The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1881-01-08 00:00:00

AVERAGE PRICES OF BRITISH CORN.—The Wow-
ing are the average prices of British corn for the Week
ending Jan. 1, as received from the inspectors and
officers of Excise :—Wheat, 41s. lid. ; barley, 31s. 5d.;
oats, 20s. 10d. per imperial qr. Corresponding week
last year :—Wheat, 465, lid.; barley, als. 7d. ; oats,
21s. 7d.
REPORT OF A CANON.—Note, at St. Margaret's,
Westminster.—" Might go FARRAR and fare (ah !)
worse."—Punch.
TJt TICHBORNE CLAIMANT.—The Daily Nem Of
Wednesday said :—" Yesterday afternoon Mr. Guild-
ford Onslow, Mr. Quartermaine East, Mr. Gray of
Southampton, and Mr. Edwin Kimber, solicitor, had
an intervlc7t with the Tichborne Claimant, at POrteca
Convict Prison. The Claimant was in good health,
and expressed himself much pleased with the interest
taken in his case, and the near approach of his appeal
to the House of Lords, which is expected to be heard
next week. It is stated that much important evidence
will be forthcoming. This further evidence, together
with that collected from abroad, will -shortly be laid
before thq House of Commons, and a motion made for
an investigation into the whole question. The pri-
soner evinced great interest in the welfare of his
children, and bade his friends heartily to thank those
gentleman of influence and position, as well as the
poorer classO, by whose contributions he has been
enabled to prosectte M upeal."
Gal* DISCOVERIES /It ALAAKA.—A letter received
at Washingtm from Sitka, Aiaaka, by a Treasury
officer, says that the development a mineral wealth
in that region will produce a gold fever, and attract
thousands of prospectors and Miner& he writer,
g
says "Two miners, who have been prospecn all
‘..'
the summer on the mainland, secured some et the.
richest gold quartz that has been found in Alaska, ant;
many of the old miners say it is the richest they ever
saw. An assay was made of a fair sample, not
choice piece, that ran over 4,000 dols. to the ton. Tho
only question is, how much can they get of it. Owing
to the snoW there, but little can be done this winter,
as the ground is now covered over two feet deep.
The location is easy of access, being not more than
two miles from water."

BOOKS OF THE YEAR.—Acearding to the annual
table given in the Publish,ors' Circular, there have
been issued during the past twelve months 4,203 new
books, and 1,415 new editions, making together
5,708. In the year precedins the numbers were :
New books, 4,294; new editkzis, 1,540; together,
5,834.
A LETTER BY EUGENE ARAM.—I have in ,u2y. posses-
sion (says a correspondent of Notes and Quero7,l,2mong
others, the accompanying letter, written by Et gene
Aram : _

"London, July 19th, 1754.
"Dear Sir,—lf that particular acquaintance, if that inti-
macy & antient ffriendship which have so long subsisted
between us is not yet forgot; if yet they have any influence,
I know not whether I ought to be more glad to write or you
to hear; many Years & many accidents have now past over
me but still with some advantage I hope both with regard
to my circumstance & my abilities in Letters, any Senna-
tions since I left you have been various, I was Tutor 3 years
to the sons of a ffamily of distinction in Berks dc in other
Imployments of that kind 4 years. with the money arising
thence I went over into ffrance a Tour partly of curiosity
& partly of profit in which having visited Roan Paris &c &
even Blois & Orleans I acquired the Language which is now
at once an extraordinary recom'endation & benefit to me..
This you see has been ye manner among thousand amuse-
ments in which I have disposed of my time my obser-
vac'ons whilst abroad have neither been few nor I hope im-
pertinent, their performances with the Pen did not escape
me but they appeared to me Labour'd painted & despicable
I brought over a few not to imitate I assure you Sr. but for
ye same reason our Sailors do Monkeys. In Town indeed
are a few Masterly hands & but a few chicannene Champions,
pray reply in two or three Posts at farthest otherwise I shall
begone and don't direct for me but for Mr Win Maher in
Milford Lane in ye Strand London.
"I am Sr
" Yr obt Servt
"E. Arum."
A STRANGE PETITION.—A curious petition was that
which was addressed in 1733 to the Governor of South
Carolina by sixteen maidens of Charleston. It ran
thus: "The humble petition of all the maids whose
names are underwritten. Whereas we, the humble
petitioners, are at present in a very melancholy dis-
position of mind, considering how all the bachelors
are blindly captivated by widows, and we are thereby
neglected; in consequence of this, our request is that
your Excellency will for the future order that no
widow presume to marry any young man untir-the
maids are provided for; or else to pay each of them a
fine for satisfaction for invading our liberties; and
likewise a fine to be levied on all such bachelors as
shall be married to widows. The great disadvantage it
is to us maids is that the widows, by their forward
carriage, do snap up the young men, and have the
vanity to think their merit beyond ours, which is a
great imposition on us, who ought to have the pre-
ference. This is humbly recommended to your Excel-
lency's consideration, and hope you will permit no
furtl,,r insults. And we poor maids, in duty bound,
will cv r pray." The forlorn sixteen would have very
much approved the edict of the Portuguese King
which forbade widows more than fifty years old from
remarrying, on the ground that experience taught
that widows of that age commonly wedded young
men of no property, who dissipated the fortunes such
marriages brought them, to the prejudice of children
and other relatives.

No MORE PASSES. The Superintendent of a
Louisville River packet company, who was bored by
pass beggars, printed the following passages from
the Bible and decorated his office with them. No
doubt the cards will be adopted by railroad superin•
tendents
"Thou shalt not pass."—Numbers xx, 18.

"The wicked shall no more pass."—Nahum 1, 15.
"Suffer not a man to pass."—Judges iii, 28.
"None shall ever pass."—lsalah xxxiv, 10.

"This generation shall not pass."—Mark xxxi, 30.

"So he paid his fare and went."—Jonah i, 3.
AGED ONE HUNDRED AND ELEVEN.—The New
Ycrk Herald says that a certificate of death was
received on the 16th ult., at the Board of Health,
New York, statino that a woman named Ellen
Moriarty died at No. 1,524 Second-avenue, at the
advanced age of 111 years. Her maiden name was
Ellen Hennessy, and she was born at Kilmallock,
county Limerick Ireland, in the year 1769. Her age
is well authenticated by her family. She had nine
great grandchildren, and was herself the mother of
seven children, five of whom are living. Her eldest
son is seventy-six years old, and a daughter, Margaret
O'Brien, is sixty-nine. She came of a family remark-
able for longevity.
.11er mother lived to be ninety-six
years of age, and her grandmother died at the age of
106. Up to a few weeks ago she was able to go about
the house, and retained the possession of all her facul-
ties unimpaired. She went to America in 1850, and
had then been a widow for ten years.

JUVENILE CRIME IN BERLIN.—In the course of an
address delivered lately by Privy Councillor Starke to
the Civil Service Society in the Prussian -.capita}, the
speaker stated that the number of juvenile criminals
from Berlin undergoing punishment at the central
prison at Plotzensee during the four years 1876-80 was
2,144. Of these, 10 per cent, were under 14 years of
age, from 30 to 32 per cent. under 16, and 58 per
cent. between 16 and 18. All kinds of offences were
to be found among the records of those juvenile
criminals, but assaults and other offences against the
person formed only 5 per cent., while stealing in
various forms amounted to 80 per cent. Sixty per
cent. of the whole number were orphans.
A CRY FROM THE HEART.—Little Dunce (looking
up suddenly from her History book). "Oh, Mummy
darling, I do so wish I'd lived under James the
Second !"—Mamma. "Why ? "—Little Dunce. "8.-
cause I see here that Education was very much
neglected in his reign ! "—Punch.
MR. CHARLES DICKENS AND GEORGE ELIOT.—The
following letter, the Ath.enceum says, is of interest
at the present moment as showing how easily
an experienced novelist detected what escaped the
observation of most people. We are indebted for
the liberty to publish it to the courtesy of the well-
known friend of literature and literary people to
whom it was addressed :—" Tavistock House, W.C.,
Eighteenth January, 1858. My dear Langford,—Will
you—by such roundabout ways and methods as may
present themselves—convey the note of thanks [en-
closed] to the author of Scenes of Clerical Life,'
whose two first stories I can never say enough of, I
think them so truly admirable? But, if those two
volumes, or a part of them, were not written by a
woman—then should I begin to believ e that I am a
woman myself.—Faithfully yours always, CHARLES
DICKENS."

THE ARMY ESTIMATES.—The Army and Navy
Gazette says :—" It is with regret we have to prepare
the country for a very great surprise, because it is not
one at all of an agreeable character. The Army Esti-
mates will exceed £20,000,000 sterling. Making every
possible allowance for reductions in the votes, the
excess is so considerable over that amount that it will
not be possible to get the estimates below £20,000,000
for the year.
SUCCESSFUL CURE OF A HORSE'S BROKEN LEG.—
Science is making rapid strides. in -the direction of
curing human ailments and accidents ; but it is not
often that we hear of similar efforts being made in
regard to horses or cGws, and the only resource
hitherto available in the case of a horse or cow break-
ing its leg appears to have been to terminate the
animal's sufferings by putting it to death. The sym-
pathies and benefits of science, however, are now being
shown towards our useful quadrupeds, and the New
England Farmer, referring to this subject recently,
says :—" Some time ago a valuable horse belonging to
Charles E. Smith, of Stony Brook, had his leg broken
at Port Jefferson. The broken limb was set, and the
leg was imbedded in plaster of Paris. In two weeks
the horse could walk round the stable, in three weeks
his master drove him home, a distance of five miles,
and three weeks after the horse was driven t a road
wagon a mile in four minutes."
A DRESS ALBUM.—The latest novelty in New York
is a dress album (says " Argils " in Land and Water).
A piece of every new dress is carefully cut, and
gummed on one side of a leaf, and the date attached.
Thus it forms a complete history of a lady's dress
from season to season. This practice has at least one
thing in its favour: However extravagant a lady may
be, she will eventually have something to show for it.

LONGEVITY OF MEDICAL MEN.—The calendars of
the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons, London,
give some rare examples of longevity, amongst their
fellows and members, viz.: Archibald Billing,
F.R.C.P., of Park-lane completes his 90th year on
the 10th inst. ; Joseph Hurlock, F.R.C.P., of Brighton,
is 88; Sir Thomas Watson, Bart., F.R.S., D.C.L., 88;
Alexander Tweedie, F.R.S., F.R.C. P., 86; James
Arthur Wilson, F.R. C. P. , of Holm wood, near D orking,
85: Bisset Hawkins, F.R.S., F.R.C.P., 84; Sir James
Alderson, F.R.S., late Pfe-Sident of the Royal Colleje
of Physicians, 80; Christopher J. R. Allatt, F.R.C.P.,
of Dover' 80; Sir George Burrows, Bart. F.R.S.,
D.C.L., late President of the Royal College of
Physicians, 79; James Muscroft, F.R.C.S., of Ponte-
fract, 95; T. M. Greenhow, F.R.C.S., of Leeds, 90;
Robert Tayler, F.R.C.S., of Brighton, 91; James
Moncrieff Arnott, F.R.S., late President of the
Royal College of Surgeons of England, 87; John
Flint South, F.R.C.S., of -Blackheath, 84; ' C93Sar
Henry Hawkins, F.R.S., F.R.C.S., Serjeant Surgeon
to the Queen, of Grosvenor-street, 83; James Luke,
F.R.S., F.R.C.S., Consulting Surgeon to the London
Hospital, 83; Robert M'Cormick, R.N., F.R.C.S.,
Deputy Inspector of Hospitals and Fleets, 83. Thio
gentleman accompanied Sir Edward Parry as Assist-
ant Surgeon in her Majesty's ship Heck in the atterciPt
W reach the North Pole in 1527,