The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1878-04-27 00:00:00

RECREATION FOR 111 E PEOPLE.

Many a year has come and gone, and many
a summer scene, since the annual return of the
Easter holidays found the country so perilously
near to war, and both statesmen and people so
anxious as they are now. The materials for a
great European conflagration seem to have beet.
gathered in the south-essiern part of the Con.
tinent. Russian troops are on the shores of thP
_ _ _ _

ts e a ou the surface of which British ironcladt

are constantly moving up ma down ; and 8
chance shot or an accidental collision might be
the match_ employed to set these combustibles

on fire. Theie Cas been a fatality surrounding
the ttoubl-some question of the East which
distinguishes it from any other calling for the
attention of Cabinets and diplomatists. Franck-
may quarrel with Austria, AS in 1859; Austria

and Prussia may quarrel, as in 1866; France
and Germany may fly at each other as in 1870;
but other nations do not feel called upou
.to

interfere. The dispute is one betwt en the two
combatants themselves, and it is for them to

settle it.

But let ditrerence. srise_ between

Russia and Turkey, and the vihwe of Europe
is agitated, front London to St. Pvtersbnig,
frau the Channel to the Ba:tic. Tie
" streak of silver sea " eternady riling between
as and other nations does not t•xeinde the

people of these iblantls from t.kiiT an intense
interest in the matter at issae. Germany [night
anoex Alsitce awl the greaser portion of
Lorraine without. effecting the bsl,tuce of I,ower
in en), other Lirectiot: ; hut the annexatioTt of
Puiltz.c.,L territory l.y Eussia cannot he done

wiLbont excreisiDo a a. very niatcrial influeuce
_

upon the minds .-vf the -peoples on two con-
tinents. In Eutope it is more partieuniriy
Augtria which is jealous and watchful; in Asia
. _ _ _

it is England. And so it comes to pass that
whenever the Eastern Question comes to the
front, it becomes the all-absorbing topic of the
time, to the exclusion of almost every other,
foreign or domestic.
Just as the anxieties of all Europe are at
their extremest tension, the Christian festive! of
Easter has presented itself for due observanc,,
and for a little %hile at least there has been,
some relief from the heavy care which has of
late overshadov.rd so many lands. It is exieily
a year since war was declared, for upon the
24h of April, 1877, tLe Czar gave the order to
his soldiers to cross the Turkish frontier.
'l' ens of thousands of brave men, both Moslem
and Muscosite, who set out for the scene of
hostilities under the inspiriting strains of mar-
tial music, are now dead upon the plains of
Bulgaria, or by theirremains form hillocks upoik
the hill .sides of Plevna. Yet amid this whole-
sale extinction of human life, and amid the wail
Of the widow and the orphan, the vast universe
nes continued to move on, and the arrival or

Laster bas given men time for other thoughts

than those ;Inch suggest war and misery: It
has given an opportunity for the unbending of
the mind, and for that recreation which is
deemed so essential for the maintenance of
ph)sical health. Christmas, Whitsuntide, Mid-
summer, and Michaelmas, all have their elaiius,

but by common consent Easter is made the
great holiday of the year. The reasons for this
are not far to seek. Nowhere in the calendar
.s there to be found such a succession of led-
letter days as occur at or about Easter. First
comes Good Fridat , then the Saturday, oi
which large numbers wake also ir)liday. Iheu
w• have Easter Sunday, Easter Monday, and
Easter Tut.sday, and a considerable prorirdo_
of holiday makers find that it Likes the Wed-
uesday in order to pull themselves together tot
work again. So that here is practioady a week
41t the brightest and most cueertui season et
he year, when the heats warbilugs of the birds
.ire again beard in the rich, new foliage of the
trees, when the hawthorn and the Lilac burst
forth in ad the glory of their olossow, and when
tee UltiLtlOW, tee uuuerwookl
alike testify their joy at the return of happy
pleasant spring tiu.e. April nas long been pro-
verbial for showers, but the enormous crowds
which salty forth on a general holiday boar a
drenching with ainch good humour. If April is
uncertain in her moods, the cower atmoephere
is far more agreeable than the scorching heal
which sometimes characterises the August haul;
holiday, or the dull gloom of Boxing Day
December. Let there be ouly a fairly lune sky,
a roadside inn where reasonable refreenniw,
can be procured, and the townsman who sitlti,s
forth to keep the day amid the quiet of the
country, is easily content. He regards a
day as as a given space of time out of wic. it
his duty to extract the maximum of eejoymeni
with the minimum of friction and incon-
venience. dezi:able result can easily
enough be achieved when Easter is :.ccompanied
with sunshine end fine weather. Let there be
a clear sky, a bright sun, and u light tenth wind,
and there are all the materials for the enjoy-
ment of a pleasant holiday.
As the reckoning follows the feast, so the
matter-of-fact waves of every day life sueeeed it
pa-nod of recrealiou. Thu fabric of Initiate
existence is based up.in the healthy activity o:
mind end body and to the great majority of the
unman kind work, either ph3 sical meets], it
a necessity of that existence. back they, come
to it after their holiday—back to toil and to
care, to worry and to fatigue, many perhaps
With a sigh of regret that the happy time of
relaxation could not have lasted longer. Even
if it had, it must have an end at last. Life
itself, pro;ouged, as it way Le, must have ite
termination ; and the centenarian, with tht
snows of a hundred winters upon his head, has
at length to join the silent hosts which &anti
upon the shore of the sea of eternity. Laster
1877 found Russia and Turkey at peace; so
did the recent festival ; hat ineanwnile the
scourge of war had passed over ?vine of tht
fairest Landis in Europe, and multitudes of
strong men, then rejoicing in the putting on of
their armour, have been niwed down by tin
scythe of Death as chaff is [how') away by th,
wind. Let us Lope that Easter 1879 will fled
List Great Britain has beet) enablea O coutintie
it peace, awl that when it comes, as it surely
will, there will be no sad theillofies of battle-
slain thousands to cloud the celebration of that
natienal hwiday.