Barbour County index. [volume] (Medicine Lodge, Kan.) 1880-current, 1885-01-02
Time.Keeping Novei'ies.


In the days of Grand Father Q Clock
there was little business Ia timex keep
ers, but 'orty or tifty years ago New
England manu- acturers pushed Ia on
the domain of the wooden and heavy
oli-fashiOned clocks with wares that
were carried everywhe:e. North, West,
and South, as sewing-machines were
pushed into prominence at later date.
1 he clock peddler went everywhere.
and he left in nearly every farmhouse
apre;entious- looking clock. e..
Because these new time pieces were
very much cheaper than The old, with
this innovation there was new impet-
us given the making of clocks, and it
presently enlarged from Q merely use
full into a fanciful industry. As fashion
turned 10 small clocks, taste began
their embellishments, and from an econ
omy they were forced into luxury,
into artistic designs of costly structure.
and it was not only the proper thing to
have q clock bat quite desirable that
the clock should be one of the expen-
sive ornaments of the house. Thi>
naturally opened the way into a new
field of enterprise. and the designing
of fantastic and unique models for
clocks became profitable employment
1t is the ambition OF the clock-buyer Of
to day 70 get one especi lily notable for
its uniqueneSs- and accuracy of move
mcnt has really come to be a matter of
secondary Importance after the beauty
or odditv of the workmanship. stylish
cocks are therefore very expensive
concerns now, and are eagerly bought
in spite OF the fact that that equally
good, If not better. timekeepers can be
obtained for comparative tritie,
But while We have been gradually ef-
fecting u revolution in the character Of
clocks, France seems TO have been
equally ZeaiOns in consummating the
destiny of noisy records through plan
to do away with clocks entirely by re-
turning TO the dial-on an improved ba-
sis. The first important step IN that
direction was the removal from the
Grand Hotel at Paris of seven hundred
chimney clocks and the substitution of
dials, the hands of which will be silent
ly directed by the municip reg, lator.
In France, no less than iE the United
States, there has been a progressive
movement of clocks wholly under the
guidance of fashion. The advance
from wooden 10 brass works began the
artistic transition here which in france
the dynasty determined the style of the
time piece nation that so often
shifted its form or personnel Of govern
ment naturally kept the ciockmakers
busy, and the figures ~urmountino the
bron ,e clocks were intended to com
memorate some incident or event OF the
reigning government. 50 that 1t is pos
ell. l.. - II.
the varying patterns Of her clocks year
BY year Astireek and Roman subjects
were popular during the First Empire,
though imares of Napoleon were com
mOnest, with an occasional remem-
brance Of Josephine. there were cor
responding characteristics of the roy.
ai>t epochs,, and if the superior nobility
happened 20 be TOO hideously ugly to
figure well as clock ornaments. al idea
sub ect OF the time was chosen. the DO
cts, the artists. the PLAYERS being drawn
from with bceoming Ge.ercnce to their
attra tive Qualities.
The tirsi clock ever used in France
was sent TO Charlemagnc by Haroun-
al i;aschid. Before that the SUI was
he time keeper by day, carefully grad
uated candles the servants by night.
Now one can not east 8 glance witho (
en- 'ounterin0 q clock in Paris. AMI ct
L is Q singular fact that they are no. "
q airs, up1n which no one fully eli ne
correct records of time Frcnchinen
are there ore never punctual al-tiamb bet
Ia became famous for being al excen-
ton to the rule. The clocks of France
sre rs snowy and superficial rs her
people. and of the 700 pendules de
cheminee in the Grand Hotel all made
q regularly distracting tick tick, bnt
hardly two were at the trouble TO tell
the same story of the hour. Hence the
value of the dials. Designing subjects
for clocks has for years been a leading
employment of the highest scuIpiural
talent of france, and we have ample
| evidence of tie high art in the clocks
If this country. II is not To be ex-
pected, then, that the ornamental will
surrender to the merely useful, and
there is no prospect that the nhechan
ically governed dial will to any tent
supersede the clocks Of the artists. rhe
pa lor, the drawing room, and the
salon have nothing moro exquisite
than the elaborate clocks that repre-
sent in their cost price a goodly foun-
dation OF fortune, and if they chance
to be time-keepers as well ais clocks,
they have all the seduction OF coquetry
Chicago liner Ocean.
An English iirm has begun the
manufacture of casks and barrels oi
steel Thav ara li0hfar than wood nc