The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1886-06-05 00:00:00

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The official celebration of the Queen's birth-
clay, which is usually, but not invariably, fixed
for the Saturday following the birthday itself,
was this year more markedly kept up in London
than usual, the recent appearances of her
Majesty in public seeming to have stimulated
the popular wish to make as much as possible of
the occasion. Thousands flocked to St. James's
• Park to see the "trooping ot the colours "—a
ceremony which is always picturesque, and which
is one of the most interesting military spectacles
._provided for the delectation of ;dwellers in
- —London. In the evening there were the cus-
tomary illuminations and as the weather was
delightfully fine the streets in the -West-end in
which these were shown were even more crowded
than is the wont. And for those who wished to
see the faces of those of our leading politicians
A-ho are in office, as well as of the principal dip-
lomatists accredited to the Court of St. James's,
there were to be watched the arrivals of dis-
tinguished visitors at the regulation Ministerial
oanquets. Altogether, London on "Queen's
Birthday" always presents a series of interesting
spectacles, and this year the number of those
witnessing them was augmented by the many.
Colonial visitors we have among us. There is an
nnmistakableness about the majority of these;
their strangeness to England and its sights is
evident, but the welcome they have received on
all hands is calculated to make them feel at
home.

Naturally the reason for this influx of visitors
from "Greater Britain" is the Colonial and
Indian Exhibition now being held at South
Kensington. The figures thus far show that this
institution is even more popular than its three
predecessors, and if a fine summer be vouchsafed
us, there is little doubt that the end of the
season will tell the same tale. A project has
been mooted that, now such an extensive and
unique collection of Colonial and Indian products
has been gathered together, it should be made a
permanency in the shape of a museum. The
teaching of "object lessons is one of the features
of modern education, and no finer object lesson for
giving people an idea of the vastness of extent and
greatness of resource of the British Empire
could be imagined than such a collection. It is
, very little that the average Englishman knows,
or can be expected to know, of the extent of
that Empire of which he is a subject, and upon
which, as the old boast runs, the sun never sets.
And among the many instances which "the
Colinderies," as it is popularly called, furnish to
give him some fixed idea on the subject, one
; ,may be taken as a sample, though but a small
sample, of the whole. In the Australian Court
-" a gigantic map of • the Fifth Continent,
' setting forth the various divisions—Victoria,
New South Wales, South Australia, Western
Australia, and Queensland—into which it has
been severed ; and in one of these divisions,
drawn to the same scale, is inserted a map of the
British Isles. The comparative smallness of the
Mother Country, as against only this one portion
of her dependencies, forms a striking picture, and
could scarcely be put in more effective fashion.
And this is merely one instance of the many
which could be selected of the lessons that such
a museum as that which could be formed out of
te present exhibition could teach to us all.
No sooner has the Prince of Wales opened a
new bridge across the Thames at Putney, than it
is announced that he will in a few weeks lay the
foundation of another close to the Tower.
The latter will be of interest, as well as of value,
for it will be the first attempt in history to cast
a roadway over the Thames at a point below
London-bridge. So certain had it seemed that
there would never be such an effort that "below
bridge" had passed into a popular phrase as
. representing the whole of the river nearer the
sea than the magnificent structure erected by
Sir John Rennie. And the idea might well have
been considered to rest on sure foundations, for
it is as certain as anything in metropolitan
history can be that, from the time the Romans
first erected a fort overlooking the Thames, the
river has first been forded and then been bridged
at this point. An item of even
greater general interest about the pro-
posed Tower Bridge is that it will be
built after a style new to England. The diffi-
culty in the way of its erection was that if
planned in the customary fashion it would pre-
vent a great number of ships from passing up
the river to the higher wharves; and it was this
consideration which stood for a long time in the
path. But a plan has been adopted by which,
although the foot traffic will be enabled to be
continuous, the portion of the bridge devoted to
vehicles will be raised when ships with towering
masts wish to pass through; and the result of
the experiment will be watched with great
interest, not only by engineers, but by whar-
• fingers and the general public.
•* A singular accident which occurred in London.
a few days since will call attention to a
hitherto unsuspected danger that lurks among
our marriage customs. It appears that, after
a couple had been wedded at an East-end
church, they were saluted by their friends on
- emerging from the sacred edifice with a shower
of rice. The bridegroom was noticed to throw his
• hands suddenly before his eyes, but it was
thought that this was only to protect his face
from the smart caused by the "esculent grains,"
as some dictionary defines them, and the shower
yeas renewed. But a cry of pain from the un-
fortunate man told all the bystanders that some-
thing wrong had happenediand not long elapsed
. before the unlucky bridegroom had to be taken
to hospital, there to have an injury to his eyes
—caused by the rice—attended to by the doctors.
No one would have thought that such a serious
accident could have arisen from so small a cause,
and the incident may act as a preventive to the
lavish throwing of rice at weddings. Many a
, bridegroom has complained of discomfort from
• this cause, while others have urged that although
• the casting of old slippers after the married
pair may be meant for an expression of goodwill,
a blow from them is apt to leave pain. But
much has to be allowed for the exuberant gaiety
which attends a wedding; and the risk of acci-
dent after all is so small, that given a reasonable
amount of care, it may be left out of considera-
tion.

There are certain hotels in London• as
in Paris which are almost wholly given
over to the entertainment of American
visitors, and some of the newest in
our metropolis are recognised as practically
certain to be always in summer time filled with
them. The stream of American travellers to

Europe shows no signs of diminution with suc-
ceeding years, and what is known as "the
Yankee twang" is to be distinguished in our
public places to a degree which shows how
popular the European tour still is with
our cousins across the Atlantic. It seems
strange to the ordinary Englishman, who deems
a trip to Switzerland and the :Rhine as rather an
effort in travelling, who regards a tour in Italy as
something to be thought of rather than accom-
plished, to note the easy fashion in which citizens
of-the United States decide upon taking a far'
more prolonged trip both in point of time and
mileage. But just as Washington was
once called" a city of magnificent distances,"
so the - United States may be termed as
country to which the same charactg may be
applied. What to us in England would appear a
long trip—as, for instance, the railway Journey
from London to Aberdeen—is as nothing to those
who may for business or pleasure take, the ride
from New York to San Francisco, right across
the-_knaerican continent. And this may largely
account for the fact that an expedition to Europe
is coonted merely as a trip, while a similar
jour on the part of an Englishman to America
wontd b p eolooked upon as the event of a lifetime.
It. is with regret that a good many visitors to
Lentlen, as well as residents if-I the metropolis,
will •Eave heard that there is a danger of the
"penny steamers" being withdrawn from the
z rir. . Their number has been decreasing very
ra tlly within the past few years, as the total
of assengers has diminished, while the vehicular
comjiettion on land has increased; and it would
almost seem that, if steps are not speedily taken
to _arrest the movement, the familiar penny
steamer will soon be no more. This would
deprive the metropolis of one of its attractions
to the visitor. The journey from London
Bridge to Chelsea may not be as picturesque as
a trip on the Rhine, but it is certainly full of
interest, and no one can really be said to have
seen the town who has not accomplished it.
There are certain points of London which c.n be
witnessed to their full effect only from the river,
and it is from the deck of a steamer that the
best view can be obtained. It is the same in
Paris, where a trip down the Seine from fortifi-
cation to fortification will .Dive a better idea of
some a-IPe9ts of the city than can otherwise be
-e4locluired• A- comparison between the view op-
t aiallAsTwiehAdtinp, es -4.l4eoSeiflawesid Aiwiltittr
on the Thames not only bin's out the difference"
between the pictures presented by the two cities,
but also certain divergences between the
characters of the two peoples. The huge float-
ing washhouses which line "the quays" have no
;..leee iv,. the tronomy of the English river: and