The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1881-01-01 00:00:00

THE ENGLISH COLONY IN
TENNESSEE.

A correspondent writes from Rugby, Tennessee. under
date December 7th :

Rugby is getting on steadily, though, I am glad to
say, slowly. To explain why .1 say this, let me carry
you back to Oct. sth, the day on which the Settle-
ment was opened to the public. Our President, Mr.
T. Hughes, in his opening address, touching on our
chances of progress said :—" Speaking for myself,
however, I must say that I look with distrust,
rather than with hope, to very rapid pecuniary re-
turns. lam old-fashioned enough to prefer slow and
steady growth. I like to give the cream plenty of
time to rise before you skim it." These words, I be-
lieve show the true spirit in which such work as the
founding a new centre of human lives and human
interests should be taken in hand.
In addition to our hotel, the "Tabard," a boarding-
house has just been finished, where board And lixiging
can be had for 4 dole. 50 cents, per week. The Co-
operative Store is running satisfactorily, ar.d the
manager of it has just been appointed Postmaster of
Rugby, so we have now a regular mail,_outward and
inward, every day except Sunday. The publishers of
New York, Boston, and Philadelphia, with other
friends in this country, having presented a large
number of books to the settlement, the Hughes Public
Library ha a been formed, and has been promised
about 5,000 volumes altogether; we are now trying to
raise money to build a home worthy of the books.
Our church and school building is beginning to as-
sume a definite shape, and a'board has been incor-
porated both to look after school matters and -to
prevent the liquor traffic being carried on within four
miles of the school, such being their power by the laws
of the State of Tennessee.

In the way of amusements, for which, however,
there is not much time, we have Lawn Tennis Club
and ground—the former prosperous, the latter fair,
considering the difficulties of the place.
There has been a great deal of rain lately, and some
nights of sharp frost, followed by bright sunny days
at one time we began to think it was quite cold here,
but reports of the thermometer 10 and 12 degrees below
zero in Ohio and of two feet of snow in the Eastern
States soon reconciled our best grumblers to the
climate of Rugby.
There is one very important fact to he considered in
estimating our chances of success. It is this :—Several
gentlemen of position and means, attracted by the
natural beauties of the place and by our splendid
climate, and approving of the principles on which our
Settlement is started, have bought town lots, with a
view to building and living either permanently or for
part of the year at Rugby, and of course spending
money here. Now this is an aid to progress,seldom, if
ever, met with in a new place. -Usually the first
'comers are men whose .sole object is to make money ;
then, as the place grows, the social conditions gradually
improve; whereas here we shall have the nucleons of
refined society almost at the start. In conclusion, I
think that Rugby is worth the attention of men wish-
ing to emigrate, to whom health and nearness to the
old country are considerations.

MR. BRIGHT AND • THE LAND QUESTION.—Mr.
Bright, in a letter which he has written to Mr. F. G.
Heath, to thank him for a copy of his "Peasant life
in the West of England," says that "the subject is
one of great and growing interest," and that "the
question of the land in England as well as in Ireland
cannot Bleep"