The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1881-07-09 00:00:00

THE PRINCESS LOUISE IN CANADA.

There is a highly interesting article in Harper this
month, describing the Canadian life of the Princess Louise,
and illustrating her surroundings by some highly artistic
woodcuts in the best style of the magazine. Among the
latter is a view of the drawing-room, the blue drawing-
room, the ball-room, the Princesses boudoir, and her Royal
Highness's sketching-box, which she gets whisked about
from place to place when sketching Canadian scenery. We
cull a few sentences here and there from the article rather
than give any continuous extract
"While Parliament is sitting, the Princess often
occupies a chair near the Speaker on the floor of the
House of Commons, an interested listener to the de-
bate upon some important Bill. At such times she
offers her hand and chats cordially with those members
who approach to speak to her.
"She is, like so many English women, a good walker
and a fair rider, and during her first winter here she
could bo met almost any day miles away from her
home. She did ' much of the vicinity of Ottawa on
foot, always sensibly shod and dressed, and in slippery
weather carrying a cane. Almost invariably she
wears a veil. It has been the subject of much com-
ment, and the curious often complain that the public
never sees her face. Her reason for wearing it
probably lies as much in the fact that she suffers terribly
from neuralgia as from any wish to thwart the curious
gaze.
"The Princess is a communicant at St. Bartholo-
mew's, the little English church at New Edinburgh,
which stands near the grounds while the Marquis of
Lorne comes into the city, and is a regular attendant
at the kirk.' The children of the Sunday school are
regularly entertained at the Hall with a Christmas
tree and . party. She visits hospitals, schools, and
convents, and carries on all the work of a charitable
lady in private life. Much of her good work is done
in a quiet, unostentatious manner.
"All of these public duties do not interfere with
those of a more domestic character. In spite of much
aid, the Marchioness of Lorne is at the head of her
establishment. She does not think it beneath her
dignity to go into the laundry and instruct the maids
concerning their duties, and to give an occasional eye
to the marketing when it is brought in. A story I have
just heard about her makes her quite rival in house-
wifely attainments the queen of good King Stephen,
who from the peck o barley meal,' concocted that
historical pnolding so well known to the student of
Mother Goose. 'And Of mine was latel,y.o4)irwu4,
Rideau Hall, ah. i&Trig - she remarked
upon the excellency of the oyster p4tes to one of the
ladies in waiting to the Princess. Yes,' she replied;
'they were made by her Royal Highness."

MR. SPURGEON ON THE FORCES OF
NATURE.
The Rev. C. H. Spurgeon, speaking on Sunday at
the Metropolitan Tabernacle, from a portion of the
15th verse of the 147th Psalm—" His word runneth
very swiftly "—observed that a word was the expres-
sion of the mind. What a man thought might live or
die within him, but if he wished it to live he embodied
it in wordg. Hence a word was a very important
thing. inasmuch as it was the very manifestation of
the mind. "Speak," said the old philosopher, "that
I may see you." You may look into a man's face and
be mistaken, but as he speaks so he is. So, if the
power and purposes of God were to be understood,
men must study His word. Now-a-daysl much
had been said about the laws of nature. Vrell,
no doubt there were such laws, but He worked through
certain laws. These laws of themselves might possess
no force. Any man amongst them could make a law
in his own household—could give directions that a thing
should be done in such and such a way, but if there was
110 one to carry out the law it soon became a dead letter.
There was a law of gravitation, but the force of gravita,
tion came from God; there was a !aw of growth, but
the force by which thirlgs grew came from God. The
stream, by certain laws, ran in a certain channel, but
the channel itself was not the stream, and became but
a dry bed when the water failed. The very word with
which He made the world still trembled throughout
space; and when they saw the comet which
had recently come within their range of vision,
they witnessed as much they, work of God as did
the angels when they beheld the first star twinkle forth
the work of an omnipotent hand. The stars that we
see nightly hang from their golden chains, as the lamps
of heaven, by the power of the same hand that first
kindled them, and they move in their marvellous orbits,
sisters of our own planet. Those fixed worlds, too,
stand in their own places motionless, as far as we can
judge, because He so fixed them. He still existed,
and his power remained. The heavens and the earth
would be dissolved only when He ceased to bear the
pillars thereof. His word, that operated at the first,
was still operating, and with the same degree of
force. It had never, during the ages, been checked;
its momentum had never failed. There might be a de-
cline in the forces of nature, if they were merely created
by God and then cast off; but as He is everywhere
and in everything, His power is omnipresent too, and
there can be no failure in anything. The world,
added Mr. Spurgeon, is not old. It is as young as
ever. The sun did not show any signs of being burned
out. If any forces welt:3 failing, it was because the
supply was being withdrawn, but the supply existed
all the same. After all, he challenged the modern
school to prove that things were slackening or declin-
ing. They were told one day that things were on the
decline, and next day were informed of the very
opposite. In neithet theory were the theorists right;
for to-day, as of old—which many would not see—God
spoke and it was done.

THE PUBLIC LAND REGULATIONS IN
MANITOBA.
The new regulations for the disposal of public lands in
Manitoba and the North-West Territory of Canada were
published in a recent number of the Canada Gazette, and
the following is a summary of the provisions :

The even-numbered sections (one mile square)
within the panadian Pacific Railway belt, twenty-four
miles on each side of the proposed railway to be held
exclusively for free grant lands in quarter sections of
160 acres, apd for pre-emptions of a like extent, which
any settlei will have the option of acquiring.
Until Dec. 31 next the latter are to be sold under the
old regulations. From Jan. 1, 1882, the price will
be 10s. per acre, to be paid at the end of three years
from date of settlement. Outside the railway belt the
even-numbered sections to be also available for free
grants and pre-emptions, the latter to be sold at Bs.
per acre, payable at the end of three years; the odd.
numbered sections, or public lands, to cover the cost
to the country of the Canadian Pacific Railway, being
offered at Bs. per acre cash.
Certain other provisions are made in regard to the
sale of timber lots ; sales to individuals or corpora-
tions for 'colonisation under which land can be
obtained at lower prices for such purposes on certain
conditions, and for the leasing of tracts of land for
grazing purposes.