The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1886-03-13 00:00:00

Our r odort fartsfonbfitt
[We deem it right ri, state that we dr) n:;-% at all damp
Identify ourlelve3 with oar Corre.:-ondent'a opinion.]

It is a standing joke aga; nst Englishmen that
their climate is of so variable a character that
the first subject they :--lways find to talk about
is the weather. After the experience of the
last few months, it may be admitted that the
taunt is justifiable. A winter unusually severe
seemed to have fairly come to an end in
February, and folks were beginning to congratu-
late themselves that the balmy days of spring
were near. But with the very opening of March,
the snowstorms of which we hoped to have been
rid, recommenced with all, and more than all,
their old vigour; and from every part of the
country, from the east as from the west, and
_

from the north as from the south, came reports
of snowfalls of a depth equalling any of recent
years. London, to a large extent, escaped the
visitation, and, while snow-wreaths were forming
and drifts accumulating on every side, the metro-
polis saw only some occasional snow showers,
which acted merely as a reminder of what had been
occurring elsewhere. Even as it was, enough snow
fell within the area, known of old time as "the
hills of mortality," to render locomotion difficult
and uncomfortable. A very little
_snow is suffi-
_

eient to make our London ihoroughfares danger-
ous for horses, and those of tender heart had
better avoid them at a time when these poor
animals are falling right and left unable to
recover themselves after one slip upon asphalt°
or wood pavement.
Some idea may be formed of the monetary loss
entailed upon the community by such snowstorms
as those under which we have :Just been suff#ring
from the figures published conc2rning the North-
Eastern Railway Company. It is calculated,
apparently upon compt,tent authority, that the
kiss resulting from thfl 13,4-44.5 t storm to that
concern is not less
.than tlOO,OOO, of which

£30,000 had to be paid for the work of removing
the snow, and the remaining £70,000 represent-
ing' the loss of passenger and goods traffic. This
is truly an enormous amount of money, and yet
it is only that which has to be met by one
concern, and it may thence be calculated to some
extent what the total loss to the community
must be. An incidental loss, and one certainly
not to be ignored, is that sustained by business
men who happen to be travelling in times of
snow-drift. The physical consequences in them-
selves are most annoying, as any must perceive
who have read the reports of the privations
undergone by railway travellers during the late
storm—reports which would almost appear to be
romantic were not the evidence to their truth

overwhelming. But when, in addition to the
• discomfort and the anxiety, there is added the
loss of engagements and valuable time, it will he
seen that this item on the debtor side of the
storm account is a very considerable one.
As a rule, people consider that blue books and
Parliamentary papers generally aro not interest-
ing reading; and, in fact, in common estimation
a "blue book" is synonymous with the dullest
compilation which the mind of man could fur-
nish. But, like many popular ideas, this is dis-
tinctly an exaggerated notion, for those who
have much to do with Parliamentary papers can
avouch that in them is often embodied a mass
of interesting information which can be obtained
from no other source. On the face of it, for in-
stance, no drier compilation could exist than the
bulky volume of Civil Service Estimates, issued
within the past few days; but anyone possessing
a sufficiency of diligence to cause him to peruse
it, will find ample reward for his pains. To take
one sample; there is recorded the grant of a
pension to the survivors amonr, those Spaniards
who rendered good service to 'the British army
during the Peninsular War. This line alone is
sufficient to arouse a number of reflections, at
once interesting and instructive. It recalls
Corunna and the never-to-be-forgotten "Burial
of Sir John Moore ; " it revives memories of
the lines of Torres Vedras, of the struggles of
Wellesley (known to us as Wellington), and
Massena ; and it makes the recollection bright
of many a hard-fought field during a long and
' difficult contest. One could hardly have believed,
had it not been seen recorded in the unimpeach-
able pages of a Parliamentary return that sur-
vivors of that war—Spaniards who had done us
service during its course—remained to receive
pensions at our hand; and this is but one of the
interesting facts which the book under notice
contains.

Another such fact may be quoted, bearing, as
it does, distinctly upon a matter affecting more
particularly the present day. Hidden away in
the small type allotted to notes is a statement
that this yea f and henceforward the number of
days in the week on which payment will be de-
manded for admission to the Tower of London
will be reduced from four to two. There is
• more in this announcement than -appears on
its surfacer for it indicates, not only that oppor-
tunities for visiting the Tower will be made more
easy to the general public, but that this venerable
and niost interesting building will once again
be freed from the restrictions to ingress which
were imposed as a consequence of the dynamite
explosion at the beginning of last year. The
authorities then considered it necessary to shut
the Tower to the public for a time, not only in
order to repair the damage so wantonly caused,
but to devise such precautions as should practi-
cglly prevent the possibility of such an outrage
being repeated. The restriction has, perhaps,
lasted rather longer than the public expected or
desired, and more than one application has been
made within the last few months to remove it.

Such an intimation as that conveyed in the Civil
Service Estimates is, therefore, to be heartily
welcomed, for of all the public buildings which
London possesses not nn Ajq 1y
zmiutoriea, and tiled by so great a host of in-
teresting historical relics, as the fortress, palace,
and prison in one which, as it has done for
centuries, frowns down upon the Thames.
A "Thimble League" is the latest institution
for ladies, and its object is so thoroughly good
that it may be hoed to become a success. It
appears that a number of ladies living in the
West-end of London had become impressed with
the wish to do something tangible towards the
• relief of their poorer sisters in the East-end.
They felt that it was not so much charity as the
opportunity for work which was required to tide
over to some extent the existing distress, and
they have laid their plans accordingly. A meet-
ing, was held a few days since of those who were
- foremost in the desire to organise such a move-
ment, and it was resolved that the "Thimble
Teague" should consist entirely of ladies, and
•"stould have for its object the cutting out of
work which could be given to needy women to
make up at a fair rate of remuneration. This is
an eminently practical step to take, and, under
good management, there should be no fear
of its success. Those who have most care-
fully diagnosed the distress which has
_ _

been- and is—causing so much misery in the in-
dustrial parts of London, recognise that the
more relief which can be given in the form of
• work and the less in the form of charity, the
better for the population sought to be helped.
Private enterprise, such as the Thimble League,
• should, therefore, be encouraged by all who wish
to see the self-reliant spirit of the maq-,es raised
,as much as possible, even in the midst of trade
distress.

• One of the features of the present age which
the future historian will certainly dwell upon is
the iapid production in the cheapest form of the
literary masterpieces, which do so much to form
the taste of a nation. Up to a very short time
since, it was out of the power of any but the
well-to-do to secure a store of the best books of
all ages; and the ardent student had to be con-
tent with the hasty glances he could obtain at
public libraries, or with the selections which lie
found in histories of literature. It is otherwise
now, and the fact cannot but have an important
bearing upon the future of letters. The daily
•reading of even a few parres in a standard work
.acts like a tonic upon the brain, strengthening
and sustaining it in the midst of much strain
from business and much relaxation from the
slipshod English of so many of our periodical
pftblications. The mind, like the body, requires
a Constant supply of good food, if it is to do its
best iervice ; and when a man has once been
imbued with a taste for standard works, those
of inferior calibre will prove repellent to him.
Contemplation of good pictures strengthens the
taste for the best in art: the hearing of good
music improves the taste for the best in music;
and the reading of the masterpieces in books
heightens the taste for the best in books. And
those who wish to live their life to the full
should always strive after the best.
It is the more necessary to insist upon the
: good work that is being done by the publication
of the finest works at the lowest price, be-
cause almost every day one sees some evidence
of the ill-effects of so much of the pernicious
literature which abounds. This springing-up of
the tares with the wheat is to be deeply de-
plored, and many men feel so strongly upon it
that, when they see some more than usually evil
result from the rank growth of the former, they
ask indignantly whether the law is not suffi-
ciently strong to pull it up by the roots and east
it into the fire. But a censorship of the kind

auggested is a very delicate matter to discuss,
and would be most difficult toQut in operation;
and it is better to do, each in his individual
capacity, what he can do to lessen the ill. There
is the bane apparent to all men; it should be the
task of every well-wisher to his species to find
the antidote. And as the love for mading is
becoming more widespread, the antidote, ob-
viously, is the provision of a purer, brighter, and
better literature in place of the printed poison
which is doing so much harm. The answer in
past times has been that the best literature was
dear, and that only those who were long of
purse could afford to surround themselves with
it; but recent developments have destroyed that
plea once and for ever, and much good ought tc,
A. F It.