The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1890-01-12
THE CLOCK WINDER.
Naught to Do but to Wind Clocks for
Twenty Years.
From The JelOeIers' Week1v.

From the JelOeIers' Weekly.
80, yesl When any one has wound cIock.
for twenty years." said Jacob Kringle the
government clock-winder at WASHINGTON
"he will probably reach the conclusion that
he desires nothing SO much as to forever
leave the tick-tack sound behind him and
10 externally shut out the view of the clock.
lace from before him. The first week I evar
sPsnt winding clocks thought it was uuita
an entertaining business. 1 started my
rounds IN the morning, and until the lats
afternoon found pleasure in the new
scenes OF the department buildings and
In the face that confronted me in the various
offices. | gradually became acquainted
with nearly everybody l came III contact
with. 1t was not until several months had
passed away that l became aware of the
terrible sameness of my daily task, which
ABOVE all things had to be regularly per-
formed
The motion OF winding a clock, that I'M.
ending twisting and turning from left 10
right, became so much a matter of habit
1nat L felt uneasy when Sunday came and
was not called upon to go about and wind
the clocks. did not notice the lack Of
something to occupy me until about 9
o'clock in the morning, when, as if palsied
or suffering from st. Vitus' dance, nv
right hand would begin twitching, twitch-
ing from left to right.
Il had no difficulty in stopping this mo-
Clon, bnt as soon as permitted myself to be
inactive and discontinued the mental effort
TO Keep my hand still, it would begin again.
AS kept up my monotonous labor of wind
ing clocks from year to year, my uwitching
habit increased, so that very often as /
YaSSnH 0lOncr tba C[ 70 aAt
tention. 1t was accompanied by feeling
or uneasiness which could only be gratifed
by renewal of my work of winding. As
have said, almost anyone, having pursued
the calling that l have followed, would
make up his mind that the only thing ha
needs is to go off on vacation or into soms
other business where he would be forever
relieved.
''Such was my idea after I had carried on
work for several years, and | went away
down TO my old home in Virginia, where /
intended remaining for a month. But
came back wiser man. l learned the
force of habit, and within few days was
going about my old haunts, and it seemed
TO me that l had never enjoyed anything
quite so keenly as l did winding clocks the
next few days. l have been awakened on
several occasions in my life in the middleo Of
the night by feeling something strike the
OOd SOHOI1uR, anu nave DISC DVeTou GI1db luo
twltching of my hand was the cause.
II have thought that the great regularity
with which my work has to be done &C
counts for my nervous habit. l have to
wind hundreds of clocks weekly and ar
range the work 50 that every day sixth of
it is covered. Each days work is about all
l can do, so that if | should get behindhand
on score of clocks it would be very DIFF
f1cult matter ever to catch up without
help from some one. Then you can wind a
clock only SO fast, and l think I have re-
duced the work to a science. [ can 60
about the departments and wind all the
clocks with as few motions as it is possible
to make and cover the ground
81 could also go over the route and per-
form my work blindfolded I know the
number of steps in every flight of stairs
that have to go up or down. AS for the
lack OF something to think about. often
count not only the steps of the stairwayS,
but pace off the distance from one clock to
another, going one way and another be-
tween them, and then finally settling down
to the shortest line. In almost every occu-
patton men have to think about what they
Will do or say from time to time, which
gives them something to occupy their atten-
ton during the intervals, but with me it is
different. There is no thought required to
wind a clock. Consequently l have to ex-
pend my mental energy somehow, and do
so in counting my PAGES and taking notes Of
little things that men ordinarily are not
conscious of. On many occasions | have
counted the number of steps | have taken
from the time left home until | returned,
as we'll as counted the number of turns it
takes to wind 1854 clocks, which is the num-
Der l attend to. You may be interested to .
know that 12,0S2 turns are required