The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1874-10-10 00:00:00

ANOTHER ACCOUNT OF THE
EXPLOSION.

The Standard, in their account of the effects of the explo-
sion, remarks It is no exaggeration to state that the
houses in the immediate neighbourhood of the explosion and
round In a north-westerly direction as far as the Adelaide-
road, literally swayed to and fro, and the prevailing impres-
sion was that the shock was that of an earthquake. There
were those (by no means few in number) who were impressed
with the awful idea that the Judgment-day had arrived.
There were those also who thought the report was simply a
peal of thunder, and many who concluded it was that
of an explosion. Others believed their houses were
falling, while many others were awakened with the
Impression of thieves being in the house. Such a state of
consternation in the grey dawn of day can scarcely be
Imagined. Events of this kind are not uncommon in coun-
tries where earthquakes are frequent, but in England they
are very rare, and therefore the more alarming when they
occur. The houses which have suffered the most are those
fringing the Albert-road. No non could adequately describe
the state of chaos into which the interiors of these dwell-
ings have been thrown, but an idea of the fright and the
effects of the shock may be formed from the following de-
scription by a gentlemen who resided in Tichfield.ter-
race :

"A noiseless shock, a sudden, unexplained, and vim
lent awakening from sleep, followed by a furious
rattle like a discharge of musketry; and. I stood by
my bed, with a cry of women and a distant wail of
agony in my ears that I shall never forget. A furious
wind rushed into the room. It seemed as if the house
were falling to pieces. Three weeks ago a ceiling had
given way. My first thought was that I had neglected
this providential warning to leave an ill-constructed
house, and that the foundations had collapsed. "What
Is it ?" cried my wife. "Don't move," I said, "I
think the house is falling. I felt that broken glass
was piercing my naked feet. It was dark. I stretched
out my hand. The matches were gone; slippers,
clothing, everything. My wife was encumbered with
the blinds and curtains. I released her. We heard
the children crying above. 'We are not hurt, Ma,'
shouted one of them. I groped into the next room
to a cupboard where boots are kept. It was open. A
lurid light showed me the windows blown in. • It is
an earthquake,' I said to myself. I got on a pair of
boots, crept back to my wife, gave her a pair, impressed
upon her the necessity of not moving, except to dress.
, • Bly dress is gone,' she said; re the is one in the
next room.' 'Tread carefully, and come to it,' I
said, 'but keep quiet.' rhe light gleaming in at the
front windows easily showed me the staircase, which
was covered with glass and plaster. I called to the
children. Their voices assured me of relief to my
most irumediate anxiety. The servants were screaming.
'Have you matches?' 'Yes.' 'Don't strike a
light until I tell you—are you out of bed?' Yes.'
• Unhurt ? " We think so.' I crept to the upper
story, my leading idea being that the chief remaining
danger was that the stairs would crumble under
my tread. Through the banisters the cook gave me
some matches. 'lt may be an explosion of gas;
but the danger is over,' I said, ' if you are
quiet.' I crept downstairs. No smell of gas. The
wind driving through the house from all points. I trod

cat-like upon every stair, and every side was encum-
bered with dd,cis. The hall door was wide open. It
! was a thick, heavy door, fastened with two bolts, two
' locks, and a chain. The bottom part of the door, with
! the belt upon it, was upon the stairs. It was a relief
to me to know that there was a way out. A house of
cards it had seemed to me before, only waiting for a
second touch to shiver to the ground. I flew back the
way I had crept, lighted the gas on the stairs, called
out, It is all safe,' and at once proceeded to light
candles and gas wherever I found them. Some of the
candles were put out by the wind. My wife was partly
dressed. Our bed-room was a total wreck. Upstairs,
in the first bed-room, my youngest child and a little !
guest sleeping together, were already sitting up in bed,
the servants by their side. One win low and blind
had completely-covered them. When I lifted them
up the glass fell from them in a shower. There was
the smallest possible cut on the forehead of Bessie,
the youngest. On the same floor in'ther next room is
son was calling to me to say he was all right, I
need not bother about him. The faces of the servants
were almost black. Their hair was covered with
plaster. I feared for them, but they assured me they
were not hurt. 'Dress the children—all get ready
to leave the house.' I went below. My wife had
taken some pride in her drawing-room. I entered it
with a candle, shading the light with my hands.
Everything seemed to be upon the floor, except the
Venetian blinds at the back, which were hanging upon
a broken chandelier; and the wane light I had pre-
viously noticed showed me the broken ceiling. Books,
vases, chairs, china, glass, curtains, and long splinters
of blinds made it impossible to walk to the windows.
I dee-ended to the ground floor. The.dining-room has
windows back and front. They were both cleaned out,
the sashes and framework of one hanging as if from
the ceiling. Two chairs were snapped in half, and
many other things broken. The sideboard was blown
open and the glasses blown out. I lighted the
gas. The chandeliers were intact, so was the pier
glass. Not a picture on the walls was disturbed.
All this must have happened in little more than ten
minutes. I went into the street. My house is about
100 yards from the North Gate. At this point a tall
column of fire was climbing upito the grey sky.
Morning was breaking in mottled streaks over the
park. I saw a neighbour running towards me. '
What is the matter?' I asked. 'A powder barge
has exploded; and they say it is in compartments, and
only one lot has gone off; another explosion is ex. !
pected.' I saw that the whole district was in ruins.
'Don't fear about any other compartment.' I said,
It has all gone off.' Overjoyed at the escape of my
family, I had nearly said, `lt has all went off, my
friend,' for Artemus Ward's pyrotechnics flashed into
my mind, just as ten Minutes before I had somehow
thought of the hero of Tom Moore's Epicurian ' and
Turner's Illustration of the falling stairs and the sus- ,
pended ring. 'What fire is that?' I wired. The gas-
main is alight,' was the reply; 'the bridge is down, and
when the main broke the gas took fire.' lin deed around
me. Every house in Tithfield-terrace, and as far as I
could see was thrown open. Blinds were flapping in
the air; window frames protruding; doors broken in.
Here and there heads were peeping out, and gas was burn-
ing. A few people were running to and fro, and I could
see a couple of policemen near the bridge. I went into
the house. The children were dressed. A neighbour
from Portland-terrace had sent to our assistance. I
took the children thither, and found that Bentinck
and Portland-terraces were in a state of commotion,
though the farthest houses in Portland-terrace were
epinparatively uninjured. On my return I found my
wife conjuring tea from somewhere. Tea is somehow
made in the midst of every calamity. I began to feel
a little interest in my neighbours. Mr. John Leighton's
voice was heard at the door. Not hurt?'. No.'
'Glad of that,' be said. 'lt's an awful sight out-
side—bad as the siege of Paris! Glad you are not
hurt." He was gone. I went round the corner to
Avenue-road. Having visited several neighbours, I
began to wonder about the police. Policemen on
duty away from the scene of the calamity did not
know whither to direct their steps, and the telegraph
wires being broken, it was tmposeible to send quickly
for assistance. When the scene of the occurrence was
somewhat identified the police were directed to repair
to the bridge, and they had no idea of the extent
of the damage in the adjacent terraces, therefore we
receive no official visits of any kind, but the police
are entitled to everybody's thanks for the good ser-
vice they did in the streets from the moment that they
were marched to the spot. Last night when my
house was emptied of its contents (a technical opinion
reporting the building unsafe), they were as courteous
ias they were prompt n the execution of their duty.
With the escape of my family the special interest of my
narrative is at an end. It may be taken as an example
of hundreds of similar incidents occurring in hundreds
of houses at the ease moment. Now that the house
is empty the danger through which the household passed
is all the more apparent. The kitchen doors and win-
dows are blown in, and the ceiling torn. On the first
floor the dining-room windows are wrecked; the stair.
case window is panelens. The drawing-room fluor may
be similarly described, with the addition of a cracked
wall. On the third floor the same story, but the
fourth floor has a cracked wall and an open ceiling,
and adjacently the staircase wall is bulged out. The
attic is a terrible wreck, the front of the room stripped
and letting in the daylight. The roof is opened, and
through these apertures my servants in their terror
had the additional horror of seeing the flashing light of
the gas main. Only a few hours after the catastrophe
a double rainbow, perfect in shape, brilliant in colour,
with a dim leaden sky for a background, spanned
the scene of the calamity, with the ruined house and
the broken bridge as the centre of the desolated land-
scape."

THE NATIONAL TRAINING SCHOOL
OF COOKERY.
The following short re‘ few from The limes will be in-
teresting to many reader 1, especially as education In this
department of donlestie routine has been so much neg-
lected
The Official Directory for October of this admirable
institution has lately been issued, and embodies in a
few unassuming pages a good deal of useful information
on a subject of much general interest. The objects of
the National Training School are declared in this little
hand-book to be three-fold, and its first aim to be "to
train and qualify persons to become instructors in
cookery in Training Schools, Board Schools, Poor
Schools, and similar institutions," The second object
is merely an amplification of the first, being a desire
"to send instructors and lecturers with the necessary
apparatus to localities and institutions in the
provinces willing to incur the additional expense."
The third and last object of the School is "to in-
struct persons desirous of acquiring a knowledge
of the principles of cookery on paying the necessary
fees." This aim, which, however, is the least import-
ant in the eyes of the Committee, is the only one which
has as yet been carried out, and that in a partial de.
gree, owing to want of space and funds. The first
of these obstacles, want of space, has, in a great
measure, been done away with by the liberality of
the Commissioners for the Exhibition of 1851, who
have placed an adjacent range of temporary build-
ings at the disposal of the Committee for a limited
period. When, therefore, the School re-opens on
Monday, October 5, for the same course of instruction
of which nearly three hundred pupils have availed
themselves during the past summer months, the ac-
commodation will be found much more suitable and
. . .

convenient. The scullery, in which the first part of
the preliminary instruction is practically taught, has
been greatly enlarged and made capable of holding
double the number of learners. On the other side of
the main entrance to the building divisions have been
erected by Drake's Patent Concrete Company, who have
liberally given four lofty walls, and so turned the vast
shed on tlw left-hand side into. Jour commodious and

comfortable kitchens. One of these is fitted up as an
ordinary kitchen in a gentleman's house, and will be
known as the "practice kitchen," in which pupils who
desire to learn how to cook certain dishes with their
own hands can, on payment of a small additional fee,
practise under the superintendence of a professed cook.
This kitchen has been established to meet the often ex-
pressed desire of the lady pupils for such an opportl-
nity of reducing to practice the culinary theories to
which they so attentively listen in the afternoon.
Although in each case the dish is prepared before
their eyes, and every detail carefully and patiently
explained over and over again, still a pupil is some-
times heard to declare that nevertheless she could
not do it "by herself." This, it is needless to
observe, never happens with cooks who come to
improve themselves, nor with the more intelligent
class of lady-learners, but only with young ladies who
have never entered a kitchen before. They generally
complain at the same time that they cannot practice
at home "for fear of the cook," though it is probable
that even she is but a shadowy lioness in their culinary
path. Still it has been thought well to remove the
excuse for imperfect knowledge, so that in future those
who cannot learn as thoroughly as they desire by means
of their eyes and ears during a two hours' lesson every
afternoon will be able to perfect themselves in this
new "practice kitchen." The compartment next this
will be used as a temporary office, as there has been
neither time nor funds to erect a separate building for
this purpose. At the back of these two divisions are
the kitchens for the instructors, where a totally dis-
tinct sort of lesson will be given. As yet the pupils
have all come from the middle classes, and have been
taught how, with very small additional outlay—in
some cases at actually a diminished cost—to supple-
ment the monotonous daily fare of even a well-to-do
household by the preparation of many pretty and
palatable dishes. But there is a wide difference
between this class of food, however humble, and
that which alone could be provided in a cottage
kitchen. Neither would the instruction be of any
Practical value if given with costly and unusual
apparatus. The Committee have, therefore, fitted up
these two kitchens with precisely the same fireplaces
and cooking utensils which would be found in any
tidy cottage in any part of England. The instructors,
who are to go forth and show the poor people how
to make the best of the simple materials at their
disposal will be themselves taught with the
humblest adjuncts and in a perfectly distinct place
from the learners who want to improve themselves
in the capacity of either servants or mistresses.
The handbook declares that cleanliness and
economy in fuel as well as food will be the first things
taught, and afterwards the preparation of such
homely dishes as liver, tripe, bacon, pot-au-,fett (if
we can ever persuade the English poor to eat it), the
best ways of using Australian meat, eggs, vegetables,
curing pork, besides making the best of every scrap
and bone, and calling attention to many cheap kinds
of food which have hitherto been but little used by
very poor people. This part of the scheme has been
hitherto impossible on account of want of funds, and
even now it must be begun and carried on in a cramped
and incomplete form for the same reason. At the
public meetings of July, 1873, and May, 1874, an
appeal was made for funds to the public "interested
in promoting the preparation of food among all classes
in the best and most economical manner, to place on
a permanent foundation a National School of Cookery."
, To this appeal very little attention has been paid,
' and, except from the munificent President of the
• institution, the Duke of Westminster, no large do-
, nations or subscriptions have been received. The
• funds have chiefly been economized from the fees
of the pupils, and when it is remembered that each
; learner only pays £2 2s. fir a course of instruction
extending over nearly a month, and the cost of pro-
visions and the high wages of good cooks are taken
I into consideration, it appears wonderful that there

should have been any margin at all after the weekly
wages and food-bills were paid. But the Committee
have felt every inch of their way, making it their
first rule; to incur. no liabilities, and it was not until
the School had been partially open for some
months, and the treasurer reported money in hand,
that they ventured to begin the portion of
the work which they had all along felt to
be of paramount importance. It rests, therefore,
with the liberality of the public to decide whether
these kitchens for instructors can be kept open, or
whether the teaching will have to be once more
limited to those pupils who can pay the fee of
£2 Is. for learning a better sort of cooking. Any
benevolent person who feels an interest in, and wishes
to be of practical use to, the undertaking can, as we
are informed at the end of the Official Directory,
send either donations or subscriptions to Mr. Francis
Fladgat; jun., at the National Training School of
Cookery,. Exhibition-road, South Kensington. As it
is, speaking in round numbers, less than £l,OOO has
been collected since the project was first started
eighteen months ago. But the Committee have been
Dirt with great liberality, not only by the Commis-
misioners of the Exhibition and the Concrete Com-
pany, but also by the General Iron Foundry Com-
pany, who have given three kitchen ranges; by Mr.
Benjamin Giles, who has given an excellent gas cook-
ing stove; and by Mr. Kent, of High liolboni, who
has lent the School all the summer an excellent
refrigerator and other useful and valuable articles.
With all this help the Committee have been more
easily enabled to take further steps towards their
grand aim.
In conclusion, the Offirial Directory gives a satisfac-
tiry report of the interior working of the School,
cramped as it has hitherto been by want of space
and means. For a month past it has been closed
while the necessary alterations were being made ; but
on the sth of October, at 10 a.m. the next clams
(which is already a large one) Will assemble for
the usual instruction. The new kitchens will hardly
be ready quite so soon, but in the course of the
month it is hoped they will be in full working
order. Almost the only annoyance connected with
the Training School has arisen from a misconcep-
tion on the part of the general public as to its
duties. Every lady who wants a cook—and their
name is legion—writes off in a desperate hurry to
beg the Lady Superintendent to send her by return
post a paragon of culinary and domestic virtue. Much
unnecessary correspondence and disappointment would
be avoided if it were distinctly understood that the
National Training School of Cookery is not a registry
office nor an emporium for cooks. It only professes
to teach cooks and their mistresses, not to provide the
former with places nor the latter with servants. It is
possible in time a registry office may be added, but at
present the need has been all on one side. No cooks
out f place have come to learn or to inquire for
places, while the frantic demands of mistresses desti-
tute of cooks have been both numerous and incon-
venient.