The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1875-09-25 00:00:00

3urYonhn 131,-rtsponbtlt.

deem it right to state that we do not at all times
identify ourselves with our Correspondent's opinions.]

Travellers who are accustomed to London, in the
broad glare of the week-day noon, and in the full tide
of its rushing traffic, can scarcely realise the aspect it
presents when the quietude of Sunday has settled down
upon the ordinarily !may scene. In the vast capital of
the British Empire, as well as upon the remotest
cottage or farmstead upon the dominions of the Queen,
the Sunday is essentially a day of rest. One of our
poets has embodied a beautiful sentiment in some lines
typical of the peace which Sunday brings, when he
described the day as

_
"The prelude of a feast that cannot cloy
One of the bright out-courts of inntortal glory."

If it be true that upon the hill-side and along the
glen, down the mountain elopes and through the
valley, "a softer murmur gurgles from the rill" on
this particular day, the working out of the same
idea, when applied to a great community,
is exemplified in a remarkable degree. Take you,
stand upon one of the more important bridges crossing
the Thames—Blackfriars, London, or Westminster-
-I,lok down over the parapst into the stream as ii rolls
on towards the sea, and the feeling creeps irresistibly
upon you that the splashing of the water upon the
abutments is of a much milder character than it is upon
ordinary days. The associations o the time explain a
great deal of this impression; and although so far as
the river is concerned, it may exist only in the imagi-
nation, a glance at the streets will tell you that the
quietude of s'unda.y is a reality. Again, you may
prove it to be so by a bird's-eye view of the great
capital, taken from any elevated point—Primrose-hill
in the suburbs, or the summit of the Monument in the
heart of the city. On a week-day the perspective is
clouded by huge banks of smoke and mist, the latter
caused by the presence of an immense population, and
the former arising from the great number of
factories within the metropolitan area. But as
in the fields the plough lies in the furrow on
a Sunday, so in the town is the factory still, and no
Fmoke ascends from its tall-reaching chimneys.
Therefore it is that on a clear day you can see for
miles over London, and the purifying of the atmos-
phere enables you to hear the sound of countless
church bells which at eventide, and floating on the air
which is lighted up by the rays cf a declining sun, has
a singularly soothing effect. At your feet is outspread
a city combining the docks of Liverpool, the ware-
houses of Manchester, the industry of Birmingham,
the wheels of Sheffield, the activity of Leeds, the mills
of Preston, and the chimney-stacks of Bradford. You
have the modern pushing farce of Glasgow, the quaint
solldiby of Edinburgh, the peculiarities inseparable
from dockyard towns, the stately terrace, the lordly
mansion, the palace, the prison, the hovel,—in fact all
the characteristics of a score of provincial cities united
in one. Yet during the hours on one generally re-
cognised day, the myriad industries of the modern
Babylon rest from their labours. They rest alike from
the toils of the week which has gone, and prepare for
that which is to come, and it is evident how accept-
able to all is the quietude which for the time reigns in
the place.

'our

No domestic event for some time past has excited the
attention bestowed upon the loss of the Vanguard.
\tie are all proud of the fame of our Navy, on which
the safety, wealth, and honour of the kingdom chiefly
depends. Any misfortune to it makes a deep impres-
sion upon all classes; any triumph inspires a corres-
ponding elation. Why is the Nelson Column in Tra-
falgar-square the most conspicuous public monument
in London? It is a far cry now back to 1805; battles
have been fought and victories won during those
seventy years; Waterloo, Alma, and Sebastopol, are
amongst the names which we inscribe upon our escut-
cheon of national honour. Yet to no conqueror of any
age or time has the same tribute been paid as to the
naval commander whose fame is commemorated at
Charing Cross. Even Wellington himself, although
enshrined in a host of ways, has no such memorial as
this. The reason is clear. A great naval victory by
a great naval power is an event which is not erased
from the memories of the people for centuries. Mili-
tary advantages may be won and may tell for the time,
but in course of years other incidents arise to
dwarf their importance, or to diminish their weight in
the settlement of the affairs of nations. The Battle of
Waterloo was followed by the Treaty of Vienna,
which was long ago so much waste paper. But the
Battle of Trafalgar was followed by the establishment
of our maritime supremacy, which is still unques-
tioned, although two generations have passed away
since it was fought. There is something inexpressibly
pad in the fate of such a noble ship as the Vanguard.
Constructed from plans prepared by one of the first
uaval architects of the day, built after much time, and
with scrupulous care, equipped and completed at an
enormous cost, instead of having had the opportunity
of giving a single blow at an enemy, she has been sent
to the bottbm of the sea by an accidental thrust from
a 'sister ship. With the salt waves rolling o'er her,
there the helpless monster will lie through the dark
eess and gloom of winter, certainly; and even should
ur scientific appliances be enabled to raise her in the
prin g, we may make up our minds to it that the
Vanguard can never again be made the fighting ship
• he was before the ram of the Iron Duke entered her
,-ide on the Ist of September. If she cannot be
raised, the chances are that she will be blown
up, and not be allowed to obstruct a well-frequented
waterway. Her case is altogether different from that
f the Captaia, which was lost on the 6th of September,
1370, off Cape Finisterre. The fact that she lies in
1,200 feet of water at once disposed of any idea of
attempting to raise her; and as she went down intact,
and without any injury in her hull, the probabilities
are that such is the enormous strength of her con-
struction, he will be entire at the bottom of Vigo
Bay for ages. Far above the space covered by her
decks ships with not a thousandth part of her power
and armament sail in safety the tempestuous sea which
is so familiar to all who are accustomed to the naviga-
tion of those waters. The vessel which could have
annihilated a whole navy is beaten and helpless two
hundred fathoms below the surface, the sport and prey
of marine monsters. But the Vanguard will not be so
allowed to rest in peace. Once let it be demonstrated
that it is impossible to raise her, and the decree will
go forth that she must be destroyed. It is important
to keep clear the crowded highway of the sea, and not
even half a million's worth of money must be allowed
to obstruct the navigation of a Channel in which so
many nations are interested.

Those who are accustomed to the neat appearance
of our troops at a review or parade will be likely to
contrast it with that of the Turkish soldiery now en•
gaged in quelling the insurrection in the Herzegovina.
their clothing is of the most inexpensive character,
and they very often dispense with boots altogether.
They need no elaborate commissariat, a few handfuls
of meal constituting for the most part their daily
rations. Our own troops, who require among other
things three-quarters of a pound of meat and a pound
of bread every day, would hardly be content with such
frugal fare as that which falls to the lot of the Moslem,
with the black bread and garlic of the Cossack, or
with the pea sausage which stood the German army
in such stead during the invasion of France five years
ago. On the other band, before a French soldier is
promoted from the ranks in France, he must satisfy
his commanding officer that he possesses a good know-
edge of cookery, and thus a French corporal comes to
take an interest in the preparation of the daily meal.
The drama, like the course of empire, "westward
kes its way." The new Opera House upon the
Thames Embankment, the foundation atone of which
has been laid by Mdlle. Titiens, will be one of the
most splendid structures which adorns that new and
broad Boulevard. The scenes upon the north bank of
the river are almost as varied as are those of a kaleido-
scope. The Surrey shore does not present much
variety, being studded with wharves and warehouses
f,,r miles. But the Middlesex side has many varieties.
Between Woolwich and London Bridge you have the
lines of shipping in the docks, and the huge steamers
which are constantly arriving from all parts of the
world. The background is filled up by a score of City
Hpir es, overshadowed by the grey battlements of the
Tower, Between Blsekfriars and Westminster you
get the Embankment, with its prettily laid-cut gar-
dens, the Cathedral dome of St. Paul's rising high
eer the busy scene. Past the Houses of Parliament,
however, the picture changes for the worse. The
eloomy towers of Millbank—one of the severest
in discipline of our model convict prisons —is
then the most conspicuous feature in the land-
scape. There is some talk of this being removed
into the country; but the same statements have
lore azo been made concerning Newgate and Horse.
monger Lane, one of which casts its shadow over
he very centre of the City, and the other enlivens the
=ighbourhood of the Borough High-street. Millbank,
,wever, is scarcely more than a gun shot from the
Palace of the Legislature, and its removal would be
heartily welcomed by the people of Westminster and
Chelsea.
The want of good middle-class schools has long been
felt in this country, a.iel it would appear from an official
report issued under the sanction of the British Govern-
ment that we are far behind Prussia in this respect.
The highest class of Prussian schools are the gym-
nasium, which stand immediately below the Univer-
sities. The moderate ees throw these open to a much
less wealthy class than can afford to send their sons to
Eton or i
to Harrow in this country. There are six
classes in each gymnasium, and the course of instruc-
tion extends over nine years. The schools for the
children of parents lower in the social scale are of -a
most efficient character and the great majority are
iinder the control of the State. While private schools
are not diseouraged, boys on leaving them have to pass

a rigid examination at the hands of a Government In-
spector; and the masters must possess the same certi-
ficate of fitness as those in the State institutions.

The Aeronautical Society is endeavouring, as far as
possible, to solve the problem of aerial navigation ;
and, as the balloon has come to be looked upon a
helpless and impracticable, the attention of inventors
has been turned in other directions. One member of
the Aeronautical Society has succeeded in making a
steam-engine which can propel itself along a smooth
surface by means of screw planes acting against the
air. It is not impossible that this mechanical
contrivance may represent a long stride towards ,
travelling. When Savery succeeded in constrm ting
a steam machine by which a small quantity of water
could be raised a little height by a tedious, trouble-
some, and costly process, it might well have been
asked how near such a contrivance was to propelling
carriages and ships, and -doing other heavy labour
by steam. Yet the invention of Savery, though
it might have been plausibly spoken of as
demonstrating the impossibility of steam power
ever succeeding, guaranteed the solution of the
steam engine problem, for Newt,•omen merely im-
proved upon Savery, as Watt improved upon New-
comen, and Stephenson, and a host of others upon
Watt. Possibly it will take a much longer time to
solve the problem of aerial navigation, but the Aero-
nautical Society is doing something towards its solu-
tion, though every one may not be able to appreciate
the seemingly little results of its labours, or to under-
stand the mechanical merits of inventions which appear
nothing more than nursery toys.

aerial I

Who has not heard the ringing of the welkin to the
sonnd of joy and gladness? The sensation may be
experienced many a time in the autumn months, when
the traveller from town suddenly comes across a quaint
harvest festival or some local celebration of an equally
singular character. Some of these are founded upon
very curious traditions, which have come downthrough
the long avenue of Time and have survived the innova-
ting influences of the locomotive and the electric tele-
graph. They are supported simply by the shadows of
die past :

"Would ye hear a tale of the olden time,
When monks were girt with Toledo blades,
To protect the altar at evening chime,
From Pagan riots, or Moorish raids?
Would ye hear how the monk knights won the day?
Lead a favouring ear to the minstrel's lay."
The song of the minstrel is not, however, always
founded upon deeds of valour, but often takes a more
Arcadian turn. uch rural scenes at eventide, when the
shades of twiligh gather in the west, are pleasant to
look upon. Not unfrequently they are sadly marred
by the weather. A cloud appears upon an horizon
until then perfectly clear. It is at iirst only as big as
a man's hand, but at the same time that it is the pre•
cursor of future darkness and tempest is very soon
seen. "The heavens are black with wind, and there
is a great rain." The merry laughter gives way to the
whistling of the storm cloud, and the minstrel's lay is
drowned in torrents of descending rain.

THE HOME SECRETARY ON THE
EDUCATION PROBLEM.
The Home Secretary opened a bazaar at Orrell, near
Wigan, on Tuesday, in aid of the funds for building a
new church and school in that district. The Rev. J.
Leach, vicar of the parish, occupied the chair, and
briefly introduced the right hon. gentleman.
Mr. Cross, who was received with cheers, said :
Ladies and Gentlemen,—lt is quite true that during a
great part of the year I have, at all events for the present, a
considerable amount of work, and I am not sorry to have
now and then short rest. But there are few things that
refresh a man accustomed to hard work more than a change
of work, and it is to me a matter of great pleasure to come
among you to-day. I as sorry I could not he present
when my hon. colleague, Mr. Turner, laid the founda-
tion stone of this building. and I am !Ail more sorry
that he cannot be present now, and the reason is one
which I am sure you all deplore—namely, ill-health.
(near, hear.) There is another matter in to-day's pro-
ceedings which certainly gives me unmixed pleasure
' and satisfaction. Whatever may be our differences in poli-
tical questions, whatever different views we may hold upon
religious matters, whether they be far apart or not, at all
events to-day there is one purpose in every person's
heart assembled in this room, and that is a feeling of
the necessity of education. t is always a matter of
delight to me to see a whole village meeting as here
today, and that you are all agreed. (Hear, hear.)
Now, let us examine for one moment what you are
agreed upon, because I take it that the object is a very im-
portant one. You are agreed upon this—that at all events
within this district the education provided for every child,
male or female, within it, shall, so far as you are con-
cerned, not be separated from religioue teaching; that
you will not attempt to force your own particular religious
views upon any child who comes to this school whose parents
do not agree with those views; that the teaching which is
given here shall be of the best and highest standard; and that
you are willing to have your standard of excellence in teach-
ing tested by a Government test. (Hear, hear.) We are
all agreed upon these things, and they are not bad things to
agree upon. The habit of this parish seems to have been of
late to provide for education welL Even before the
passing of the Education Aot, if I am rightly informed,
you had school accommodation for 1,000 children belonging
to the Church of England, and for 500 more children
betinging to other religious bodies who differ from that
Church, and you determined when the Act passed that at
all events you yourselves would carry out the intentions
of the Legislature without being forced to do so by
the existence of a School Board. (Rear, hear.) I
think you have done well in that respect, but you must
remember that, having taken that duty upon yourselves,
it now rests with you to carry it out. There are, no
doubt, many difficulties in country places in keeping
alive the spirit of the schools ; there always are great
difficulties ; but my own interpretation of a difficulty, as
a Lancashire man, is not that a difficulty is a thing which
is to stop me going on because it is in my path, but
that it is a thing which I must get over somehow or other,
because I am determined to get over it. (Cheers.) We
have seen great difficulty in the formation of School Boards
in some places, especially in country districts; but I am
one of those who say, and I am sure you will agree with
me, that as the Education Act is passed we will do all we
can to carry out the intentions of that Act most scrupu-
lously and entirely, and where School Boards are formed
we will heartily support them. But, at the same time, we
will do that which every Englishman has a perfect right
to do—namely, exercise our own judgment, so far as the
law allows us to do so; and if we are of opinion that we
can carry on the education of this particular district better
without a School Board than with one, we will remember
what we were told when the Act was passed—that it was
not meant to supplant other schools, butr only to supple-
ment them; and we will take our own line, and show, as far
as we can, that the schools in this district and the results
of their formation, as carried on by us in our particular
way, lead to that only test by which schools can be judged
—namely, that the results of our paiticular mode of
working shall be as good as the results obtained in the
schools in connexion with any School Board in the country.
(Cheers.) It is all very well to cheer that sentiment,
'tit it requires something more than unity of purpose
to carry it through. It requires earnestness of purpose,
and very great earnestness of purpose, because there are
great difficulties in the way, and those difficulties are in-
creasing more and more every day. In the first place it
requires money. People must not run away with the notion
that we are going to be content with the sort of education we
• had before the passing of the Act, and you will Mid it is much
more expensive to carry on schools now than it has been
hitherto, and that for many reasons—for this reason, amang
others, that a higher standard of education is now required
by the country. The population has largely increased, and in
this district you must be aware there is a great demand for
the higher class of teachers. The higher class of teachers very
properly demand a higher rate of salary than they have hitherto
been accustomed to receive, and they will receive it. You
will not be able to carry on your schools at the same
moderate cost you have in years past, but you will find
gradually that the expense must necessarily increase,
added to which all the staff will have to be greater, and the
appliances of school teaching" generally will so much more
require to come up to a sufficient standard that you will
find the expenses greater than they have hitherto been.
That an requires earnestness of purpose as well as unity of
purpose, if you mean to carry it out (hear, hear), because
we must remember that in this as in other matters the
sufficiency of to-day is really and practically. in this age of
progress, the Insufficiency of to-morrow. You never can
stand still, but must go on improving, and I hope for years
and years this country will go on improving and will not
stand still (Hear, hear )
You have done a great deal since the passing of the Educa-
tion Act You have considerably more than doubled the
school accommodation, and probably with some few addi-
tions which may be made you will entirely come up to the
wants and requirements of the district. First pay for this
school, and it cannot he a great matter if, .s we are told, it is
only Ztoo in debt. I never think much of a money difficulty
In a population of this kind. People have only to make up
their minds whether the debt shall be paid off and it will be
done. But there are other difficulties which are not so easily got
over, and which, nevertheless, we must put our hands to and
work at, as in the case of other matters. It is all very well
to build schools and to have as great accommodation as your
district requires, but there is not the smallest use in
building schools unless you till them. It is very
much easier to build a school than to fill it The
chairman spoke just now of the dwellings I see up and
down this district, and which I should like to see very
much improved, and I hope the day will come, and before
long, when some measure will be passed that will tend, at
least, to their gradual improvement. (Cheers.) But I also
see in this, as in other districts, that which nobody wishes
to see—a great number of children !aiming about the
streets who ought to be at school. That is a matter which
I am sure everybody who thinks of this subject mast feel
very deeply upon. Hear, hear.) And when you come to
compare those districts which are carried on wfthout schga
Boards and those districts where school Boards exist, aura
where they have compulsory powers, you will find it will
require great exertjan on the part of those who have charge
of schools not uncr School Boards to get children to
school, which other people can do by the compulsion of the
.There was an Act passed not long ago for compelling
children employed in agriculture to go to school, but the
framers of this Act—it was passed by no Govern-
ment, but by private members, gentlemen who are
very much interested in the subject—did not take
care that there should be any provision by which the
Act should be put compulsorily in force; therefore, while it
is the law that these children shall go to school, there is
nobody to see that the Act is put in farce, and the conse-
quence is that it is not put in force, and the children
do not go to school. Inquiries are being made to see how
the Act works. Before it came into force it had a great
effect. From one end of the country to the other people in
the agricultural districts were so frightened at the idea of
its coming into operation that they sent their children to
school; but when it came into force they gave up their good
habits, arid many children who used to go to school were
taken away and again put to labour.
I wish I had here for the moment Many more of the
colliers and colliers wives and children, and those I see
In the streets, because I should have liked to say a word
or two to them. I wanted to say this. They are apt, many
of them, with a false notion as to what we mean by educa-
tion, to rim away with the idea, when we say that we want
them to be educated, that we want them to have things
put in their heads which will unfit them for the calling and
the life which probably they may have to follow. Nothing
can he more untrue. (Hear, hear.) There is no doubt
whatever about the excellent teaching which is given now
in our elementary schools. If it so happens that there is a
very clever buy or girl who is taught in those schools, and
whom, if he or she did rot come into these schools, nobody
would know nothing about, now, thanks to the ease
and facility given for a boy being transferred from one
school to another, it is quite possible for that boy, however,
humble his origin, to rise gradually from the elementary
school to the grammar school, and thence to the University,
and to take his place in the higher ranks of life before he
becomes of full age. (Hear, hear.) But that only applies
to the few. The object of education is not to unfit people.
for the calling in life which they certainly will have to
pursue, but, as far as the great mass of the people go, to
make them more fit to do their duty in that station of We
to which they are called, and to do it in a way in which
they can enjoy life themselves and do good to others. (Hear,
hear.) I 'maintain strongly that the more thoroughly and
soundly you teach a child the better you will fit him for
the duties of We which he has to perform. You will