The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1881-04-23 00:00:00

jJI ur To6on earrtspouball,

(We deem it right to state that we do not at all times
Wittily ourselves with our Correspondent's opinions.
The Easter holidays were welcome enough, follow-
ing a winter of unusual duration and severity. It had,
indeed, lasted intermittently six months, dating from
the snow which fell in October; so that many such
would necessitate an alteration of the calendar, which
tells us that the year is divided into feur quarters—
spring, summer, autumn, and winter. However,
spring has come at last, and after Good Friday the
popular Easter vacation begins in full vigour. Its
pleasures are not confined to persons of leisure,
members of Parliament and Volunteers. The first
named fortunate class are of course enabled to make a
stay of respectable length in the country, where trout
fishing is just beginning; and after one of the warm
April showers the delightful scent of the damp rich
soil fills the air, the brushwood has burst into leaf in
a day, and Nature has again awakened into active
life. It is no longer necessary to make a minute
search for the beauties of early spring ; they are now
perceptible upon the hedgerows, on the banks be-
side the flowing river, and in the pale tints of the
opening verdure.
For the vast numbers who, throughout the year are
"in populous city pent," Easter, as the greatest
of our public holidays next to Christmas, is peculiarly
grateful this year. The festival is three weeks later than
it was in 1880—three weeks to the good, with longer
days, and chances of warmer weather. The London multi-
tudes from out of the great town by every road and rail-
way, and amid the green lanes of Middlesex, upon the
commons of Surrey, and the pleasant slopes of Kent,
catch their first glimpse of spring. Easter cannot be
celebrated indoors and by the fireside like Christmas;
it suggests a breath of fresh air, and Londoners, as well
as the people of other great towns, make up their minds
that the time has come when they may spend a few
hours away from home. They make an effort to get out
from the mass of bricks and mortar by which they are
constantly surrounded. If it is only to Hampstead,
on one side of the river, or to Blackheath, upon
the other, or even to Battersea or Victoria-
Parks—there the people are to be found amongst the
budding trees and the green grass, and under the open
sky. Few large cities are more favoured than London
with suburban breathing grounds. There are parks in
every direction—that at Richmond, for instance, offer-
ing a retreat from the noise and the bustle, and the
turmoil of city life, which for quiet, and freshness,
and beauty, might be as far away from the smoke and
din as the Berkshire downs. There are more ambi-
tious holiday-makers who make for the sea, fully
believing in the invigorating influence of its health-
giving breezes.
The revival of the Volunteer Review is a subject
for general congratulation. It gives both volunteers
and spectators something to look forward to and
something to remember for many a day after the
pageant has passed and gone. To the metropolitan
Volunteers the occasion is specially acceptable, as the
scene of mimic warfare is of necessity fixed at a dis-
tance from Loudon, and the journey thither by road
or rail, through the open country, affords a wondrous
change for men who for months together never gaze upon
a field or a hedgerow. It has been suggested that our
Volunteers should have a few more of these healthy
hard-working holidays. There is something attrac-
tive and exhilarating in such a long walk through
some of the prettiest pictures which Nature has painted
in this is/and. As to the review itself, although stern
military critics have cast doubts upon its utility as per-
fecting theeliscipline of the Volunteers, it cannot be
doubted that such a gathering tends to keep the
movement prominently before the eyes of the public,
• and encourages the national spirit of the people.
The terrible accounts of the earthquake at Chio
increase in horror so far as regards the sacrifice of
life. It is difficult to realise in this country
a calamity which involves the loss of eight thou-
sand lives. The most stupendous catastrophe of
modern times in England was the sinking of
the steamer Princess Alice in the Thames on the
3rd September, 1878, when it was estimated that
seven hundred persons were drowned. The awful
convulsion of Nature which has destroyed Chio has,
we are told, swept away more than ten times that
number. The island is said to be sinking into the sea,
while the land between it and the continent is
rising. The straits, which gave soundings of forty-
five fathoms, give now only fifteen. No wonder
that the islanders are fleeing from the place in
crowds. The story of its gradual subsidence has
been told over and over again of other parts of the
earth's surface. Geologists assure us that at one
time, far remote in the world's history, England
formed part of the Continent of Europe and that it
must have been separated by some terrible convulsion.
Fearful indeed it doubtless was, and dire the destruc-
tion wrought. At its narrowest part the Channel
shows twenty-one miles of water, but its depth is
scarcely commensurate with its width. Could the
towers of Westminster Abbey, 223 feet high, be
planted in mid-channel they would rise 45 feet above
the level of the water, so that the Channel, at its
deepest part, would have only about 180 feet of sea
in it.
In another way, however, the intelligence from
Greece is of a satisfactory character. The settlement
of the Greek claims upon Turkey dispels the fears of
another war in the south-east of Europe which have
for some time disturbed the rest of statesmen and
diplomatists. Nearly three years have elapsed since
the ratification of the Treaty of Berlin gave to the
people of Greece those hopes of an extension of terri-
tory which have now been realised, although not to
their fullest extent. Greece is counselled by the
Great Powers to be content with what has now
been peaceably secured, and is reminded that the
beginning of the century found her a poor Turkish
province, now she is a rising nationality, not indeed
of the fame of her illustrions prototype of three
thousand years ago, whose sons, whether in war or
peace, were equally famous, Greece has now no war-
riors like Achilles or Agamemnon, no historians like
Herodotus, no poets like Homer, no sculptors like
Phidias, no lawgivers like Solon, no philosophers like
Socrates, no magistrates with the fame of Aristides;
but in those days, whatever the Greeks might have
been physically, they were giants intellectually; and
the light of that time, having been extinguished, has
not been since vouchsafed to any age or nation.
Although the Parliamentary holiday of the House
of Commons will be shorter than that of the Lords,
the representatives of the people will have had a clear
fortnight when they reassemble, and that is more than
falls to the lot of most of Her Majesty's lieges at
Eastertide. They will not have to wait so long for
their next vacation as the time which elapsed from
the feast of the Epiphany unto the time of their recent
adjournment, nor much more than half of it. Seven
weeks divide Easter from Whitsuntide, and then
another holiday is in store, not so long as this
one has been; still a break in the run of legisla-
tion—a relief from the pressure of Parliamentary lif e
In the interval between Easter and Whitsuntide, if
honourable members arezinclustrious, a great deal could
be done. It is the best time for work, when the atmos-
phere is not charged with the scorching heats of July
and August, and when the breeze even from the river
suggests a temperature more familiar to Madras or
Bombay than to our own latitudes.
. A considerable proportion of the people of England
must at some time or other have heard the eloquence
of Dr. Morley Punshon. He was another of the self-
made men of whom the country is so proud, and used
his great gifts for the enlightenment and instruction
of his fellows. Commanding in presence, dignified in
, manner, and with a wonderful wealth of language, he
was a striking figure both in the pulpit and on the plat-
form; and the good which such a man might naturally
be expected to effect by his graphic descriptions, his
vigcrous appeals, and his earnest and telling illustra-
tions, may truly enough be deemed incalculable.
While all the country was waiting, hour by hour, for
the issue of the bulletins notifying the condition of
Lord Beaconsfield, a man like Dr. Punshon, twenty
years the junior of the ex-Premier, was attacked by
the same complaint, and swept away in the full
maturity of his remarkable powers, to ths regret of
all who ever had the , privilege of listening to his
eloquent words or of appreciating the stirring nature
of his ornate discourses.
The Queen's Birthday is to be generallyrcelebrated
on the date itself—the 24th of May—so far as the
provinces are concerned; but in London, in order to
avoid any inconvenience likely to arise from the fact
that Parliament will be sitting on that day, the official
celebration will take place on the Saturday following.
The reason for this is obvious. The Ministers and
great officers of State, who give erand banquets on that
evening, are members of one or the other Houses of
Parliament, and so is a considerable proportion of
their guests. On Saturday evening there are no Par-
liamentary duties, so our legislators are free to accept
any suggestions outside the walls of the Palace of
Westminster. The Prince of Wales is, on this occa-
sion, generally the guest of the Prime Minister of the
day, whoever he may happen to be; the Duke of
Edinburgh dines with the First Lord of the
Admiralty, and the Duke of Connaught with the
Secretary of State for War; thus, no matter

thoroughly carrying out the constitutional theory
that the Court is strictly impartial.
The first warning note of the Cricket season has
been sounded, although the season proper can hardly
be said to have begun in real earnest just yet.
Generally speaking, May has half run through before
really first-class cricket commences, but the noble
I&. is in full min in the Univenitiee and At the

Public Schools as soon after the Eastertide holidays
are at an end as possible. It is, of course, a matter of
difficulty to foretell what may be the chief charac-
teristics of the season of 1881, so much depends on
the elements as to whether the bat or the ball will
be in the ascendant. It has been predicted that
there will be a fine, dry summer, and should this be
realised, there is every possibility of a successful year
for the batsman. At the present time the grounds
everywhere are in excellent order, and the four months
usually devoted to cricket will be entered upon with
the brightest prospects. This year there will be no
competitors from Australia, and at pcesent it seems
doubtful if the anticipated arrival of American
cricketers will take place. But even if our own ex-
ponents of the game are left to themselves, they will
assuredly show veky good results, for t e game seems
to be Increasing in attractiveness and popularity, and
a capital season is anticipated.