The Potteries Examiner : — 1878-02-02 (Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, England)

SATURDAY. FEBRUARY 2. MS.  EVENTS OF THE WEEK.  Various comments continue to be made respecting the sad and pitiful suicide of Annie Brookshaw, the young school-mistress at Fenton. Remarks of a conflicting character pro. et con., are made concerning the Rev. A. Clarke, of Longton, in relation to the affair. The rev. gentleman and his friends stoutly and indignantly disclaim the allegations of aught like harshness or asperity on his, or anyone's part, towards the poor hapless victim. Whether she was goaded to the perpetration of the fearful deed by undue severity or ruthless remarks upon her imprudence and unchastity none can tell. Conclusive evidence is entirely wanting on either point. Charity forbids the belief that Christian people, conscious of their own frailties, and liability to err, expressed themselves to the orphaned delinquent, in strains so severe and rigorous, as to impel her in a fit of blank despair to—  Straiqht from life's history., Swift to deittb'e mystery, Haste to be burled, Anywhere! Anywhere! Out ot the world. Base and demoniacal in the extreme, is the conduct of that incarnate fiend who can lure a maiden to her ruin, and betray a too easily victimised human sister to her guilty shame. We have frequently heard of some such ruffians whom previously we had thought to be honourable men, who have like ravaging wolves made havock wf the virtuous peace of respectable households, and yet these lewd Lotharios will in their professional capacity denounce the unprincipled rake and rascally seducer, whilst they themselves leave the offspring of their guilty amours uncared for and unprovided. lag° was a saint to such burglars of domestic joy, such prowling and predatory hyenaes on the pastures the family fold. It ought to be the pride of the male portion of our sex to protect and guard the gentler and weaker sex from insult and wrong. Still there is one thought that yields us the most pleasing satisfaction, namley, that the Nemesis of swift and unerring retribution sooner or later overtakes such caitiffs with direst vengeance.  The Hanley Ratepayers' Association, as we elsewhere record, are vigilant in their attention to the interests of the borough. The dishevelled and disgraceful state of some of our roads and byeways has been under active consideration. We have known some localities worse and some better than the Pottery province for its means of transit hither and thither. It is gratifying to know that it is the intention and purpose of the authorities to attend fully to the matter. There is one thing that demands especial notice on the part of our corporate officials, namely, the tardiness on the part of those whose functional duty it is to collect and pile the soft layers of mud on the side of our streets, lanes, and pathways, that when it has been scraped together from the middle of the roads, it should be conveyed elsewhere. Might it not be as well, when the miry heap has been inked to the roadside, were the carts to follow and convey it thence to its final resting place ? Lord Palmerston is credited with having euphoniously said that "dirt was matter in the wrong place." It is not right to leave it in the path of the wayfarer as he. gropes hrs way through the gloomily-lit thoroughfares in the dead of night in search of an accotecheur or on a visit of consolation kr the bedsides of the sick and the dying. Even by day one is apt to step unawares into one of those soft seductive mounds to the dig. colouring of his understancliiir and the defilement of the extreme ends of his pants. The Park question may well be left alone at present, until we have the Sewage Farm question first settled and the timas mend a bit. If, as some say, there is no land available in the neighbourhood for a Sewage Farm, where is the land procurable for a Pleasure Park ? So far as it regards Me Booth's councillorship, that is a matter, we should opine, for his fellowemneillm•s, and for his own sense of propriety and rectitude of corporate conduct towards the electors of the ward he is presumed to represent. Since our residence in the place we have beard him spoken of as a good citizen and a useful and energetic councillor. So far as it regards his espousal of our Junior M.P.'s cause be has a perfect right to thefree exercise of his own opinions.