The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1874-05-23 00:00:00

SUNDAY MORNING AT ST. PETER'S,
EATON-SQUARE.
The following is from the Hone, of Monday, the 18th

The incumbent of a fashionable West-End church
occupies a position if leverage. As a rule he has but
to as for money, and it is forthcoming for any pet
project, provided only that his personal influence suffices
to carry the convictions of his people. In a critical
age, however, much depends upon the man, and even
more on the principles he bads and teaches. The
day of indiscriminating subservience to the dicta of
a popular preacher is past. Yet the world is not now
so old AM to torn a deaf ear to bond fide earnestness.
Conviction, if only it be uttered manfully, proves
as contagious as of yore. There is something so
manly and wholesome in uncompromising devotion to
a particular phase of faith, that even Gallio himself--
Gallic!, who durinea six days out of seven shows him-
self Philistine to the backbone—is willing on Sunday
morning to turn a listening ear, and in a moment of
enthusiasm to untie his purse strings ; whilst Felix,
drawn by social custom in the direction of the church,
as his conscience becomes roused by the fire of the
preacher's elo metier, adopts as his only sedative a
pocketful of good resolutions, and in the end, it may
he, grows a wiser and more sober-minded man.
Of all modern preachers who have pined the ear of
the public none has achieved such distinction by the
force of sterling merit more thoroughly than Mr. Wil-
kinson. His congregation is drawn from the mansions
of our most opulent quarter. From their pastor they
expect much; in him even more. A mere vapid
rhetorician, a learned homilist, or a brilliant vulgarian
would assuredly fail. The man to suit them must ba
their equal in polish, their superi, a- in breadth of
knowledge, and, to boot, an orator capable of raising
their mind above the level of languid attention.
Add to this that he most mean at least all he In connection with this widely-discussed subject, The
Times has also published the following letters:- -
says, and must be prepared to exhibit an example
of practical devotion, and you have an outline Sir,- Having taken a leading part last year in or-
of the elements which are essential for a Bel- ganizing a local Farmers' Defensive Association,
gravian incumbent who would command success. which has exercised a wholesome moral influence in
Suffice it thatalr. Wilkinson possesses each one of theft the neighbourhood, and perhaps averted the serious
essential qualifications in an extraordinary degree, antagonism which has elsewhere arisen between
He is a gentleman. His attainments as a scholar may employers and employed, I beg to be allowed to
be summarised by stating that he was scholar of Oriel point out one view of the question between farmers
and a first-class man. As an orator he stands on a level I and labourers which seems to have been over-
in many particulars with the late Bishop of Winchester looked.
and Mr. Aitken. As a conscientious worker he may Labourers have, no doubt, a perfect right to join
fairly appeal tohisparish,themachinery where( fin pro- the Union, and to judge for themselves of the ex-
hably unnvalled in the Metropolis, whilst his outspoken pediency of doing so; but it is indisputable that the
independence extorts homage from his auditory, inas- labour of a man who is not liable to be orderedby some
Mill AA hardly a Sunday passes but he attacks inaspirit third person to quit his work at short notice, when
almost democratic the foibles, vices, and follies of the perhaps he is most wanted, is worth more to an em-
ageinwhich welivetandof theclass which, in virtueof its ployer than that of one who has rendered himself sub-
autocratic position, is n lost exposedto those temptations. ject to such external authority.
Yesterday morning St. Peter's was so overcrowded I A distinction ought to lie drawn between Union and
that some hundreds of gentry who came Prayer-book
in hand were obliged to seek another.sanctuary, there non-Union men, as there is a difference in the value of
their labour. Would it not be reasonable that this
being neither sitting nor standing room. Pew-holders ! should be marked by a dfferent rate of wages ?—I
showed themselves obliging enough in volunteering am, Sir, your obedient servant, WALSINGIIAM.
seats for strangers, and the attendants hail provided a Merton, Norfolk, May 15.
goodly supply of eh Ors. Yet, in spite of all precautions,
so dense was the flux of worshippers' that before the
conclusion of the prayers the doors llad to be fastened
on the ground-floor and fresh comers were directed to
the gallery with the cold assurance that there was no
ingress, the very landing being, wholly occupied. The
service was semi choral, the psalms, canticles, and
responses being chanted by a surpliced choir—
an arrangement, by the way, of comparatively
modern date, and not altogether acquiesced in by the
corgregation, who, en manse, whilst the choir were
monotoning, said the Creed, the Lord's Prayer, and
versicles as if in protest against apiece of ecclesiasticism
rather at variance with the 'Estinctly Evangelical
teaching of the incumbent. With the exeeption of the
excessive prevalence of music there was no perceptible
aistheticista except a large gilt cross on the altaz , and
a few flowers. The hymns, from the Ancient and
Modern selection, were joined in with great heartiness,
and the demeanour of all present appeared far above
A WHOLE FAMILY MURDERED. , the' average of London congregations in regard to
A. most fearful murder, exceeding in its peculiar in- reverence and devotion.
trinsie awfulness anything amid the many horrors daily The name of the preacher, except on abnormal wee-
transpiring, was brought to light on Monday morning. clone, is never announced beforehand at St. Peter's,
in the slaughter of a wornan and four children by her I Eaton-square. Hence towards the conclusion of the
husband and their father, at 49, Joseph-street, Burdett- ante-communion office everyone is agog to ascertain
road, Mile-end. Jehn Blair, the deceased, the husband whether Mr. Wilkinson himself will preach, or whether
awl father of the family murdered, and the per. this Milan tent duty will devolve on one of his subordi-
petrator of the dreadful deed had hitherto resided notes. Fortunately for ourselves yesterday Mr.
with his family at the above address, which is a Wilkinson occupied his own pulpit, and never did a
six-roomed house adjoining the Burdett-load, and more striking roll of unbroken eloquence issue from his
the furniture and domestic appliances of the same lips. He took as his text, "King of Kings and Lord of
were indic Wye of a somewhat higher posi- Lords," having previously spoken a few words of
tion than that which he held—viz., an ordinary almost daring sarcasm against the niggardliness of
bricklayer, he having been employed as such till his wealthy people in refusing to contribute to his.
recently at the Bow Common Gasworks. For some new Mission Church, by Victoria Station. "He
alleged dereliction of duty he had, about a fortnight had asked," he said, "for four thousand pounds—.
ago, been suspended, and the final decision as to his nit a large sum for so wealthy a parish—and he '
re-employment was to have been considered by the had got barely one thousand." His annoyance
A correspondent writing from Northern Minnesota,' directors on Monday. During his temporary exclusion at this response he could not conceal, and
on the 20th February, sass that, notwithstanding the severity •
from his employment he gave way to intemperate he plainly intimated that he looked upon it as a slap in BARNUM'S NEW BUILDING IN NEW
of the weather and depth of snow in that region, he saw a ,
and displayed a most morbid condition of the face. There are doubtless wheels within wheels:
cowslip in the open air the day before. The cow was on the , habits,YOßK.
Ice. mind. On Sunday night he was casually observed IRO it certain' does seem strange that a church which IttiStel anccus
to fetch some beer for home consumption, and neither collected on one Sunday 8750 for the Bengal Famine Barnun.a's great Roman liippmirome has just been °pent, -1 "—I—
A New York auctioneer announces that be has so la New 1 ork. lt occupies a site witich takes in ground on HOME. FOREIGN, AND COLONIAL,
much business he has recently worn out two hammers, and I himself nor the family were ever again seen alive. Fund, and on another £450 for their own church ex-
Foul th and dladtson At mazes, and 1 s enty-sixth and Twenty-
is now on the second end of the third. • The dreadful catastrophe which ensued was only lenses, should decline to find funds for a mission in
discovered on Monday morning from the fact of a boy , their own district. Mr. Wilkinson did not desire seventh-streets. The following description, taken from a
An obituary notice in a Connecticut peper concludes
New York paper, sill give some idea of the boldness and
with the announcement that "the deceased leaves two ' presenting himself at their residence shortly after ' evidently to mince matters. In lin2ine he gave them vastness of this enterprise :
infant daughters, both girls." I nine o'clock, with a message. On 'his obtaining a lot of his mind ; and he followed it up in his sermon "Those who have not been inside this great building,
The Ohio state Register, during the winter, to perpe- no answer he Procured the assistance of a neLli- in a stade which, from a less popular man, might have four hundred and twenty-six feet long by two hundred
trate a joke, published an account of the finding of immense bourmg resident. After repeated knocking, and proved simply suicidal; but in the case of the Eaton- feet wide, can form no correct idea of its magnitude,
deposits of proto-oxide of hydrogen on the banks of the no response ensuing, coupled with the fact of the h square people will no doubt work the will ef the or of the work which has been accomplished. Seats
river near that city. Several wise journals "hit," not non-appearance of any member of the family, an preacher. The sermon opened with a review have been provided around the tract, which is one
knowing that proto-oxide of hydrogen being interpreted I alarm was raised, and ain diceman fetched. Police- 'of the early progress of the Church. Glancing fifth of a mile in length, ter, we are told, twelve
means Ice. constable Turton proceeded to the spot, and at the lowly condition of its Founder, and thousand people. These seats are finely upholstered in
The following anecdote was told by an American forced the fastenings of the door. Upon entering alluding gracefully to the cervices of modern artists red leather, and are easy of RCM'S. A beautiful garden,
preacher for a fact—lie was praying. anti in his prayer he
, the front parlour the ehastly spectacle that met —i.e., Dore and Holm ti Holman Hunt—in illustrating with flowers, walks, ponds, statuary, fountains, Stc., is
' said, •! I pray that the power of the doni may he curt. e ;
Just then anold darkey in the congregation cried out, "Yes! his view beggars description. on an iron bedstead the life of Jesus, the preacher Passed rapidly on being laid out inside of the ring. The great collection
Amen !Breas me Cut him tail right smack, smoove off." lay the body of a woman and child, both fearfully to describe Rome, the Babylon ofthose days, mid her of will animals is arranged on the ground floor under
Webeter'm dictionary contains over fifty thousand
mutilated, their hemls being battered in and their I antagonism to the early Christians. This afforded a the solid brick arches which remport the teats. This
wesmats Jones mos when he tame home late the other night. throats cut in a frightful manner. They were both in ' Ste field for genuine rhetorical display, which was net prom v promenade is eer twelve hun&a, feet long, and is
.
in the space of tuteen minutes his tvi applied them all to their night-or., the infant being encircled in its ' lost. The picture, drawn wjth every accessory of handsomely decorated, Nothing AO extensive has
him, iecteding some extra, ones, and then called in her m, ther'. arms, the injuries having apparently been strong vocal effort and juOicione adieu of the C'olitt- heretofore been attempted in America and with such
mother- in-law who added sotee more. I inflicted during their sleeji The bodiee were after. I spurn on a high day, when the martyrs fM• Christ were fine facilities. Mr. Barnum hasdetermined to revive
It was an expressive remark of a practical man re-
wards identified asbeing those of Mrs. Elizabeth Ann ! thrown to the lions, was the most strikingly graphic. the classic eplendours of ancient Greece and Emile.
eluding the woman of the period, "-(lie don't know enough , Blair, aged 49 years, and Samuel, her Son, aged I alr. Wilkinson possesses not only a large and To thus end he has had a large steck of elegant
to bite hot water." months. At the foot of the dressing-table in the MI- ,vinpethetie vs,ice, lett also a countenance flexible, yet chariots neule, which are drawn by richly caparisoned
The miestion of womarie suffrage in Michigan will mediate vicinity of the bed lay the body of her so firm that a harsh observer might term it obstinate. horses. Orix en by warriors clad in beautllul hrmour.
Ito derided by ballot next tall, and the butt lady repeal:us are husband in his uight-shirt, with his head nearly His intonotionfe pure; nevertheless, by a certnin Rao* uf all kinds will be Oven on the track—chariot,
preparing for the canvass severed from his bddy, andneas him lay a large carving. ! arity of emphasising his consonants, he betrays his hurdle, Hat, elephant, eland, sack, ostrich, and cameL

A NEW CERE9L. —An American exchange
says :—" A new cereal has been grown in Oregon, and
the people are puzzled as to whether it belongs to the
wheat family. or more resembles rye, barley, or oats,
opinions being very nearly equally divided. Prom seven
to ten stalks grow from one root to the height of about
four feet, and these stalks are thin and hard. The
radicals are 1,4 nigh, and spread widely. The heads are
six inches in length, and covered with a heavy beard,
each II arnent being live inches long. The grain is
double the length of a kernel of winilkt, and in-
stead of being firm and compact, is hollow, the cavity
containing glutinous matter. While the grain bears a
closer resemblance to wheat than anything else, the
straw looks like rye or barley. Its origin is somewhat
peculiar, the first grain being taken from the stomach
of a wild goose by a fanner in Sillamoek country.
nearly three years ago. He was struck with its ap-
peal:vice, and planted it, and the succer,ling: soa, on
s,wed the produce. Ile distributed a portion of tie,
,',nil crop among a few friends in different vart.b of
th- State, who this year raised small I I,lautitie3. It
will requite another year to determine the value of the
grain.