The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1870-05-07 00:00:00

Our Yonbon 6trtsponbmt.

Ma deem it right to state that we do not at all times
tientify ourselves with our correspondent's °pink).

Perhaps no session within modern memory ever I
opened with more promise—or more promises than the
present, and people naturally expected a large amount
of legislation ; but from various causes the progress of
legislative business has been singularly out of propor-
tion to the promise of the commencement if the session.
Strangely enough, there have been so many complaints
in the House of Commons, of the delays in parlia
mentary business that these very complaints have
tended to increase the delay. There is some ground for
the taunt that the session has hitherto been entirely
occupied with Inch questions, and that the only legisla-
tion effected has been the Irish Coercion Act ; but even
looking upon the present as an Irish session it is rather
a disappointim: one, considering the little progress
made with the Irish Land BilL We are now, however,
going on a little more swirsmingly in that respect, and
we can but have this measure arid the Education Bill
passed this session, it will not be without good fruit.
But shall we have both those bills? Ay, there's the
rub.

A good deal of opposition has been and is being
manifested to the gun tax which Mr. Lowe proposes
to impose; but it will probably be a benefit in one
respect at least, it will be a check upon the wanton
slaughter of birds,not as "game" or for sport, but simply
from an idle love of taking life. If ever a foreign bird
pays us a chance visit he is shot, as sure as a gun, the
funny idea being to " preserve " him. A few days ago
we had a visit from a number of golden orioles, a very
beautiful bird and a sweet songster. But no sooner
did they come than an ignorant attack was made upon
them, and they were mercilessly slaughtered. But for
such wanton cruelty as this our stock of song birds (now
being ruthle-sly lessened) might be increased. Why
should not, for example, this golden oriole be allowed to
immigrate into and settle in England? The gun tax will
perhaps do something towards preventing the slaughter
of thrushes, blackbirds, starlings, and many other kinds
of small birds, and if so it will be a benefit to the
country. Of course the destruction which these birds
elf ,ct in rela.ion to fruit and cereal crops is undoubted,
but per contra they do more good than harm
in respect to those same crops— that, I believe,
is now pretty generally admitted. Or, if this
is saying too much, the balance of argument is cer-
tainly in favour of our small birds. Our descendants
perhaps may be engaged in importing birds of the very
same kind that we now ruthlessly kill; and possibly
we may import them from those very colonies which
have latterly been importing them from us !
The dreadful massacres in Greece still occupy public

attention and will do so for a long time to come. It is
understood that the miserable Government of that
country and the protecting Powers are now in cone-
spondence on the subject. It was not surprising
that in the first passion of indignation which the
news excited, it was proposed by more than one
journal, The Times among them, that Greece should
be occupied by British troops, but calmer judg.
ment must be opposed to such an extreme course.
At present there can be little difference of the
opinion on one pint—that the Greek Government is
wholly to blame. Having virtually encouraged bri-
gandage, and actually having failed to put it down,
they refuse an amnesty to the brigands at a most critical
time (having become suddenly virtuous), and they
attack the brigands, knowing perfectly well that this
%mild jeopardise the lives of the prisoners, and prob-
ably lead, as it has led, to their murder. Under such
circumstances, the least that the British Govern.
silent can demand is the suppression of brigandage
and a pecuniary penalty from the Greek Government,
not under the idea of compensation to the friends of the
murdered travellers, but as a punishment to the Govern-
ment whose foolish obstinacy and in judicious z.,al led
to this terrible calamity.

Just now there is an irruption of provincial gentle
men into London owing to the annual meetings of reli-
gious or philanthropic societies. Clerical secretaries
and lay secretaries, committeemen and local agents, in-
fluential and non-influential friends of this or that
society have been flocking into the metropolis, and
London itself supplies an enormous number of people
who take an interest in the annual holding of the "May
meetings" generally, and of the meetings of certain an-
eociations particularly. I fancy, however, that on the
whole not so much enthnsiatim is displayed in respect
to these May meetings as used to be the case. I may
be wrong speaking simply from a not very profound
examination of the matter, and possibly being deceived
by noticing a falling off in the subscriptions of several
of these associations, but still the impression exists that
May nose logs are not marked by such enthusiasm as
used to be the ease.
That is a sad aft or, the young lady falling out of a
railway carriage on the Brighton lire, and being picked
up maimed and deal; and the suicide of the guard,
apparently from remorse for having, as he supposed,
neglected to fasten the door. Perhaps this melancholy
double event will attract attention to the whole sub-
ject of fastening the doors of railway carriages. There
seems plenty of room for improvement. I have often
thought that the foreign system of having a double
fastening is better than ours. Besides the ordinary
handle there is at the bottom of the door, outside, a
bolt and a catch which the railway men fasten as the
train starts off, and which cannot well be unfastened by
any one inside. There is a double protection, and when
to this is added the well-known fact that accidents on
foreign railways, from all causes, are less nume-
rous than on British lines, the matter is worth con-
sideration. But there is another thought also worth
discussion—whether railway carriages ought not to be
made to lock inside as well as outside. Could not some
ingenious person suggest a plan by which the mere
shutting of a railway carriage door, and fastening it
with the ordinary handle at present, would also fasten
it from inside? At all events, the present system is
open to considerable improvement.
Paper collars, cuffs, fronts, &c., have long ceased to
excite surprise, but surprise—for a time—may well be
felt in relation to a new use for wood. What think
you of wooden hats? A tat ; andthe hats, which are
about a third or a fourth the price of straw hats look
very well. They suggest the Panama bat, but don't
bear examination. But the new wood-shaving hats are
clean, light, and rather elegant in appearance, and
though they will not last very long are certainly not
dear to begin with.
A public meeting has been held here in regard to the
want of hospital accommodation in the eastern parts of
London. That the hospital arrangements—voluntary
and spontaneous, and without any settled plan—for
that district are inadequate to the wants of the
teeming multitudes there cannot well be disputed, but,
unhappily, the same thing may be said of other dis-
tricts of the metropolis. The south of London is all
but destitute of hospital accommodation, and when the
temporary hospitil of St. Thomas's (now in the once
famous Surrey Zoological Gardens) is removed, that
part of the metropolis will be worse off than ever.
Large as will be the new hospital which has been so
long, so very long, in process of building, it will be very
far from meeting the demands that will be made upon
it. This fact makes the extraordinary delay in the
building operations of this institution all the more re-
markable.

"Better late than never" is a good oil mht'o, often
misapplied though it be. It is applicable perhaps to
the marriage present which the fair ladies of Bath are
about to make to the Princess of Wake. Seeing that
her marriage took place on the 10th of March, 1863, it
must be confessed that a wedding present in the year
of grace, 1870, comes rather late. I wonder what
excuse, if any: the deputation which will wait on the
Princess with the escritoire in the mi rry month of
May, will make. And it will be rather embarrassing
to accept a present under such circumstances.
Three Anglo-American yacht races will ere long ex-
cite no little interest. Mr. Ashbury's English schoomr
yacht Camtria, and Mr. Douglas's American schooner
yacht Soppito will three times contend for a prim on each
occasion of a silver cup of the value of fifty guineas;
the first match to take place on the 10th of this month ;
and the other two matches to be sailed before the 16th
of June. Yachtsmen and all who take an interest in
soiling matches will be en the qui rice, and the Ameri-
cans will enter heartily into the spirit of the contest.
On one thing we may safely depend—on thorough fair-
ness on both sides.

schooner

The Metropolitan Board of Works has decided, by
23 votes to 6, "that there should be one central muni-
cipal government with jurisdiction over the whole
metropolis." And so says nearly all London, always
excepting the vestrymen, and those who pr.,fit by our
present peddling parochial system, and always ex-
cepting, too, our civic magnates and officials. It is all
very well for the Metropolitan Board to pass each re-
solutions as this, but they will find the city is too
strongly represented in Parliament for any such ideas
to be carried out—yet.
The rumour runs that Her Majesty's Theatre is to
be "converted into a home for tragedy, and the legi-
timal e drama," and some well.known names are
mentioned as likely to take part in the performances.
I can scarcely believe the rumour, for this reason—that
tragedy and the legitimate drama don't pay. This has
been proved over and over again. Managers, actors,
and dramatista always speak highly of Shakespeare's
plays, but managers won't produce them; actors as
a rule would rather not play in them, without they
have the " star " parts ; and dramatists—prefer their
own plays. It is much to be regretted that sensation
plays aml claptrap farces and burlesque pay better
than the leeitimate drama; but so it is.

STREET BOYS AND THE COSTER-
MONGERS' CLUB.
ißy our London Correspondent.)
There are grades of costermongers, as there are
grades in every other class and pr 'fee-lion. There is the
well-to-do, hard-workiog, but not particularly hard- '
living costermosiger, who is really better off than many
a 'mall trader with a shop and a struggling position of
rate paying respectability to keep up; and there is
the wretchedly poor costerinonger, who at the beat
gains but a poor sulvistence, and is often in-
debted to the Poor-law 'Cajon for that. The great
majority of costermongeus, however, are poor, and
many very poor, and intimately connected with
this class are the street boys who swarm in the poorer
localities of London, and who are confessedly more
or less a nuisance to society at large. I have some-
thing tn say with regard to the c ondition of come of
these street boys, and of benevolent efforts which have
been made for their benefit, out of which efforts has
grown an institution which is doing considerable good
in a quiet way—the Coatermoncerie Club, which is held
near that noble monument of Miss Coutts's philan-
thropy, Columbia Market.
The word gambler at one time suggested simply such
1 characters as Dickens had sketched in his " Nicholss
Nickleby ;" but gamblit.g has of late years spread and
deepened; it has become vulgarised and black-
guardised. Among the street-boy s— and even among
a lower grade, who ye not inaptly been called gutter-
boy --ganibling h Lesoe common, if only a half-
penny remains to mto toss with. The greVest
nuisances to the public wino have to wend their way
thromh low neighbourhoods are these young street
gamblers, and in East London the evil has been very
great. In a locality rendered at one time infamous
by the foul murder by Bishop and his accomplice, but
now famous through the philanthropy of a lady who
has taken this dark spot under her special protection
—in the neighbourhood of the Columbia Fish Market
about eighteen month& since, might have been found a
greater number of "schools" not of a class that Mr.
Forster would care to increase—schools or knots of
men, lads, and boys, numbering in each set, sometimes
as mans as 30, in age say front 8 to 40, the younger
ones often betting on the tossing of the elders. Seven
dos s a week were not too many ; the church doors not
too public or too secluded ; nay. the young monkeys
sometimes paid a visit to the preacher, and startled
the congregation with jumping over the seats; and
when chased they would diversify the sport by throw-
ing from their hinting corners stones or oyster-shells, so
that they fell upon the roof, or haply flew through a
window, or struck some unuffending person.
The rowdyism of young East London at last be-
came so serious that one of the local clergy felt
that the strong arm of the law must be appealed to;
but on his way -to the station he met a friend who
had long been interested in the waifs and strays of
London; and the two agreed that some effort should be
made thriugh another sort of force, the force of kind-
ness. The first step was to invite toe more unruly
roughs to a preliminary meeting, and the bait lugged-
ted was what is called a 'thumb-piece" supper—a
thick slice'of bread with meat to cover it. Mrs. Glass's
hackneyed axiom about the hare was applicable; the
difficulty was to catch your gambler. On the appear-
ance of the clergyman, accompanied by a lay friend,
among the groups of men and boys tossing for half -
pence, the suspicion that the visitors cause on a mission
from Scotland Yard acted like magic, and the groups
dispersed with marvellous speed. Some time was
, spent before two or three could be caught and made
to listen to the proposals of those who wished to befriend
them; but when it was found that these few were not
threatened in any way, but were spoken kindly to, the
attendance of others was easier to procure, till on the
evening appointed for the savory meal some 4S of
the principal gamblers and thieves—l use the word
with sad deliberation and on authority—infesting this
neighbourhood assembled. No preaching was attempted
but in fa homely way they were told of the folly of
their course and of its inevitable end, and invited to
an evening achooL The educational theory did not
answer very well, and a change of tactics
was resolved on. Half-a-dozen boss were selected
for a trial; stock money was lent them for
hearth-stones, &c., to be accounted for every two
or three days; and for some two months the boys
stood the teat well. During this time clothes were in
preparation, and it was decided that on the opening of
the Columbia Market, April 28, 1869, these six
specimens should make their first public appearance in
the uniform of a shoeblack brigade. On the previous
day they were accordingly marched to the Baths."
made to undergo the unwonted—shall I say hardship?
—of a warm bath, and to don themselves in their new
uniform. Nothing will show better how much good
was thus done than one significant fact—that the old
"wardrobes" being taken to a neighbouring dealer,
the whole (including boots, caps, clothes, and under
linen (? ) belonging to the nix boys realised—what
think you ! On the opening day of the
market (a failure as a general market, but rapidly be-
coming a glorious success as a fish market) the good
behaviour of these six boys in their bright blue uniforms,
selling programmes for that day only, excited admira-
tion among those who knew of their recent transfor-
mation.

When these boys got to their new work of "clean
your boots, sir," they met with opposition from the
independent Arabs, who had adopted the same pro-
fession, and with annoyances from the gutter boys,
and others, who seem to have a deadly enmity to
cleanliness and smart uniforms. Accordingly the same
law of kindness was tried npsn them. They were
invited to tea, and about fifty came. A few kind brit
firm words were addressed to them in a frank, cordial
way, and the meetings were coniinued every fortnight.
I speak advisedly when I say that among those who
came were the lowest of the low, young and old; shoe-
' blacks and porters were perhaps the elite: but there
were " boa•er-lites " boys, cad4ers and beggars, public-
house door singers, costerruongersout of luck, crossing-
sweepers, and is ime who may best be characterised
perhaps by their rooted antipathy to the police. These
I meetings soon became so crowded that boys had to be
I invited to a separate off bir, and at every meeting the
benevolent gentlemen who led the movement gave
plain, homely, chae-hitting addreswea— on su..h sub-
jects as cruelty to animals, cruelty to one another,
swearing, tossing, &0., and the crowded audiences
Ihtened all the more attentively as they felt that all
this was done for their good. Before long sev«rtil
costermongers who attended these meetings would sit
apart and take an opportunity of talking over their
position and prospects, and a special meeting of these
men being called, it wan proposed that a Caster-
mongers' Club should be established. This club mainly
I owes its existence to the same gentleman who
has taken an active a part in the movements
, I have briefly alluded to— Mr. John Sapsford,
the manager of Columbia Market, and who may
be regarded as the chief almoner for Miss Bur-
dett Coats, so far as the wretchedness and
poverty of East Landon are concerned. This club
is really what it professes to be—a costermongers' club.
The main object is for each member to purchase a bar-
row. To do this by ever getting the money—E2 10e.
we will say- -in a lump, is, to the majority of coster-
mongers, almost hopeless; and as the " costs'. " has a
pride in the barrow he drives, and will seldom use a
bome.made failure, he prefers to pay • shilling or
eighteen-pence a week for the hire of one. Mr. Sapsford
has shown the poor coatermonger "a more excellent
way,"—join this chill, pay a shillng entrance and
2d. a week. According to the duration of his member-
ship— the oldest member first—once a week some one
, man receives a barrow, for which he pays Is. a week
for sixty weeks. The profit that may accrue to the
' club over the cost of the barrow goes to the Shoeblack
Home. The club works extremely well ; there are now
more than 70 members, about 25,4 whom own harrows
through the operation of the club ; the men pay no
more and sometimes less for the possession of a bar-
row than they used to do for the hire of one; and the
regularity of the payment of the instalments is very
creditable to the clubbitea.

This Coatermongers' Club is one of many agencies
that ara at work in the neighbourhood in which Colum-
bia Market is situated—a neighbourhood of which
Mos Angela Burdett Coats may literally be said to
be the guardian angel. The Shoeblack Home is really a
home. There are now 24 buys in it. Every evening one-half
of these boys receive instruction, and the other half
enjoy recreation. They have drums and fifes, which
they play very creditably; they can sing some very
pretty pieces of music ; and their general be-
haviour is quite as good as the most sanguine man that
understands "street boy" life can expect. Many other
lads have been helped by clothes, or money, or in-
fluence, and are earning an honest livelihood on the
ocean. And what may be called the "new ground
work' still goes on. Rough, dirty, shambling lots of
lads are gradually being taught, and helped, and
put in a fair way of getting a living. Now and
then a boy is missing, and perhaps not till a letter
comes from a prison chaplain is the absence ex-
plained ; and then efforts are sure to be made in due
time, when he "comes out," to get him away from his
old haunts, sue] find him some means of living honestly.
Sunday mornings and evenings are specially devoted
to religious worship and instruction, and many of the
very same boys who a year or two ago were the
terror of the clergyman, are now marshalled into
church with evident pleasure. May such labours of
love, such earnest and kindly efforts to polish up the
rough ~tuff of which Loudon street boys are made, be
crowned, as they deserve, with increasing success.