The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1872-11-09 00:00:00

glistellantous

EOM, FOREIGN, AND COLONIAL,

A lincr TO THE SLEEPLYRS!—Henry Ward
Beecher sometimes tiada it difticult to get sleep, and
after proving the inefficiency of various prescriptions
of the milder order—that is, such as csn be adminis
tered without calling the reetiess pat ent out of bed,
he proceeds as follows I walk ilto the bath-room
and turn on a little water, just enough to put my feet
and ankles into, and it is very rare indeed that the
obstinacy of my system resists that. This operation
brings the blood down to the feet, and I can always
get to sleep. If I cannot, I tarn on a little more water
and sit down in it,

Nits, Tilnerits.—An American paper states
that Mr. Fechter is trying some very novel experi-
ments in the construction of his new theatre in New
York. The stage will stretch forward into the centre
of the house. Its back will be in the shape of a quarter
dome, with the concavity turned towards the audi-
ence. This will be painted blue, so as to have as
natural a sky as possible. By an ingenious device,
cloud shadows will be made to pass across it, when the
mere is laid in the open air. The usual place of the
orchestra will be filled with fragrant flowers and a
stream of running water.. The t. bawl will play nudes
the stage. Careful acoustic arrangements insure their
being heard, although they will be wholly unseen.

A SHORT WAY WITH NUNS t—The Bhuddist
nunneries at Wuchang have been suppressed, and tne
parents of the girls notified that if not claimed and
taken home the ex-nuns will be handed over to any
eligible parties desiring wives; there are numerous ap-
plications for them.

TRAM CON.) 00AL IMPARTIALITY. —"I can ILS-
sure yin" Sarah, that I'm not at all the sort of Woman
who can't see a Man's Faults because she happens to
be Married to him. On the contrary. I'm quite
cowl/iced that if dear Robert wern,not absolutcl p fault-
less, as I must say he is, I should be the rests first
Person to find it out" ! !! !—Purish.

Citiceao.—lt appears that when Chicago was
burning there was abundance of water below it.
Artesian wells are being opened in that city, 21 having
already been bored, and in no instance has a failure to
obtain a plentiful supply of water occurred. A well at
Kellwood, justsouth of Chicago, 1,255 ft. deep, andsitin.
in diameter at the bottom, yields 650 gallons per
minute. It cost about 6,000 dole. A well in the buss.
IICSN centre of Chicago is 1,6001 t. deep, yields 525 sallons
per minute, and cost 7,000 dots. The usual depth of
the wells is from 1,2001 t. to 1,300 ft., and the average
cost is 6,000 dole, for a &kin. well, 1,200 ft. deep, and
5,000 dole. for a 4io. burn to the same depth. The
surface pressure of the water varies from 2216. to 351 b.
to the square it ch, and the latter pressure is suflicient
to throw a stream to the height of 100 ft. The deepest
well in Chicago is in the South Park, where the bore,
in diameter, has been carried down 1,640 ft. The
comparative smallness of the flow from this well is
adduced as an argument in favour of larger bcrings.

TIIK COST OF LIVING.-191E. Spemcolagh was
re-elected High Constable of Chatham, last week, and
at the banquet in the evening Mr. A. J. Otway, M.P.,
responding to the toast of "The Borough Members,"
referred to the dearness of provisions, and asked why
it was the English as a nation were the worst and most
expensively fed people in the world. In answering
this question he asserted that the wives of English
householders did not take the trouble to master their busi-
ness properly. A French middle class family would
live infinitely better than a similar one in England at
two-thirds of the coot, owing to the English ignorance
of the art of cookery, and the scandalous waste of
articles which might be used to good purposes. This
matter was getting very serious to the country.
INCUMBENTS' RESIGNATION ACT.—The Rev.
Canon Kennawiy, vicar of Chipping Camptlen,
Glocestershire, having represented to the Lord Bishop
of the diocese that he was incapacitated for the due per-
formance of his duties, his lordship issued a Commis-
sion under the Incumbents' Resignation Act, 1871.
The Commiwioners were Archdeacon Sir George
Prevost, the Rev. Canon Hutchinson, the Rev. G. 1).
Bourne, Mr. E. Holland, and Colonel Noel. The first
meeting under the Commiwion was held at Chipping
Campden on Thursday. Witnesses were examined on
oath to prove the state of health of the vicar, the
amount of the income and outgoings of the vicarage,
due service of the formal documents, and other matters.
It appeared from the evidence taken that the vicar was
incapacitated by mental and bodily infirmity for the
due performance of his duties, that the gross income
of the benifice was £B5O, net income £765. The
Commissioners unanimously resolved to make a return
to the effect that the proposed resignation was ex-
pedient, and recommended a pension of £l7O per
annum. The proceedings were the first instituted
under this Act in the Archdeaconry of Glocester.

A HORRIBLE Sin ERSTITION. —The Provi-
dence Herald, of Septerc r er 5, says :
. .

'The village of Peacedale was thrown into excitement on
Thursday Mat by the report that two graves had been dug up
rinse Watson's Corner, on the short of the Saugatuck River.
The family of Mr William Rose, who reside at Saunders-
town, near the South Ferry, are subject to consumption,
several members of the family having died of the distame ;
and one member of the family is now quite low with it. At
the urgent request of the sick man, the father, assisted by
Charles Barrington, of North Kingston, repaired to the
burying-ground, located one mile north of Peacedale, and,
after building a fire, first dug up the grave of his son, who
had been burned twelve year., for the purpose of taking out
his heart and liver, which were to he placed in the tire and
consumed, in order to carry out the old superstition that the
consumptive dead draw nourishment from the living. But as
the body was entirely reduced to ashes, except a few bones.
it was shortly covered up, and the body of a daughter, who
had been dead seven year., was taken out of the grave beside
her brother. This body was found to be nearly wasted away,
except the vital parts, the liver and heart, which were in a
perfect state of preservation. The coffin was nearly perfect,
while the son'e coffin was nearly demolished. After the heart
and liver had been taken out, they were placed in the fire and
consumed, the ashes only being pint back in the grave. The
tire was then put out, arid the two men departed to their re-
spective homes. Only a few spectators were present to wit-
ness the horrible scene. It seems that this is not the first time
that grave, have been dug up where consumption was preva-
lent in the family, and the vital parts burned iu order to
save the living. A few years ago the same was done in the
village of Moorefield, and also in the town of North Kingston.

AN IRISH " WAKE!"—A shocking occurrence
arising out of the barbarous practice of " waking " the
dead, has just occurred in Dublin. A child named
Sharpe having died of bronchitis, its parents had a
wake in accordance with the usual practice of the
lower classes, which, though strongly discountenanced
by the Roman Catholic clergy, is still persisted in,
because it affords an occasion for dissipation. The
company retired at eleven o'clock at night, and at
naybreak next morning, an alarm of tire having been
raised, the room in which the dead child lay was
broken open, and it was found that both the father
and mother were suffocated and the corpse of the
infant was burnt to a cinder!—An inquest was held on
the bodies, and it was proved that the unfortunate
creatures had quarrelled about the place of sepulture
of the child they were waking, the man being a Pro-
testant and the woman a Catholic. Both were drunk.
The verdict was, "Death by Suffocation."

A CROW FROM THE CRADLE.—The question
of Baby Farming, considered as destined to be affected
by the progress of paternal legislation, assumes an
aspect of national importance.—Punch.
A COLLIERY ON FIRE.—The work of filling
the Darfield Main Colliery with water is proceeding in
a vet y satisfactory manner, there having la-en no ex-
plosions so tar, and the prospects as to opening out are
more encouraging, although the clearing of the work-
ings, under the most favourable conditions, will be a
work of time. This will be apparent when is stated
that there are about 70 acres of goave "or open space
where the coal has been taken from it, and it has been
calculated that it will require about 42 days to draw
the water out, supposing 2,000 tons to be raised every
24 hours. Some temporary head-gearing has been
erected, that formerly in use having been all but
destroyed by the tire, and preparations are being made
for opening the shafts for the purpose of seeing what
damage they have received towards the top, and re-
pairing it. In the course of a few days it is expected
that the water will have advanced to the height fixed
upon by those in charge of the colliery, and shortly
afterwards the necessary steps will be taken to draw
it out. Sanguine expectations are entertained that the
early part of next year will see the colliery once mare
in full operation.
HAIR• BREADTH ESCAPE.—The ladies' car of
an express train on the Paducah and Elizabethtown
Railroad, in Kentucky, was thrown from the track
on the night of the 12th of October, and tumbled
down an embankment 40ft. in height Two persons
were killed and fourteen injured. One lady in the
car had her hair caught in a wheel in such a manner
that it had to be cut off close to the head before
she could be released. A child in her arms was un-
injured.
A NOVEL APPLICATION TO A LONDON MA-
GISTRATE.—At the Clerkenwell police court an English
woman, applied to the sitting magistrate under the
following circumstances: She stated that her daughter
was now, and had for some time been, residing in
Offenbach, in Germany, and had received an offer of
marriage from a German tradesman. As she was only
19 years of age, she understood that she could not be
legally married without she received the consent of her
mother, and therefore she had written to ask her to
send her consent, and to get that consent signed in the
presence of a magistrate. She was quite willing to
give her consent, as she thought it would be a good
thing for her daughter; and therefore it was that ohs
applied to his worship for him to put his signature to
her consent. It VMS necessary that her consent should
be given at once, as the marriage was fixed to take
place on the 9th inst. ; and when it had taken place
they intended going to the capital. The magistrate
said he could not assist the applicant, and she then
withdrew.
THE TICHEORNE CLAIMANT. —The trial of the
Claimant on the indictments removed from the Cen-
tral Criminal Court into the Court of Queen's Bench
is set down for the sittings after the mailing term in
Middlesex, appointed to commence on the 2fith of
November. Notices have been Mimed by the Solicitor
to the Treasury on the three indictments, and a
special application will be made to the Court as
to the hearing of the indictments, which must
occupy a considerable time. The indictment for per-
jury, in which there will be a special jury, will be first
taken. The indictments are entitled "The Queens-.
Castro, otherwise Orion, &c." In the action in the
'llommon Pleas, " Tichborne r. Dishington' " the onus
was on the Claimant to establish his alleged right, but
on the forthcoming trial the onus pro&andi will be on
the prosecution. The case has been removed to the
Crown Office, but will be taken at the Nisi Prim sit-
tings.
GEOGRAPHY ON 'CHANGE.— Portly Stockjr,blor
(gloomily): " Those Bonds are down again! It appears
the Americans have taken Umbrage—" Stumpy
Ditto: "The Deuce they have! Whereabouts is
that l" ! !—Pooch.
ECONOMY AND COAL !—Householders who are
anxious to economize their coal will do well to try a
plan suggested by a correspondent of the Edinburgh
Courant, which, assuming it to prove effectual, 'Mould
at once practically reduce coals to a third of their present
price (remarks the Pall Mall Ga-,ette). Looking over
an old volume, he says he found the following valuable
piece of information :—" By expending one penny
you can render one ton of coals equal to three
tons. One pennyworth of tar-water will sutu
rate a tub of coals with treble its original quantity
of bitumen, the principal source of their heat and
light, and of course render one such tub of three times
more value than when it was unsaturated." Any
householder who finds thir experiment answer will, if
he is wise, preserve a profound silence on the auhject,
for he may rest assured that if the sem et gets wino the
coal owners will at once treble the prize of coal, and
the colliers will all strike for three times the amount of
their present wages.
THE LIGHTING OF TOWNS.—One side of
Moorgate-street London, is at the present time being
subjected to an experiment in the way of street lighting.
One ride of the street is lighted with the old lamps,
and the other with the catroptric lamp, in which the
principle of a reflector, catching and strengthening the
light, is applied very ingeniously and effectively by
means of staips of glass covered on one side with a
silvered substance. The invention can be appßed to
the old lamps, the upper parts of which are displaced
by a frame in which the strips of glass are arranged,
like an ordinary glans ventilator, but so covered in
that they do not get dust covered or liable to breakage.
The inventor is Mr. Skelton, of Essex-street, Strand,
and he calculates that one-third of the light ia uselessly
expended in the common lamps. The two rows of
lamps in Moorgate-street, the old and new, present •
remarkable difference, eactr df the new lamps,
though
with the same flame in it as the old, showing as if
there were two Hamm

POOR PELA.Ow !—A gentleman gave a letter of
introduction to a student of 1131.113 k about to visit
Leipsic, who wished to put himself under the instruc-
tion of Professor —, a famous teacher of music in
the latter elty. Upon the rtudent's return home, the
gentleman asked, 'How did you like Professor —?"
—"Oh, wonderfully! He gave me fine lessons ; but
he is a very singular man, lie kept praying all the
time he was teaching me."—" Praying! Why, what
do you mean?"--" Well, while I was playing, he
clasped his hands, lifted his eyes to the ceiling and
kept saying, "'God Lord, what sin have! committed
to deserve this punishment?"

HAPPY UNIVERSITIES ?—They have " Select "
Preachers at Oxford and Cambridge. Would that it
were so all over !—Punch.

A SOLDIER'S Yan.N.—A party of American
soldiers were sitting together, talking of their adven-
tures during the war, and, as is generally the case,
some pretty hard yarns were told. The conversation
finely, turned on promotions, when a tall Teuton
broke forth with : "I'll tell you something about
that, boys. When I joined the cavalry I hadn't
been long in this country, and didn't undermind
much English. We were sent up in the Volley, and
at the battle of Winchester we were ord,red to
charge a battery. Well, the captain gave the order
to charge, and away we went in tine style. The John.
flies opened on us with grape and canister. Many a
horse tumbled over, and plenty of saddles were
emptied. That didn't make any difference ; we went
straight ahead. Suddenly the captain gave the order
to retreat. The whole company turned and went
back, except me. You see I didn't understand the
order, so I kept on and charged right among them;
and by Jove, I captured the whole battery and
brought it in myself. Now, I'll tell you how it
turned out. The next day the captain was a major,
the first lieutenant wan made a captain, and---,"
"Well, what did they do for you " inquired a
listener. "Why, they put me in the go .rd-house
because I wouldn't tell a lie."

THE EUROPEAN ARBITRATION.— At the satin.
on Saturday Lord Westbury had before him the
ap-
plication of certain annuitants in the European. Mr.
Chitty argued that they were entitled to iui inert on
sush instalments as became due after, as well as those
accrued due before, the date of the winding-up order.
His lordship decided three points in favour of the annui-
tants- (1) that they are entitled to interest on the instal-
ment which became due before the date of the order;
(2) to no interest on the instalment due after that date;
(3) the annuities to be valued as at the date if the winding-
up order. Mr. Romer then applied, on the part of Mr.
Wallberg and the other policyholders, represented by
Mr. Southgate, who paid their premiuins into a
pen se account," on the faith of Vice Chancellor Matins's
order, that they might have the value of those pre-
miums returned if it should be decided that I lie valua-
tion of their policies was to be taken as at the date of
the winding-up order. Lord Westbury said the policy-
holders must elect at once without waiting for his de-
cision on that point; but on Mr. Romer arguing that
he could not elect offhand for a number of persons with
different interests, his lordship allowed a few days to
decide between having their premiums returned and
being admitted to prove the value of their policies.
! SHOOTING AT A CHILD. —At the Jersey Assizes,
Clement "Sisson, 62, a farmer, residing in the parish of
St. l'eter, surrendered to take his trial on a charge of
having wilfully wounded George Alfred Romeril, aged
seven, by shooting at him with a gun. It appeared from
the evidence that the prisoner had frequently com-
plained of being annoyed by boys playing near his
house, getting on to his garden wall, stealing apples,
and doing damage in his orchard, lie had frequently
been heard to threaten that he would shoot some of
them. On the 6th of October sonic boys, among whom
was Ronieril, were playing on groun i belonging to his
father, which adjoined the prisoner's house, when the
prisoner deliberately loaded a fowling piece, passed it
through a broken pane of glass in oneof the windows of
his house, and fired among the children, striking the
boy Romeril, who was a distance of three or four paces
only from the muzzle of the piece. The charge con-
sisted of grains of rats, a large number of which
pierced his clothes behind and marked him on the
back and loins, two only striking him in the face and
bringing blood. The injuries therefrom were not
serious. The jury found the prisoner Guilty, hut re-
commended him to clemency on account of his age and
the alleged provocation he had received ; and the
Court sentenced him to three months' imprisonment,
without hard labour.

THE WORKING OF THE BALLOT.—It is said
of the Ballot, in Harringtou's Omaha, that its use "is
full of perplexity and abstruseness in writing, but of
despatch and faciity in practice." This remark, made
by one of its earliest English advocates two hundred
years ago, has been singularly verified by the results
already obtained under the Ballot Act, 1672, observes
The Times, and continues :

Apart from all the broader objections, moral or political,
to which secret voting may be liable, it is certain that many
were opposed to its introduction, and probably that some
voted against it iu Parliament, chiefly because they doubted
the possibility of getting so cumbrous a machinery to work.
Not one person out of ten could be made V understand that
S system of secret voting and a system of open voting
may be conducted in precisely the seine manner up to the
point at which the old question "For whom do you vote i"
used to be addressed to the voter, who now receives
a ballot-paper instead. The Parliamentary electinas
which have been held during the Recess, and still more, the
Municipal elections which have been held within the last few
days, have completely dispelled the prejudice against the
Ballot founded on its supposed complexity. As a corrective
of bribery, as a safeguard against intimidation, and even as
a security for secrecy, it must still be regarded as an ex-
periment in this country ; but as a convenient mode of
colic -ding votes without tumult or disorder—and this
is 11,..r1y all that Mr. Baxter claimed fee it—few will‘
deny that it has proved highly successful. It was trleds
under every disadvantage at Preston, where the
" card trick " practised by the Conservative party
enabled them to make periodical returns of the poll yet the
proceedings are acknowledged to have been less noisy arid
more peaceable than at former elections. The same testi-
mony was given by those who watched its operation at Pon-
tefract, and it is derisively confirmed by the much larger
experience gained in recent contests for Municipal (Aces,
We are informed that in "Cornwall the first elections
under the ballot Act for Municipal honours have been
conducted hi the roost orderly and satisfactory manner.
lko uilliculty whatever was found by the presiding
Aldermen in carry ing out the provisions of the
Act, and there was none of the coutuaion and very little of
1 the excitement which prevailed at these contests under the
old system" The renort fnun Olocester is very sinilar, anti,
whereas in Cornwall the number of persons voting was /shoat
the average, taking one borough with another, at Glee:ester.
"The abstentions were fewer than at the last election." Its
the great Northern boroughs the elections are staled to
have been unusually quiet, and, notwithstanding a remark-
able activity on the part of the publicans, there appears
to have been "an entire absence of drunkenness " At
Wolverhampton. at Rochester, and at Southampton, where
there were tierce party struggles, a like improvement was
observed in the behaviour of electors, and from Kiddermin-
ster alone do we bear of "as much commotion as at one or
the old feshinned Parliamentary elections"—whick, how•
ever, it mint be admitted, is sayings good deaL

.
RATHER CHARACTERISTIC !—The celebrated
Mark Twain writes to the Daily News :
Sir,—With your kind permitsion, I desire to any to those
societies in London and other citi, of Great Britain under
whose auspices I havp portly promised to lecture, that I am
called home by a Cable telegram. I shall spend, with my
family, the greatest part of mot year here, and may be ahle
to lecture a month during the autumn upon such scientific
topics as! know least aramt, and may consequently feel least
trammellel in dilating upon,—Yours respeutfully, MARI,
TWAIN.

H ERRINGS AND MACKEREL IN A TANK.—COD,
siderable difficulty has always been experienced in
taming many of the hall sufficiently to enable them
to be kept in tanks. The mackerel ban never yet
been kept long in ethnic. In the Brighton Aquarium,
however, by reason of the very large size of the
tanks and by a system of artificial darkness at first,
the ninckerel has been tamed and acclimatised. The
darkness is produced simply by supplying the thickened
water fresh from the sea and by spreading a curtain over
the tank which the fish are confined in at first, and
by gradually moving them in the cleaner water and
withdrawing the curtain until they will swim about
without showing any alarm at the Hight of the visitors.
Two mackerel have been in the aquarium for more than
two months; they are healthy, shy, feed well, and are
growing rapidly. Lately, a small shoal of herrings
have been added to the collection, and they form a
very attractive spectacle. The grace and beauty of
their motions and the wondrous shine of their silver
scales are most remarkable. Very few people have
ever had the opportunity of seeing herrings alive in a
took, and certainly never in an aquarium.
A GREENGROCER'S WATCII.—A Turnip.—
Punch.

SMART A DVERTIEING. —A few days agn the in-
habitants of a country town were filled with conjecture
at the following sign panted in large capitals on the
front of a house recently fitted up and repaired "Mrs. Brown, Dealer in all sorts of Ladies." All was
constel nation. Inquiry was instantly set on foot as
who this Mrs. Brown might be, but no one could tell.
She was a stranger in the town. The second week
after the mystery was unravelled. The house painter
returned to finish his work, and concluded by adding—
and Gentleman's Wearing AppareL"
THE MINERS ANDTHaFltAscHzsgOnSatur-
day night the miners of Hilda Colliery, South Shields,
had a great demonstration in celebration of their hav-
ing obtained the franchise. The miners, headed by a
band and banners, paraded South Shields, afterwards
proceeded to the Mechanics' Institution, where the
meeting was held, presided over by Mr. Stevenson,
borough member, who congratulated them on obtain-
ing the franchise, but regretted the miners of Northum-
berland at Morpeth had not been eucceesful He
hoped by next year the difficulties respecting pitmen's
qualifications would be cleared away, and they
' would be enfranchised He spoke at length on the
Mines Regulation Bill, looking upon it as a most
111ad-
vantageousmor e pitmen,af would
.improving tend theti
on adoption of of measure for
f
and otherwise of mines, and be hoped there would bea
diminution of dreadful accidents in mines. He was
Wad that boys under twelve would be prevented work-
ing in mines, and that men would be paid for coals by
weight instead of measure. Dr. Trotter, the repre-
sentative of the Morpeth Central Franchise Com-
mittee, also spoke, and said an organisation had to-en
formed at Bedlington for obtaining manhood cofirage.
He moved that the minors of Hilda Colliery memo-
rialise Government to amend the People's Representa-
tion Act sothat household suffrage be a roality. This
was caericci, and the meeting concluded.
A FA MI LY DRuWN ED.— A sad accident has
occurred at Kilnhurat, near Rotherham. Jam, Gray,
a navvy on the Midland R dfiway, who rece. 113 caum
from Wiltshire, W:.ll'G with his wife and son, a lad of
thirteen, to Rotherham Statutes on Monday. Their
nearest way home wag along the canal side, and at
seven o'clo 1 on Tuesday morning Thomas Bishy, saw
Mrs. Gray's body floating past, and he dragged it to
the shore with a boat hook. As neither Gray nor his
son had returned home, the canal was dragged, and
their bodies were recovered at a place where a
bridge formerly stood. The family were quiet,
respectable people, and when last seen alive they
were perfectly sober. No marks of riolei ee are
to be seen on the bodies, and money was
found in the pockets of all three. At places the haul-
ing path is narrow and dangerous, but near the bridge
it widen, conniderahly. Tbe three are supposed to
have fallen in at this spot, because on the ectreme
edge of the stonework several slight marks ha' e been
detected, which are conjectured to have been ma le by
boots. The family were last seen alive at half past
five o'clock on Monday afternoon. Some men who
work at the Kilnhurst Pottery fancy they heard a
scream about half-past seven at night, but as the cry
was not repeated they took no farther notice.