The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1875-05-08 00:00:00

nteti icflCt'

HOME, FOREIGN, AND COLONIAL.

A KNIGHT OF THE ThßlFF.—Chivalry is 116/
usually associated with Commerce, yet the champlo,l3l,6
of Free Trade include a Chevalier who has foug'
gallantly for the cause. Honour to M. Chevalier as.
a Chevalier sans peur et sans reproche
LADIES FASHION IN BOOTS.—Some one eaim:
not long ago (remarks a Paris correspondent), tha";
high heels were going out of fashion. That "son!
one should come to Paris; there he would see Ow,
heels, instead of decreasing, are increasing in height*
Ladies walk quite on their toes. For usual walkisg'
there is not anything more ladylike or becoming ob.
a plain boot, without bow, buckle, or any ornan3ea,
whatever. This boot makes the foot look small as°
graceful, and it is the best, most liked by gentlerael4
and, entre nous, gentlemen have more taste than lac Lit,
and ladies would do well to study their taste.
open tab boot is merely worn for evening, the big"
shoe for morning. Toes of boots are now again vier°
pointed. This necessitates a longer boot, but it make°,
the foot appear more narrow.
A SHIP CRUSHED BY ICE.—lntelligence Nve;
received in Liverpool on Monday of the loss of t.n
barque Bose Brae' in lat. 44 N., lon. 48 W., after bewa__,..
crushed by ice. She was struck in the fore comPaIL
matt and went down bow foremost. The Rose fir
was bound from Galveston to Liverpool with a el
of 1,600 bales of cotton. She was an iron vessel of 4
tons register, and was built at Glasgow in 1842. Th,
captain and crew were rescued by the Norwegg""
barque Thor, and were landed at Queenstown.
SALMON BREEDING ON THE TAY.— On Satlir
day the operation of running off the water and sin°ll2/
at Stormontfield, near Perth, was carried out sucen
fully. It is two years since the pond was cleared, !Ili"
the molts sent into the Tay on Saturday are the Pre'
duce of 600,000 ova placed in the breeding boxes ill
November, 1872, and hatched in March on the faker
ing year. The smolts deposited in the river on SAO!'
day were therefore two years old, and were st.rapr
healthy-looking fish, averaging from 4 in, to 6 ii;•_1101
length. No estimate could be formed of the nuinuv„
from the pond, but they scored thousands upon
sands. 0`
ONE Too MANY FOR Hnif !—Some time g.
there was a trial for trespass in cutting wood file
neighbour's premises without authority. One of
plaintiff's witnesses was a plain old farmer, Nv11,7-0
testimony went clearly and directly to prove L,2
charge. The defendant's counsel thought to ireain
the force of his evidence by proving idiotcy to irsio
trait of his family. He therefore interrogated •`;.,
?
thus :—" Mr. —, you have a son, have you not eri
"Yes, sir." Does he know anythingl"—`
little." "How much does he know?"—" Well, au' sr
nothing; not much more than you do." The witi?te3st
was allowed to retire without further question, awl
the most uproarious "screams of laughter."
CREMATION.—Nephew. "I hope you haven '
been waiting long, Uncle ?"—Uncle. "All right, 04'
Boy. Been reading the Paper, and had a Pinch of
By the bye, it's queer flavoured Snuff in this iar,
yours, Fred."—Nephew (aghast). "Snuff, Trucie,.e.
Jar! Good gradous !—that's not Sauff I Those
he Ashes Ashes of my Landlord's First Wife I"—Punch. f.
LONGEVITY.—The obituary of The Time
Tuesday, the 4th inst., contained some remaricaowo
illustrations of prolonged existence in sixteen Palltecl
—viz., eleven ladies and five gentlemen, whose na'35,3
ages (ranging from 80 to 93 years) amounted to
years, giving an average of 84 years and more thall,„l
months to each. Of these the fair sex as usual tn..,
the lead, the oldest being 93 and the youngest 80 Yte
of age; of the gentlemen the oldest was 90 1).0 r,io
youngest also 80. The following were the resps,st4Bs
ages—viz., three at 80, 81; three each at 82 Oa 4,
85, 88, 89, 90, 92, and 93 years. The same obitn,:o,
also contained the deaths of 16 septuagenarians,W
united ages amounted to 1,191 years, giving an aver
of 74 years and more than five months to each.
OA'
AN EARTHLY PARADISE.— Of all places ht.
world, the capital of France must be the most de"g"iti
ful to live in, not on account of its gaiety, its shops, jo,
boulevards, its cafés, its restaurants, its theatre4,
galleries, or its grand hotels, but because in Ks'
"street organs are forbidden."—.Punch.
,niost
MAGNOLIA IN HYDE PARK.— One of the
sae
attractive objects in Hyde Park just now is a
plant, or rather small tree, of Magnolia Soulangwe-ro,
profusely covered with its erect bell-shaped 6°,4r
of „wax-like consistence and pearly whiteness,
the outside of the perianth segments, which are saur,,ht,'
with purple. This tree is about twelve feet in
and about the same in diameter. The branches
gracefully, and the erect, sweetly-perfumed ii°°l'ive
which terminate the extremity of every branchlet g
a candelabrum-like appearance to the whole plant" test
grows on the undulating strip of fresh green turf a '•
yards from Albert-gate.—The Garden.
A LONG-LIVED FAMlLY.—lthasbeen res— c„t
for Maine to produce a family more remarkable:o,"
longevity than any at present extant in the St4l;l6`
The family dwells in Castine, and consists of one 11,1„0r
and four females, whose united ages amount to livuo,
hundred and ten years, with an average of eightrttbe
The mother, Mrs. Mary Hasty, is ninety-nine ;. tb
son-in-law, Mr. Lewis Goodwin, is eighty-seven the
sister-in-law, Mrs. Isabella Parks, is eighty-five ',O;
eldest daughter Mrs. Lewis Goodwin, is seventrt"
and the youngest daughter. Miss Lucy Millily3l:4o.,
sixty-seven. They were all born in York Coulloy
Maine, and all live at present, as they have for Ena,
years, in the same house in the town of ParsonsTliii,
Each member of the family enjoys excellent he'tbe
as they have from their birth, and they manage
farm, the dairy, &c., as well as ever.
A SUGGESTION TO THE GERMAN GOVERN— /0-
-Would it not be a graceful compliment to the 'O,l
penal Chancellor to call the two-mark piece in 00 n
currency a Bismarck ?—Punch.
POLITICS AND THE PADDOCK.—The
is clipped from the New York Herald:—" We re'r*
to see in some of our contemporaries the death_LA.
favourite mare belonging to the President. This aP7Odl
is said to have possessed wonderful properties of 01340
docility, go, and fine staying power. If she had
there is no reason why she should not have ,th
nominated to one of our • foreign missions. Her oseva.
deprives us of a possible public servant quite as c 4,0 of ,
petent to protect American interests abroad as soln
the gentlemen who have received the nominati,
the President."
A SATISFACTORY EXPLANATION !—The
Journal tells the following amusing story :—A foreig.„ll a
who recently arrived in Paris, noble and rich, f'oo
himself, when strolling in the street, followed 1)31,30
individual in all his walks. The first day or two lters
not mind, but on the third and fourth his steps
dogged in the same fashion. Thegentleman then._mt,
to the Embassy of his country, and made a oomPon:,
One of the attaches told him he must be " sußPe" •
and that it was probably a spy who was put on
track. Finally, the Minister of Foreign Affairs„
applied to, but the Duke Decazes declared hiruse",,to
nocent, and, indeed, ordered the fellow who • "AO
dogged the foreigner's steps to be apprehended...4o,
explanation ensued—" Sir," said he to the magist'lbe,
"I find this gentleman in the habit of smoking or
most delicious cigars I ever smelled, and that he regi
lessly flung each away when only half smoked. thq
only motive in following him was to gather si
butts."
BUILDING SOOIETIES.—The Act, whiellgl'
received the Royal assent, to repeal 8 c"
Statute passed last year on Building Societies has
printed. The section was, as now stated, ins
"through inadvertence,"'and now it is providi
from and after the passing of this Act sodi
rules of which have been certified under the A
q cate

whioh Ilis

section

every

c e-r-t-i fi (

7 Will. IV. cap. 32, may obtain a c
poration under the Act of 1874, and th
be deemed a society under that Act, an
far - con.trary to any

td its

aa the same-are not
iioits of that Act, I in force
rescinded, as in that mentioned. -
A TRAGEDY -IN PRIVATE LIFE. —Miss
"A Box for Salvini for to-night? 0 how-kind of
Mr. Lovell! Unfortunately Maud and I are engi`
and Mamma is away; so we shall not be able W
with you—but grandmamma and Aunt Tahiti's
aø
be delighted to take our Place ! " [Grandmalnnil:ess
Aunt Tabitha express their delight. The room
round—Mr. ±ovell's head swims—all his preselw
mind forsakes him—he leans on a chair for 81106'
PUNCH.
LONDON MORTALITY AMONG ELDERLY POloll
DURING THE PABT WINTER. During an Eng„jt
spring (remarks the Lancet) it is always rash to sltot
of winter'in
,the past tense, but it is probabli
being too sanguine to expect that the decline 11,
death-rate which the last few weekly r( /340
hibited will not now receive any serious check.
time, therefore, now to look back, and count the
of the long and severe winter, which we have v
to speak of as past, in London alone. The
may be said to have lasted from the middle of Nos
ber to the end of March. ]urinv period
20 weeks 37,326 deaths were in Loi
equal to an annual death-rate os per 1,000. In
corresponding 20 weeks of more mod( tempera
in 1873-74, the deaths in London were 32,378, nod
death-rate only 25 per 1,000. The excess of dega
during the past winter in London may be, there`
put down roughly at 5,000, of which excess
2,000 were of persons aged upwards of 60 years.
cording to the English life table, the average SA
'rate of mortality among persons aged upwards oi
years is 711 per 1,000. During the 20 weeks of -
,year the rate of mortality in London among person,oo,
,this age was so high as 117.6,.against 94-8 in the CO
sponding,period et the previous winter. Even der?
the first, tesir4e Wbgksurii''April the deaths of Pell a
aged 60 years and upwards in London exceede
nearly 100 per week the numbers returned in the 0,1., 0
period of April, 1874, which excess is proportion:72o
larger one than that which prevailed during
weeks of winter.

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