The Durham daily globe. (Durham, N.C.) 1889-1894, 1892-12-27

IT MAS WORSE THAN Al lNFE.:,AL
HAcr,NE IL EFFECT.

0Ueer Going Tinepieee-U5,at .Tas hoe
Matter with the CIock.
This is & story about a clock which
made a great deal Of trouble for two
people and gave ne s~rle t-o peo-.s
very poor opinions Of each other. t.
brother says that 10 woman in the VOID
save his sister could have had Sue
amazing ignorance about clocks in gen
eral, and tins one in particular. while
his sister declares that only her brother,
OF all men on earth, would have dilowed
a little bit Of a clock 20 make a fool o.
him before a carload # strangers.
The trouble with the clock was THAI it
wouldn't keep time. There was no
reason in the world why it wouldn't; j:
inst wouldn't, aud that was ali there
was TO it. This was painful to the
young woman for several reasons. 1t is
I only necessary to mention e the
tiucpiece had been given to her by her
brtrOthed. Re thought it was a little
gem Of a clock, and tnat it would please
her. She agreed with him as to the
beauty OF the delicate little affair, and
was pleased for time. Then she began
; to get 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 she
herself confessed between time, that she
hadn't sense enough to make n clock go,
while her iTreverent and impertinent
brother suggested sweetly that he was
$1,000 l.I-~1v 20 +hi,o1z +lC+ ~ woo ho.
face which had stopped a clock"
The family were in the country when
the clock was received, and when the
time drew near for the arrival of the
betrothed clock giver affairs began to be-
| desperate. The young woman declared
that that clock had to 60. The clock
simply wouldn't. She would wind it
up-it would always wind without the
| slightest resistance-but it would not
90. She shook it, she turned it 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" she said to her brother,
''you must take this clock over to town
and get it repaired. l. must be repaired:
it must 60"
Now town was ten miles away, and
Albert did not see why any one should
make SO much fuss over a clock. and
such a little CLOCK. too, as that was. But
when arguments ana ~pIeldings could
not move him he yielded to tears, and,C
chucking the tincpiece under his urn,
he boarded the train and started Tor
town. In the car he placed the clock ca
~ ,or+ Io-,!o ~, unG ,C.&ai hiJ ho,I
on it. Then more trouble began. That
clock began to strike. 1t went into the
striking business in a cam, determined
way.
It struck right along, up grade and
down grade, around curves and On
straight tracks. The brother felt a
fainting around his heart. The p ople
in the Car who lad f.. been amused
began to be annoyed. The ,-oCn5 mans
face got red; it got warm; his hair be-
came bathe1 VIII danIpIcss, bat he
chung to the cloch like a Trojan. He
had an idea that he might lie able to
hide it or smother it or close il. he
uidnt lnu which, ard so he kept his
hand tightly pressed on it.
And all the time that Internal ma
chine Just Sawed wood" It had struck !
a gait which it liked. and it kept it up
without a breaF. 1t showed no signs Of
getting tired or of running down. It
was striking along at Il 2:20 gait when
the train reached the town. 1t con- |
tiuued to strike when the brother made
his escape from the car. It went on
striking up the street until the brother
wanted to throw it over a fence and
then commit suicide. No burglar alarm
was ever more ~perseverlng han that
clock. No changing fire engine ever
made more noise and caused more ex-
element. the clock was striking away
industriously and cheerfully when the
brother ran into a jewelers. shop and
threw the thing down on a counter.
For heavens sake stop it," he cried.
But ii had stopped. There it lay on
the counter as dumb IS an oyster and as
silent as g tomb.
"Well, III be hanged, said the broth
er breathlessly. Whats the matter
with it anyway" he asked, looking at
it as if it We're a dynamite cartridge.
The jeweler p'cHed 1t up.
Look QUIZ cried the brother. That
thlliS Will start up again II you touch
it."
Bat II didn't. 1t never made n sound,
only in a minute came q gentle and
rhythmic ticking.
There's nothing the trouble with it."
said the jeweler, setting the hands and
examining the little Internal ma
You see" he added with "a sym
pathetic smile. this is . repeating clock.
You can make II l~es,riie the last hour
by touching THIS spring. You have been
up the repeating sounder, but
not the clock. Ana you must have held
your land on the s.pring when you kept
it striking. It's all right now. All you
to Go IS to wind the clock more and
the repeater less
'OAr" said the brother with q gasp
and that was all.
Now the brother says thai any woman
who doesn't know enough TO wind a
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