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

NOTICES Or MOTION,

In the If or,F. OF CoMmoss thr 1 homes Chambers gave
notice that on an early day he will call attention to the
extensive system of trading carried on by certain civil or.
vents of the Crown.

Mr. Butt On June 10 to call attention to the preaent
condition of Ireland, eapecially in relation to the demand
made by the people of Ireland for a change in the parliamem
tary relations of the people, and to move a evolution.

UNEXHAUSTED IMPROVEMENTS.
Mr :'•eely asked the First Lord t the Treasury wlmther
the Government intended to bring in a bill this session for
giving compensation to agricultural tenants for unexhausted
Impmvements.
Mr Disraeli replied in the negative.

OPENING or MUSEUMS ON SUNDAY.

Mr. P. Taylor moved a resolution in favour of opening
Iluseums, Libraries, and similar Institutions on Sunday, in
order to give greater In to the people for recreation 'lsi
moral and intellectual character. First of all, in support of his
motion, he asserted that if the working classes were polled
a large majority would be (salad to le in his favour,
and he argued it as a question of civil and religious
liberty, holding that in these days of toleration no man
had a right to impose his rule of living on his neighbour on
the religious question Mr Taylor spoke at length, insisting i
that there is no a arrant for continuing a Jewish ordinance
as a Christian obligation, and that Sabbatarianism dates
no further back than our Puritan forefathers, and
he quoted against it the opinions of creamer, Calvin,
and Luther. As a proof of the demoralization which is
the fruit of Sahhatarianisru carried to an excess, he referred
to the New England Laws, and read a forcible eommination
addressed to himself by a Norfolk Rector on account
of the part he had taken in this matter. Mere idleness
and vacuity, he maintained, were no recreation at all, and
It would be better that men should work all Sundae than
spend it in the occupations occasionally forced on them by
Sabbatarians. Mr. Taylor replied by anticipation to the
ordinary objections to Lis motion, and wound up by appealing
to a Government pledged to social Reforms to sumairt
change which would IPC most valuable to the commouity.
Mr. Allen, as an amendment, moved a counter-Resolution
declaring that while all reasonable and possible facilities
should be given for opening Museums, rte., on weekdays arid
In the eveninp of weekday., it is not desirable to make any
alteration in the Sunday arraugements. He denied emphati-
cally that the bulk of the workiog classes was on Mr. Taylor's
lido, although some special sections and trades might ;
and he carefully sendinised the petitions to show that the
clerical summit of which Mr. Taylor had Loassed was a
nwre collection of the: ecci ntmsimtiro of es try Church and
Creed in the eoutitry. Where should we Sue able to
step if once the 31usenrus Were openea ? The Theatres
would follow. and In time one hilf the population would be
at work for the pleasore uI Orr other half. Every counts y
which hail token the lox view of Sunday hail ended by lining
it altogether as a day of rest ; and ex to the Mint terial
pert which tic Tailor had implored, Mr. Allen said that on
Lida queetion he igssi hinch snore cUtlfltiellefl in tho prtAtnt
Government than its predecessors.

Air. A. M'Arthur (Mr Taylor's colleague in the repre-
sentation of Leicester) seconded the amendment, dwelling
on the moral, social and domestic advantages of the
luglish hunday, /vitt maintaining that the 'working men
did not wish to exchange it for a Continental Sunday.
Mr. Heresford Hope opposed the motion as an anti-
halobatarian, believing that the eHect of destniyitig the
English Sunday would be a reaction which would bring us
back to the old Puritanical ideas.

knife besmeared with blood. In addition to the carving-
-I,lllit.a 11l11:1.-,ii r •oq no I:,,,cred ..n tile
E,a. of till. itio.lll, 41,40 ilre, liti, blood, evidently
the implements used in the destruction of life. The
room presented, it may be said without • exaggeration,
more the appearance of a butcher's shambles than that
of a dom stic apartment, it being literally soaked with
blood. Further examinotion sli.Aved atLil im.re horrors,
for on entering the adjoiniu ruin the bodies of Elizabeth
Ann, aged 12, Amelia Ann, aged 7, and that of
William Blair, aged 5 years, children of the de-
ceased, were discovered lifeless. The female children
lay in their own little bell, and the boy in the one
u.vially appropriated to Ids use Death was the re-
sult of the most violent injuries, their heads being
battered in and their throats cut in the most savage
manner. As with the other victims the injuries had
apparently been inflicted during sleep, the bed-clothes,
which were deluged in blood, being undisturbed.
_ _

Dr. Coward, jun., of Somers-road, Bow, was at once
sent for, and was speedily followed by Dr. Horton, the
divisional surgeon of police, and the former gentleman
upon examination of the bodies give it as his opinion
that the woman and children had been murdered, and
that the man had afterwards destroyed his own life. He
based his opinion on the fact of the bodies of the former
being quite cob!, and that of the latter yet retaining
warmth.

northern origin. This very pec, I Mrity—like the " mouth-
iug "of Ilisliol. Will erforce .orests attention; and it
was noieccorthy how eagerly the male portion of his
auditory hung upon every word he uttered, those in the
gallery craning forward in orde, to hear better. From
the Babylon of St. Paul's days to our rinclern Babylon
the transition was easy; and then the preacher des-
cended from the pictorial and poetic to a vein of
gentle satire. 1k took us into the City, and bade Us
price the value of each other and warehouse, then to
the Queen's Drawing-room, and assured us that in al-'
tempting to estimate the value of the jewels, and
dresses, and horses and carriages, we should be lost in
a labyrinth of calculation. Then, again, he bade us
wander through aristocratic London during the small
hours of the night, and realise what an amount in
amusement alone Mammon cost. And yet, in spite of
all this lavish expenditure, when he de ivanded a compara-
tive small sum for evangelising the poor at their gates,
be could not get it Here lay the gravamen, and he
pressed it with all the genuine indignation of a soul
which has learnt to despise gewgaws. and to hate hy-
pocrisy. The sermon wound up with a few words on
personal religion, having lasted, including the preface
on the subject of the Mission Church, about three
quarters of an hour. It would have been no fatigue
to his audience had Mr. Wilkinson continued speaking
for another half hour. There is so much of genuine
grandeur in his voice, manner, am! delivery; so much
originality in his method ; and 80 great depth in his
matter, that an intellectual being, whether of hiscreed
or of another, could not but derive pleasure and profit
from listening to one 60 highly gifted and so transcen-
dentally in earnest. . . .

THE REAL CRITERION.—Vernon, the great
French chef, used to say to those customers who praised
his dinners, "Sever boast of having dined well till the
next day."
CAN WELL WAIT. —The proposed celebration
of the
.XoOth anniversary of the introduction of the
art ofilrhiting into this country has been postponed.—

.4thnrrum. • - _ _
OLD LErrims.—l have all my life had a ba
habit of preserving letters, and of keeping them all
arranged and docqueted but seeing the future use
that is often made of papers, especially by friendly
biographers, who rarely hesitate to sacrifice confidence
and delicacy ti the promotion of sale or excitement, I
have long resolved to send them all up the chimney in
the form of smoke; and yesterday the sentence was
executed. I have kept Richardson 's and Jeffrey's, and
some correspondence I had during important portages
of our Scotch progress; but the rest, amounting to
several thousands, can now, thank God, enable no
venality to publish sacred secrets, or to stain fair re-
putations, by plausible mistakes. Yet old friends
cannot be parted with without a pang. The sight of
even the outsides of letters of fifty years recalls a part
of the interest with which each was received in its
day. And their annihilation makes one start, as if
one had suddenly reached the age of final oblivion.
Nevertheless, as packet after packet smothered the tire
with its ashes, and gradually disappeared in dim
vapour, I reflected that my correspondents were safe,
' and I was plemwd.--Journal of Henry Coekburn,
MARINE DISASTERS.—The monthly statement
of the Bureau Veritas shows that during the month of
March last 221 sailing vessels were lost—viz., 83 Eng-
lish, 31 French, 22 American, 19 Norwegian, 18
German, 10 Dutch, 9 Danish, 7 Italian, fi Swedish, 5
Greek, 4 Austrian, 3 Russian, 2 Si?anish, I Belgian,
and 1 Turkish. In this number are included 12 sailing
vessels reported miming. There were also 19 steamers
lost—viz., 14 English, 2 French, 1 American, 1 Bel
glass, and I Italian. In this number are included
three steamers reported miming.
WOMAN'S RIGHTS.—SCOICh Lad y (lello 11,55
takes a H,nee in the HighMnds, her Servants suddenly
giting " wirning") : "What's the reason of this?
Have you not all you want !—good rooms, and good
fresh air and food, and easy work I"- Spokeswoman :
" Yes, 31em—but —but there's lie a decent lead within
cry o' us !"—Pose/i.
A PLAYFUL "CUSS !"—An American contem-
porary is responsible for the following somewhat
eccentric behaviour of a youthful Newfoundland dog
during a visit to the Virginian Enterprise press-room.
The animal, on entering the room, after inspecting the
cunning of the job press for some time, went up to it,
and stuck his nose between a pair of cog-wheels, leaving
between them a piece of skin about the size of a dollar.
H euext turned Ins attention to the bed of the power press
which seemed to be shooting in and out in a playful
manner. On seeing it apparently retreating from him
he made a closer inspection, but was almost instantly
knocked down by the return of the bed. This some-
what roused his ire; a battle ensued, but, being re-
peatedly knocked down as each paper was struck off,
he finally retired, and watched the operation at a dis-
tance. Being shut up in the room during the next
day, be made his bed in an empty ink-barrel, but,
being black himself, the condition he WM in was not
noticed until he was taken on board the train for
Carson. It wit., then found that be NV:t, .1 full of ink
as one of the ink-balls used by printers in the early
days of printing, and, 'being an affi etiemite and
playful cuss, the consternation he ereated shooed that
train can well be imagined."
A Ilm LEAP. —Our American exchanges re
late a leap at a ceursing meeting held at Modesto, in
Califernia, on March 4th, and sth, whit-h. if correct,
we believe to be, as they characteristically put it,
" the biggest jump ever maile either by dog or horse"
(says a contemmsrary). The widest jump hitherto re
corded is the celebrated one made by Chandler at War-
wick, where the tape showed thirty-nine feet from hoof-
print to hoof-print; and the next best was made at
Dunehurch by the celebrated steeplechaser Vanguard,
with Tien Oliver on his back This is variously stated,
but we believe it to have been thirty-seven feet
five inches somewhat between thirty-seven feet
and thirty-eight feet it certainly was. No horse
has been known even to approach these magnificent
leaps, and perhaps never will. But at the above
coursing meeting, two greyhounds, named Quiek-
silver and Douglas, were running off the foi.rth
tie, when the hare came to what the reporter Calla "a
small lake." She swam it, but Quicksilver cleared it
at a bound, and it measured from brink to brink forty'
two feet! Some may laugh at this. We do not.
Americans are careful measurers ar 1 timers" in
sporting matters, and it was they who originated
" splitting seconds" in their famous trotting matches.
The speed of a greyhound at its best is almost in
credible; it has never been rigorously tested, but has
been roughly estimated hy comptent authorities at
nearly forty miles psr hour -that of in repress train.
No MonE THAN HIS DVE. A meeting of
Professors and lovers of the Arts, held to determine in
what term the memory: of Owen Jones can be most
fittingly honoured, has just decided, first, on a mosaic
portrait of him, to be offered to the nation, secondly,
on a public exhibition of hie works. Mr. Alfred
Morrison, Bir M. I), Wyatt, Mr. H. Cole, Mr. Warren
; Be La Rue, and Mr. Pe-er Graham, are the Executive
• Committee. They may take for their motto, "boos
Honore digno ;" or, in English, "Owed to Owen."—
! Punch.