The morning star and Catholic messenger. [volume] (New Orleans [La.]) 1868-1881, 1870-10-09
Morning Star and Catholic Messenger.
Sew ORLEANS, SUNDAY. OCroBER 0. 1s7oi
MISCELLANY

wonderful than. it really is. But for all
this it is an extraordinary piece OF lmechan-
ism, and it's performances e"tltle 1t TO rank
high in the records of horol"gy. All those
who pass through Cheapsftle> witness hourly |
nay, four times an heur-with some de-
gree of wonderment, the activity of a set1
of figures which strike the chimes and the |
hours outside he>house of one of ourmost |
enterprising citizens. But these are won,
derfully simple operations as compared
with those of the celebrated Strasburg |
clock, eff which the citizens are justly
proud. Before detailing these performs
anees and describing the clock, it may be
as well to refer to the history of this inge-
NOUS piece of mechanism 1he clock
stands in. the Cathedral, it's origin dating
as far BAG as 1852, IN which year it was
put up under the patronage of Bertho4d dc
Buchek, then Bishop of Strasburg. OF the
artists name nothing appears to be known;
he must, however, have been considered IL
prince among clock makers in his day, for
the clock appears to be n highly successful!
work of art for the period. 1t was divided
s4nto three parts, the lower portion exhibit
ing universal calendar In the middle
part was an astralobe, and in the upper
division were the figures of the three kings
and the Virgin carved in wood. AT tire
striking of each hour the three kings bowed
to. the Virgin, While carlton carolled n
cheerful tune, and n cock crowed and clap.
ped his wings. In course of time; how
: ever, this clock got out of ordeE, and in
I547 it's repair was committed to the Charge
of DR.. Michael Herr, Chretef Herln and
Nicholas Prugnor, three mathematicians of
!. repute. They'd died before !thar work was
Dasipodius, pupil of Herlin, and who
completed his task in four years. The
clock went we'll until the year of the great
revolution, when it struck for the last time.
Nearly fifty years passed, during which
time the great clock gradually fell into
n 6rfn1 statu T. W hnp
solved once more to restore it to its former
working condition, but this was found i'm
possible, as the works were eaten up with
rust and vertligris. At length one Schwil-
que, az, artist and mathematician of Stras-
burg, offered to repair, modify and rein
state the clock, which task, it is recorded,
he commenced in june 81, 1896, and fin
ished III four years from TINT time. 1t is
stated that Schwilgue received an order to
construct q similar clock for Il cantonal
capital in Switzerland, but his townsmen,
Jealous of the Theological fame of Stras-
burg, put out his eyes, and thus prey vented
him fulfilling the order. We have
authority for this statement, and, therefore,
,cau only consider it in the light of one OF
the travellers tales to which we have al
ready alluded. The mechanism of the
clock was placed by Schwilgue in the old
casing, the number of the figures having
been increased, aud their appearance being
improved by jointed limbs. The quarter
: the four ages of man, which move in a
'>circle around skeleton mower. The hour
bell Is struck by genius, y figure of an
= angel at the same moment turning an hour
glass, through the narrow neck OF wlrioli
the s;.nd is kept pcrpetually running year
after year. Every day'at noon n procession
of the twelve apostles takes place around
a figure of the Saviour. Each one in pass
ing inclines toward the central figure,
which, when the circuit has been made,
a. dc oa+n IN
During the procession cock Hutters his
wings, opens his beak and crows three
times. The clock shows the month and the
day of the month, the sign of the zodiac,
the Dominica letter, the sidereal time, the
Copcrnican planetary system and the pro-
cession of the equinoxcs. Its mechanism
is SO perfectly elaborated that 1t marks tie
29th day of February in every leap year.
: With this perfection of detail no wonder
that the citizens of Strasburg are proud of
their Cathedral clock, and wonder
either that travellers are neither slow to
visit it nor to enlarge its performances to
an extent somewhat hey ond its real capa-
Mechanics Mdga-ine.
Characteristics of the S,riss.-Of course
know something of the Swiss history, an
cient and modern, and therefore l knew
that below the surface of the national
character, barnacled as it is with a good
many unlovely faults of rather sordid
description, there lies Ga puzzle in moral
chemistry an indomitable spirit of indie
pendence, patriotism and national pride,
beside no small degree of military cnthu-
: siasm and even romance. / had seen the
national faults with my own eyes, the ma
tional virtues I-had hitherto accepted from
the evidence of history. / had seen their
daily agricultural life-sordidly laborons,
b, serf-like and joyless. No voice of singing
or of mirth cheers their field labor, which
begins in the summer dawn and ends in
the dark. To use the Scripturaf hyperbolc,
they" 60 forth weeping" to the field, but
the converse, the joyous return, is not for
them. hod seen that it is a sordid and
, ox-like existence; grasping, too, and mean.
/ A terrier, weighing II few pounds, running
among his clover, Will make your Switzer
use an amount of bad language that would
bescarcely reasonable if herd OF elephants
; were carecring about among his wheat and
barley. His life seems to be almost an
checkered with any relief of recreation.
On Saturday night, indeed, he is apt, like
i your canny Scot, to drink more than is good
for him, but he is not CHEEKY in his cups
his Drunkenness Isl laborious, gloomy, al
most ferocious-anothcr parallel with our
Caledonian, is it not? And, by the by,
there is yet another parallel in the Protest
ant cantous, that the potations of Saturday
night are succeeded by CalxiDiStic dcvo-
toes on the morrow. Is there any essen
tial connection between between Il spirit of
independence, sulky intoxication and Cal
vinsm, or is it fanciful-Y Get some of your
Ill Ill ,l,.