The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1868-08-15 00:00:00

)11iscrilantons

ROME, FOREIGN, AND COLONIAL.

A LILLIPUTIAN YACHT RACE.—An exciting I
yacht race between Lilliputian craft took place in a
timber pond at Bootle, near Liverpool, on Monday. !
The largest vessel was 56 inches long, and the prizes
were a timepiece, a mirror, and a pencil case. The
second match was between yachts 54 inches long, the
fleetest of which won a silver tankard for her owner.
, In the other matches vessels 48, 42, and 36 inches long
I contested. There was a gentle northerly breeze, '
! which, however, was sufficient to cause some swift
' sailing. The regatta was under the auspices of the
Model Yacht Club.
LETTER FROM Mn. GLADSTONE.—The Man-
chester Examiner publishes the following letter, ad-
dressed by Mr. Gladstone to Mr. R. N. Philips, M.P.
It is dated Hawarden, August 3, 18418.
Mr. dear Mr. Philips,-1 have decided, under the advice of
experienced friends, that it is my duty, with a view to the
general interest, to become a candidate for South-West
Lancashire at the approaching election. The facts presented
to us by the state and views of the constituency are such as
to leave no doubt whatever on my mind with respect to the
propriety of this step, and they have, as you probably know,
made my friends in the South-Western division feel it to be
an imperative duty to bring forward a second candidate.
Teu will join in our satisfaction, and I hope we may take it
as an omen of a complete triumph in the Salford hundred.
Vet I am conscious that I am saying farewell ti a body of
political friends In that hundred, as able and energetic, as
generous and indulgent, as any man could desire to see
rallied round Inns, and I cannot part from them without
tendering to theta, through you, the expression of my last-
ing gratitude. Pray accept also for yourself that large share
of my thanks which is so richly your due.
GREAT FIRE IN Lonnon.—Shortly after one
o'clock on Monday morning a great fire broke out in
the neighbourhood of King-street, Southwark, which
resulted in the destruction of a large amount of pro-
perty. ithin a short time eight steam engines, six
manual engines, and seventy firemen had been
brought together; but so great was the scarcity of
water that upwards of an hour elapsed before even
three or four of the steam engines could be set to work,
and as a consequence the fire spread with great
rapidity. For a time, and until daylight,fthe flames
lighted up a large area of the south side of London'
and before they were subdued, two warehouses and
eighteen dwelling-houses haul been destroyed. Seven
horses were burned to death. The damsge estimatud
at £3o,ooo.—The following curious incident is related
in connection with the fire :
A person named Wood, residing in the vicinity of the fire,
• apprehensive lest his dwelling should be destroyed, hastened
te remove his wife. The latter had been confined about four
months, and had the child in bed with her. She was subject
to fits, and, through tie' excitement of the scene, she went
Into one en the spot. They hastened to carry her away, for-
getting in their hurry all about the unfortunate infant.
Shortly after a neighbour, who was assisting to remove
Wood's goods, seized the bed ansl bedclothes, and proceeded
to remove them to a place of safety across the road. In Ids
transit he dropped the baby, and he says, although Ile saw
' something white, yet he did not stop to examine it, never
' streaming that it was a child. Some little time elapsed
, before it was picked up and identified, but when it was it
was found to be unhurt and fast asleep.
THE \Vito's° MAN. —"The Chancellor of the
Exchequer left Town for Loch Letter." The Post-
master-General would have sounded much better.—
Pooch.

WORDS OF PgACE !—The Emperor Napoleon
has been paying a flying visit of half an hour to Troyes
while on his way from Plombil•res to Fontainebleau,
and the Moniteur gives the usual official account of the
reception he met with. All the authorities were as-
sembled at the station, the troops were under arms,
and there was an immense crowd. The Mayor came
forward with an address, and in reply to it his Majesty
said

I did not wish to pass through Troyes without stopping
for a moment to give a proof of my ardent sympathy with
the population of Champagne, who are animated by such
patriotic sentiments. I noticed with pleasure last year the
progress of industry in your department. I beg of you to
continue, for nothing threatens at this moment the peace of
Europe. Have confidence in the future, and do not forget
that God protects France.
These wor is, says the Moniteur, were received with
loud cheers, and when his Majesty left shouts of
" Vive rEmpereur !" wem several times repeated.—
[The Paris correspondent of the Pall Mall Gazette, in
noticing this speech, says :—"The Emperor's short
discourse at Troyes is simply a mis-statemeneof facts,
and has had no effect on the Bourse, as it is known
that France and Prussia are continuing their arma-
ments.")
EXTRAORDINARY ESCAPE OF A CHILD.—The
Memorial of St. Etienne contains an account of the
fall of a house, No. 87, Rue de Lyon, which suddenly
came down some days back in that town, but without
causing any loss of life. The building was two storeys
high, each of which was occupied by a family.
Towards ten at night the side wall facing the east,
which had no support from any adjoining house gave
way and the beams, and rafters, with floors and furni-
ture of all kinds, fell with a loud crash, and formed an
indescribable MASS of confusion. A man named
BussiMe and his wife, who occupied the upper floor,
were ;Weep in bed at the time, and were precipitated
below amidst articles of furniture and all kinds of
debris. A large clothes-press sustained the weight of
the upper beams, and allowed the inmates of that por-
tion of the tenement to escape. Neither BussiMe nor
his wife were seriously injured, only somewhat bruised.
A child of eight months was found unhurt and still
asleep in its cradle in an excavation made in the ad-
joining space of ground. This excavation was, in fact,
the cause of the catastrophe, as it had to some extent
undermined the wall of the house which fell.
THE LATE QUEEN OF MADAGASCAR AND HER
EcNERAL.—The death of the Queen of Madagascarhas
been briefly noted in the papers. The following are
etails of her funeral, as furnished by a come-
.pondent
The funeral of Rasoherina took place on Tuesday evening,
April 14th. The day following the Queen's death the usual
proclamation went forth that all the people—men, women,
and children—were to have all their hair cut off. You may
imagine how the people all looked completely shorn of their
locks. We could scarcely recognise those we knew best.
The Queen was buried with a great deal of pomp. Her
tomb is a pretty one, built from Mr. Cameron's design and
under his superintendence. In the tomb were placed over
400 dresses, sonic, of which cost more than £lOO. Her body
was wrapped in native lambus. These were about 700 in
Lumber, and averaged in puce say £3 each. There were also
20 watches, one of which cost £2OO. Ido not know how
many earrings, finger-rings, and other valuables. Everything
the Queen was fond of was put into the tomb with her, there
to spoil and rot. The coffin was made of dollars beat up
into bars and riveted together so as to form a large oblong
box, capable of holding a dozen people not alive . It cost
22,000 dollars, or over £4,000.
A ROYAL VICEROY.—The Anglo-Indians, so
far from preparing to be satisfied with Lord Mayo, are
trying to persuade themselves that one of the Queen's
sons may some day be sent out to govern the country.
The natives would be immensely gratified by having a
Royal Ruler once more, and as the _Primal points out,
"with the annual migration to the cool climate of the
hills, an English Prince might find life as enjoyable"
in Indians in England. There can be no doubt that
an appointment of this kind would take India by
storm. But suppose (says the Pall Mall Gazette) the
Royal Viceroy went astray in his policy? Would it
be convenient to snub him in a letter from the Indian
Secretary?
A MURDERER'S IMPULSE. Gunner Benjamin
Sheldon, who was hanged at I.ucknow for having shot
and killed Bombardier Wall, made a strange confes-
sion. On the day of the murder he had been led, "by
the kindness of his friends," to drink to excess. "In
the evening," he says, "I must have been at roll-call,
although I do not recollect it; and the first thing I do
recollect, after leaving the canteen when it was closed
was finding myself at the cot of Corporal Wall with a
carbine in my hand. I cannot tell whether Corporal
Wall was asleep or awake. It was then, as in a mo-
ment, I felt impelled by some uncontrollable impulse
to shoot him. I tried not to do it, but I had no power
—it was as if I could not leave the spot. It seems to
me as if I had been under a strong and irresistible
temptation of the deviL I do not remember discharg-
ing the carbine, or speaking to anyone; but my next
conscious moment was when I was being handcuffed
in the guard-room, as one of the handcuffs nipped me.
It was not until the next morning, when I was told of
what had happened, that the circumstance of having
been at Corporal Wall's cot flashed upon Inc."
A BLOODLESS DUEL—A Paris correspondent
writes :

A good old story, for the exact truth of which I should be
sorry to stand up, has just been raked up apropos of a recent
duel. Two men—literary men, of course for they are now
your only swashbucklers and bully-boys—quarrelled, and one
of the seconds rushed off to Devisme's, and procured a case
of duelling pistols. This pair was selected as the pair,
Devisme being supposed to have previously loaded them.
"One, two, three—at the third call Messieurs will fire
and Messieurs did fire, and the effect was droll. A little
duck perched itself on the nose of one principal, and a
wreath of roses entwined itself round the manly brow of the
other. Devisme, or his boy, had by mistake lent the pistols
of Robert Houdin, who was then the arch-conjurer of
Paris.

DEATH OF A WOULD-BE REGICIDE. —A Paris
correspondent writes :
Joseph Henry is no more of this world. You will naturally
inquire, Who was this Joseph henry? Well, he was a sort
of madman, whore ambition it was to enjoy European
celebrity, and who, to realise this object, tried to shoot
Louis Phillippe twenty-flve years ago. Ile had no cause
whatsoever of complaint against this monarch, he had
particular antlpaty for his government, but he wished to
kill the sovereign, so as to make a name. His not having
succeeded in his design may perhaps account for his name
not being well known. When brought before the court it
was proved that the pistol he made use of on the occasion
was a somewhat harmless weapon, and he was therefore
condernnedto hard labour for life instead of being guillotined.
In 1848 the revolution net him free, and he has just died very
miserably in all hospital.
THE QUAKERS AND THE CHURCH-BATF.S. —The
Society of Friends, in their annual report on the sub-
ject, give the following figures as to distmints on the
property of Friends :—Church-rates, cases 39, amount
£153 ills. 4d. ; rent-charge in lieu of tithes, cases 155,
amount £1,716 Is. ; other ecclesiastical demands, cases
16, amount £33 ds. 2d. These figures are for England
and Wales, the principal total being in Essex,
£624 Bs. Bd. ; Warwickshire, Leicestershire, and Staf-
fordshire are conjoined, the total being £37 80. sd. The
Lancashire and Cheshire Friends have been mulcted
of £29 Ge. Sc!., and those of Yorkshire have suffered to
the extent of £B5 10s. 7d. In one case, for a claim of
Is. 3d., £'6 was taken; and in another, for 2s. 4d., £3
was taken.
DUELLING IN ITALY—Since 1860 there have
been more duels in Italy, often for frivolous causes,
and usually ending with very slight injury to the
parties engaged. But an encounter of unusual fierce-
ness has just occurred at Parma between a lieutenant
of Bersaglieri and an ex-Garibaldian. The duel was to
be "to the death," and commenced with pistols, but
apparently the combatants were poor marksmen for
, they fired four shots each without any damage being
done. They then took to sabres, and the Garibaldian
received seven wounds, none of them dangerous. The
Bersaglieri WM wounded in four places, and two of
the wounds in the head are said to be dangerous. The
duel had to be suspended. A lady is reported to have
been the cause of the quarrel. Lately, at Milan, a
ebnnyeli,
,rssep
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queror.

Arr Eames FOR BEING QUARRELSOME. —ln I
very hot weather yen may be MB disagreeable and dis-
obliging to your friends as you please. If a coolness
arises, BO much the better.—Punch.
Fk.MALE TELEGRAPHISTS. The New York
Journal of the Telegraph says :
Over our sanctum is a room where about fifteen young
ladies may daily be found engaged in telegraphic duties.
The room is secluded, airy, and agreeable. It is presided
over by Miss Snow, a lady of superior executive ability, and
a first-class operator. On Friday last ten of the young ladies
sent and received 3,135 messages between Stilt, and 44 p.m.,
or all average of 314 messages each. On the following
Tuesday the same young ladies sent and received over 3,000.
The work was lone well, neatly, correctly, and to their very
groat credit. With such a record there is no use in doubting
the capacity od ladies for this service. 'the daily number

averages about 2,200.
ADVANCING FROM THEORY TO PRACTICE.—The
Rev. S. T. Nevill, the Masonic P.C.G. of Stafford-
shire, hns broached a novel proposal. He suggests
that Freemasons who have leisure should advance
from the theory of their craft to practice, and, forming
thernselves into disciplined encampments, go out to
Australia and New Zealand and build small churches
destitute of places of worship. The rev, gentleman
has correspondents in New Zealand who have to travel
fifty miles to church, and he feels certain that such a
fraternity as he suggests would be welcomed in many
villages as a blessing, and treated accordingly.
•

AN OLD GIRL.—The last survivor of the party
of young ladies who strewed flowers in the path of
Washington as he passed through Trenton, in 1789, on
his way to New York, to assume the Presidency, is
Mrs. Sarah Hand, now nearly 90 years of age, and a
resident of Cape May county.

- -
SERVANTGALISM.—In London, on Monday, an
action was brought at the Bloomsbury county court by
a domestic servant for compensation for being dis-
charged without notice. Her master pleaded that
after the family had been served for some time with
weak tea the woman was watched, and it was found
that she poured out the first brew into a jug for herself,
then watered the remainder, and took it upstairs.
When taxed with the offence she was abusive, and
was at once dismissed. His honour gave judgment

for the master.
MRS. Litreomi. —The New York Tribune
says :
Various statements having been made in regard to a pro-
posed visit of Mrs. Lincoln, widow of the late president, to
England, under the protection of the lion. Reverdy Johnson,
it may be stated that the lady wrote to Mr. Johnson some tune
since his appointment as minister to the Court of St. James's,
inquiring as to when he would sail, and requesting to go out
antler his protection. In due course, Mr. Johnson informed
her of Ids intention to sail from Baltimore, hi the steam-
ship Datimore, of the Baltimore and Bremen line, on the
Ist of August, stopping at Southampton, and since then, at
her request, lie has engaged passage for her on the same
steamer, and she will sail hence, on her way to Scotland,
under these auspices.
- • - —• •

BASSO PROFONDO.—A Deep Draught of Bitter
Beer.—Punch.

GOLD-SEEKERS !—The Paris correspondent of
the Daily Telegraph writes :
Another attempt is threatened on the Spanish galleons
which the Dutch and English fleets sent to the bottom of .
Vigo Bay somewhere about 1702. The work is to be en-
trusted (if it is ever carried out) to Colonel Gowan, an
American gentleman resident in Paris, who raised for the
Russian Government the men.of-war which were sunk across
the harbour of Sevastopol. Colonel Gowan is very sanguine
about this undertaking ; and, if it come off all right, ingots
will lie a drug in the market. Writing of ingots naturally
brings to one's memory other deep places from which gold
may be rescued—to wit, Hamburg and Baden. A young
lady, well known on the Paris stage. went down a short time
since to break the bank at the (crater place, and you will
hardly believe that she did not do it, and, indeed, on the
ointrary, lost 6,000 napoleons. At Baden, a Russian, 11.
Narischkine, very well known here, is engaged not only in
opposing the bank, but has a heavy by-bet with another
Russian, also is Parisian, that lie wills the most tummy of the
two. Now surely a by-match, when you are playing against
a very strong public table, is painting the lily.
INCREASE OF CORRESPONDENCE.—In the United
Kingdom the proportion of letters to population rose
from 24 per head per annum in 1865 and 1867, to 26
per head per annum in 18127; and the proportion of
letters to inhabited houses rose from 1312 letters to one

..... --
house in 1865, to 141 letters to one house in 1866, and
144 letters to one house in 1867. During the years
1866 and 1867 the total number of letters delivered in
the London district would have been much more than

sufficient to give a delivery of one letter on every
working day to each house throughout the district.
ICE CREAM !—On Saturday, at Birmingham, W.
Welch, fruiterer, was charged with exposing for sale
three pineapples that were in a decomposed state. Mrs.
Welch appeared in answer to the charge, and said that
" specked " fruit was always used to make ice cream
and confectionery, and unless the fruit was rotten it
would not make delicacies so well, as the juice could
not be got from the fruit in sufficient quantities unless
it was " very ripe." All fruit, pears, apples, and
melons had more or less of maggots in them, and con-
fectioners would not buy fruit unless it was rotten, as
the officer had termed it, but which she only considered
"fully ripe." The magistrate said it appeared clear
enough that the fruit was unfit for human food, and
the law said that to sell or offer for sale such fruit was
an offence. In the present case, however, he would
only inflict a fine of 2s. Gil. and costs.
FRESH MEAT FOR THE NAl7l".—The Chops of
the ChanneL —Punch.

A CURIOUS ACCIDENT.—A most extraordinary
incident occurred the other day in the drawing gallery
of the Jardin des Plantes, in Paris, by which death
was well-nigh caused by the bite of a stuffed serpent.
M. Delahaye, the gifted artist, to whose genius we owe
the splendid drawings lithographed in the scientific
works published by the Sorbonne and the Coll6ge de
France, had completed the drawing of a crotaluna, one
of the most dangerous of the rattlesnake tribe, and
was replacing the stuffed reptile in its glass case. when
the jaws, kept open by means of a spring,, suddenly
snapped on the artist's finger, which bled profusely.
M. -Delahaye instantly sucked the wound, and rushed
to the laboratory for aid. Two doctors, hastily sum-
moned, pronounced the danger imminent. They
steeped the finger in a solution of alkali, and then
introduced a platina needle into the wound,
previously made red hot by the application of
electric piles. The patient was next dosed with the
usual antidotes for poison. After an hour of this
treatment he was sent home. The excitement over,
the sarant.l inquired among themselves whether Ist.
Delahaye's wound could have proved mortal. To
ascertain the fact they sent for a rabbit, and, closing
the jaws of the stuffed crotalum on the wretched ani-
mals thigh, inflicted precisely the same wound as M.
Delahaye had received. In half an hour the secants
had the satisfaction of seeing the rabbit die in all the
tortures of tetanus.
THE GREAT UNBENEFICED.—Ferpettua Curates
are abolished. In name, only, we fear; otherwise
this would be good news for all those deserving
Clergymen who toil on year after year, and never
obtain a living.—Punch.
THE DUKE OF ABERCORN.—The following ap-
pears in the Dalin Gazette
:
Dublin Castle, Aug. 6, 1805.—Her Majesty has been
graciously pleased to direct Letters Patent .to lie passed
under the Great Seal of Ireland, granting to James, Marquis
of Abercorn in the Peerage of Great Britain, Earl of
Abercorn in the Peerage of Scotland, and Viscount Strabane
In the Peerage of Ireland, E.G., and to the heirs male of
his body lawfully begotten, the dignities of a Marquis and
Duke of this part of her Majesty's United Kingdom called
Ireland, by the names, styles, and titles of Marquis of
Hamilton, of Strabane, in the county of Tyrone, and Duke
of Abercorn.
Tim E CANADIAN FRONTIER.—The following
letter, from an officer, will afford much gratification
as an evidence of the good feeling of our American
neighbours :
I have much pleasure in telling you that all is quiet along
the frontier: the greatest good feeling regarding us appears
to prevail on the American side. I hear from one of our
officers that at ogitensburgh, on the 4th of July, at a large
public meeting M the town-hall, the Declaration of Indepen-
dence having been read, after the American national air the
band played "God Save the Queen!" the whole assembly
rising to it with uncovered heads.
LETTER FROM GARIBALDL—GeneraI Garibaldi,
after a long silence, has just sent the following letter
to the Bolognese
Noble Friends,—Although I expected everything from the
generous men of the Bth of August, to whom I am bound by
all ties of love and gratitude, yet I have been gratefully
touched by the kind reception given to Menotti and his wife.
The degrading existence to which a handful of wretches
who misgovern it have consigned our brave country affects
moos it does you. If last year the Italians understood me, I
should have been able, with you, to rescue her from her
misery and degradation. But, unfortunately, by the side of
the mighty heroes of our time, whose blood has been shed in
a hundred battle-fields without seeking for any other reward
than that of fighting for Italy, there is always a mass of
rabble and doctrinaires who, traitors, under the pretext of
principle anti purism, abandoned their companiona in the
hour of danger. Our people, without abandoning the labour
which preserves the body, should think of freeing their mind ;
for what kind of liberty is to be expected from a nation
which every day falls down at the feet of priests, the
pedestals of every tyranny, and the soldiers of the most
atrocious of Italy's tyrants? I shall believe that oar people
mean freedom when I Bee St. Peter's turned Into an asylum
for the indigent—when I see the phial of St. Januariva
broken on the tonsured head of the ludicrous sorceror.
Come what will, I shall die unhappy if, on the day when you
fight for Italy's liberty—which I hope will be soon—l cannot
follow you at least In an ambulance.—Yours devotedly,
0. GARIBALDI,
A FRUITFUL TIME—The second quarter of the
fzenetynear.ivsetihne first time
and Wales
200,000 children calillgiterntehravoef
a year. The exact number reached 202,892-2,230 a
day, lj a minute, if we might divide a child. The
marriages in 1867 had been fewer than in either of the
three preceding years, but in 18f 4, 1865, and 1866 they
had been unusually numerous. The death-rate in the
second quarter of the year 1868 being lower than in the
spring quarter of any year since the national civil
registration began, the extraordinary result is presented
of no less than 'fourteen of the forty counties of England
having twice as many births as deaths —viz., Kent,
Berkshire, Hertfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Oxford.
shire, Northamptonshire, Huntingdonshire, Cam-
bridgeshire, Essex, Somerset, Staffordshire, Worcester-
shire, Lincolnshire' and Uurham. The same may be
said, too, of South Wales,t alrp as a whole.
ALLEGED ILL-TREATMENT OF Conviers.— Par-
liamentary papers have been jelished relating to the
alleged ill-treatment of convicts at Fremantle, in
prioro u bet
ouswedl
large
st.
ri
iog
alinithega,
discharge
protective
er , or exercise;
ticket-of-leave;
ke
f le exten-
sion,e ;
Western Australia. The ill-treatment complained of
comprised, among other things, punishments inflicted
healtolify
with undue seventy; clone confinement in dark, un-
sceerli2vituwilthe
solitary confinement on short rations for periods
exceeding nine months, itc. The governor and his son
carried out, it was alleged, "a system of merciless
punishments and secret cruelties, with an avowed
object to prevent absconding ;" and further, they were
accused of using oppressive measures for the purpose
ppetition
elarieaft,
;fere.:
woiodLnrycaeiliely:npctutoie.h,b.,
Legislative
of increasing crime towards the close of transportation,
necessity Council
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contained
winch
ie
Ah stepping-stonean
so auto impress "the home authorities with the
rn
lished and sent to the Duke of Buckingham in a letter
from the chairman of the "Howard Ass ' °elation. '
Ile Governor of F romantic replied to the charges
brought against him, and the Duke of Buckingham is
of opinion that those charges have entirely fallen to
the ground.

THE QUEEN'S JOURNEY.—The Spectator hopes
that her Majesty will benefit as much by her holiday
as if she were the wife of any ordinary member of
Parliament. She will not benefit, however, if watched,
and hunted, and criticised HS her sons have lately been.
The conduct of the British public, and particularly of
the well-fed section of it, in this matter is utterly dis-
graceful to them, not only as independent citizens, but
as worshippers of rank. If they must be
and they they must be, or they would cease to be British—
let then' show their flunkeyism by reverent regard for
the Queen's wishes, and let her Majesty enjoy Mount
Pilate without a hundred opera-glasses directed on her

USEFULLY EMPLOYING lIER TIME !—A seller of
prints named Barreau professionally utilised her leisure
by catching the fleas which infested dogs brought to
her before the door of a much-frequented shop in the
Rue St. Catherine, in Paris. This industrious occu-
pation naturally attracted a number of spectators, and
interrupted the traffic, when a sergeant-de-vine re-
quested her to perform her occupation in a less fre-
quented thoroughfare. But treating the request with
the remark that the sergeant must wait to be operated
on till his turn, she was arrested, and sentenced by the
tribunal to six days' imprisonment. The authorities
could not crack a joke like the fair fleaist.
FALL OF A MOUNTAIN.—The hill of Antelao,
which hangs over several villages of Cadore, and was
always an object of terror to the villagers, gave way
on the evening of the 27th of July, when several of
the inhabitants had retired to rest. It is supposed
that the great heat of the weather melted the en
on the mountain, and that the water washed away the
small support of the masses of overhanging rock. In
a brief space eleven persons were buried under the ruins
of their houses, and more than sixty families are
rendered homeless.

A DREADFUL DEATIL—On Saturday morning
a coal pit situate in Park-lane, Ashton, was discovered
to be on fire, the blaze coming up to the mouth of the
pit. An alarm was immediately raised, and on the
authorities examining the pits they found it was
necessary to stop up the mouths of this and three ,
other pits, which was accordingly done during Satur-
day. All went on well until about six o'clock on
Sunday morning, when& man named Thomas Brownlow,
a joiner, who had been assisting the previous day in
closing the pits, sow steam escaping through the
puddled stopping of one of them. He stepped on to
the puddle and began to tread it down to prevent
steam further escaping, when, by some means or other,
the scaffolding underneath gave way, and the poor
fellow was precipitated to the bottom of the shaft, a
distance of about 240 feet. The body of the unfor-
tunate man still remains there, the smoke and heat
rendering it utterly impossible for any one to descend.
It will be a month at least before it will be safe to
remove the stoppings from the mouth of the pits. The
fire has thrown between two and three hundred persons
out of work.

THE LECTURER AND THE REPORTER.—AD elo-
quent and reverend lecturer and somewhat reckless
reporter, who attempted to put his remarks in type,
have had an explanation. Here is what the reporter
said of his lecturer : _

The lecture last evening was a brilliant affair. The hall
ought to have been tilled, but we are sorry to say only forty
persons were present. The speaker commenced by saying
that lie was by birth an ecclesiastical deduction gave a
learned description of Satan, and his skill hi sawing trees.
Among other things, he stated that the Patriarch Abraham
taught Cecrops arithmetic. We trust that the eloquent
divine may be induced to repeat the lecture at some future
day.

Here is what the lecturer said of the reporter :
Dear Sir,—ln a report of my lecture in your beautiful
city, you have made some mistakes which I wish to correct.
You make me speak of myself as by birth an "ecclesiastical
deduction." What I raid was, that I was not by birth, but
only ecclesiastically, a Dutchman. Instead of speaking of
Satan as sawing trees, I spoke of him as sowing tares. I said
nothing of Abraham, but spoke of the Arabians as nomads of
patriarchal simplicity. I said that Cecrops WAS the founder
of Athens, and instructed the people In agriculture.
STONEWALL JACKSON'S COAT.—The widow of
Stonewall Jackson has presented to M. David
Macrae, of Glasgow, the coat worn by the great sol-
dier when he fell in the arms of victory on the battle-
field of Chancellorsville. It was preserved and sent
by General Lee to the widow, bearing the marks of
the fatal bullet. The sad relic is accompanied by a
beautiful and touching letter, in which Mrs. Jackson,
referring to the country from which Mr. Macrae had
come to see the South and its people, speaks of it as
"the dear old land beyond the sea—that land which of
all beyond the Bea I admire and love the most—good,
honest-hearted, Presbyterian Scotland !" It is Mr.
Macrae's intention to place this, and the other relics
, he has brought from America, in some public museum,
should there be a prospect of securing other private
collections, and forming a historical museum of the
late war, accessible to the public,
DESTRUCTIVE AND FATAL FIRE AT PARIS.—
On Saturday night a dreadful fire broke out in the
Faubourg St. Antoine, Paris. The fire was first dis-
covered in the first floor of a cheese shop, and the
staircase almost immediately caught fire, and soon cut
off all communication with the upper part of the
building. Mdme. Lemesnil, who had been recently
confined, and was in a room with her two children,
called for assistance by a trap door in the floor, com-
municating with the shop. A sergent-de-ville went
to their aid, and folding the children in a sheet carried
them down, but the flames closed behind him on the
staircase, and cut off the retreat of the mother. The
firemen, however, shortly afterwards arrived with
ladders and rescued her, as well as the families which
occupied the storeys immediately above. The back of
the house, built of timber, was then in a complete
blaze, and fears were expressed that there might still
remain some persons above. The porter, however,
declared that all the occupants had escaped. It was
not until the fire had been extinguised an hour later,
and the firemen and the police went over the house,
that they found an entire family, consisting of the
father, named Morange, by occupation a journeyman
printer, mother, and three children, suffocated in a
garret which tl,ey occupied. It would seem that they
haul been first stifled by the smoke and then carbonised
by the flames.
BUYING Him oFF.—A traveller in the south of
France was recently going through a forest, when he
' suddenly met with a dozen, as he thought, suspicious
characters. His first thought was to escape, but to
his great astonishment one of them came forward, and
after some general conversation about trees, summarily
offered one hundred napoleons if he would retire! The
traveller said he had no objection, and to his surprise
the sum was given him, and he went his way rejoicing,
and applied to the authorities, when he discovered that
a large sale of forest trees took place that day, to
which the local buyers had been bidden, and these
men composed a "knockout," i.e., had conspired to
prevent any one else bidding, in order that they might
obtain the timber at a cheap rate. The traveller was
supposed by them to hen well-known timber merchant,
and to have entered the forest for the purpose of bid-
ding, so he was bought off.
IMPORTANT TO BATIIERS.—The following di-
rections, drawn up by Dr. Christian and Dr. Sieve-
king, are published by the Royal Humane Society :
Avoid bathing within two hours after a meal. Avoid
bathing when exhausted by fatigue or from any other cause.
Avoid bathing when the body is cooling after perspiration ;
but bathe when the body is warm, provided no tint° is lost
in getting into the water. Avoid chilling the body by sit-
ting or standing naked on the banks or in boats after having
, been in the water. Avoid remaining too long in the water:
leave the water Immediately there is the slightest feeling of
' chilliness Avoid bathing altogether in the open air if, after
having been a shot t time in the water, there is a sense of
• chilliness with numbness of toe hands and feet. The vigor-
sum and stroog may bathe early in the morning on an empty
' stomach. The young, and those that are weak, had better
1 ' bathe three hours after a meal: the best time for such is
Irons two to three hours after breakfast. Those who are
: subject to attacks of giddiness and faintness, and those who
I suffer front palpitation and other sense of discondort at the
• , heart, should not bathe without first consulting their medi-
t I cal adviser.

TOMBSTONE THEOLOGY—An American High
Church newspaper, as a proof that the doctrine of
baptismal regeneration is not new in the Anglican
Church, quotes the follotvit, epitaph, which it stys is
from a stone M the churchyard at Whitemarsh, Penn-
sylvania, full of very ancient tombs:—
Two harmless babes, they only came and cried
In baptism to be washed from sin, and died.
_ _ .
"

Another journal, taking the Evangelical view, asks if
we are really to go to tombstones for our theology, and
retorts upon its contemporary with the following,
which it has copied from an ancient tombstone in a
village not twelve miles from the city of New York :
Here lies an honest man at rest,
As ever God with his image blest;
A friend of age, a guide of youth,
Who honoured Gad and loved the troth;
If there's another world he lives in bliss,
If there is none lie made the best of this.
DEAD LETTERS.—In 1866 the number of re-
turned letters in the United Kingdom was 3,602,995,
and in 1807 it was 3,618,888. Of the latter number
2,943.119 were returned to the writers, 138,759 re-
issued to corrected addresses, 140,784 returned un-
opened to foreign countries, and 396,226 destroyed or
kept at the Post Office. It is found that the increase
in the number of returned letters is chiefly attributable
to the incorrect manner in which circulars are addressed.
It is the practice of persons who issue circulars in
large numbers to eiTy the names of persons to whom
they are sent from directories, and in consequence of
the numerous changes of abode that take place every
year, in London especially, the information so ob-
tained is by no means reliable, and hence the large
numbers that fail to reach the addresses. Of the
number of returned letters which cannot be satis-
factorily disposed of, the great bulk consists of circu-
lars and letters of apparently little value.