The Hillsborough recorder. [volume] (Hillsborough, N.C.) 1820-1879, 1867-01-30
HISTORY Of A CLOCK.

4 -
tory Of an extraordinary clock. In 180
the widow OF a poor Protestant clergyman
named Herold, lived in the small town a
Llbau in Courland. She was exceed,ng
charitable. One winter night an Office
passed through Libau on his way to the ar
ny. He asked at the inn for some warn
beverage, but could obtain none he appIi
ed In vain at several private houses il wa
not until he knocked at the clergyman
widows door that he at last obtained disI
OF hat tea. II greatly com.orted the .ea
ry soldier. Just before he set out on hi,
Journey he Offered her money for her pains
She declined accepting money. He remem
bered he had lottery ticket in his pocket
the prize was a clock reckoned TO be wor,I
$4,000. lie made the widow accept thi,
ticket as souvenir Of him. The ticke
long remained forgotten in drawer; hel
children had so often played with il as /,
picture" il was torn we'll nigh to pieces
The number which drew the capital prize
was repeatedly announced in the newspa
pers, but no one came TO claim the valuable
clock. One day a gentleman happened tC
enter her house. and seeing the muiilatet
lottery ticket stuck between the glass and
frame Of looking glass, glancing cursori.
ly at il. and was amazed TO discover the
often advertised number oil the ticket which
bad drawn the capital prize in the clock
lottery. The valuable clock was given the
poor clergyman's wife. The Emperor oI
Russia offered her $4,000 cash and life
annuity Of $500 for it. She accepted the
imperial offer, and the clock i TO this day
one oi the chief ornaments OF the winter pa
lace at St. Petersburgh. The exterior ol
the clock represents an antique Greek tenn.
pie, and the interior contains two orches-
tras which play together Que Of the most
celebrated pieces OF Mozart's Don Juan.
The widow slroye TO discover the name Of
her unknown beneiactor, and although the
Car ordered the police TO aid her, all her
efforts wers vain. He probably perished in
battle. In The winter palace there is anoth-
er extraordinary clock made by Cox, the
emineni English clock maker Po,emkin
purchased il in 1880 as present 10 the EN-
press Catharine III. Whenever the hour
struck, peacock would turn toward the
spectators, and majestically spread its tail,
which glittered like thousand colors FORM
ed BY precious stones, a cock would crow,
an owl would move its eyes. an elephant
would wreath its proboscis and wag its tail !;
At every beat Of the pendulum, an insect
would fl, on mush room.
A
ISC.-That the serpent is endowed with the
power 10 charm birds which they capture,
and the ability to fascinate the larger ami
mails, and even to influence the intellect of
man, Is an old and well established theory.
A marvellous incident Of this character
has just been brought 10 our notice. A lit
tie boy four or FIVE years Of age, Of Irish
parentage, in Bracken county, was in the
habit, during the whole Of last summer, of
going aut in the woods near his home TO
play with his pretty things" as he called
them. After murh persuasion. one day his
mother was induced to follow him to his
play grounds to see what attracted him so
much. when 10 her horror she discovered
her little darling playing with trio Of
huge black snakes, wholly unconscious of
his peril. The boy was completely fasci-
mated and would advance and retreat. and
sport and daily with his hldeous comrades
as il he were in The charmed circle OF his
brothers and sisters. The mother. in ter
ror. ran TO the house crying for help, when
the father Of the lad rushed TO the rescue OF
his boy, and af,er some difficulty killed two
snakes. Wonderful TO relale--and We
have this information from gentleman Of
unquestionable yeraci:y--the little boy
soon took TO his bed, from which he never
arose--he pined away and died, an early
victim Of the fascination Of the serpent.
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