The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1872-06-22 00:00:00

eur onbon Cartespontent.
sere deem it rhilit to state the we do not at an MA
duty CaultriV6, olal our l'orre-nondellt'S opinions

The sgreenble annonneement thst the Princess
of Waks would be present at the approaching dinner
of the Norfolk Agricultural Society at Lynn haa
had the effect that most people must have antlei-

pated--thnre will be many sti r ladies presnnt. It
is told that t!Wre will perhaps be about one thousand
ladiet and guatleinen present, and on the Prince wi,ll
preside, the gathering will be a brilliant one. Is it too
much to expect that tier Royal Highness will set the
example of ladies being present at public dinners? I
think not. The Prince of Wales does notaltogether ap-
prove of the mode of conducting these dinners that is
generally adopted. He sloes not like the long, heavy
"set" dinner with an elaborate menu; and on more
than site occasion he has insisted on editing the bill of
fare, and has requested that the banquet should be
plainer and the menu shorter than the stewards had
contemplated. It would seem sho that the Prince is
favourable to the presence of ladies, and certainly the
Princess is, so that it is highly probable that an idea
which the late Charlee Dickens, tor example, strove to
accomplish, and which he partly carried out--the
pretence of ladies at our public hanquets—will ere
long become a great fact. I believe, however, that
those energetic gentlemen, the se,retaries and hon.
sect. of our benevolent institutions are generally
opposed to the presence of ladies at their festivals, as
they think our fair dieters unfavourably influence the
subscription list which forms such a marked feature of
public dinners. If this be no, and the Princess desires
to establi-h what I venture to think would he a grace-
ful custom, I ran but desire for the fair lady a victory.

- .
Opinions widely differ as to the merits of the Ballot
and I am not about to bore your readers by entering
on this well-worn sulijset ; but just now one phase of
it is the talk of the day. Not long ago the question
was, what will the Lords do? Now the query is, what
will the Commons de? what will Government do?
The extensive alterations which the Lords have male
in the Mini-terial measure is the prominent topic at
the moment of writing, and speculations are rife as to
the course which Government will adopt; for that the
Commons will accede to these alterations is not at all
probable.
The important trial at the Central Criminal Celia
arising out of the fearful murder in Park-lane which
has so much occupied the public mind, has bad the re-
sult which must have been generelly looked for The
moot remarkable feature of the trial was the ignorance
of the English language on the part of the prisoner,
which at once leusrthened the proceedings and gate a
deep and sail interest to the position of the wranan
whose countenance frequently bore that troubled
end puzzled expression which was but natural
when it it borne in mind that she knew that sentence
after sentence, not one word of which she understood,
was a matter of life or death to her. But all this was
translated to her with rigid accnracy, and Marguerite
Dixblaec caunot complain of having had an unfair
triaL The wretched woman will no doubt have the
full benefit of the recommendation to mercy. Several
times during the trial I was pained by noticing the
flippni,t conversation and even the laughter in which
some theughtless people indulged. This is really piti-
able, but there is no help for it I suppow. In a sub-
sequent trial in the same Court, however, Mr. Baron
Bramwell administered a wholesome lesson to a young
man who for the moment forgot that visitors to a court
of justice, whatever may be their opinions of a verdict,
must refrain from expressing them. In an action for
libel the jury returned a verdict for the plaintiff with
£23 damages, whereupon a few biases were heard. A
respectable young man—whose feelings overcame his
discretion —admitted that he had hissed, and the learned
Baron atonce sentenced him to 21 hours' imprisonment,
—a punishment from which he was sparest only on an
expression of penitence and on the plea-ling of the jury.
Lord Ihiekburst has called attention, in the House
of Lords, to a most important subject—the employment
of women and children as acrobats, and I hope he will
bring in a bill on the subject. The public generally
will not be satisfie i with the statement that the Home
Secretary has been in the habit of warning persons who
are about to give a dangerous entertainment that if any
accident happened they would be held responsible, and
that this is found generally sufficient. Really, the
already hardivorked Home Secretary has quite
enough to do without locking after women and
children to die that they do not break their necks.
In more respects than one, the so-called entertain-
ments to which this nobleman drew attention are dis-
graceful as well as dangerous. Several fatal accidents,
and many less serious injuries, have happened from
these exhibitions, and others may occur at any moment.
Performances, however, that are pain( ul to i nany persons
are largely patronised by many more, and what is re-
quired is something stronger than a gentle hint from the
Home Secretary—in fact, a positive enactment that can
be enforced for the protection of women and children
who evidently cannot protect themselves.
A Flower-Show in such beautiful gardens as those of
the Royal Botanic Society in Regent's Park, or those
of the Royal Horticultural Society at South Kensing-
ton, is a charming exhibition ; but of more intelest in
some respects is a thoroughly town Flower Show. At
the end of next month we shall have a veritable city
flower claw—an exlrbition of flowers and plards,
"grown within the City," the exhibition to take place
in the Bishopsgate Grounds, once a churchyard, and
still that and einnething more. This little oasis in the
London desert is a charming little place, lovely by
contrast and refreshing, the eye of the wayfarer in the
thronged locality in which it is situate. It is pleasing
to see a hive of flowers and a knowledge of town
gardening thus cultivated ; and it is a thousand pities
that we have not in the great metropolis a few more
such pleasant little spots as this. Paris, with all her
faults, sets us a noble example in this respect.
As the May meetings, as they are called, are still
being held, it may be interesting to note that the
aggregate income of the principal religious societies
during last year was L'1,372,343—say a million and a
half for the whole of the societies of this character.
What an idea this gives us of the vast amount of
philanthropic effort that is made in this country!
What immense good is thus accomplished! There
may be some abuses mingling with all this benevolence
and philanthropy, for there is nothing perfect in this
world; but, on the whole, this glorious labour for the
good of mankind is one of the most remarkable
teaturee of our own times and our own country.
Sportsmen (I y no means synonymous with sporting
menj are already beginning to speculate on the pros-
pects of the growl, season. I need not further refer
to the discussion, but I am tempted to cogitate on the
numbers of people in this country to whom these pros-
pects are a matter of no csincern whatever—who may
seldom see grantee and never taste them. Large
sums of money lire paid for the rent of moors
during the shooting season; sportsmen innumer-
able amfve themselves in the healthful, excit-
ing, avid harmless sport of grouse shoooting ; but
to millions of people all this is a matter of no moment
whatever. Let me then thus early in the year pest in
my feeble but earnest plea that our spoetemen during
the shooting season will follow the example set them
by the Queen and the Prince of Wales, and send some
of their "bags" to the hospitals. Let them try this
new sensation, and perhaps it will give an additional
zest to the sports of the field, while it will certainly
give pleaeure to the sick poor.
It was some time since dated that Mr. Roupell, for
merly 111. P. for Lambeth, hart been offered his liberty on
the usual terms, hut that he had declined to accept the
offer—which startling statement was of course speedily
contradicted. It seems that his friends had male
several applications to the Home Secretary fr the
release of the prisoner, but that all these applications
had been unsuccessful. That was probable enough,
and turns out to be correct. But the public are now
being urged to join his frien Is in endeavouring to effect
his release, and a petition with that object is being
numerously signed. Whether this last effort is to be
more successful than former efforts remains to be seen,
but I think most people are of iel inion that mercy
mi2ht at last be now extended to a man who, whatever
his crime may have been, has at any rate been a 1.,
eel's ring benefactor and counsellor to his fellow pri-
soners for many yearn.
'

mercy

It is a eOllllllOll ramark that pica are rising
—the prices of contuaodities. labour, and almost
everything else,—and it would seem that the prices
of operas are no exception, for Verdi has received
8,000 for his Iwst opera "Aids," and this besides laurel
crowns, gold medals, and other honours. This is coining
money in a style that our old composers never could
have dreamed of. It is one fact out of many showing
n what a lttxurious age we are living. And, to turn
from opera to more practical subjests, the commercial
and financial journals agree that our manufactures and
our markets tire in a prosperous condition. That the
working classes are pretty generally employed, and
this at high wages, is an nndoubted fact, and it is to be
hoped that our mechanics and artizaus will not only
make bay while the sun shines. hut that they are pre-
paring for the "rainy day" that will inevitably come
sooner or later.

It is stated that the Committee of the Cobden Club
have decided on the publication of Mr. Cobden's letters.
Roskin says to his correspondents :—" Between
May and Oct..;ler, eny letters meant for me ehouti he ad-
. ireseel CooiCOU; bete, en ootober and Hey,
Co Corpus Cuisti C. liege, 0,1 rd. they must be vel y short,
end very plainly written, or they will not be real; and they
need never ask me to do anything, because I won't do it.
And, in pt nerai, I camp t answer letters but for any that
come to help me, the writers may be sure that I am grate-
ful. I get a great many from people who know that I must
be y,m.e, -uatwred, from my books. I was good natured once;
but I beg to state in the moat positive terms, that I am now
old, tired, and very it natured.'' .