Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1861-12-14
he Devil in he Cloek.

he Devil in he Cloek.
The folio~inr s.orv l. -sm~4im~- tod a.
oae ii eur earliest s.4sirr. veil kns~n "a
Ii.sny IL cur r.ad,r. - m.mlsr of sb- Me4h-
'-ii-t persuasion" and s.rl.. hat a -psllar'
in the eharrh- La the early tisn~~ his hous~
~.s sh~ Prearhing-plsce If shr srigkhsshssa.
Al Who ss~ inrisuasclv scY1,isasa 9TH -
know that although -a@~~hsf p.v~ ~ -
bcr j. aPp-arancr. he !. fan a fn = sins.
and always rrady TO enjoy . jsks- So n.rA
By way e( cxPlsnasien is p-ccs~sry 10 s.a~s.
sss.a the story. which ve give @ n-.siy -
pcs-il.lc i'm his oxn vasvls:
-Shorsly sficr ~e hsd rrs,sscd 10 cw pers-
-ns plse~ al r-sidenee. boeghs nrv eBc-k.
fer hous- u.s.. II v1 What v.s eall.d IN
eight -dav cisck.' bus warranted Go rum tou-
ten dsss ~Mhssi ~i.Aing; s.r sf sl,s.- nrs-
i4ngl-d ooscrrn<. wiihoui veighss ] toek il
hssn~ on Saturday evening. and got il III n
ranged. wosnd up hight and started ts rs.-
ming. just ~ the fansily wrs~ sl-sss 20 rsise
fs the night. As We ~ere 10 have Isearhiag
At th- hcas- next day. rhoashf void ~
main up and wait far j, 10 strike. 10 BE- s.re
il would strike CORRECTLY. no; wishing TO work
with IL on the Sabbath
-Engaged in reading. did not notice il
until it commenced striking Counting until
it struck twenty or more tine.. l found some
thing was no, right. and concluded il would
be- best to stop it and wal, until Monday TO
Arrange it. 80 got up 10 j, and stopped the
pendulum, but soon found that was Of no
avail. as the sharp ding-ding-ding-ding
oI the not very agreeable but sharp sounding
bell kept on, though the hours and minutes
it was intended to sound for had stopped. l
had seen people using little wire hanging
near the pendulum to arrange the striking APP
paratus. so began to experiment OH it. l
pulled it, and pushed it, hung on to it, and let
60 of it, but found it Of no use, the incessant
ding-ding-ding-ding kept on in spite Of
all. am not Yankee, and know but very
little about the innards' of clocks, and by this
time began to see that ! was at my wits
ends-I could do no more If it had been
one of the old fashioned twenty-four hour
would have thought little of it,
md went to bed and let it do its worst.
When thought though of the ten or fourteen
days striking which it seemed to be deter
mined to get through with before it stopped,
was in despair. How long will it last 2 l
asked myself Tried TO make some sort of
calculation, but the constant wlir-r-r-r and
-ding-ding-ding Knocked all calcula-
ton into pr. knew it must strike some two
times, but how long it would be in
doing it could not compute; had an idea it
would take Il day or two-and how could
tell if it would ever stop. Perhaps somebody
had palmed off a perpetual motion OH me-
thought Of the Burgomaster's patent cork leg
which, when tied OH, the springs wound up,
and set going. could not be stopped, but is
supposed to be still moving the unfortunate
Dutchmam over the world, and Of many other
endless things. The preaching next day
camo into my mind, and concluded, if it
kept up its racket, would take it out in the
woods in the morning, and let it "wastc its
music on the desert air." By this time the
of my situation impressed me,
and was obliged to laugh almost as loud as
the clock changed and I heartily wished l
had somebody with ME to enjoy the fun. AZ
ter hearty laugh. all to myself, begun to
think about sleep, but the idea Of getting to
sleep with such constant ding-ding-ding
ding in the house was really out of the
question. At last a happy thought struck
me- If could not stop it could deaden it
some. So stufing some rags all around and
in the wire of the bell, changed it's note to a
'nuflcd dug-dug-dug-dug. and retired.
but was kept awake long time by the muf:
fed humping. How long it kept ii up I can
not say. but several times during the night,
between the naps. ! heard the dug-dug-
but in the morning when l arose.
contrary to my expectation. but much to my
satisfaction, it was silent.
Just before preaching commenced.
thought that as the striking was al done
nigh: make i: useful in keeping time far thc |
preacher and censrceation, 70 ssarsed The Pen-
dulum. md 81 il TO the time of day, sssisfra |
nov had the advantage over ID. An won sn
quietly and orderly. the sr,i.isasy services |
~rn, over and the preacher had juss eUs faiiy |
started in his sermon VIA the hosr hana
came around To sooa- and u.rh to ny s.r-