The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1875-11-20 00:00:00

occurrence

bling of the waggons in the one case, and the roar of
the ocean and the din of the mill-stream in the other,
and the sleeper deprived of his lullaby would not
enjoy his rest at all. The turmoil of a great city is
doubtless distressing to some persons, but those
scarcely form a large proportion of its population.
When you see paragraphs in the papers about the
Smithfield Club Cattle Show you may be sure that Christ-
mas cannot be far off. Then is the time when the farmers
of Hereford and North Devon, and far-off Aberdeen,
come up to London, and gladden our hearts at the
very sight of their jolly beaming faces. The floods
may have been out upon their lands, carried away
their hay-stacks, and drowned a few of their sheep and
pigs; but never mind! In the Cattle Show week here
they are again, with a cheery word all round! They
gather together in the ehophouses of the City,
and astonish many a pale-faced clerk, who really
envies them their rubicund countenances at the
manner in which they enjoy the food placed before
them. The man of sedentary occupation orders a lean
chop; the farmer requests the cook to supply him
with a couple of good fat steaks, the difference in the
demand being governed in a great degree by the
widely-varying avocations in life, confinement in a
close and stagnant atmosphere for the one, and un-
limited fresh air and exercise for the other.

The meteorological disturbances which have marked
the second half of 1875 will cause the year which is now
closing to be marked with a black stone in the annals
of many a fair portion of these islands. From north
and from south, from east and from west, from the
grassy plains of the midlands, from pleasant mountain
slopes, and from valleys that smile so brightly in
summer time, there has been one monotonous chronicle
of misfortune and disaster. The rain set in on the let
of July, and by the 15th tidings of floods came from
all parts of England and Wales—floods without a
parallel at that season of the year. Then for three
months there was comparatively fine weather, but in
the third week of October there was a renewal of the
visitation, and on a more extensive scale. It has been
reserved, however, for November to place the climax
upon this extraordinary autumn. London is generally so
free from inundation that its people were totally un-
prepared for the calamity which fell upon thousands
of its populationlast Sunday night. As a rule Hamp-
stead knows nothing of Bermondsey, nor does
Belgravia trouble about Horselydown ; but the
Thames is a cosmopolitan river, bearing upon its
broad and ample bosom the ships of all nations, and a
violent displacement of its waters is a theme of uni-
versal comment. For days a fierce south-westerly
gale had gathered together in heaps the waters of the
English Channel; and late on Sunday night the wind,
aided by the silent but powerful influence of a full
moon, drove the tide in a huge volume up the river.
In its onward course it was met by an enormous body
of land water, brought down by the Thames from dis-
tant Gloucestershire, from learned Oxford, and from
Royal Windsor, and the streams all fresh from
the country endeavoured to beat back the
advancing current from the sea. But the tide was
not to be so conquered. Forcing the land water with a
sullen roar through the stately arches of the bridges, it
poured with an angry sweep over the southern bank,
and from Gravesend to Teddington—a line of forty
miles, it spread itself out over marshes, and made its way
into streets and squares, bursting open doors and win-
dows, breaking down walls, and washing away frail
tenements with an irresistible sway. It was a terrible
incident of London life on a wintry morning, hundreds
of poor people being driven from their homes and com-
pelled to wait until the ebbing of the tide, many of
them for hours clothed in the scantiest of garments.
Such an experience on the banks of our metropolitan
river is of rare occurrence; and happily the com-
bination of circumstances which produced it is
equally rare. The charity of the capital has
been invoked in aid of the sufferers who have
seen their household goods thus carried away into
the surging waters, and from the ready response which
has been made to appeals for assistance through
similar causes in foreign lands there is little doubt that
it will not be invoked in vain.