The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1875-03-27 00:00:00

SA T7IIDAS, MAR. 97, 1875:

CONTEMPT OF COURT.—" A Magistrate"
The Times) suggests that a Judge should have tin
simple power of committing, and that the terms
.01
punishment, or the immediate release, should rest with
the whole Bench of the Court of which the committing
Judge happens to be a member.
INSTINCT OR REASON 7—A French journal
relates the following "true and curious" dog WO.*
During the late severe weather, towards midnight a
drunken man was seen attempting to pass through the,.
Rue de Rome. He was followed by a dog, which keg.
close at his =aster's heels. The drunken man stoPPea.
and the dog began to bite at his legs, "Let me alone,
will you?" cried the drunkard; "I'm going on after a
rest ;" but the dog continued to tug at his trouser°.
"There, there!" cried the man at length, "I'm going
on. He started, and the dog trotted at his heels. Atter
a few yards the drunkard again stopped, and a similff,
scene occurred, the dog growling and snapping tin'
his master began to go forward. The witness of thie
singular incident went a mile out of his way to see this
intelligent dog take hi a master home, and saw inn;
wag his tail with evident satisfaction as the drunker°
reeled over his threshold.

PAUPERISM.—The usual official return shows
that in the half-year ended at Michaelmas, 1874, the
expenditure on in-maintenance of paupers in England
amounted t 02764,801, and on out-door relief £1,507,94°1
making a total of £2,272,741; which is less by 272,787 f
or 31 per cent., than in the half-year ended at Michael'
mas, 1873, and less by £90,146, or 3'B per cent., then
in the half-year ended at Michaelmas, 1872. In the
item of provisions the price of meat shows a decrease ;
the Guardians of the Poor of Lambeth report the
average contract price of mutton and beef supplied tr,e
them as follows :-93. 4d. per stone of 141 b. in 187'1
9s. Bd. in 1873, but reduced to Bs. 100. in 1874.
"THE FATHER OF THE FREEMA.SONS."—W
David Oament died at Sherborne, Dorsetshire on the
morning of Saturday last. The deceased was born 0°
Midsummer Day in 1775. He joined the Freemasons
in the year 1819, and at the time of his death we'e
member of the "Lodge of Benevolence, No. 1,168::
He held office as Tyler of his Lodge for twcii`v ye3r°'
and about the year 1850 received a pension from the,
Royal Masonic Benevolent Fund, which he enior3"
till the present time. His health was good, and 118
was confined to his bed for about three days onl9
before he died.
A HINT ABOUT COFFEE.—Being a powerful
absorbent as well as disinfectant, roasted coffee giallo
always be browned over in order to throw off the
grocery taint that it has acquired by exposure to Or
foul air. The heating which should make it a Aaa!
darker, will also develop strength. It should be keP"
in a well-corked bottle or jar ;. or, what is better/
brown as you want to use, thus having it fresh DOI
strong and better flavoured.—Pictorial World.

AN ELECIA.NT COSTUME. —Speaking of a re•
cent fancy ball at Mentone, a writer on fashion saYe
—" The most successful dress of the evening was
Pierrot costume, worn by a young physician, who hi
some mistake did not receive an invitation till the verY
day on which the ball was to take place, of course tee
late to send to Paris for a dress. Being an inventive
gentleman he devised a costume which for elegae
and originality could not be surpassed. Hiring a Pik
white Pierrot dress, he sent out and bought up
the Parmese violets which chanced to be in bloom in
the gardens of the city. He then hired five workwom.eLl
to sew these violets in little clusters all over hi"
dress as close as they could be set. This was aceo„,l33°
plished in a few hours, so at the appointed time T'ue
physician entered the ball-room transformed into a Per'
fumed and animated bouquet of violets. The sensatior;
he created was immense. The ladies all crowd
around him and were invited to pluck 0,4
fragrant ornaments from his dress, which they °II
withjsuch hearty good-will that he was soon despoileu
of his purple decorations."
THE COST OF THE COLONIES.—A return ob:
tamed by Mr. Mellor of "the cost of the several
colonies of the British Empire at the expense of the
British Exchequer for the years 1869-70, 1870-71,181.
72, 1872-73," shows that the net total cost was as i 0
lows :—ln 18697-0, £2,745,980; in 1870-71, 22,228,30;
in 1871-72, £1,911,007; and in 1872-73, £1,817,47."
Canada, which in 1869-70 cost £434,223, in 1872-73 oult
cost £3,552. In 1869-70, the cost of New Brunswie;
was £8,192; in 1872-73 it was £3. Prince Edwarua
Island, South Australia and Queensland, in 1872-P
made no demands on the British Exchequer. In CeYierl
the military contribution of the colony and other
receipts exceeded the expenses by £17,865. MI!
heaviest items of expenditure shown in the return le`
1872-73 are :—Malta, £378,520; Gibraltar, £306,433;
and Bermuda, £193,015.
QUEEN ANNE'S BOUNTY. —The governors 0,,f
this corporation held their annual meeting last wee'
to appropriate the surplus income of 1874 to nle4
benefactions for the augmentation of poor benefice'
The circumstances of the various benefices were
greatly diversified. One feature was, however, 00112,...
mon to all—that of all the cases considered no benefil
possessed an income above £2OO, and the poorest ha'
but £46 a year. With two or three exceptions, the
grants were uniformly £2OO to each benefice. AB
population the most numerous was one with 9,0
down to an agricultural parish of 35 inhabitants. 'IL"
patronage of 73 benefices was in public gift, and uw
remaining 31 in lay hands. The most generous belle'
faction, given by a laymen, was worth £2,200, but ne
benefaction was less than £2OO. With the exceptie°
of Durham, grants were bestowed upon one or more
benefices in every diocese of England and Viralet
Altogether there were 104 benefices approved. 'llw
aggregate value of the benefactions exceeded £31,20m
and the grants amounted to £21,800. The Churcb,
of England thus secures an additional capital sum
£53,000.
A TErT DAY'S MissioN.—A correspondent
writes to the Daily News (on Monday) :—" The
•sir,
vices of Messrs. Moody and Sankey at the Agriculture'
and Exeter Halls have been attended by not lest
than 335,000 of every class of society, from the Lost'
Chancellor of England downwards."
THE GERMAN FLAG. —The German national
flag of black, red, and gold, is said to come from the tini,,es
of Barbarossa, That Emperor was crowned, in 1.1,51,
ruler of Germany, in the Frankfort Cathedral.
way from the Dom to the Romer Palace, where public
festivities were held, was laid with a carpet represent"
ing the colours black, red, and gold. After the coro-
nation the carpet was given to the people, and ever
body tried to cut off a piece, which was carried about
the city as a flag. In the year 1184, at the Reichstag
at Mayence, these colours were recognised as the tile
German ones, and they were retained until Napoleon
put an end to the empire in 1806. Since that time the
.ißurschenchaften have kept the old colours in memorr
In the revolutionary year, 1848, the German colourli
were again brought to light by the members of the
National Assembly at Frankfort. There was eel;
siderable discussion at the time as to which colour haut
the precedence. Freiligrath sang :—" Powder is black,
blood is red, and golden flickers the flame. This"
the old Imperial standard." Friederich Wilhelm
however, was the author of the motto bearing We
meaning of the German standard :—" From night,
through blood, to light.

,
THE PARISRAGPICKERs,—The oldest of the rag' •
pickers in Paris, Sylvain Barnabe, known as the doyeo,
de chiffonniers, has just died at the Isle aux Singes, et
the age of 78. He carried the wicker basket throne
the streets of the French capital for over 50 years. In
his youth he was one of the elegants of Toulouse, where,
he squandered a large fortune, and after being ruble°
he became clerk to an attorney. He lost this situatloll4
and then came to Paris, where he followed his precav
bus avocation up to a few weeks before his death, ft'
used to calculate that in his night wanderings in saarci'
of forgotten trifles, he had traversed over 18,000 league,
and had picked up during his life 20,000 kilogramme,
of chiffons.—Globe.

THE INCLOSIIRE COMMISSION.—The IncloSure
Commissioners have to state in their annual report
that they are discouraging fresh applications for in;
closure of waste land, as Parliament has not decided
upon what conditions it will sanction inclosures. Last
Session the Commissioners presented 33 approved '
schemes for inclosure, but none of them were autho-
rized by Parliament, and this Session the Commis'
sioners can only recommend the same 33 again, with
the addition of one more at Riccall, Yorkshire, where
they state the common could be made very productive,
and the produce of the " common field' lands, nOW
divided into hundreds of narrow strips, could be in*
creased at least 40 per cent, by suitable division In
severalty. The Commissioners represent that in tlia, ,
last 30 years, while 620,000 acres of land in England
have been dealt with under the General Inclosure .'
Act, the agricultural area has been diminished to a
larger extent by the increase of towns and rail-
ways, and that there are still above a million acres
available for improvement. -
A BALL DRESS.—A ball was lately given at
a place called Sandy Run, in the Wyoming territory. •
Here is a description of a pair of guests who formed 0
portion of the elite of that place and the towns round::
—" Miss—, from Wilder's Gulch, was elegantly .
attired in a handsome gros-grained buckskin dress,
with army blanket over-skirt, bottom looped up with •
buckskin strings out bias; hair dressed a /a red cloud,'
in which were twined a few sprigs of sage brush, tht.
whole secured behind with a handsome pin made with
a pine splinter and a buffalo's ear. She wore an
elegant mountain catskin cap, festooned will antelope
tails, secured under the chin with a rattlesnake's akin.
Her feet, were encased in buckskin moccasins, orna-
mented with beads and soldier's buttons. She created .
a big sensation as she entered the hall, hanging upon
the arm of Mr. H. Barton, of Hallville, who was dressed .
,in the style of his locality:---buckskin breeches in boots ,
i hunting shirt of the same, ornamented with beads and '
tobacco juice; an army belt of the latest pattern
i round his we.ist, securing a pair of six-shooters and A
I huge bowie-knife, which set off his gallant figure to •
lgood advantage. Envious glances from both sexes '
I followed this exctllent couple round the hall. .
1 TAI.I, WRITING !—The following extract from .
a recent number of the St. Louis Republican is by no
Means a bad spaeimen, of "tall writing ;"—"And '-
after a Cieorgia edit ur wrote the following they led :
him fainting forth and laid him down upon the green
sod, where cool zephyrs revive,d and brought hiro -
round, and as there was nobody to kick him it is feared -,
he may do it again :---` She is a rare and radiant ars,s- '
tocrat ; white, serene, and shining as a star', full-
bodied and voluptuous; eyes of deepest bke,
and a'
±?ealth of g Wen hair, caught froni her sloptig.
shshouldersin great tawny' massea. She is as fair r.,a newly-fallen
sinow, and the chaste whitenessis nowlere broken, save
pi her eolestial palms, where the icelisoned blood kindles
non a rose colour, or in herbrirling lips, where inapa- ,j
tience whips it into a paetion.' " 1 - -
THE SUNFLOWEr, AS A PREVENTIVE OF FEVERS. i
-t"-We eentiAue to see faionrahle Mention made of the
ies of sunflowers as preventives of bilious fevers,
b ills, fever, &c, A correspondent of the "Soil of the 1
, 'South," writing from a place in Alabama, which he .
says was peculiarly subject to fevers, gives the results
of Mg experience on the premises, and in not a single
instance where he planted Sunflowers around his negro
cabins did their inmates Suffer from fevers; while hia
wife, two children, and two house-servants all had,
fevers, he not having planted any of the Sunflowere
around his own dwelling, which, in his opinion ac-
counted for the difference in the results. We trust .
that, next spring, New Orleans may be surrounded bX
a cordon of Sunflowers, that they may be scattered
thronght every garden, and COM every vacant lot be
the eity.—The Garden',

-*•N

tor
for
Of ,

' --8
111
Ile
lea

1
to i
.4:er
tat
. bat
the
itre
tat
, by
1
Iro]
hoc
!hti

In

I
del
Ilia
703
Ge
be(
ofn

_
Iva
Gel

hit
Drt

eel
4;
ItMi
cal
Ire
On

thi
by

oic
re,
Itv

•
-4(

.

/