The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1881-07-16 00:00:00

Visattaneaus
HOME, FOREIGN, AND COLONIAL.

STRANGE. —lt is a very extraordinary fact that,
although very many much-married people always go
to bed quarrelling, yet they never fall out.—Judy.

FEMALE CLERKSHIPS IN THE POST OFFlCE.—Regllla-
tions as to open competitive examinations for the
situations of Female Clerks in the Receiver and
Accountant General's office and the Savings Bank
Department of the General Post Office in London,
have just been issued. Candidates will be required to
satisfy the Civil Service Commissioners that their age
on the first day of the competitive examination is not
less than 18 nor more than 20; that they are unmarried
or widows; and that they are duly 'qualified in respect
of age and character. Female clerics will be required
to resign their appointments on marriage. An open
competitive examination for 40 female clerkships, being
the number of vacancies estimated as likely to occur
within the next six months, will be held in London,
Edinburgh, and Dublin, on Friday, September 21,
1881.

POETS AND PASTRY.—The Albany Sunday Press
gives an amusing account of an American lady of high
literary reputation, living in a small cottage in the
suburbs of Boston, whose independence of "what
people will say" might well be followed in the old
country. A gentleman called upon her one day, and
was told by a daughter, " Mether was too busy to be
called, but he could see her in the kitchen if he liked."
He followed his conductor, and found his hostess with
her sleeves tacked up and a bibbed apron on, cutting
up a pumpkin for a pie, whilst a venerable gentleman
was gravely paring the pieces. Her aide de cuisine
was the poet Longfellow. Soon after another dis-
tinguished poet joined the party, and the end of it
was that the guests joined the family dinner, and en-
joyed the pie at the making of which they had assisted,
MOTTO FOR PAIRINGDFF M.P.'s.—" An Ay for 3
Nay."—Funny Folks.

DISASTERS AT SEA.—There were 22 British and
foreign wrecks, of which eight were British, reported
during the past week, making a total of 941 for the
present year, or an increasa of 228 as compared with
the corresponding period of last year. The approxi-
mate value of property lost was £4,000,000, including
British £2,500,000. Only two vessels were lost off the
coasts of the United Kingdom. Thirty-five lives were
lost.

WEDDING FESTIVITIES IN PARlS.—Parisian wed-
dings among the humbler classes nearly always take
place on a Saturday. Ea'ly in the morning may be
seen large carriages %vitt, white horses and %% bite reins,
the coachmen wearing favours and xhite glo%es,
driving the bridal party to the mairie or the civil
marriage, the different couples being ranged in order
according to the time of their arrival. Next comes
the religious ceremony, followed by the wedding
breakfast, after which it is the etiquette to drive in
the Bois de Boulogne, stopping for refreshment at
one of the cafos. Sometimes there are from twenty
to thirty wedding parties making the round of the
lake in solemn procession. If too poor to afford a
carriake, the merrymakers adjourn to the Louvre, or
even to the Morgue, or one of the cemeteries. Then
comes the great feature of the day, the dinner, gen-
erally at a Palais Royal restaurant, the festivities
winding up with a dance.
AN INTERESTING PORTRAIT.—In London last Satur.
day Messrs. Christie, Manson, and Woods sold by
auction a collection of pictures, among which was the
portrait of J. M. W. Turner, R.A., by J. Linnell sen.,
painted about 1837 for Mr. Birch, of Birmingham.
This portrait is one of the very few of him that exist,
for he never sat but once, to G. Dance in 1800, as he
had an odd fancy that if ever people saw his face they
would think less of his pictures. It was done from
thumbnail sketches by Linnell, at the dinner parties
given by Mr. Daniel, and it represents him a very
good-looking man. It is a small bust size, and is
authenticated by a letter from Mr. Linnell to the late
Mr. Thornbury, author of the "Life of Turner," in
which he says it was painted about 1837. It sold to
Messrs. Angew for £B6. It will be remembered that
there is no portrait of Turner in the National Portrait
Gallery.
DISTURBANCES AT CONSETT.—On Tuesday a number
of Orangemen proceeded to Towlaw, where a demon-
stration took place. After their return to Consett
they were met by some Roman Catholics and a con-
flict ensued. Three pistol shots were fired by the
Orangemen, and two men received a severe beating.
At half-past eight o'clock the Orangemen who had
taken part in the Newcastle procession were met by a
large crowd, who followed them up the hill to Consett.
Superintendent Oliver and a large staff of men man-
aged to separate the factions for a while, but eventu-
ally they came to close quarters near the Post Office.
The Orangemen were again attacked, and six or seven
shots were fired. Before the police were able to sepa-
rate the combatants several men and women were in-
jured. Ultimately, however, order was restored.
RE-ARRANGED ADVICE FOR THE HOT WEATHER......
Grin and (polar) bear it.--Fun.

AGE OF GERMAN N EWSPAPERS. —An interesting
statistical paper on German newspaper literature,
lately published, tells us that, at the end of last year,
there were in circulation in Germany, 4,413 news-
papers. Of these 98 were older than the present cen-
tury. Among them the Frankfurter Journal is 261
years old, the Magdeburg Zeitung 233 years old, the
Leipziger Zeitung 221 years, the Jenaische Zeitung 207
years, the Augsburver Postzeitung 193 years, the
Got haische Zeitung 190 years, the Vossische Zeitung
159 years, the Berlin Intelligenzblatt 128 years, the
Kolnische Zeitung 84 years. There are 266 newspapers
averaging from 80 to 50 years of age; 1,127 averaging
from 50 to 21 years; 1,542 between 20 and six years:
and 1,380 between five years and three months old.
Altogether there are 1,491 German newspapers more
than 20 years old. That a newspaper's existence in
Germany is often a very ephemeral one may be in-
ferred from the fact that 20 per cent, of the news-
papers which circulated through the German Post-
office in 1880 came first into existence within the same
year, and the average existence of those newspapers
was not more than six months. Some have been more
hardy, and have survived into the present year.
A BIT or ETYM(H)OLOGY. —The disuse of the letter
H is entirely an acquirement of art and cult, for it is
decidedly un(h)atural.—Fun.

AGRICULTUR4L PROSPECTS. The Mark Lane
Express says :—" Our reports this week are not on the
whole in favour of a remunerative harvest. The
wheats vary in different localities, but as a rule they
appear to be a rather thin crop. With the exception
of early-sown barleys on kind land, the spring corn is
also stated to be thin, and even the best crops are
short in the straw. The great deficiency of the hay
crop is no longer a matter of uncertainty. The
thunder rains have benefited the root crops and helped
the growth of aftermath clovers and grasses. Stock
of all kinds are doing well, hut prices continue to be
disappointing. Altogether the outlook is not very
cheering.
AN INTERESTING BIBLIOGRAPHIC DISCOVERY.— A
find of great historic and bibliographic interest, re-
lating to the annals of George Cadrenus, a Greek
monk of the eleventh century, has been made at
Basel (says the Geneva Correspondent of The Times).
These annals originally formed part of a collection
of Byzantine histories, the oldest manuscript
copy of which was contained in a volume be-
longing to the library of Kanas in Paris. The
text was, however, very imperfect, a portion
being entirely lacking. A short time ago Herr
Gieher, of Basel, acting on a suggestion from Dr.
Studemann, the German savant, made a search for the
missing portions in the University library of Basel,
and succeeded in finding 14, or nearly all the missing
leaves. These leaves are in the same handwriting as
the Kanas manuscript, and were evidently removed
before the acquisition of the volume by the French
King. The University of Basel have returned them
to the National Library of Kanas, for which grace-
ful act they have received the thanks of the French
Academy,