The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1866-10-06 00:00:00

Disttllantous Ituttlligtut,

HOME, FOREIGN, AND COLONLAL.

Briton's Toms. Mr. Doran writes to the
Pall Mall Gazette to describe the lamentable condition
of Hucknall Toakard church, in which lie buried the
bodies of Lord Byron, his mother, and "Ada, sole
daughter of my house and heart." The church was
used by Cromwell's troopers as a stable, but no farmer
with any regard for his horses, would think of placing
them there now. Should a shower of rain come on
during the service, a portion of the scanty congregas
tion has to migrate from one part of the church to
another. The building rand shortly fall down if not
restored. Mr. Doran asks if Englishmen will not re•
store the resting•place of their great poet (rein such
shameful neglect. If they will not, he proposes to
appeal to the Greeks—rather a hopeless idea, we fear,
though Byron did die in their behalf at Miseolonghi.

THE ADVANTAGES OF GOING BARIEFOoT.—A
letter has been addressed by the Comtesse de Noailles,
on the benefit of going barefoot. There Is a great
deal to be said in favour of this plan, whether we
regard development, temperature, or cleanliness.
' Look at the magnificent gait of • barefoot Highland
girl, and the elastic play of every muscle, and com-
pare her feet with those of girls who have been
tortured in boots, too short or too narrow at the toes,
the object of which seems to be to compress the foot
into one unshapely and inelastic mass like a hoot-
maker's "last." As to warmth, it is pretty certain
that boots as they are quite as often make the feet
cold as warm. If people have good stout boots to
walk out in, and change them when they come in
and sit still, it is very well. But as for the
poor thin, leaky, half-worn boots of poor women
and children, they are but a sham ; they do not
keep out cold and wet; and it is needlees to say
that people who have no boots at all cannot
"catch their death" by sitting indoors with wet hoots,
As for cleanliness, the thing speaks for itself. Feet
freely exposed to the air are not offensive, and if soiled
by a walk would be washed or wiped as a matter of
course. "The smell in a cl.ve school.moin," says
Madame de Noailles, "of so many unwashed feet. care-
fully enclosed in still dirtier stockings and shoes, is
very unwholesome," whereas"CO one ever felt dis-
gusted at the little hare brown feet of the Italian pea-
Pant children." The thing is so rat ional that it only needs
be set going, and the benevolent authoress suggests to
her aristocratic fellow sanitarians that they should
set an example by allowing some of their own children
to go barefoot in the park. Probably a dimple sole,
worn as a sandal, would obviate some difficulties. It
would allow of free aeration and free play of the
muscles, and would necessitate cleanliness; it might be
elegantly fitted on, after the antique, and it would in-
sure the sole of the foot from injury and from contact
with disgusting dirt.
Roam NEWS FROM ABROAD !—The " Memo-
rial Diplomatique," on the authority of • London cot,
respondent, announces that the armaments of Great
Britain are being increased upon a vast scale. The
same correspondent ststes that :

Mr. Disraeli has prepared a Reform Rill much mere liberal
than that which wu proposet by Mr Gladstone. The new
Bill will confer the electoral franchise upon every English-
man poasessing a home and paying taxes. It ix nnivenial
suffrage, excluding the Indigent, criminal, and vagabond
classes._

A ROYAL EXHIBITION. —The Emperor of the
French has caused himself to be inscribed an an exhi-
bitor in the tenth class, which comprises ameliorations
of the moral and physical state of man. His Majesty,
whose solicitude for the interests of the labouring
classes is well known, has designed a model for • work-
man's house, which to lowness of price unites all the
accommodations desirable and the conditions required
by the public health. By paying a moderate rent, one
part of which would be devoted to a kind of sinking
fund, the tenant would in a few years become the pro-
prietor of the house; such being, in his Majesty's
opinion, one of the surest methods of instilling habits
of order and economy in the working classes.
EXTIRPATION OF WILD BEA MIL —A bill has
Jost been passed by the legislature' of Natal, which
will one day be regarded with the asine sort of amnsed
interest with which Englishmen now read the wolf
edict of King Edward. The bill authorises the govern-
ment of Natal to offer a reward of If. for every tiger
or panther killed; 10s. for every hyena, wolf, wild dog,
or alligator of four feet in length ; and 2e. 6d. for every
jackal or wildcat Where the skin Is not produced,
the skull and the ear Ups mmit be presentable. Mr.
Barton, the member who introduced the bill—the St.
George of Southern Africa—stated to the House that
he had personally killed no less than 24 tigers in his
own neighbourhood, and that his stock had been
decimated by ravenous beasts.

FACHTIAE.—ShortIy will be published, in three
volumes folio, condensed from the columns of the
morning papers, and profusely illustrated with comic
cuts and initial letters, "Broad Grins of Bribery, and
Cachinations of Corruption," being • collection of the
" good things," "spicy sayings," "rich repartees,"
and "choice chaff," of the Royal Commissioners for
enquiring into the Totnes, Reigate, Lancaster, and
Yarmouth elections. Dedicated, without permiasion,
to the Editor of Punek—Punch.

BIRTH EXTRAORDINARY-Last Sunday morn
lug on the arrival of the Irish Limited Mail, from
Loudon to Holyhead, an extraordinary birth took
place. It seems that a lady, who had only arrived
last Friday in the East India Docks from Australia,
was on her way to Ireland. Two gentlemen occu-
pied the same compartment of a second-class carriage.
On approaching the railway station the lady had to
make "candid confessions" to her companions, who
hastened to acquaint the cub-station master. No time
was lost. Everybody in the station at the early hour
of two a.m., were on the qui rice in making pre-
parations for so unusual an occurrence. Medical
assistance was sent for. and Dr. Price, of Holyhead,
was on the spot within five minutes, just in time to
receive a little stranger. The mother and child were
removed to an adjacent refreshment-house, where
every attention was paid them. It is to be regretted
that the child died in the evening, thus marring the
happy, but extraordinary event. Greet praise is due
to Mr. Evans, the sub-station-master, and to Dr.
Price, for their kindness and assiduous attention.

LIFE IE TEXAS.—A small village in the jute.
nor of Texas has been sacked by guerillas, and all the
property that could be sold or made use of in any way
wits taken, including 500 head of cattle and the same
number of horses. Two women were taken violently
from their husbands, and their persons repeatedly
outraged by the entire band, numbering over twenty.
These scoundrels mu believed to have formed a regular
society, formed to protect each others' interest, and
have things their own way. It is estimated that one
thousand people have arrived at Galveston and
Houston, Texas, to escape the persecution of guerillas
in the Itterior, who rob and murder on both sides in-
discriminately, for plunder. Affairs throughout the
State are daily becoming worse, instead of better, and
innumerable outrages are hourly recorded.
Loss OP Two LIVES AT NIAGARA FALLE.—On
Septeitiber'l2, while a terrible wind was blowing up
the golf, two men wnrci discovered in a small beat in
the rapids south of the Three Sisters. They were
Ntruggling desperately with the wave/ but human
power warn utterly unavailing. Hundreds of persons
were on Goat Island and saw them, but, of course,
were unable to render any eadstance. The terror.