St. Landry democrat. (Opelousas, La.) 1878-1894, 1892-08-20
A WONDERFUL CLOCK.
SIXTEEN YEARS TAKEN 10 CON-
PLETE 1T.
Fashioned Out OF Over 81 900 Small
Pieces Of Wood From the Four Quar-
terS of the Globe.

Pieces Of Wood From the Four Quar-
ters of the Globe.
This is an age when everybody who
wishes to be somebody must do some
thing that nobody else can do. Feeling
the restless ambition to Surpass in some
thing, Charles r. Hurlbut began sixteen
years ago the construction of Il wonderful
clock which has not yet reached com
plction.
This clock now contains over thirty
four thousand separate pieces of wood in
laid, and includes $50 different varieties.
1t stands three feet high and has been de
signed and executed entirely by Hurlbut,
who is an artist employed by Thomas F.
Kennedy, of One Hundred and Twenty
fifty street 1t is the first and only piece
of inlaying ever attempted by him. No
paint, stain or color of any description
has been used, but the natural tints of
the various woods include some shade OF
every color excepting blue.
The clock strikes the hours halves and
quarters 1t has an automatic mechani-
cal arrangement in which Father Time,
Satan and Death figure conspicuously.
Every quarter hour Time and Satan de
sccnd from some unseen quarter OF the
great time piece and appear at two open
lower doors. Father Time, with scythe
and hour-gas stands with uplifted
hammer beside a bell Death, in the
form of a skeleton, stands at his right
As Time raises his hammer to strike,
Satan appears, slowly rising through the
floor. He turns his head towards Death,
who vanishes. Satan hesitates to adj
vance; he peers in all directions and looks
inquiringly at Father Time, but disap-
pears instantly as Father Time strikes,
and Death rushes in second too late, the
doors close and Time and Satan ascend
to their original positions
cat first" said the artist, II made no
calculations as to what the automatic
figures were to be or what they were to
do. The many odds and ends of brass
and wire that | twisted, filed, soldered
and bent into every conceivable shape and
then threw away would start hustle fac
tory. I whitfield out all sorts of hob
COLLINS and Father Times by the score.
dreamed of cranks pins, levers, springs
and cog wheels until the fortieth attempt
proved a success"
The frame of the clock has great value
for the relics it contains. There is a
piece of Charter Oak, cutting from
Fort Sumter,Ea piece of the frame OF the
old Liberty Bell, some red wood from
| California, a bit of wood from the cd
North Carolina, another scrap from the
receiving ship Brandywine, and some
valuable pieces of an old Chinese man-of-
war, in1aid with pearl, which was
wrecked on the Chinese coast. 1t con-
| tains fifteen varieties of pine, thirteen
kinds of cedar, eight of walnut, twelve
of maple, ten of cherry and eleven of oak:
| There are valuable pieces of petrltied
woods from the Dead Sea, and the coun-
tries represented besides the United
States are Canada Mexico, Cuba, Spain,
Brazil, Chill, France, Australia, England,
Germany, Switzerland, Italy, China,
Japan, Ireland, the South Sea Islands,
Madagascar, Turkey, Sandwich Islands,
Africa, Egypt, Norway, and the East and
West Indies
There are three panels in the clock, on
which months of labor were squandered
| The one in front represents an American
eagle with wings spread. This alone
comprises seventeen different specimens
of foreign wood, including some green
shades which preserve their color beauti-
fully and are only found in Asia. One
side panel gives an ocean scene, pictured
as faithfully as if painted The breakers
are made of small inlaid pieces of dull,
grayish wood. Clouds float irregularly
above. and consist of woods of dark
| brown tint.
The moon, full, round and rich vel
low shade, breaks through the clouds. A
ship, with sails spread. is composed Of
microscopic bits of wood and casts sha
dow, which is represented by fine stripes
of alternate dark and light wood. The
stripes do not show the grain until they
have been seen through magnifyine
glass.
Opposite this wonderful panel is an
other, showing scene in the far East
There is a stork standing upon some
struggling growths of coarse grass. Over
his head stretches a palm tree, its leaves
being of crimson and orange, autumnal
shades of wood being inlaid. In the
distances an irregular chain Of mountains
is outlined in walnut. Several borders
surround each panel and include thirty.
four different patterns, all of which are
original save the Grecian fret.
The clock, as the artist says, resembles
a lady's gown in that some additional
finishings or decorations may always be
attached 1t was practically completed
six months ago and vet he has since ad
ded at the top specimen of Klosir, cut
from the handle Of butcher knife owned
by Russian Jew, some German ash from
an emigrant's trunk, piece of Siberian
hemlock cut from the stick carried by al
Greenland.
''When / first began to collect my
woods" said Mr. Hurlbut, II had nc
particular interest in the different speci
mems, but when learned that there were
200 varieties in Florida alone I grew
ambitious to introduce few hundred in
to the clock. | became crank at once
and talked wood, dreamed wood, begged
wood and sawed wood until my friends
all brought me wood to get rid of me
| | haunted the docks and sought acquaint
ances among the sailors. Many an ole
tar has made me his friend for life b,
fishing out of his locket stray bit o
wood from Hong Kong or Shanghai.
have destroyed all the pipes, canes
elegant fans and bric-a-brac that fell int
my clutches, in order to insert squar
inch in my clock. If all the scrap
employed were got together again the.
would make respectable cord of wood.
| o,,l oh OF