pondent's opinions.]

More than once during the winter which is now
passing away, the 'attention of engineers and scientists
has been drawn to the fact that the most elaborate
work of man, as developed in railway and telegraphic
communication, is likely to be set at nought by the
silent forces of Nature. Those light and fleecy snow-
flakes, which on the evening of the 21st of January
descended upon the county of Huntingdon, weighed
down the semaphore arms of tilt, signals, cansed the
lights to 0..51,ad, and resulted in two terrible railway
collisions with lamentable lo.s of ltfe. Tne same
agetcy has more than once gathered upon the telegraph
wires, broken them down in all directions, and for the
time destroy ed this means of transmitting intelligence
between the cities and towns of this kingdom. It is
for the men of science to meet and overcome these
difficulties by inventing signals which shall be imper-
vious to the action of snow, and by laying the telegraphic
wires under the earth instead of suspending them in the
air, where they are liable to such serious contingencies.
Along &railway line, at all events, the expense of such
a change ought not to be very great; and, as we have
submarine telegraphs across wide oceans, there should
be no difficulty in establishing subterranean telegraphy
within the narrowilimits of these islands. It is satis-
factory to know that in London the wires are being
laid underground at the rate of 300 miles a year. In
this, as in ordinary travelling, an indispensable element
in a business
_age is certainty, and that at all times
does not exist.

As the merchantmen in distant seas look out for the
trade winds, so on the European Continent we regu-
larly prepare for the equinoctial gales twice every
year. This time these visitations seem to have par-
taken of the character of cyclones, which are more
common to the Indian ocean and to the Chinese seas
than to our own latitudes. Occasionally the captain
of a ship, seeing a sudden fall in his barometer
foretelling the approach of a cyclone, is enabled by
smart seamanship to get out of its way, for it is not
often that it exceeds 500 miles in diameter; but too
frequently it sweeps down upon many an unsuspecting
sail like a thief in the night, scattering devastation
upon the surface of the seas. The periodical unloosing
of the winds of heaven early in March and September
has formed the subject of many an interesting study.
It comes at a time when the day and the night are
equal all over the globe, the sun being twelve hours
above the horizon on the two days when it crosses the
equator—the 21st March and the 21st September. We
are told by astronomers that the equinoctial points
move backwards about 50 seconds in every year, re-
quiring 25,000 years to accomplish a complete
revolution. The discovery of this was not, how-
ever, left to the researches of modern science, for the
olden times numbered amongst them many an acute
observer ; and these, noticing the minute point here
noted, called it the procession of the equinoxes.
The visit of the boys of Christ's Hospital to her
Majesty is one of the most highly-prized treats an-
nually enjoyed by the youthful inmates of that well.
know: institution. Wayfarers through the City of
London, whilst passing along Newgate-street, have
not failed to notice a large building upon the north
side of that thoroughfare, standing in the midst of a
spacious yard. This latter serves as a playground for
the boys, several hundreds in number ; and oftentimes
the anxious city merchant, as he hurries to and from
his place of business, pauses for a minute or two to
look in through the railings, and watch the lads at
play. There they are, in the words of Tom Hood :
"Turning to mirth all things of earth,
As only boyhood Gan."
And when they are scampering about the yard, in all
directions, engaged in a contest at football, the effect
produced by the floating of their long blue coats upon
the Ereeze is as amusing as it is picturesque. The
charity, whi.:h is enormously rich, was established by
King Edward VI. in 1553, upon the site of the Grey
Friars Monastery a piece of ground which, standing in
the very heart of the city, would if sold to-day realize
an immense sum. The Duke of Cambridge is the
President of the Institution; and every year the boys
have the honour of exhibiting their charts and draw-
ings to the Queen. Sometimes this takes place at
Buckingham Palace, when her Majesty is in town for
a State occasion; but this year the youthful students
were better pleased to have the ride to Windsor, where
luncheon was served in the dining-room for them, the
governors, and the masters. The Queen was accom-
panied by the Princess of Wales and Princess Beatrice ;
and as early impressions are always the most lasting
there is little doubt that the blue-coat boys retain
their recollections of such an afternoon as that for the
rest of their lives.

The mention of the name of the Princess of Wales
reminds us that the rrAace, after four months in India,
is now on his way home in the Serapis, and is expected
to be at Lisbon by the end of the month. The Portuguese
capital, of whose politics we do not often hear in this
country, is preparing for the reception of his Royal
Highness, and the Palace of Belem, a roomy old-
fashioned residence on the banks of the Tagus, is being
got ready. There will be a review of the garrison and
a bloodless bull-fight, the horns of the contending
animals being bossed. A ball, a banquet, and an
address from the British residents at Oporto, are to be
prominent incidents of the festivities. It is not gene-
rally known that Oporto is 4 ne of the most impregnable
cities in Europe, but the fact of its being the mart of
Portuguese wine described as "Port," is familiar to
every schoolboy. As Spain is now once more free
truer, the en, urge of civil war, the Prince of Wales,
after leaving Portugal, will in all probability visit
Madrid; and then, crossing the Pyrenees into Frxece,
will arrive in this country about the 20th of April,
after half a 3 ear of travel in far lands which will be
made into more than one readable volume by the
gtaphic pens that have accompanied the Prince.
The fact that within twelve months 211,000 persons
have been admitted free to the Tower of London, and
that not a siet,le article in the historic building has
been damaged or lost, says a great deal for the move-
ment which resulted in the opening of the fortress on
two days in the week without the payment of the
usual fees. There is no doubt whatever that, had cir-
cumstances permitted, the number of visitors would
have been doubled or trebled, for the crowd at the
gates is always greater than the proportion of those
who can gain admittance. There is no such pressure
to obtain an entrance to the British Museum or to the
National Gallery; and neither of these national in-
stitutions is ever over crowded. But to all classes
there seems to be a perpetual interest in the grim old
Tower, frowning down upon the city with ballium and
gateway, portcullis and drawbridge, bastion and
scarp, just as it did in the days of William Rufus,
People gaze upon its grey battlements with a kind of
tnysterious awe as they pass up and down the river in
swift steamboats, for they ca,, see plainly the Traitor's
ateway, under whnse fatal arch many a doomed man
has passed in, never to come out again alive. The
Tower officials, termid "beefeaters," are dressed in the
style which prevailed in the reign of Henry VIII., and
a more courteous and intelligent body of men is not
possessed by au, public institution in London. Their
descriptions of the principal scenes in the history of
the fortress are well worth hearing.
The extraordinary performances of Mr. Weston, the
American pedestrian, have proved a source of interest
to the public, to physiologists, and to the students in
various branches of science. The British tourist, who
by a great exertion of physical power, walks forty
miles in one day, "just for the say-so of the thing,"
as he expresses it, is very glad indeed to rest on the
next day, and the chances are that he does not recover
from his abnormal exercise for a week or more. But
here was a man who, without that change of scenery
which a tourist must witness in forty mius, and which
certainly helps to pass off the journey, walked round
and round one building at an average of seventy-five
miles a day until he had accomplished the amazing
distance of 450 miles in six days. Many, while ad-
miring this consummate pluck and almost superhuman
have been disposed to ask what
powers of endurance,
is practically the value of such exhibitions. What do
they teach, or in what possible way do they benefit the
public? Well, in the first place they throw a great
deal of light upon medical and physiological clues.
tions, encourage men to train their bodies to undergo
fatigue, and afford valuable lessons to athletes. In
time of war, too, when it is dangerous to use a horse
for fear that its clattering hoofs may arouse the
attention of the enemy, the presence of a Weston
as the bearer of despatches or of an important message
might prove of incalculable value.
Seveninquire in years ago a Royal Commission was appointed
to
to the value of such historical manuscripts
as their owners might feel disposed to be open to in-
spection, and the reports which this body have issued
have been full of matter of the most varied interest.
The latest report shows that the manuscripts of the
House of Lords have been examined and catalogued,
as well as those of the Duke of Sutherland, the Mar-
quis of Salisbury, and of many colleges and corpora-
tions. Although it is impossible to pronounce at once
upon the strictly historical value of the collections
thus explored, there is no doubt that much light
has been thrown upon events in past ages which
were previously enveloped in some degree of obscurity
The,s is a wealth of illustration showing the domestic
life f our fathers in those muniment rooms of ancient
families—treasures consisting of old letters, worth little
when they were written, but now full of valuable in-
cidents to the student of political and ecclesiastical
history. These "fallen leaves," as Mr. Tennyson
would say, "have ever kept their green," and as from
toe the reader gathers fresh information respecting
the crisis in our national existence at such times as the