The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1881-01-29 00:00:00

A SINGULAR FATALITY IN PARIS.

A deplorable accident, indirectly resulting from
the quantity of snow in the streets of Paris, occurred
at the corner of the Rue de Hauteville on Friday
evening in last week. A bootmaker, named Rabin,
was crossing the street with his little girl, ten years
of age, when the latter, in order to escape a pass-
ing cab, left hold of her father's hand, and, in jump-
ing on to the pavement fell down a large drain
hole which had been opened for the purpose of
shooting the snow into the sewers. M. Rabin,
who was so fond of his daughter that he was
in the habit of regularly taking her to and
fetching her from school, was with difficulty
restrained from following her into the drain,
where the mass of water and half-liquid snow was
running with great force and speed. Help was
quickly procured, and several firemen and workmen
descended, on the hopeless errand of endeavouring
to save the poor child. The flooded state of the
sewers, however, rendered this impossible. Lvery
part of the sewers into which the body could possibly
have been carried was carefully explored, but the
body of the poor girl was not recovered, and the en-
gineers of the drainage system were of opinion that it
reached the 'seine at Asnieres in less than a quarter of
an hour after the accident.

Another aocident of the same nature has occurred
in the Rue des Pyrenees at Belleville, (says the
Paris corespondent of the Standard). Ail opening
over the drain was made here like that in th''e Rue
des Petites Ecuries. The sewermen were carting the
snow down it, when one of them slipped and fell into
the abyss. He was immediately carried away by the
torrent below. Fortunately, two of his comrades,
with a courage and coolness for which they deserve
credit, descended after him, and succeding in rescuing
him. He had already been borne some distance from
the spot, and was insensible when picked up.

THE COAL-OWNERS AND THE EM-
PLOYERS' LIABILITY BILL.

The coal-owners of the N,rth of England are, (the
Manchester Guardian states) forming a mutual pro-
tection association for insurance from the liabilities
under the Employers' Liability Act. There will be
no capital registered, the liabilities is unlimited, and
the number of directors will be fifteen. The project
is most influentially supported, the first of the sub-
scribers being Mr. Henry Morton, chief agent to the
Earl of Durham, one or the largest northern coal-
owners, and it is expected that all influential coal-
owners in the north will join it. At the present time
this mode of settlement of the difficulty which the Act
created is of especial interest.

THE REV. NEWMAN HALL ON THE
SNOWSTORM.
On Tuesday the Rev. Newman Hall, LL.D., in
delivering the Merchants' Lecture at the Weigh
House Chapel, Fish-street Hill, London, took for his
subject Job xiii. 27, " Hast thou entered into the
treasures of ,the snow ? " He said on the previous
Tuesday they had a remarkable snowstorm, which
did not, however, prevent a few from coming to hear
him, and he thought it might be useful to leave the
ordinary course of his lectures and dwell upon a sub-
ject which was present to the minds of all. The chapter
he had quoted from, and the following chapters of
Job, might be regarded as amongst the noblest poetry,
of the ancient world. God was represented as chal-
lenging Job with reference to his knowledge of
the divine work in nature. What did Job know
of the meaning of the universe? and the argument
was, if Job knew so little of what lay before him
within his reach, how much less could he understand
of God's moral government and providence. It was
not the purpose of the Bible to teach science ; man
was left to find out those things for himself ; but the
object of the Bible was to convert, to make wise, and
to make happy. We ean trace back a few links, but
who could see the beginning of the chain ? Science,
properly understood, instead of putting the Creator
away, only made us see more and more of His
power and skill. We knew that vapour in the
atmosphere crystallised at a certain temperature, and
became snow ; but who knew "all the treasures
of the snow ? " We knew that at 32 degrees water
froze, but who knew why the temperature was at 32
degrees ! It was not sufficient to say the wind was
in the north, because he had to ask why was it in the
north? The treasures of the snow in the great Arctic
regions brave and valiant men had explored; but it
was very little we knew about their secrets. The
North Pole was still an unknown territory. There
were mysteries in the cold of winter and storm which
brought desolation and death, and .so there were
mysteries in sorrow, and suffering, and trial. " Hast
thou entered into the treasures of the snow !" People
were thinking rather of the sorrows of the snow
than the treasures. The storm that beat upon the
people last Tuesday, the impossibility of driving horses
or of running trains, roads blocked, communication
stopped, great anxiety caused, and great loss; some
anxious to get to dying relative, but too late, and
they had not the solemn satisfaction of a last fare-
well; slippery paths, falls, accidents, water, and
light cut off, multitudes around us thrown out of
work, and their families in great distress ; cold, '
added to the other conditions of poverty, such as
scantiness of food and raiment, arid then the inun-
dation in one part of London, leaving its traoes in
icicles on the wall. Yes, there were the sorrows of
the snow, and there ;were often trials that came Upon
Gcd's children as suddenly and as fiercely as the
storm of last Tuesday, blocking our way, ob-
structing the path that we had long worked out
for ourselves, impeding our plans, and disappointing
our most cherished hopes. Alir there was another
aspect that now had its treilihres as well as its
sorrows. The snowstorm was under law; we knew
exactly at what temperature to expect water to be-
come solid ice. There was nothing haphazard'about
it, all was a,bsolute law. So we might say all our
trials, however sudden and inexplicable, were under
law, and this law was the law of our Father in
Heaven; not the cold, icy, frozen law of some who
saw nothing but material influences, and recognised
no mind, no ruler over us, but the law of our Father
who made the mother's heart as well as the mighty
universe.