The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1880-09-11 00:00:00

istellanens Ntelßpm.
HOME, FOREIGN, AND COLONIAL.

QUERY.-Why is a note of interrogation like the
ghost in Hamlet 7—Because it "comes in such a ques-
tion-able shape—Funny Folks.

WHEAT FROM AMERICA.—Tgb shipments of wheat
from the Atlantic ports of the United States to
Europe have again been very large, having amounted
to 281,000 qrs. to the United Kingdom, and 275,000 qrs.
to the Continent. Thirty thousand qrs. were also
exported from California, making a grand total of
585,000 qrs. The visible supply has increased to the
extent of 400,000 bushels, the present total* being
600, 000 bushels. Th e trade has been dull in New York
during the week, and prices are now at a low point.
WOMEN RULE.—In Central Africa, says Living-
stone, the women have the upper hand. They feed
the men. The wife is obliged to supply the mother-in-
law with fire-wood. A man who has five wives, having
returned home, asks something of No. 1. No. 1 re-
fers him to No. 2. No. 2 desires him to go to the 'one
he loves best. He is bandied about from one to the
other till he becomes quite enraged; but all he can do
is to go to the top qika tree and cry aloud, "I thought I
had five wives, bun find I have five witches." If a
woman beats her husband, she is punished in this
way. Both are taken to the market-place, and the
wife is compelled to carry the husband home on her
back, amid the cheers of the people. On these occa-
sions the women generally cry out, "Give it him
again! "
FOLKLORE OF SEPTEMBER.—The Illustrated London
News says :—One of the popular names given to the
present month by our forefathers was "Barley
Month," because, having nearly completed gathering
in their barley crops, they commenced paying their
attention to the important task of brewing, and get-
ting ready their winter cheer. The many ceremonies,
too, which graced the incrathering of the harvest were,
formerly, celebrated in the cou*e of this month; and
the harvest home festival was observed with no small
rejoicing in most villages, when, from a thousand
voices, might be heard the jubilant song of rejoicing—
" We have bloughed, we have sowed,
We have reaped, we have mowed,
We have brought home every load,
•".1 IL 1 Hip ! hip hip ! harvest-home 1"

Holy Cross or Holy Rood Day (14th,) known also as
the "Exaltation of the Holy Cross," was instituted
in the seventh century on the occasion of the recovery
of a large piece of the pretended real cross by the
Emperor Heraclius. In Lincolnshire, it is called
"Holy Loo Day." In days gone by, it appears to
have been customary to go nutting upon this day, an
allusion to which we find in the old play of Grim the
Collier of Croydon
"This day, they say, is called Holy-Rood Day,
And all the youth are now a-nutting gone."

PUBLIC-HOUSE OR PRINCE.—A review at Aldershot
lately was honoured by the attendance of H.R.H. the
Prince of Wales, the Duke of Cambridge, and other
personages amongst whom were some foreign princes,
who were late in arriving and searched in vain for the
Royal party through the greater part of a tedious
morning. At last the carriage reached a bridge, at
each end of which a sentry was posted, and the wan-
derers sought guidance from one of them. "Do you
know where tha Prince of Wales or the Duke of Cam-
bridge is ?" an occupant of the caariage asked. The
man saluted. "No, sir, I don't myself," he replied,
"but I'll ask my mate. He knows all the public-houses
about here." Many Aldershot public-houses are named
after Royal or military personages, and it never
occurred to the sentry that it was the illustrious man
and not the public named after him that was wanted.
—lllustrated Sporting and Dramatic News.
STATISTICS OF SUICIDE IN FRANCE.—ID the year
1870 there were 4,157 suicides in France; 5,275 in
1872; 5,617 in 1874; 5,804 in 1876; 5,922 in 1877;
and 6,424 in 1878, being an increase of over 54 per
cent, within eight years.
No POLITICAL QUESTION.—Q. Why was Mr. Glad-
stone during his cruise like an itinerant
,tinker? A.
Because he was travelling "on the mend.—Punch.

GERMAN WOLVES IN FRANON.—The Petite .1-Vpub-
lique Francaise had lately an article on the increase
of wolves in France, wch. was at the same time a
fine display of anti-Teutonic feeling and a specimen of
reasoning in the post hoc ergo ex hoc style (says The
Times). Having stated that in the year VI. of the
first Republic 126,000 f. were paid as rewards for killing
5,351 wolves, that the first Napoleon had put an end
to such payments, and that the third had squandered
in Syria and Mexico the money which should have
been spent on exterminating the wolves, it continued:
—"We have to thank him and Germany for the pre-
sence of those scourges among us. The wolves, the
destruction of which is being discussed, are intruders,
who crossed the frontier in the track of the invading
German armies in 1870. The wolf-slayers should lay
this fact to heart. There is here not only a qxestion
of humanity, as the Societe d'Agriculture would per-
suade us, but also a question of patriotism. Therefore,
war to the wolves; death to the wolves."
AMERICAN ADVERTISING.—Before• the bicycle, the
world was at a loss to know the use of the bow-legged
man. Now he, like every other dog, bandy or other-
wise, has his day. It is a question whether the
' bicycle was made for lim or he for the bicycle, and
as he bowls along Commercial-street and alights at
No. 614, he is entitled to feel " real good" while
ordering a new hat from Mr. White, from whose vast
and varied stock he can take his choice of a fashionable
tile." . _

----•
"ONE TOUCH or NATURE," &c.—Street Preacher :
"I now ask, brethren, what can I do to move you?
—what shall I do to move you in this world of wicked.
ness ?" 'Arty :—" Send round the 'at, guv'nor,—
that'll move 'em."—Fun.
DR. TANNER'S REWARD.—According to the calcula-
tions of the New York papers, Dr. Tanner received
altogether the sum of 137,640 dole, for his forty days'
fast, or upwards of £27,530. This is at the rate of
9 441 dole., or £6BO a day. This not altogether
bu'eg,garly r'e"lnuneration is stated to have been made
nn from the following sources :—The doctor's own
bets,ropo dols.; through a betting agency, 12,223
dole. ; sale of photographs, 1,500 dols. ; payments for
admission to the house, 78,915 dole.; from various
manufacture,rs, for the Doctor's signature to their
commodities, 11,102 -do's. ; gifts from the University,
3,000 dole.; present from the State of Ohio, 5,000 dole.;
and from the firm of Liebig arid Co., 20,000 dols.
RAINFALL IN AUGUST.—Mr. Plant, of Moseley,
Birmingham, writes to The Times :—" The past month
was the driest August here since 1864. The depth of
rain was only 0•96 in., of which 089 in, was collected
on the first eight days. Hence, from the 9th to the
end of the month there was no appreciable rain. The
following is the August rainfall at Moseley for the past
four years :-1877, 4.67 in. ; 1878, 7.75 in. ; 1879,
6.35 in. ; 1880, 0.96. The glorious weather of the month
just ended, following a cold June and wretched wet
July, came just in time to save the cereal crops.
August is, without doubt, the most important harvest
month,"