The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1875-09-18 00:00:00

AMERICAN ITEMS.

A young man in Indiana was excused from serving
o'n a jury in a case because he had been married but two
days.
°lipped gold coins have appeared in Nevada, and
Chinamen are charged with the crime of clipping them.
-

Another evidence of the nearness of the Centennial
—"./oi on part Francais" is beginning to appear in the
store windows in Philadelphia.
Arr. Nadol, formerly an American attaché in
London, writes enthusiastically of the bagpipes. He calls
one player the poet-laureate of the bag-pipes.
A California town has a female brass band, and,
somehow, these players can sit and blow, and blow, for hours
at a stretch, and not once get out of breath as a male band
would.
Sixteen Chinese Women were sold at auction in Cali-
fornia the other day, only Chinese being allowed to bid.
Eight dollars was the highest price, and one sold for sixty-
five cents, her nose being out of plumb.

A man in lowa claims to be the father of the smallest
living child ever born at that place. The boy when born
weighed exactly two pounds. Its feet are about two inches
In length, the other limbs being proportionate. It is lively
and healthy, and bids fair for long life.
Some genius of a statistical turn of mind has arrived
at the conclusion that there are 2,700 varieties of apples,
known by 1,800 names ; 2,200 of pears, 150 of plums, SOO of our
native grapes, 50 of currants, 80 of raspberries, and SO of
blackberries.

The aggregate value of the tobacco crop in the Con
necticut valley is about 4,000,000 doh. The large packing-
houses in Hanford and in East Hartford will be likely to
have plenty of business.

- -
The Indianpolis Journal announces that the total
number printed and distributed of Senator Morton's "great
speech" in Ohio will reach 385,000, and more are coming in
German. _ _ _ _ _

-----
For the past three weeks a thousand barrels of
apples have been shipped every day to the West and East
from liemphis. The average price is two dollars per barrel.

All the manufacturing establishments in Canton,
aims., are running on full time, the silk mills especially
being driven night and day,
- - -

Three months ago the Montana papers would have
stated that a horse-dealer had been invited to a hemp-
necktie sociable; now they say that the citizens have put
a puLl-back cravat on him.
The Baptists of Kentucky have fifty-one associations,
1,118 churches, 617 ministers, and upwards of 132,000 mem-
bers, 30,000 of whom are coloured.

On a Kentucky railway a few days ago, while
Senator Pinchback, with his light complexion, passed as an
unquestioned Caucasian, a bronzed Patron of Industry, of
unmixed Aryan blood, was mistaken for a negro.
The St. Louis Globe Democrat calculates that the
dogs of the State of Missouri represent a waste of 80,000,000
dollars, and that if this sum were invested at compound in-
terest their worthlessness would pay off the national debt
before 1900.

The elevators in the new Palace Hotel, San Fran-
cisco, have their uttermost landing on the roof, where a fine
place is prepared for the guests to promenade and enjoy the
extensive view of the city, suburbs, and harbour.

Two enterprising young ladies of Newport, Indiana,
not being able to obtain the services of a carpenter when
they wanted him, went to work themselves and built a
summer kitchen.

A charred shingle fell over a bird's neat in Ingleside,
Massachusetts, while a building was burning close by, and
some young sparrows were thus protected, although the heat
was intense enough to destroy the leaves on the trees.

The Census of New York will probably not be com-
piled so that accurate results can be reached before next
winter. The returns from forty counties and seventeen cities
have been received, and, although they have yet to be cor-
rected and balanced, they are probably very near what will
be the count of the Secretary of State. The returns show a
gain for the forty counties of 203,201 over the census returns
of 1870. Nearly all of this gain has been made by the cities,
the actual gain in seventeen cities having been 152,869 on a
population in 1870 of 1,461,900. The cities also gained 44,930
by annexation. The estimated increase of the population of
the whole State over the census return of 1870 is 270,000,
making the population 4,652,769.

A man of Sandy Hill, N.Y., predicts that the
world will be destroyed July 4th, 1876. He bases his cheep-
ful view on Isaiah, lxv. chapter, 17th verse, " For the child
shall die a hundred years old." The " child "he considers
to be Uncle Sam, and when he dies the rest of the world
will give it up too, and step out also. This will spoil the
Centennial.
A person who was intimately acquainted with th
early life of ex-President Johnson, relates the following
incident: "He went to Laurens Court-house, South Caro-
lina, remaining two years, working at his trade. Return-
ing when nineteen years of age to North Carolina he fell
in love with a young lady in Wake county. Johnson
was still poor, having nothing but the clothing on his
back and a hone, while the young lady's mother
owned several negroes and claimed to belong to
the upper crust of society. She forbade the young
tailor to come to the house, and strictly enjoined
her daughter never to speak to him. She had higher
aims for.her daughter a coatless tailor, she said, should
never marry into her family. The girl loved ' Andy,' and
they had many interviews at thq back garden gate. Andy
resolved to emigrate to East Tennessee, and after an affec-
tionate parting interview with his 'sweetheart' at the
classic back gate, he set out across the mountains. The
young lady afterwards married a farmer, and lived to see her
first love made President of the United States. Johnson
never saw her but once again. In 1858 he made speeches in
North Carolina, and, in the course of the canvass, sought out
the loved one of his early days. She was living upon a farm,
the wife of a very plain man, and in the most moderate cir-
cumstance&

[From Punch.i
HERO AND LEANDER. .
MRS. BROWN to BROWN, who has a bad cold.
CALL your§elf a man,
Sitting there wrapped in flannel?
Rouse up, if you can—
And swim over the Channel !

BROWN respondeth,.
I will, I declare,—
'Tis not gammon and spinach,—
If you'll do your share
By swimming to Greenwich!
[Tallow his own nose in trittinph.

EPITOME OF NEWS.

BRITISH AND FOREIGN.

The Chancellor of the Exchequer acknowledges in
The Times (as "Conscience Money") receipt of the remain-
ing half of a bank-note for £5O, for Income Tax, from
"P. S B."
Prince Bismarck's only daughter, the Countess
Mary Elizabeth Johanna, has been betrothed to Count
Wendt zu Eulenburg, a member of the Prussian Civil Ser-
vice.

--- -
The French champion bicyclist, on Monday, won a
race of 20 miles at Portliest, in 1 hour 20 minutes, 31 seconds,
his antagonist, Cann, of Sheffield, having retired after run-
ning 10 miles.
A Strasburg paper states that the sword given up
by Napoleon 111. to King William was handed over by
Prince Bismarck in Maroh, 1871, to General Castlenau, who
went to Berlin for that purpose under an assumed name.

Under the tariff law all importations of goods
classified as "smokers' articles" are subjected to the heavy
duty of 75 per cent. ad valorem.

.. _
The large sum of £3,412,521 10a. 1.1. d. was obtained
in the last financial year on legacies and successions.

The Broad Arrow is glad to be able to set at rent the
question as to whether the crew of the Valorous will receive
double pay during the time the ship was absent with the
Arctic expedition. The Lords of the Admiralty have ex-
pressed their entire satisfaction with the proceedings of the
Valorous whilst with the expedition and on the voyage home,
and the double pay will accordingly be issued.

The activity displayed by the partisans of the sub-
marine tunnel scheme has not disheartened a certain number
of French and English engineers, who are still seeking to
connect France and England by means of an immense bridge,
which might be thrown over the ChanneL We learn that
the enterprise is in a fair way of progress, and that a pre-
liminary plan has been drawn up.

A total of 3,050 horses were exported from this
country during the past year, of which 268 were sent to Ger-
many, 652 to Holland, 545 to Belgium, 1,238 to France, and
357 to other countries. The value of horses exported from
the United Kingdom in the last eight months was £173,082,
against £136,813 in the preceding year. To France this year
horses to £63,401 and in 1674 £43,606, were sent.

The Moscow Gazette says that it may now without
indiscretion reveal a fact which in February, 1855, was knowo
uly in the high spheres of St. Petersburg society. When the
Diplomatic Body came to congratulate the Emperor
Alexander 11. on his accession to the throne, he declared
that he would remain faithful to the policy of Alexander I.
and his late father—the policy of alliance with the Courts of
the North.

A Parisian newspaper gives a startling piece of
intelligence concerning the future policy of the Princes of
Orleans The Princes, it says, have resolved to abdicate their
pretensions to the throne of France. They are about to
announce this publicly, and also that they may henceforth be
considered as Republicans and belonging to the plebian
portion of society.

It appears from a recent return that the consump-
tion of silk in Europe is made up of pretty equal proportions
of home and foreign silk. During the year 1874 the total of
raw silk produced is stated at 9,050,0001 b., while the amount
exported from Asia is 11,500,0001 b., making a total of upwards
of 20,00,0001 b. as the entire consumption of silk in Europe
during 1b74. The countries included in the report are Italy,
France, Spain, Greece, Turkey, Georgia, Persia, lndia,
China, and Japan

The Journal des Daats, on the occasion.of the death
of the painter Waldeck, who has lately died at the age of
107, cites the celebrated painters who have died at an
advanced age. Titian died in his 99th year; Coypel was 89;
Rigand, 86: 2ifignard, 85; Jordaens, 84: Tintoretto, Claude
Lorraine, and Albano, 82; Primatiocio and Teniers, 80 ; Carle
Vernet and Greuze, 79; David, 77; Guercino, Leonardo da
Vinci, and Ostade, 75; Michael Angelo died in his 90th year.
The Erneror 'William was present on Monday
'evening at a grand dinner given at Liegnitz. His Majesty,
in proposing a toast, said :—" I drink to the welfare of the
two Army Corps, whose conduct both in war and peace has
earned ray acknowledgments and approval, and to the pros-
perity of the provinces to which they belong."
The total number of persons employed on the Indian
railways on the 30th of September last was 101,595, of whom
96,013 were natives, 3,239 Europeans, and 2,343 East Indians.
The employment of natives and Indian-born labourers is
becoming more general, and they are by degrees qualifying
for work in the engineering and mechanical departments.