The Sunday morning news. [volume] (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1886-1891, 1891-02-15

AND GIVING A RECEIPT, CALLED JOHN
CARLISLE.
In a very quiet village in the hills OF
New Jersey DR.. William Curtis, of New
York, has made summer home for him
self and his family, which is increasing
in way urhappily out of fashion now,
when man with two or three children
thinks he has CULVER full and is con-
tent with that number instead of the
bakers dozen of youngsters which as
rule III the olden time came to make the
homes glad and left no room at the fire.
sides for pampered poodles and snarling
pugs. ! found the doctor sitting on his
lawn the other day, and as his children
played about him in the grass he sucked
contentedly upon an old German pipe
and looked very little like the precise
DR.. Curtis whose brougham is to beseen
all winter long hurrying through Fifth
and Madison avenues in the neighbor-
hood known as Murray Hill.
When / have met DR.. Curtis in New
York, on the streets or at tie club his
manner has always seemed to me very
formal and cold and I was most agree
ably surprised at his genial cordiality
when found him in the country. He
was bred in the country, and / am sat
isfed now that his for1nality in town
and seeming GOODNESS are but the manner
Of very busy man, who is more OF less
preoccupied with the affairs which crowd
his time All this is thrown off in the
country, and in manner he is as differ
ent as in appearance. The countryman,
suppressed in town, reasserts himself
with country surroundings, and there is
not simpler hospitality to be found ait
any farmhouse IN the neighborhood than
is dispensed by the busy and prosperous
city physician in his village cottage
II am glad to hear that you have come
to Nearbye to live. Come in. was the
doctors greeting, as he rose from his
easy chair and took off his broad
brimmed straw hat. Shortly after l had
taken my seat heard the very musical
bell of clock strike five times, and the
exceptional clearness and mellowness of
the tone moved me to remark it.
.Ah, you must see that clock" said
the doctor with evident pride. sit has
just been set up here. It is Ritten-
house, and there is most interesting
story connected with it"
The old clock was in one corner Of the
dining room, the low ceiling of which
barely gave room for the handsome ma
hogany case in which was housed the
skillfully constructed handiwork of the
great clockmaker of Philadelphia The
date ON the dial was 1851, and this clock
must therefore have been one of the ear
lest made by that master of the craft.
This was certainly splendid specimen
of cabinet work, too, and the rich colors
glistened with mellow luster, and the
brass trimmings and eagle clawfeet
shone in brilliant harmony. The full,
round face at the top indicated the har-
vest moon. which was then making the
summer evenings glorious with flood
Of silver light.
That clock was made for my great
grandfather-sai DIR. Curtis and for
one hundred and thirty nine years it has
been IN the family doing continuous
service It was first set up in my great
grandfather's house in Germantown,
near Philadelphia, and there it staid
till his death, when his eldest son, my
grandfather, took it to his place in north
ern New York. There 1t staid till
brought it here few weeks ago.
The two most interesting events of its
history happened-he continued about
sixty years ago, and then again while
my wife and myself were spending our
honeymoon at my grandfather's place
about ten years since. My grandfather
had large estate, and besides being en-
gagged in converting his vast forests into
lumber he had a general store. in which
was kept very miscellaneous stock, suit
able for the needs of the primitive people
who dwelt thereabouts. To them he
sold his goods, but much of the trade
was In barter. Sugar and coffee he ex-
changed for furs and skins, and SO on.
He was also something Of banker, and
In the old counting room, which occu-
pied the back part OF the store, from
which it was separated by partition,
the most notable objects were this old
clock and strong box made of heavy
oak and strongly bound with ironstraps.
This box was neither fire nor burglar
proof, but it answered the purpose in
the absence of anything better, and in it
were kept money and valuable papers.
In 1890 continued DR.. Curtis my
grandfather had in his employ young
Scotchman, John Carlisle, who had been
In America three or four years, and dur
ing all Of that time in the service of Col.
Curtis. Carlisle was a man of good edu-
cation, having studied in the University
Of Edinburgh, but he was entirely with
out fortune He had come to America
to make his way and was studying law
while earning his living as clerk and
bookkeeper for my grandfather. He
lived in the family Of his employer and
WAS treated with much kindness and
consideration. He was particular fa-
voritD with my grandmother, who con-
sidered him model Of sturdy manhood.
His ambition at that time was to save
enough money TO enable him to go to
one Of the law schools and qualify him
sell for the practice Of the law. In this
he had her WARM sympathy and she did