The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1879-09-20 00:00:00

PROSPERITY IN THE AMERICAN .4

IRON, TRADE; tsLi
A striking incident indicating the improved con-
dition of the iron manufacturing industryin America,
has just occurred in connection with the negotiation
by Government officers for the new iron work on the
on the extention wing of the New States, War, and
Navy Department of Washington. Instead of adver-
tising for bide, the officers in charge of the work
addressed circular letters to the prominent iron manu-
facturers and contractors throughout the country,
requesting them to submit estimates for the work.
Replies to these circulars have been received, and in a
majority of cases the contactors have declined to bid
for the work on account of the large numbers of orders
ahead. As a rule, there is a great competition for
Government work of this kind, for the reason that the
prices are usually liberal and payments prompt. Now,
however, instead of being embarrassed to decide
- tbst ,firrazrfl
experience some little difficulty in getting the proper
person to do the work.

CUTTINGS FROM AMERICAN PAPERS.
It is said when a young lady "comes out" in New
York, people ask, "Is she rich "—in Boston, "What does
she know ?"—in Baltimore, "IS she pretty 2"—in Phila-
delphia, "Is she a thorough-bred "
The most polished man in New York jot nowlii
dry goods merchant whose wife undertook to baths him all
over with balsam for rheumatism. After the-lob, was well
done she looked at the label of the bottle, and iohnd that it
was furniture polish she had been using.
"Is this the place," she asked, as she wandered
down on the barren sands, "where a young lady—a beauti-
ful young lady—fell in the water last season, and was
rescued by a gallant young man, whom she afterwards
married?" He looked at her carefully, estimated her at a
square forty-seven, with false teeth, and said emphatically,
"Yes, ma'am, boil don't know how to swim."
A man in Ohio wrote to the editor of his horti-
cultural paper, asking, "What are the most advantageous
additions to dried grasses for winter ornament?" The
editor replied, " Acroclinium roseum, A. alba, Gomphrena
rage,
per andto immediately
he sent
discontinued. a note
ae
globose, and G. Globose carnea." When the rural man read
rotten,
eheedfattirolry, boorldleedrinwgithhisra
said that no editor who swore in that way, just because he
was asked a simple question, should have his support.
Young America has always been noted for its in-
quiring mind. One of the many thousand budding Presi-
dents now resident in Chicago was told the other day by his
" school-marm" the story of William Tell's famous shooting
feat. The only comment the boy made upon the story of
the patriotic parent was, "Who ate the apple afterwards 2"
A bricklayer being tried for assault and battery in
Virginia City, Nevada, when asked by the judge if he had
anything to say by way of defence replied, "Well, your
honour, saw but little of the fight, as I was Underneath
most of the time."
The editor of a paper in Nevada writes :--" Our
best and warmest thanks are due to our fellow-townsittakit
Mr. Carruthers, for four strings of delicious pork sausages.
They gladdened our editorial appetite for a whole week at
breakfast.ledgm en ts f
oldr Mr.
sL
presentuaas w f ais
someo accept
fresh our grateful raatnedfl u a ascakcnko wo
f-
eto eome.a,, Billings are also re-
potatoes. The butter which Mrs. Jones laid on our table
last Friday was the sweetest we ever tasted, and the eggs
were delightfully fresh. Hackett and
membered by as for their elegant present of a cheese, two
watermelons,
hope
to
have e no o doubt
neces
necessity
for e
pills
-whfoh and a
mr.Bunker,
f bthu et crackers.
druggist,wah o
has forwarded us
are
their
feitrhuse
use for
to
oqmuealtihnty, A
Milwankie lawyer who was defending a horse'
stealer said, with impassioned utterance—" Gentlemen of
the jury, the cold-hearted minions of bate may sneer at my
client if they will, but I see a svhite-robed band of angels
hovering above his head, and beckoning you to acquit him."
But the jury didn't respoiad to the " white-robed band.' -

I

--- • -
A. Yankee advertising for a wife says, "It would be
well it the lady were possessed of a competency sufficient to
sinegcutroehheerraaogmapinanatioelc"essive grief, in case of accident occur-
OBITUARY NOTILIZ.—" He was a well, educated man,
and his life was sA pure and unspotted as a snow-ball.
•
HOME, FOREIGN, AND COLONIAL.

DIP-LOMANOL—Bargainiog for a series of ozone
bath* at the sea-side.—Pun.
SINGULAR PLACE FOR A TOMTITS' NEST.-- Apr opes
of the many letters which have appeared respecting
the habits of birds and the singular places which
they select to build their nests in, a correspondent
sends us the following account of the unique posi-
tion selected by a tomtit in which to bring up its
family (says the Evening Standard). In 1795 Jerry
Abershaw, a notorious highwayman, was executed
on Kennington Common for murder. He had long in-
fested the Portsmouth Road over gutney Heath;
accordingly, the crest of the hill -leading thence to
Kingston Vale (since called " Jerry's Hill') we
chosen for gibbeting his corpse. That was done
by fixing a collar round the neck and a girdle round
the loins' from which bars of iron were fastened
reaching to the feet and keeping the body upright.
The whole was tarred over. For some years
"Jerry's Hill" was a place of pilgrimage for a
certain class of Londoners on Sundays. At last
Lord Bessborough, who inhabited a mansion near the
common, gave some gravel diggers .a guinea to remove
the ghastly object. This was done; the irons were
cast into a yard at Putney, the bones probably re-
mained on the common, When "Jerry's bones" were
displaced, a tomit low out of the eyes of the skull,
leaving its nest a.iid.vung within it.
TRUE TO You.--)4 'very cookery-book,'lraiir-rones,
oracularly, 'ought to be illustrated."—" Precisely,"
said Smith. "Quite agree with you there; for don't
you know, what is the good of a dinner without
plates ? "—Judy.
A TRAVELLER'S RECOLLECTIONS.—It was a weather-
beaten sailor we overheard in a Olay-street restaurant,
the other day, kindly giving a few reminiscenes of
travel to some lady friends he was treating to corned
beef and cabbage (says an American paper). "Talk
ing about lions," he went on to say, " they are the
iutelligentest animal what is. cur'us thing hap.
pened once when we were on the East Coast cruise.
.One of our officers went out hunting deer, and the next
morning his body was found bit clean lu tn?, but wit
his watch missing. Nobody understood It. Next da
the quartermaster's body was found in the same co
dition, with his watch gone. Seemed as though a lion
and pickpocket were kinder going snacks, as it were;
only the lion didn't eat nothing. Next day two
middies disappeared—same result. None of the sailors
were hurt—had no watches you see. Of course the
whole crew turned out for a grand hunt, and at last
we killed a lion 16ft long. In his stomach we found
all the watches, still running. Cold fact, I assure you.
The ship's surgeon, who cut the beast open said he
was'nt in good health—had a turbid liver. go we seen
at once that the ani.nal had killed all the officers just
to swallow their watches—sorter-like pills, you know.
The lion must 'a thought the wheels and things would
kinder tickle him up inside. When we shot him he
was lying with his eyes shut and mouth open, listening
to the works going on inside him. Sounded like a
whole jewellery store. Fact ma'am. Take some more
cabbage?