Ashtabula weekly telegraph. (Ashtabula, Ohio) 1880-1886, 1880-04-30

insihted II struck seven when II was
eight The mornings we're dreadful.
They were sure It struck Eve In the mid
die Of the night. Every boy and girl
fairly hated the sound Of the castle clock.
One day they had an indignation
meeting in the. woods on the hin, and
decided that the clock was a very bad
thing for Schlossburg. Hans was there
and said he knew all about the clock,
and that Il was not such q wonderful
"You turn the crank, and the wheels
90 round, and the epen-du-lum-"
"Ohl what an awful lot he must |
knowln cried Tina Deckels.
Pen-du-lum What q terrific word
"The pen-du-lum," continued Hans,
proudly, "regulates ii and makes it go |
fast or slow. If it is short, the clock
goes fast; and If it's long, the clock
goes slow"
81 say, Hans" said one of the big
boys, "couldn't you hook up into the
tower, and just piece out that pen-du-
lump"
"You don't have to do that. You
screw down the bob"
"The bobl What was thatP"
"Iknow, but I'm not going TO tell.
NY father is an official, and I'm not
going to let out State secrets"
"Well, you could fix it to go slow,
couldn't youpn
",Yes," said Hans, doubtfully. "The
clock would go slow"
"Ohl how nice that would be-" said
Tina. awe wouldn't have to get up
so early"
"Nor come home from play so soon,"
said Gretchen T'ytler.
"Nor go to bed right after supper"
said Lesa Salisbury.
"Doit, Hansl Do It'll" cried all the
boys and girls.
Hans thought it q pretty bold plan;
but the advantages to be gained by all
the boys and SchlOssburg were so great,
he would try it. Some day, while his
father was at dinner, he would steal up
in the castle-tOwer and lower the bob.
Just little; not enough to be noticed.
So the meeting broke up in great glee.
Hans promised to regulate the clock (;
and they all crossed thumbs, and said
they would never, never tell any body.
! This was Saturday afternoon; and on
the following Monday, as luck would
have it, Hans went up to the castle with
/, his fathers dinner, and found him sit
l ting in the sun at the castle-gate.
I "Hans, lad, thee must wind the clock
to-day. My rheumatism is bad, and l
: : can't climb those steep stairs to the
tower. There is nothing to be done but
/. to put on the crank and turn it round
! fourteen times, as thee has seen me do
it."
. Hans climbed up the dark and wind
! ing stairs of the tower. At every steI
he heard the tick of the clock growing
louder and louder. He passed narrow
wooden door, and shuddered. In that
I room was the great pendulum swinging
= in the dark. He went on up more
q stairs, and came at last to the small
= room in the belfry where the clock
! / works stood. How very loud the!
- tickedl His heart seemed to tick too
u He picked up the crank, put it on thu
- works, and turned il slowly round four
: teen times; for it was pretty hard worl
=, ". for boy. Then he went to marrow
2 window, and looked out on the beauti
- - full Rhine, the woods, the vineyard
y rising in stone terraces up the steep hill
~ y, sides, and the red roofs Of little Schloss
! - burg, so far below. 1t was a Lowell
a. sight; but he saw nothing. He was think
~ ~ ing of that pendulum.
II Fifteen minutes later Hans appeare
N at the castle-porch, looking very red /
10 the face.
40 ~ "Thee has been a long time about il
'5 0 my son. I'll do it myself next time"
~ ~, Hans was terribly frightened; but h
~ ~ said not word and hoped that nothin
= serious would come Of it.
1v For a week nothing in particula
- happened. The Schlossburgers regU
ds lated every thing by the castle clock
en- and ifon Saturday night the sun di
,is 90 down q trife early it was not NJ
ke ticed. The next week the people bega
,et to wonder why they slept 80 late in tt
nd morning. They rose with the clocl
ed and yet the sun seemed to be ahead
o. them. Every body begun to be hungr
he before,d dinner was ready, and the su
M poppedAdown behind the hills in ii
er most alarming manner. Next week
rs. grew worse. The week after sti
ire worse. The sun rose whole hour b.
ch fore the time set for it by the clock.
was noon at eleven O'Clock and dark
M five. Perhaps the sun was getting ol
he of order. Some of the people WI
he we're out late at night said that eve
MI the stars were behind time, and Il
st, moon had plainly lost her way in Il
EN- sky.
to The next week II was sLlu WOIs
the The sun rose in the night and set in d
ID middle of the afternoon. The mai
er, got up too late to milk the COWS, al
ace the children sat up long after dark, :
ew cause it was not yet eight o'cloc
to though every one knew that the chic
ok ems had gone to bed long ago. Day
err day things grew worse, and the peoE
Il were alarmed, and went in o body
in the village priest, to see if he knt
ok. what had happened in Heaven, I
,ud the Solar System was evidently qui
lew upset.
ike The priest gravely said that undoul
Q il edly some one had done something We
hey wicked, and perhaps the end of
put world was near. When Hans hea
lad this, he nearly had fit, and his mott
at put him to bed, with bottle OF
six water at his feet Poor boy! The b
ght tie was bad; but thinking about the
ed lar System was worse. His tatl
-ent wound up the clock through all I'll
-eut and insisted it was all right. Bar
first Klatterdasehe, no doubt, would
greatly offended if the people thoul
ner any thing was wrong with the cas-
and clock. Things went on from
she to worse. The sun rose at one in
the morning and set at eleven. The
the moon rose in the middle of the aft
the noon, and the stars ran wild with
his the slightest regard to any thing.
that universe was breaking to pieces 3