Des Arc weekly citizen., 1869-01-19
From the Atlantic for January.l 4 GOOD NATURED PENDULUM

From the Atlantic for January
 GOOD NATURED PENDULUM }. An old clock, which stood in tn
 corner of Parson Whipple's school }, room, suddenly began to tick twice a fast as usual. It did so for two o s four hours, according as you counte' :. time by it's beats or by an hour-giass :. Then it ticked for the remainder of 1t life at apparently the same rate a usual. This was never a discon,entet pendulum; and on that day. Singleton 3 aud l, who were the only boys in it, counsels. thought 1t was very good !. natured.
 But I do not pretend it was right Have said it was right for the pen. duum to tick SO? have not said it. have only said that it was good natured in the pendulum to tick twice . as fast as usual, when it simply knew : that wished it 10 do so. Although was then responsible for what the pen iulum did, 1 assert that am not now responsible for it. I was then four teen, and am now hard on fiity-six, SO II must have changed chemically six times since then. l reject responsible ity for ali my acts at Parson Whipple's. I do not justify the pendulum. do not justify myself, far less do l justify Singleton. I only say it was a good natured pendulum.
 slt happened thus:
 l We were all to go after chestnuts, and we had made immense prepara- ton. the old dominic not unwilling We had sewed up into many bags some old bedtick, dear, kind Miss Tryphosa had given us: we had coaxed Clapp's cousin Perkins-son ol Matthew Per kins third, of the old black Perkins blood--we had coaxed him into getting he black mare for us from his father. Ciapp was to harness him, and we were 70 have the school wagon to bring our spells home. We had laid m with the Varllunl boys to meet us at the cross roads in the hollow and. in short. we were to give the trees such a 1 belaburng as chestnut-trees had not known in many years. For all this we mad the grant of half-holiday; we hid by great luck capital sharp frost on Tuesday, we had everything but iime.
 Red Jacket would have told us we had all the time there was, and, if Mr, Emerson had come along, he might nave enforced the lesson. But he was elsewhere just then. and the trouble 1 with us was, that, having all the time here was, we wanted more. And no
 ari Lestead conductor on single rack road, eager to make the time" which he must have to reach the pre- destined switch in season. ever ques- toned and entreated his engineer 'nore volubly than we assailed each ,ther as to how we could make the hort afternoon answer for the gigan- ic purposes of this expedition. You .ee there is compensation ill all taings. II you have ever gone alter hestnuts, you have found out that the sun sets mighty near five o'clock when YOU come to the 20th Of October; and If you don't get through school till one, and then must all have dinner, l sell you il is very hard to start iour- teen boys after dinner, and drive the wagon, and walk the boys down to the Hollow, and then meet the Va,nums md drive mp that rough road to Ciapp's .rand- -mother's, and then take down I the bars and lead the horse in through the pasture to where we meant 10 tie him in the edge ol the hcmlock second growth, and then to carry the bags across the stream, and so work up on rhe hill where the best trees are ;-I say it is very hard to do all that and come out on the road again and on the way home before dark. And it you think it is easy to do it in three hours land half, wish you would try. All is, 1 will not give sixteen cents for all the chestnuts you get in that way. So. as said, we wanted to make the ! time. We'll, dear Miss Tryphosa said thai she would put dinner Ut twelve, if we liked, and ii we could coax the dominic to let us out of school then. 50 we asked Hackmatack to ask him, md Hacklnatack did not dare to, but he coaxed Sarah Clavers to ask him. The old man loved Sarah Clavers, as thing, and she did her best! Old man. call him! That was the way we talk ed. Let me see, he graduated in lSll. II guess he was in Everett's class and Froihingham's. The "old man." as we called him. must have been thirtyseven years old then,-nineteen years youn- ger than l am to-day. Old man in. deed!
 Well. little Sarah did her prettiest But the old man. there it is again. kissed her, and stroked her face, and said he had given the school a half. holiday. and he thought his duties tc the parents forbade his giving any more. And when little Sarah tried again. all he would say was, that. il we would get up early and be dressed when the first bell rang, we might "gc in to school at eight instead of nine Then school could be done at twelve.- Miss. Tryphosa might do as she chose about dinner, but. if she chose, we