The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1875-01-30 00:00:00

MR. BEECHER'S PEW-LETTING.--- The New
York Times states that a number of bets were made
that the bids for pews in Plymouth Church would fall
off this year; but, on the contrary, they have risen.
The fixed valuations amounted in the whole to $12,860;
but the premiums bid for choice reached $58,305,
makin,g the total revenue $71,165. The first choice of
all sold for 8400 last year, but brought $550 this year.
There are 500 free seats. •

SOMETHINO LIKE A MOVE (in the Spanish
game). —King to his own square: Cheque—to every-
body !—Punch.
GRAFTING.—M. Gaillard. has lately exhibited
Borns very extraordinary gourds, of various forme
and colouro, which, although attached to each otheri
are of different species. This has been accomplished
by grafting the fruit of one kind upon that d
another, when it is found that perfect adhesiuri
results, and that the growth of each fruit continue
unretarded. One example given is that of a green
Spanish gourd, upon the side of which another
variety has been grafted. Another is that of a yellow
apple-shaped gourd, into which was inserted the
stalk of a green pear.shaped one, a large section of
which was cut off and replaced by a corresponding
slice of a white-fruited gourd. In all cases a perfect
union has been effected.—Garden.

"BITING THE DU3T."—It would seem that
this muscular action is apt to occur when a man has
been arrested by death in the act of strenuous bodily
exertion; and no doubt an artilleryman, whilst hotly
engaged and vehemently serving his gun, must in
general be much harder at work than an infantrY
soldier busied with his firelock. In ancient times
large proportion of the slain were killed in the act of
excrting their strength to the utmost, and then it wi.e
that "biting the dust" became almost an equivalent
for being killed in battle. However hotly engaged, a
modern infantry soldier does not commonly exert
whilst halted any great amount of physical strength,
and the instances in which he literally "bites the
dust" are comparatively rare.—History of the Crimean
War. By King7ake.
YOUNG IDEAS IN SAN FRANCISCO. —SOME) San
Francisco school children gave such queer answers to
questions put to them in their recent examination
papers, that the newspapers printed them. Here are ft
few examples: "Man is the largest being on land.
"The difference between a dog and a cow is, a dog has
five toes in its front feet and four toes on its hind feet."
"Deciduous means to dry up." "The lawyer con;
structs people." "Lawyers are peace makers.'
"Lawyers plead cases and use common sense." "The
doctor saves people from dying, and is a very useful
man for cutting off legs and heads." "Doctors are
men. The lawyers, if you lend some money to another
man, and he did not pay you, you would go to suit;
and get a divorce. Lawyers decide a case of trouble.'
In answer to "Give the names of two domestic animals
and their uses," one child replied, " Geraph and Hipo-
- Another replied, "Chicken—there usee
are eggs. The cow—its uses is to give milk, and those
two animals nurse their young ones." Being required
to give "five parts of a tree," one boy wrote, "Top,
bottom, middle, and two sides."

FRENCH TAXITION.—The Journal Officia
gives a return of the revenue from indirect taxation
for 1874. The old taxes produced 1,121,241,000 f. ; the
taxes imposed in 1871, 2,450,662,0001. ; and those im-
posed in 1873, 493,587,000 f. ; making a total of
1,865,490,000 f. The estimated yield was 1,916,360,000 f.
or 50,870,000 f. more than was actually. produced.
27,333,000 f. of this deficit being in the old taxes. AS
compared with 1873, the past year shows a McAfee,
of 18,463,000 f. as regards the old taxes, and or
17,340,000 f. as regards those created in 1871-2, making
together 35,83,00 f.; but 93,587,000 f. having accrued
from the impost voted in 1873-4, the total receipts of
1874 exceeded those of 1873. The chief items en
which the receipts fell below the estimates were the
duties on intoxicating drinks, registration and other
.legal fees, and colonial and foreign sugars, these
accounting for about 67,000,000 f. of the gross deficit of
88,000,000 f., while the revenue from tobacco and
duties on home manufactured sugar were considerablY
in excess of the estimates.
MARRYING IN Ft:TN.—Two young ladies ancl
gentlemen of Ulster County (U.S.) put themselves,in
a situation one evening last week that they now feel
sorry for. A ball was held at which there was a large
attendance of the young people of the neighbourhood.
During the festivities somebody proposed they should
have a marriage, so the young couples to carry out 00
sport stepped forward before a dignified gentleman,
who speedily pronounced them man and wife. Sine°
it has been discovered this gentleman is a Justice of
the Peace, the couples are very much disturbed in
their minds. One young lady is reported to have spent
the whole of the next day in crying, her grief being
intensified by the fact that she is engaged to another
gentleman.
A HINT. —"I wish / was a Pudding,
Mamma?"—" Why ?" —" 'Cause I should have awn
lots of Sugar put into me."—Punch."

-
MICHAEL ANGELO'S HOUSE. —Michael Angelo'
house at Florence, long the resort of artistic pilgrinngo
has acquired a new interest from the coming. com-
memoration of the artist-sculptor. Everything in the
house remains much as he left it 300 years ago. In
the numerous small rooms are pieces of sculpture/
artistic devices and sketches by the dead painter.!
while his dining-room walls are covered with We
frescoes. One side of the room is devoted to men
of science, with Galileo and his telescope. Philo-
sophers occupy another portion of the space, Aristotle
and Plato in the foremost rank; then come men.
of the Church, and, finally, poets and romalce.
writers, surrounded by palm trees and fountains;
Dante and Petra.rch are speedily recognisable, ana
Savonarola is not forgotten. The books, furniturel
pictures, statuettes, &c., with which Michael Angel°
adoined his house, occupy their original places, while
the varied scenes of his life are represented in pictures bY
his favourite pupils. Perhaps the two most interesting
objects are Buonarroti's portrait by himself, and a
bust from a mask taken immediately after deatb4
showing the compressed lips, the broad flat nose, it*
the expression of rude power so well known to AP._
students of Michael Angelo.
CORPULENT TRAVELLERS.—Dr. Schweinfurthy -
gravely discussing the question whether a white man
—strong in that charmed life which most African .
tribes sup.gose him to possess—could pass along safe'
to the West Coast, decides it in the affirmative, "0
the traveller were not too fat ;" for fatness, whether
in black or white, makes all cannibal tribes lick their
lips and rub their abdomens, like that well-known
New Caledonian chief who being asked if he had seen
a corpulent Australian colonists, named Boyd, who
had been wrecked on his coast, said nothing but
"Massa Boyd, him berry fat man," significantly pat-
ting at the same time that cavity of his person intt',
which the unhappy colonist had descended.— Edinburgn
Review.
UNITED STATES' BONDS. Official advice;
from Washington show that the coin-interest-bearing
debt of the United States stood as follows on the lat
of January,lB7s :—Bonds at 6 per cent., $1,157,085,100;
bonds at 5 per cent., $556,525,200—t0ta1, $1,713,610,300.
The 5 per cent. Refunding Loan of 1871-1881 had been
placed at the close of December 1874, to the extent us
$361,697,900, and it has become accordingly the largest I
loan of the United States. The next in importan_ee
to it is the issue of Five-Twenties made in 1867. -1-Th
the six months ending the 31st of December, 1874, the
debt of the United States was reduced to the extent of
$489,939.
UNITED STATES' CROPS.—The St. Louis Dent&
erat states that it has procured from Mr. Dodge, the
Statistician of the United States' Bureau of Agricul-
ture, the footings of his forthcoming statement of the
crops of 1874, as follow :—" On the Ist of January':
1874, the number of swine of all ages in the United
States aggregated nearly 31,000,000 (as deduced front
returns of county correspondents), of which fulli
17,000,000 were in the eight States of the Ohio and,
Missouri Valleys. In September last returns were
received showing the comparative numbers and coy
dition of fattening hogs. A decline from the amount
of stock fattening in September of the previous year'
.as reported in every Western State, amounting tc
24 per cent. in Kentucky, 13 in Ohio, 8 in Michigan,
17 in Indiana, 15 in Illinois, 15 in lowa, 17 in Mis-
souri, and 20 in Kansas, the average decline from last
year in these eight States being 17 per cent. Their
condition at that date was also low, the depreciation •
below a fair average being 11 per cent. The returns
were very full, and these deductions doubtless repre-
sent with reasonable accuracy the status of swine fat-
tening,. In September last a preliminary estimate of
crops makes the principal aggregates as follows :
Corn, 812,000,000 bushels; wheat, 290,000,000 bushels, '
oats, 270,000,000 bushels; barley, 32,000,000 bushels,
potatoes, 105,000,000 bushels; hay, 25,000,000 tons. ,
DUE PREPARATION.— The New Zealand
Herald in its last files has a very painful story, told in
illustration of the great present dearth of respectable
dressmaking hands in that colony (remarks the Pall
Mall Gazette). it seems that a well-to-do settler near
Auckland was lately attacked by an illness which hie •
medical attendant declared must terminate fatally, sci
an
severe were the symptoms. After lying in appar-
ently hopeless state for some days he suddenly took a
turn for the better, and, thanks to a strong constitu-
tion, made a rapid recovery. Not long after he had
returned to businew he was much startled, on opening
an account presented at his office, to find himse4.4
charged with a full set of widow's weeds-91 elaborateirl
complete description. A domestic exiirkation natiki
rally followed, and his wife reminded him that hó had
always made it a special desire that the fact of their- '
baying emigrated to a colony should never prevent her
dressing as a lady. "And the dressmakers here, y 0.%
know," she added, "have matters so entirely in glean
own hands that they generally keep you waiting for ••
months for anything new. So when I was told you
could not possibly recover, I ordered what I knew you
would wish me to wear beforehand; and now the
things have only just come home." The bill was
promptly settled. Whether the husband was consoled
for the outlay by the thought that his provident wife
had the things ready by her is a question that is left
open to conjecture.

DISTRICT PALTER SCHOOLS AND BOARDING
Out —The Queen's printers have just issued " Obser-
vations," by Mr. Edward Carleton Tufnell, late In-
spector of Poor Law Schools in the Metropolitan
District, "on tho Report of Mrs. Senior to the Local
Government Board as to the effect on girls of the system,
of education at Pauper Schools." After a full and par-
ticular criticism of Mrs. Senior's instances and her in-
ferences in favour of the Boarding-out system, as com-
pared with education in District Schools, Mr. Tufnell
concludes :—" I defy Mrs. Senior and all her anony-
mous delegates to prove by any reliable evidence On
more than 4 per cent. of children trained in dietnev
schools ever fail when in the world to gain an
honest
and independent livelihood. Further, the failure of
that 4 per cent, may be proved to be owing almost en-
tirely to the influence of relatives and, therefore, hardly
due to the school training; and that as respects the
purely orphan or deserted class who are usually the
only ones that receive a thorough trainia not one per
cent. fail when placed out in situations maintain an
honourable and respectable position. Finally, I un- -
hesitatingly maintain that the district system is 80
good, and the boarding.out system so bad, that I would
press upon the Local Government Board the expediency
of extending the former as much as possible, and sup-
pressing the practice of boarding-out children both in
guld witlaout the uniong.",

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