The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1887-06-18 00:00:00

iiur puha Corrtspoubtni.
(We degn_it right to state that we do not at all timea
identif y ourselves with our Correspondent's opinions.]

Ere long now the 21st of June will be a thing
of the past, and though military, and naval, and
volunteer reviews will still have to come, the
greatest of Jubilee celebrations will be over.
We are thus upon the threshold of an occasion
which will be marked in history, and such of us
as actively assist in any portion of the rejoicings
will feel that we are paiticipating in that which
will be recorded in the national chronicle as long
as England continues to be. Under such cir-
cumstances, it is not to be wondered at
that the preparations for the celebrations
are being completed upon the largest scale,
and that, as the eventful day draws near,
the popilar idea of its interest and importance
broadens and deepens. London naturally is the
centre of. the national outburst, for it is to the
venerable -Abbey Church of St. Peter at West-
minster, where the Queen was crowned just
forty-nine years ago, when she was a girl of
nineteen, that her Majesty will now proceed to
offer up thanks for the-blessings which have been
vouchsafed to her and her people during the
length of her reign. The sacred fane is nearly
ready for the special service, and the seats have
all been allotted. There will be gathered together
representatives from all parts of the world, as
well as the greatest men in English statesman-
ship, literature, science, and art; and such an
assembly will be seen as has not been witnessed
in this country under one roof since her Majesty's
coronation on June 28, 1838.
As far as the general public of the metropolis
are concerned the special service will not be the
main feature of the Jubilee celebration, for, when
every effort has been-made, only a comparatively
small number of persons can be accommodated in
the Abbey. It ia the Royal procession from
Buckingham Palace to Westminster and back
again which will attract the greatest amount of
popular attention, and no-one who lives outside
London can quite realise the extraordinary efforts
which are being made to secure places along the
line of route. That line is a long one—much
longer than it was expected to be when the
service was first spoken of—but if it were three
times as long, the demand for windows overlooking
it could scarcely be satisfied. As it is, the competi
tion is exceedingly keen, and rooms are being let at-
what may almost be called fabulous prices. And
wlien the procession has passed and gone there
will still be much to see, for there will be the
decorations to view by day and the illuminations
by night. The latter are expected to be un-
usually brilliant, and they will be placed in many a
thoroughfare untravelled by the Royal carriages.
In the narrow streets of the City as well as in
the broader ones which adorn the West-end, gas
displays in all manner of loyal devices will be
prominent. The only difficulty will be the ex-
cessive crowding of the streets, for, as those who
have been in London on similar occasions can.
testify, the crush at such times can only be des-
cribed as terrible. The police do all in their
;'.power to keep the crowd moving, but a crowd is
etedifficult thing to manage, and the best efforts
to control it sometimes fail. Perhaps the most
obvious way to lessen the throng on the night of
the 21st, as well as to enable many nervous
persons to see the sight, is to light up the
illuminations for two or three nights, and there
is no doubt that, as to the most of them, this
will be done.
A fashion was introduced among young ladies
a few years ago of passing what they called
"Confession Books" to their friends, and asking
them to record therein their favourite authors,
poems, paintings, and other like things. In
,these days the. fashion has spread, and it now
takes the form, of asking some eminent person
to state what are the books which live influenced
him, and then of publishing the answer in the
newspapers. As may be imagined, the replies
are very various, and, it must be confessed, some
of them scarcely strike the average reader as
quite genuine. There is, of course, no conscious
. deception intended, but one cannot help thinking
that in certain cases an author quotes some
of the more abstruse, works which have
.4 reputation of their own in the annals
of literature,, to the exclusion of the humbler
works Arch almost insensibly may form a
• man's • style: Bat some answers are certainly
'rank, enough,- and when such a -man as Mr.
▪ • Ruskin frankly confesses that the more he
thought of the question the less answerable he
considered it, adding, "R, ery book that I like
influences my style, andteaty years of constant
reading have carried me through more pleasant
- • books than I can remember," there is a ring of
' • sincerity in the reply which enforces belief. And
when he further says, "Of favourite books I have
—hone; every book on my libeery shelves is a
favourite iu its own way and time;" the true book-
lover will heartily sympathise with thestatement.
For the man to whom a library is a very real
thing estimates the true value to himself of every
book he possesses, and, like a wise parent, will
• not make such a favourite of any one child as
• shall exclude the remainder of his family from
• affection.
• •-• •Trade in this country continues to show signs
of improvement, and though the rate of progress
•r• is not so great as most of us would like, it may
• be hoped that it will conform to the old idea of
• "slow but sure." And as commerce is a
matter that in large degree acts and re-acts
between different countries, it is of interest to
, watch the welfare of kindred nations. In
the United States, we are told, the crop
prospects • show a decided improvement;
while the financial situation also is grow-
ing better, but it is added, and the addition
must be regarded as disquieting, great specula-
tions appear to be near a crisis, and the effects of
the labour struggles are felt more seriously. In
this last fact is conveyed a hint to ourselves, and
that is not to believe, as ths pessimists among us
would sometimes have us think, that England
has the, virtual monopoly of labour struggles.
• We have a good many of them, it is true, and
some are extensive and disastrous enough; but
••• it needs only to look at the recent great strikes
Belgium and the United States to see that
. „other industrial countries have them also, and
on a more prodigieus scale. There are careful ob-
servers who believb,tehat it is in this very direc-
tion that the greatest difficulties of the
future will occur for the United States. A grow-
ing unrest appears to have set in among ,the
artisans and labourers of that vast country, and
• - already strikes hava been ofganised there, which
have put the largest of ours into the shade.
Almost more popular interest than might
.• have been expected has been aroused by the
promised issue of the new coinage, and the
Master of the Mint has had to modify his original
wee • intention in order to. cope with it. The design
IWO be'en• to giver out the • first batch of new
.. coins to the public on "Jubilee Day," but when
-it was found that this was to be made a
4- lank holiday by proclamation • it was
eee. •
thought desirable to make such arrange-
: -e•-• ments as. ,would. place the coins the day
-"Wore in the hands of those who wanted
them. This step was the more worth taking
- • because it had been intimated to the authorities
, . at the Mint that many persons in various parts
- of the country wished to make 8: present of a set
of the coins ta their friends on the 21st, so that
• • - in every way_ it should be a true Jubilee me-
morial—a memorial all the more appropriate
ee, because the likeness of the Queen is a true one
" of her as she appeais in the present year of grace.
• ••
. . • • "A curious edculty, presents itself, how-
ever, in- the way -of . procuring a complete
set, for • it has been . "semi-officially intl.-
• mated that, the new five-pound piece
~.. will not be 'issued for general circulation,
not having been-designed for that purpose. This
fact arouses curious reflections in the non-
official breast, for the question is naturally put
as to the necessity or the wisdom for going to
the trtruble and expense e)f minting a coin which
is 'not to be :issued teethe public. One is accus-
. .
• . • tomed to look upon. the Mint as one of the most
- practical institutions we possess, and the view of
its duties it has taken in regard to the five-
, pound piece must strike many of us as strange.
• I 'es • ee, _What gepeculiarly cosmopolitan place London
, and' now even more completely cosmopolitan
eieteee. becoming is evidenced by a bazaar which
"- was held her a few days since in aid of a fund
" for establishing an Armenian, Church. The com-
munity of Armenians •in 'London, though small
in numbers, is imPOrtant• in the social status of
its numbers, as may be judged from the fact that
there were secured among the ladies who acted as
stall-holders the Countesses of Darnley, Ranfurly,
and Mayo, Lady Lethbridge, and Madame
Albani. It would be difficult to estimate the
number of such separate foreign " colonies " in
London. We have among us a vast number of
French, Germans, Italians, and Americans, but
these scarcely form colonies in themselves, being
scattered all over the metropolis engaged in
various trades and professions. Perhaps the
most distinctive among them are the Germans,
for there are whole districts in the East-end
which they monopolise, and over the shcpdoors
of which not an English name is to be seen. The
French, as most folk know, congregate largely in
the neighbourhood of Leicester-square, and
those who wish to know what Parisian ,cookey
is like may ascertain the fact if they visit

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some of the restaurants of Soho. As a matter oe
fact, there is no civilised nationality in ths
globe which has not a detachment of its citizen;
dwelling in London. Curious statistics are in-
cluded in the detailed reports of each decennial
census bearing ,upon this point, but an even
more striking proof of it can be found in keeping
an observant eye upon those we meet in certain
well-known portions of the metropolis.
Although the arts of peace command in these
days increased attention, there is obviously no
diminution in the amount of study devoted to
the art of war. Scarcely a week passes without
an intimation being given that some new develop-
ment in this latter direction is being secured,
either in the shape of an improved torpedo-boat,
a better magazine rifle, or a more powerful ex-
plosive. One of the latest of such developments
is a new small-bore rifle, the projectile from
which is much smaller than the bullet now in use
for the Martini-Enfield, the regulation rifle of
the British army. Tests have been adopted
at the Enfield Small Arms Factory to prove
whether the smaller bullet would have a
sufficient " stopping " force as compared with the
heavier one now in vogue for military operations,
and the result is said to have been highly satis-
factory. If that should prove to be the case, the
special advantage of the new ammunition would
be that the soldier could carry a double supply
of cartridges, besides which the weapon itself
would be lighter. But those who long for a time
of universal peace must surely sigh when they
see that period treated by the public men of the
day as if it would never come, for of wars and
rumours of wars there is apparently no end._

A. F. R.