The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1878-11-09 00:00:00

Our Noon Correspnkut

(We deem it right to state that we do not a.. all times
Identify ourselves with our Correspondent's opinions.)

For a community of the immense size of the British
capital, the out-door spectacles throughout the year
are singularly few. When Bank Holiday comes
I-rand, whether at the usually inclement season of
Ester, the catching weather of Whitsuntide, the
f erce },eat of August, or the festive gloom of Boxing

Day, the people turn out from their homes in great
multitudes, and go their several ways. There is no
one absorbing central attraction upon which they

congregate. To the suburban places of out-door re-
creation in the summer, and to the theatres in the

winter, are the destinations of the'masses. Under these

circumstanoes the Lord Mayor's procession on the

9th of November is looked forward to with ranch

interest by vast numbers of the population. It
is no exaggeration to say that it is wit-
_ _ _

nessed by hundreds of thousands.

Business in

the main arteries of London—a city which has been
described as the heart of the nation, the empire, and
the world—is suspended for hours whilst the civic
pageant is reaching and returning from Westminster.

It is always the custom for the show to traverse the
principal streets of the ward represented by the new
Chief Magistrate in the Court of Aldermen, so that
once upon a time it comes to the turn of the far eastern
ward of Aldgate to do honour to the gentleman who
looks after its interests in the municipal Parliament of
the City. Then the procession, instead of facing
-west when leaving Guildhall, moves towards the rising
sun, out beyond busy Bishopsgate, to the extreme
limits of the civic boundaries, and to the borders of
the widely-spreading territories of the Tower Hamlets.
Then it winds slowly back by London Wall, down the

luy street of Aldersgate, and so into St. Paul's church-
yard, down Ludgate Hill, up Fleet-street, through the
:3trand, along Parliament-street, and into Palace-yard,

where the LO-rd Mayor alights, is sworn into office by

the Barons of the Exchequer, who, with the judges of

the other courts ar3 invited to the banquet in the even-
ng, The proce3sion returns to the City by way of the
.'hames Embankment, upon which is gathered an

Pt.ffiregate of people .equal to the inhabitants
sof

many a principality, maid the clang of martial
music, the ringing of bells, and the vociferous
elle 3ring of an enormous multitude. Then the mighty

streams of traffic which have been diverted from

their anustonlei channels find their way back
rgain; the air is once more filled with sounds which
tel' of the pre2ence of stern and practical busi-

uess activity; the shops are re-opeced ; the spectators

have de.cPnded from the balconies and the house-tops,

ard for another twelvemonths London bids good-bye
to the Lord Mayor's Show. For centuries has this
di=play of mock-chivalry, knight-errantry, and civic

dignity passed through crowded streets, and between

sic iting throngs of People, but there is certainly no
diminution it popularity, which to all appearance

it geem,-;liely to retain lo:.g after this generation has
fE .ed away, and for ages yet to come.
The Lord Mayor's banquet on the 9th November i 3
not only a splendid gathering as a civic feast, but it ie

an occasion of great political importance. Its cost,
with that of the procession, is borne by the chief

magistrate an the Sheriffs, and it averages £2,500.
I is held at Guildhall, the only one of the year
which takes place there, for all the other dinners
nre laid at the Mansion House. The guests
Lumber about 800, and the sight is one which,

once witnessed, is not soon forgotten. The hall is
magnificently lighted and beautifully decorated, and

the tasteful dressess of the ladies, as they mingle in
the throng, lend a graceful variety to the brilliant
scene. Right at the head, and looking down upon the
gay assembly, stand the two giants Gog and Magog,
surveying with a calm -imperturbability one more of
the hundreds of scenes of fleeting pleasure upon which
they have gazed. Upon the walls are monuments to
men who have fought the battles of their country
by sea and land—men like Nelson and Wellington;
there are also memorials illustrative of the services
rendered by the City of London to the cause of
freedom and humanity in darker days and more
troubleous times. Her Majesty's ministers take
advantage of the occasion to vindicate their policy from
the criticisms which have been launched against it by
their opponents during the recess; for the time is
almost precisely midway between the close of one
session and the opening of the next. Lord Palmerston,
the Earl of Derby, Earl Russell, Mr. Gladstone, and
the present Premier, have all followed this course.
:iometimes there is a Liberal Lord Mayor and a Con-
strvative Government; at others, a Conservative
chief magistrate and a Liberal Ministry; but that
does not signify. It makes no difference in the enjoy-
ment of the splendid hospitality of the City of London.
:iurrounding it is every accessory of pomp and circum-
stance. The names of the guests are announced by
the toastmaster amid the sound of trumpet, and before
the Prime Minister has left the hall, his words have
teen flashed by the agency of electricity to the utter-
most parts of the civilized earth.

The Parliaments of several Continental nations are
just now sitting, and we have daily information of
what passes in the French Senate and National
Assembly, the Austrian Reichsrath, and the Hun-
-o.rian Diet, amongst other bodies. Our own Legis-
lature is almost if not quite alone in the time of its
assembling and dispersal. In the United States, as
well as in France, the Parliament meets in November
14nd works until May; our legislative year is from
February to August. Just when the days are length-
ening, all through the time of pleasant spring, and
under the scorching temperature of July our
Parliament is at work. In France and America,
on the other hand, they take advantage of
the short days to get through their duties, and by

cloEing up in May have the long summer and autumn
before them for their holiday. But there is one

great reason why the Briti,4l Parliament does
not come together in November. The First of that
month, besides being the festival of All Saints in the
calendar, is the beginning of the hunting season, and
v.s a large proportion of M.P's. consists of county
ntlemen, 1,; is clear that this time would be most
uconvenient for them to give their attendance at
Westminster. "Hark forward—Tantivy 1" is the
cry just now, as the packs of hounds and the scarlet.
coated horsemen make their way across country.
The recreation is described by those who indulge in it
as most enjoyable and exhilarating; and therefore it
is no matter for surprise that county members should
prefer responding to the call of the echoing horn to
the crack of the Ministerial or Opposition whip in the
I ibbies of the House of Commons, or listening to the
most polished orator in that assembly.
Could the shade of Sir Christopher Wren have been
• ummoned back to earth on the evening of All Saints'
Day, how the spirit of the great architect would have
rejoiced !

"Then, most musical and solemn, bringing back the olden
. times,
. With their strange unearthly clangour, rang out the
cathedral chimes."
For on that evening, just as the shadows of twilight
were deepening into the darkness of an autumnal
night, St. Paul's Cathedral, that marvellous creation
of the architect's brain, sent out its first peal from the
belfry tower. It has waited for its bells narly 200
years; and these have at length been supplied by a
combined effort on the part of the Corporation, the
Baroness rurdett-Coutts, and the Companies of
Drapers, Turners, Salters, Merchant Taylors, Fish-
mongers, Clothworkers, and Grocers. The bells, twelve
in number, and weighing 271 cwt,, areplaced in the
north-west campanile tower, the clock occupying the
- opposite tower on the south-west of the edifice. They
have cost £4,500, and the largest of the whole, the tenor
bell, of 62cwt., was presented by the Corporation It
does seem strange that for two centuries the Cathedral
• of the rich and powerful City of London should have
been without a peal of bells, when less than £5,000
would have paid for one. There always has been a
great bell of St. Paul's, which is tolled at midnight,
upon the death of a member of the Royal family; but
it has been without chimes to summon the wor-
shippers to Divine service, or to ring out a joyous
peal at a time of national rejoicing. For
• instance, it is a singular fact that, when the intelli-
gence of the Battle of Trafalgar and the death of
Nelson was received in this country, St. Paul's, which
received the remains of the hero for interment, could
• express from its belfry tower neither thanksgiving for
'the victory, nor sorrow for the loss of the man by whose
genius it had been won. The Thames had to appeal to
the Dee—bustling London was compelled to depend
upon quiet Chester—for a song of rejoicing at the des-
truction of the mighty fleets of France and Spain,
• with one deep note of mourning mingled with it from
the tenor bell. Happily the reproach of an empty
belfry no longer exists, and the bells of St. Paul's now
fling out their melody upon the troubled London air,
their music rising above the roar of traffic which all
the live-long day may be heard surging past the
Cathedral walls.

Many Persons express a decided conviction that the
dass of the present Parliament cannot last mush
longer, that the House of Commons ought at all times
to reflect the opinion of the people, and that tLe
questions before the country now are as far as the
Poles asunder from those under consideration at the
time of the last general election. Upon the last point
here cannot be the slightest doubt. On the day that
Mr. Gladstone, then Prime Minister, dated his address
to the electora of Gzeenwich, announcing the disso-
lution of Parliament—the 23rd of January, 187.1—the
Duke of Edinburgh was rearried to the only daughter
of the Czar amid a chorus of congratulations on this
bond of union bebween the two conntrios. The topics
wihich Imre come to the front since that day have

been many and momentous. At that time no anxiety
respecting foreign affairs weighed upon the public
mind, and it was not until eighteen or twenty
months afterwards that the outbreak of the in-
snrrection in the Herzegovina showed itself as the
cloud upon the political horizon which was destined
to darken the heavens, and to burst into a storm,
Another twelve months brought to us the news of the
massacres in Bulgaria, then came the Constantinople
conference, the war between Russia and Turkey, and
the negotiation of the Treaty of Berlin. Now all is
suspense respecting our relations with Afghanistan.
When Lord Palmerston dissolved Parliament in 1857,
he reminded.the house of Commons that it had been in
existence nearly five years, and had seen events pass
before it which it had fallen to the lot of few Parlia-
ments to witness. Amongst other incidents, his
lordship said it had seen Europe pass from peace into
a great war, and from that war again into a state of
tranquillity. So has the present House of Commons.
What has since become the great question of the East
did not command the slightest attention in the opening
of 1874, and no reference was made to it in the
addrepses of our public men. It has all come to the
surface since; indeed, the questions upon which the
return of the present House of Commons was based,
have long ago been chased away from our political
memories.

The holidays upon the Stock Exchange are not
numerous. They include, of course, the Bank Ho
days, four in number, and in addition to these there
are the Ist of May and the Ist of November—two
months representing the typical brightness and gloom
of our seasons. Many persons have asked, and at
various times, why these two holidays, and the reply
may be made that the dates mentioned are those for
striking the half-yearly balances at the Bank of
England, where accordingly the transfer book i of
the Government Funds are closed. The custom is
an ancient one, and its origin was founded upon the
reason ,that in the days when it was established, the
Funds formed by far the greater part of the securities
dealt in. There were shares in neither railways, gas
undertakings, nor telegraph companies, very few
foreign stocks, and not many banks. Therefore, to
shut up the books of the Government Funds was vir-
tually to close the business of the day. It is different
now when the dealings in the Funds form but a small
proportion of the vast aggregate of transactions in
other stocks. Yet the practice of locking the gate-
ways of the Stock Exchange every half-year is still
scrupulously maintained for a reason cogent enough
in bygone days, but which would be insufficient now.
The fact that it is still kept up is another testimony to
the Conservative instincts of the English people, using
the expression, of course, in its wider and non-political
meaning.

Numerous and varied are the ways of metropolitan
amusement and recreation. The British Museum at
Bloomsbury, the lighter attractions of South Ken-
sington, the riches of the National Gallery, and the
scientific explanations of the Polytechnic, naturally
attract great numbers during the year. But beyond
thee there is an enormous fringe of people who care
not so much for antiquity or chemistry as for pedestrian
exercises, athletics, bicycling, football, aquatics, and
gymnastics. The Agricultural Hall at Islington has
been the scene of more than one of these exhibitions
of endurance, and there seems to be a curious fasci-
nation about them attractive enough to a considerable
section of the population. The Agricultural Hall
is an immense building with memories for many a
country visitor to London. The associations which more
particularly gather round it are those of the December
Cattle Show; but the most recent of the peformances
within its walls were the contests for the long distance
championship, for which eight and-twenty competi-
tors started. The race is not always to the swift, but
in this case it did not signify whether a man walked
or ran, if he only made the most ground. As the
match lasted six days, it was a good test of endurance,
and for the exhibition of that staying power which is
so valuable in such struggles as these. The first
prize was to be £5OO and a £lOO belt, the second
man was to get £lOO, and the third £5O. Thou-
sands congregated in the great building every day to
witness the progress of the contest, and one of the
most remarkable incidents connected with it happened
on the fifth day, when Rowell, one of the competi-
tors, after having walked 344 miles ran 25 miles
without stopping, then walked twice round the Hall,
and ran another eleven miles. This is one of the
most marvellous feats ever chronicled in the
history of pedestrianism. The tourist who in the
autumn does his five-and-twenty miles a day is suffi-
ciently glad of a night's rest, and is knocked up by
a working week of it, and would not care to start off
for a run of anything like six-and-thirty miles at any
time of it. Opinions may differ as to the practical
utility of such exhibitions to the body politic; but at
all events they show what an amount of fatigue the
human frame is capable of undergoing, through the
application of discipline and training; and the power
of physical endurance is one which, in national crises,
may prove of great and immeasurable value.