The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1880-12-11 00:00:00

iUIDAY, I -1

4R. T. HUGHES, Q.C., ON "RUGBY I
IN THE NEW WORLD."
omas Hughes, Q.O , delivered a lecture on this
on Saturday evening to a crowded meeting in one of
Itreet, Ifooms of the Working Men's College, Great Ormond-
London
R •
ughes said the lecture was to be a talk about
tBpest,sht.lensent in Tennessee founded by a small body of
ggli)esen and Americans, and bearing the name of
the A great amount of interest had been felt in
ttstl:lB4ter, both in this country and in the United
sest a' It was evident that the English nation
riogta'n Passing through conditions which made
very Only desirable but necessary that a
of co Only
portion of the vigorous manhood
ahsr sngland should be transplanted to other
the There was a congestion of blood to
lesd eart, and many men and women who could
rrowcinseful lives in other parts of the world were so
their ed in this country that they did little but eat
ps,t rvn hearts away. The very fact that for every small
ars„,ll the Civil Service' for every commission in the
the axid navy, there were 50 or 60 candidates showed that
teio,,,Onntry was overcrowded. They must have felt cop-
the •I'N7,°f it in their own trades. Well, this Rugby in
With ew World had been founded as a place of refuge
essi47 view to these conditions of English and Ameri-
the e, for what was true of England was also true of
t4ifreat cities of New England and in the east of the
, tlicl States. They might cross the Atlantic in
Vol an nine days. The nearest way was by the line
'osid ran from Loudon to Philadelphia. But he
recommend the members of the csillege to go
tasiitew York, for the agent of the Rugby settle-
solle there was one of the fellows of their
eorsige,,,and had been a member of their Volunteer
.olr. John Roebuck, who would give then
Si ssinformation and put them on the Pennsyl-
Itailway, which in a day and a half would take
4gritll to Cincinnati, on the banks of the Ohio, the
tesk ee„n City of the West." From Cincinnati they
kitsts"" Cincinnati Southern Railway to the great
the,' °E "Kentucky, and went directly south through
,ktt-sessat blue-grass region' the greatests pasture region
osths Uted States—the Americans said in the world,
kati,: 'lid not think it finer than some of our home
,„110r(fl-ess• Kentucky was more than 200 miles from
south, and when they got about 180 miles
tegio neinnati they began to raise into a mountain
2,000114 the Cumberland plateau, which averaged
finit j,,•'• above the great southern plain. Now, for the
,
for tp-le, the Cumberland plateau had been opened
teasstslue• The citizens of Cincinnati had made a
the—,,Teent trunk railway for upwards of 300 miles to
tter of Chattanooga, where there was a great
nci'°4 of all the southern railways. The Cumber-
kid range was about 15 or 20 miles from Tennessee,
tsiiiciel(nne 20 miles further they got to Sedgemoor,
the,s was Practically the station for Rugby and there
to (11,143u1d find a small buggy or omnibus to take them
the it . remarkable city. Between Rugby and the station
the-;,--Kstaade a fine roe,and they drove through what
trove' Were informed would be a magoificent iruit-
thsscountry, by the banks of rivers which, like
the Highlands, would be liable to " spates "
8-Z3r ; but instead of the brushwood of Scotland,
erorni- Were ificent flowering shrubs, the rhododen-
titli. forest to a height of 15ft, Driving through
tssis'orest land over a bridge, they would get to the
avenue of the town, where would be found the
km° of the agent a temporary church, "The Asylum,"
Le'r, the chief building—a new hotel. (The lecturer
exhibited a woodcut of the place.) What gave
1.9
gthe name of "The Asylum was "this ; a party of
11,tits isasilrnen went out, and instead of making their log
,q,onee, the first thing they did was to layout a
quinie ground. (A laugh.) The Americans,
pa, 11 they must have lost their wits, called the
ere they settled "The Asylum." (Laughter.)
rnen Were now doing very good work. There
also experimental gardens managed by an
th4nahraax who had been thirty years in America;
;€l, were for the purpose of testing what might
Profitably, so that the new corners might
raitusr, 'no best advice. The Englishman who
IrisCsed the gardens had grown tomatoes, yams,
sit, Potatoes, and especially Lima beans, with great
q the The hotel and the gardens were the centre
neW civilization. It might be asked. how much
hoss-,One fairly start with in order to make a
in the settlement ? A one-roomed hut might be
Liss 1113 for 50 dols" or £lO. A frame house, contain-
gr7,4°47l inarge room and two middle-sized rooms on the
kes ", noor, and a large loft 'above in which seven
kight sleep, could be built for 300 dole., or VI A
•
fs,:me house with a large chimney corner and stone
orlsiliciaoot.ion might be built for a little over 500 dols.,
lest? of the charms of the place (continued the
tis's'Ler) vsas that there were a great many occupa-
tCB, agricultural and other, to which men could
sop their hands Two sets of colonists had gone in
oou BbseeP farming.. A young Englishman, a canon's
13, ad taken to herds. His younger brother and
Of ihketers had gone to join him. With the exception
settlers' wives, these were the first young women
%O had gone there. A gentleman named Wallace,
had- 'ad been in the engineers' department in India and
his pension went out, bought a town lot, aud,as
lay,„Plaoe, he said', was like the region of the Hima-
Issi,"7„Which grow some of the finest teas and coffee, he
471 uetesmined to grow them. But as tea and coffee
bas-snever been grown in the new settlement, he would
Nshs-„an opportunity of testing the matter and seeing
``'ner he was right. Two-year-old steers might be
killght for 6 dols. to 10 dols., a mulch cow for £3 2s. 6d.,
for'Rllo, ultry, of which everybody had a great number,
ten. a head. One gentleman, the son of a person
the'llent in the world of horses, who, he believed, had
bs:s9ervision i
of the Queen's stables, was going n for
th4,nlis horses. He was not sure that would do, for
lthc e gion of Kentucky was one of the finest in
'arra —'ir,nfor horses If a man wished to start with a
:49,r leiss-, acres unless he bought it near the town
's at f Peculiarly good situation, he would get
only oh', 155. to 16s. Bd. an acre, and would have
Paid -e-fourth to pay on taking possession. Having
sere a dollar an acre or about £2O for the 100
he 311,,i Ile should pay '220 more for clearing it, if
not clear it himself, which was not very
triecrt. Ts
had bought several lots himself and had
QlOO ror a comfortable house he should pay about
hitv ser a horse and wagon, which everybody must
10s. each. That would be £165. Then he would
heVarflejnoney to get through the winter, and whatever
tot silneYond he might put in stock. Hogs might be
its —sub oat for nothing. The price of beef was 2id. per
farm" 'anon 5d., butter Is.—not at all bad, though the
isu47., etre werecareless. For wheat they paid 2s. 2d. a
for firewood 4s. 2d. a small stack about 4ft. or
ton
nes 8 An idea had got abroad that it was a sort
!
sssarisiunitree, stfc settlement. He 1
did not know why,
i
pkB theY had established what n ennesee was called
ttss unissary " and in this country a co-operative
tios'e, thereby avoiding all competition and adultera-
tsi,•:,; and having the advantage to be derived • from
so4",i4esale purchases When the hotel was built and the
eost7sins.ade they offeredW the i
store to the community at
eser.loc Upon one condition—that t should not be made
1115 alve, but that every settler should be free to take
scitt dol. share. When we left in October every single
44 ler had become a member of the "commissary,"
10:11,Pe0p1e used to ride in from miles around to deal
ht.,._"4 the store. The consequence was that the first month
it was handed over the settlers made a profit of
tisT dole. (Cheers.) That was one way of holding
eh '
ge • 111 to ther The other way was by means of the
u
Istilsreh they had established. They had raised a large
th'ning, in one part of which there was a school
dee other a church—a very peculiar one, which well
sheeerved to be followed in the example it had set. At
est °Penfng the Bishop of Tennesse came over and
a to Work to organise his own denomination, get up
Weil*, and so on. He told the Bishop that as there
si:isre other denominations in the place it must be
serstood that the building belonged to the whole
so that all forms of Christian worship
44104 be held there. The Bishop said he was quite
la_fiod that it should be 20.
Vuts". tO, Climate, the maximum temperature in summer
104' anout 90deg., the lowest, winter temperature from
isbeg. to 15deg. of frost. The average summer tem-
keitsture was 71deg., the average winter temperature,
ths-g• snow lay on the ground for a few days: and
Ahrirainfall was from 50in. to 55in. The climate
sit,:6 he was there was delightful, and a young ens
1418 Who could not live in this country_ and went
Months ago was now a strong man.
Pri 'le lecturer concluded by saying that the root
11Polleilde Upon which the settlement was, foundteidr,danedf
44:Which their first Principal was never
feellow-
W `Lng w that en were meant to .
nlsOrksere,' and as
not rivals, to live for and with, not
.A.'` °tie another. (Cheers.)
tem ?rdial vote of thanks was passed to the lecturer,
Proceedings terminated.
11111
ntrRIALS ACT AND THE CHURCH
EXTENSION FUND.
tikshsc°rrespondence has taken place between the
,Albi--13 of Lichfied and the Duke of Rutland on the
ess,:eq of the Church Extension Fund. The Duke_
the'ilthat since the confiscation, the passing of
41114,74,nri,a15, Act, of land especially given to the
"ate& 'or the extension of churchyards, hl 1101-
steoss„..,l4, subscribe money or take a part in any
za.itC",?at when he earl have no security or
esrmalnat the intention of the donor will be
to out. This is more particularly called
r attentin by the letter lately written
';..f Wean Stanloey, in which he advocates the use
4.4i4"'Le churches
lby the Dissenters. The Bishop of
.
"'field •n reply, says: The Church Extension
Deo 14 expended on objects, a number of which are
tloll°lld the reach of any conceivable adverse legisla-
te as that which has taken place with regard
, churchyards. The grants to the clergy are
and all mission rooms, as well as new churches,
hod,t" are not parish churches, will be vested in a
of trustees appointed for this purpose by the
tatir, tin eenference. A number of new burial grounds
41°Pe 4sLready been conveyed to the same body, andl
etar„ so. secure the same arrangements in many p.
of ll'es in the future." On this assurance the Duke
114141414 n d
consents to renew his subscription to the

4•1 BISHOP OF MANCHESTER AND
r, At th OWENS COLLEGE.
--e lasi; meeting of the council of the Owens
Vge comintmiaation was riceived from the Bishop
llte,-44chester, stating that a sum of £l,OOO had been
rted to him, being a portion of a fund raised
‘...by
*ithe,!'llbscription on the occasion of his marriage,
lillowllherty to him to do..cide for what purpose it
eer,l4'l. be
444,itteeemopoyed ; and that, with the consent of the
subscribers, Mrs. Prawn. and he had
o,al-I,?ther sum of 21,000, and invested tiiwohciafitaial
"ere.l 1'.402400 in Wigan Corporation bcnds, f h
t° the College for the foundation
0.0 two
siNA at the Owens College to apcour.,a,e pro-
Vift 4,111 classical studies. The Council acct‘c.terdette.
4ktio, '" Peculiar pleasure, and adopted cer am s
for the scholarships, which are each of the
vahie of £4O, and to be tenable for two years.
,
lit

dreadful

at the railway accident happened on Tneeday
rood. ,Jevel crossing between -inionstone and Great
cro'n4r.• aenry Tomlinson, farmer, was passing over
3anr/ii 'kung with his horse and conveyance when A train
eY to Bi kb t them killing Mr,
Orolb, oh and h. ac urn ran o ,
Ige Nv "1 lived"' horse and smashing the conveyance.. Mr.
0311.az0,t Dunkirk, near the scene of the accident.
—"°l4lve yea n a ago, ,gid Wives a wife and