The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1874-02-07 00:00:00

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HOME :OREM, AND COLONWIN

MOUNT VESUVIUS. The Nap'es Correspon-
dent of The Times writ, nndor date Jan. 25:—.

• Vemvius has not yet broken forth, but Peotemte
Palmieri has Just pundit,ed the following tatter in answer So
toe numerous &Woad°fll sent to him far information: -
' The. Celt! of Ve•uviuscontleum to incises, in theoretic
towards tea N E Frequent globes of smoke lune from the
bottom of it, wt h a kint of hissing snout, aecomotuded
by so unpleessut oboe of chlorldric and siPptinelo
so'cls. Nos far from it, at the commencement of ene
.rand flume of 1872. along,e sublimates make their ap-
p arauce. Meanwhile the tire does not yet snow greaser
scald y at tilt, b. tmot of the crater, where it will probanly
otanitret Itself, unless some eon mtric eruption should
c 'or before the internal resistance of this crater is
.vercome.' the great subterranean energy now at work
Mist, Indeed, appear to be making an attempt at an outlet
to cart.. parts. Os, the 21st lust., a sight an:Mater, wet
of eadhquake was felt at CASIIMICCIOII, in the island of
libels, and during Us last week many have heard the low
ent.nnons mutteringl of the mountain at a distal:me of
fifteen miles. As I write, however, the siatnoxraph, which
nse been very agitated for some days Is more quiet. I have
to report the melancholy death at Casa micciola. of Mr.
Mcggrieg who was staying there with his daughter and
another ,oune lady. Attracted by the It—mty of the weather,
air. Moggrl,le. Utopia ail reuvuotranoes, bathed in the
OP. SEC and tied on Ins road to the hoteL"
THE PahT AND PRPSENT OF Ikt,ILS. —ln the
year 1471, when Louis XL wished to borrow a book
from the M diva' Faculty ol Paris, he war required to
deposit pl de Inpledge, anti to get one of his nobles to
j tin him in a guareotee for the safe return of the
nook. In the Parise f 1873 there is not one among the
preset-lees N,OUILOP that tilt untold lialoini-ires of shelves
in the iiittliotl lue Nationale that is not at the
command of the humblest &police, t of honourable
reputation. And in our owe notional library, at its first
renganisation, so easy were the conditions of acmes,
that, notwithstanding the lavish provision of space in
its noble readingdroom, it became necessary, in the
intersit of that higher class of readere whose wants
Mainly a groat library must aim at But plying, to ex-
clude, by liking a limit of ago, the "mob of young men
from University ad 14.'ng's Colleges to tie presses
that contain the Latin Dictionaries and Greek Lexicons
and Brlin's cribs." Both these extremes, no doubt,
especially the fleet, are exaggerated types of the rela-
tive degre, of accessibility of books in their respective
pentode; but, even when every due allowance has been
Made, the two perical4 are found to be e-parated from
each other by a vast interval.—Edinburgh Review. .
A WABItIoR Duo —The American Npatisman
records the .leath of a cele`sra,rd dog, which took
place a few months IWO ar Columbus, Gs. This animal
took part in the battle of Sksotteylvania Court House,
in which lidabone'e division of Confederates was
emerged by trt mendoma lines of Federal's. In front of
the attacking party, which wait eventually re 'Weed
with terrible lasi, woe &large dos, cinch advanced to
the Confed ree lined balking ferociousiy. Not a gun
was pointed at hi LIJ and all the terrible odds Herren
to one) which advanced t the Confect-Tete breast.
wanks, only tin.g dog got over, and he, after some
dlficulty, was captured by come members of the
Second Georgia liavalion and sent to C 'iambus,
where he remained till the shoe of his recent death.
WI,TEB, M.VBlC.—eltliough this year there
in PO winter, there are plenty of winter concerts, be-
sides those which take p!ace weekly at the Crystal
Palace. In the Parke there are the concerts daily
given by the thrmilies, and in the streets the bands and
barrel-organs are in continual play. Unchecked by any
fried, the hounds throughout the country are daily in
fu, 1 .e ao,l make tint is melancholy only to the
fox.—Punch.
- • •

WRMALS AND CaSII•LTIES.—A Parliamentary
Paper hut plot been ihnond an to cflicial intoning in-
Adored into win cks, ca-ualties. and collisions from
January, 1856 tt D. comber, 1872. In the 17 years,
ny neer of the Board of Trade, inquiet. were made as
to 492 ehipa, of which 148 ware preseng r ships and 344
other chips; by Naval Cents inquiries as to 28
patio-lager ship.. and 174 as to other than passenger
chips, making 197. Inquiries bell by a Cow; to Nisi&
Postesesions ab -uad relab-d to 474, of which 6, were
patdrenger ships and 406 other than paseenger ships,
making a total of 1,163 ships, 239 being passenger
shive, and 924 being" her than pa.senger ships. The
return extends to 76 folio pages, and contains the
remits of the it (pines, with the number of lives lost,
with other particular' of interest In reepect to the cub-
ect of wrecks, casualties, and coldsioos. The return
I. divided into each of the 17 year., with the names of
the vessels.
AN Us PLEASANT NVIGHBORR.—We really
(04 for the dwellers of the French Department of the
Gera (remarks the Pall Mall Gazette). They are in
the came predisament as cheese hapless little viotims
of hnretery nii.nootagemeut who are always afraid •
black man will "jump out" upon them. A murder
was lately cow:Mined at Ponsampere, in this distriet,
the perpetrator of which succeeded in evading the
pursuit of the pilot, and taking to the woods of
Razognes, whence he lately wade= excursion to steal
read from a farm. He was rectgnieted and pursued,
but succeeded in gaining his former ehelter. leaving,
however. die gun behind. Th. country people are in a
state of the utmost alarm, keeping lighta burning at all
the (aims, and bolding themselves generally on the
defensive. Their terror is, perhaps, not unreasonable.
The aseavein still possemse two revolvers and plenty of
powder, and, ae he hae announced that he does not In-
tend to blow out his own btains till ha has killed his
mint, Ins brother, hie uncle, and the parish priest ef
11. rogues, it is not unnaturally argued by the frightened
inhabitants of this peaceful spot that a person in mesh
a frame of mind is cure to commit • few murders in
the interim just to keep his hand in.
ON • BROKEN EGO•SHILL.—InspeTed Being
f` Whence, 0 whence. Ladies, whence, 0 whence came
the merveloutt Instinct that pr mpted the mind*
Being originally contained in thie. fragile Shell to burst
the calcareoue Euvelope that secluded it from the
Glor re of th. outward World ?" Chorus of Aolatiting
Ladies : "W. once, 0 whence, indeed, Mr. H coy.
owl! "—Ba,fer Tommy " Prape the little Beggar
was afraid he'd be Boiled I"—Puneh
TlNelcsi. Taal:HMO. —The better the day the
better the deed On Monday last week, being toe
Festival of the o.lllversion of St. Paul, the Dean and
Caper of Sc. Paul'.. improved the occasion of that
holy day by thrown g ote-n va the public the west
area of the Cathedral, acing had the caret-iron rails
which heretofore surrounded the churchyard removed.
Herehy, perhaps, they de.ned to set a sort of 'yin-
ho,icsl example, which, if the various parties in the
Church +eye se good as to follow, they would Macon-
Orme railing.—Punch,
A BLIND W, MECH.— A very touohing incideat
occurred at Kansa, green Cetuetery on [Retards?, at
the funeral of the late Mr. W. Hank" Levy, director
if 'he Aesociati..n for Promotii,g Jur General Welfare
if the Blind. When the hearse arrived at the ceme-
tery it was met and followed by the whole of the blind
men and women employed by the ansociati in, who
had come with their ituides to show this last mark of
affectionate respect to the memory ef the lima who,
Mimi like themselves, had worn out bits life in their
service, as well as to testify their aympedley with Mrs.
Levy—a. rl with their kind friend the foundress-40r
their greet loss.
Wag CABIDLES,--A few fasts about wax
candles are brought to mind by the complaints of the
Parisians over their boogie tax. Like inway other
necewaries of modern civilireation, wax as • wean/ Of
lightioz was known to the Chinese from the time of
Confuctut, hut it was not brought into Europe until
the year • 700, when the Venetians ii.troduced it
from the Beet. In France wax was regarded as a great
luxury, and in 1313 Philippe le-Bel forbade it beim
',Axed with tallow ; while the Q wens of Fiance during
the first six weeks of their widowhood were only a-
losvA to use t.llow cahrliee. When King John of
F-. 1000 was taken prinontr at the battle of Poitiers in
1356 the Pi oviiat of the Parlaian merchaots vowed to
the Virgin a wax candle of the shame letwth se the
Isalui of the capital if she would effect his Sovereigo'n
deliverance. In 1661 wax candle, became eerier al, and
all the best tinu.eit neer Diem, dint it was du, fly in Italy
that this method of li was most pin war. The
churches were filled with long wax taufenf, the alters
shone by their light, and nualhers of cendelebra
were hung from the ceiling. The public halls and
theatres won followed suit, the old oil lamp was
alaudoned, and candelahre til ed with wax candles
were put in every available stew., this style of
lighting being caied it giorno, a word now employed
throughout the world to describe a grand illturatllle
Lion.
AN UaKAPPY Posmow.—From the amount
elven by the Item York Herald of the latter days of the
Siamese Twins it really Corms as though their death
um, have detail • ha: i releaee Lir both (eernarks the
Poll Mall Gazette). Gar of th.tn, it m stated, had
been petal. znt hud fretful for Rene time, and to con-
whe hiwiteif under thiee trouble% hal Wien to drink-
Inv. The twins also were not on the ne4 of t.rme
sith each oth r. The demon jealoney had crtpt.
In
heteveen thew, and although the ifatt.culars are not
given, it is hinted that there was "a lady in the cam."
Al ogetner their po.itiou wee nit ac m.t,rt able one,
aod thesoffertwine-t.cially ;oath fee been sorely tried.
it. is d. eti iwp +b.. te ' toe anything mor- tend-
ole than the fate of a total abstainer linked indimolably
wall an inten.pef ate forfeiter; mot iii aede abys when
aubjeaca for novels are growing ece.ce by
doo, tue etory of the Siam.. Twins is Well
NO. th lie attention of ' gifted seri erv." A joint
Ii ru ear111),M1141:1 if a Ran • and a Primitive
Methodist eoulti be an interest ug and retreelfing
uliiOn to the noble army of martyrs who have invaded
the laud of 10101140.