The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1885-11-28 00:00:00

ELECTION GOSSIP:

the pauses between the fierce struggles
of the battle political, those who have been
hotly engaged in the conflict and those who
have been nothing more than interested on-
lookers will find time for light talk on elec-
tion incidents, and for a space eschewing ar-
gument and contention, take a lively and '
-refreshing part in the gossip of the fray.
Reminiscences of old-time elections will come
crowding thickly up before the mental vision
of; veteran campaigners, and many a long- ,
drawn regret for the stirring excitement of
she "days that are no more" will be uttered.
But the talk will he chiefly of the present
aid its sweeping innovations; of rote by
ballot, hedged about with a secrecy as in-
scl-ntable as the silence of the Sphinx; of
pollings Continued until long after the No-
vember nightfall ; of the virtual abolition of
flags and favours, bands and beer ; of the
two million-new weilders of the franchise,
anti how they are using their voice in the
nation's aftl4lllll ;of the changed eonstituen-
ciea, and the effect of the re-arrangement of
aivisions upon parties. All these election
subjects-incidental furnish food for thought
and animadversion, and there is a further
.ow of talk arising always out of the per-
'Atonality of the candidates, the purely local
Xina of the campaign, the taking of the poll
-aid counting of the votes in one's own dis-
trict, the notable nomination incidents up
and down the country, and the, thousand-and-
one bits of anecdote, story, and action which
tico to make up the great drama of the
depend Election. Great centres of the
fight, like Midlcthisin and Birmingham, will
of coarse be watched with eager enthusiasm.
Bach scenes as the plucky, though nnsuc-
caftan], assault of the Indian Secretary upon
the seat of the "old man eloquent" of the
party of progress will evoke the interest of
all; but the minor incidents of the category,
in which may be placed Miss Helen Taylor's
attempt to enter St. Stephen's, will all be
dilly noted (hiring the season of electoral
chat. The-lady ex-member of the London
School Board who sought a seat in the first
assembly of gentlemen in Europe found her-
self stopped at the outer legal precinct of
-She Commons House by the returning-officer,
who refused to accept the nomination of one
who was not properly described by the mas-
culine pronoun. Whether in the time-to-
come woman's suffrage will ever be to/ fait
acoonipii, and, if so, when, it is unsafe at this
.present to say ; but not until then can one
of the gentler sex sit as a qualified legislator
under the Speaker's eye. It may be that
Miss Taylor will obtain a sufficiency of pub-
licity from her unprecedented procedure to
satisfy her ambitious mind, for doubtless we
have not heard the last of this scheme for
reterining the sometime dull debates of Par-
'lamest b.' the interpollation of a sprinkling
of woman's wit. Then there is the story
which comes from Sheffield of the Radical
candidate', who filled in the names of pro-
poser and seconder on his nomination paper,
and on ite rejection for the informality fell
npon hi agent, and. assaulted him grievously
in the presence of candidates and officials,
and only ealmed his choler at the hearingof
starksome hints of "constabulary duty to be
done." These out-of-the-way episodes will
be spoken of up and down by reason of their
exeeptional oddity amid an even mass of
erderly arrangement. How different is the
new nomination from the uproarious hustings
aisentblies of so short a time back in the
history of elections. No immense mob now
of electors and non-electors, the latter largely
preponderating, gather to "heckle" the life
out of the poor candidate, to drown the
sound of his voice with, inharmonious cries,
to pelt-.him with eggs far gone in the last
stage of decomposition, and to follow this
objectionable' onslaught with a shower of
flour 'said soot. If any survival of these elec
tion "amenities" which occurred so com-
niouly a score of years since now appears,
the local magistrates at once apply their un-
failing remedy. Why, even the military
will not have to be confined to barracks dur-
ing . the polling in garrison towns by the
time another general election rolls round,
sweeping a chancre—and withal so inaen-
sitly and without 5110—has come over the
Spirit of the
satruggle for representing the
people in Parliament. It is well so. The
uxtrauseus and altogether unnecessary ex-
citement- which was wont to make election
day little better than the ideal Bedlam was
the Outcome of a combination of corruptions
'Atka' advancing intelligence and even-
handed justice have scattered on their on- ,
ward march. A general election is to-day a
honest endeavour to ascertain the will of the
entire people in matters political. Until the
present struggle such could never be said
concerning so-called appeals to the country,
for many abuses and short-comings now re-
formed have hitherto stood in the way, ren-
dering so desirable a state of things impos-
sible. And when the election gossips have
had their say of this and that trait of the
new and old elections, they will have to ad-
mit that one thing certain stands out boldly
&born the light chatter and the contentious
elantenr of the hour, and that is that the
WM Parliament will be such a representative
aisiernbly, each a concentration of the elect
of the whole people of the kingdom, as has
never before been gathered together.

Is Yes on ArSTRALIA —The ifirminpham Chronic'e
ebYe: "The distinguished jeurnalirt, George Augustus
&Es, in a letter from Australia, to the London Nally
Telefropli, states that the Royal Mail steamship (which
earned him from San Francisco to Sydney) had among
It. cargo 'several tone of $t Jacobs Oil. As this medi•
ciasi oil bag also recently been largely imported into
Great Br.tain. we were curious with regard to its effi•
eacy. We desired Dr. Collett, M A., Flt A S., of
Leicester, to test its utility. To our surprise he has
proved it to be Se absolute cure for rheumatism neural-
gia rheumatic gout, and other complaints, and he states
Let it ii the only sure remedy which has corns under
his notice. He °ailed the attention of his brother. Bey
I. U. Collett, Yorkshire Nonconformist College, Leeds
$O the same Me, knowing many who needed such a
ribliedy. at once recommended it. lie found it answered
each•oese and it is used by the College authorities
for.rimiunation, as well as for sprains and bruises, tluit
user be received in the cricket and football fields and
eatisi places., Mr George Bellhouse, of the Binning
ham Fire Brigade says that he and other members of
the brigade, ae we as their families, have been cured
ef searaigia end muscular pains by ,t Jacobs Oil.
Malowey's Pigs —Factory .perativee and Workers
initanufactoriee. The remtrkable remedies which
La** beets discovered and perfected by lhomas Holo
*ay. sad which have for more than forty years been
"wwfullY seed in every qoarter of the globe, are es-
pecially useful in
,all the manifold ailments which
aillicit those who by reason of their occupation are con-
fined for rare or all their lives. in crowded buildings
sad workshops, liolioway_ ,
Pills and o,ntment are
italiocditad remedies, the former festering the vital
bowers when 484""ed, and always acting as an of
lei„s wow purifier, whilst the latter relieves local
maladies. Cbects iaflegumation, and acts as a cleansing
bed breasts,
sad lisalisg agent in Oases er legs,
clam
said sa,,jthy sores of sn Sitade.

NERVOUSNSES LOSS OF ENERGY
mad V1.T.A.1.4 rowacit.
Remaking from whatever canoe, not as treated by Qnsoks
with natural poisons and eoleared water, bat effectual
C Sr" bY • 1/1•Y1L AND 'SLIMLY SUCC.SSFUL MODS
Off TILIATMENT, diecovered by the advertiser, who,
atter many years of extreme suffering, was completely re...
Mewed te 'monad health.
Pr&as 4 by :mantes of humanity. he thee snakes knetre
m▪
ob"tV wkieh JCYIT SUFFERZit IS INABLIID TO
PIRFECTLY sad el the LRAM'
I%tiallaLff COST, without having recource to advertising
esnairies or thoir valuated notarises.
/swill is 4deppy to Pr/rent the partiosiors to 401/ MP"'
rforti,4 se • footstool sossi &roof ol elsoolftsto
Adoires --J. T. In ?MU,. q., Cibirßißict Middi•lol4