The People's vindicator. [volume] (Natchitoches, La.) 1874-1883, 1881-09-10
SOME FAMOUS CLOCKS.

SUME FAMUUS CLVChSs
Perhaps there are some of my little
readers who are, at this very moment,
anxiously watching the clock in the din
ing.room or hall for some happy mo.
ment to arrive. Have they ever thought
how singular a thing is the measure
ment of time, or ever wondered about
the first inventors OF the artp
Perhaps none of them could tell the
time OF day by the shadow of a tree or
aouse, yet just in that way was the sun
dial invented. l
The first on record belonged to King
Ahaz, who lived about 742 years B. G.
Hour glasses and water clocks or Clep-
sydras, as they are ca'led-were also
invented about this time, and of course
you know how King Alfred measured
hours. 50 will tell you OF Charlie
magne's clock, which was the first
strihing clock on record. 70
1t was sent to him by King of
Persia, and is thus described by an
Abbot who saw it: ."a.
The dial was composed Of twelve
doors which represented the hours,
each opening at the hour it represent
ed, when out came the same number o.
little balls. which fell, one by one, on
brass drum. At twelve o'clock. twelve
horsemen issued forth, and, marching
round the dial, shut all the doors.
Some Of YOU have been to St. Paul's
Cathedral, in London, and most of you
have seen pictures of it. Well, the first
wheel-cloc in England was set up in
this famous cathedral in the year 1886.
1t was made BY horologer called
Hatholumme. who received q loaf OF
bread and q bottle of beer each dav for
keeping it in order. Fifty eight years
after this, it was improved by a man
called Walters, aud King Edward the
Third ordered q new dial to be made.
with two angels pointing to the hours
OF both day and night.
How the clock Jared for four hun.
dred years we scarcely know, but the
clock and cathedral were destroyed by
fire in 1866, and the present building,
with its magnificent clock. was finished
in 1910. The clock is remarkable for
the magnitude of it's wheels aud the
tineness of its works. Ithas two dials,
each sixty feet in circumference. The
hour numerals are q little over two feet
in height. The minute hands are eight
and nine feet long. and weigh seventy.
five pounds each. The hour-hands are
tive and six feet long, and weigh. forty,
four pounds each. The pendulum is
sixteen feet long, and its bob weighs
one hundred and eighty pounds. It
needs winding every eight days. and
strikes the hour on . great bell, which
bears the following inscription:
"KlCHARD PHILIPS MADE ME, lT10:''
The clapper of this bell weighs one
hundred and eighty-tour pounds, and it
can be heard at a distance OF twenty
two miles, on clear day. aL''
Once, during William and Mary's
reign, soldier, called Hatfield, who
was on duty upon Windsor Terrace, fell
asleep, but he managed to escape pun
ishment by positively avering that he
had heard the clio K of st. Pauis strike
thirteen at the very time when it was
said he was slumbering. This was
doubted by the court, on account of
the great distan between Windsor
and St. Paul's; but, while he was nm
der sentence of death several persons
swore that the clock did strike'thlrteen
instead Of twelve. which evidence his
Maze ,ty King William accepted, and
granted him pardon, and lie lived to
be. one hundred and two years old.
The bell which Hatfield heard was
the "Great Tom, OF Westminster, which
was granted to St. Paul in 1893, and
is never used now except on the death
of one of the r syal family, the Bishop
of London or the Lord Mayor. -
The hours OF st. Panl's clock were
struck before 1884 by two figures, which
were called '.f'aul's Jacks" and from
which comes the Expression, "His Jock
o the Clock" meaning servant OF
yours or anybody's time. ''s
The first clock in Westminster was
paid for from a fine imposed upon the
Chief-1ustice Of the Kings Bench, for
reducing . poor man 8 line from l5s. Id.
to IS. Sd. This clock struck hourly.
and was intended to remind the Judges
OF the fate of their brother. AMI teach
lawyers The difference between IS. ld.
and 6s. Sd. 1t was built two years alter
St, Paul's.
About the year 1865. q clock-tower OF
stone was erected in the courtyard, op.
poste the palace, or hall. and the Old
clock removed there; but tho cock and
ttowerwere destroyed By the Ronndheah
Mob. in 1862, and continued in RUN
Gus state for fifty three years. when it
was removed to the side o New Palace
Yard. and now. where this famous old
cock. house once stood. lisa dial inserted