Sunbury American. [volume] (Sunbury, Pa.) 1848-1879, 1872-11-23

| Chinese, 2, 900 years before Christ, down TO
the Germans of eight centuries ago. One
of the earliest illusions 10 them occurs in q
French poem of 1906:
s'And then he made his clocke stilke
| in his halls and in his chambers,
With wheels very subtily coDtrived,
With continuing movement"
There first general use was in monaste-
ries, during the eleventh century. Before
their introduction the sacristau sat up to
watch the stars, that he might waken the
monks at the hours Of prayer. The com
mon people attributed their origin to the
| devil, and had anybody outside the relig-
ious orders Incurred the odium of first in
! PRODUCING them, he would doubtless have
been put to death as n sorcerer. Dante,
writing in 1900, mentions the striking OF
one, and likens "a its movements the ''sweet
accord and harmony" of a circling dance OF
rejoicing spirits in Paradise. Chaucer (136S)
refers to IA clock or any abbey orloge.' y
And Froissart, of the same era, after de-
scribing minutely the mechanism Of the
| clock, adds
''Thercfore l hold him very valiant and wise
Who first found the use ofit;
! That by his sense did begin and make
| a thing SO noble and of such great profit"
For many centuries public clocks upon
! churches and market houses usually had
an automaton which stepped out of the
face to strike the hour, and then disap-
! peared The Strasburg Cathedral contain
ed the great wonder of the Middle Ages. 1t
was combination of an astronomical and
a terrestrial clock, with Il perpetual alma
nae, and had moving figures of a golden
cock, children, men, angels, and the Vir-
| gin Mary.
"And we saw Peter clasp his hands,
And the cock crew hoarsely to ali the lands;
And the twelve Apostles come and 20,
And the solemn Christ pass sadly and slow,
As the crowd beneath in silence pressing,
Bent to that cold mechanic blessing.
We read in Hyperion of Il Coblentz clock
in the form of gigantic human head,
whose jaws open and smite together at
each string, as if to cry with the brazen
head of Friar Bacon, "1'ime was, Time is,
Time is past.'' The East India Company
once presented to the Emperor of China
two clocks in the form of chariots, their
! golden cases studded with diamonds, rubies
and pearls. Upon each sat lady with bird
upon her finger BY secret motion its
wings lluttercd, and the chariot moved in
any direction, III seeming obedience to an
automaton boy pushing il from behind.
Horace WalpOle owned an exquisite little
! clock, presented to Anne Bolcyn by Henry
! VIII. After Walpole's death, Queen Vic
! toria bought it at auction for clio and it
! still runs at Windsor Castle. A cathedral
| clock in Somersctshire. sci up in 1885. kept
time for 500 years before the works wore
out. 1n the time OF William the ILL.,, a
sentinel Of the palace was condemned 10
death for sleeping on duty. The soldier
! insisted that at midnight tile hour of his
alleged dereliction-he heard the enormous
clock of st. Paul's Cathedral (25 miles dis
| tant as the bird flies Strike 13. Inves.
tigation proving that it did strike l3 on
that night, the King pardOned him.
Droz, mechanic Of Geneva, produced
an instrument which cxcelled all others in
! ingenuity. On it were seated n negro, n
| shepherd and Il dog. When the clock
struck, the shepherd played six tunes on
his ilute, and his dog approached and fawn-
| ed upon him. This wonderful machine
was exhibited to the King of Spain, who
/ was greatly delighted with it,"
The gentleucss of my dog" said Droz,
sis his least merit. lfyour Majesty touch
one Of the apples which you see in the shep.
| herds basket, you will admire the animals
! fidelity"
The King took an apple, and the dog flew
at his hand, barking so loud that the kings
I dog, which was in the room, began to bark
| also. At this the courtiers, not doubling
| that it was an affair of witchcraft hastily
| left the room, crossing themselves as they
! departed. Having desired the Minister OI
I Marine 1.-THE only one who ventured to re.
main) to ask the negro what O'Clock il was
/ the minister did so, but obtained no reply.
| Droz then observed that the negro had not
yet learned Spanish, upon which the ques-
! ton was repeated in French, when the black
| immediately answered him. At this new
! prodigy the tirmness of the minister also
! fOrsook him, and he rctreated precipitately,
| declaring that it must be the work of 4 sI-
pernatural being.
To authors, clocks have been good for
! instruction, for admOnition, and for re-
proof. All literature is full of them. A
story is preserved of shopkeeper who re-
commended one as made by Thomas
| FudSit.n That was his translation of the
! wholesome old warning, tsnlpuS tugh,
! painted upon the dial.
The following atrocity bears the ever
welcome label, "Thomas Hood, his mark,
''A mechanic his labor will often discard
If the rate Of his pay he disllkcs;
| But cock-and its case is uucommonly hard
viii continue to work, though 1t strikes ~
! In The Belfry ut BrOgus," LOngftllow
catches his tayortt echO-that of the med
/ i@yal ages:
"Ihen most musical and solemn, bringing back
the olden times,
! With their strange, uncarthly music, rang the
melancholy chimes
| Chimes originated with the Dutch. There
| is Il poetic saying that child born while
/ they are sounding will have power TO see
! spirits. The chimes of Old Trinity moved
Edmund Kean TO tears and thousands OF
/ New Workers gather at midnight on The
3lst of every December to hear them
"Ring out the old and ring in the new"
Watch" is from saxon word, signify
| ing "to wake" At first as large as sau-
Ger, had weights, and was called ''the
pocket cock.' The earliest known use OF
| the modern name occurs in Chancery re-
cord of l542, which records that Edward
! vi, had lone larum or watch of iron, the
case being likewise of iron-gilt, with two
plummettes of lead"
The first great improvement, the substi-
tuition of the spring Tor weights, was made
about 1850. The earliest springs were not
coiled, but only straight pieces of steel.
The principle of the spring vas borrowed
from nature. BY spring membrane, the
little flea projects himself 200 times the
length of his own body. When certain