Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1895-10-07
HAVE YOU THE TINE
THE ODDS ARE TWENTY TO ONE
THAT YOU HAVE NOT.

Ninety -nino men out Of hundred
keep Incorrect time. Ninety nine men
cut Of a hundred are just in the act Of
regulating their watches il front Of
window that has thermometer in it.
Il yCu aals a man the time, and his
watch is wrong, he is invariably going
to the matchmaker that very day to
have it Tut IL order. No one has any
idea Of Keeping the correct time. All
believe that they have it il their rock
cts, and noue ever gets it except at the
moment Of setting his watch.
II you have "a friend in the railroad
business and stop him il tic street with
friendly Hello, old fellow, what's
the time? Yen always have IL correct"
he VIII haul ont his timeDieco with an
important air and give the hour III a
voice that shows he knows what time it
is AID that he l.; never wrong. A
square or two farther or You chance to
meet another friend in tie Same line OF
business. You ask him the time, receive
an answer, smile 10 yourself and pass
between them. Every time the state
house bell strikes :. hundred men pull
out thcir watches with confident air
| Of being correct and put them back
| with al expression OF extreme surprise.
We al live, flourish and die il time,
but no one keeps the correct Immediate
record Of tie moments that beat ont
slowly and surely the limit Of longevity.
An experienced jewoler and watch
maker, when asked the reason Why so
| few people kent good time, said that
| nine-:cnths Cf the csl;:sos Ct bad running
watches was due to carelessncss and
irrcgUiarity il winding. A watch
| should be- wound 1T tho sane time
| every day, and it CaGh. to be regulated
| on one Gay every week ut the noon
hour, when both hands come together.
! The finest watches Ca.Ii.Gt be- made per-
| feet, and the best way to detect any
| difference between he two hands Is to
reset them at Il O'Clock, and if they
are not oxacsly together make them so
by holding the longer and winding the
hour hand up 20 it.
An expensive jewe!cd watch ranging
from 500 to $1,000 is vcry seldom i'll
good running ordec simply lacause the
owaer is ,fr:.id to let i jaweler tsmrer
with il :ud docs not dare touch il hill-
self.
IL & largo city corI Get t;iEe, absolutely
correct time, is Il matter between some
dozen or two OF men who follow almost
every stroke Of the pendulum and cor
Iect their chronometers with as much
daily regularity as Captain Cattle did his
famous timcpiecc. Women are said to
be The most careless iii the attention to
watches. y lady las Il watch presented 10
her by gentleman friend and voiun-
tariiy promises 10 keep it i'll the very
best running order. Thc gentleman
friend has his misgiyings or that score,
bat he gets the jewcler 10 pat it i'll good
shape u couple of weeks ahead and there
upon hands it over 10 the lady. Now,
that watch has been running like q chro-
noneter until tho fair owner gets hold
of it. The first thing she does is to no.
tice the time Ill a store window, and as
her watch does hot agree With it she sets
it accordingly, Putting the regulator
away over to Cre side. That night she
forgets to wind it up, the next morning
she winds it up only half way for fear
Of breaking the main spring and sets it
by another clock IL the afternoon. Then
it runs down inside of eight hours, and
she thinks it is running wild-as it very
likely il, since she has put tie regulat-
ing lever bacl. and forth no less than siy
times i'll the coursc Of 4 week. After
this she wonders why the watch is al-
ways wrong and blamcs tic jeweler.
Correct time comes into Philadelphia
every day at noon by telegraph from thu
United States time observatory At Wash
ington, where the drop ball. makes
al electric contact that sends the signal
all over tho country. The tirsy clock III
the city communicating with the obsc1v-
atory wire is 1T the Maritime Exchange.
st So minutes after ! / the hands Of the
clock automatically click into place by
the action of the magnet and the Little
train Of wheels attached to it. Thus the
Washington time ball becomes at once
the authority for all clocks and al in
fallible adjuster. The statehouse clock
is wound AID regulated weekly by an
expert thermometer maker, who sets his
own watch by Washington communicat.
ed time and carries it Immediately &c
Independence hall. Many large manu-.
tacturers and business pItcr. where i!
is necessary on account of ..c number o.
iacn employed to have strictly couscien-
tious time employ m:.,, TO wind. keeI
in order and regulate their clocks the
year round. Clocks kept closely to the
mark i'll this way are very seldom IL
need Of extensive repairs, and like intel
hgen;ly regulated watches have les:
tendency 70 go wrong.
The Washington observatory clock
runs for ye@Gs together and has neve.
varied more thar SIX seconds for any
one year.
1t is kept true b continual quadrant
observations On the altitude Of the SUI
4. its meridian. As the oArth 5 reyolu.
tons become slower only by the fraction
Of 4 second i'll a Thousand years it may
be said that we are unable TO take adj
vantage Of the natural means afforded
for absolute time regulation IN spite
- ~. rhae hoe in