The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1875-01-23 00:00:00

ho I the
tvans' •

ED
the old saw and song that "there are as good fish in
the sea as ever yet were taken," Mr. Cholmondeley
Pennell, a trustworthy authority, is of opinion that
another ten years will see a crisis in many branches
of our sea fisheries, if measures be not at once taken
to avert it (remarks Iron). The fishermen them-
selves see it, and are calling out for legislative
enactments to protect them from themselves, or rather
from each other, and the great London fishmongers
are complaining that year by year, cod, soles, lobsters,
and other products of the harvest of the sea in which
they deal, are continually getting smaller.

Loss ON POST CARDS.—It is understood (says
a London correspondent) that the recent changes in
the price and quality of post-cards was owing to
weighty financial reasons. In reality, it has been
found that the post-card system is a loss to the Post-
office. These cards, owing to their flimsy character,
stick together, and are found so difficult to sort that
they are more .trouble than letters to stamp and
deliver. They cost the Government on an average id.
each before they leave the hands of the letter-carriers.
They have now, however, been adopted by most
European countries, by the United States of America,
and by Canada.
A RABA Avis.—Jones.—" Who is that Girl all
the Men seem so anxious to be introduced to ?"
Brown. "0, that's Miss Pynke. Wonderful Woman,
Sir ! "—Jones. "What has she done ?"—Brown.
"Never written a Novel, or contributed to a
Magazine ! "—Punch.
SHOT IN BOTTLES.—A clergyman, who says
his early training was for the medical profession,
writes to The Times :—" Many years ago my father,
who was a physician and whose medical pupil I then
was, was called to see a farmer's wife whose case baffled
the usual medical attendant. My father pronounced
it to be a case of lead poisoning. A minute inquiry
was at once instituted into the water, food-cooking
utensils, &c.; but nothing was discovered which could
in any way corroborate my father's assumption. The
poor woman had been ill a week or two before my
father was called in, she lingered some little time after
and died. We attended the funeral, and after the
funeral her husband signified a wish to see my father
as he had something to show him. It was a bottle of
cider which had been half emptied, and which be had
found in the cupboard, and of the contents of which
his wife had partaken just before she was taken ill,
and which fact he had entirely forgotten until he had
seen the bottle in the cupboard the day before the
funeral. The mystery was solved. At the bottom of
the bottle was a quantity of shot all crusted over by
the action of the cider, and the cause of death at once
was made evident."

A PLAUSIBLE SUSPICION. The following
curious anecdote (says the Echo) is related by M.
Aurelien Scholl in the Evenement

"Some young men were conversing in a private room of
the Maison d'Or. Among them was the Duke de Gramont-
Caderousse, deceased at the age of 32. Some one reproached
him with being too much in favour of the people and with
being imbued with the new democratic ideas. After having
replied according to his conscience, he exclaimed, 'Well,
gentlemen, I will wager that, without having done anything
to merit. I will get myself arrested before an hour.
Without having done anything to deserve it ? "Nothing.'
The bet was taken, 50 louis Caderousse jumped into a cab,
drove to the Temple, and soon returned, in a sordid costume.
A tattered cap on his head, trousers in rags, hobnailed boots,
torn, muddy, down at heels. He rubbed his face and
hands over with dirt, and then begged some one to follow
him. Thus prepared, he entered a cafi on the 13oulevarcl
Poissenni6re, seated himself at the table, and called out,
' Waiter, a bottle of champagne 1' The man hesitated an
Instant, and then said in an undertone. • That costs 12
francs." Well! replied De Gramont, have money to
pay with.' And he drew from his pocket 40 bank-notes of
a thousand francs each, which he laid on the table. The
master of the establishment sent at once for some Sergents-
de- Ville, and in a few minutes the pretended vagabond was
saying to the Commissary of Police, lam the Duke de
Gramont-Cacterousse. I had laid a wager, that I should be
arrested without having done anything to deserve it. . . I
have won, and I have now only to thank you.'"
THE CROWN JEWELS OF FRANCE. —The Paris
Correspondent of the Daily Telegraph writes :—" The
Crown jewels of France have returned to us. At the
turn of the war they were secretly despatched to Engi
land, and only last week was it judged safe to recall
them. In number, according to the inventory made
for Louis XVIII., they were already 64,812, weighing
18,751 carats, of £837,000 value. Since that time pre-
cious stones have risen enormously in price, and the
late Emperor added to his treasures. The crown of
France, in which is set the "Regent" diamond and
5,360 other jewels, was valued at £310,000 half a
century ago. The other famous diamond, the
Sancy," is set in the First Emperor's sword, a
nicknack priced at near £ll,OOO. A plaque in
brilliants of the Order of the Holy Ghost is
calculated at £16,000. The Crown jewels of France
were stolen on Aug. 16, 1792, by a band of forty thieves,
who climbed the lamp-posts and broke through a win-
dow of the gem-house. -A poor wretch was guillotined
for this offence, whereof he was perfectly innocent ;
but one guiltless head more oz less made small
difference in 1792. The jewels were all found in
the attic of a house situated in the Champs Elyades,
but how they got there, and how the police heard of
them, is a mystery to this day."
LETTER FROM ARCHBISHOP MANNING.— The
following brief letter from Archbishop Manning was
read at all the Roman Catholic Churches in the Arch-
diocekie of Westminister on Sundaymorning. "Arch.
bishop's House, Westminister, S.W. Jan- 15, 1875-
Rev. and Dear Fathdr—Our Holy Father, Pius IX.,
in giving me his blessing when I was leaving Rome
gave also his apostolical benediction, and st plenary
indulgence -upon the usual conditions, to be imparted
to my flock. I therefore fix on the time for gaining
the same the week beginning with M0nc19,3, next, the
Feast of St. Peter's Chair to the following Sunday,
inclusive. I would request you to publish this at all
the masses on Sunday next, and in your preaching to
exhort your people to make intercession for the Holy
See, and to offer up their communions for theinten-
tions of the. Sovereign Pontiff. The pontifical blessing
will be given at the high mass at the Pro-Cathedral on
Sunday, the 24th. Wishing you every blessing, I
remain, rev, and dear father, your affectionate servant
in Christ, + HENRY EDWARD, Archbishop of West-
minister."