The Manchester journal. [volume] (Manchester, Vt.) 1861-current, 1900-11-15
THE TOWN CLOCKS CAPTURE

E.fly ous Apsati slteraoon se'''
aussed. buslnesslise-leoiiHg msb, carr,
iss . su.ll leather hina bss, sslted up
the principal street q the village Of Gray
,osn. Ia tbs bs.sms1t Of ,be BIZ old
i.hiopsa eouttry ehureh shieh be ~
prossbed . smslI door sloo open. Iafn
iug IRON the sidssslk. be eettrsd ihi'
door
oaee cot Of sisLt itom The street he rsn
hauyibs up . Hishi Of stairs snd ieeo
iourd himself 10 vestibale, which Vas
dusly snd cool after the ssrish hight out
eide. He locked 10. 0ne door oil The snd
ispcs door u. open. TIE sexton vas
s.sepins tie i,le, aud coming toward
him, He tried door 8, The end oi The
ye,,ibule, bat this wss locked. Steps echo
log through the empty building told hlio
,bs, some oue vas coming 10 q, The same
door By which be bed entered, The man
hurriedly pulled 81 the email door 10 The
wall. II opened into What seemed to be
tall. nsuow closet. down through the mid
die OF vhieh a ttoat wire rope ran iaio a
rough stone fJor.
Csmped as these qasr,ers were, the
man cfowded himself 10, holding the lestb
er bag close TO bis side. aud pulled The
door shut after him
No, more than three or four seconds
elspsed before a Yong man walked rapid
IL through the Yestibue 10 the open door
Of the audience room. o Mr.. Jackson, be
called to the man sweeping, may go up
and wind TIE clock2 It's the day to
wind II, knos
May you2 Why, certainly. you want
to, wss the reply. Here are the keys, and
he slii The bunch Of keys along the door
Of the sisle.
The boy. Rodney, picked up The keys'
unlocked the door st the end OF the vestl
bnle, aud went clsttering up flight Of
stairs which the open door disclosed. BY
ths. time the sexton hsd reached the vesti
bale, and whisling as he worked, began
to sweep il,
Rodpey Calvin. so far. bad been dIsap
poiutment to bis family, Bis father wss
determined be should be business mao,
bis mother had hoped that be vond be
minister, but Rodney. so his father said
wrathiuIly, cared only for tInkering
He doctored oil the disabled bicycles in
town, aud broken watch or clock gave
him Joy. When be bad been refused
position 10 the bank o month before, and
Harry Grant bad been taken Instead, Rod
ney's only regret was that he should not
have 90 oppo tunity to investigate the
time.ioek on the bank safe. He watched
for chances TO wind the town clock, for
he liked to study its works.
On this day be went with practlsed
tread up the dark stairs behind the gal
iery, along the narrow board walk laid
across the beams 10 the garret floor, up
another long flight Of rude steps. then he
climbed the almost perpendicular ladder
which led to the clock room.
Around him were the backs oi the four
great disis. up to which the citizens OF
Grsyiowp looked when the wished TO set
their watches. The works Of the clock
we're 10 the middle oi,he room Taking .
big movable iron crank from the door,
Rodney fitted i.up to the end OF the ar
Dor. or spindle, and began turning it to
wind up the stout wire rope to which one
OF the clock weights was fastened.
The toyn clock Of Graytown is nearly
ss old as the church in which il is placed,
bat the people Of the village cherish il.
snd would no, think Of having 1t replaces ]
by one OF more modern style. ASS conse
auence the eeIton OF the church bad to
climb up TO the clock room in the spirc
once every week. unless he could get
some one to go ior him. and wiod mp from
the basement. to which they had spent
the previons week 10 descending, the
blocks OF granite that served as clock
weights.
1t seemed to Rodney this afternoon as ii
the machinery worked uncommonly hard,
aud after turning the crank q few times,
be dropped 1t aud went back downstairs
| think that pulley needs greasing be
ssid. never knew the old clock to wind
30 hard.
| shouldn't wonder bat what il does
vas the sections answer. ! haven't got
bit OF oil here, though. be added
I've got some down TO the house thstll
DO, said the boy. I'll go and ge. it.
All right. sail the sexton. II ! get
through before you come back, I'll leave
lhs dcori uulock d and the keys on The
window sill.
There isn't anything The ma ter with the
weights, Is theref ssked Rodney, opening
lhe usirow door which gave access to
the stst 10 which one Of the clock
Weights ran from beliry 10 basement
There was nothing to be seen. The
squire block OF stone which jost filed the
pace had been wound up out Of sight
When be vent ont on the street, Rod
nsy found people wildly excited. The
National Bank hsd bsen robbed. The tell
81 was cut OF town, while the cashier had
been 81 dinner. Harry Grant. the CLERK.
hsd been knocked senseless aud the rob
berry tfisctsi. Seventeen thousand dollars
10 money sai many valuable papers we're
gone.
Little Msry GlsGs reported bsving seen
. strange msn on the street. With leather
hsad bss. Harry Grant ". ssili too
ia talk cohtYently