Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1890-05-25

PUT if you wish to converse with an enthusi-
astic lover of old clocks and one who
knows more about them than any amateur
hereabouts, seek out Mr.. Frank Straw. In his
pretty home at Sewickley just now there are
several interesting old clocks-genuine grand
papas every one. Mr.. SIraw's house contains
more clocks than any other in the country, L
am willing to wager. 1t is good deal of hos
pital for sick and demented clocks, and Mr..
Straw as an amateur physician has had won
derful success in making them sound and sane.
Just now he is tipkering away at an old tale
clock, at least 100 years old that friend OF his
discovered in West Virginia farmhouse last
summer, and now wants to have rehabiIitated.
1t is musical clock, and at the hours plays
one of repertoire of eight tunes which it
commands. The works were made in Ger
many in the last century, but the case is evil
IDENTIFY of American manufacture 1t is an in
tensely patriotic clock. for above the dial is
picture of George Washington on horseback,
while to the right of the face is another pic
ture of Washington, and to the left a portrait
of Christopher Columbus. Doubtless it struck
when the times we're troublous.
The special feature of this clock, however, is
the band of musicians-little wooden figures
that move as if playing the tune which the
clock pumps out at every hour. There are five
red-plumed helmets of dragons in the Conti-
mental service. and the fifth, pierrot or clown,
acts as a conductor. The original figures were
SO worm-eaten and crazy with age that new ones
have been substituted for them. In fact, the
whole clock. musical and temporal, is in process
of reconstruction. What the tunes are that it
plays nobody certainly knows though it is be-
lieyed that yankee Doodle' is one of them.
VoU can hardly imagine anything more strik-
ing than the arrival of the hour in Mr.
Straw's house. A Durfee clock IN the hall, a
tall, stately affair." rich in carving booms out the
hour upon cathedral chimes, If you would
know such things. the same clock tells you the
day of the month and the quarter of the moon.
From above another clock in deep, bell tones
tolls the hour.
Half way upon the stairs it stands,
And points and beckons with its hands
From Its case of massive oak,
The works of this clock are over 100 years
old, but the case is handsomely carved in wal
nut. In panel at the base is a painting by the
late Mrs. Cole-a fight of swallows against
gray-blue sky-and the dial IS set In landscape
painted by Mary D. Watson Then a cuckoo
clock may be distinguished in the dining room,
and from other rooms in the house half a dozen
other clocks IN modern strident cries proclaim
tie swing-on- the-wall clock in the Swiss style,
entirely of wood, with a fret-saw worked case,
which is every bit Mr.. Straw's handiwork. The
clock in the kitchen is the senior of all in age
being certainly $50 years old, and hearty and
accurate STILL
Generally there are several other clocks
staying in the house-patients of Mr.. Straw's
AT this time there are two such sick machines
one Of which is the Revolutionary relic have
already described the other is musical clock,
which plays melancholy airs IN dance tempo
with most pathetic effect
HERE is something very lovable in q hall
clock that has stood year in and wear ont
in the same place telling US how time flies.
Between it and the household there grows nm
a subtle sympathy. and it is no wonder that
poets have been tempted to make the old clock
the central figure of many a ballad and musi.
cal story There's an old fellow know in a
plain cherry case. with works of fearfuI and
wonderful make, and a face not much mora
ornate than a classic sun-dial. that has tioked
itself into my affections. Made in Economy
more than half century ago-it may be that
Germany a century back-and rescued from
an unworthy fate which threatened to make
the case arefuge for motherly hens and set the
works at the mercy of inquisitive ROSTERS
snatched from henhouse in fact-it now keeps
admirable time and strikes with fiendIsh glee
as if it had but yesterday entered into con-
tract to dog the steps of Father Time.
HEPBURN JOHNS