The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1886-05-29 00:00:00

Our i..f'cinhan torrtporcbent.

[We ci.em It right to state that we do not at all times
Identity oulseives with our Correspondent's optmons.]

It is seldom that a purely pacific foreign event
causes so much interest to Englishmen as the
recent birth of the King of Spain, and the very
general feeling of satisfaction that has been ex-
pressed at the news, would seem difficult at first
sight to account for. But the tragedy of human
life, especially when it is played in high places,
always has its attractions; and it has been a very
real tragedy which has of late been enacted in
the Spanish Court. The spectacle of the Queen,
• still young, left a widow almost without warning,
a stranger in a strange land, with her little girls
dependent upon her, and with an antagonistic
influence on every side was one which could not
but inspire both interest and sympathy. And
tile birth of a son has, therefore, been welcomed
by thousands who have no concern with Spain,
and to whom, even the fall of the monarchy,
' there would mean nothing more than a passing
item of news. The personal qualities of the
Spanish Queen Regent strengthened this feeling.
. Following the example of her late husband, who,
when the hand a death; though yet unexpected,
• s was close upon him, went through the cholera
• districts and -cheered the sufferers by his sym-
pathetic presence, she visited, only a week before
her child was born, the victims of the great
cyclone in Madrid, and offered to take under her
own charge the orphans which that catastrophe
had made. This was no light thing; it was in
its way as heroic as many a manly deed
which has earned its place in history;
and it is little wonder that a woman who cc uld in
such fashion expose herself to actual danger in
order to comfort and support those in nsed of
aid should have attracted an amount of admira-
tion and even affection that may stand her in
good stead in the troubled timer -a:del:many fear
are in store for Spain.
The news that an English missionary and his
wife have been murdered by savaga a in the in-
terior of Africa has brought home to many a
mind the impression that had began almost to
fade away—that mission work has ita dangers
still as it had in what may be called its heroic
age. The murder of Bishop Hannington is
so recent that, coupled with this later
tragedy, it enforces the lesson; and both events
are strongly calculated to show that the dark
corners of the earth are still sadly in need of
light, and that it will require long and continuous
effort to bring them out of the shadow in which
they at present rest. The missionary enterprise
of England is one of the wonders of the world;
the amount of money which is raised is in itself
a testimony to the intense desire that is felt
among our religious communities to spread civi-
lisation and Christianity to every nation in every
clime; and even those who may not feel called
upon to help in the work cannot but
admire the zeal and self-sacrifice with which
it is pursued. And those who may have
been disposed to think that missionary work
simply meant that a minister of the Gospel left
a comfortable home in England to find an
equally comfortable home in the tropics, and
that the main difference in his condition was
that he preached to black folks instead of to
white ones, will be undeceived by these latest
crimes in Eastern Africa.
A curious example of how the works of a
great author are apt to penetrate into our daily
life has been afforded in London within the past
week or two by the opening as a public recreation
ground of a little crowded burying-placeoff Drury-
lane, which has been identified as the one in
which "Nemo " was buried in Dickens's story of
"Bleak House." The tradition of the nameless
man Who was there interred, of the poor crossing-
sweeper "Jo," who had by him been befriended,
and 'of the hapless "Lady Dedlock," linked by a
sad fate to each, has grown up around this
burial-ground until it has almost come to be
believed; and a drinking fountain is to be erected
in tke centre of the long-neglected spot as a
memorial of the great author who made it
famous. It is worthy of notice that this is not
the only obscure part of London which Dickens
has rendered almost a household word. No
reader of " Pickwick " is ever likely to pass Lant-
street, Borough, without thinking of the im-
mortal supper party which "Mr. Bob Sawyer"
gave therein ; nor Kingsgate-street, Holborn,
without a thought of the place where "Mrs.
Gamp " resided when not engaged in her profes-
sional duties. It is only the greatest writers
who can thus impress upon our national life the
names of persons who have never existed as if
they had been real, breathing entities; and those
who wish to see one side of London which is of
intense interest to lovers of literature should
take Dickens or Thackeray as their guide, and
follow out for themselves the streets celebrated
in their works.
Cricketing, as far as the international contests
• . are concerned between teams representing
• England and that which has coma from Aus-
tralia, has opened favourably for the former, but
• no inference can, of course, be drawn as to what
is likely to be the net result when the season
ends. This much may be taken for granted—
that, although Englishmen would naturally
*, rather see their own men successful, there is no
unworthy jealousy of the Colonists, but rather a
wish—that, whichever teams prove at the finish
to have been the best, the contest may be as
worthily fought out as those of former years.
The presence of the Prince of Wales at the first
• match played by the Colonists in London this
. season was hailed by them and by all cricketers
as a compliment. Seeing the great popularity
and fame of the Oval, it seems strange that this
was the first occasion upon which the heir apparent
• had witnessed a cricket-match on its well-known
field ;.and it is, perhaps, the more singular because
e he haPisens to be the owner of the ground. But
his presence on this occasion was regarded not
*.' merely•aa a tribute to cricket, but to his ad-
.. miration for the colonies as a whole. The
•••s - • Colonial and Indian Exhibition at South Ken-
sington has been the means of fostering and
stimulating a warmth of feeling towards our
colonies which a few years ago would have been
deemed impossible of realisation; and the Prince
of Wales, who has taken such an active part in
promoting the success of that institution, was
but strengthening its good effects by giving his
presence to the first Australian cricket match
which London this year has seen.
Royal authorship has become the fashion of
late years, and the announcement that a book
Will shortly be issued by Prince Edward and
Prince George of Wales, therefore, will not
create much surprise. The promised volume is
the record of "The Cruise of H.M.S. Bacchante,
1879-1882, compiled from their Journals, Letters,
and Note-books," and it is certain to be read
with much interest. The sailor life of the young
princes was naturally marked by many features
which will make a readable book, and there is a
natural desire to know as much as legiti-
mately • can be published concerning the
dings of our Royal family. The Queen
• • has distinctly given her sanction to this by her
own works. The "Leaves from a Journal of
Our Life in the Highlands," both in the first
and second series had a great success; and
though the "Life of the Prince Consort" was
written not by her Majesty but by Sir Theodore
Martin, it is well known that the Queen greatly
assisted the author in getting together his
materials. Her Majesty was also really re-
sponsible for "The Life and Letters of Princess
Alice," issued some two or three years since, and
is at this moment assisting the compilation of a
work to be called "The Letters and Speeches of
Prince Leopold, Duke of Albany ;" so that the
book which her grandsons are about to publish
marks no new departure in the literary life of the
Royal family. The title-page of the corning work
• may be expected to settle a small controversy
which has been on the carpet ever since the
eldest son of the Prince of Wales reached the
• age of twenty-one. As is generally known, his
• full name is Albert Victor Christian Edward,
and he has commonly been called Albert Victor.
• But it is as Edward that he is recognised in the
family circle, and those who profess to have ac-
. • quaintance with the Court have referred to him
as "Prince Edward." As that is the name
.o under which he will now apparently fisure, it
• may be taken for granted that it is the one
• ' by which he wishes publicly to be known.
1.1 At a time when coinplaints are becoming in-
.:7 41 creasingly frequent of the hold which the use of
Iv; Abe; revolver is gaining among us, it will some-
2-'4'!"'What startle many to hear that attempts are on
-Toot to' induce the National Rifle Association to
$ .
Make the revolver competition, which was
started at Wimbledon last year, more open, and,
therefore, more attractive. But, of course, there
. very 'great difference between the stupid
e'Vlaying with revolvers, the fatal results of which
SO mithY hairs) had to deplore, and the scientific
uae.of them as an arm of warfare. The expe-
rience of recent campaigns has taught our mili-
tary authorities that the revolver is a far more
valuable weapon than it had been accustomed to
be thought: and as in these days the Volunteers
artanOt content to lag behind the regulars in the
knowledge of any arm which minht increase
their efficiency, the National Rifle Asso-
ciation is being besought to use its
influence to spread a better acquaintance with
the arm among the auxiliary forces. This is only