The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1876-12-02 00:00:00

ViStellallCOUSlnteffiggjittrfil " •
- .
ROME, FOREIGN, AND COLONIAL.

A BOATMAN'S SONG D'ADIAII.—a Then yawl
remember blejr.l-Pelti. ; t ii7),411j
A CALIFORNIAN MILLIONAIRZ. The San
Francisco Correspondent of The Times writes under
date November 7 :—"The death Of James Lick has to
be recorded. He was one of the early pioneers of -
State, and made an immense fortune by purdly
real estate in San Francisco at a period when land was
very cheap. The bare and barren sand hills at that
time were comparatively of little value, few persons
imagining that at no distant period they would be
covered with elegant residences and business houses.
Mr. Lick was longer-sighted than most men, and in-
vested his all, about 30,600 dohs., in town property.
The result was that, on his death, at eighty years of age,
he was a millionaire. The greater part of his immense
property he has made over for charitable and other
purposes to the city of San Francisco. It is probable
that his son, to whom he left but 150,000 dols,, will
dispute the validity of Mr. Lick's will and the deed of
trust, appropriating the bulk of his property to various
local institutions."
A COSTLY EXPERIMENT.—Apropos of the
present politiul'criins, it may not be out of pl-sce to re-
count an anecdote, which has never appeared in print.
During the last.Viltitei`of the Crimean war two yachts
belonging to Mr. Scott Russell suddenly appeared in
the tranquil waters of Po de Harbour. They brought
with them two naval officers deputed by the War-'
offide, and a singular and wonderful submarine engine,
resembling an inverted boat, which it is now no secret
io state was an invention destined to penetrate, like
the Tr(.jan horse, into Cronstadt Harbour, and there
bring terror and destruction to the Russians. The said
machine was filled with compressed air, and lowered
by weights, while it was fashioned to contain a crew of
12 men, who were to push it along the bottom or the
sea, and then when inside the wished for haven to raise
It by a peculiar mechanical arrangement. It is per-
haps needless to say that the trial was a complete
fiasco, the crew being unable to Propel the submarine
vessel any distance, while the weights failed to work
properly, and 13 of her Majesty's subjects were almost
drowned, Silheit they remained over half an hour under
water without silf wation. This experiment cost the
country about £B,OOO, for which "My Lords" of the
Admiralty, wisn, in their generation, were in no way
responsible.— Vanity Fair.
T":1-77ff IT 7
SOASONABLE.—Good thing to do •vrhen the
leaves begin to fall—Turn over a fre`sh one.—Judy.

. the
lasing

BitIGHAM'S A DATIOS A BOUT 3111.1tRIAGN.
Brigham Young spoke a few words of wisdom one day
to a youthful Calcago tntnusiast who called upon hial.
He paid—" Young man, be sure that you are thorough
with your search for the kind of partner you want—be
sure you have got the pattern of a woman that suits
you, before leading her to the altar. Don't wait until
after marriage, as I did, and then be obliged to keep.on
sampling."•

A PSYCHOLOGICAL PHENOMENON.—A curious
psychological phenomenon has been reported by a
medical man in Bordeaux. A woman, Felids X., has
for sisteeen years been undergoing an alteration of
memory, which has all the appearance of a doubling of
life. There is amnesia, or loss of memory, with re-
gard to periods of variable duration which have gra-
dually been enlarged. The memory, passing over
these second states, connects together at the period of
the normal state, so that Felida has, as it were, two
existences—the one ordinary, composed of all the
periods of the normal state, connected by memory;
the other secondary, comprising all the periods of the
two states—that is, the whole life. The forgetfulness
is complete and absolute, but refers only to whaP; has
happened during the s-cond condition; it affects
neither anterior motions nor general ideas. Besides
amnesia, Felida manifests, in the periods of attack of
the. malady, changes in character and sentiments,
The alteration of memory and accompanying pheno-
mena have for cause (the author says) a diminution in
the quantity of blood conveyed to the part of the brain
unknown; where memory is localised. The
momentary contraction of vessels, which is the instru-
ment of this diminution, is caused by the state of
hysteria.

" IF YOU WILL NOT WHEN You MAY," &c.—
Parson: "How is it, Scrubb, that .your comely
daughters are still single 1? "—Rustic : "Well, Sir,
you see there wor a time when they would a ha' they,
but they would'n' ha' they. Noo they would ha' they,
but they woon'n't ha' they !! "—Punch.
A CGRIOI7B PHYSIOLOGICAL CHANGE.—A
curious instance of physiological change wrought by
eating a peculiar sort of food exclusively is what hap-
pened to the castaways of the Strathmore upon one of
the rocks of the Twelve Apostles, where that vessel
was wrecked in July last year. ' They -found; nothing
to eat but penguins' eggs, which soon made them plump
and happy. The remerkable thing was, however, that
the skins even of those who had been dark before be
came fair, and their hair all turned light, even the eye-
brows, the change being attributed to their diet. On
this sauce island all the birds were white, even to the
crows. The rock of the Twelve Apostles; in the Crozet
group, would be a good place for negroes who -wish to
become white, if there are any such; or it might pay
to form a company and import penguins' eggs for use
when the mania of blondines shall set in again. The
wrecked crew of the Strathmore seem to have found
them palatable enough, as each man and woman was
accustomed to eat thirty at a meal.;
TEE RESULT.—The Conference at Constanti..
nople is to consider the Question of the hour on the
English basis. Taking the Shakespearean interpreta-
tion of the last word we shall get at the erobable
result of the palaver. "Basis—the Slav that pave"—,
Fan.
OuR CAWS- ,BELLI.—We ( Whitehall Review)
have the strongest reasons for believing that the
Government have come to the determination that the
messes" of the Pruth by any Russian force, tinder
Leperiel orders, shall be, considered as a awls belli.
Troops are in readiness to start for Constentmople,
and would receive their orders and he embarked within
a week of such a contingeecy. Our fleet, of coulee,
would commence simultaneous operations.
A QUEER HARE.—A curious specimen of the
hare or rabbit kind was caught recently on the
Glencradeton eetare, Peeblesshire. Its ears are eight
inches long and four broad. The body, which is well
formed, is a compelled arrangement—the hack is like
that of the rabbit, re'e hind legs those of ,he hare, and
the breast has a fleshy ridge on one aide, covered by.
thick long fur, like a Mane, which reaches from the
chin to the fore right leg. The feet and fore legs are;
those of the rabbit, and the tail is four inchee long. It
' is a strange-looking animal, and is longer and bigger
, then a 101 b. hare. When running wild it seems to
' have been a mountain sojourner, for its fur is fine an
white on the belly,, with yellow hind leg e: A gclutlo-
man in Peebles_ acquired the rare aniataieWitleent it
' to be preserved, and has presented it to the Chambers
Institution ia Peeblea .
TABLE "TußNlNG.Looking for a train in
Bradshaw.—Punch. . . ..
A CENTENARIA.N.-1111 t ';S.' hzabeth COxeter,
' ''..
'
who had nearly attained the age of 102 3 ears, died cm
Morulay night in one of King John's almshouses,
Newbury. of which she had been an inmate for runny
. years. Mre. Ctixottr was born Wile let of Febreary,
1775, and to hell kinder-n.ll year heu'd ;fella Wesley
tireaoh at Wictiry. In 1792 she marsh d Mr. co.x. ter,
Like merchant who, on lesitlalf . a Sir J. Trirogin-erten,
;der took and carrird out the'leneitike.hla Nat "dit the
.15th of June, 181.1, of martufiteturing -wool iiito.clote,
and making a coat ler .*e ..j. Throgniorion is use
betesten the hairs of •attlielete-siinl senifiet. • This event
occurred at Greenham-ratibg, Newbury, and the
achievement was celelnated by rej ticit,p., in which
5,00 e persons participated. - The oid lady retained her
mental faculties until quite recently, and on her 100:h
birthday she repeated the Old Hundredth 134a11n. to
severe' members of her family. .; e 'j
;1 g
',COLLAPSING A LANDLORD :—ta. boarder at- a
Ben Francisco hotel-thought it prudent to settle terms
beforeheud, to he sure that his money would hold out
—t No dollars a day. • He stayed mouths, and sent for
his bill. Horror I Two -dollars a day Lit boarthas
only a small part- of Ilia items cherged. Sixty dollars
for fire loomed conspicueusly, and the boarder. dear-
reurred. " Cale% help it," said the landlord; "we
can't afford to furnish fuel aed a men to attend to ifl4
f. r less than a dollar a day." "All right," replied the
boarder, " I'm trilling to pay a dollar a (ley for fire:-
but e11e26 Wtrat to Way for-any. ;More thisn-I've had.
Now out of all the time I've been here, it's impossible
that I could have had a Era mere than half-a-dozen
dee sin the whole sixty." "We 11,4 says the landlord,
"that's not our fault, The -fuel •wres there, and a man
to attend to it; you might have used'it if you had a
,naied to." But the boarder remonstrated still further.
" Tef you'll come up and look at my room 1 think I can
Zbi)nvince you that there never has been eny fuel there;
' nd whet's! more," continued he, rising. to the sub-
' 'inity of thesituation, "there's eo place to put itif th* e
t
ere. There is no fireplace in the room, and no stove.-_1
There's not even a chimney in the room for the smoke
to go out, nor a stove pipe, nor a hole to put a stove
pipe around. The landlord collapsed. , .4,, tA..A. •,, -
• . :situ= i'fir
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