The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1868-04-04 00:00:00

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GONE, FOREIGN, AND COLONIAL,

THE POET LAUREATE'S "LUCRETIUS."— Mr.
Tennyson is to contribute a poem. entitled "Lucretius,"
to the neirtnumber of " Macmillian's Magazine," and
the proprietors of that periodical have issued a solemn
warning to all newspapers that if they reproduce the
whole or the greater pot of the poem, it will be an
infringement ~f copyright—fin this the Mornin
Star remarks :

The warning, we think, was unnecessary. We are great
admirers of the Luireate hut we doubt whether many
newspapers would be likely, while Parliament is sitting. to
devote columns of their space to the reproduction of a poem
called " Lucretius," and which it is proudly announced by
the proprietors of "Macmillian's Magazine" will occupy
nine pages of that publication. Without disparaging " Lu-
cretius," we doubt whether it will surpass " Locksley flail,"
and we do not suppose any newspaper reproduced the whole
of that exquisite poem. Why is there so much more fan-
farronade now about every line the Laureate writeajthan there
was when he wrote the immortal In Memoriam," or the
exquisite " Idylls if the Kinn!" Is it not the old story of
the people who, caring cono;mratively little for genius in its
meridian splendour, worshipped it only In Its eclipse!
SERIOUS ACCIDENTS. —A melancholy accident
has taken place at Crailcsland, (Scotland), to Mr.
Hutchiwn), a farmer. While some of his servants had
been working a straw-cutting machine, part of the ma-
chinery went wrong, whereby it was stopped, and Mr.
Hutchison came to right it. While in the act of doing
no, the machine commenced to work and drew in his
left arm, tearing it off a little below the elbow. When
he felt his left hand being drag,ed into the machine,
Mr. Hutchison seized the belt of the machine with his
right hand to stop it, and it was also dragged in and
no shatteced that his right arm hail to be amputated
between the wrist and the elbow—On the previous day,
a little boy, PIM of a farmer, near Ayr, incautiously
lint his rnrht hand into a sowing machine while at
work on his father's farm, and had one of his fingers
taken off and his hand and arm otherwise shattered.

A GOOO SOLDIF.R.--- Sergeant-Major Wood-
house, who died the other day at Clewer, had been in
no less than 36 engagements, but was never wounded,
and was never absent from his duties, either from ill.
nets or any other cause, doing upwards of 25 years of
his active service in the Coldstream Guards. He was
80 yearn of ;:ge, and had a family of 18 children. Six
nerved as soldiers, and there are at the present time
three of them non-commissioned officers in the 2nd
Life Guards. One is a drummer, and for his use her
Majesty recently presented to the regiment is splendid
Hanoverian cream coloured horse. The old soldier's
regiment being on garrison duty at Win,heir at the
time of his death, he was limier! with military honours,
the band of the 2nd Life Guards attending, together
with the corps of drums anti fifes of the Coldstream
Guards. The old soldier WAN followed by his sons,
several of the Life Guards, and all the non-commis-
sioned officers of his regiment. Wreaths of laurel were
spread over his coffin. He has left an aged widow.
A FIERY DRAGON.—The most remarkable thing
in the marine illuminations on the arrival of the Duke
of Edinburgh in the harbour of Sydney was a huge
representation of a fiery dragon. The Australian
Steam Navigation Company's steamer, Vaanilv, was
enclosed on both sides by transparencies, which fonnr,l
a very striking and minutely-accurate picture of the
popular notion of a dragon—the eyes, scales, claws,
teeth, and ears of the monster all being well-pro-
portioned, and clearly discernible even at a consider-
able distance. The length of the figure was 1021 t.,
and the height at the head (in the bows of the vessel)
was 2611. The jaws were about 16ft. long, and they
were distended so as to leave an aperture for the
month of from 6ft. to 7ft. The eyes of the monster
were very admirably represented, the shading of the
colours—green, black, and red--being exceedingly
effective. The tail consisted of twenty-five ships'
boats, over each of which, froln stem to stern, row,
of lanterns were hung. A number of men inside the
Yaanda were stationed at the bows, and as the
monster moved along it was made to spit forth a
shower of rockets and other descriptions of fireworks
while the boats astern made an immense display of