The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1886-05-15 00:00:00

Our Fonban orrtspotiotnt,

(We deem it right to state that we do not at all timei
Id.:atify ourselves with our Correspoudent'A opinioos.l

The magnificent weather which favoured the
opening of the Colonial and Indian Exhibition at
South Kensington, and which attended it for
many days after the public were first admitted,
has had the effect of tempting tens of thousands
of visitors to its doors, and it may safely be said
that none have come away disappointed. The
varied and extensive show improves on closer
acquaintance, and rainy of the beauties that had
almost to be taken on trust when only "private
-.views." were to be obtained, are now fully re-
.. Vealed. All of us have been taught from our
s..,.hool7days onward. what a vast Empire was that
• which owned the sway of the British monarch;
but, books, "-even the most interesting, fail to
• cOnycy so full a notion of the extent and resources
of that Empire as is to be gained from a visit to
sitc4.an exhibition as this.
_ This is a year of exhibitions; for, in addition
to the one at South Kensington, there are
others, each calling itself "international," at
Edinburgh and Liverpool. Royalty has been
'present at the inauguration of each; for, while
the Queen opened those in London and Liver-
pool, Prince Albert Victor opened that in Edin-
burgh. Even the Londoner' who feels most
keenly the pride of being a citizen of the metro-
polis cannot be jealous that there should be
. these great exhibitions elsewhere. It would be
hard upon the teeming populations of Lancashire
and Scotland if they couLl not witness a collec-
tion of the most striking products of the ea-th
without making a journey to London for the
purpose; and when such exhibitions are placed
in their midst we may be certain that they will
be well patronised. And, seeing that London is
'the centre towards which such a vast number of
our fellow-citizens converge each summer on
pleasure bent, it may be hoped that similar
inducements in the shape of excursions will be
offered to dwellers in the metropolis to visit the
great provincial centres at which these exhibi-
tions are being held as have been given to inha-
bitants of the provinces when anything out of
the common has taken place in London. It is
good for all of us to know as much as possible of
our fellow-citizens ; and it must often strike the

ordinary cultured Englishman with something
akin to shame that he knows much more about
• Continental towns than he does about those of
his own land.

Prince Albert Victor's presence in an official
capacity at the opening of the Edinburgh Inter-
national Exhibition has given rise to a discussion
as to when he is likely to be called to the House
of Peers. There are not many precedents in
English history for a grandson of the reigning
monarch coming of age., but it has been pointed
out that there is an exact parallel in the case of
Prince Frederick, eldest son of George 11., who
was created a peer in the lifetime of 'his grand-
father, George I. The mere fact that such a
question can be discussed shows how rapidly
time is running on. The Queen will soon enter
upon the fiftieth year of her reign, and though
she has expressed her desire that her jubilee
shall,not be celebrated until next summer, when
she will have accomplished a full fifty years of
sovereignty, the "jubilee year," as defined by
the law of Moses, will commence in about a

month. It is a long time to look back
over, this reign of the Queen, and it is
- one which can be regarded by all classes
of Englishmen with both pleasure and pride.
When the time comes for the jubilee celebration
to be made we shall hear a great deal of the
glories which have attended'' the reign of
Queen Victoria —of the manifold inventions,
the continued prosperity, the seldom-broken
peace; but, even before that period arrives,
alp occasion does not infrequently occur
when some public event calls our attention to
the many pleasant memories attached to that
slice of time since the fourth William breathed
kis last.

Some talk was provoked not long ago by the
fact that several personal relics of Goethe and
Schiller were sold by auction in Germany for a
very trifling sum, and it was argued that the
sentiment which attaches to such articles was
dead in the modern German. But it is difficult
to see what else but a similar sentiment—though,
it is true, of a patriotic kind—could have in-
duced the Emperor William, within the past few
weeks, to pay 24,000 francs for the original
Manuscript of Schneckenburger's " Wacht am
Rhein." The person of merely utilitarian instincts
might argue that, as there are to be had for
the humblest of coins many copies of this
striking lay, it is a sheer waste of money
to pay a large price for the original manuscript.
But, in such matters as these, it is not argument
but, sentiment that carries the day; and most
people will feel that the German Emperor has done
wall to secure as a historical relic the very first
written record of a song which has done so much
to inspire the German nation. During the
. Franco-German War, and in that terrible winter
of 1870, When the fierceness of the frost added
to the horrors of battle and of siege, the "Watch
by the Rhine," was a source of encouragement to
the Teutonic legions as with armed tread they
shook the soil of France. With the companion
song "Where is the German fatherland?" it did
much to stimulate that feeling of unity which
brought the scattered German Kingdoms into
one. great German Empire ; and as it is certain
that future generations who own Berlin as their
• Capital will feel keen interest in all that attaches
to the Titanic struggle of 1870, so is it equally
certain that they will gaze with affection upon
the orignal marauscript of the "Watch by the
Rhine."

The Frenchman who, according to the old
story, observed that the first utterance of an
Englishman on a fine morning was, "Come, let
us go out and kill something," had mainly the
hunting season in his mind, and knew little of
the delights which, with an utter absence of
killihg, attend our English summer. Cricket,
and lawn tennis, and boating are now in full
swing, and it would be difficult indeed to find
more innocent or health-giving enjoyments. The
cricket season in especial has opened under the
• happiest auspices, and those who foretold that
it was likely to be a busy and an interesting
one, are apparently not to suffer the mortifying
pangs which are, as should be, the portion of
false prophets. It is related how the people of
Brussels were taken altogether aback a few
months since by the establishment of a foot-
ball club in that city by the members of the
British colony, and how they wondered with an
exceeding surprise at the vigour with which the
game was pursued. With much the same feel-
ihg is it that many a foreigner watches an Eng-
lish team playing at cricket. There is not
the, same roughness, it is true, and the
• physical danger is not so great as in
football.; but the dash required for the
successful pursuit of the game is so much that
those who are accustomed mainly to indoor
. amusements, or whose out-door ..re-s-t-
-co kind. may be excused for not at
• the first sight feeling much sympathy for exer-
• tions so foreign to their notions of pleasure. And
yet it is to such exertions that so much of the
robustness of our English youth is due, and with
• that robustness has been coupled a power of
ad*pt4bility to circumstances which has made 11
:ttie„best Colonisers on earth.
. It is. difficult to take up a medical journal in
these days without being startled to find that
something which has been always regarded as
perfectly innocuous is :actually full of danger to
. • •
94. health. Specialists of all kinds add to the
and the latest theory is that wooden furni-
' • ture, unless it has been rendered absolutely non-
'• absorbent by some patent process, is a noxious
-thing to have in the house. The argument is
that dead wood, like cotton, linen, and
other Vegetable matters, retains its power
_ of absorbing noxious animal exhalations, and
.• from that it is but a step, to the argument that,
when•used in the form of furniture, it should be
rendered innocuous by being coated with some
particNlar preparation. But really all these
theories are becoming very troublesome, and, just
. as the honest citizen in Moliere s comedy had
.• been talking prose all his life without knowing
• it, so we have been in process of beine• poisoned
all our lives and have been in blissful ignorance
of the fad. Existence would not be worth
having if we had to be troubled at every turn
with reflections as to whether this, that, or t,he
• other is a danger to our health. Fair precaution
• is one thing, but fancy fears are altogether
another;• and life would be rendered miserable
. if at every moment we were to be troubled with
• the thought that the table at which we eat, the
chair on which we sit, and the bed oa which we
lie are tainted with unsanitariness. It is all very
well to take care of oursel•Jes, but, as ever 3 body
,• .Iqicyfs, , those who are always troubling about
•theiz:.health: usually leave off with very little
„ . health to concern themselves with.
A book has recently been published tracing the
t - ritHh; riae and • growth of the friendly society
• •
inovOnielit, a subject which is- of close interest to
those tens of thousands of Englishmen who are
associated with it. When one looks into the
figures and counts the total of those who are
members of such societies, it is astonishing to
find how Aiany of our countrymen are connected

with them. To take two of the largest, it is a
striking fact that, in the single year 189.5, no less
than 56,000 new members joined the Ancient
Order of Foresters While 42,000 joined the Man-
chester Unity of Odd Fellows; and when it is
reflected that these are but two out of many it
is easy to compute how far-reaching is the in-
fluence of the friendly society movement. It is
a tribute to the self-reliant spirit of the English
people that it should have proved such a success,
and it is one of which we may well be proud.
There is a genuineness at the bottom
of a success of this kind which cannot
be mista'gken, for it is an old and well
founded belief that, when you find people ready
to back up their opinions with their purse, you
may take it for granted that their heart is in the
work. Those who are acquainted with the daily
lives of the artisan classes are aware of the con-
tinual benefit which springs from connection
with such societies. Thrift is encouraged, and
the day of affliction is to some extent provided
for; and it is cheering to find that, despite the
long-continued depression in all branches of our
trade, the friendly society movement has gone on
growing and prospering. A. F. R.