The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1886-12-11 00:00:00

(JiUt rgoon CDrrtspoubmt.

We deem it right to state that we do not at all times
Identify ourselves with our Correspondent's opinions.]

The whole of Great Britain has by this tim
learned that winter has set in. From Aberdeen
on the far north-east, to Devonshire in the far
south-west, snow has fallen and frost prevailed;
and although London escaped from the earliest
visitation of the kind with nothing more than a
couple of days' frost, and a few flakes of snow,
even that amount of experience sufficed to tell
us that we were in December, and that the
twelfth month of the year kept up its old repu-
tation for rigour. Among the younger popula-
tion of the metropolis the one complaint was
that the first "cold snap" did not last sufficiently
long. Skates had been got out from their summer
resting - places, and preparations were being '
. actually made for indulging in the most ex-
hilarating of all pastimes upon the ornatnental '
waters of the- parks, when the temperature rose
slightly, but to a sufficient degree to prevent any
extensive indulgence in skating; and great was
• the disappointment accordingly. It is doubtful,
however, whether the old or the poor shared in
this feeling. To them winter is not a time of
• enjoyment but of pain, and the pinch of poverty
' is felt all the more keenly when the cold is
intense, and there is not only no bread in tile
cupboard, but no fire in the grate.
It is in winter that involuntary starvation is
most common, but it is curious that it should
be in winter also that voluntary starvation had
become so frequent. One might have hoped that,
after the experiment of Dr. Tanner in New York
two or three years ago, no other person of
his own free will would have undertaken any-
thing so painful; but there is an old proverb
that one fool makes many, and we are just now
having additional proof daily of its truth. The
most recent ball in the starvation direction was
• set rolling at Milan in the autumn, when an
Italian, named 6ucci, fasted for a long period.
Fired by the example, another Italian,
called Merlotti, has attempted to outfast him
in Paris, in which same city, determined
not to be outdone, Succi is now engaged in at-
tempting to beat the record of both himself and
Merlotti; while in London a Frenchman named
Jacques is endeavouring to beat both. What
possibility of good result is to be extracted from
these experiments, not even the promoters
have attempted to tell. Succi, it is true, asserted
at Milan that he was putting to the proof a
vegetable elixir he had discovered in Africa,
which had the faculty of preserving life for a
lengthened period without any addition in the
shape of ordinary food; but the story of this
mysterious preparation has been much dis-
credited, and the elixir certainly is not yet on
sale. The experiments, in fact, are merely the
outcome of a desire to secure notoriety at any
cost. Science can do without them, for it was
known before either Tanner or Succi, Merlotti
or Jacques, was born, that, under certain cir-
cumstances, men could fast for a greater number
of days than most could conceive; and it is a
moot point whether those who assist at such
experiments would not be amenable to the law
if the patient died under the infliction.
Queen Anne's statue has once more been
placed in front of St. Paul's Cathedral, and a
plaster cast of the memorial proposed to be
erected at Hyde park to the Duke of Wellington
in place of the old one on Burton's arch, which
has now been sent to Aldershot, is occupying the
attention of artistic London. Our publicstatues
are a source of never-ending criticism; and it
must be admitted that many of them are such
obvious failures that if those that are of bronze
were melted into penny-pieces, and those that
are of marble were used for building purposes,
nothing would be lost and something gained.
But it is not fair to condemn the whole of our
statues because of the artistic sins of many
among them. There are some which are striking
from every point of view, such as Chantrey's
equestrian figure of the Duke of Wellington in
front of the Royal Exchange; and there are
others which are interesting historically, such as
that of Charles I. at Charing-cross. According
to tradition the figure is in such a position that
the hand is pointing to the spot on which the
King was executed; and there is a legend at-
tached to the statue which gives it additional
interest. It is said that it was in existence
before the Civil War, and that, after the tragedy
at Whitehall, it was sold by the Parliament to a
brass-founder for the purpose of being melted
down. But that cunning personage buried it
instead, and while driving a roaring trade among
the cavaliers by selling them as relics articles
supposed to be manufactnred from the melted
statue, made a good bargain at the Restoration
by digging up the figure from his back garden.
Stories of impel interest do not attach to many
statues, it is true; but this one is sufficient
to indicate that there is often more to think
about concerning them than their merely artistic
effect.
It is so seldom that a church is destroyed by
fire in London that, when such a disaster does
occur, it causes a distinct sensation. When a
few days ago the church of St. Mary Magdalen,
Knightrider-street, was burned down, the sensa-
tion was the greater because the conflagra-
tion was so near St. Paul's, and there is
no building in the metropolis, except, per-
haps, Westminster Abbey, for which the
people of London have so keen a regard. Lovers
of the antique will regret the loss the more be-
cause St. Mary Magdalen's was one of Wren's
erections; and although the outer walls still
stand, injuries have been done which may prove
irreparable. It was an odd coincidence that a
meeting had been summoned for the afternoon
of the very day on the morning of which the fire
took place, to consider whether some needed re-
pairs to the edifice should be effected. When
that meeting is held, a much larger question will
have to be considered. In the course of the
many public improvements which have almost
re-built the City of London during the past 30
years, some churches have disappeared, but it is
not probable that any more will be allowed to go
the same way. The taste forancient monuments
is spreading; and although churches built only
two centuries since could scarcely, in ordinary
circumstances, be called ancient, yet, owing to
the Great Fire, they are the oldest we have in
the City, and are deserving of preservation, not
only because of that fact, but because they are
monuments of the genius of Wren.
Not often can it occur in a country governed
by the party system for the two opposing chiefs
to be found upon the same platform, but both
Lord Salisbury and Mr. Gladstone have recently
been engaged in pleading the cause of the
London hospitals. It will be agreed on all hands
that these statesmen could not unite with better
reason, especially when it is remembered that
the great institutions on whose behalf they speak
have been suffering for some period from a
slackening flow of subscriptions. Various expla-
nations have been given to account for this, and
the long-continued depression in trade has un-
doubtedly had much to do with it. But trade
is now brightening, and it may be hoped that
the finances of the hospitals will brighten with
it. A serious indictment would lie against
London if it allowed the hospitals to be crippled
in their work for want of funds. A French
visitor to this country stated on his re-
turn that nothing had struck him more
than the inscription "Supported by volun-
tary contributions," which he saw cut in
stone above the gateway of so many institutions
for the relief of the poor, the helpless, and the
victims of accident. And no one who knows the
immense boon such institutions are, no one who
realises that there is not a single dweller in, or
visitor to, the metropolis, who may not be forced
by an accident within their walls, can neglect the
appeal which has just oeen made in their
favour, and which has been so influentially
endorsed.
At a moment when Paris is eagerly debating
whether the Eifel Tower, proposed to be erected
in the Champ de Mars in time for the exhibition
of 1889, ought to be permitted, it is strange that
a project should appear, without any warning,
for building a similarly high tower in London.
Despite the fact that no such preliminary dis-
• cussion on the scheme had taken place, as might
`have been expected, considering its importance
• and general interest, the project was put forward
with the certain assurance of its proving
popular. It was categorically stated that the
tower would commemorate the Queen's Jubilee
year; that it would stand on a foundation 75 feet
square, on a site at the top of Oxford-street,
and would be 440 feet high; that the ironwork
would be supplied by a specified company for a
specified amount, and the brickwork by another
specified company for an amount unnamed; and
the only thing left in doubt was the name to be
given to it when it should be completed. But
there are certain local authorities to be con-
sulted before such a project can be said to be
decided, and it is an open question whether these
will look upon it with as much fervour as the
_ promoters. And then there are the public to be
considered. Very few among us, save the young,
• care to attempt climbing the Monument; how
inany would care to ascend a structure more than
double as high, is a 'question not difficult to
answer. It may be that, as in the case of the
Eifel Tower, lifts would be provided, and thus

the journey to the top made more easy; but
even with this added consideration, it is doubtful
whether any great rush would be made to the
summit, though from that point could be seen,
as promised, eight or nine counties.
Whether the Queen will open Parliament in
person is always a question which agitates the
mind of London society during the month or six
weeks before the commencement of the session;
and, between the present date and the 13th of
January, niany a rumour will be current on the
subject. Her Majesty is understood to be
desirous of performing the ceremony on the pre.
sent occasion as a fitting ushering in of the
Jubilee Year; and her people will be glad to wel-
come her among them if her health enables her '
to stand the strain. Preparations of various
kinds for the fitting celebration of the Jubilee
Year go on apace. From towns of all sizes, large
and small, are to be heard announcements of
projected memorials of the occasion; and our
descendants will have good cause to remember
1877 as securing for them many an excellent in-
stitution which might not otherwise have come
into being. In some towns munificent residents
have already promised to give a public park or to
endow a free library in celebration of her
Majesty's long and happy reign; while in others
the townsmen are uniting, rich with poor, to pro-
vide themselves with similar boons for a similar
reason. The proposed State pageants also are
occupying the attention of those responsible for
them; and altogether we are promised such a
year of rejoicing as England has not seen for a.
long period.