The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1873-12-27 00:00:00

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none Ossoginted how they tininagetnifsbt after making
era or sacrifices, all teir the gbod of the
,Quairs
lo snbj That they eye satisfaction go Mr
cut, 'q's 'dent frpm theimmeisto trade whiclan
sin do th ranch of bustrten. Thui, no a fine cven•
log, the streets of London are alive with buoy Isle. In
many of the narrow thoroughfares, such as Fleet
-
street and Ludgate-hill, such is the pressure of the
crowd upon the pavements that it is sometimes M-
I milt to thread your way through the units which make
,up the multitude. At intervals you pass a railway
, receivlng.house piled to the ceiling with packages—
all labelled "perishable "—for country cousins, while
I ever and anon the familiar vans of the London Parcels'
I Delivery Company are rattling along the roadway, the
active etticiale pulliug up here and there, soil losing no
time in distributing the hampers mid the baskets
I which every train brings into our railway stations
from the provinces.
I Such are a few ideas which your London Corres-
pondent Ilea noted downs as being appropriate to the
festival which Englishmen celebrate ece heartily.
One of its chief values is the break which
It affords in the mouctonous round of life. On
Christmas Day you can, at all events, forget
for a few hours the lutside world, and lay aeside
the cares of basiness. Each household, indeed, with
the abutters closely drawn, aud the tire burning
brightly, is for the time a happy little world of itself.
If it is true that soon it vanietieth away, its short and
fleeting character Catlike it to be enjoyed with all the
keener relish. There is auother powerful reason why
it should be cherished and observed as a most valuable
instiautiue, acid that is the good fellowship which it
cannot fail to engender. Who knows anything of
political animosities at Christmas time? Why, Mr.
Smith and Mr. Green might have bean daggers drawn
at the recent municipal or school-board election, but
depend upon it that if they meet on the morning of
the nth of December, "A merry Christmas to You r
hi sure to be the reciprocal wish. Long may it
be so! The habitable globe Is • very different
place now fro ni what it was when, in the lan-
guage of Holy Writ, "a decree went up from
Cesar Augustus that all the world should
be taxed." Yet this festival has survived for
nearly two thousand years; and even amid all the
utilitarianism of the present day, when the history of
a man's life is one unbroken record of struggles and
contentions, Christmas has as firm a hold upon the
feelings of all dame as In those less degenerate days,
far back in our national annals, when life's journey
was passed free from hurry, bustle, or excitement.
The gong which once floated over the city of Beth-
lehem has survived t'ne vicissitudes of peoples; it has
not been affected by the fall of empires. Age has
brought strength to it; and so far from its showing
signs of weaknesss or decay, let us hope and believe
that for centuries to come the bells will merrily ring
in Christmas morning, and that every Christi= lan-
guage will preserve in indelible characters the senti-
ment which for eighteen hundred years has been
chanted by millions now sleeping their long Sabbath
of repose- "Glory to God in the highest; on earth
peace and gos.lwill towards men 1"

The State apartments at Windsor Castle are again
open to the inspection of the public, for the Queen and
her two youngest children have left for her Majesty's
marine residence at Osborne, where Christmas will ae
u.susl be celebrated In the old English style. For some
days previouely to the Royal departure from Windsor,
the Castle was the scene of a numerous gathering. This
was especially the case on Sundry, the 14th instant,
the sumiversary of the death of the Prince Consort,
when the Sovereign and many of her relations attended
a special service in the splendid Mausoleum at Frog-
more. Of the Queen's nine children only two were
absent—the Crown Princess ef Germany, and the
Princtee Louise. I may add that on the same day
that her Majtsty left Windsor for Osborne, Princess
Alice and her husband took their departure for Hesse
Darmstadt, where they will spend their Christmas.
. .

Vi,itore to the Arcnite,tural Court of the South
Kensington Museum must have witnessed an interesting
diagram conaisting of a representation of all the princi-
pal buildings in the world, so grouped an to enable the
spectator to judge of their relative size at a glance.
There you may estimate the height of of the Leaning
rower of Pisa, the Ply...adds of Egypt, the Parthenon
at Athens, the C:osseuro at Rome, or the graceful
tracery of Cologne Cathedrel. Compared with our
modern railway cations, the splendid old Greek
temples make but very small figures. True, the
Pryamids tower above all other buildings, and this
is a remarkable testimony to the industry, displayed
by those who reared those vast monuments to the
greatness of ancient Egypt.
Hitherto, in one respect, new Blackfriars Bridge has
not carried with it the accommodation so intimately
associated with the name of the former structure. It
is nearly ten years ago that Old BlaAfriars was taken
down, and with its disappearance the rivereide pier
which b.. I long been a great convenience for those who
wished to use the river steamers frnio that p Aut.
Since the destruction of the old bridge, stasailigoa
passengers have had no choice between St. Paul's pier
and the Temple, but this is now about to be reaiediel,
for a new landing stage at Blackfriars will shortly be
opened, to the great relief of many in that neighbour.
hood who have occasion to make constant journeys up
and down the river.

The Commissioners for the Annual International
Exhibition of next year propose, as one of its features,
to have • collection of objects illustrative of the
ethnology and geography of various races and parts of
the Blitieh Empire. This will ultimately form • great
National Museum, and for the present the articles will
be arrayed in the Royal Albert HalL The Com-
missionere, in making this announcement, remind us
that many portions of our dominions are inhabited by
aboriginal races, most of whieh are undergoing rapid
changes, while some are disappearing altogether.
They are fast losing their primitive characteristics and
distinguishing traits. The collections which it is now
proposed to form would embrace life-sloe and other
figures, repreeenting the savage Inhabitants in
their ordinary and gala costumes, models of their
dealings, samples of their domestic utensils,
Hole, weapons of war, boats and canoes, agri-
cultural, musical, and manufacturing instruments,
and implements, together with specimens of their
Industry. The commencement of the series will, as
far as poesible, have reference to the West Coast of
Africa, and the commissioners confidently appeal to
tho civil, military, and naval officers throughout the
Queen's dominions to assist them in these collections.
Judging from the interest awakened by the Abyssinian
trophies in the South Kensington Museum, any objects
I relating to the Ashantees, Fanteee, and the neighbour-
ing tribes will be certain to attract a considerable share
of attention on the part of those who visit the next
exhibition.

I Bee that the Metropolitan Board of Works has
issued a series of by-laws for regulating the trnmway
traffic of our suburb+. o.e of these epecifiee that the
rate of speed obeli in no case exceed nine miles an
h Air, nor shall it be lees than six. I thick there
is no d inger whatever of the rate being in
excess; the complaint of passengers is that this means
of locomotion is so very tardy. Many of the cars at
present certainly do not travel six miles an hour, but it
I. hoped that the new regulations of the Board of
Works may have some effect in increasing the speed.
A subject intimately connected with this is the prac
tics of using India rubber tyres for carriage wheels,
which has of late become fashionable in the 'West-end.
Numerms accidents have resulted from the want of
warning which such easy-running vehicles give. The
argument of those who use these noiseless tyres is that
in streets so badly paved as are those of London, it la
incumbent upon every one who values easy riding to
use every method to counteract the jolting and rum-
bling which is felt when the rough stones of our tho-
roughfares are passed over. This, however, is only
one side of the argument, for on • foggy day a person
crossing a pond runs a considerable risk of being
knocked down and killed by coming into eollision with
a vehicle which be is not only unable to see, but the ap-
proach of which he cannot hear.
Perhaps there is loithing that better illustrates the
poverty which even in the best of times must exist in
the metropolis than the charitable appeals which now
make their appearance in the London papers. Twice
a year the metropolitan journals open their columns to
Insert appeals of this description—in the summer to
give a day in the country to some hundreds of poor
children ; and in December, to enable those who take
an interest in their welfare to supply them with a goad
dinner either on Christmas-day or on the First of
January. Many of these announcements are of a very
pathetic character, and it is not uncommon to read that
many • poor child depends upon the benevolence of
others for having it. only good dinner in the year.
The seriousness and importance of the impending
rice famine in Bengal can scarcely be exaggerated.
We do not all realise what a failure of the rice crop in
that region means. In 1866, when Orissa and Behar
were desolated by • similar calamity, it was computed
that a million of their inhabitants perished. Yet these
two provinces combined are but of small dimensions
compared with the mighty tract now threatened with
desolation. That part of Bengal which is now
menaced require. for the daily food of Its dense popula-
don 26,570 tons of rice; so that, if the whole had
to be imported, it would be necessary every week to
charter 200 ships, each of a thousand tons burthen. It
I. needless to say that no such amount of tonnage could
be procured at • short notice; but even if it could,
there are no large stores of rice in neighbouring
countries available for exportation. Under these cir-
cumstances it is evident that the Indian Government
will have all its work to do in preparing for the terrible
emergency which is believed to be Inevitable.

4LtW[fshe growls— season is well over. woodcock
.
fc , goff hin yes. foll
cilt,dythuie
ecovertockbekelgootolc2e
teo yto lig se the pbessantlos thilirou";
an • sTeett deal depends upon the weather. Woodcocke
are in the habit of lyiug very close after a stormy
night; and again, when several hours of moonlight
have prevailed, these birds are exceedingly cautious.
When the ground is hard and frosty, they -take to
thick hedges, sad haunt the neighbourhood of orchszde,
gardens, and cottages. December is, Indeed, pre-
eminently the mouth for wild fowl shooting, but I
have often been puzzled to. account for the enthueirtem
with which it is folliwed. Some of our sportemen
are, after all, but hothouse plants, and frequently pay
for thoir temeriry in chasing a mire through a fen or
a bog. In striking the balance between a good game-
bag and a chronic condition of rhetunatisni, the advan-
tages of tho former scarcely cutopeneate for the plllatlVlS
eiou of the latter.

From time to time animated descriptions reach this
uouiltry of the voyage of H.M.S. enallengtr, which in
the course k.l last spring was sent by the Government
on a three y ears' voyage of expl.mation in the interests
of science. These on board enjoy the spectacle of the
orange groves of Faye!, and the gorgeous scenery he
well as the profuse hospitality of BrasiL Sometimes
we read of the good ship swinging by a hawser from
volcanic rocks which have been thrown up in the very
middle et the vast Atlantic depths; and next we are
told of her steering for regions far removed from the
haunts of commerce, and carrying relief to outcasts
living as desolate a life as Alexander Selkirk him'
self. No sooner da the navigators set foot upon
a land where any disease Is known to prevail, than
they re-embark, and turn the prow of their vessel in
the opposite direction. In this respect they un-
doubtedly pmts.; an immense advantage sver the in-
habitants of tura Ilona, who can seldom escape so
rapidly horn the visitation of an epidemic. From the
tropios to the Antarctic Ocean; from the storm-tossed
Atlantic to the calmer waters of the Pacific main ;
from the tenspestuoua billows of the deep Black Sea to
the bright blue waves of the Indian Ocean—such Is
life on board the Challenger, and that the history of
the voyage will be a most inteteating record, no one
can doubt.