The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1874-01-03 00:00:00

Pisttliaimas 4nitlligentt,

HOME :OREIGN, AHD COLONIAL.

A Dammo Wwwx.—The steamer Lady
Head arrived at Halifax, Nova Scotia, on the llth of
December, from Sable Island. The weather there for
the last three months has been very stormy. Since the
last visit of the Lady Head to the island the schooner
Zephyr, of St. Pierre, Mtguelon, had drifted ashore.
Four bodies in a state of decomposition were found on
board. The schooner was Daded with fish. Her
masts and lagging were gone, and her hull was covered
with seaweed. From the date of her papers found on
b ard, the ‘easPl is supposed to have been dismasted
last July, and to have been floating in the ocean ever
ghee.

AN UNKNOWN FATE.—The Collector of Cos-
tome at New York has received from Gibraltar 16
packages, containing the effects of B. S. Briggs, ecaster
of the missing brig, Mary CR-este, and of his wife and
obild. The veered was found derelict on the high seas,
uninjured, and with the effects of ell on board appar-
ently unths urbel, on her voyage from Nese York to
Genoa, the masts'', his wife, and child, alai the crew
all having myeteriouely disappeared, leaving no trace.
'rhey have never been heard from since, thouch every
effort has been made by the Government to ascertain
their fate.
Poolt OLD WOMAN —An old Indian woman
was, according to the New York Herald, stoned to
death the other day in Pine Nut Valley, Nevada, for
witchcraft. Her name was Az sup-pee-ah-wy-pah,
and she was accused of causing the death ef many of
her relatons by her dark arts. No one could dream of
her without being afflicted by either sickness or death.
, Her sowizolaw died from the effects of stl2h a dream
I some five years ago, and but for the entreaties of a few
her personal friends, the would than have been
Mule d from the top of a lofty cliff. A year ago s
young niece of a distinguished weerior of her tribe died
from the effects of her witchervft, and she would have
been then and there deveatched by the warrior of dis-
tinction, but that she Bought safety in flight. Another
Indian died at Pyramid Lairs from her fatal influence,
and an attempt was made to capture and kill
her, but rho eluded the pursuit of the enraged warriors
with singular activity. The matter was then taken up
in the grand council in Pine Nut Volley, and the re-
mit was the appointment of a large detail to stone her
to death, which was done by the unfortunate woman
being placed in the centre of a ring formed by the
detail armed with stoner,. She was coon killed and
left unburied. At firet her husband felt somewhat
annoyed, and threatenell to "clean out the whole
trite," but on the circumstances being score fully ex-
plained to him, he become convinced of the necessity
of the step, and joined with the otter relations of the
deceased ha expressing satßfeetion with the deed—all
of them fraying that it ought to have been done long
Woe
'fan MALT Tex.—At the last meeting of the ,
Central Chamber of Agriculture a resolution was
passed to the effect that, before the deputation ap-
pointed by the council on the Malt Tax waited on Mr.
Gladstone, tee chairman should first aecertain whether
Colonel Barttelot, or, if not the colonel, whether some
other member of Parliament woull undertake to bring
the eutject forward for diacuesion in the House of
Commous. Sir M. Hicks Beach accordingly wrote to
Colonel Barttelot, enclosing a copy of the resolution,
and asking him to again undertake the question, and
to secure the first opportunity for the purpose, an it was
important that no time should be lost in the event of
the Chancellor of the Exchequer not giving the depu-
tation a satisfactory reply. The chairman of the
Central Chamber has received a letter from Colonel
Barttelot, in which he expresses his willingness to
bring the matter ffilore the House of Commons in case
the results of the depetation should be unsatisfactory,
and to do no at such time and in such manner as those
members of the House interested in the subject may
deem best.
GETTING OVER THE DIFFICULTY !—Tho fol.
lowing anecdote shows very clearly the benefits which
a knowledge of Gaelic can confer under peculiarly dis-
tressing circumstances. A clergymen of the Church
of Scotland, who was parroted of a fund of dry ,
humour, occupied a rural parish in Perthshire, border-
ing on the Highlaral district. lie took much interest
in the progress of a Highland student, and aided him
as much ise he could in his studies preparatory to
getting licence from the Preebytery. One thing, how-
ever, he was deficient in, and that thing was indite
pensable. Time wore on, and the day of trial ap-
proached. Both milliliter and student were much
exercised as to how they were to overcome the difficulty.
Neither knew anything of Hebrew, and how the young
man was to meet the reverend Court without it, sorely
puzzled them both. At last the clergyman saw hie
way clear, as if by inspiration. "Take your Gaelic
Bdtle," he raid, "and when you are asked to read
Hebrew, go on reading from it." "But will they not
bud me out?" sid the young man. "No fear of
that; just does I tell - .-.1 ' The day came; the trial
proceeded, and every ;1, nc parsed off satisfactorily.
The young men was re quested to read Hebrew' and,
with fear a. d trembling, he drew forth his Gaelic Bible,
ant proceeded to read and translate. After he had
gone on thus a short time, " rtim wi I do," said the
Moderator; ' what do you say, brethren?" Of course
every reverend brother complimented the young cnan
on his familiar acquaintance with Hebrew. His
reverend friend said nothing, and the candidate received
licence to preach.

Grxn • Doo • BAD NeMlL—The San
Franc Lace 141146, cua,pla'aa, r,l a marked decline in
toe quantities I rieh taken in the waters of California,
and says :—" As explanation which is now given is
the raves,o which the Chinese are making upon the
young fish. Hundreds of these assumed ibspoilets of
every I.liog are employed constantly in catching
the young tish, inolnding every species in the bey just
developed from the ova, in which work they employ
fins nets, scoops, and other effective methods. This
material is esteemed • prime delicacy among the
, heathen, large quantities being consumed in the city,
I and thehtuitnew o preserving the young fish and ship-
ping them to China has become an important enter.
prise. Thousands of young salmon, from two to four
inches in length may be found among the large supplies
brought in In y to the fish ehols in the Chinese
quarters, and Ills is undoubtedly the true explanation
the alai otng decline in the quantities of ths bast
fish. This peers, continued for a few years, will
I render solmon sod other favourite oracles a rarity in
these waters, and some enactment seems to be called
for to afford protection from this patticular encrnitell-
meat of the Chinese scourge.

CLERICAL INCOMES 114 New YORIL—The re-
ligious denominations in New York have, in the
aggregate, 349 churzhes. The 'alexia@ of the ministere
in several iostancre, in addition to an official reeidenee,
range from 600 dole. to 12,000 dole., but it is right to
explain that only 60 receive 5,000 dole. or upwards,
while the number receiving over that sum Ii only 30,
and only ten of the 30 are paid 10,000 dole. or over.
Six of these fortunete ten are tinders of Episcopal
churches. Twenty Baptist minietere got from 1,000
dole. to 3,000 dole.; ten minieters in the Lutheran
Church are paid from 1,000 dole. to 2,500 dole; 40 in
the Methodist Church at the same rates; 30 in the
Presbyterian from 1,000 dole. to 3,000 dole; 35 in the
Episcopal from 1,000 dole. to 2,500 dole, and ten in the
Reformed Dutch from 1,000 dole. t0f3,000 dole. It le
stated al safe to say that not more than half the minis.
tars in New York receive salaries of 2,500 dole., while
very large number do not get more than oalt thie
sum. Still, with few exceptione, the ministers of New
York are paid at least as liberally as any class of
in-
tellectual workers. _ _

JUST PUNISIIMiNT.—A letter from Tabriz,
In the Mihak, an Armenian paper published at Tiflis,
says that great excitement has been produced there by
the execution of Mina Yusauf Khan, one of the ablest
and mo-t popular uf the statesmen of Persia. Yumani
was educated in Europe at the coat of the Shah, aid
etudiel for some time in Pans. On his return he
brought with him extracts from French law books,
which he translated into Persian and embodied in a
code of laws adapted for use in his own country.
This code was submitted by the Shah to a com
minim, but finding that the time was not favour
able for reforms, as the famine which has desolated
the country for three years had just broken
out, he directed Yuesuf to go to Astrakhan to purchase
provisions for his starving subjects, at the same time
supplying him with a considerable sum of money out
of the public treasury for that purpose. Yussuf went
to Astrakhan, but he only spent a portion of the sum
intrusted to him In the purchase of provisions, and kept
16,000 tomauna for himself, thereby causing the r itb
of thousands of people whom the money might bave
provided with food. When the Shah returned from
his tour in Europe, he atones ordered an inquiry
Yusauf's conduct, and, his ; tilt having been clearly
proved, sentenced him to death.— Pall Mall Gazette.

•
MAGNANIMOUS MAXlM.—Never give A (hr
tras.borko any undelloag who h .4 it not in his r
to [spite you, if he chooees, by neglecting your bulimia

Tilt MASTER AND SERVANT ACT.—The MOIL-
in g Post says :—"lt only by summary en
severe penalty that any solid protection can 1 r sect
to employers against the caprice of their ser7ants. It
is not easy to distinguish between an injur, inflicted in
the property of another by deliberate abstention( tons
a duty, and an injury intllctedti I armis. Is,
oases the malicious intention is the same. The Master
and Servant Act is the only security which employers
possess, and if it were taken away they would be
solutely at the mercy of their workmen. If,
example, ten or twenty thousand colliers or operatives
engaged in the lion trade were to takeit into their
heads to leave their work at • moment's notice, how
could employers reach them by merely civil process, or
what compensation would it be to them if they could!
The penalty of imprisonment, which guarantees em-
ployers a week's notice, gives them some chance of
getting labour elnewhere. It is not an unreasonable
demand that this guarantee should be continued.
While it Is only fair to employers, it is not in the
slighted degree oppressive to their men. No working
man need expose himself to the penalties of the Act.
He has only to full his engagement honestly, and if
he is not disposed to do that he ought to be punished."

.•
FOG visitors LONGEVITY. —The recent London
fog (says a writer in the Medical Times), will be long re.
membered as one of the most disastrous this generation
has known. To persons with cardiac and respiratory
disease it has, in numerous instances, proved fatsL
'lbis has been shown to a remaskable extent in the
.; oily obituary of The Times, t•articularly the '23rd
December, when the deaths of 14 persona— vie., 11 ladies
an i three gentlemen— are recorded, whose united age.
amounted to 1,206 years, giving the extraordinary
average of more than 86 years to each of these per-
sons. Toe oldest was a lady who had reached the
great age of 93 years, the youngest of the same sex
being 80 years of age. Of the gentlemen, the oldest
was 89, and the youngest 84 The following were the
respective ages—viz., 80, 81, 82, 83, three at 84, 65, 87,
two at 89, 91, and two lathes at 93. There were, in
addition to the above, eight septuagenarians, whose
united ages amounted to 582 years, giving an average
of 72 years and nine months. The oldest was 76, and
the youngest 71 years of age.
COAL OF Vswroms. In a recent railway
debate in the Legislative Assembly of the colony of
Victoria a member, Mr. Manua, alluded to the dis-
covery in the county of Mornington of a permanent
and substantial coal-field. Re was referring to the
ground occupied by the Great Victoria Gold Mining
Company, in the Strezlecki Ranges, Gipps Mind.
They claim to have discovered valuable deposits of
coal, iron, and fireclay. At a depth of 20 ft. a seam
of coal 2 ft. 10 in, in thickness was found, at 278 ft. a
seam of 4 ft. in thickness, at 299 ft. a seam of 3 ft.,
and at 310 ft. a seam of 1 ft. 5 in. The company's
manager considers that the first seam will supply
7,528,887 tons of coal, or, allowing 15 per cent, for
waste, 6.399,555 toss; the second seam is estimated to
yield 3 it. of workable coal, or allowing for waste,
9,854,212 tone; the third and fourth seams are esti.
matei to yield 9,854,212 tons of coal.
STORIE9 FOR SUNDAY EVENINGS.—Mamma:
"So now, Maggie, you understand all the Story of
Lot's Wife—don't you ?" Maggie: "Yes— but I want
to Know where all the Salt comes from that isn't made
out of Ladies."—Punch.

THZ DODO.—Mr. Manley Hopkins, Consul--
General of Hawaii, writes to us (The Times) under
date Saturday :—" By my papers rie.eived to-day from
Hawaii I observe that among some rare birds brought
by the schooner Fanny from the Samoan Group was a
single specimen of that rara arcs in terrel, the dodo. I
am sure your readers wi!l be interested to hear that
this bird, supposed to have become extinct more than
a century ago, still linkers ia the little explored
Samoan Islands of the South Pacific."

THE Foe; MORTALITY.—The Spectator re-
marks on the recent London fog :—We are very glad
indeel to hear that 780 Londoners above the average
died the week before last of she fog. We du not want
them to die, of course, but if they were to die, it is
better that they ehould die of the fog, and so get rid
at once of the superstition that the most disagreeable,
inconvenient, dangerous, and spitit depressing visits-
time which falls on Londoners is somehow 'good for
us." it is not good for us, any more than for cattle,
but bad, as the Ilegistearle return shows. There is no
cure for it except retreat into warm rooms, and we
strongly recommend the sanitary reformers to provide
them—at other people's expense' of course—and pus
an Act compelling all Londoners to stop in them, under
penalty of a month. A compulsory use of respirators
at £2 a piece would also answer the end sought.
PERILS or THE SEA.—On MoLday_afternoon
the steamer German Empire arrived at West Hartle-
pool, bringing Captain Hay and crew of the schooner
Ocean Breit, of Aberdeen, which foundered in the late
.

gale. She was on her voyage (rum Dundee to Sunder-
land, and when off the Fern Islands sprung a leak, in
COrsequence of which it was determined to launch a
boat as the only means of saving the lives of the crew.
Scarcely had this been done when the wind began to
blow if the land, and increasing to a gale drove the
boat far out to sea. For 48 In urn the little craft was
buffeting ab int the ocean until at length she was
observed by a Danish saloon. r. which rescued the
men, who, of course, were suffering severely from ex-
posure. Every kindness was shown them by the
Danish crew, and in a few days they were landed at
Kolo. From Hamburg they were sent to England by
order of the British CuipuL On landing at Hartle-
pool they were Dent home free by Mr. Armstrong,
agent of the Shipwrecked Mariners' Association.
DeSPERATE LEAP Or • HuRSE. —A dog-cart
was waiting at the Great Northen Railwey Station,
Lincoln, on Monday, for the Hon. K Pelham. who
has taken the Redhall, Bracebridge, as a hunting-box
for the season, when the horse took fright, dashed out
if the yard and down a narrow thoronghfare callesl
Sincil-street, and made straight for the River Witham,
which fi iws past the end of the street in question. On
seeing the water, the animal attempted to turn, but
went headlong over the rails into the river. The water
here is sft, below the top of the embankment and of
considerable depth. In the fall the ehafts were broken
off, and in the water the animal succeeded In kicking
Itself free from the harness. It then gallantly faced
the stream and swam for a quarter of a mile before any
effective assistance could be rendered, owing to the
great height e f the embankment. Eventually the
todo.e was secured and dragged through Brayford.
bridge to a landing on Brayforriside.
CELIBACY AND WEDLOCK.—If eingle life in
bad, then it stands to reason that double life is twice
as bad.—Punch.
THE PUZZLED ASTROBOMER.—The chief as.
trope mer at the Washington Observatory was dread-
fully sold a short time since. A wicked bcy, whose
Sunday School txp-rience seems only to have made
him more depraved, caught a firefly, and stuck it, with
the aid of some mucilage, in the centre of the largest
lens in the telescope. That night, when the astronomer
went to work, he perceived • blaze f light, apparently
In the heavens, and what amszed him more was, that
. . .

It would give a couple of spurts, and then die out, only
to burst forth again in a second or two. He examined
it carefully for a few moments, and then began to do
some to discover where in the heavens that extra-
ordinary star was placed. He thought he found the
locality, and the next morning he telegraphed all
over the universe that he had discovered • new and re-
markable star of the third magnitude in the Orion. In
a day or two all the astronomers in Europe and
America were studying Orion, and they gazed at it
for ho,:re until they were mad, and then they began to
telegraph to the man in Washington to know what he
meant. The discoverer took another lock, and found
that the new star had moved about eighteen billion
miles in tsrenty•four hours, and, upon examining
it closely, ic w as alarmed to perceive that it had legs!
When he cc too the dome the next morning to polish
op the glass, be jpund the star in the last stages of in-
dwestion from hack of food. The bill for telegraphic
despatches amounted to 2,600 dollars, and nowathe as.
tronotner wants to find that boy


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