Oxford Democrat. [volume] (Paris, Me.) 1833-1933, 1862-09-19
FRIDAY. SEPTEMBER 10. 1862.


''Tsin't no u.e-,he watch 10 stopping
FAST he answered.
Then. for the frs, time. I noticed that be-
eide him on tho bed lay grea, old fashion
cd silver watch. the case BATTERED, the face
di.coiored. and that II licked With strange.
dull sound as though IL wa. very old aud
feeble.
The watch has been injured by the bui.
let's. I suppose. said besides. all watch.
es stop ~ timcs.'
Not thi. one. stranger .aid the wound.
cd man. They've laughed a, me about
that watch u hundred times now they'll
find my story true. reckon. Tho watch
and I will stop n, the same minute
The woman at the bedside shook her head
again. It's an old fancy o'yourn. Mike
Barlow she 'aid; you'll 1.-Two To SEQ the
folly OF IT,
80 they talk, -aid tho man. Now,
listen. doctor. You've come Iur TO zee me
and done all YOU could. III give you ,ha,
watch. L.. money valley arn't much. bu,
it'll DO you service. twas Civ tome by an
old frcnchmln. out o. Canajy, when h,
was lyin' jus, rs | am lyin'. IL had been
his fathers. ani his granjfaiher's. and his
grsat.grandhther's before that: and this is
wha, hc told about IL. aud tlis Is wha,
you II find 10 DO true: That watch will tic.
slow aud steady, rrs'lar as the sun, a. Ion,
n. whoever It belongs to j. we'll, and safe
and thriving when there's danger CON.
ing. i, begins to go fast, and faster, and
ia-,cr. until /, !. past. and 50 loud that you
can hear u acrOss the room as plain as II
you held IL IN your own hand. When death
il coming, that watch besins 10 stop. 1;
zoe, slower and slower. l,s voice grows
hollow and when the breath leaves the
body. there's no spund to be heard, and all
you can do won't make IL go for year. A,
the end of that time i, will start all Of u
sudden. and after iha, YOU can rad your
fate by !, and know your dea,h.hour. II
wa. 80 after old Pierre died. IL will bs 50
now. Keep the watch when I'm gone. doc
tor
could no, help looking with some inter
cs, a, the battered time.piecc. \ strange
story had been woven about IL. and the mar.
ycllous alsays h,d charm FOR me.
sat beside my ptiien, until hc sunk 10
sleep. lie seemed TO be doing well still. and
had no doub, but that the morning light
would see him greatly better. Bu, Western
hospitality would no, pcrmi, OF my depart.
urc a, that latc hour. and was lodged in
an upper chamber upon bed rs clean and
irh.rln, as /, wa. simple -lep, soundly.
wa, awakened At midnight. however. with
the news that my pa'len, was worse. lie
had awakened in mortal agony. Soms IN.
ward injury impossible to discover. had done
it, work. I said nothing OF hope now. and
The man looked a, me with u CHASTITY smIlc.
Take the watch he aid. Watch 4,
and me. You will find me right
These were the las, word. no uttered. lie
mut,erri incOhercntly alter this, and tossed
hr. arms about, and struggled ior his breath.
At last, he seemed to sink into a slumbcr.
Ny hand was ON his heart; iclt its beat
inss grow faint, fainter, fainter siill. ~
last there VA. no motion. lie wa. dead.
lifted the watch to my ear-ihat had stop
ped also.
There were tears in the eyes OF the rough
men abou, me. and the woman wept Us she
nigh, for one Of her own kindred. could
do no good now, and turned away leayin:
the watch upon the co,erlij; but one oi the
men came alter me.
lie CIV /, to you he sid. 'nnd is
your'n. lie had nobody belonging to him,
- you ne,dn't DO afearci Of tAkin' il. lie
mus, how taken likin' TO you. for he
though, heap Of il. Take it, doctor, and
% the watch was minc
IL was dumb and motionles-, and remain.
ei 80. took il 10 the matchmaker. and hC
laughed at the idea OF It's ever going again.
This was after lcit the Yves, and dwelt in
large and populou' city in the Eastern
State.. some eight OF nine months after poor
Mike Birlow's death. The matchmaker
only confirmed my own su'pieions IL wa'
q strange coincidence tha, /, should last eI'
actiy its ma,ter's lifetime. bu, tha' was ALL
81 | hung /, upon my chamber wall, me
men,o Of those days Of toll aud struggle IN
the far West.
Oic morning w,se early. Tho blashc'
Of dawn were Just breaking over the earth
I, was in the month Of November, but stil
the day was lovely. There MAS an unwont.
ed sound in my room. At frst | could not
CUES. from whence IL came. Had the sky
been cloudy I should have imagined /, to be
the rain upon the root. Then beGan tc
feel that this sound I heard was too delicate
for the pa,tsr Of rain. II might have been
the clapg OF fairy hammer, or the tapping
OF the beak Of somo minute bird, save that
it was too regular. Bu. the mystery OF The
sound was what /, seemed to appeal to me
to reproach me with forset,in: 1t.
I sat up and looked aboot the. ln an in.
slant I understood the sound. IL was the
tick Of the old watch upon the wall. Silent
for . twelvemonth, il had suddenly found
voice. as though some spirit hand bad touch
ed Its springs. looked at my memoran'
dun book. Twelve o'clock OF tho past night
was che anniversary Of Mike Barlow' death.
M. .o.d. ,.,n. ,,,a al last. lie had said