The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1880-08-14 00:00:00

AMERICAN LUXURY.

One of the delusions fostered by certain American
writers of late years is that some of our forefathers
lived in great magnificence, " princely " is the
favourite word employed by such writers, and but a
few days ago a writer in an evening contemporary
described Aaron Burr as having lived in " princely
style" at the old Morris-house, near Highbridge. The
plain truth is that luxury, in the comprehensive
European sense, has o: - been known here since the
war, and is rare even now. A wealthy Frenchman or
Englishman, with a thoroughly " mounted " establish-
ment, can simply say to a head ser nt in the morning,
"We shall be 20 at dinner to-day," al, I not give another
thought to the matter. How many Americans, no
matter what their means, could do that? American
luxury has always been, and is still, distinguished by
incompleteness. In the South, where it has been
greatly exaggerated, it almost exclusively consisted of
plenty devoid of elegance. In the North the same
plenty, except where servants are concerned. When an
Englishman stays with an American who has 50,000 dole.
a year or more, he is in some respects less comfortable
than when in the house of a country pa--son at home,
for the latter's man will assiduously vales him, whereas
the chances are that his American ~ost's servant
will not come near him, and, if in the country, it is
quite a chance if he even finds a bell t ring; in fact,
a guest in an American millionaire's h use was found,
not long ago wandering over the pass. ges in search of
a jug of hoe water. It is this incongruity which still
marks our juvenility. The lady who wears a 250 dol.
dress has an establishment consisting of two slatternly
Biddies, and in a hc use where dinner parties are given
costing 20 dols. a head there is, on ordinary days, a
single overworked and rather grimy man servant.
This state of things is gradually changing, but it will
be many years before a sense of completeness is felt
in many establishments, even in New York.—New
York Times.

SIR BARTLE FRERE'S RECALL.
A volume of despatches on South African affairs was issued
on Wednesday. The following is the telegram sent by Lord
Kimberley to Sir B. Frere on the Ist inst., removing him
from the governorship of the Cape :

"I have received your despatches of June 29th,
July 3rd, and July 6th. There had been so much
divergence between your views and those of her
Majesty's present Government on South African
affairs, that they would not have thought it either
desirable or fair towards yourself that you should re-
main at the Cape, had it not been for the special reason
that there was a prospect of your being able
materially to forward the policy of confederation.
This special reason has now disappeared, not through
any want of earnestness and ability on your part, but
through the recent action of the Cape Parliament in
refusing to take even the preliminary step of a con-
ference, and her Majesty's Government -have, there-
fore, with regret come to the conclusion that her
Majesty should be advised to replace you by another
governor. As soon as your successor has been ap-
pointed I will not fail to acquaint you with the
arrangements as to the time of your departure from
the colony."