The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1887-12-03 00:00:00

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4.1 k IN a A , . •
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Suspensory Bandage and Array

TRUSS MAKERS
327 & 3ZO, Oxford treet,

LOA DOA.

Zav,ctary--18, James street. W

HEAVY LECIN TAX. An increare hip been re-
cently made in this Chinese Government,. tax ;
increased ndulteralion to t4fl ola, ming 'extent I,e;
resulted. A comparison or real valu, s uppo,ed
lownt,s of price is therefore impend
and judge of the pure tca Import-0. and sAd
florniman's Agents. List of ogen4 in this Wait

List of Agents in this liwolity STOURBRIDGE
ke, Chemist, High ; Ber, fii4h
4trt et ; Selleck, W, High Street. Br:erlry Hili:
Raw;lugs, Chemist. Kuiderminsti,r : r imwar Lull
4ing.—Llaledowen: .!...nwt3e, Chemist, Itiurr,y it Cu.,
Cheinims Ly- : Orecuwool, Chem.st. W •rtis.ei
White, Chemist.— Kilt Male.—B4ettell Lot.e
Culling, Itc;iraingh.a.m. Liitits 11m1
Itim4.—hewdley, Cia,eriigne,U4emist.

KEEP roust TEETH Bever pay half-a-nrowll
Druggist for a bottle of TISCIIISILL and keel, yomr teetitt
Lalf-a-crown to a dentist and lose them. Tiitheel cares
Tic, Paceacho, Neuralgia. and nearly every ease of T
ache, safely and speedily. Relief is wand
fifteen minutes. Sold by all Chemists and Patent Medi
Vendors at 2s 94. Parcels Post, free 2s 9d in stamp
P. 0.0. from the 31anufacturer5, Clarke rleaedale Bell
Co York.

fI'REE IA ,ictm of youthful itnpru-
FOY F,dence causing Prematare De-
cry e,'rus Debiuty, Last ,Itinhood, etc., hasuag tried
.n iMUNII remedy has discovtrel a sitywi
self Ore which he wi:i t.erat FliP,:bl to nit; fellow.
staerers Nddreas J. H. nEuvss, ESQ., 43 CsatLa
at , York City, U.S A

grt' E 1 V 0 11 S 1) E B 1 1. 1 f Y.—GRA:IId
L. A lii Wor)-.,:hc.whig tuffdrers 1,••v; tin:), uy
It maktti wain,M the jof 4.2tiari•:l;. Fro: !e kiipt (./
po*take stump.
Address, :.`.ECRETALY, ILlNtitlate 01 A.O my.
Buraingham.

OUR LONDON CORRESPONDENT.

[We deem it right to state that we do not at all times identify
ourselves with our Correspondent's opinions.]

Now that we have once more entered Decem-
ber, the idea of keeping Christmas comes home
to es as a very natural one. The fact that tin
great central joyous day falls this year on a
Sunday is one that gives some concern to those
who merely make it one of jollity, while it
troubles not at all those who regard it as a time
for family meeting and pleasant intercourse; but
even the former may be satisfisd when they re-
member that the Monday and Tuesday will be
given up to them, and that on those days they may
be as merry as they choose. It is an old topic is
this of Christmas, but it is one which we never
are tired of writing or talking about. To the
young it is a theme which is of necessity somewhat
fresh, and even the most jaded among the old
cannot but be touched by the eager glee with
which Christmas is celebrated by those newer
to the business of life. The cynical philosopher
has said that if it were not for its pleasures
life would be tolerable; and this is the kind of
talk which those who are soured delight to pour
forth at a time when all around them are full of
joy. But there is something in the very atmo-
sphere of Christmas which has been handed
down to us by the *edition of generations
which makes cynicism look thin and poor, and
which puts joylessness to the rout. And human
existence is so full of trial and presents so many
aspects of pain that we cannot afford to lose any
opportunity of making the most of such honest
pleasures as we can achieve.
There is one side to winter, however, that the
thoughtful among us can never ignore, and that
is the suffering it entails upon many hardworking
folk whose employment is taken from them by,
stress of weather. The number of the unem-
ployed always swells when winter comes, and in
these days it is accepted almost as a duty by
those who are better off to give some practical
heed to such as are willing to work, but are
•inable to obtain employment. It is because of
this that there are now being opened in various
parts of London offices for the registration of
those in search of work, so that the honest and
deserving and those who genuinely want labour
can take a distinct step towards obtaining
it. It is a lamentable fact, but one
which no one with a knowledge of the
conditions of life in our large towns would deny,
that there is a very large number of persons who
whine about the lack of work, but who, when the
work is even brought to them, decline to avail
themselves of the opportunity. The " loafer "
class is, unfortunately, too large in the com-
munity, and it is one of the most serious prob-
lems in social philosophy how to minimise its
evil effects. That we shall ever get rid of it
altogether is beyond the dream of hope, but we
at least may trust that, in the progress of the
suns, it will be reduced to a more manageable
quantity. This can only be done by sys-
tematic effort, and that must first be
directed to the question of which of
the unemployed are deserving objects for
help, and which are merely " loafers. ' That
will to some extent be attained by the registry
offices which have now been opened. It will
become known among the unemployed that
those who really want work can be put in a fair
way of obtaining it; and the result will be
awaited with interest by all concerned in the
social question.
The months of November and December are
scarcely those which, on the face of them, would
be chosen for a flower show, and yet they
have been selected for one of a very interest-
ing kind. In the East-end of London, and
within a minute's walk of Stepney Station,
has been held during the past few days a
bonafide working-man's flower show. As has been
explained by one of the promoters of so
laudable an exhibition, the productions are,
of course, not to be compared with the
various chrysanthemum shows now being held
in the Temple-gardens and elsewhere, where so
much that is , shown is the result of skilled
professional labour; but this East-end show
does pretend to be what it really is from
beginning to end—a real working man's ex-
hibition. The flowers have been raised on
roofs and in windows—for garden space, as
that term is generally understood, there is
none—in the most crowded and squalid
parts of London; they have been grown in the
midst of fog, and smoke, and dust, which one
might have imagined would have killed them;
and the result is to pay for all the toil in the
brightening of the lives of the hard toilers in a
squalid district. There is no sight more touch-
ing than is presented in some of the windows of
our East-end tenements, where the little flower,
struggling against every discouragement, dares
to lift its head amid scenes where beauty of any
kind would by no other means be seen.

"Prizes for virtue" are unknown' by that
name at least, in England, though we have
various public rewards which might answer to
them; but in France they are institutions of
considerable note. At the latest annual dis-
tribution of them by the French Aca-
demy, one was given for such services as
deserves world-wide commendation. The Mont-
yon Prize of 2000 francs was awarded to Jean
.Adolphe Delannoy, a Calais pilot, who has risked
his life no less than twenty-one times in saving
shipwrecked crews. In one case, now twenty
years ago, twelve English sailors had launched
the lifeboat and attempted to rescue a crew in
Janger, but were unsuccessful, all of them being
drowned, while Delannoy and six comrades suc-
ceeded in reaching the vessel just in time to see
it sink and to save two of its crew. The
Academy has proclaimed Delannoy, who is
loaded with medals, to be the most heroic and
devoted of Frenchmen; and it is interesting to
note that his country had previously recog-
nised his services by giving him the Cross
of the Legion of Honour. There has been
much talk of late as to the unworthy uses
to that which that famous order has been
put, but no one is likely to deny that, if any
person for sheer bravery deserved it, Delannoy
was entitled to wear the red riband in his coat.
No Frenchman, however distinguished, and in
whatever walk of life he had distinguished him-
self, could feel anything but honoured at wear-
ing the much-coveted Cross of the Legion in
company with one who so unselfishly and so
often had risked his life to save his fellow-
creatures.

Temple Bar disappeared ten years ago from
the spot whereon it had stood so long; but for
all that time its stones have been lying about on
a waste plot within the City boundaries waiting
to be taken further note of. It was for long in-
tended to re-erect the ancient monument in
i some spot n London where it would remain for
ages to testify what kind of thing the latest of
the City gates was. But years rolled away,
nothing was done, and it really seemed at last
as if the stones would be allowed to be covered
with dust and moss in their newest resting-place,
and would become to be forgotten. But such an
ignominious fate has been spared to them, and
within the past few days workmen have been
busily engaged in removing them to Theobald's
Park, Cheshunt, the residence of Sir Henry Meux,
who will re-erect the ancient monument as a gate-
way to his estate. When the Bar was taken
down, each stone was carefully numbered,
so that an exact re-erection will be possible,
but as the stones weigh in all about 400
tons, their removal will occupy some
time, and the process of re-erection will
not be a light one. Many Londoners would
have liked it to have been again put un within
their own district, but the City authorities
appear to have found this impracticable, and the
antiquaries of the future who- wish to see Temple
Bar will have to make a journey into Essex,
instead of to Fleet-street, in order to have a
4;lance at it.
Those who have ever consulted a doctor--and
i who among us s so fortunate as never to have
needed to do so—must have been struck,
when the prescriptions were handed to
us, by the barbarous jargon in which
they were couched. Even accomplished
Latin scholars could not make head or tail of
some of the terms, while, when the dog-Latin of
the doctors was explained to them, they shudder,ed
at its utter barbarism. It will be of interest to
a good many, therefore, to know upon the
authority of a usually well-informed source that
there is just now a marked tendency among
medical practitioners to substitute for "the
series of classical terms" hitherto used "their
lanple equivalents" in the common speech of
doctor and patient. If this movement should
spread it is likely to have important
results; but the balance of advantage is
not necessarily so much on the side of
the patient as most people at the first glance
might be inclined to think.. For those suffering
fromillness are usually somewhat nervous, and
nothing could be imagined as more likely to add
to their tremors than a clear knowledge of
what they were to be called upon to take.
For instance, in certain complaints prussic acid
—perhaps the most generally feared poison of
all—is an excellent remedy. Disguised in the
prescription as "Ac. hydrocy," the accustomary
abbreviation for hydrocyanic acid, the patient
does not recognise it, and is benefitted by its
usse: but if it were plainly written down as prussic

iL;F.&U i:.i

acid, which would certainly be the "simpler
equivalent " in the common speech of doctor and
patient, the latter might become so alarmed that
the medicine, even if taken, might do harm
rather than good.
It seems early in this month of December to
be talking of arrangements for the cricket season
of next year, but it is a necessity that some of
these should be made a good while beforehand.
This is especially the case when the team under
consideration has to come from the Antipodes,
and all lovers of the game will be interasted to
know that we may expect, the team that will
visit us during next summer to leave Australia
about March 20, and to arrive in this country
before the end of April. Several of the contests
in which it will engage have already been pro-
visionally arranged. At Lords three iaatches
will be played, and probably the same
number at the Oval. Notts will be
played twice at Trent Bridge, Yorkshire at
both Sheffield and Bradford, Gloucestershiro at
Clifton and Cheltenham, and Surrey ttvice at
the Oval, while Middlesex, Lancashire, and Kent
will be played once each. The combination
which is being arranged promises to be a
powerful one, and, as interest in cricket is far
from on the decline, we may expect that this
Australian team will be received as heartily as
any of its predecessors. There is no grudgingness
about the applause Englishmen give whcn true
sport is concerned, and we shall be glad to
welcome our Australian cousins. as ever we have
been. A. F. R.