Evening journal., 1892-11-16
A CLOCK ON A STRIKE.
1T WAS WORSE THAN AN INTERNAL
MACHINE IN EFFECT.

Matter with the Clock.
This is story about a clock which
made great deal OF trouble for two !
people and gave the same two people |
very poor opinions of each other. The /
brother says that no woman in the world
save his sister could have had such
amazing ignorance about clocks in gen
eral and this one in particular, while
his sister declares that only her brother,
Of all men on earth, would have allowed
little bit Of q clock % make q fool Of
him before carload Of strangers.
The trouble with the clock was chat 1t
wouldn't keep time. There was no
reason in the world why it wouldn't; it
/ Just wouldn't, and that was all there
was to it. This was painful to the
young woman for several reasons. II Is
only necessary TO mention one; the
tinepiece had been given to her by her
betrothed. He thought IL was little
gem of clock, and that it would please
her. She agreed with him ns 20 the
beauty Of the delicate little affair, and
was pleased fora time Then she began
70 ret worried; then she got nervous,
and lastly alarmed This was all of
course because the thing would not go,
and. because she feared he might think
she had broken it, or, worse still. as sho
herself confessed between time, that she
hadn't sense enough to make a clock 90,
while her irreverent and impertinent
brother suggested sweetly that he was
more likely TO think that It was her
"face which had stopped "a cloch."
The family were in the country when
the clock was received, and when the
time drew near for the arrival OF the
betrothed clock giyer affairs began 70 be
desperate. The young woman declared
that that clock had to go. The clock
simply wouldn't. Sho would wind 1t
up-it would always wind without the
slightest resistance--but 10 would not
90. She shook It, she turned II upside
, down, she coaxed it, she laid It on its
face and then on its back, and the hands
, were still froze TO the face of the clock.
"Albert.n she said to her brother,
{ "you must take this clock over 20 town
/ and get it repaired 1t must be repaired
! it must 60"
{ Now town was ton miles away, and
, Albert did not see why any one should
I mako so much fuss over a clock, and
, such a little clock, too as that was. But
y when arguments md pleadings could
/, not move him he yielded TO tears, and,
i chucking the timepiece under his arm,
z he boarded the train and started for
Z town. In the car he placed the clock on
4 the seat beside him and rested his hand
on it. Then more trouble began. That
clock began 10 strike. It went into the
b striking business in o calm, determined
It way.
i It struck right along, up grade and
down grade, around curves and on
straight tracks. The brother felt a
10 fainting around his heart. The people
in the car who had first been amused
st began TO be annoyed. Tho young mans
Is face got red; it got warm; his hair be-
it came bathed with dampness, but he
II clung to tho clock like a Trojan. He
y had an idea that he might be able to
a. hide it or smother it or close it, he
ID didn't know which, and so he kept his
" hand tightly pressed on it.
y And all tho time that internal ma
10 chine Just sawed wood" IT had struck
o. a gait which It liked and It kept 1t NJ
a without n break. II showed no signs OF
% getting tired or of running down. Il
x was striking along az a 2:20 gait when
the train reached the town. IL con
Iy tinued TO strike when the brother made
" his escape from the car. IL went on
le striking up the street until the brother
wanted TO throw it over u fenco ant
N then commit suicide. No burglar alarm
40 was ever more persevering than that
nj clock. No changing fire engine evel
le made moro noise and caused more ex
re citement. The clock was striking away
- industriously and cheerfully when tn,
"a brother ran into jewelers. shop ant
s- threw the thing down ON a counter.
as "For heavens sake stop itl' he cried
10 But it had stopped. There it lay OF
nd the counter as dumb as an oyster and a
n silent as a tomb.
m "Well, III be hanged, )" said the broth
at er breathlessly. whats the matte
"a. with it anyway he asked, looking q
"A. II as il it were a dynamite cartridge.
le. The jeweler picked it up
.r- "Look outr cried the brother. "Tha
thing will start up again if You toucl
ne It,"
Ms But it didn't It never made n sound
only in a minute camo a gentle an
IL rhythmic ticking.
"Thero's nothing the trouble with It,
rd said the ieweler, setting the hands an
then examining the little internal mg
chine. lyon see.r g he added with syn
pathetic smile. this repeating clocl
os You can make it restrille the last hon
NJ by touching this spring. You have bee
n winding mp the repeating sounder, bu
~ not the clock. Aud you must have hel
Nv your hand on the spring when you keI
~ it striking. It's all right now All 70
- want to do is to wind the clock more an
the repeater less"
"Ohm said tho brother with a gasp
and that was ALL
Now the brother says that any woma
who doesn't know enough to wind
= clock doesn't know enough to live. An
the sister says-well, eEery broth,
or knows what sisters can say.-New Yoi
~ Tribune.