The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1875-01-23 00:00:00

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CUTTINGS FROM AMERICAN PAPERS.
"He W 3.8 killed by Providence," was the verdict in
the case of a man who had been struck by lightning.
A sillygism—The good die young. Brigham, the
morman, will die Young, therefore Brigham is good.
Mrs.. Soule boasted, at the Women's Convention in
Chicago, of not having asked any man for money for the last
twenty-two years.
An American advertisement about portemonnaies,
&c., extols the beauty of Russia leather pocket-books, as
they're never without a scent in them
A mathematician of Harvard has calculated that
the pet dogs now owned by students would cover the quad-
rangle at the rate of one dog for every square yard.

There is a man in New York whose name is
Eleptherious Chryssophoudis. The Smiths are very envious
of him.
A negro lately died. The neighbours said he was
a blackamore. We contend that ke was not a blacky more,
but a blacky less. •
It is a very true saying that "clothes do not make
the man," but an ungallant age awards them considerable
success in making the woman.
Mr. ,Asa Flower is spoken of as a rising man in
politics. " Cometh up Asa Flower" wouldn't be a bad motto
for him to adopt.

They shoot eggs off each other's heads, in the Wil-
liam Tell style, out in California. It saves hair-oil, says an
A.merican contemporary.

A girl in Georgia brought a suit against a recreant
lover, claiming ten thonsand dollars damages, but she com-
promised for four bales of cotton and a new parasoL Her
lawyer took the cotton for his fee, and she kept the parasol
to heal her wounded affections.

A Massachusetts correspondent, writing an order for
a Proyident paper for a year says :—" If you doubt Ey trust-
worthiness, I refer you to your own files, where in 1881, in
a handsome ' obituary ' notice of me, I was called, if I
remember right, among other things, 'an honest mechanic."
A Yankee editor says :—" We don't mind recording
the deaths of people without being paid for our trouble ; but
panegyrics on the dead must be paid for—we positively
cannot send people to heaven for nothing."
One county in Michigan actually gate a small
majQrity in favour of female suffrage, being the only county
in the state which did so. The joke of the matter is, how-
ever that nine-tenths of the voters in the county are native
American Indians.

HI . THE SPRING TRAVRLS NORTHWARD.'"
An important contribution to knowledge of a climate is
afforded by observation of the time at which the sepa•
rate phases of vegetation (leafing, flowering, and fruit.
ripening), occur. From the Austrian, Meteorological
Zeitschrift we learn that M. Hofmann took the oppor.
tunity, during a journey through Italy in March and
April, of making observations on this subject. Front,
numerous data collected in Central Europe, it has been'
shown that a difference of latitude of r corresponds
in general to an acceleration or retardation of the
development of vegetation alymt three days and three*
quarters. M. Hofmann considered twelve different
plants, which, growing at railway stations, wersal
specially suitable for the investigation. The times 0!
flowering, &c., are compared with that at Giessen, ana
the differences are shown on a map. The following
numbers will give some idea of the earlier occurrence of
epochs of vegetation at places named :—Venice, nice
days; Ferrara, eleven; Bologna, fourteen ; Florence,
twenty-six; Rome, twenty-three ; Frascate, twentt
two ; Naples, thirty-five ; Caserta, eighteen ; PiLa;
sixteen; Genoa, thirty; Savona, thirty-two.--2M
Gal den.
A COMMON CAUSE OF DRUNKENNESS.—Every
pulpit and platform rings (not unnaturally) with " loud
and deep" denunciations of the fearful amount of
drunkenness amongst our labouring population. Mani,
speakers and hearers would cease to wonder at it all
see more to deplore if they would go into some of the
low, ill-drained, ill-ventilated courts of our great toil°
and sit down for an hour in some of those fetid dens, is
which a family of eight inhabits a room peoperlY
capable of accommodating two persons. What wonder
if the enervating influence of such an atmosphere drive
the toil-worn and languid labourer to seek some stints'
lant to give him artificial life, and if, from the filthy'
dark surroundings of his own home, he flies for refuge
to the trim parlour and the brilliant glare of thepublic•
house? No more prolific causes of drunkenness are t.°
he found than a foul dwelling and its almost invariable
concomitant, a comfortless home. —Public Health.

SOUTH KENSINGTON.—The Museum of Soutll
Kensington has made the important acquisition of
variety of art objects from Persia, collected by NY.'
Murdoch Smith, superintendent of the telegrapnie
establishment in that country. He has sent over e,
large collection of the siliceous glazed earthenware el
Persia, among which are bowls decorated with blue
and black flowers, the sides with a pierced pattet!!
filled in with transparent glaze, the "grains de rie
the French writers, imitated by the Chinese, and Or_
produced at the manufactory of SZvres. There
another specimen, also perforated, of drab glaze.
Other objects are—water bottles of bulbous form dee.,_c"
rated with brown metallic lustre and rose-wan
sprinklers (Golabpash), with richly-engraved mew
mountings; a number of dishes for lice, from Kash'
with decorations of the brightest blue, one with tuft
typical deer, showing its Chinese derivation, othel
with green glaze; and rasps for scraping the palras
the hands and soles of the feet in the bath, made le
the forms of diminutive ducks and slippers.
examples of metal work are most elaborate, especialli
two tall cylindrical pots, probably designed for incense!
and some plates of a highly sonorous metal, giving Oil
the clearest, most silvery sounds, are inlaid with pa°
gold. The other specimens consist of various piece°
of marquetry and large wooden spoons, used for shot'
bet, most delicately carved. This valuable collectioo
has been acquired at a really nominal cost.—Acadeo
DECREASE OF EMIGRATION.—The returns
emigration compiled by the Government officials'!"
Liverpool show a large decrease during 1874 le2,
compared with the previous year. The total numbn
of emigrants who left Liverpool during the past ye_te
was 121,934, being a decrease of 67,463 upon *.l'
Of the emigrants who sailed, 68,691 were Enghebj
30,558 foreigners, 15,600 Irish, 2,044 Scotch,
5,041 of undescribed nationality. In vessels sai..lll
under the provisions of the Government Emigratiti
Act, there sailed 91,909 persons to the ITnir'7
States, 50,619 of whom were English, 24,976 foreigne,'"l,
14,356 Irish, and 70 of unknown nationality. ."•„"
Canada, 16,311 persons sailed, 12,027 of whom sv,er"
English, to Nova Scotia 2,311, and to Victoria D? 1,1:
During last December 50 ships left Liverpool, sv"`"
3,462 passengers, being a decrease of 563 uPoll
December, 1873.
THE SUN AND THE ASTRONOMER-ROYAL."'
Light and Airy.—Punch.
INSECTS AND FLOWERS.—I have been good;
humouredly accused of attacking the bee, because ,•
have ventured to suggest that she does not possess elia
the high qualities which have been popularly
poetically ascribed to her. But if scientific observe!
tions do not altogether support the moral and
tellectual eminence which has been ascribed to
they have made known to us in the economy,.of th
,hive. many curious peculiarities which no
had dreamt of, and have shown that bees and otb:e,'
insects have an importance as regards flowe''
which had been previously unsuspected. To thee;
we owe the beauty of our gardens, the sweetness
our fields. To them flowers are indebted for.tlzell
scent and colour—nay, for their very existenee'
in its present form. Not only have the present shall
and outlines, the brilliant colours, the sweet scent,
the honey of flowers been gradually developed tgroug':
the unconscious selection exercised by insects, but 0 5
very arrangement of the -colours, the circular bands siL
radiating lines, the form, size, and position of t,r
petals the relative situations of the stamens and pi.Bll,
are al; arranged with reference to the visits of iutTel.
and in such a manner as to ensure the grand objeci;
which these visits are destined to effect.—" Rrier's
Wild Flowers, Considered in Relation to bisects." :fit
Si, John LubboCle. • .

NATIONAL ANTI -INCOME TAX LEAGUE.-- 1,
meeting of the executive committee of the XatiEliAl
Anti-Income Tax League was held at the office
Charing-cross, on Monday, when resolutions vier'
unanimously adopted that a national deputation be,_
organised to wait upon the Prime Minister early n
February.

THE LEADERSHIP OF THE OPPOSITION :"....
" We believe that no definite action has yet been take°
with reference to the arrangements which may be rev'
dered necessary by Mr. Gladstone's resignation of the
Leadership of the Opposition. If we are correctly lrl"
formed, Mr. Gladstone's letter was written in respons,e:
to a request addressed recently to him by some of 11.
late colleagues, to state the course he intended to adoP
with regard to the coming Session. We imagine th‘..o
the question of Mr. Gladstone's successor will r,
decided by the leading members of the Liberal Pan!
before the opening of Parliament ; but our impresel°'
is that no final decision will be arrived at till after the
approaching meetings at Birmingham, where M-r 4
Bright is expected to appear, and in Sussex, at whic;
Lord Hartington is to be present. So far Lori'
Hartington seems to have the best chance of beia
selected to lead the Opposition in the House of Conr
mons."—Observer.
VOYAGE IN A PAPER CANOE. —The Nef
York Tribune, under date, Philadelphia, Dec.. 31'
says :—" A letter from Mr. N. H. Bishop, the at:
venturous traveller, who is on his way from this clu
to the Gulf of Mexico in a paper canoe, announces hie
safe arrival at Newbern, N.C. He paddled fro*
Norfolk through the Cypress Canal to Curritucic '
Sound, and thence to Pamlico Sound, keeping 9014
the shore of the narrow strip of land which separateal
these bodies of water from the Atlantic, and runnill
considerable risk in crossing the stormy current, which
sets in through Hatteras Inlet. The voyager sy*9
picked up in Pamlico Sound by a yacht belonging td
Judge West, of Newbern, who with a party of gentle:
men had been cruising for several days on the lookout
for him, and who offered hien the hospitalities of their ,
town. Mr. Bishop's plan after leaving Newbern vi*4
to row down Bogue, Stump, and Masonboro' Sound*
in about ten days, and reach Cape Fear River y.•
interior water passages all the way, except the last
seven miles. The rice planters on the Waccamac°
and Pedee Rivers have invited him to visit their
plantations. Mr. Bishop writes that not a man who'l
he meets will trust himself in his boat. Every Balla, ,
boatman, and oycterman says he would not cross fb.
creek in such a shell.
-

IN GOOD COMPANY.—On his return to Londoll
from being present at the great sight in Paris, the •
Lord Mayor, with peculiar appropriateness, gave an_
account of his visit at a dinner of the Spectaclo
Makers.—Punch.

_ .
THE DOGS IN LANDSEER'S PICTURES.—SOWO
of the most celebrated dogs in Sir Edwin Landseer's
pictures, and those best known by the engravings,
were not his own, but borrowed from friends. Myrtle,
for instance, the retriever in "The Connoisseurs," was
the property of Mr. Wells, of Redleaf. The other dog
in "The Connoisseurs" is Lassie, a beautiful collie
which was always with the artist in his studio and was
remarkable for her gentleness and docility. -Lassie
forms one of the congregation in the picture of "
Free Kirk." Topsy, a black and-tan terrier, belongani '
to Miss Jessie Landseer, often sat to Sir Edwin. "4°1.1
appears in the Sheridan picture. Btit beyond that
distinction he was not remarkable in any way, unless.
it was that in his old age, after he had lost one of,his
teeth, he had a habit of putting his tongue out of the
side of his mouth, as if to fill up the gap. With the
exception of Tiney, his latest and most attached coli.
panion, there was nothing very notable about any of
the great painter's dogs, apart from their association
with his pictures. There was nothing in them that
very much distinguished them from dogs such as on°
meets with every day. Lassie was perhaps the most
attractive of them, but hundreds of collie dogs have
been known with equal beauty and intelligence. •
Landseer's power of observation, and his skill in in-
terpreting dog nature, led him to see more in his dumb
friends than most people do.—Pictorial World. -
STREET IMPROVEMENTS IN LIVERPOOL—Th.°
Rev. J. Miles Moss having recently offered £l,OOO to- .
the Corporation as the nucleus of a fund for the im-
provement of the lower parts of Liverpool, the-ques-
tion of accepting the gift came before the Health Com- ,
mittee last week. The Town Clerk said that it Wstt';`
scarcely competent for them to take the money and'
spena it in the way indicated. The etreet improve-
ments in the town were surely the business of the Cor-
poration, and they had £lOO,OOO available for that
purpose. They wanted, however, a change in the law,
as at present owners had the power of seeking own'
pensation for demolished property from various tri- •
bunals. If the 14w were amended so as to restrict the
power of assessment to one single tribunal, the Corpo:" '
ration could proceed without fear of litigation. Severs! -
members having expressed concurrence in this vis°4 •
the matter • was allowed to stand over.
•
HoluE LIFE.—It is said that home is the cradle
of the nobler virtues; of gentleness, self-sacrifice, ."
obedience, truth, affection, patience. And yet, at niAe
or ten boys are sent to school, never to return as per-
manent settlers round the family hearth. At about '0
eighteen they go up to college, and thence Pass away
,
into the legal, military, or clerical professions, or int
new homes elsewhere. With
' -
girls, the most part of whom staY at home the ease '
different, and what do we find? We are nct acquainted .•
trades, marry and make -
with a single family in which the young ladies do not,
without hesitation, confess that the neighbourhood in
which they reside is the dullest, without exception, in
the country. There is never "anything going on "
there. Whilst everywhere else people seem to be en-
joying life, with them all is
petrifaction and monotony.
They are sick of the same old walks and rides; their
studies, commonly under compulsion, are a bore to
them; they are not_even a source of entertainment to
Otte ealother,— wa min ger Review.