The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1878-03-23 00:00:00

-,lisatlaneous

HOME, FOREIGN, AND COLONIAL.

A LONG FAaT. The large female anaconda
(Euvectts muriaus) now in the Zoological oociety's
reptile house in Regent's Park, Londo4, purchased on
the 15th of February, 1877, has invariably declined
the most tempting offers of food until Friday last,
when she killed and swallowed a duck. It is impos-
sible to say ho s long she may have been with.nit food
previous to her arrival at the Gardens. One thing is
certain, however, that she could not have taken food
while in the box in which she arrived from South

America,iasshe was so closely packed as to be barely
able to move.
PENSIONS.—" Head Teacher" writes
to the Daily News, forwarding a copy of the following
letter, which he has received from Mr. Gladstone
"I have no pension, and I am sorry to find that, notwith-
standing published contradictions, this untruth" (viz., that
Mr. Gladstone is in receipt of a pension) "is constantly
renewed, I shall be obliged by. your sending, on your own
behalf, to „some journal an intimation that you have re-
ceived this from me, and that I really must ask to be excused
for the future from writing on a matter which is more pro-
perly,settled by reference to public and Parliamentary docu-
ments.—Yours faithfully, W. E. GLADSTONE.-121h March,
1878."

-
AN OPTICAL DELUSlON.—Traveller: Hi Guard!
Have you seen a man waiting about with one eye, of
the name of Walker ?—Guard (musingly) : N-no, sir.
I dunoao as I '4.y.—What was the name of the other
eye, sir ?—Judy.
NOTES ABOUT MAD DOGS.—A very remarkable fact
is that a rabid dog appears to lose the power of ex-
pressing pain. No matter what is done to him—if he
be kicked, pinched, pricked, beaten, or even burned,
he never gives vent either to the, growl or the sharp
cry with which a healthy dog expresses anguish,
although his efforts to escape and his change of coun-
tenance are sufficient proof that he is not insensible to
suffering. It is an error to suppose that a mad dog
always foams at the mouth, for although in most cases
the throat odia, Mouth 'are Lilled with foam, in others
they become completely dry.
ACCOMKODATING. Customer. —" Yes, I like the
Bonnet; but I do not want the Cap in it" Show-
Woman.--" Oh, you can have it without, if you like.
With the Cap it's a Bonnet, you know, and without it
its an 'At! "—Punch.
A NEW YORK FERRY-BOAT CATASTROPHE. —On
the evening of the 23rd ult. a serious disaster occurred
at New York, through the collision of the ferry
steamer James Fisk with a schooner lying at anchor.
A dense fog prevailed at the time, and the ferry boat
had been waiting at the Twenty-Third-street Station
for some time before venturing to start on her trip.
When she did leave there was a large number of pas-
sengers on board. The schooner was anchored about a
mile from the New York shore. Her bow.tore away
_ _

the railing of the steamer for about half its length, anil
carried off the guards and stanchions, the result being
that the upper deck gave way, and a number of pas-
sengers underneath were crushed with more or less
severity, one of them, a butcher named Ebbert, being
killed. Othei s were precipitated into the water. Some
boats speedily rendered service in picking out of the
water the struggling passengers, but at the time
of the despatch of this intelligence four lives were
known to have been lost, while a number of persons
were missing.
WHICH Is ?—The Czar is said to have foreseen
the result of the war. Does he profess to be a wizard
or does he get his information from the Czarewitch ?
Fun.

THE EDDYSTONE LIGHTHOUSE.—A Parliamentary
paper just issued gives a report from the corporation of
Trinity-house to the Board of Trade on the practica-
bility of removing the Eddystone rocks, instead of re-
building the lighthouse thereon. The Elder Brethren
point out that the use of the light is by no means con-
fined to warning against an isolated danger, with the
removal of which its function would cease, but that
the existence of that danger in affording a platform for
the exhibition of a light has become not merely the
means of giving a good lead into Plymouth, but of de-
termining position and of providing an essential link
in that chain of general passing lights which, as de-
fining a straight course up and flown the English
Channel, may be regarded as invaluable. Holding
these views, it will be understood, the report says, why
the Elder Brethren have not given any very detailed
consideration to the practicability of removal; but it
has been estimated that to obtain the safe minimum
depth of seven fathoms, which would be expedient in
the unmarked approaches to such a naval station as
Plymouth, it would be necesssry to remove about
100,000 yards of rock, or 1,750,000 tons, to which would
have to be added the blasting of an inner danger (that
of the Hard Deeps, at present sufficienqy indicated by
the lighthouse), computed at another 250,000 tons,
making hi all 2,000,000 tons of rock to be removed, at
a cost which cannot be estimated approximately at less
than £500,000.
CIVILIANS EMPLOYED BY THE CROWN. A return
has been issued showing the number of and charge for
civilians employed by the Crown in the year ending
the 31st of March, 1876. The numbers and the charges
in respect of them are as follows: —Judges and ma-
gistrates, 431, £5535,951 ; principal officers, 609,
551,323; barristers, solicitors, clergymen, professors,
and surgeons, 791, £259,240; inspectors, 701, £241,367;
clerks and others, on scale of salary theiminimum of
which is £BOO a year, 180, £171,411; clerks and others,
on scale of salary the minimum of which is under £BOO
a year, 25,356, £4,329,902; schoolmasters, school-
mistresses, teachers, and monitors, 12,857, £327,924;
persoss below the rank of clerk, 81,514, £4,255,431.
The charge for clerical assistance is £330,362, and for
other assistance not included in the other classes,
£4,866,152. The total charge is £16,219,063.
"NEVER SAY DIE I"—Ned. " Marnin', Tummas !
'Ow be yeou ? "—Tummas. " Pooty 'arty, thankee.
But I'm a gettin' a ould man now ! "—Ned. " Ye-oo
ould! Look at Methoosalum 'Ee wor a ould man
i' ye like, 'ee wor ! "—Punch.
AMERICAN WOMEN.—American women take vastly
better care of themselves than formerly. They have
more acquaintance with hygienic laws, and hold them
in far higher esteem. The days when they exposed
themselves to dampness and wintry cold, in thin
slippers and silk stockings; when they abstained from
flannels next to the skin; when they pinched their
waist to semi-suffocation ; when they sacrificed com-
fort and health to what they conceived their appear-
ance—these foolish and unhappy days have gone
for ever, have barely been known to the rising genera-
tion. Our women have no mawkish and morbid
notions as to themselves; they no longer think that to
be unhealthy is to be attractive; that invalidism and
interestingness are synonymous; that pale faces and
compressei lungs are tokens of beauty. They dress
seasonably; they wear thick boots and warm clothes
in bad and cold weather; they allow themselves to
breathe freely, and they find their looks improved,
not injured by the wholesome change. There are
exceptions—many of them doubtless—but the rule is
as we have described, and the exceptions are con-
stantly diminishing. It may be safely said that all
sensible women are becoming, if they have not yet
become, converts to nature, and that they heed their
behests, recognising the great principle that what is
not natural cannot be beautiful.—Harper's Bazaar.
THE MEN WHO SWAM THE DARDANELLES.-1 1
Dardanelles, toward which so much attention is nc.w
directed, fairly teems with historic and poetic me-
mories. Its navigation was first attempted by the
Argonauts, under Jason, in their search for the Golden
Fleece. At Abydes Xeres built his famous Bridge of
Boats for the invasion of Greece, and it was here that
the loves of Hero and Leander became world-
renowned. Leander, who lived at Abydos, on the
Asiatic shore, was in love with Hero, the beautiful
priestess of Venus, at Sestos, and regularly swam the
strait to meet his mistress. One dark and stormy
night he failed to appear, and when the luckless Hero
visited the shore the next morning the waves had washed
the dead body of her lover upon the sands. Overcome
by her loss, she plunged into the sea, and the spot be-
came ever after sacred to their memory. On the 3rd of
March, 1810, Lord Byron swam the Dardanelles at the
same point in seventy minutes. He was accompanied
by a Lieut. Akenhead, whose name has been handed
down to posterity, in the line,—
"Which Leander, Mr. Akenhead, and I did."

The swim from Abydos to Sestos is still repeated yearly
by Byron-inspired tourists, and will probably continue
to be as long as the glamour of poetry and tradition
hangs around the spot.
THE SUPPLY OF FOOD FROM AMERICA—The
quantity of food brought to Liverpool last week from
America was quite up to the average of recent periods.
Five steamers reached the Mersey, bringing collec-
tively, 5,712 quarters of beef, 1,628 carcases of mutton,
and 283 carcases of pigs, whilst another steamer from
Canada landed 150 head of cattle and 423 live sheep.
No consignments of fresh butter came to hand.
THE RIGHT MAN IN THE RIGHT PLACE.—A Chris-
tian Correspondent suggests a new Office for the
Emperor of Russia :—" President of the Society for
the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts."—

-
Punch.
THE BACKWARD HABIT OF THE JAPANESE. The
Japanese habit of reversing everything, -if we may
regard our own way of doing as the proper way, is
very curious, and in some of its details very interest-
ing. Mr. Griffiths, in his work on Japan, discusses it
thus: "Another man is planing. He pulls the plane
towards him. I notice a blacksmith at work. He pulls
.the bellows with his feet, while he is holding and
hammering with both hands. He has several irons in
the fire, and keeps his dinner-pot boiling with the
waste flame. His whole family, like the generations
before him, seem to get their living in the hardware
line. The cooper holds his tubs with his toes. All of
them sit down while they work. Perhaps that is an
important difference between a, European and an
Asiatic. One sits down to his work, the other stands
up to it. Why is it that we do things contrary wise to
the Japanese? Are we upside down, or they? The
Japanese say that we are reversed. They call our
penmanship 'crab-writing,' because, say they, 'it goes
backward. The lines in our books cross the page like
a craw-fish, instead of going downward properly.' In
a Japanese stable we find the horse's flank where we
look for his head. Japanese screws screw the other
way. Their locks thrust to the left, ours to the right.
The baby toys of the Aryan race squeak when they
squeezed; the Turnonian gimcracks emits noise when
pulled apart. A Caucasian, to injure his enemy, kills
him ; a Japanese kills himself to spite his foe. Which
race is left-handed ? Which has the negative? Which
the positive, of truth? What is truth? What is
down? What is up."—Pacific Rural Mail.
TERRIBLE SHIPWRECK AT CAPE HATTERAS.—Advices
from Washington report the wreck of the fine barque
Phillip Suppicich and the loss of all hands at Cape
Hatteras Inlet, on the night of the 23rd ult. The
barque was on a voyage from Newcastle to Phila-
delphia, and went ashore during heavy weather upon
a dangerous part of the coast, twenty-five miles from
the nearest life-saving station. No assistance could
be rendered, and the vessel was beaten to pieces by the
breakers, all on board perishing. The next day the
body of man, supposed to be the captain, was washed
ashore, and in the pockets of his clothing were found
fifteen pieces of English money. Several chests and
seamen's beds also came ashore, as well as a number
of barrels of potash, which had formed part of the
cargo. Two other bodies were afterwards discovered on
the beach. All were buried, and the revenue officers
took charge of the clothing and other effects which
were washed up.

AVERAGE PRICES OP BRITISH CORN.—The fc
ing are the average prices of British corn for the week
ending March 16, as received from the inspectors and
officers of Excise :—Wheat, 495, 6d.; barley. 425. 2d. ;
oats, 235. 9d. per Imperial qr. Corresponding week
last year :—Wheat, 51s. 3d.; barley, 40s. Bd.; °ate
255. sd.
A. RUSSIAN MODE OF RAT EXTERMINATION.--The
Russians adopt the following method of destroYir%
rats :—Pr,,cure 2 ~z. of dried oatmeal, and mix with
this meal twelve drops of the oil of aniseed. Give this
mixture one night. The next night lay on a slate the
following mixture :-1 oz. of dry oatmeal, 1 oz. of lin-
seed meal, 1 oz. of bread crumbs, and i oz. of moist
sugar. Be careful not touch it with your hands, ag i
destroys the charm! Stir all together with a wooden
spoon. When this is put together dry, add 2 oz. 43,E
quicklime, and well mix it together. Put sorae of iv
ou a slate in the places most frequented, and at a short
distance place several flat vessels holding about a pint
of sweetened water, and lay them even with the floor,
to allow the rats after feasting to drink.—Country.
BY SUFFERANCE OF THE FARMERS.—The Ara. ,r 4
Lane Express says :—" A correspondent of The Pieta,
signing himself • C,' questions the statement of another
correspondent of the same journal who had said that
'The sport of fox-hunting could not flourish, even for,
a single season, except by sufferance of the _farmers,
and intimates that if tenants opposed fox-hunt/lig,
landlords would farm their land themselves. Now'
there is no reason to fear that fairness will set theal. '
selves againtt fox-hunting; but it is nonsense to will
of landowners farming their own land. They have no
capital enough, and if they had, they would soon cell's°,
to have enough if they took to farming on a large sail'
They nearly always burn their 'fingers when they a°
try it. Hunting undoubtedly is carried on by sufferi
ance of the farmers, and those who ride over the lan
should be more careful than many of them are not to
do avoidable mischief.
LET'S HOPE SO.—Our sailors are quite at home 0131
the deep blue sea. Let's hope they will be equalli tie
on the deep Black Sea. —Fun.
A FATAL ACCIDENT.—Mr. Marriott Hall, a 1i3013g
surgeon in Sheffield, died on Sunday night from the
effects of a shocking accident which he met with a fele
hours previously. In the morning he was out visiting
patients, and, having a considerable distance to go, iin
rode one of his horses, a very high-spirited anintis -
which had been in the stable some time. Be h,,_ -
ridden several miles and was on his way back into we :
town, when the animal commenced to rear and soon
became unmanageable. It swerved a bit in the centre,.
of the rad for a little while and then fell, Mr fie4l
falling underneath and his head coming into contact
with a kerbstone. He was removed in a state of
consciousness to the residence of Mr. Mark Firth, 111°
father-in-law, which happened to be near. He then
became unconscious, and died in the evening. na."
Hall was only 38 years of age.
HINTS ABOUT VENTILATION. A correspondent
describes a new idea in ventilating a room. He sale
" You'have a pipe, say ten feet long and six inches in
diameter, let into an outer wall, the aperture of the
pipe being at the top. Thus the fresh air come' if;
from the outside, rises in a column, and falls thong.,,„l
the warmer air inside, without any draft." He r
se's„
the plan is adopted at som'e of our hospitals, and he m"
surprised that it is not more generally employed. ,
ILLNESS AMONG RUSSIAN Thoors.—The Adrien°Vl
Correspondent of the Gobs telegraphs under date.
the 12th inst., that the typhus has swept away an war
sanitary corps of doctors, consisting of twelve for,
viduals, and that the mortality among the remainueA
of the medical staff has been such that many sick en„,,,`•
wounded are left without attendance. The hospita'
are full of invalids, and 2,000 soldiers ill with WP,Thilu:
are billeted upon various houses in the town. ' -to
same paper states -that at the moment for going ,0
press it had received a communication from tP
Ministry of War announcing that a special train r°n.„.
veying 35 doctors had been despatched that day irn;
Warsaw to Adrianople, and that 20 more had air"''.
set out from Odessa to take the place of those who her

ollow..

died.
KINDNESS TO ANIMALS.—A porter has been
to carry the elephant's trunk, and a book-keePer"
berth has been obtained for the adder.—Fun.
AN INDIAN MARRIAGE.—A Correspondent vai'l
—"A marriage, which for more reasons than one LStli
considerable public interest, will take place this UlOl
in India. The young Maharajah of Cuch Debar' 4
Assam, is to take for his wife the eldest daughter -
Keshub Chunder Sen, the great Hindoo reforiner'
The proposed marriage will, as the Indian Afirror Bag.
mark an epoch in the social history of India, and
British authorities, who have not only
sanction
but, as we gather, proposed the alliance for their
.are worthy of all honour. The Maharajah NriPer%,h
Narain Bhup succeeded his father, Maharaf.
• ra
Narender Narain, in 1863, and will, when his muio
terminates (he is now sixteen), reign over a provi'7,
of 1,307 square miles, the residuum of the dotnini3O -
of his ancestors, which at one time contained tale
whole kingdom of Assam. The young Prince,
said, will declare himself a Brahmo (a pure Theist)l?°:
fore the wedding takes place, and no corapron3l!'
with heathenism will occur in the marriage rites- it
is an eminently amiable and teachable person, anu
is fairly to be anticipated that his alliance with silo
like Keshub Chunder Sen will tend immensely to_., •
enlightenment and moral improvement of hie
—Daily News. thielr
A BACONIAN INDUCTION.—Tim. "D 8 tt
Sorr, there 's anny channce av a war wid the Iloosiant3As •
—Squireen. "Well, things looked queer a little ich_',%
ago, Tim. Why do you ask? "—Tim. " Shure, Su.'.:4
I 'll soon have to be sellin' me pig; an' if the couetaf,
goes to war, Bacon 'll roise 's shure 's me name 'Ol-1-1'
0 Farre'l ! "—Punch.
A GARDENER BlRD.—Under this title the Gardtn.
Chronicle gives a description, with illustnative iy,"`"f,f
cuts from an original sketch drawn on the 13130'
Signor Beccati. of a bird which is not only an esPe,,
architect, building a nest like the Bower-bird of AoTA
tralia, but also a gardener, laying out a garden in frues
of it. The bird is a native of New Guinea, and.rai'At
a nest of the stems of an orchid. In front of the Vo.
a dressed lawn of moss is formed, on which the t
tive husband places day by day, for the delectatioi,A
his mate, flowers and fruits of bright colours
pleasing flavour. The orchid, which belongs rhtd '
hitherto unknown species of dendrobium, is deserw- °
at length by Professor Reichenbach.
THE REASON WHY.—A medical contamporali far;
tions that the muscles of the human jaw represelltv
power equal to a pressure of one hundred and tsgell;se
five pounds. This probably accounts for the itsrateog
difficulty which some people experience in 110'
theirs.—Judy. h er
11 a
LEGAL RIGHT OF WAGER OF BATTLE.—I 0' ---,.„.evce
a lawyer from Massachusetts relate a curious ins'"oo
of the authority of the common law in his State.
epo.
said that he once advised a client, who had the• rut
tation of being a fighting man, to plead the rig:a' by
wager by battle. Now, wager of battle is a tri
combat, and was formerly allowed by the couloith
law. By it the defendant had the right to fight ,iO4
the plaintiff, the result of the conflict Pr,:eoo
whether he was guilty or innocent. DIY
argued to the court that the common law, as etth „
at the Revolution, had been adopted in MassauhrA the
that when adopted, a defendant in England li-Tieg
legal right to wage his battle, and the law never.n dr
been abolished by statute in Massaclausetts, trbeell
fendant still had the right, although the law ilibu
abolished in England. The Court held the Plei/ D'fggiscl
one. I have examined the Massachusetts liiigeB" the
I find no reported case to that effect. Perhall
story is mythical. It may have been sugges,t7Rlea,
the celebrated case of Ashford v. Thornton, t'tiii
in 1818, in England. In this case the defenclitos
plead his right to wage battle, and the court fait; ths
it. This case called the attention of Parliaraent__.oo
fact that this anomaly—this relic of another age:4 the
still a part of the common law of England, an"
next year it was abolished.—Scrihner's Magrigifl4.
THE IN-COMING AND THE OtTT-GOING.--om.
"Mark my words, Styles, this 'ere Congriss.,e ad
come to nothing; wot with them furriners
- another, we shall 'ave a real war, and then s'altibti
'ave a income-tax I "—Styles: "Nob-but
Mister Goiles, but what worrits me more is 9'
won't 'ave no income ! "—Fun.

;Rfity°P;
A STORY OF VICTOR EMMANUEL—Eris ALS, ti 0
day, hunting in the neighbourhood of Rome,
hare at the very moment when a stout oitis6;a
li
enjoying the pleasures of the chase, discharfo
piece at the same object. The king Cialalekl nf OA"
had killed the hare, and the citizen, ignorant "tfeAiro",
person of his rival, declared in very unlcvlit:
that he himself was the successful marksine-'00"-of
result was a regular trial of strength for rot 9
of the game—a tussle which resulted in eifLle
the king, who walked off with his prizef,wnf
citizen poured upon him a perfect flood 00,d
abuse as only an Italian of a certain se"„hsebi
command. At the city gate the king ordereo,,:,,eo
mandant of the guard to follow the angry cOl os
report his name and residence. After a few P-ter
officer was able to say that the unknown
an honest cabinet maker of the Porta delti-40-111174
when the king sent one of his carriages to
to the palace. Naturally the man was terriblYLieah%
as well as full of wonder why he should be 11.5-00,:j.
the palace, and he was not much relieved A",bes:d
recognized in the king the man whom he "4.1,' -0049,110
Master Salvina," said his Majesty—and at "-bleubs.
of his own name from royal lips, the man trews 6,
every nerve—" Master Salvina, I have seat
10 b
cause I have found shot different from nine in le
we both hit the beast. Come we will eat 0-000,
together," and thereupon the door of the aireo,raft
was opened, where between two plates
teninces, smoked the hare properly roasteu*
Lane Express. 1 frCI
no a le
"A GILDED OUTLOOK ! "—The PaoVe s[rriclii"
is jubilant over what it describes as "The .1-5-g" is f°
Revival" in California. A great wheat croPitioe9r.
coming; live stock promise to pay well ;
is the scene of unusual life; and even " thelc the;oo°
tunity has come again." Added to all wilo stilt!
"a gilded outlook" for real estate, as nc43 iS 4 los
time to sell land. Such agricultural prosper]. Yi-g0
cheering, even though it is a far-off view that
it says the Marie Lane Express. o
iltotie
ATTACK ON A RAILWAY TRAIN.--P P 010
very bold attack on a railway train at Dal.,L-23rdh $
United States, on the Cetral-road, on t'Lepatc'dtri
have been received at Liverpool. The -"ale
dated from Galveston, and states that as voile
bound train drew up at the station on the la, rtisoft
that date six men, all but one wearing teat reos
e
upon the train. Five of them entered the irese:,
whilst the other jumped in the engineer's cob, 100 tio
a revolver at the engineer and the fireirelli!cobiLeoto
pelted them to pull over on a siding- gelo row
messenger in the express car fired on the is or
as they attempted to enter, and one of thenl'yer. foitg
posed, was killed. The marauders, incyrdclll,,peri,
powered him, shot him several times, an"
open the safe, from which they took 2,so°d° obbelt
The male passengers far outnumbered the regtal'etlo
they did not attempt to capture than. ~0 itroil°o 10V
Appolson and the conductor endeavoured
passengers to action, though without effee'ojiag,betol,l
iittbeelisir°6"ea
ter seemed too much bent upon C°llc
valuables in the event of an attack frore.
The alarm of the passengers was greatl94lrog
a man running into the cars when the 60
heard and saying the thieves were betviee peel
A 6 wer)
strong. He was one of the gang' rs
afterwards went in pursuit. The Poe--
molested by the robbers.