The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1888-05-19 00:00:00

LONDON CORRESPONDENCE,

We deem it right to state we do not at all times identify
ourselves with our Correspondent's opinions.

One of the amusements of fashionable London
at this season of the year is to attend "private
views." Whether it is a picture gallery or a com-
mercial exhibition that is to be opened, there is
an inevitable "private view" beforehand, and a
miscellaneous crowd always assembles to take
part in it. Many of those present are journalists,
who are thus able to see what the show is to be
like, and to properly describe it before the rush
and hurry of the opening day; but in these times
the throng at the "private views" has grown so
great that it has been found to be necessary to
have "press views" as well, for the special bene-
fit of the caterers for the public intelligence. At
the "private view," in fact, as at present arranged,
the visitors seem to come more to see each other
than the particular show in which they are
supposed to be interested. Everybody seems
to know everybody else, for, large as
London is, the section specially affected by
these institutions is comparatively a sm,all one;
and, consequently, an opportunity for chat and
gossip is afforded that is eagerly availed of. And,
therefore, it is no wonder that the visitors come
away far better acquainted with the state of
health of their friends, the manner in which
those friends are dressed, or the latest scandal
of the day, than with the pictures or the exhibits
they had been invited to contemplate.
As every summer comes around, the question
is raised in London, "How can the evenings
best be spent ?" The answer in the winter is
obvious, though it necessarily varies according
to the tastes of him or her who replies, for there
are concerts and theatres, lectures and other
assemblies which welcome their crowds at that
season of the year. But the answer in the
summer is not so apparent, for, after the heat
and glare of the day, the tens of thousands
who work for their living, and who
wish to enjoy their few leisure hours after their
toil is done, close and confined rooms are not
pleasant, even though the amusement provided
might under other circumstances be anything
that was desirable. Of course, there are the
parks, but, even to the most devoted lover of
strolling, there is an element of monotony in
"doing the parks" every evening, and, therefore,
something more stimulating is demanded. Open-
air concerts have been suggested and have some-
times been tried, but not altogether with suc-
cess, for the amusements that seem best to
flourish in Paris or Brussels or Vienna do
not appear readily to acclimatise them-
selves in London. For some years the South
Kensington Exhibitions provided a form of open-
air evening entertainment which was much en-
joyed, and a repetition of the experiment is being
made this summer, with what amount of success
remains to be seen.

A great deal of talk has lately taken place con-
cerning the state of our national defences, and a
movement has been set on foot in the City of
London which has for its object the better pro-
tection of the capital in case of invasion. One
of the proposals that has been made is that
London should be surrounded with a
belt of earthworks, which would form
rallying-points for the defenders of the
metropolis, and the arguments for and
against such a proposal have been many. There
is one consideration, however, which is worth
considering, though it has not yet received the
attention it deserves. At this moment, it is true,
London is an unfortified city, and therefore it
presents vulnerable points on every side. It may
be taken for granted that no system of earth-
works which even the most skilled engineer could
devise and the country be willing to provide, would
make her invulnerable. The question for serious
thought then is this: By the laws of war an un-
fortified city cannot be bombarded, while one at
all protected by forts or outworks can be, and
as the provision of any of the latter would, there-
fore, be ample provocation for a bombardment
though it would not be an absolute protection
for the capital, it is a matter for careful debate
whether the risk is worth taking. _

Not many years ago those pe-rsons who would
have suggested that there was aprobability of the
attention of the trading public being once more
directed to canals as serious rivals to railways for
commercial purposes might almost have been
counted upon the fingers of the hand. It had
come to be practically taken for granted that
canals had had their day, and that the next thing
to be done in connection with them was to fill
them up and have done with them once and for
evermore. But of late a wave of revived interest
in canals and their possibilities has come over the
British people, and just now there is an even in-
creasing attention being given to them. Man-
chester, after long years of struggle, having
secured a canal to the Mersey, Bir-
mingham is thinking of following the
example with one to the Severn or
the Thames. Other towns are eagerly pressing
forward similar claims • and at a two days'
conference on the subject of inland navigation,
held a few days ago in London, the arguments in
favour of extending and elaborating the canal
system in various directions were stated with a
degree of force and precision not likely to be lost
upon any interested in the subject.
Paris has just provided herself with an
exact model of the Bastille, as that historic
fortress stood previous to its destruction just a
year short of a century since. As may easily be
imagined, this has caused much interest among
Parisians, and it is certain to attract thousands
of the foreign visitors who always assemble in
the city on the Seine during the summer, it is
singular how widely this fashion of reconstruct-
ing a semblance of ancient buildings has spread
since it was introduced at a South Kensington
Exhibition a few years ago in the shape of a
model of a street in "Old London." Nearly
every provincial exhibition since that time has
had a similar representation of its own locality.
Manchester, Newcastle, Edinburgh, and, in
this present year, Glasgow, all have had them,
and now, as has been noted, the custom has
crossed the Straits of Dover, and made its
appearance in Paris. It is at once BO interesting
and instructive that no surprise need be felt at
this, and we are likely to see many more such
reproductions before the fashion dies away.
Although the word " spinster " remains in the
language, and is used in formal documents upon
that occasion which proves so important in the
lives of most of us, its origin has almost died out
from the minds of all except dictionary-
makers. That origin, of course, was that
the unmarried girls of a family were accustomed
to do all the yarn-spinning that was required;
but in these times we find it easier to buy yarn
than to spin it, and the old custom has practi-
cally died out. It is, therefore, the more in-
teresting to know that the Queen has forwarded
to the Woman's Industries Section of the
Glasgow International Exhibition two table
napkins, manufactured from yarn spun
by her Majesty. Most of us would
have been inclined to look upon a,
spinning-wheel, had we ever seen one in a home-
stead, in the light of an archmological curiosity
rather than an article of use but her Majesty is
evidently of a very different opinion. There
have been writers even of these latter days who
have deplored the dying out of spinning, because
they held that it was not only a most useful but
an exceedingly graceful pursuit for the younger
portion of our female population; but spinning.
wheels, like snuffers and tinder-boxes, have had
their day, and have been swept aside by the im-
provements born of modern civilisation.
One of the most popular of summer pastimes,
wherever there is a stream sufficiently large upon
which it can be indulged, is boating, and with
the earlier days of sunshine any number of craft
have been brought out from their winter resting.
places. Of course, there are people who row all
the year round, just as there are those who swim,
but the particular class of boating to which one
is just now referring is of the pleasure-taking
order, which is less hard work than a lounge.
The upper reaches of the Thames are pecu-
liarly fitted for this class of boating, which
bears the same relation to solemn and
sedulous rowing as sauntering along a leafy
lane does to a set walking tour through the
country roans. But even when indulged in per-
functorily after the fashion just indicated, boat-
ing is a healthy, pleasant exercise, which
des3rves encouragement. There is danger in it,
as there is danger in almost every pursuit of
man, but for the cautious it is practically non-
existent. And of i sunny afternoon, nothing
can be imagined much more pleasant than a row
along one of our English rivers, which, though
their scenery may not be striking, afford some of
the most beautiful pictures we possess.