The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1875-05-22 00:00:00

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,
COOKING ASPARAGUS.—At this season of the
year all who du nut wish the delicate points of goa
asparagus to be destroyed in the boiling should tear
in mind that they are never immersed Lin water hi
those who understand cooking asparagus. The heal
are all cut as neaily as can be to one length, tied in a
compact bundle, and placed erect in the water, leaving .
about an inch of the tops out of it. In this way the
1
tips of the shoots of even the largest asparagus are
perfectly cooked, and the lower parts are made more
tender than they otherwise would be. This is the onl9
way in which the fine examples of blanched a,sparl.lls
now in our markets can be satisfactorily preparW—
The Garden.
WOMAN'S WORK.—It is officially announced
in Maine that any woman who has been ordained t°
preach for any recognized religious denomination, 00
proof of such fact and proper recommendationiq all
persons personally known to the Governor, will be
appointed to solemnize ma.rriiges in any part of the
State. Any woman who has duties to discharge in !
public or private office, or in any other position wherZ
the discharge of the duties imposed upon her makes D
necessary or convenient that she should receive the
authority, will be appointed to take acknowledgment
of deeds and affidavits, as well as. to solemnize 131nt
riages for the county in which she resides on turas,'"
ing the Governor with appropriate recommendatiouS
of citizens generally known to him.

WASHINGTON'S BIRTHDAY.—" H." writes te),
The Times :—" Why do Americans keep Washington°
birthday on the 22nd of February, when he was ball
on February 11? In 1554, several Americans laugheu
when I read from the calendar of the Illustrated .11T
of February 4, "Washington born, 1732." As
Act of George 11. (24, c. 23), changing Old to
Style, did not come into operation until September
1752, it is interesting to inquire why New Style
applied in after years by Americans to the
the father of their country." ,t
A REMARKABLE TREE !—A scientific wollde4
is a hickory-tree on the farm of Mr. William Harrisol.
near Thompson's Station, Tennessee, which was
by lightning in August last, and has been stesan;
burning since. The tree was about three feet ill
diameter, and had a straight body to a height of sixt
feet. It looks as though water will have no effeo
upon it whatever, for it has stood the rainstorms able
without any impression being made upon it at all.
Harrison, seeing the tree was likely to burn up, sent *
negro to cut it down after it had been burning solr.
time, as it was a valuabe tree. The negro's storY 111
that, while chopping, a live coal dropped on his cosos
and set it on fire. He used every means possible te
put it out, without success. He even buried it in
branch under the water and mud, but it continued
burn until every vestige of the garment was consume,
Since that time you can't get a negro to go withilli
hundred yards of that tree.
RUSSIAN COAL FIELDS.—The coal-fields ~.
the Donetz, an affluent of the Don, are about to"'
traversed by a line of railway which will open up o'er
munications with the interior and the sea. The Yiet's
of that basin in 1873 was 41 millions of ponds (36 po,..unu
each) ; as compared with 19 in 1872, 12 in 1871, 11 '
1870, and only 7,900,000 in 1869. That A alone
is able to supply fuel for the consumption of al!,
countries bordering on the Black Sea and the
phorus.

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HOW THE IRISHMAN WON HIS
—A young Irishman who boarded at a quiel
house, where there were three coy damsels w 1
to imagine that men are terrible creatures,
was an unpardonable sin to look at, was one I
accosted by an acquaintance' and asked
thought of the young ladies. He replied I
were shy and reserved, but he would bet a
he would kiss the three before twelve o'(.
day. It was agreed. He went in, sat do'
presence of the three demure ones, drew a lc
said,' It wants five minutes to twelve ; the ..
is coming." Here the girls looked at the
young man with astonishment. "The spirt
warning that I should die exactly at twelve
day, and you see it wants but a minute of
said he. The girls turned pale, and pitied .
looking youth. He then walked up to the
the girls, and taking her by the hands, ,
solemn farewell. He also imprinted a kiss
trembling lips, which she did not resist. He
the second and third farewell in the same ,
manner. The clock struck twelve. He
looked round surprised, and after a minute
—" Who'd have thought that an apparition
such a lie ?" It was some time before
maidens understood the joke, but when the'
evinced no resentment.
PILLOW LIFE-PRESERVERS. —An
and useful life-preserver for passengers and
exhibited last Friday in Glasgow to a few
interested in shipping and emigration (says
man). The preserver consists of two pilloq.
pared corkwood, with an upper padding of -01
covered with mattress-tick. The pillows are attach!.
to each other in such a manner that when about to P:
used they can be placed one on the back and the othe'
on the chest and tied, the head and shoulders heini
thus kept above water. They have been tested, au
the two have been found capable of -supporting a lug
of twenty stone breast-high. The pillows can be za"„a
useful as articles of bedding during the passage, B'f
every passenger can, in a few minutes' notice 0
danger, put them to use as life-preservers, Moat .
Allan, of the Glasgow and Montrtal Emigeati°l.
steamers, are having the pillow-preservers introduce.
into all their ocean-going steamers.
IS COTTON TO BE KING I—Cotton still 1218551
talus itself the King of United States' exports, thong"
it no longer holds a sceptre over the Political affairs 0 "
the Union. But the Western prairies are fast beeoiv
lag the granary of the world, and last year the. .85'
portation of breadstuffs, of which wheat was the cnal
produced to the country 161,198,864 dohs., or ahlr,
11
50,000,000 dols, less than cotton. If ever cheall„
rates of transportation make it possible for t;e,',
Mississippi Valley wheat growers to control tne
prices of wheat in European markets, so that thei
can underbid the producers on the great plane. °ill
Russia, the supremacy of cotton in the
trade will be seriously threatened. Other provision;
of which large quantities are exported, are bacon At')
hams, beef, butter, and cheese, eggs, lard, 20r .fa '
fish, vegetables, and fruits green, and dried. J:h""
value added to that of breadstuffs, increases the valll
of food materials exported to over 240,500,000 dols. •11
to this be added the value of tobacco (32,968,528 dolai
and cotton, the value of the production of the soil et.i;;
ported last year from the United States reaches, tli
vast aggregate of more than 484,700,000 dols,, wale f
is within 10,000,000 dols. of three-fourths the value:"
their total exports during that period.. The oth ,
fourth is chiefly made up of 40,000,000 dols. worth (8'
petroleum, and numerous articles of manufacture.
The New York Times.
EXCISE DUTIES.—The Customs and Inlalla
Revenue Bill proposes to provide that the charge
yearly licenses to be taken out by brewers of beer f°
sale (other than brewers of spruce or black beer) 0 ~
be reduced to 12s. 6d. if the quantity brewed does 110.7.
exceed fifty barrels, and 12s. 6d. for every additional
fifty barrels or fractional part thereof. The Yearlf*
'
licence duty payable by proprietors, makers and 'rell,.;
dors of medicines liable to stamp duty, is to be 50.
all parts of Great Britain. The licence to a dealer '
foreign wine is to extend to the sale of sweet or
wines, or mead, or metheglin in any quantity.
....,
reference to the duty on carriages, the BO provide'
that a person letting a carriage for hire for less thaa 9 1
year is to be deemed the person keeping the carriage' 7
and a person hiring it for a year or longer is to he
deemed the person keeping the carriage.
A PUBLIC DRUDGE.-:A return issued by
Education Department states the work dame by - A
Majesty's 74 inspectors of schools inEngland emploY!'
during the year 1874, and the totals are divided bYll
so as to show the average of the year's work of a sch
inspector. It appears that he travels about 4,000 mile°
(the exact average is 4,355 miles), and holds examilay
tions at which rather more than 25,000 children aret +
present. The 313 week-days of his year are sPee
thus :-142 in inspection and examination of eleme
tary schools, 11 in visits of surprise, four in inspectiol C,
of training schools, seven in examinations of pre.,
teachers, five in examination of candidates for Adn'le'
skin, seven in revising papers of pupil teachers, 13 i°'
revising papers of candidates for certificates of merit
two in travelling only, four in preparing a gener
report, 66 in correspondence conference, reporting, &'43 for vacation, four in attending to private businesat,
five ill, that being the average resulting from the actnall
illness of 42 of the 71 inspectors. Of course some orl'
them did more work than the average, and some ai3
less, but it is not a life of idleness. - -
ROMAN KITCHEN UTENSILS.—A paragra')
in the Journal de Geneve mentions the acquisition
the museum of that town of a set of Roman kite-
utensils found in 'a field near Martignyi having pro'i
bably been buried on account of some sudden alarr°l4
There are thirty articles mostly in bronze, some ,01.
them elaborately worked, reminding one of the beauty'
ful shape and ornamentation of Pompeian vessels. The
shovel and pot-hanger do not differ much from model°
articles, and there is an earthen mould shaped like 6
shell, several plates in various sizes, a saucepan with 1
the bottom worn away, a large boiler, a funnel, WI,/
ladles, a stewpan,. and vases or ewers, with tem'
handles, one of which baers the representation of .
gladiators, and apparently awarded as a prize. There
were also two silver ornaments, seemingly of later
date, and believed by Dr. Gosse, the curator, to have
been used in Christian worship. He attributes the
find to the third century. Three bronze coins were
discovered in the same spot, two of them bearing the'
effigy of Augustus, and the third that of Antonintis.
ACCIDENTS TO PERSONS AT WOR,K.—The ao"
cidents reported to the Inspectors under the Factor,:
and Workshop Acts in the half-year ending wita
October, 1574, caused injuries to as many as 3,27 per
-
Boni employed-2,719 males' and 908 females. ' Therf
were 165 persons killed-namely, 121 adults, 37 yoiulg
persons and 7 children. Amputation of an arm
hand was caused in 57 instances, and in 346 part of .4-
limb was amputated; there were 129 cases in which'
the injury was a fracture of limbs or bones of the ,
trunk, 136 fractures of hand or foot, 171 injuries to r
head or face. The remaining 2,623 cases were other
injuries sufficiently serious to prevent a return to work
within 48 hours. ,
COCKNEY CONUNDRUM.—WOt Lake in Heng"
land's got the glassiest buzzum ?—Windermere.
Punch.
AN AMERICAN CUSTOM.—The American corre-
spondent of the Globe, writing from New York, says :---, ,
" One of the strangest customs in this, and perhalm ia ,
any other country, is the wholesale changing of resi'. ~
dences on the Ist of May. Quite a large percentage
of the population make it a point to change upon the
eventful day. It is simply changing for the hake of,
change • but any so miserable caprice can scarcely be
imagined. To understand it thoroughly it must be re-
membered that few people have a house of their owe
in this city. The dwellings are farmed out among
several families. So on the day of traditional removals i
when the household goods of their families are being
taken down four flights of perfectly dark stairs—a°
stairway is, upon some novel architectural principle,
lit in this country—two other families are rushillg • '
their valuables furiously up, and collisions, in which :
pair and a poker are prominent characters, often talr
place. But, as the Spaniards say, it is the cuelw.- '
of the country.

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