The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1875-07-31 00:00:00

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THE CITY OF PHILADELPHIA.
As Philadelphia is to be the seat of the great Cen-
tennial Exhibition in 1876 and large bodies of
foreigners will doubtless visit it, Consul Kortright in
his commercial report on that port just issued, details
for their information the following accurately collected
statistics which give at a glance the general aspect of
the city (remarks the Pall Mall Gazette). Philadelphia
has a population of nearly 800,000, and it lives in an
area of 129 i square miles. The city has 1,000 miles of
streets and roads opened for use, and over 500 of these
are paved. It is lighted by nearly 10,000 gas
lamps. The earth beneath conceals and is
penetrated by 134 miles of sewers, over 600
miles of gas mains, and 546 miles of water-pipes.
It has over 212 miles of city railways, and nearly
1,794 city railroad cars passing over these railroads
daily; 3,025 steam boilers; over 400 public schools,
with suitable buildings, and over 1,600 school teachers,
and over 80,000 pupils. It has over 34,000 bath-rooms,
most of which are supplied with hot water, and for the
use of the water at low rates the citizens pay more
than a half million of dollars annually: it has over
400 places of public worship, and accommodation in
them for 300,000 persons • it has nearly 9,000
manufactories, with a capital of 185,000,000 dols.,
employing 145,000 hands, the annual product of
whose labour is over 384,000,000 dols. It ex-
ported in 1873 in value over 24,000,000 dole.,
and imported in value over 26,000,000 dols. ; the
amount for duties in gold was nearly 8,500,000 dole.;
the real estate, as assessed for taxation, was over
158,000,000 dole.; and there was collected nearly
9,000,000 dols. for taxes. The funded debt in 1873
was 51,697,147 dole., and the annual outlay in 1873,
inclusive of interest on debt, was 7,726,123 dols. It
has parks and public squares, and Fairmount Park,
which is one of them, contains 2,991 acres, and is one
of the largest parks in the world.

THOMAS BEWICK.
(From the Athenceum.)
We have the pleasue of announcing that the Misses
Jane and Isabella Bewick, of Gateshead, daughters of
the famous English artist on wood, have signified their
intention of bequeathing to the British Museum the
whole of their large and probably complete collection
of proofs, &c., of cuts prepared by their late father
and uncle, besides many drawings by the former. It
would be impossible to over-estimate the importance
of this collection to lovers of Bewick and his school.
The cuts have been clasaified by the Misses Bewick
in two largo volumes chronologically with the
greatest care, so that in their pages inquirers
will find unquestionable standards for reference
if they wish to distinguish the works of one brother
from those of the other, and to divide these
from the productions of the pupils of both. As at
present arranged, the specimens begin with the date of
Thomas Bewick's apprenticeship, October 1, 1767, and
the series of examples comprises the first cut which
attracted attention to the powers of the artist—i.e.,
"The George and the• Dragon," and includes the
numerous works of his graver in illustrating well-
known books. Some specimens are unique, being
headings for bills of itinerant circuses, theatre tickets,
&c. ; all are of remarkable merit and great rarity,
the bills, tickets, and wood blocks, except these impres-
sions, having long ago disappeared. Every famous
cut of Thomas Bewick's is represented by a choice im-
pression from the block ; some of them, indeed, are in-
estimable in the eyes of students, and would fetch high
prices. The collection of the works of -John Bewick
is hardly inferior in value to that which illustrates so
perfectly the genius and skill of his brother Thomas.
But a greater prize even than. 'these large volumes is
the collection of original drawings, many of them most
exquisite little works, the tail-pieces and birds being
especially beautiful, a small water colour drawing of a
quail is charmingly delicate and precious beyond the
common, and so are some of the original drawings for
the famous feather tail-pieces. If Thomas Bewick
had done nothing more that these tail-pieces his fame
would have been established. The ladies who have, in
honour of their father and uncle, collected, preserved,
and arranged these treasures of English art, and intend
to bestow them on the nation, deserve all thanks.
They have erected the best possible monument to the
artists.

MOVED
The Russian Russian journals have lately been much taken
up with the troubles which have befallen a young Man
in consequence of his failure to establish his nationality
(remarks the Pall Mall Gazette). Thirty years ago a
young woman, a native of Memel, went to St. Peters-
burg, where she made the acquaintance of a Russian
gentleman. • She became the mother of a boy, who was
,andue course apprenticed to a shoemaker, by whom,
:however, he was ill-treated, and in consequence ran
-Away. His mother then procured for him from the
Governor-General of St. Petersburg a passport, and he
obtained employment upon a merchant ship trading in
the Baltic. In 1868 this vessel was wrecked, and in
the disaster 'Young Nicholas—such was the boy's
name--lost his' passport. He then returned to his
mother, who again placed him with the shoe-
maker, from whom he again ran away, and in'
consequence fell into the hands of the police. He was
kept in prison seven weeks, when, being adjudged to be
of the same nationality as his mother, he was sent
over the frontier, and bidden to make his way to
Memel, which he was told was his legal domicile. On
arriving in this town he presented himself to the mayor
Who tald tihn that he was no Prussian subj ect, and thathe
might go whither he chose. After a fruitless endea-
' Your to obtain employment and a home, the young
man, at the end of a fortnight, crossed the RUSBialir
frontier, and was arrested at Kratingen, where, WI
answer to inquiries, he gave as his name that of his
father, and described himself as a native of St. Peters-
burg. He was thereupon conveyed to the capital and
imprisoned at Spask. After being detained here a
month he was a second time sent off to Memel, where
he received the same information as before from the
-mayor, and was ordered to quit the town at once.
Again, therefore, he crossed the frontier, and
made his Wky unchallenged to Libau, where
he was arrested and consigned to prison. After
a detention of seven months he was once
more escorted to St. Petersburg by the police and im-
prisoned,at Spask. . His friends at last succeeded in
obtaining his release, but not till he had been tried
and fined five roubles for slamming a name (his father's)
to which he had no claim. They strove in vain, how-
ever, to procure him a passport, and again the police
escorted him to Memel, where he of course met with
the same reception as previously from the mayor.
Under the circumstances, therefore, he had no other
clidiee but to venture upon Russian territory once more,
and was protnptly apprehended at Kraten' reconducted,
to St Petersburg, and again consigned to the Spask
prison for three months. At the end of this time
he was liberated and Provided with a passport. Here,
however, his trouble did not end. Having ob-
tained a situation on the Nicholas Railway, he
fell ill of. fever, and was sent to the Alexandra
Hospital., Here he alleged he was ill-treated
by the nuiseg, and, rendering himself troublesome to
the hospital authorities by reason of the loudness and
,publicity of 'hisieCaliplaints, he was again handed over
to'tlie police, and was immured for seven months in
the Kanzan prison. A fourth expedition to Memel
followed, with results as before. For the fourth time
he was arrested on the frontier and conveyed to prison
at St. Petersburg. During the journey the unfortu-
nate man, with the hope of being sent to Siberia, con-
trived to smash the window of a shop, for the purpose,
as he alleged, of com mitting a theft. The expedient, how-
ever, failed and for the fifth time he found himself on
his way back to Memel, On seeing him appear once more,