The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1875-12-18 00:00:00

SATURDAY, .DEO. 18, 1875.

education, according to the native method of teaching,
is a mere exertion of the memory. Thousands and
perhaps tens of thousands of words are memorized be-
fore the student is informed what they signify. For
persons who have had such a discipliue as these China-
men have, it is not a performance that need create
surprise to learn their a b c's and a-b abs in two or
three lessons cf an hour's duration ; neither is it sur-
prising that their after progress, when mastering dn.
colties which require an exercise of judgment, is slower.
But if learning to read and speak English is an object
of earnest desire with the Chinese, less Ding mu•ic is
none the less so. They learn to sing by ear with pre-
cision after a short practice, and evidently take great
pleasure in exercising their musical powers.

had gone five yards he was forced to it dolga la,
avoid two or three rollers which came in strce.,!,2ls
Twice again he sat down, and then reached.da
mast amidst the hearty applause that foll'ttarti
general sigh of relief from intense anxiety. Ulm re.
WM quick and easy, till he had passed over An
il
three-fourths of the distance, when the swell ciTlegto
the ship, causing him to stop and sway from 15,..
side, till he seemed to be quite out of the perPenale
Even then Blondin never lost his nerve t °Lel
waiting until the troublesome rollers 'llsdbut
walked on and reached the mainmast in safety.
MARRIED LIFE IN THE EAST'
Two
"A Cochin paper states that a rich RY ot in South by
use core, who has four wives, makes of two of theta
yoking them to his plough." Th°
This must be the latecit novelty in roatriteonl.
knowing Ryot evidently puts a literal interpret
Ikt,
on tha word " yokefellow.' The Prince 5h011,131130
a point of seeing so unique an exhibition
h n‘b;Anc1ry,.....P20,611. olly

:t
xxsteilantous 11111 dligfilf
ROME, FOIREIGN, AND -coLovio,
• -.
70 eh,
.A GOOD MOVE.-Mobilization.-i.
Igo
• THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS. -A new iseeepef
Club, on the pattern of the Alpine Clubs 0I 41ed the
has been founded in the United States to be A 5 Cl'
Rocky Mountains Club (says the AeddeffeY). 4.-ee be
house or depOt will be eetablished at some EP,°' ors
hereafter determined in the State of Colorgofto
tbs
all the maps, surveys, and reports pertaining e, A
Rocky Mountain region will be kept for referelieral
nucleus of influential names has already beerlsga,(lo eige
together. Any English Alpine Clubmen sswOfter',,.
to Join are invited to communicate with virss' siplo°,
Lamborn, 216, South Fourth-street, Pilios""-fielgt
The subscription is £1 a year. Mr. Cyrele r,;(1111
' Mr. Bayard Taylor, Mr. Bieretadt, the 'e,tb'sis
_l5
artist, Dr. Hayden, the explorer, and Mr. li;:°"!,,,e
Freshfield are among those who have alresa
their names.
:.
A CURIOUS DISCOVERY OF HIDDE MOO
N
A French paper mentions that, a few days eg°'
habitant of Corbeil presented himself at the eO4
Montmorency at Auteuil, the residence of,
dealer in second-hand furniture, and asked unglit°'
remembered having at a public sale in 1867 '4,0
bureau, of which he gave an accurate descrieWeeli
forming the late merchant that the bureau vl,OO
the property of his father, and that he desired e
It back again. The ex-dealer replied Wet
such a bureau in his possession stillsea
taking him into the adjoining room, shrisf•
the piece of furniture he was in quee","e'e
Barthe told his visitor that as he wisheu,
possession of the bureau, because it had beolsce':
his father, he might have it back if he would sero'"
by another one, as it was very useful to Witte,
hours later a new bureau was brought to gr. htliek
and the old one was carried off to Corbel TbeTs,A.
contained a secret compartment, in which welle;iflss?'"
sum of 10,000 francs in gold, in rolls, wedge" ste
paper cuttings, so as not to rattle. The fortiore;
covery was effected o wing to the finder's looking, is OY.,
some old papers and letters of his fathers an,?e,s.pr
way becoming aware of the existence and ilium.°
,4
of the money.
i;smeelitsl/4
DEATH-RATE IN IRELAND.-A ParPA-hstra
return, obtained by Sir Arthur Guinness, "-ode;
been printed, showing for each of the ten Ye'rs° dOra
the 31st of December last the total number os,less
registered and the number from zymotic ,
each urban sanitary district in Ireland having al ..`
lation of 10,000 and upwards in 1871. la tel Ate
from 1865 to 1874, both inclusive, the total nus-eii
deaths registered was 70,226, and of that :004
16,412 were from zymotic diseases, being
mortality per 1 000 inhabitants of 28'3 froro
and 6* from zymotic diseases. The same '-
adopted as to Belfast, Cork, Limerick, 14°°„scile,
Waterford, Rathmines, Kingstown, Gs': pleset
other places in Ireland. The document su,°,4l/1
in Dublin in the ten years mentioned 1,552 Te Or-si
small-pox, 1,155 measles, 2,793 scarlatina eue-ertfee ,
theria, 1,267 from whooping cough, 3,1)1'
2,410 diarzhcea, and from all other zymetic d
3,825. efe
A
EMPLOYMENT OF WOMEN._postnrasterii 04,
ral Jewell (United States) is a humorist as syse sel:s
unusuelly polite official (remarks the Ciy`'
Review). He wrote, as follows, recently to fbA
who had applied for a situation in the Pe5',4,1.1
Office :-" We have only fifty-seven ladies ge/
in this department, with the exception of a °col
lators and experts, and not more than tar° sios.„o,
have occurred in that force for the last /0 f",{
None of them ever marry, or die, or reeign• sieelo4"
the Deal 'Letter division is a sort of inalls,";iellt•l'
buried affections-a place not governed by ns
--for those who enter its charmed portals bich on
all the motives, and hopes, and aspiration ter'
and govern the denizens of the outside world.
that it is so; but so it is."
MAKING A GOOD USE OP' NEWSPAYOIO deL.
_lndian Mirror states that a characteristic ('jibser.
pore Chief is his remarkable interest in Engl' oinitfr
papers, and his regard for enlightened puha° °5.04:1113504
Every evening, after retiring from the billibarss fec't oi
he site down quietly to hear what the Press noel 0
say upon current topics. Each important gel/
information, ea is editorial containing sounci r,se s Is
on the great questions of the day, is transins sOns
hearing, and the Maharajah not only blasise ttlle
patience and avidity, but takes up some m "seeloss,
important subjects before him, and discusses:titer's,.
all their bearings with keen and intelligent '‘,""elPie
liOur contemporary remarks that if the Jefisereop
rajah really seeks recreation, and finds il'ets
newspapers, he is setting a good exansPie 00'1
Native Chiefs whose evenings are given to
and dissipation.
THE MATURITY OF DOMESTIC ANIALO-' riy"
the Pe
interesting discussion is going on respecting seisl,
when live stock ought to be considered slisiserrrs:
reached the adult state. This period, it is ,s,„l-eitiPsi
commences when the animal has achieved its ens lfsve
that is, when the milk incisors in the lower Jsast ;
been replaced by permanent teeth. But at //Loth t
with the horse and ox, for example, do all the '4O A;
come replaced? Before raaes of animals were iuissreeri
development was slower, and dentition conet'° settleti
took longer time for completion. But eine rei3
sheep, and swine have been ameliorated, tssbet etee;
has been to hasten the arrival of the &du:, erilee
considered as precocity. At agricultural 811°1-0 oll'fo
are awarded to cattle twenty-five months old, P.,•
ten or fifteen, and to pigs twelve months of stows
alleged that the meat at these ages not cad,' ae°,ll
all the maturity equal to that of animals arci';oocllo
double the age, but also that dentition le a OS„tice
and even the perfect knitting of the bonee' setrse
other hand, it is maintained this precocity osl2-iii c'of
place in the case of horses, whose vitalitY
centrated in locomotion, energy, and the P°
endurance.
CAPITAL PUNISHMENT IN SWEDE' getes"l,
has been a great deal of discussion in the„Tsbeisseo
papers lately on the question of capital Pitsjni
(remarks the Pall Mall Gazette). Formerly "i-itrnt,
murders were almost unknown in Sweden'
ansmj reOset
happened that even casual quarrels had fs fa'as-e .
By the law murder was punishable with de°, eer° e
all circumstances, and sentence was rigoronsiLerf4o
into effect. During the last few years, ts ler
more lenient interpretation has been give':
criminal laws and the King carried this practiAc by' the
as to commute every capital sentence passe-00
judges into imprisonment. The result wag:soot oi
number of crimes in Sweden alarminglY exise7eo
and a fortnight ago no fewer than three sen;'es,
death were laid before the King for confirnsatweeens
Majesty-influenced, no doubt, by the strong the 0,0
sion of feeling which has been manifested 0° ssie
ject in the press and at public meetings-ba8;010170
departed fr. m the former practice, and basin, 'AI
two out of the three sentences submitted to9:1:1;t13;e4
of the murderers upon whom the sentence 01.,- eewseo
now be executed has during the last forty-013c 'TAP'
his life passed forty-one years in prison f°r
crimes.
A GIGANTIC BIRD.-A letter fro's° eV
a
Guinea speaks of a gigantic bird in that ielante. v;‘)
can fly away with a kangaroo or a large turPsTwestisi
writer states that he saw two, and that the)
to be from sixteen to eighteen feet across the. of Pehj,
they flew. The noise caused by the flapi°l3ool3, se
wings of one, which rose as the party at's es,'°:se
"resembled the sound of a locomotive Ptil"s"eoro
train very slowly." That of another bee,rnetP,e
was "just the sr uni cf an approaching geoll",_stie,ev,,
BICYCLE HORSE.-Aten-milematchuvsa D',;/
Stanton, the long-distance bicycle chameio°. aision,st
H. Tucker's Happy Jack, was decided on „orei
b'
afternoon at Lillie Bridge. The path was in
order, and, as the afternoon was warm and b 0
,r' top
number of people assembled to enjoy the ersten.der
half-past three the competitors were starteoLs sie
rid;ng a 58-inch machine by Keen, being on °sip r,i'se
path, and the horse on the track outside. 03,4
needs little description. The horse was caplts°,7,sild
and trotting in first-class style' won evenll'is t
e." 01
nearly 300 yards, having covered the distan.!sseow
over 34 minutes. The betting was always I° r-
the winner.. The match was for £5O. • '"°
s sta 0
' STEAMBOAT ACCIDENTS.-The Unite- epoth,
Supervising Inspector-General of steam yesse"!
eie see
t. to the Government that in the fiscal year en A ele'lo
30th of June, 1875, he, with his 103 officers 0°- jo,:se
inspected 3,885 steam vessels of 1.018 152 toOsslie.
4v 4Y.
aggregate. He says :-" There was a total of
ssseee
61
• lost on merchant steam vessels of the United o'7 lift) Sy
ing the year, but to our own citizen e the loss °4tises
the same period has only been 201, wbul is an us-0 ets°ooB
small number. While there were 36 diss.ster4-ef trsej.
vessels by which life was lost, yet a single uv seam"
resulted in the loss of more than helf the lives r
I refer to the burning of the steamship
off Swatow, China, by which the lives of
and four Other persons -were destroyed. Tbere,,-
cases of explosion or acsidental ei-cape of steserde'eo
which resulted in the death of 20 persons. '..tviss-
six burniega of steamers by which life was ;;;Ire, "se.
were lost by one of these and 45 and 20 resnee's f° ree
two others. Accidents by explosien, fire °l's
s stew
neral by collision me fully within rem. dy, sna
prevented by the exercise of superior skill n"
fulness by inspectors and officers of tile vesse.' 0,
TO° filo
OLD AGE.-The obituary of The rIOO,
Friday, the 10th inst., contained some re„er;so,o3
illustrations of prolonged existence in Bove re tlll ,d
viz., four ladies and three gentlemen-tvm°,l of Vie/
ages amounted to 610 sears, giving an aver°s-0 100" el
than 87 years to each, but then one of thern"ogest,,,,i
had reached the great age of 100 years, the no 010-0.
the same sex being 81. Of the gentlerumg., e 0110,6
was 89 and the youngest 84 years of age. s-1-8-7-, 89, yof
ing were the respective age :-81, 83, 84, Su g' wart. et;
100, the latter being the Lady Louise " 70 t° 111
froat
septuagenarians there were 11, ranging (sal° •01
years of age. It is something remarkable
mse Aso;
I Times), that a single day's obituarY in blot; 'llO
should record the deaths of 18 persons lc eroge 0
ages amount to 1,425 years, giving
years and two mouthy,