The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1880-06-19 00:00:00

SOLDIERS' SERVICE AT ST. PAUL'S

CATHEDRAL.

On the occasion of the anniversary of the Army
Guild of the Holy Standard, whose members are
officers, non-commissioned officers, and chaplains of
the military forces, a soldiers' service was held on.
Tuesday evening in St. Paul's Cathedral. Notwith-
standing the rain, which fell in torrents for some time
before the opening until the conclusion, a congrega-
tion numbering quite five thousand filled the tran-
septs and a great portion of the nave, many red-coats
being., discernible among the sombre and neutral
colours. The choir of the London Gregorian Choral
Association gave its aid to the service ; and the band
of the Coldstream Guards played the accompaniments,
with a marked addition to the impressive solemnity
of the strains of praise and prayer. This union of
voice and instrument was especially imposing in the
processional hymns, with one of which, Come, Thou
Holy Paraclete' " the service began. The rising
and falling of the music, produced by varia-
tions of distance, in the detour of the long procession
round the Transept to the Choir—the boy-singers in
front, the instruments following, and the tenors and
basses in the rear—with the alternations and resump-
tions of the different bodies of sound, contributed
greatly to the powerful sweetness of effect. Among
the choristers were some whose scarlet uniforms
peeped through the openings of their white surplices,
suggesting a by-no-means inappropriate idea of the
Churth Militant. The second processional hymn was
Mr. J. Barnaby's "Onward, Christian Soldiers ; "
and the anthem was R. Farrant's "Lord, for Thy
tender mercies' sake !" which was sung in a manner
scarcely short of the perfect expression it deserves.

A plain and not the less eloquently moving discourse
was preached by the Bishop of Bedford, who, taking
for his text the verses of Samuel, "Behold, to obey is
better than sacrifice," spoke home to others than his
soldier hearers. He spoke of the soldier's distinguish-
in.- excellence; and said that, when a young curate at
Kidderminster, the old pensioners who attended divine
service were much observed by him and his friends
for their punctuality, devotion, and observance of all
the ritualistic rules. The habit of patient discipline
they had acquired was a part of their religion ; and,
though the doctrine of obedience had come to be un-
fashionable, and emotion had, in religious exercises,
taken its place, he urged upon his hearers that sacrifice
is better than emotion, but that better far than
sacrifice is obedience.

THE TWO GIANTS AND DWARF AT
THE WESTMINSTER AQUARIUM.

The Times of Monday says :—Three of the most
remarkable men of the century gave a reception on
Friday night in last week at the Royal Aquarium,
and were visited by many persons interested in anthro-
pology.

The giant Chang, a tea merchant of Pekin ;
Brustad, a tall Norwegian; and Che-mah, described
as 'the Chinese dwarf, the smallest man in the
world,' received their friends and being not much
given to talk themselves, had their history related for
them by a showman. It appears that Chang is the
largest giantinexistence, that he stands 81 t. 2in., and is
highly educated, speaking five differentlanguages, in-
cluding English, which last he speaks very well, but with
the well-known sing-song of the Chinaman. He is 81t.
high without his boots, he measures 60in. round the
chest, weighs 26 stone, has a span of 81 t. with his out-
stretched arms, and signs his name without an effort
upon a signpost 10ft. 6in. high. These figures and
others as scientifically important proportions are to be
verified next week by a committee of the Anthropo-
logical Society, who took the measurements of the
Zulus a little while ago, conducting those savages one
by one into Mr. Carrington, the naturalist's, room,
and giving an average of an hour and a quarter to
ascertaining the dimensions of each individual.

Chang is 33 years of age, and it is about 15 years
since he was in England. After five years' residence
in the Celestial Empire he returned to Europe for the
Paris Exhibition, and has since visited Vienna (where
the Emperor gave him a ring he proudly exhibits,
marked with the Imperial eagles and the initials of
Francis Joseph), Berlin, and Hamburg. Since his last
residence in this country Chang has grown several
inches—six, it is said. He has a benevolent Mon-
golian face, a courtly manner, and wears a richly em-
broidered dress worked for him by his sister, who is,
like the rest of his family, of only ordinary stature.

Next to Chang, and next by no long interval, stands
Brustad, about 7ft. tin. high, very muscular, very
broad backed, haying as great a girth of chest as
Chang, and a wider span in proportion to his height.
He has a low forehead, but speaks English fairly well.
To grasp his mighty hand in greeting is like shaking
hands with an oak tree. His weight is 28 stone,
greater than Chang's, for his bones are more massive.
His age is 35.
Che-mah, the dwarf, gives his age as 42, sings a
Chinese elegy, describes himself with much fluency
and variety, an d as his height is only 25 inches, ap-
pears to be what he is described, the smallest man in
the world.
It is common for exhibited dwarfs to be over three
feet high. Sir Jeffery Hudson, the dwarf whom
readers of Sir Walter Scott will best remember,
measured 31 t. 9iii. when he had attained his full
stature. The giants and the dwarfs now at the
Aquariam are being exhibited by Mr. Wielanti.