The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1873-06-28 00:00:00

EPITOME OF NEWS,

BRITISH AND FOREIGN.

Paris &hires state that the wheat crop still leaves
something to be desired in France. In Germany, Spain,
itely, and Hungary the crop prospects are, however, con-
sidered satisfactory

We learn from St. Petersburg that General Kanff-
mann captured the fortress of Rasarasp, on the left bank
of the Amu Darla, on the 250 h ult., as well as three guns
and amunition left by the enemy, who fled.
A reward of £2OO is offered by the Irish Government
for Information leading to the arrest ot the murderer of
Patrick Mitchell, Mr. Gubbins's land steward, 4.100 for in-
formation leading t 5 conviction of the murderer, and • free
par on to any accomplice.
- -

A picture by Leonardo da Vinci, representing the
daughters of Lot and the burning of Sodom, has been
brought to light at Saint Lister, AziSge, France. It bean the
painter's name.
An elderly Portuguese lady, having pledged herself
to make • pilgrimage to • distant ahrine bereiloot, her friends
persuaded her that the fatigue would prove fatal. She per-
sisted, however, in going to the shrine, and In going bare-
toot; but she went in a sedan chair!

In the new Act to amend the law relating to juries
In Ireland Its enacted that any person who cannot read and
write the English language or whole mentally afflicted shall
be absolutely freed from being returned or serving on any
PIM
'rhe Hospital Sunday has long been a household
word In Scotland under a similar name, "The Infirmary
Sunday." For half a century churches and chapeh of all
denominations have devoted the church collections of a
special Sanday named by the civic authorities.

A paper tells us of a cat which is bringing up two
rats along with her own kittens, and thinks she has risen
abrve the prejudices of race. The cat is no fool, and when
those rats get plump and fat, she and those kittens will
wake a most sumptuous dinner of them.
A meeting in London on Monday of the Royal
Geographical Society WU held at Burlington House, when
Sir Bartle Brere, the recently-elected president, occupied
the chair for the first time. In commencing the proceedings,
Sir Beetle referred in sulogietic terms to the services a Dr.
Livingstone, and intimated that, on the recommendation of
Mr. Glsd-tone, the Queen had granted a pension of £3,0
per annum on the Civil List to the distingufsbed traveller,
in recognition of the vslue of his researches in Central Africa.
This announcement was received with general applause.
One of the new taxes at Rome has led to the ab-
sence of a well known feature of former days here—the
Lupetti, the pretty graceful little Spitz dogs, which curled
and curveted and barked on the front seats of so many of
street carriages; and many a harrowing scene ham taken
place as the young Roman drivers have felt compelled to
part with the faitliftil little companions of their day's toll.
Mr. James Lowther intends, on the second reading
of Mr. T. Hughes's Betting Houses BM, to move that It is
Inexpedient to proceed with any measure dealing with the
luil,ct of betting until the whole question of betting upon
credit as well as by means of depostt shall have been con-
sidered by a Committee of this House.
Mr. Frank Buckland is as inveterate a curiosity hunter
as Ingot,' sSy's Sir Thomas the Good, whose fate we hope he may
escape (rwaarka the Court Journal). Anything remarkab'e
in the fish line (the fhb, not the line), from a shrimp to a
shark ,he snaps up with avidity, and his friends, who are
man y, keep him well supplied with queer presents. He thus
describes in Land and Water his last curiosity:—" It con-
sists of an °aster, the shells of which are tightly clasped
round the heck of a mouse. The head is inside the shell,
therefore I cwanot examine It The oyster, which is a pure
native. was probably lying in a larder 'with the shells open,
when the mouse put it. head in to eat the meat of the oyster,
and was Immediately nipped by it."

An amusing story of Messier, the great French
comet seeker, is related by Mr. It A. Proctor. The di..
covery of a new comet seemed to him more important than
the gravest °archly events His wife's last illness hverfered
with his astronomical work to such an extent that *rival suc-
ceeded in detecting a comet for which both were on the
watch. A friend who met him a short time after Madame
Messier', deAth condoled with him on that sad toss.
responded the mini of science, 'lt was hard—was it not ?
than after all my wst,hins I was obliged to leave my tele-
scope just when the comet came!'

Another remarkable scheme for improved locomo•
ton has been started in the Fatted States It is
called "Spier's Travelling Sidewalk." An endless movable
platform is to be constructed on an elevated tramway, the
motive power being from hose stationary engines under.
ground. The " Sidewalk " Is to be perpetually moving up
one side of a street or avenue and down the other, at the
rate of nineteen miles an hour. Passengers are to be taken
on or old the platform by means of transfer airs, without
stopping the movement of the train.
At the annual dinner of the Institute of British
Architects on Saturday, Mr. Barry proposed "Art and
Science." Sir F. Grant responding for Art, spoke of
painters and sculptors as dwarfed into insignificance In
presenea of sticb magnificent architectural monument' as
St. rani's and Westminster Abbey ; but he predicted, from
the noble structures now being raised, that 20 or 80 years
hence London would be a city of which the country might
well be proud Mr Flasksley, replying for Science, attri-
buted the divorce between engineering and architecture
to the dtatnellnation of architecte to adopt new materials and
modes of workmanship.

The report of the Crystal Palace Company states
that the next Triennial Handel Festival will be held In 1874.
During the nineteen years Billet, the opening, on June 10,
1854, the palace has been visited by more than 33,000,000
pars in.. The directors state that with regard to the pre-
caution. taken since the Ore at the Crystal Palace in 1868
asainst any future event of the kind, that the terse reservoir
i two acre. In area) is distant. sly 240 feet from the main
building, that the tanks and c.sterus Including those on the
high tuners, are kept constantly 80, and that the main•
which pervade the building are always charged night and
day.
From India we have accounts of violent storms and
extraordinary heat. On llie 27th ult, the heat In Bombay
was, according to the Gazette aim at unbearable, the ther-
mometer registering 90 decrees in the daytime and 92 at
night. At live o'clock In the evening there was • hot
wind, followed by a storm of dust which penetrated every-
where. The heat continued so oppressive after this that the
theatre was closed. as no one would venture out. In Poona
there was e storm which carried away the roofs of the
houses, and in Matberan the rain and thunder were so vio-
lent that people thought the south-west monsoon had burst
premature y, On the following day Bombay waevialted by
a storm of wind and rain, and the weather then became
cooler. Several deaths bad occurred fri m heat apoplexy.
The culture of the Euryale ferox has been resumed
at Key, where a plant may be seen In the same water, tank
as that In which the Victoria Ttngla is growing The leaves
of this East India Nymphteaceorie plant are rather smaller,
but otherwise not very unlike those of the Royal Water Lily.
They are circular, spiny above and below, and the under
surface skin is purple, and the upper one green ; it has also
• tendency to flower in a younger state than the Victoria
Regis.

The following dialogue is vsaid to have o vurred in
the Faubourg St Honore, Parle, between a patriarchal gen-
tleman &lid his gr diddaughter What makes your hair so
white, grandpapa? " Inquires the maiden '' I m very old,
my dear; I was in the ark," says grandma hurnorou-ly, but
with a reckless regard for truth, which does not prepossess us
in the old man'. favour. "Oh, says the child, regarding her
relative with a fresh interest, "are you Noah ?" "No, lam
not Noah." "Are you ahem, thou ? " "No, I'm not Sherri.-
" Are you Ilam 1" " No, lam not even Hem." "Then you
must be Japhet," says mademoiselle, at She end of her his-
torical tether and growing rather impatient of the difficulty
that surrounded her aged relative's IdeLtificutlen "No,
I'm not Japhei." Then, grandpapa, you re a beast!"

- - - -
A tee. gentleman in a paper on the use of catechisms
in religious trine ition, quoted ti e following pasiage from an
essay of a Sunday scho(ar Peter was a great persecutor—
(laughter)—who was converted on Hs way to Danascus.
(Laughter.) On one oc,asion he healed a lame man, and
&rod was so grieved at It that he put Peter in pri•on. (Re-
cowed laughter) But during the night Peter broke the
doors dose and got away. On another occasion a- u,
walked on the water to Peter's ship, and when they had
taken him on board he said, 'Thou art Peter, and on this
rook will I build my church " (Laugliter.) Peter cut off the
ear of the high priest, and then denied the Saviour. But
after his resurrection he told Jesus that he was very eorrY,
and si He forgive him, and to show that he forgave hire Ile
healed his wife." (Laughter and cheers.)
A distinguished soldier was buried last week.
General Buckley, befork he entered the army, WAS a page of
honour to Ge d•ge HI, and one evening the monarch was
walking hi the Home Park when he suddenly received •
swinging blow between the shoulders, and at the same time
a boyish voice exclaimed, "One for you, Buckley !" Before
the astonished sovereign could turn his assailant had disap-
peared. On returning to the Castle the King summoned all
the pages, and addressed them with "Sapshow me the man—
yes, the man—that struck Buckley—struck Buckley I" It is
needless to say rot one of the boys answered, but when the
King added, "Because I was Buckley," the confusion of the
culprit betrayed him. All the notice, however, the kindly
termer King took of the event was to send soon after to both
boys the commissions they were longing for, and while one
of them served his country nobly in India and the Crimea,
where he died of dysentery, the other faithfully served his
old master's granddaughter until his death IIAS week.
"The Prayer for Landlords," which occurs In one
of the liturgies put forth by Ed ward VI., is an admirable
specimen of pinin speaking, and was clearly Intended to be
addressed to one section of the congregation instead of being
offered by all. A contemporary quotes it at length, but the
following sample will he sufficient to show It, pertinacity :
" We heartily pray Thee that they (who poness the grounds,
pastures, and dwelling-places of the earth) may not rack and
stretch out the rents of their houses and kande, nor yet take
unreasonable fines and incomes after the manner of covetous
worldlings, tut so let them out to others that the inhabitants
thereof may b to he able to pay the rents and also bons atly
to live, to nourish their families, and to relieve the poor.
. . Give them grace also that they may be content with
that Matt, 'ffficlent, and not join house to home, nor couple
Ana to and to the impoverishment of other,, but so behave
themselves in letting out their tenements, lands, and pastures,
that alter lids Ills they may be received into everlasting
dwelling-places."

An Aberdeen testator has given, devised, and be •
(petalled hie wearing apparel to his wife, for the reason that
she had been accustomed to wear them during her married
life.

Advice. from Morocco state that a ladle hen broken
out at Tarifa amomist the men who make the shoes for
which that t3wn le famous. Their &mends are cold to be
reavoieble, ami hepea are entertaned that the matter may
be ipeadlly settled.
• -- • • • •

American papers states that Mr. Heppeler arrived in
Ontario at the end of May with three Rousts') Me .nonite
Commissioners, who were on their way to Manitoba to
ascertain if it is advisable for their people to emigrate to
that country. The Ccmcoissionera are said to represent
100,030 people.
A co.rreponrience between Earl Rua*ll and the
Belfast Home Rule Association has been published. The
Association sent to his lordship a petition to the House of
Lords pra)lng for an invegigation Into the conduct of Judge
Leeson at the late Antrim A.B zes In reply Earl Russell
said that he would present the petition, but could not sup-
P°nAthe Prse
At s meeting of the National Education League,
held at 13 rmtogbam resolutions were paesel condemnatory
of the Education Act Amendment Bill and in support of the
candidature of Mr. C. at Bath, as the upholder of the tine
principles of national education.
It is stated that the difficulties in preparing peat as
a substitute for coal have been at length surmounted, and
that it is expected "peat coal" will soon be in the market at
leas than 10a. a ton. It le said to make excellent fuel—
scarcely, it at all inferior to good ordinary coal.
Interesting discoveries have been made at Rochest,er
Cathedral, including portions of the first cathedral erected
in the year 604 enesustic tiles covered with rude trues, and
two leaden coffins, one of which is supposed to contain the
remains of !Mama; Bishop of Rochester, who died in 666.
Thomson, the poet, had an uncle, a clever, active
mechanic, who could do many things with his hands, and
contemplated James's indolent, dreamy, "feckless" charac-
ter with Impatient diepleasure. When the first of The
Seasons—" Winter "—bad been completed, Jamie thought,
by a presentation copy, to triumph over his uncle's scep-
ticism; and to propitiate his good opinion he had the book
handmmely bound. The old man never looked inside, Or
asked what the book was about, but, turning it round and
round in gratified admiration, exclaimed, "II that really
never thought thoughtthe Orsini
owurudjkaaemileta'sddlohineghannodiwclrs—legat

The Italian government have forwarded a medal
and letter of thanks to Captain Woad, of the barque Polly,
of Galcome, in recoraion of the gallant services of himself
and crew In rescuing the passengers and crew forty.twoi n
number, of the abip Solaria and Beiguaedelio, wrecked on a
reel in the South Pacific in 1872
The Convent of Ban Domenico, in Puebla, Mexico,
which for two centuries was the seat of the Inquisition, he.
been converted Into. Protestant temple During the altera-
tions numerous holes or wells were found, in which were
the skeletons of the victims sondemned to death by the In-
quisition. Some cf the victims were found still chained to
the walls,

A email farmer named Legonellac, aged 70 haej tisk
been sentenced to ten yearn' hard labour by the Assizes of
the Morbthan for Inhuman cruelty to his eldest son, a young
man of 25, whom he chained up in a state of nudity to • pig-
sty*, and where he has lain on dirty straw and been fed with
the same food as the pigs for the put three Jean!
The carpenters and joiners of Exeter renamed work
on Monday morning, after having been on strike for two
months, for • reduction of the tears of labour from 58 toll
per wetk, and an increase to 50. per hour In wages. They
now go Into work for sel hours per week ; and each man is
to be paid according to Ms skill.
Ernest Edward Avery, 13 years of age, residing at
Portland Villa, Richmond. was drowned on Sunday whilst
bathing in the Thames, off Petersham Meadows. He got out
of his depth and was carried by the current into one of the
dangerous ballaat hole.. Another boy bravely dived into the
hole two or three times, and eventnally, with the semblance
of a watertnan, succeeded in bringing the body to the shore,
but too late to restore life.
An address which has been presented to the Khedive,
praying for the preeervation of the monuments In Egypt,
alleges that recently three travellers were observed to mount
on the head of the Great Sphinx and deliberately chisel off a
arge piece from one of the ears.

It is vouched for as a fact that a disciple of St.
Crispin had an order for a pair of shows, and it lea remark-
able fact, Illustrative of his punctuality and despatch, that
he delivered them in Gloucester, a few days ago, eighteen
months after his customer had been dead!
Mrs. Thomson, daughter of the great Scottish poet,
Burns, died last week at Cross-my•loof, near Glasgow, at the
ripe see of fourscore and four years, thus severing the link of
Burn's family with the present generation.

At a public meeting of inhabitants held on Monday,
It was stated that Miss Trafford Southwell, of lionington
Hall, Grantham, had supplemented het magnificent gift
of a cAtage hospitel to the town by an endowment of
£5,000 The total value of Miss Southwell's gift reaohee
£16,000. The thanks of the town were passed to the
generous Lady for her splendid liberality.

Several van loads of plants in flower, as well as fine-
leaved and ornamental ones, were sent from Kew to Buck-
ingham Palace, by order of Her Majesty's Commissioners, to
assist in its decoration during the residence of the Shah of
Persia
The Hargrave collection of pictures recently sold in
London by Messrs. Christie, affords examples of some of the
highest prices ever given for the work of living artists.
thus Mr. Millais' "Awake," a little girl starting up in bed at
the song of a canary —s picture well known by the engraving
—was sold for 1,417 guineas; Mr. Frith's "Pope making 1,,.
to Lady Mary," for the same sum , Sir K. Landseer's littis
picture, "Pensioner.," ',SSG guineas, and Mr. Webster's
'Boy with many Friends," 2,100.
A few days ago • young schoolmistress was taking
down the names and ages of her scholars, at the commence-
ment of the term. She asked a little whitelndred boy—
" Bob how old are you" He said—" My name ain't 80b,t2
John." "Well," said the schoolmistress, "what Is the rest
of your name?" "Why, that's all the name I've got—last
John,"" well, what is your father's name ? " " You needn't •
pat pap's name down, he ain't got any ; he's too big to got
schooL" "Well, how old are you?" " I ain't old at all—
am young."

shocking and fatal accident occurred on Saturday
night at the Maccieefield station of the London and North
Western Railway. Some excnrslonista from the Pott rim
were crossing the rails, when they were knocked down by a
good. train. Two women were killed inatantaceaudy, and
several other persons seriously thieved.

- -
A man ia -Pennsylvania ime invented a rat trap that
is made to operate upon the selfish passion of the poor rat
and lead him Into troulde. The Mechanic and Farmer, in •
descriptios of the trap, says that a mirror is set in the back
of the device beyond the balk and as Ids ratably is out on a
foraging expedition, he not only espies the bah, but at the
same time believes hls own image in the mirror to be another
rat making for it on the opposite aide. This la too much for
rat nature to stand and be cool over, so he nukes at the bait,
and meet. his fate.

At the Dublin Commiesion Court Edward 0. Kelly
was tried, for the third time, on the charge of attempting to
murder David Murphy formerly caMier in the jridAntan
office, on the 10th Octobor last. The two previous trials
proved abortive, through the disagreement of the Jury. He
was now found guilty, and sentenced to penal servitude for
life. When the sentenced was pronounced a scone occurred
In court. All Ms relatives and friends began to cry, and ap-
peal to the Judge. A young woman, to whom ilwas stated
Kelly was engaged to be married, was carried out of court,
baying fainted.
A young lady on the third tier of the opera proposed
this riddle to • married gentleman while he was looking up
admiringly at her from the stalls :—Why is • hen-pecked
husband like an opera, hat? He said, "As you are apparently
so much more elevated than I am, I give it up" She replied,
"Because he's very big when he's out, but immediately shuts
up when he gets home." He resp mded by the following --
"We are told there is nothing made In vain. But how about
a pretty young girl? Isn't she maiden vain?"
-

The flag-carrying nuance, inaugurated by Sergeant
Bates, retms to be causing some little annoyance in America.
" A misguided youth' from Alexandria, according to the
Nese York Herald, proposes to proceed to Boston for the
purpose of starung from Bunker 11111 on • tour through the
Northern Kates, carrying seith him the rebel flag unfurled.
file Herald Is inclined to regard this as • foolish as well as •
hazardous undertaking. Not that the flag-bearer Is in
danger of personal violence from Northern Union soldiers,
but it is calculated to arouse memories which might as woU
be smothered. The whole affair, adds the Herald, "is a
humbug of the first water," and it hopes the foolish youth
will think better of his scheme and abandon it altogether.