The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1878-05-25 00:00:00

Misallancous

HOME, FOREIGN, AND COLONIAL.
RUSSIAN WAR CRUISERS.—Sarawak writes to The

Times :

Sir,—When a youngster with Rajah Brooke in Borneo, I
have known many a pursuit of pirate prahus by vessels of
Her Majesty's Navy. The tactics of the natives were always
the same : a rush to creeks and shallow waters enabled them,
as a rule, not only to evade us, but to indule in hearty
ridicule of our inability to pursue them. So it will be in the
Asiatic Archipelago with the small fleet of cruisers that
Russia is quietly preparing. We shall pursue them with
our big ships and get simply laughed at.

MAKING A NIGHT OF IT.—What can be more foolish
than to remain dancing from ten or eleven at night
until three or four in the rooming? Staying up talk-
ing and listening to talk from four one afternoon till
twenty-five minutes past ten next morning.—Punch.
WASTE OF FOOD.—A. T. writes in the Queen
"In these days of high prices and scarcity of pro-
visions, we frequently hear servants spoken of with
disparagement, as being wasteful and careless of the
food under their charge ; but so long as the heads of
the families sanction and allow in their presence so
much waste in the dining-room by leaving so much
food on their plates and directly afterwards partaking
of another dish, and again leaving half of that, we can
hardly expect to see any improvement in the servants.
So long as this state of things is allowed in the dining-
room, waste will be as great in the kitchen, as the
example upstairs will be followed down below. It
cannot be expected that servants will eat the refuse of
meat, puddings, creams, &c. (butter at breakfast, &c.),
left on the plates. Quite lately, at a small luncheon
paity of nine persons, sufficient was left on the plates
for four servants' supper; this I can testify is a com-
mon occurrence."

MYOPIA. —Little Binks (to unsteady party who had
lurched heavily against him). "I beg your pardon,
I'm sure, but I'm very short sighted—"—Dissipated,
Stranger, "Do' mensh't, shir—l've met goo' many
shor'sight peopl'sh morn', bu' you're firsh genTm'sh
made 'shli'sht 'pology ! "—Punch.

THE RAINFALL.—The heavy rainfaH of the past
fortnight has occassioned a certain amount of anxiety
as to the character of the season now opening, and
this has been quickened by the prevalence of an
opinion that the summer will prove more wet than
warm, and fail to ripen the produce that increases on
every hand. Without pretending to any knowledge
of the future, we feel bound to offer a grain of comfort
on the subject of the recent rainfall. In the first
place, then, we have had a dry winter, and consider-
able arrears of rain were due to us. Thus we may
regard the extra humidity of the past two or three
weeks as the restoring of a balance that had been
disturbed, and from which we have already derived
a considerable advantage, for the dry winter favoured
out-door work to the advantage of the crops generally.
In the next place, the districts that have been flooded
are mostly in grass, and it is a truism that spring
floods on grass land make great haystacks and
abundant after-feed. Whatever may be in store for
us, there is no occassion for fear or discontent at pre-
sent.—The Gardener's Magazine.

A FACT. —Proud lady of the house (condescend-
ingly). Well, William, have you got the place?—
William (more condescendingly still). Yes, I thank
my lady; there was six other young gentlemen, but I
was chose.—Judy.

SPECTRAL HARES !—A short time since, a person
residing some distance from Dantzig, having been re-
quested by the proprietor of a menagerie in that town
to forward two hares to his address, found himself
confronted by a postal regulation forbidding the
transmission of live animals by post. It then occurred
to him to chloroform the hares, carefully calculating
the dose, in order that they might remain in an insen-
sible condition till delivered. But the train was late;
the parcels were verified, and laid aside in the sorting-
room to be sent out next morning. Accordingly, a
sorter entered the room at dawn, went through the
letters and parcels, and missed" 108, 109, two hares."
He looked for them high and low, but in vain. Their
disappearance seemed inexplicable; the lock of the
window was intact, the window barred, and the whole
staff unanimously declared that the parcel of game
was there the night before. As the bewildered sorter
again looked round the apartment, one of the hares
shot by him, followed by the other, on the back of
which the post-office stamp at D— was plainly
visible; both darted at the open door. This was too
much for the nerves of the sorter, who almost fell to
the ground in astonishment; and the thought of the
two spectral hares would have long embittered his
lonely hours had not the proprietor of the menagerie
called to inquire after the expected consignment, and
explained the circumstances. It is needless to add
that " 108 " and his companion were never afterwards
seen.

THE TRAMP OF FLIES.-It seems from a paper read
the other day before the Society of Arts by Mr. W.
H. Preece that the flies which are now becoming
so numerous with the increasing warmth have a
speech of their own, and are not confined to the
irritating buzz with which they have been so
long associated. This fly language can be heard
with the assistance of the microphone, which magnifies
sound and aids the ear as
.the microscope does
the eye. Mr. Preece states that with it he has
heard the tramp of a little fly across a box with a tread
almost as loud as that of a horse across a wooden
bridge. A curious sound accompanied the tramp of
the fly, which, it was suggested, was caused by the
neighing of its proboscis. It is to be hoped that the
flies have not got a habit of repeating all they hear
while walking on the ceiling; if they have, what dis-
closures might be made by some scientific eavesdropper
with a stray fly imprisoned in a microphone! In
these days of wonderful inventions a fly of the air may
carry the matter as well as the proverbial bird.—Pall
Mall Gazette.

INDISPUTABLE.—The Women's Rights advocates are
about to hold a meeting in favour of securing vote 3
for female ratepayers. It has long been admitted that
women ought to have votes (or, indeed, anything else
they may choose to demand); while the way the
Women's Rights agitation has been organised makes
it clear that, whether or no a miss is as good as a
mile, half a dozen resolute ladies are quite capable of
becoming a League.—Judy.
OYSTER CULTURE IN HOLLAND.—The cultivation of
the oyster is becoming an important branch of trade
in Holland, for while the home consumption averages
about 14,500,000 oysters per annum, almost as many
are exported, France alone taking more than 3,000,000.
Several artificial beds and oyster parks have been
formed at the mouths of the Scheldt and the Meuse,
and they are reported to be doing very well. Some
years ago there were no restrictions with regard to
oyster fishing in the Netherlands, and in consequence
the natural beds situated in Zealand and the Texel
were completely exhausted. But since 1872 the
Government has farmed out the waters which are suit-
able for the reproduction of oysters, and this system
has been productive of the best results. Large quanti-
ties of prawns, mussels, crabs, and lobsters are also
tlken on the Dutch coast and exported to England and
France.

THE FOOD SUPPLY FROM AMERICA.--During last
week the quantity of fresh meat brought to Liver-
pool from the United States and Canada amounted to
5,375 quarters of beef, 1,050 carcases of mutton, and
260 pigs.

AN ALTERNATIVE.—(Time, 9 p.m.) "Charles love,
Lady Ledbury is at home to-night, and Mrs. Gela.sma
has a concert, and there's the Duchess of Ipswich's
dance. Now, are we going to these places, or not?
For if we are, it is time for me to go and dress • and
if we are not, it is time for me to put a mustard.
plaster on my chest. some flannel round my throat,
and go straight off to bed ! "—Punch.
HARVEST PROSPECTS.—Mr. J. J. Meolai writes
from Tiptree-hall, Kelvedon, Essex :—" A very
wet May, so far, has rather damped our expectations
of a great wheat crop on the stiff clay soils, especially
where undrained, for it has forced an excess of flag, at
the cost of stem or ear; but much will now depend
upon dry and bright weather. Fortunately, the
temperature has been mild, and the fields are filled
with herbage. It is, so far, a forward and abundant
season for clovers, permanent pastures, and spring
crops generally. Potatoes, garden produce, apples,
and pears are very promising. Light-landers may re-
joice. Altogether there is reason to be thankful, as
compared with the last three unpropitious and un-
profitable seasons. Live stock are healthy, and there
is a considerable increase in the number of covered
farm-yards."
AN OLD PAPER SOClETY.—Protestant Holland
numbers among-its numerous charities an "Old Paper
Society." The Roman Catholics of the Netherlands
(1,200,000 in number) Bend annually to the Pope the
proceeds of the sale of old magazines' journals,
pamphlets and books. During the past year the
society has acknowledged 412,0001b5. of waste paper,
this was sold for 1(),000 florins, and the amount has
been forwarded to Rome.

BEAT! PossiDENTEs.—Query, when possession costs
£200,000 a day ?—Punch.
MASTER AND MAN.—Domestic servants are gene-
rally believed (by the uncharitable) to reap a good
harvest in perquisites and percentages from tradesmen
(says the Pictorial World). These little transactions
are usually conducted sub rosd, but now-a-days our
servants are beginning to look upon a percentage as a
matter of course. Doctor S., a few days since, had
occasion to engage a man-servant, who was to usher in
the patients and perform the customary duties required
by a medical man. The salary had been settled, and
the various duties of the post clearly explained to the
candidate, who expressed his approval of the terms.
Apparently all was arranged, when the man altered
the aspect of affairs considerably by asking, " And
what percentages will you allow me, sir, upon the days
when you receive patients? •

ECONOMICAL CON.-Why ought poultry-keeping to
be a most profitable business? -Because for every
grain you give a fowl it gives a peck.—Judy.
PAUPERISM.—A return has been issued giving a com-
parative statement of the number of paupers of all
classes, except lunatic paupers in asylums and va-
grants, in receipt of relief on the last day of each
week in March, 1877 and 1878 respectively. In the
first week of March, 1878, the numbers were 707,379,
or an increase of 18,133 over the corresponding week
of 1877. In the second week the numbers were
705,042, or an increase of 15,106; in the third week
704,094, or an increase of 14,899; and in the fourth
week 702,825, an increase of 14,222, or 21 per cent.
Compared with 1876 the increase was 2,493, or 0.04
per cent.

RUSSIAN CRUBLERS.—A despatch from San Fran-
cisco, dated May 6, says :—" There is nothing in the
rumour that Russian privateers are fitting out here.
There are no vessels in the port that could be used for
that purpose, not including the Occidental or Pacific
Mail steamers, except the steam yacht Sofia, recently
arrived from Peru, the property of Captain Malloy, of
New York. She is a suspicious looking craft, and
is lingering in the bay in a mysterious manner. She
could go into commission at once, and would be
dangerous to commerce. The Russian fleet, which has
been at Vladivostock, on the Russian Asiatic coast all
winter, is composed of the Rovatin, Vsadnik, Abek,
Toungovss., and Gamoston. The Russian gunboat
Graysser Is detained at San Francisco to carry the
news to that fleet of the declaration of war between
England and usia ulcj it wcar."

RUSSIAN " HmEs."—The Secret Clauses of the San
Stefano Treaty.—Judy.

A NEW WAY OF SPELLING POTATO !—Professor
Knowlton made some interesting remarks upon pho-
netic spelling at a late teachers' meeting in San Fran-
cisco. As an example of one of the singular possibili-
ties in spelling, a word from the professor's vocabulary
may be given. To use his own language :—Will you
pronounce for me the following word—" Ghough-
plrtheightteea,u ? " No, you cannot answer. Well,
it spells potato. Do you see? No? Then I'll prove
it to you. Gh stands for p, as you'll find from the last
letters in hiccough. Ough stands for o, as in dough.
Phth stands for t, as in phthisis. Eigh standg for a, as
in neighbour. Ttte stands for t, as in gazette; and eau
stands for o, as in beau—and so from that jumble of
letters you unearth the simple potato.
A SPECIALITY.—"Josh Billings" (Henry W. Shaw
is reported to have made more money than almost any
American author by persistent working of his peculiar
vein of humour. Some years he has got 4,000 dols.
from a weekly newspaper for his exclusive contri-
butions ; has made 5000 dols. or 6,000 dole, by
lecturing, and has had a profit from his Almanack of
8,000 dole. or 9,600 dols. more-18,000 dole. to 20,000
dols. per annum. That is five or six times as much as
Emerson, Hawthorne, Lowell, or Holmes has ever
made.—New York Times.

GUSHING OUT !—The Springfield Republican says:
They can just gush out on the 'Frisco papers. Hear
the Alta go on; She is coming, the belle and heiress,
Miss Jenny Latreille, the handsomest girl in the
South-west—the finest figure, the smallest foot, the
sweetest voice, the blondest hair and velvetiest eyes
ever done up in one package—is coming to Oaklands
to spend a few months with her relatives. She is said
to be the most charming singer and amateur actress,
and manages a horse like a Di Vernon; and, more-
over, is a lonely orphan with 1,500,000 dollars in her
own right-.-a real bonanza. Such a distinguished visit
has not been made since the Queen of Sheba visited
King Solomon.
AT LONDON, AND ST. PETERSBURG.—ShuffIe on,
and Schouvaloff. —Punch.
HAVING FOUR AGES !—Howard Paul relates that in
a moment of wild forgetfulness he asked a well-known
London actress, who makes up skilfully, her age. Her
reply was frank : "I have four ages," she replied with
animation • "the family archives unfortunately pro-
claim that am fifty; by daylight I pass for thirty-
six; by gas-light ffot more than thirty; and, with all
my war-paint on in a soft light, and no rude glare, I
pass for five-and-twenty."
A CAREFUL MOTHER.—A Highland lady, having
heard that her son had gained in school, as a prize, a
year's subscription to a popular youth's magazine,
wrote an anxious letter to the publishers. Se had
never allowed her boy to read one sentence that was
not absolutely true; it was the object of her life to
keep him from fiction and falsity, and she wanted to
know if the magazine was free from these objectionable
features. The answer was this: " Dear Madam,—lf
your notion is carried out strictly, there is but one pub
lication we can recommend, and, on second thought,
we doubt even as to that. We were going to suggest
the New Testament, until we happened to recollect
that our Saviour therein is mentioned as speaking in
parables.

THE BETROTHAL OF THE DUKE OF CONNAUGHT.—
The Berlin correspondent of the Uologne Gazette states
that the Duke of Connaught's engagement to the
Princess Louise Margaret of Prussia was not alto-
gether unexpected. There is an old saying in Germany
that one wedding is apt to lead to another. At the
marriage fête not very long ago celebrated at Berlin,
where two Prussian Princesses were married on the
same day, the Duke of Connaught was present as a
representative of Queen Victoria, and at the ball given
in honour of the occasion it was observed that when
the cotillon was danced he presented a bouquet to the
Princess Louise Margaret. That was the beginning of
his courtship.
GOUT AND ITS CURE.—" The last new cure of gout
in Bohemia is the sting of three bees placed on the
foot."—Laily News, May 13th.
He came in on the Bee's wing;
He goes out in the Bee's sting.—Punch.

PUBLIC INCOME AND EXPENDITURE.—A Return has
been issued which shows that the total income in the
year, which ended March 31, 1878, was £79,763,293,
the total expenditure was £82,403,495, and the exaess
of expenditure over income £2,640,197. The balance
in the Exchequer at the commencement of th
year was £5,988,650, and at the termination £6,241,388
A JAPANESE NEWSPAPER.—A Tokio correspond-
ent of the Chicago Tribune has been visiting the office
of the Nichi Nichi Shinbun (Daily News) the leading
paper of Japan. The paper pays thirty-seven per
cent, dividend annually on a capital of 50,000 dollars.
Besides its editor, Mr. G. Fukinhi, a gentleman who
visited America and Europe with the I wakura Em-
bassy, the paper employs six editorial writers and
eight reporters, and local correspondents throughout
the country; there are twenty-three hands in the
composing-room, including a foreman and two proof-
readers; the business office and press and mailing
rootns employ some forty men, and there are forty-five
carriers. The average daily circulation is 8,700. In-
cluding the job presses, there are eleven presses em-
ployed, one a Hoe cylinder press, which, by the way,
is operated by hand, labour being cheaper, as a
motive power, than steam. A full fount of type
comprises 50,000 characters, 3,000 of which are in
constant use, and for 2,000 more there are frequent
calls, so that it is no wonder that the proof-readers
have to be persons of intelligence and high scholarship.
The type is disposed about the room on racks like
those in a reading room, and the compositors wander
up and down the aisles, setting type and taking
exercise at once.

" DISTURNPIKED " ROADS.—The House of Com-
mOns' annual select committee on Turnpike Acts
state in their report this Session that, censiaering the
delay in passing a Highway Acts and the pressing
necessity that something be done to prevent the
further deterioration of roads which have been dis-
turnpiked, the committee recommended that, without
prejudice to further legislation on the subject, pro-
vision should be made this Session in the Turnpike
Acts Continuance Bill empowering quarter sessions to
place upon the county rate, so far as they shall think
fit, the maintenance of roads which have been die-
turnpiked since the let of January, 1870.