The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1872-09-28 00:00:00

HAGLEY HARVEST HOME.

The annual Hagley Harvest Home was hold
ou Thursday. This year the parish of Blake-
down has joined with Hagley. A procession was
formed at the Hall Barn which marched to the
church. which was beautifully decorated (the
chancel more especially) with flowers, ever-
greens, wheat, burley, and rye, by the ladies of
the parish. A very uppropriute sermon was
preached‘by the Lord Bishop of Worcester, who
took for his text the 26th chapter of Deutoro-
nomy, 11th verse, " And thou shalt rejoice in
, every good thing which the Lord thy God bath
given unto thee, and unto thine house, thou,
I aud the Levite, and the stranger that is among
you." There was u very large congregation. At
the conclusion of the service, the procession was
re-formed, and walked from the Church to the
Lyttelton Arius Hotel, where a substantial re-
past was provided. Upwards of WO sat down
to dinner.
After the removal of Elie cloth, Lord Lyttel-
ton, who presided, gave the " Health of the
Queen,' which was enthusiastically recci% ed.
His Lordship then addressed those present,
and, in the course of his remarks, observed that
they hid much to be thankful for, although the
wheat harvest bad not been so good this year as
on folio. r occasions. lie was sorry to hear that
the potato disease was prevalent in Ireland, but
the inhabitants of that country were not now

wholly depending upon their potato crou for sus
teuanee, and he edusidered they all ought to be
grateful that the disease was not among the po-
tatoes in this country like it appeared and rav-
aged the crops in the sister isle. In reference
to the working classes, his Lordship said he
thought there might be many changes for the
better amongst these classes. 'rho men in the
Black Country were now getting good wages,
but it did not seem to materially Lenefit them,
as the majority of them squander, d away the
money they worked hard fur in a very reckless
manner instead of nutting it by in case of need,
or assisting their fellow-labourers in the agricul-
tnral districts, who were not so well pail. Eng-
land was now in a very prosperous condition.
and although 3i millions had to be paid to the
Americans on tae other side of the water, we
should not feel the payment of such a sum so
much as we should had the country been in a
' less prosperous condition. His Lordship, in
conclusion, Wad he had great pleasure in propos-
ing the health of the preacher of the day, the
Lord Bishop of Worcester. He thought they
were all greatly indebted to that gentleman, for
the very beautiful and eloquent sermon he had
preached to them.
The Lord Bishop thanked them for the kind
manner in which theythad received the toast
proposed by Lord Lyttelton. He had felt great
pleasure at being with them on such an occasion
as the present. lie was very much in favour of
such gatherings as they had at Hagley, which
only occurred once a year, but it brought all
classes together to thank God for His tender
mercies in giving them the products of the earth
for their general good. In conclusion, his Lord.
ship said he should always feel happy at assist-
ing at these gatherings on future occasions.
The Hon. and Rev. W. H. Lyttelton said he
had much pleasure in thanking those ladies who
had so beautifully decorated the church for the
occasion, and also to Mr. Stevens, who had the
; general management of the affair. lie had now
; 'attended the Harvest Thanksgivings for many
years, and had never seen any case of drunken-
f ness on those occasions, aud he sincerely trusted
/ that rule would still be observed.
. .

The party then adjourned to a field adjoining,
where a variety of sports were indulged in, in-
cluding running and jumping for prizes.
A tea was provided in the evening for the wo-
men and children, and the proceedings were ter-
minated with dansiug in the Hall Barn.