The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1890-01-11
THE CLOCK wiNDER.
Experience of u Man with Nothing tn lbo
hut wind Clocks.

hut wind Clocks.
"Oh. yes! When any one has wound
clocks for ~ years." said Jacob Kringle,
the government clock windcr at WASH
ington, to- n .jr,ceieFs' Weekly man, she
will probably reach the conclusion that he
desires nothing so much AS tn forever
leave the tick-tack sound behind him and
tn externally shut out the view of the clock
face from hcfors. linn. The first week I
ever spent winding clocks I thought il
was quite AN entertaining business. l
started my rounds i'm the morning and un-
til the late afternoon found pleasure in
ings and in the faces that confronted me
i'm the various q iI,ces. l gradually became
i'm contact with. IL 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-
he regularly performed.
"Thc motion of winding n clock, that
uncnding, twisting and turning from left
~ right became SO much "a matter of habit
that / felt uneasy when Sunday came and
l was not called upon to go about and
of something tn occupy me until about .
O'Clock In the morning, when, as il palsied
right hand would begin ,witchins, twitch-
ing from left to right.
81 had no difficulty i'm stopping this mo-
he inactive and discontinued the
mental effort to- keep my hand
~ uP lhsFp vi
winding clocks from year to year my
twitching habit incrcaseti, SO, that very
would attract attention. Il Was accom-.
panied by n feeling of uneasiness which
could only be gratificd by. a renewal of
my work of winding. ASH have said, al
most any one. having pursued the calling
that l have followed, would make up his
mind that the only thing he needs is to go
oil on u vacation or into some other busi-
ness where Inc would bc forever relieved.
"Such was my idea after I had carried
away down to my old home i'm Virginia,
where l intended remaining for n month.
But came back n wise man. learned
the force of habit and within u few days
was going about my old haunt , and il
seemed tai me that never enjoyed any
thing quite so keenly as 1 did winding
clocks the next few days. / had been
awakened on several occasions in my life
in the middle of the night by feeling
have discovered that the twitching of my
hand was the cause.
II have Thought that the great regular
ity with which my work has tn he done
accounts for my nervous habit. l have to
wind hundreds of clocks weekly and ar
range the work So that every day u sixth
of il is covered. Each days work is about
all 1 can do, SO that il I should get bchind-
hand ON - score of clocks il would b. -
very difficult matter ever to- catch up
without help from some one. Then you
can wind ~ clock only so fast, and l think
can go about the departments and wind
all the clocks with as few motions as il il
possible to make and cover the ground.
~ could almost GO over the route and
perform my work blindfoldcd. l know the
number at 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 also pace oil the distance from one
clock To another, going one way and an
other betwccn them. and then finally set
Ting down to the shortest line. In almost
every occupation men have to think
about what they will do ar say from time to
time, which gives them something tai oC-
cupy their attention during the inter
walls, but with me il is different. There is
no thought required tai wind IL clock. Com
sequcntly ! have tai exrcnd my mental en-
PAGES and taking notes of little things
that men ordinarily are not conscious of.
On many occasions l have counted the
number of steps l have taken from tine
time | left home until ! returned. as well
as counted the number of turns il takes tn
wind MA clocks, which il the number l
attend to. You may hc Interested Ia
know that l2.us2 turns are required"