The Jersey City news., 1889-09-25
A QUEER WATCH STORY.
FooLTSH SERVANT MAIDS TOOK IT
FOR Il FAMILIAR SPIRIT.

Coming Fad.
For years old DR.. Allan, the Scottish
physician, was suspected of being wiz
ard, an opinion which was considered all
but confirmed when, in 1880, he provided
himself with silver watch of the regula-
ton size and style. CHANGING to stop
with neighbor over night and it being
somewhat cold, he laid the watch near
his body and covered it with the bed
quilts so that the chilly weather would not
affect the works. Next morning he arose
rather abruptly and left the house with
out removing the treasure from its coZy
nest in the bed.
In ridding up the room the servant dis.
covered 1.-The Internal chattering thing,
and Immediately concluded that it must
be the old DOCTORS familiar spirit con-
cluSions which were hardly arrived at be-
fore she had fled wildly from the room.
Other servants were called and the whole
array charged the ''chattering thing in
the bed. Clubs and tongs were freely
used, but the case was strong and the
thing still chartered defiantly One of the
girls, more courageous than the others,
finally agreed that she would take the
tongs and carry the thing to the moat
and drown it, a proceeding fraught with
danger, but at last decided upon. The
lOllOMtu tbU IL I06pcCtdOlC ttloUch4SC
with hoes, clubs and shovels, with which
they proposed to pounce on the thing
should it attack the heroic girl. When
the old doctor returned for his watch he
was informed of what had been done, one
of the servants leading the way to where
the thing had been drowned. 1t was
found hanging on bush on the bank of
the moat. The failure to beat or drown
the thing to death fully convinced the
servants that it was in reality the old
wizards spirit, and they could not be per-
suaded to touch it.
This story is related simply to show
what rarities watches must have been
even at that late period of the seventeenth
century. In 1869 one of the admirers OF
George II. caused to be made for that
monarch q watch which was a marvel in
it's way. 1t had a calendar hand which
pointed to the days of the month and the
year. Instead of making a revolution
every month, like the calendar watches
of today, it took the whole 365 days to get
once around. The dial plate was only
two inches in diameter. therefore the tig-
ures must have been very minute, other
wise the 365 numerals could not have
been arranged around the border.
The annual dial calendar was but one
of number of extras with which this
watch was provided. A movable diamond
performed diurnal revolutions as regular
as did the great orb after which it was
modelled; It struck the hours, the half
hours and the quarters, while an inside
dial plate revolved in manner clearly
exhibiting the variations of the seasons.
The English House of Commons, fol-
lowing suggestion of Sir Isaac Newton,
appointed a committee June II, 1714, with
power to offer a reward of 100000 to any
one who would invent an accurate time
keeper for use at sea in determing longi-
tude After many years of labor and
study the invention was announced as
perfected. However, the inventor, one
John Harrison did not receive the re-
ward for his labor until September Is,
1854.
Keyless watches have been known for
the past 100 years, but not until within
the past twenty-five have they come into
general use. 1t would take columns to
enumerate all the dainty and wonderful
little timepieces that have been made
duriug the past 400 years. They have
been made not larger than peas and set
in rings for physicians to facilitate the
counting of the pulse They have been
| fixed in bracelets, brooches. eye glasses,
| tops of umbrella handles and even on the
ends of lead pencils, where they occupy
| the same position as the rubber on the
average Faber.
| In 1888 matchmaker of Dresden eX-
hibited watch made entirely of paper
The paper was chemically prepared and
the maker claimed that it would be as
serviceable as if made of the material
| ordinarily used.
The same year, at fair held at Wor-
| cestershire England, Crowthers Bros. g.
| Co. exhibited one made entirely of iron.
An ingenious prisoner at Kariaus, Bo-
hemia, recently constructed a watch,
| eight centimeters in diameter, with no
| other tools or material except two
needles, q spool of thread, a newspaper
y,,rsf1o tl,n xrrLn ,fe,
and cogs are all made of the rye straw,
| which, it is well known, is quite coarse
and tough. 1t runs six hours without
| winding and keeps good time. 1t is now
| in possession of the Prefect of Kariaus,
who considers it the greatest marvel of
| the nineteenth century.
| The most ingenious, perfect and COM
| plex watch ever manufactured was sent
| out from the works OF Patch, Philippe &
| Co., of Geneva Switzerland, in July, 1877,
| and is now i'll the posse 7sion of Baron
| Nicholas. 1t is what is known as the full
! sized t'hunter." On one side there is a
| dial of the regulation kind, exhibiting
| the hour, minute and second hands, also
| an independent tchronographis hand which
marks the fifths of seconds The same
| dial has repeating mechanism, which
| strikes the hours, quarters and minutes
! The opposite dial has hands pointing to
| the months, weeks and days Another
| large central hand on this dial, if set at
| the beginning of each year, correctly
points to all moon phases and also acts as
| a perpetual calendar. 1t is SO constructed
! as to admit of its keeping two different
| times, say standard on one side and sun
| time OH the other.--St. Louis Republic.
Color Rules Us All.
Did you ever think what a mighty part
color has to play in this world of oursP
| Try to picture to your mind if you can a
| world devoid of color. How cold and
barren and dreary everything would be-.
| How incomplete, with nowhere to turn
| our weary eyes for relief.
Some one has said:--"Color is to the eye
| what music is to the ear--charming and
| soothing. Beautiful is it when it flashes
| forth from gems; beautiful, too, when it
| blends in the harmonious combinations OF
| q picture. Why, then, should it not be
potent for good or evil in lady's dress?
! All art, all nature recognizes its power,
| and why should not women, too?'
| Wonderfully true, indeed. Color plays a
| part III woman's kingdom next to nothing
| else 1t lies within her power to beautify
| or disfigure with it, and so much can be
| done with it if she will only use her power
Alright.
There are times and places for all colors;
| and the little niccties of perception as to
| lust when and where q color should be
worn, are what woman should strive to
| cultivate to the utmost. How well the
artless Josephine know how to use her
knowledge ofeffect of color when she cum
ningly induced her rival in beauty to sit
| ,,Y,nr TINT traditional nrnen sofa in "A blue