The St. Charles herald. [volume] (Hahnville, La.) 1873-1993, 1885-05-02
pebbles. one by one, from tho .arst bel

AFTER winch he surrendered the posi-
ton to some one else, who repeated
the operation, and so on until it be-
As the helmets were large
and the pebbles small, it took two
hours to make the transfer.
AS soon as the helmet had been emp
tied, the fact was proclaimed through
the camp by the striking of sword
against shield, gong fashion, at the
chieftain's door The echo was caughts
up and all around the people knew that
their dinner time had come.
The methods ofmarking time differed
accordingto thelOcality. Inpeasant dis
tricts, the laborer reckoned by the num-
Der OF burrows he could pillow, or, if it
was harvest time, by the quantity of
corn he could reap. In towns where
some faint remnant of Roman civiliza-
ton survived, the reckoning was kept
by watchmen. AT daybreak soldier
started on foot, or, if the town was a
large one, on horseback, to walk
around the city. When he had gone his
round the first watch was over, and he
returned to his quarters blowing loudly
on trumpet, when a second soldier
set out in silence to perform the second
watch. This continued uninterrupted
ly day and night, the only difference
being that after sunset there was no
trumpet blowing, and the watchmen,
instead of going round singly, went
their rounds in patches of ten or a
dozen.
AS last instance of barbarous chro-
nometry, allusion should be made to
the method employed in monasteries.
The monks were in the habit of COM
putting time by the number of prayers
they could say, and it was from this
| that the custom of wearing chaplets of
beads arose. The task assigned to each
monk was to recite as many ''paters'
and caves as there were beads on his
string, and, as the number on chap
let was supposed to be then thirty
three, that is, one for each year of our
Saviour's life, there was work for a
good hour and half if conscientiously
performed. As in the case of the ur-
ban Waterman, one monk was relieved
by another, and the termination of each
''vigil'' was notified to the community
by the tolllng of the chapel bell. This
custom continues unaltered in certain
monastc establishments. In monas-
teries of a severe order there is no such
thing as clock. The only time-keep-
ers are the shorn, becowled monks
kneeling in perpetual alteration.
TWAS the famous caliph of Bagdad,
Haroun- al-Raschid, who restored the
old water clock to Europe. In the year
807, he sent very beautiful clepsydra
to Charlemagne, but it was looked upon
as thing to be admired and not to be
copied after.
The reason of this was that the sa-
bier, sand-glass, had been invented in
France shortly before the accession OF
Charlemagne, and the continuance was
considered handler and more simple
than the other.
The first sablier was invented by the
man who reinvented the blowing OF
glass after the secret had been lost for
years. He was monk of Charities
named Luitprand, and the sand glass
he made was the exact prototype of all
those that have been made since. II
consisted of two pear shaped recepta-
Giles joined by their slender ends. When
the sand had all run from one end to
the other, the lower g lass was turned
uppermost and kept in that position
until empty. Charlemagne caused q
monster sablier to be made with the
horaT divisions marked ON the outside
by thin lines of red paint. This was the
first hour glass. 1t required to be
turned over only once in twelve hours
and it kept time with as much preci
sion as the best of our lever clocks.
Many persons still consider the hour
glass the best time-keeper ever invent,
ed. King Alfred devised method o.
computing time by means of a rusf
light set in lantern. Anything more
unsatisfactory or expensive than this i
was impossible to imagine. One nigh
very well flicker for an hour and an
other flame away in ten minutes.
The first real clock was set up in 173.
during the reign of Charles V. O
France. The maker was one Henri d.
Vic, an Arab, who had been converted
to Christianity. This clock was mon
ster machine, weighing five hundret
weight, 1t was put up in the rounC
tower of the royal palace, now tn,
Palais de Justice, and attracted crowd
for several months after it was erected
The maker received pension of on
hundred crowns of gold for life and wa
ennobled He is the first artificer o.
whom this distinction was ever confer
red in France. From this time tn
making of large clocks for public ed
fees was extensively carried o
throughout Europe.
But 1T was not until the beginning {
the sixteenth century that small clock
were made for apartments. The frs
one came from Florence in 1918 as
present from Julio de Medici to Kin
Francis L of France,
The invention of watches had pr
coded by few years that of sma
clocks. Popular tradition ascribes til
invention Of Watches to Peter Hele,
Nuremberg, in the year 1890; but Kin
Robert, of Scotland, possessed one as fl
back as 1910. German watches wei
not introduced at the English cou
I until 1897. They cost fabulous sums
money, and were made in fancy form
] such as acorns, olives. walnutS an
: crosses, and were also worn as pen,
!, ants to ladies bracelets. Claude, wi
Z of Francis L., of France, had one
! small that it was set in a ring Hugen
4 of Zuliehem, invented the pendulu
e clock, the simplest and the most a
5 mirable machine. The invention of Il
spring pocket watch is accorded to Il
Z Fn0liShman Hooke in 1853. and eip