The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1872-12-21 00:00:00

A NATIONAL lINAT.TH

?WM ulical Journal paya that a society has been formed
under the title of the National Health Society, which
is to have for its object to help every man and woman,
rich and poor, to know for himself, and to carry out
practically around him, the best conditions of healthy
living. The steps at present yiropeeed are the holding
of monthly meetings for the reading of papers ; the
establishing f classes for instruction in vanousbranches
of sanitary rich-rice ; the delivery of free popular
lt Omits ; and the formation of a reference library and
1 an information office.

THE AGRICULTURAL LABOURERS' MOVEMENT.
—The Executive Committee ot the National Agricul-
tgral Labourers' Union met on Monday at Leamiugton.
Mr. Arch presided. A resolution was adopted express-
jug great regret that %fr. Bradlaugh intruded his par-
ticular views on the Exeter Ihil meeting, to the injury
of the agricultural labourers' cause. It was decided to
test the point whether guardians can legally refuse re-
lief to old men on the ground that they belong to the
union. The Secretary was directed to prepare rules
for the Union Sick Benefit Society, which it decided
should be established. The question of the political
disabilities of agricultural labourers was considered,
imd it was de ided to petition Parliament through the
various branches of the union in favour .4 the county
franchise being assimilated with that now existing in
boroughs, and to urge that the redietribution of seats
should al's be considered during the ensuing Parka-

_
mentary salmon.
TWENTV• FOUR SHOTS A MINUTE !—M. Krnka,
the isirentor IA the breechloader which has been
at Prague in which he describes a new invention f
jrrituastele,,tibaitio,',+‘ti. lie)te.risibthuireei
adopted
the lit-f
ye
eh :t
with
under all roundanc
et," or hand mitrailleur. To
he
he says, is of simple ...instruction, and may
be used by the soldier on any ground, however hilly,
jut like a rifle. I: is comparatively cheaper and
simpler than the Werndl an
stories and
dfire a other breechloaders used
by Fnrnpeaii thrice as
mienreatil rapidly
as with It
then e zciadeleewehr ; in battle it will her twenty bier
shots a minute while other eireechlowlers (icily fire
from twelve to ;hid. en a minute. Airy rille may be
converted into Kulidnet, and any car tridge may be
ei
used with it.
SRA EsPEARIAN MOTTO FOR CATTLE-SHOW.-
0 my sweet Beef !"- -Punch.
" ACCIDENTS WILL HAPPEN ! "—Some Use-
ful information as to the nature ef the accidente
which "will happen in t',.3 heat.regulated
may be found in the published list of selected ex.
amples of sect louts. on account of which claims have
been made on the Railway Passengers Assurance Com-
the examples ((i " accidents at borne," we learn that
pally and compenaation paid in the year Pell. From
• commercial %reveller fell downstairs, at • root
to the couipany of 1-I,Ouo. A piece of beef stick-
ing in the windpipe of a bop merchant while eat-
Compensation was ale° paid on account of the
eat-
ing his supper Lost the company a like amount.
following distressing casualties :—A colonel fell
down in a bathroom ; a commercial traveller slipped
while playing at " Postman; " a merchant fell
off a rained pletform in a billiard-room ; a solicitoree
chair gave way when be was banging a picture ; a
sculptor ',calved a blow when be was playing with a
child ; a secretary was injured while moving an invalid
from a bed ; aeother commercial traveller slipped
downstairs ; a metal agent was drawing a cork when
the bottle broke ; a fruit dealer slipped down in a
waslihouse ; a confectioner fell down some cellar steps;
and last, but not least, a Queen's counsel slipped while
descending some stairs.
THE PUFF DIRECT !—The following puff l
from a Californian Journal:—
a
Our seance with the spirits was • success. Mrs. Iledchese,
the medium, was a large, stout lady, although Briggs would
have A she was of medium height, mai quite erra tall.. We
were-tallied that the atterding spirit was no less a person
thou recatioutas We alike,' her to tell us the time. The
spirit immediately struck ten with such 801enill emphasis
that Briggs was converted to spiritualism on the spot. We
then inquired whence canto the table at which we sat.
Au, lily the spirit answered thin " Are you unable, 0
earth-diva/era, to discern try its niatchleas symmetry and
superb finish that this table is the workmaniship of N. P.
Cole and Co.? Know you riot that smug mortals on your
mundane sphere his fureituie stands pre-enrinent l"
" Right," said Briggs, "we need no glint to come and tell um
that!"
MOST MUSICAL, MOST MELANCHOLY.—A
Cockney Gentleman who had been hearing a concert of
old music, where every piece that was performed was
in the programme termed an "Op,' observed, as he
went out, "Well, after all these 'Opt, I vote we have
some Malt."— Punch.
A LITTLE MISTAKE !--TIICTO was rather an
unpleasant mistake in Logan county, Ky., a few nights
ago. Two young gentlemen were out with theclogis on
the track of the coon. An opoisaum was scented up a
tree. After a brief conisffitation it was decided that
one of the hunters ehotffil go to the house for a gun,
while the other stood guard over the tree. The plan
was put into execution; meanwhile the watcher grew
Impatient, and climbed the tree with the intention of
shaking the animal loose 80 that it might fall into the
tender jaws of the eager dogs below. J uot as the
climeer had reeched the limb where the opossum had
taken refuge, the young gentleman returned from the
house gun in hand, and, mistaking his friend for the
game, up and blazed away. There was a howl of pain,
a quick desceut, which was followed by hasty explana-
tions. It is some gratification to state that the wounded
man is doing better.
MURDER OF A YOUNG WOMAN.—A horrible
murder is reported from Lyons. A young woman was
found one evening last week stretched at full length on
One et the public seats on the Quei de la Charite, with
her head completely severed from her body, the deed
having evidently been committed by weans of a razor,
which was found near to the spot. In one of her
hands weie found some grey bake, that had apparently
been plucked from a beard.
Toe DECAV or STONE.—At the last ordinary
meeting if the Manchester Literary and Philosophical
Seciety, Dr. 11. Angus Smith said that he, like others,
had oheerved that the particles of stone moat liable to
be in tong contact lain from town atmospheres
in Englend at least, were most subjsct to decay. Be:
Ilevitg the acid to be the cause, he eupp elect that the
endurance of a officious stone might be somewhat inea•
sured by measuring its resistance to at-id . lie pro-
posed, then fore, to use etropger solution's, and thus
to assproach to the fiction of long periods of time. De
tried a few epecimeus in this way, and h most pro-
miring results. Pieces if about an ffiell cube were
beckon by the fall of a hammer and the number of
blows counted. Similar pieces were di (Ted in weak
acid; both selpleiric acid and muriatie were tried,
and the latter preferred. The number i f blows now
necessary was counted. Some eandsto: 'is gave way
at once and crumbed into rand; Mine resisted long.
Some very dense stunt us stone was litile effected;
it had stood on abridge unaltered for ceeturies, in a
country place however. These trials were mere be-
ginnings ; he had arranged for a very extensive set
of experimenter to be made, Fo as tO fix on a stan•
dart of comparisons but hail not toyed time yet,
THE PREMIER AND HOMER.—MT. Gladstemet
writes to the Spectator :
"In your intereetinB article of to-day on the study of
Bonier you have tinseled from a report of A.PITIO remarks
made by me at the meeting on Tuesday lint of the Society
of Biblical Archreology the words, 'Every day must begin for
nie with my oil friend Homer.' I wish M eay that the re-
porter has been led, pr Malay, by sons carders and indi.
Beet expression of mine, into an error. What I said was
that every effort to examine the question rat ed on that day
must begin for me with Homer. Tin Homeric Poems
are In my opinion firmly based, as a en cord of rams,
religion, arts, and reamer., in a rather remote antiquity,
and thin they form a natural point of courection
with all prior studies ; and the agency of the people
known lair, through Greece as l'lnerniOand comets Greece
itself with that Assyrian plain wilica yielded tte re.
cora under discussion, and which was filth, the carliesil
seat, or one of Cm two earliest seats of civilization. But
ea to my beginnieg every day with limner, as such in ;Armee
conveys to the world a very 'nitro., lammed,n of the de,
wands of my present I think it right to nieution that,
so far as my memory servos me, I have uot mud ll.aner for
PO lines or for a quarter of an hoar consecutively during
the last four years. and any derdlnga of Mine with Homeric
abject& have been c adlued to a number of days which
could readily he coiled on the Supers VorgiVe my troubling
you with this explanation, and allow me to remain very
taithfully yours. W. E GLADsTonn, 11, Carlton Howse.
terrace, SW., Dec. 7,1-7-2."
LONDON INTERNATIONAL EXII/BITION, 1873.
The thittl meeting of the Corned' tee for Silk arid
Velvet was hel I inl Tueselay. The Committee recom-
mended the formation of a sub-( union Vee of la-iee,
who would interest themselves in obtaizeing a cone°.
Con ofie I sink+. A number of applications from
manufacierers at Derby, Coventry, Leek, and Leicesie
ter was laid before the committee. There were pre.
neat—Sir Daniel Com, er, Bart., in the chair; Mr.
Blakely, Mr. Cassells. Mr. Ilycle Clarke, Mr. Cobb,
Mr. Cobibre' and Mr. Lintilhac. Mr. Cole, GB.,
amid CaptesinCleyston, EE., attended the Cemunittee.
THE SUTHERLANDSHIRE COALFIELD. The
Invernean Courier soye that steady progress is being
made in the operations preparatoi y to the opening nit
of the Brora coalfiele a. The mat, in the main shaft
is now reduced by about 200 feet, only 30 feet still re-
maining to be toure out, awl in a week or two more
all will he ready to commence tinder ns (owl work.
Two of the miners made a &Scent On Monday into
the shaft, mid divided on a gallery some feet above
the present Is eel of the water, were they wi re able to
pursue their explorations while the peinping was
going on In the mina! way. A staff of nien. is 818,, ,
ployed clearing out an out eh rft on the oppose.... old„f
the river, while another patty are boring te, the neigh.
bourhood. Miner,' cottages are in 'airtime ef construc-
tion, and altogether the signs of life and activity
aronne lead one to feel that the idea ef Brom be•
coning the eentie of a coal mining disuict is being
rapidly raalieed.
Kano RPIEL.- We are indebted to Germany
for an invention aideli we may place side by side with
ale" Germany
has
wnuotii„lie,, out: of war otir own creative elf+ rts of late years (soya the Coert
getTeira:
.11oznica
Jolene). We alln es to the " Kriel Spiel," now 140
of stir
locgneu
famous. Ea b land has worked according to the Mae
peetiine end a plaything. The word " Spiel, in that
&hacks of the same idea, has net another word
to enable the &Unction to be needs between
play anel gauss; and more frequently the notion
sieegeste I by tee word " Spiel " is playing in the
me ny end amming sense and that is how "Krieg
Spiel" is best interpreted as a game. That in how
" Krieg," or war, is beet underetood by the nation;
it is their playfulness+, their pastime, and we must
re Afea with them ass a peeple ac,:mtling to this
phase tel their modern eliarseter. The play of
wax is going on at the present moment in Germany
with considerable activity; writing with the latest
observation, based on years of experience, we
recegnise this fact. It may be fun to there, but
it is death to offiers. The nation is actively preparizig
for war, and come it Tnoet. There ienediseuiee, in fact,
on the pert of the war players. The enemy that is to
melee a tai to of their playfulneee is named—it its
Russia. The officers of the German army are gleefully
employed iit the i revert oerneut gvttln Ity heart all
(het can be ueeful to them in a campaign in llussite.
There are the I otkn deliverel by the German Govern-
meet to the officer's, and they are, or soon will be, able
to give their commands in surh Ressian a 8 will Riffles
to hold uonverse with the Muecovite on the chief poiuta
that ensue out of tee game nf wive carried on in its
vastest and most realistic spirit.