The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1885-11-14 00:00:00

Our fonbon Corrtspoulant.

Prs deem it right to state tint, we do not at all taxi
stlLy curselves with our Correspondents apinions.]
It is in what are usually known as the "dog
days"—those when heat is in the ascendant and
thirst the prevailing feeling of all animalldnd—
that one expects to hear discussions about hy-
drophobia. But here arc we in the midst of
November, with Christmas distant from us a very
few weeks, and a greater and more prevalent fear
of rabies is being displayed than in many a hot
summer. In London there is growing almost a
panic on the Aubject, the number of deaths frem
this dread cause having greatly increased within
the past few months; and as more always die from
fear than from the disease itself, it is as well that
some authority on the subject should do his best
to lessen the panic which now prevails. Ono of
the medical papers has set a laudable example in
this direction. It points out that there ought
to he no unnecessary alarm, since it is only a dog
which is actually rabid which can transmit the
disease; that in many cases of a bite from
undeubtedly rabid animals it is the dog
alone and not the bitten man that
dies, and that the mortality from hy-
drophobia recorded in London for the
past ten months, unpredecented though it is
admitted to be, represents an annual death-rato
of only about one in 170,000. There is some
amount of comfort to be extracted from these
statements, but the popular horror of one of the
most mysterious of all complaints is too deep-
seated to readily give way to argument, however
cogent.
As at all such times, there is a great number
of remedies proposed, and, on the principle that i
prevention s better than cure, these are mainly
directed t the biters than to the bitten. It has
been suggested teat no dog should be allowed to
go about unmuzzled, and that the police should
have orders to seize and ultimately destroy all
animals not wearing the necessary protection.
But it 13 urged agaicgt this not o-ily that it
would be a matter of extraorclinery difficulty to
secure all dogs being muzzled, but that it would
be throwing on the police, already burdened with
the heavy duty of protecting life and property,
an additional task with which they are not
especially fitted to cope, and which might
seriously overtask their energies. It is further
urged that the danger of hydrophobia is not
limited to the streets. A pet dog has often been
seized with rabies when inside the house, and has
bitten those who were fond of it; and in such
cases muzzling is obviously no preventive. The fact
is that the subject bristles with difficulties. It is
not as if only a few people kept dogs. They are
tobe numbered not by the thousands but by the
ten thousands, and there is no prospect of the
total being diminished. The "friend of man"
as the dog has been called, is too popular an
animal to be harshly dealt with, and whatever
may be our terror of a spread of hydrophobia,
care must be taken that nothing like legislation
in a panic is directed towards the dog.
The number of eminent lawyers who are seek-
ing admission to the new Parliament is so great
that the Lord Chancellor has had to adopt a
eomewhat unusual course of procedure in order
to accommodate them. It appears that several
of our best-known Queen's counsel were engaged
in appeals before the House of Lords which, in
the ordinary sequence of events, would have
come on for hearing this month. But these
same gentlemen are occupied in all parts of
Great Britain in contesting seats for Parliament,
and as candidates cannot afford in these days to
be absent from the scene of warfare when the
battle has once been begun, they were in some
tribulation as to how the conflicting interests
could be harmonised. In their dilemma they
sought aid and counsel from the Lord Chancellor,
and he gave them both. It has accordingly been
intimated, by his lordship's orders, that the
appeals in which these gentlemen are interested
shall not be heard until after the general elec-
tion, and the Queen's counsel concerned are loud
in their expressions of gratitude for the con-
sideration which has been shown them. Whether
the parties to the appeals are equally satisfied is
another matter, but the incident is an illustra-
tion of how many interests are involved in a
general election. Although it is not every one
who has avote, there are few households which are
not touched in some wavbythe waves aroused by
a dissolution of Parliament. The amount
allowed to be spent by each candidate is now
distinctly limited by statute, but, at the least, a
minim{ of money will change hands as the result
of a new House of Commons being summoned,
and much of this is spent directly in trade.
Printers and bill-posters do not reap the har-
vest they did, but their ingathering even now
will be by no means small. But the army of
canvassers and watchers and messengers which
used to be engaged by the respective candidates,
is now practically abolished, and no one is likely
to grieve greatly at its disappearance, except
those who formed its component parts.
"The law's delay" is proverbial, and ordinary
folk will bear a deal rather than have
to invoke its aid. But when the law works
expeditiously and well, the fact ought to be
recorded in its favour, as some set-oft to the
dilatoriness which is frequently observed. In the
matter of the registration appeals, the judges
have done their work so quickly that every duly'
qualified person will be able to record his suffrage
when the time comes. The questions to be
settled were much more knotty than usual, for
they turned upon the construction of a new Act
of Parliament, and the decisions would set a
precedent which would affect thousands of
persons, not only this year, but in the time to
come, if legislation does not step in to make some
alteration. Serving-men, soldiers, and shop
assistants, none of which classes had votes
before, and whose admission to the suffrage, under
what is known as the "service clause," was not
in all cases clearly understood, will now be able
to vote at elections, and when this fact is fully
understood, a great addition will be made to the
registers. But, for the time, all with which the
public has concern is the register for the coming
election, and this has been settled by the superior
courts with an expedition which deserves praise.
One of the signs of the approaching political
contest which is to be noted in London
jest now by the most casual passer
through some of the suburban streets,
is the bills in the windows of shops and
private houses recommending one or other of the
local candidates for Parliamentary honours.
There is likely to be an increase in these, as far
as private houses are concerned, at this election
over previous ones. The Corrupt Practices Act
• has very strictly limited the amount which can
be spent during any contest, and candidates have
to seek the voluntary aid of their friends
in more directions than before. Bill-
posting was always an important item
in the expenditure, and in the large
metropolitan boroughs, though this cannot, of
course, be eliminated, it is sought to be di-
minished by appealing to those friends of the
zandidates who have houses of their own to
display in their windows the notices of forth-
coming meetings, and any other political infor-
mation which it may be desired to immediately
circulate. There are several difficulties in the
way of the plan being completely carried out, for
many suburban residents, though prepared to
.vote for their favourite candidate, when the day
of election comes, are not disposed to make their
ofises into advertising stations. The feeling,
however, is being largely overcome, and before
the polls are taken the system of spreading poli-
tics by window-bills is certain to very widely
grow.
"Please to remember the fifth of November"
is a line not likely soon to die out of the minds
of the rising generation, but those who watched
"Guy Fawkes Day" in London this year were
forced to the conclusion that the old custom was
not being kept up with the former zest. Every
year there seems to be fewer "guys" in the
atieets, and such as there are appear to be of a
shabbier cast. Leaders in political and social
movements whose faces are sufficiently familiar
to- the crowd are satirised in rough and clumsy
fashion, and their effigies, having served the pur-
pose of collecting pence and arousing popular
attention, are at length committed to the
flames; But the ceremony, thanks partly to
the exertions of the police, is being driven
year by year into remoter corners. This is not
only because the original idea of the celebration
has been utterly lost to people of the present
day, but because even those who remember its
historical significance are impressed with the
• fact that there are conspirators in explosives in
these times who deserve as me .h reprobation as
Guido Fawkes himself. It seems to them to be
somewhat of a mistake to be every year incinerat-
• ing the effigy of apr Ownlotter dofany tire
earlleytharreee cccenturiessince, when in ou
riminals
of similarly destructive ideas, now in penal
. servitude for their offences, who have been all
too soon forgotten. For philosophical as well as
prudential reasons, therefore, there is every
e
cause to dispute the ancient distitch—e T
seems no reason why Gunpowder Treason should
ever be forgot."
Among the tokens that Christmas is rapidly
approaching may be instanced the display in.
bookshops -anl at the railway stalls of the

"Christmas numbers," which have n,,w for so
many years been so popular. As everyrecurring
"festive season" comes around, there are to be
heard suggestions that peopleare becoming tired
of sech ways of celebrating Christmas, and that
the end of the "numbers" is assuredly at hand.
But just as the proof of the pudding
is in the eating, so the proof of the popularity of
any publication is in the selling. As long as
people demand such "numbers," so long will such
" numbers " be issued; and, despite all that
cynics may say, there is no symptom obvious to
the ordinary intelligence of the various methods
at present adopted of celebrating Christmas
failing either in number or degree. This is a
fact which should be cheering one to all who like
to see the world as pleasant as possible. It is
well for all of us that there should be some
season set apart for union, and friendship,
and joy. A.n old story, truly, is this
of the comfort whirth Christmas brings,
but it loses nothing in the re-telling. Those
of us who are accustomed year after year to
assemble in family party at Christmastide will be
the last to depreciate thehappy influences of such
a time. We know how many asperities are
softened, jealousies wiped away, and antipathies
timed into friendship by the easier flow of
spirit which comes with Christmas. It is not
difficult to hint that much of this is assumed as
a garment, and cast aside when the immediate
time has passed. But even if many of the feel-
ings are only temporary, they do good while they
last, and often they pave the way ferthose which
shall be eternal.

A conspicuous feature of Lord Mayor's Day
in Londonwas the assembly of agreat number of
firemen from various brigades in tlxl provinces,
and these were heartily welcomed by the throngs
which lined the thoroughfares as the procession
passed. For several years a detachment of the
Metropolitan Fire Brigades has formed part of
the show, and the men have always been very
loudly cheered as they rode along on their ,
brilliantly painted and polished engines. Fire-
men deserve the popularity which is thus so frocly
accorded them, for it is felt how great are
their services to the public. While we are slum-
bering in our beds they are labouring to save
life and property from the devouring flames.
In the midst of the fire, right in the heart of the •
danger, is their place, and as they dash through
the suffocating smoke, eager to aid those who
may be in peril, they are sustained by a con-
sciousness of duty which upholds them through
all. And it is not only from fire and smoke and
crumbling walls that they are likely to suffer.
They are drenched to the skin, and have often to
remain many hours in that condition. Various
diseases and especially rheumatism often
supervene, and when death ensues the service in
which the fatal stroke was caught may, by the
public, have been forgotten. But when there is
a chance to recognise all that they do and suffer
on our behalf, it is well that it should be seized,
and the services of these bravo public servants
honoured as is their due. A. F. R.