The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1887-06-18 00:00:00

THE STOURBRIDGE OBSERVER.

COMMENTS ON CURRENT NEWS.

LONDON is delighted because the State-
pageant which is the outward show of the
Court Thanksgiving for the completei fi Ety
years of the Queen's reign is to be of the
most gorgeous character. Three carriage
processions of princely participators in the
day's commemoration have been arranged;
and surrounding her Majesty's splendid
carriage there will be a cavalcade of Royal
Princes on horseback, acting as body gua;•tl.
The troops along the line of route will be
more numerous than have congregated at
any pageant in London for purely show pur-
poses since the Coronation. Then the
Abbey service is to be conducted in the most
impressively solemn manner. And such an
assemblage of notables as will be seen on
Tuesday within the sacred fane has surely
never before been witnessed. There will be
representative men and -women from evei.y
Continent, many of them the most distin-
guished of their land. There will be dusky
native (reigning princes from India; the
Queen of Hawaii, with her attendants diglit
in cloth of gold; and Kings, Queens, and
Royalties without number. All the peers
and State officials will wear their richest
robes ; stars and jewels of the noble orders
will catch the light which flashes from the
glittering arms of the military; and alto-
gether the event will be one of such magni-
ficence as to justify the anticipations and
tremendous preparations which in has occa-
sioned.

TRE illuminations in London on Jubilee
n:ght are to be of a most extensive character,
elabonte transpreacies having been erected
before many buildings, public and private.
Carri-tge traffic will be stopped early at
night in all the principal thoroughfares, and
a great crush of pedestrians to view the
decoration is exp-cted, sqould the wiather
be fine. Some of the theatres and concert
halls will be open for free entertainment to
children in celebration of the Jubilee, old
people will be feasted, school boys and girls
taken in tens of thousands to have a day's
outing; and, indeed, the public joy in Lon-
don will he .nanifested in a most enthusiastic
way. In all the big towns of provincial
England, and in Sc laid, Wales, and Ire-
land as well, high :estival is also to be held ;
and the commemoration will certainly be one
to sink deq.) into the recollection of all who
have a share therein.

THE beicon-fires which will blaze from
Beachy Head to the far north along the
Anna la-annolneing line of route on Mon-
dty night, and those which start on Jubilee
night through the length of Cheat Britain
at a signal from Malvern Hills, will be a
picturesque and ineresting part of the festi-
val arrangements; especially where the big
fires are to be supplementA by ornamental
pyrotechnic displays The re-kindling of
the old beacons on the night of the summer
solstice will have a savour of romanee about
it, as it will he a revival of an antique Celtic
custom. When ChriAtianity suceeeckd
Paganism some of the existing usages were
c nitinued with a new meaning, and the
flaring fires of the chief festival of the eartan
calendar were carried on to St. Jonn's Eve;
and thus the beacon blazes were sden annu-
ally a few days later. But the light of
knowledge has shone upon Christianity now,
and the St. John's fires are as extinct as
those earlier ones which heralded in the
summer solstice in heathen days. The
beacous were utilised for the lighting of
warning fires when invasion was threatened
later on as on the occasion of the visit to our
shores of the ill-cated " invincible " armada
of old Spain. This time the lighting of the
beacons is to evince a nation's jubilant joy.

THE advincement of petty officers in the
army and navy in rank and the amnesty to
prisoners incarcerated for minor military
offences are acts of gt aciousness and fitting
clemency for such an occasion as the Jubilee,
and are much appreciated by our defenders
on land and sea. It was surely well, at so
joyful a time, to set free such captives as
would not be likely to do harm to their
fellows.

FULL-DRESS State banquets are to be given
at Backingham Palace to the Royal guests
of the Queen, Royal luncheon parties wiil
be numerous, and " parties " continuous.
Altogether the Court will have a busy tune,
and few will feel the fatigue of it more than
its object, the Sovereign lady, whose jabi:te
of regal responsibility comes when she is
fast nearing the Psalmist's limit of human
life. It is, indeed, surprising how much of
harrassing ...preparation and public cere-
monial her Majesty is, at her age, able to
undergo. She is, indeed, richly endowed
with spiril/4 and stamina ; and thiin.ks, more-
over, of the enjoyment of others before con-
sulting her own convenience. Had she fol-
lowed lier inlivithid desires, she wou'd have
attended a private solemn thanksgiving
service at the Chapel Royal at Windsor far
rather than have taken part in the heat and
burden and pomp of Tuesday next; but the
people love a pageant and expect their
monarch to shine forth in fall State on
special occasions, and her Majesty bowed to
the mandate of public opinion.
4!.

WESTMINSTER ABBEY—such has been the
Lord Chamberlain's anxiety to accommodate
the many who have claims for a seat at the
Thanksgiving Service has been trans-
formed for the occanion out of all know-
ing. It is now a mass of substantial,
though temporary galleries, reachitg from
floor to vaulting, and these are sumptuously
decorated with rich coverings for the con-
venience of the 9000 odd occupiers, who
will be allowed an average sitting space of
about 19 iuches each. - Galleries have been
squeezed in over the altar, stands hung on
round the organ, and scarcely a place which
anyone could be crowded into or mounted
upon left unutilised. Royal guests, peers,
ambassadors, Indian and Colonial visitors,
government officials, statesmen, clergy, and
representative m3n of every rank, even
down to the toilers, have all had room found
for them.

ONLY fin:. weather is wanted, irmv the
arrangements are complete, to make the
Jubilee celebrations all over the kingl en
brilliant success. Surely one may c,;pect
that " Queen's weather" will be vouchsafed
for such an occasion, as her Majesty has
generally been favoured with a smiling sun-
shine to accompany her wlwne,ver she has
.f.?;)ne ceremoniously auioa4 murung her
people. Last year at Liverpool wa-; a larn-
eata.Ae exception, one cannot but remember,
however. Londoners are looking hopfully,
yet anxiously, to Tuesday morning, for wet
would completely spoil the pageant.

gPP4's eOt7OA--GRATKFUL ANTD COMFOR TiNo.--“By
thorough kuowledge of the natural laws which govera
the operationN of 41iges; ion aid nutrition,emd by a care-
ful application of the hire prapertiiis if well-selected
Cocoa, Vir. t4iiin4 has u ,vile 1 our breakfast tables with
a delicately flavoured beveraze which may save us
many heavy doctors' bills. It is ny the judicious use of
such articles of diet that a constitution miy be gradu-
ally built up until strong enough to resist every tend.
eucy t disease Hundreds of subtle maladies are
!oating around us ready to attack wherever there is a
.veak pi,iut We may escape maily a fat...a shaft by
••i 'int.-lye4 well fortified with pure blood and a

I- (J 'ti .-,,reic- (..; izettp, -
..due wa . ~..,,,y it u.,i.tug water or milk. Suld only in
p diets, lalitsaed—• Jamse. EPT,B tt:Co., hozoosopath.c
,hemists, Loadoo,"—Ablo wakens ; Epp; AfttrituJu
t.;becolatio tames. Gil:a