September 1858
From the Star newspaper.
Excursions; French hymn books; Wheadon's hair salon; Frederick Chatterton, harpist; William Ryan of Alderney; Bathing machines; Madame Loisel's school; Beau Séjour; Oysters; Rescue from Drowning; Electric Telegraph (Victor Hugo).
The Star, Thursday 2 September 1858
Excursions round the island for the summer months.
A conveyance, conducted by the Messrs Hooper, will start from Mr Barter's, No. 20, Fountain-Street, twice a week, on Mondays and Thursdays, visiting the principal Bays, and stopping at the Union Hotel, St Saviour's, for two hours.
Persons must secure places by booking themselves at Mr Barter's, 20, Fountain-Street, half an hour before the time of starting. Fare: Two Shillings. Time of Starting: 10 a.m.
A new and general supply of French Wesleyan Hymn Books, in a variety of styles and types, at reduced prices, just unpacked and ready for sale at the Star-Office, 10, Bordage-Street.
Saturday September 4
Naval and Military Hair-Cutting and Head-washing Establishment.
A Luxury during hot weather. Try Wheadon's system of Shampooing, extensively patronised. Also to prevent Baldness and Greyness, ask for Wheadon's Naval and Military Balm. Address, 12, Commercial Arcade.
We learn with pleasure that Mr Frederick Chatterton, the well-known Harpist, is about revisiting Guernsey, and will, with the assistance of Miss Eliza Hughes, a songstress who is highly spoken of, give a concert at the Assembly rooms, on the evening of Monday, the 20th inst. The public of Guernsey are well acquainted with Mr Chatterton's talents, and retain so agreeable a recollection of his previous performances in the island, that they will doubtless look forward to his re-appearance with great satisfaction.
And in truth, if musical strains in their greatest perfection, their sweetest harmony, can lure a heart away from its care, it was the music they were about to hear that day. The concert was given by that great master of the harp, Frederick Chatterton; and when they entered, nearly every seat was occupied, every nook and corner crammed. One of the most distinguished audiences ever collected within walls had assembled; for harp music, such as that, is not common music.
And Jane was beguiled out of her care. As she listened to the brilliant playing, the finished touch, the sweet tones elicited from the instrument, she forgot even Clarice. Never had she heard music like unto it. The 'Remembranza d' Italia' the 'Reminiscences of Bellini,' melted Jane to tears, while the finale from La Felia half took her breath away. For ordinary music Jane did not care; but music such as this wrought an effect on her that did not pass easily. From Lady Oakburn's daughters, by Ellen Wood, 1864.
Alderney, Police Court, Wednesday, September 1
William Ryan, a native of Waterford, produced for having committed several assaults at Braye on Monday evening, and especially for a very violent assault on Mrs Connelly early on Tuesday morning, in a room which she occupies in a house rented by the said Ryan, was condemned to an imprisonment of fifteen days, half of which with hard labour, and at the expiration of his imprisonment to find bail of £10 for his future good conduct for twelve months, or leave the island.
An inquest was held on the body of an infant three weeks old, named John Connelly, son of the above Connelly. It appeared by the evidence, that in the course of the row which had taken place in the room of the Connellys, the child had been left on the bed and had been accidentally suffocated under the bed-clothes. Verdict accordingly. The Connellys were severely reprimanded by the Court for their want of care.
The Bathing Machines. Notice is hereby given that the Bathing Machines will be withdrawn on Saturday, 11th September.
French and English Select Boarding and Day School, Amelia-Place, Guernsey.
This School, removed from Paris in 1849, is conducted by Madamoiselle LOISEL, (breveté pour l'enseignement supérieure), assisted by competent English Teachers and Masters.
The French language being constantly spoken in this Establishment, it offers superior advantages for the acquirement of the language.
Beau Séjour. To be let, furnished, from the 29th September, for a term of one, two, or three years, with coach-house and stable, gardens, green-house, and pleasure grounds. The House contains three sitting-rooms, study, and butler's pantry, six good bedrooms, dressing-room, and large attic, with extensive lower offices. Apply to Mr Morris, Cabinet Maker, Berthelot-Street.
Oysters. J. Le Court, Oyster merchant, No. 52, Pollet-Street, and No. 1, Oyster Market (successor to M. Prévôt), has the honour to announce to his friends and the public in general that he will be enabled to supply them with the justly renowned Granville Oysters during the whole of the year, and trusts that he will continue to merit a share of their patronage and support.
His Oyster Bed being advantageously situated near the Salerie Battery, enables him to offer to the public Oysters of the best quality. Orders executed with punctuality.
The Star, Tuesday, September 7th.
Rescue from Drowning. On Tuesday last, at about 5 o'clock in the afternoon, as two young men—Charles Corbet and Charles Noyon—were in their boat proceeding to fish between the Tete d'Aval and Castle Cornet, they saw at some distance from them a boat in which were two persons; almost immediately after one of these persons disappeared, while the other was standing up. Corbet and Noyon, concluding that some accident had happened, with all speed bore down on the second boat, and nearing it found a young man struggling in the water, uttering piercing cries, and exclaiming, 'For God's sake save me,' at the same moment sinking under the water. The fishing boat arrived at the critical moment, and Corbet holding on to the gunwale with one hand with the other seized the drowning man by the hair of the head, and with the aid of Noyon drew him into the boat apparently lifeless. After, however, having disgorged a considerable quantity of sea water he gradually revived, and the two fishermen taking the other boat in tow, made for the new harbour works where the whole party landed. The person thus rescued by the timely aid of Corbet and Noyon was a young gentlemen named Turnbull, son of Mr. Turnbull, of the Rocquettes.
Episode in the History of the Electric Telegraph.
The first message sent by telegraph from Jersey to Guernsey, after its inauguration, was one to M. VICTOR HUGO, from his friends in the former island, and was as follows:
Les Amis de Jersey—A Victor Hugo, Guernesey.
Unis par la science, Anglais, Francais, Belge, Russe, Germain, Peuples formez une sainte alliance, Et donnez-vous la main.—Béranger.
The poet, almost immediately, replied through the telegraph by the following message:
Victor Hugo à ses amis de Jersey.
L'hymen des nations s'accomplit. Passions,
Intérêts, moeurs et lois, les révolutions
Par qui le coeur humain germe et change de formes,
Paris, Londres, New-York, les continents énormes,
Ont pour lien un fil qui tremble au fond des mers.
Une force inconnue, empruntée aux éclairs,
Mêle au courant des flots le courant des idées.
These verses, composed by M. Victor Hugo in 1852, are taken from his book, Les Châtiments, and were, as the event has proved, prophetical.
[The installation of the electric telegraph was viewed with great cynicism by the Editor of the Star, who did not trust the integrity of the line across the Altantic that was laid in September of 1858, and was correct in that the line soon snapped at depths at which it proved impossible to mend. Victor Hugo's lines from Les Châtiments are ironically 'prophetical' in that according to Hugo,
'Paris, London, New-York, the huge continents,
Are linked by a line that trembles in the depths of the oceans.
An unknown force, borrowed from lightning,
mingles the flow of ideas with the flow of the waves',
which turned out unfortunately literally to be true.]