Elmore bulletin. [volume] (Rocky Bar, Idaho) 1889-1906, 1893-04-22
A CLOCK ON A STRIKE.
1T WAS WORSE THAN AN INTERNAL
MACHINE IN EFFECT.

and Exasperating Experience with a
Queer Going Timepicce--what Was the
Matter with the Clock.
This is story about clock which
made a 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 IA clock TO make a fool Of
him before carload Of strangers.
The trouble with the clock was that IL
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. 1t is
only necessary to mention one; the
umepiece had been given to her by her
betrothed. He thought ii was little
gem of clock, and that il would please
her. She agreed with him as to the
beauty of the delicate little affair. and
to get worried; then she got nervous,
and lastly alarmed. This was all Of
course because the thing would not CO.
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 II clock go,
, while her irreverent and impertinent
brother suggested sweetly that he was
more likely to think that it was her
"face which had stopped clock"
= The family were in the country when
. the clock was received, and when the
Z time drew near for the arrival Of the
betrothed clock giyer affairs began TO be
/ desperate. The young woman declared
. that that clock had to go. The clock
9 simply wouldn't She would wind it
. up--it would always wind without the
slightest resistance-but it would not
go. She shook it, she turned it upside
down. she coaxed 1t, she laid il on its
v 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. II must be repaired;
1t must GO"
Now town was ten miles away, and
Albert did not see why any one should
II make so much fuss over "a clock. and
II such little clock, too, as that was. But
when arguments and pleadings could
% not move him he yielded to tears, and.
y chucking the timepiece under his arm,
: he boarded the train and started for
,, town. In the car he placed the clock on
the seat beside him and rested his hand
ON it. Then more trouble began. That
T. clock began to strike. 1t went into the
v striking business in calm. determined
way.
:, 1t struck right along, up grade and
down grade, around curves and on
"a straight tracks. The brother felt a
&c fainting around his heart. The people
in the car who had first been amused
$. began TO I've annoyed. The young mans
Il face got red; it got warm; his hair be-
g came bathed with danpness, but he
= Clung to the clock like Trojan. He
!, had an idea that he might be able to
- hide it or smother it or close it. he
:. didn't know which, and so he kept his
i. hand tightly pressed ON it.
"a And all the time that Internal ma
y. chine just sawed wood" 1t had struck
G gait which it liked, and it kept it up
% without break. Il showed no signs of
) getting tired or of running down. II
was striking along at a ego gait when
the train reached the town. IL con-
tinued to strike when the brother made
al his escape from the car. II went on
I'd striking mp the street until the brother
5. wanted to throw it over fence and
Is then commit suicide. No burglar alarm
Is was ever more persevering than that
Is clock. No changing fire engine ever
made more noise and caused more ex-
N citement. The clock was striking away
4 industriously and cheerfully when the
n, brother ran into jewelers. shop and
IA threw the thing down on a counter.
10 For heavens sake stop it, he cried.
p But it had stopped. There it lay on
= = the counter rs dumb as an oyster and as
i silent MS n tomb.
y well, I'll I've hanged, said the broth
n err breathlessly. Whats the matter
u with it anyway he asked, looking at
l. it rs if it were dynamite cartridge.
b The jeweler picked it up.
Look outi' cried the brother THAT
: thing will start up again if You touch
it,"
! But it didn't. 1t never made a sound,
- only in minute came gentle and
. rhythmic ticking.
"There's nothing the trouble with 1t,
said the jeweler, setting the hands and
then examining the little Internal ma.
> chine. You see" he added with sym
n pathetic smile, this is n repeating clock.
4. You can make it restrike the last hour
. by touching this spring. You have been
: winding up the repeating sounder. but
n not the clock. And you must have held
. your hand ON the spring when You kept
h it striking. It's all right now. All you
"A want 10 do is TO wind the clock more and
:, the repeater less"
9 .Oh," said the brother with gasp
and that was all.
Now the brother says that any woman
I who doesn't know enough to wind a
!. clock doesn't know enough to live. And
the sister says-well, every brother
knows what sisters can say.-New York
Tribune.