The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1872-01-27 00:00:00

Our Ironboit 6orrtspcnbmt.

(We deem It Ight to state that we do not tt all thlues
bent* ourselves with our Correspondent's 'pinions j
The beiutiful Prayer and Thanksgiving which last
was uniformly offered up in all churches and
the communtkkof the Church of England,
'to express the national feeling, and it need
' that the • of this
.prayer Was not

Sunday .
&spa. in ,
rosy be said
not be added
confined to th
.leseendi and
is universal

I.spf
e
TOCO ry
-•

that Church. feeling of joy at the con car
complete of the Plince of Wales
; and it may . rather a strange view
of the matter to take, but undoubtedly the recent
Illness of the Prince of Wales has done much to
popularise royalty in this country. When his Royal
Highness again appears among us he certainly will be
more popular than ever, and he will have convincing
proof of it. It is, perhaps, somewhat unfortunate that
the lot of May should he the day chosen by the Crystal
Palace directors for the grand National Festival in
celebration of the recovery of the Prince, BA that is the
day for the opening of the International Exhibition ;
but on the other hand May-Day seems peculiarly
appropriate. to rejoicing, and there is no doubt
that tie fisdival will be highly appreciated.
No more fitting place could be chosen for such
a festival than what has been justly called "the palace
of the people's pleasures." By the way, reverting to
the Thanksgiving services, I wonder by whom are those
lines that were sent to the Rector of St. Mary, Sand-
ringham, and read by the rev, gentleman at the
conclusion of his sermon. They are said to be by "an
eminent poet of the day." To my mind there is a
decidedly Tennysonian ring about them.

The news from France is now being read with un-
usual interest here. Has the country passed through,
or is she only passing through another crisis? Cer-
tainly the rejection of the financial proposals of M.
Thiers is a great fact, and ought to be a moral and
a caution to him. Whatever may be said for his
general p Airy, his financial scheme, had it
been carried out, wiriLl have been nvist perilous,
as it would have undoubtedly alienated the great mid-
dle clam - the manufacturers and the tradesmen cope-
daily—from the Assembly and the Government. It is
well for France, I think, that she has rejected M.
Thiers's scheme in the direction of a complete return
to the protective system, and it is well for her also
that the President of the Republic has withdrawn his
resignation. He may le, and I believe is, financially
wrong, but his resignation at this critical time would
be very dangerous to the peace of the country.
Can working men complain if masters, in their,own
interest, unite, on the principle that union is strength?
I think not. I offer no comments on the justice or in-
justice of the movement for the reduction of the hours
of labour, a movement which has now acquired such
remarkable strength and success, but I note as an
important sign of the times, that many masters are
now begining to see that it is advisable that they also
should unite for the defence and promotion of their
own interests. The war between Capital and Labour
never ceases ; it is sometimes fiercer than at other
times; now this side gains a victory, now that ; but
the war in some form or other goes on continuously.
Are we to see the tide of victory turned? Many people
think so, but I venture to affirm that the turn of the
tide will not come yet.

Arrangements for the second,of the series id Inter-
national Exhibitions are progressing satisfactorily,
and, judging by the announcements which are made,
the great show which will open on "bright May-day"
will be more attracti‘ e than the last, and that is not
saying a little. The Fine Art display will be, on die,
superior to last year, and the show of nuisical instru-
ments will be very interesting. By-the-way, the
Commissioners will offer to visitors what will certainly
be a new attraction, if it is an attraction at all. We
are to have some change-ringing on a peal of eight
bells by the Ancient Society of College Youths, and
other bell-ringing fraternities. Like many other
people, I love to hear a good peal of bells now and
then, if they are skilfully played ; but the sound ought
to come across the meadows, or, still better, across
water on a calm evening, to have their best effect.
Whether the clanging of bells in the Exhibition Wiling
will be generally admired, however, may be doubted.
But here let me confess my ignorance about this Ancient
Society of College youths. Dr. Johnson, wishing to
illustrate the thirst for knowledge, says he once asked
boy what he would give to know " all about the
Argonauts," and that the boy said he would give all
that he had. How much that was, Mr. Boswell don't
my, but if it Were much that boy ought to have had a
statue ! How much I would gi7e to know all about
the Ancient Society of College Youths I would rather
not my, for fear I should be called shabby ; but I

INhould like to know. Once upon a time I got into
conversation with a College Youth. He wasn't a
youth, and he didn't look as if he had been brought up
at college; in fact, he wan rather an elderly and decidedly
comnumplace man, but be was a College Youth never-
themes, and was great at triple-bob-majors. I wonder
whether I shall sea that same College Youth in the
flenh at the International Exhibition in the merry
month of May !

In thinking of the munificent gift of the late Mr.
Peabody for the benett of the poor of London, the train
of thought in connection therewith has brought to my
mind the statement made by a well-known public man,
at the last meeting of the Social Science Congress—and
that is a long while ago—that a benevolent gentleman
had commissioned him to say that he was ready to
devote- a very large sum of money (1 am afraid to
mention the amount for fear I should unintentionally
exaggerate) for the benefit of the London poor so soon
as he could discover a means of doing so without
pauperising the recipients. I presume this means has
not yet been discovered, but I am rather surprised
that nothing more has been heard about this munifi-
cent offer.

Mr. .T. P. Seddon, an architect, has been com-
missioned by a London publisher to prepare a work
on "A House Fit to Live in." Well, I Hatter myself,
that even I could " evolve out of my inner con-
sciousness" the description of such a house;
but what is the use of elaborately describing
such a house? A more important question is how
shall we induce builders to erect such houses? A
friend of mine tells me he has been for years looking
out to buy a house of about .C:150 value without an
underground, or partlynnder-ground breakfast parlour,
as it is called, this room being the apartment in which
wife and children pass a great portion of their lives;
and that he has not succeeded yet. He may be more
nice than wise, but the frequency of this radical defect
in London houses- country towns are, as a rule, far
better off--is remarkable. Another radical defect is
that every house is built for one family only, though
more than half of our houses are severally occupied by
snore than one family. What scope for reform is there
in honse.bnilding !

An experiment is about to be tried here which ought
to have been tried years ago--a shelter for cabmen.
Don't- smile contemptuously, my usually courteous
reader; it will be a valuable change, inasmuch as it
will remove an existing temptation to seek shelter in
the public.house —an institution which, in spite of all
that is said against it, offers refuge and shglter which
are not to be found elsewhere, a consideration which I
respectfully commend to temperance reformers.

A "Women's Dress A ssociation" has been formed
The rules of the society have not yet seen the light
but its objects, some of which are rather strange, are
announced. The association advocates "the study of
beauty, the becoming (sic), and age, station, and oc-
cupation, the avoidance of gloom, falsity, or ugliness,
as well as of all the exaggerated and unhealthy fashions
of the (lay." Premising that the Women's Dress As-
sociation might do well to employ some literary person
to dress up its English, permit me to wish the new
society all success. If it aim, as I presume it will,
at teaching women how to dress so as to suit
their age, station, and occupation, it may do
aorne good, and cannot do any harm. But on
the other hand, I take leave to say that there is less
need of reform in woolen's dress now thou ten, fifteen,
or twenty years ago. Where there is most scope for
It is the head dress and the outrageous fashion of false
hair in monstrous and ugly masses. There are, of course,
extravagances in ladies' dress now as there always
were, and perhaps always will be, lint perhaps on the
whole, the he:ld-dregs etcepted, ladies never dressed
with better taste than they do now. Whether the
DPW n: SOCiatiOD will produce any perceptible effect
may be doubted, but there is no harm in trying.

STORY or THE POISONING OP TIFF. PRINCE OF
'W.atrs!—The New York. Herald, publishes a corres-
pipulent's letter, stating that the writer had been in-
blinked that the Prince of Wales illness was the result
of poison administered to bins by an emissary ‘.f the
International Society. Lord Chesterfield's death his
. . . . , . . . . .

informant attributes: to having partaken of "the fatal
flask." The statement of the physicians at Sandring-
ham that the illness of the Prince was caused by a
typhoid fever was their invention either to cover
their ignorance of the symptoms of his disease, or
to conceal the real truth of the ease. This emissary
of the Inteniational had opportunities of being near
the Prince at Londesbormigh House, "but whether
as a guest or as an attendant," the writer says, "his
informant declined to tell him." He also states that
this emissary, while left to himself as to the means by
which he could accomplish his object, had suggested to
him the feasibility of trying to mix the poison with
Use contents of the Prince's pocket-flask. The death
cif the Prince was resolved upon, he stated further, as
a part of the International's programme, as during
the regency, which would be necessitated by the
youthfulness of his son, they could inure successfully
execute their republican designs. The letter of this
correspondent, which begins with "I have heard a
terrible thing," eads with saying, "I close with a
prayer for his (the Prince's) recovery, as earnest and
incere as has been offered by any subject of the
queen,his mother.

eur fonbox (torrta
(We deem It Ight.to
best* ourselves
The