The People's vindicator. [volume] (Natchitoches, La.) 1874-1883, 1881-03-05
An Amateur Clock Repairer.

THERE stood on the corner OF Twen.
tieth and Carr Streets yesterday after.
noon, says the St. Louis RepuJlicun,a
young man with big scratch on his
nose and q lump under one eye. Hell
Young man of the class known to the
gamins of St. Louis as livery toney."
The young gentleman was mournful, for
his hopes had been blasted. He had
thought himself great machin;st. The
way in which he received his wounds
was rather curious. He got up pretty
late yesterday morning and he looked At
the clock in his room. 1t was $50. He
dressed himself in a hurry and then
looked at the clock again. The hour
hand had evidently gone backward, for
the clock now said that it was only7:SO.
He went downstairs and got his break.
fast. 1t was 9 O'Clock by the clock
down there. Then he returned to his
room and found that his clock was still
running the wrong way. First the
| Young man thought that the clock was
obeying the command Of the poet who
unused:
Backward! turn backward, Time, in your
, flight!
Poetical reflections did not console the
Young man, and he vowed that he would
t fix the clock. He went down into the
e cellar and poked around in the dark for
4 awhile. When he emerged an enormous
;, cobweb spread over his Immaculate
0 shirt front, and in his arms he carried
$ hammer, a pair of pincers, screw.
e driver, file, a gimlet, three hatchets,
a ball of Irvine and various other articles
!, absolutely necessary for the mending Of
3. that clock. With his burden, the young
n man climbed the stairs and entered bis
r room. He took the clock from the
re mantel, laid it on a table, drew near
g chair aid began work, an admiring
g. group of friends gathering around to
watch his operations. He started to
4. take the clock apart. He did it in five
minutes and discovered what had been
the matter with it. Then he went to
Mt work to put the thing together again.
Till noon he toiled, and still he had
u. mouthful of screws and a pocket ulla
ed wheels and springs, which he knew
yn had come out Of the clock. He
I'M couldn't see where they should be placed.
to The sweat stood out on his brow. It
lat was o'clock and the job was not done,
on but he would not give up. BY this time
his the admiring group had left him. Atlas
wo he shouted s'Eureka, and invited then
ON all up to see how nicely the thing wa
ect fixed. 1t did really look very nice-jus
EEK like q mule before he kicks. You could
ed almost see wicked grin in the face o.
bic the clock. Every one said it was done
W. finely. He was told to wind it up snd
vas see how it worked. He wound and
The wound and wound. The pendulum BE-
ion gan to swing, the wheels began to run
the the hands began to move around a
ses, usual, and the young man smiled con,
, in tentedly. The friends said it WORKED
me like charm. He believed them. IL
ned was telling how he could fix anything
r it when the clock began to strike. !,
ther ought to have struck three, but It stiucl
isis, more. 1t struck ten, twenty, thllt!!
G of forty, fifty, and after that they could no
!, is count the strokes. The hands yen
around and around, and the crowdaof
and came frightened. The young ma
rsey stared at the clock, but the striking GU
Oak tinued. .,
are 1t must have struck 250 times. "
and thought that the clock was beW'tche
900. 1t stopped suddenly. There came no.
this final rattle of wheels, q crash, na
tally and after that oblivion for ten mlaule
F.. A When the people recovered, they i9 %a
in that the clock was scattered Oil aoo
was the room. There was wheel mere y
.uty, a wheel there. The minute and %
were hands were sticking in the young ma a,
they hair, and the face had sailed !n, 1tS :
care mirror. 1t seemed as if boiler n y, !.
and ploded in that room, and it will t take ,ou
ease, days to pick up the debris: Inc you y,
man is minus q clock, and ii WIN M: .
asked him two weeks to recuperate. ln :
the most wonderful thing that nas III
agues pened in St. Louis for . long umy =
"of beats "Grandfather's Clock Ill
cases lOw.''