The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1880-08-21 00:00:00

A MISSING BALLOON.

A despatch from Youngstown, Ohio says that a
captive balloon that had been used there for short
excursions by a man named Henry, broke loose from
the guy-ropes on the 31st of July. In the small basket
attached to the gigantic air-ship were two persons, a
man and a woman who had come into town from the
neighbouring country. There was a large crowd of
people standing around the guy-ropes at the time
they broke, and a cry of terror rose from them all.
The balloon darted upward with marvellous rapidity.
At first the occupants of the frail car did not realise
that the balloon had broken away from its moorings,
but when they glanced down and saw the earth rapidly
receding, they gesticulated piteously to the crowd as
if imploring assistance. When the balloon had reached
a high altitude, it drifted in a north-easterly direction.
It was followed by many people with telescopes, and
finally disappeared in that direction. Word has been
sent to all towns lying to the north-east of the place,
and a lookout will be kept for the balloon in case it
should drift near the earth. The couple who took this
involuntary ride know nothing about the management
of balloons. At the last accounts no word has been
received at Youngstown as to their fate.

BY A DESPAIRING M.P.
Each fruit in August we require
That bough and bush can bear,
But what we most of all desire,
Is what I want—a pair I—Punch.

COMPLETED AT LAST.

On the 14th of August, 1248, the foundation-stone
of the Cathedral at Cologne was laid, and on Saturday,
the 14th inst., after an interval of exactly 632 years,
that magnificent edifice was finished, the last stones
being planted on the two sky-reaching towers. At
ten o'clock in the forenoon the Prussian colours were
unfurled from the top of the northern tower' while at
the same moment the Imperial standard began to
flutter from the southern rinnacle. The town itself
was hung with numerous flags, and the Press joined
with the Cologne Gazette in congratulating the ancient
Rhine city and the Empire on the completion of so
splendid a monument 'of German unity and strength,
of German love and German trust in God." It is
expected that the Emperor will be present at the
ceremonious consecration and opening of the august
ecclesiastical pile.

In noticing the completion of the Cathedral, The Times,
in a leader, remarks:—" The citizens of Cologne had a right
to rejoice on Saturday. Rarely, it ever, has history been
able to record suck a triumph of devotion and persistency
as the completion of the vast Rhenish Cathedral. Europe is
rich in ecclesiastical edifices, and very many of them have
taken ages in building. Their glory is that they have grown,
as a tree grows, gradually into the perfection of their pro-
portions and beauty. In the variety which the piety of one
generation has engrafted on the piety of its predecessor
resides often much of their charm. But for the most
part the medimval church has been the fruit of the zeal
of successive churchmen. Choir, and transept, and tower,
and chapter house bear, each in its differing graces, the one
Impress of clerical pride, taste, or sanctity. Cologne
Cathedral exceeds in its period of growth all other European
minsters. None can boast like it a youth of six centuries.
The city which it glorifies has been celebrated for its piety,
and something more, in the past; it is celebrated for the
same qualities still. To strangers and visitors Cologne is
identified with ecclesiastical dominion and ecclesiastical
magnificence. Cologne is to them the city of mitred
Electors and of princes of the ehurch ; Cologne Cathedral is
a visible sign of the pomp and wealth and undying memory
of Romish Churchmen. In reality, the last stones set upon
the two towers on Saturday crowned the enterprise, not so
much of the Church of Rome, or the Church of Cologne, as
of a municipality founded by the Cfesars." . . . .