OUR HOME LETTER.

Thames Star, Volume XI, Issue 3475, 13 February 1880, Page 2

OUR HOME LETTER.

(FBOM OUR OWN COBBESPONDB'NT.) London, December, 1879.

A sad occurrence took place on Sunday, the 2Lst at Ryder. Dr IJtterton, the suffragan Bishop of Guildford, had preached an eloquent sermon, and was kneeling at^ the Communion table, preparatory to administering Holy Communion, when he suddenly fell forward, and died in a lew minutes. His death is attributed to heart disease. :/ ..,.'-.-..

Really, like the raven, 1 have so far done Dought but croak and sorrow, surely there is something that will lighten up this most melancholy epistle. Yes, there is an attempted assassination. There is a country called Russia, and this country is ruled over by a Czar, and this Czar rules very despotically—not that he is at all a bad man himself, but the system that he is the representative of is very much disliked by a many of his subjects, who go by the name of Nihilists, and these Nihilists are given the credit of continually trying to assassinate the Czar, introduce reforms to the country, and generally to raise their country to a better social level than .it does at present hold. Now the said Nihilists very likely do try to compass the-two latter, and possibly may add the former to their desires, but throughout their country one man is a spy upon another, the police system is perfect, martial law is prevalent everywhere, and yet, notwithstanding all this, two people take a house, their occupation is unknown, elegant carriages are said to visit this humble, for it is a humble, abode, a long subterranean gallery is built by the occupiers and their friends, the said gallery necessitating the removal of tons of earth, the said gallery is nicely bricked round, and it is done in a good, workmanlike manner, and it stretches from the house to beneath the railway adjacent. Now, on a certain day the Czar travels from Moscow t© St. Petersburgh, two of his chief towns, and there is an order in his, travelling. It appears that himself and suite usually occupy one train, and another train precedes it contaiuing the baggage, &c. Now on this certain day^ the royal train went .first, and when the second came opposite to the house mentioned before, there was an explosion, and. a locomotive tender came to very much grief, but the Czar was safe, and all the crowned heads of Europe sent telegraphic congratulations, and thanksgivings were duly paid to God for His infinite mercy, and the due amount of horror was uttered by the newspapers, and yet some people continue to ask how it is that all this long gallery, so complete in.every respect, could be so built, and tons of earth removed, and tons of brick brought to the place, and the police not know it. Such foolish people are not to be satisfied! -Must we again remind them of what one, William Sbakespere said, ■" there is a Divinity doth hedge a king, <fee." ■: " ■--■ ■ '■ ■: " ":. /' •■:■-

Now there is a capital joke on the teetotal question. Sir Walter Trevelyan, President of the Teetotal Alliance, had bricked up in a vault, a most glorious stock of wine. Port bottled in 1700 and something, sherry to match, champagne, oh, dear, why go further, take it all in all, it was a glorious stock, but Sir Walter tirSnk not, neither did he give of wine to others, but Sir Walter died and left this wine by will to Dr .Richardson, as great a teetotaller as himself, and Dr Richardson is in a fix, and does not know what to do. He cannot drink it himself, and he cannot with a olear conscience, either give it away or sell it, though he has been offered six or seven times its value, and though a many unfortunate i widows and reduced gentlefolks have intimated that a few bottles sent to them would bring them renewed life, and be a great charity, &c., &c. The Freemasons had a try to get it, by purchase, of coursa, but the best part of .the joke is that one gentleman of the teetotal persuasion proposed that each bottle should be emptied into the Thames, to the music of minute guns. Fine idea, wasn't it, but slightly wasteful. In the meanwhile the doctor has had it bricked up again in its old place, and if I am alive when it is unbricked and have the opportunity, you 3hall hear what became of the Trevelyan wine. Bye the bye, I forgot to mention that the bequest was made "for the advancement of science," and the puzzle is "How?" ■ „ What a pleasant thing it is to have all parties contented. There is a town called.. Sheffield, lately represented in Parliament by one of the most independent men who ever lived—a true Liberal and a true patriot—John Arthur Roebuck. He died last month, and the seat was contested by a Liberal Conservative and a Liberal Radical, and after a very olose conte»t, upwards of 28.Q00 votes being polled, the Radical won by 478 votes only ; and'both parties declare themselves satisfied, the Liberals that they have v-on, the Conservatives that in a town said to second in the Kingdom for Radicalism they have polled over 13,500 votes, and so, as I said before, it is very satisfactory to hare pleased both parties, and'Sbeifleld ought to be proud of having done so, but from whst I hear she mourns he old departed staunch and long-trusted representative.