The weekly echo. [volume] (Lake Charles, Parish of Calcasieu, La.) 1868-1876, 1876-05-11

over again. with Ell his might. the meas
ured tread Of the footsteps passed on out
and down the stair, and died away OF
lhe sidewalk.
Ia bis distress, Dir. futile cast his eyei
upward, and at once saw what arrested
and diverted bis attention. IN q case
were three CLOCKS running. They were
made Of precious metals and precious
stones, and giittered and flashed in the
| light Of the wonderful lamp IN such 2
way a. 10 dazzle and bewilder him.
/ Looking under the case, he was startled
70 see pair Of human eyes gazing
straight into his own. he found there
was face and part Of a body, and the
features seemed very familiar. lie soon
discovered that If he had met twin
brother the resemblance to himself could
not possibly have been more exact. In
deed, after little further observation
be found that he was looking into a
mirror which reflected another mirror be-
hind him, and that he was actually star
inc into his own brains which turned
out to be d beautiful system Of clock
work, and therein were quite different
from what he had expected. But then
he had never before been favored with
an opportunity Of seeing the inside of
his own skull
Whether something or somebody spoke
to him, or how it got into his mind, he
could not tell, but he was able quite
clearly to understand that one Of these
clocks governed all the physical move
ments. He saw that it was set to run
twelve hours, then it would run down,
all the voluntary motions would cease,
and the machine would sleep. "A touch |
on the shoulder would START a curious
spiral movement in the brain, main
spring would be drawn taut, it would
pull upon all the physical faculties, and
the man would be wound up again and
set running for another twelve hours It
was very strange that after al his damag-
ing remarks about clocks, Mr.. futile
should find that he was nothing but an
old clock himself.
His intellectual faculties were also
regulated by clockwofk, but arranged
for perpetual motion.
His moral faculties, too, were regulated
by clock-work. But he was able to per-
ceive that while most peoples moral fac
ulties are made to run seven days, SO
that when wound up on Sunday by a SER
mon or other religious exercises they
would run till next Sunday without any
his, by some misfit, were only
arranged 70 rum six days and hall, SO
hat pii Sunday afternoon the maine
Ipring Would let. 60 With a bang, an The ,
works would run down III minute, and {
here he was without any moral ma
shinefy any more than d COW. he saw,
leo, that the handspring had the appear /
,nce Of having been fled nearly in two
n many places, numbers Of the c0gwheels q
lad lost one or more teeth, and lii nu- Z
nervous places there was so much dirt
nd sticky oil the works would hardly 2
move Now, indeed, his conscience {
mete him. lie recollected that he had
early filed many mainsprings in two, .
hat they might run few weeks and
hen break and be brought back to him
lr repairs, when he would charge double I
rice for the spring, and double price for 4
is work, which prices we're always paid G
heerfully, because the extra amount
aemed a sort Of guarantee that the work d
-as we'll done He had also frequently Fl
led d tooth nearly Of, 70 that it would a
reak and new wheel have to be put
d Sometimes he would use sticky oil a
lat would collect dirt, and that would u
ring a job Of cleaning; aud occasionally il
3 would wy to bis customers, On look
g into the works, that a pinion had d
roken, and although It haG not broken, "
I'd be did nothing but clean the works, Il
Z would charge for putting IN a new b
inion. He now perceived that every
me be Lad put dirt Or bad 6il ii clock q
ork, Or broken tooth Of q pinion, an v
luai amount Of dirt Or bad oil had been n
serted II his moral machinery, ana W
9th Coy tooth and pinion for pinion had
'en broken there, and consequently, II d
alters continued long thus, The whole d
achiae would fall down in q wreck. and 81