The Washburn times. [volume] (Washburn, Wis.) 1896-1976, 1907-10-24
F.nST PUBLIC CLOCK,
1t Was One of the Wonders OF
the Fourteenth Century.
THE PEOPLE WERE PUZZLED

Parisians Couldn't Understand How
/ the Bells Were Rung Without Being
| Struck by the Watchman-The Era
Of Automaton Ringers.
! In primitive times a man was sta
| toned at the top Of the belfry to ring
| the bells at the indicated hours, day
and night. This Waterman was called
the horoscopus that is to say. the OBJ
server OF the hour. He had recourse
himself in order to fulfill his duty to
! the study Of the astral system, to the
number Of prayers he was to recite, to
| the quantity of wax a candle had con-
sumed, to the clepsydra, or water
clock and to the hOurglass. The trade
of the horOscopus was inevitably one
of the first which the progress of
mechanism was to cause TO disappear.
| The first clocks with bell known in
! France date back to the fourteenth
century Particular mention is made
Of one which was established at Caen
in 1914 by Beaumont and that of the
/ Palais de Justice in Paris which King
Charles v had constructed in 1370ab
the German clockmaker Henri de Vic.
| This machine seemed SO marvellous
| that the inhabitants of Paris--so goes
the legend asked permission Of the
king to go on guard at the door Of the
| tower to assure themselves that 1t was
1 the clock and not the Waterman that
rang the hours
4 This establishment of the people at
period when mechanism was but just
born may we'll be conceived in pres
ence of machine capable Of calculat-
| ing and striking the hours without the
] assistance of any human being, with
1 the same precision that could be exer-
cised by the most yigilant horoscopus.
1 The custom was perpetuated until
| the seventeenth century and still ex-
| lists in certain cities of Europe of plac-
! ing alongside of the clocks various au-
donations which ring the hours. 1t is
due to nothing else than the thought of
recalling to memory the recollection Of
the ancient Waterman. And also the
clocks with automatons catered to the
popular taste of that epoch. The peo-
pie of that period preoccupied them
selves but little with the more or less
exact measurement of time. Railroads
were not in existence, and the exigen-
| cies of life were not so great as they
are now A cock which crowed and
| tapped his wings, some apostles who
marched by, striking blow for each
hour. filled them with admiration, and
in this respect no other clocks aroused
| so much enthusiasm as those of Lyons
| and Strassburg 1t was clock of this
character that Henri Deux placed over
the superb portal of the chateau of
Anet
/ Nevertheless this timepiece was dis
! ting,lished from other clocks with sau-
| donations by the originality of the fig
ures that it set in movement. Here
no longer was a woman or man who
struck the hours with rusty arms. 1t
was majestic stag, standing erect,
! surrounded by four bloodhounds of
natural size, which appeared to be
/ holding it at bay, that one saw on the
summit of the portal. One Of the
| stag's legs was movable, and as 1t was
lifted it seemed to strike the hours.
The four hounds opened their jaws at
| each striking of the quarters, and their
voices were initiated by bells Of differ
ent notes whose clappers were connect
ed by wires with their lower jaws,
causing them to open and shut as long
as the bell ringing mechanism con-
tinued.
This curious clock exists no. longer.
| It was sold at auction with it's finest
| dials for the sum of 800 when the
| chateau Of Anet was confscated as
national property and sold with it's
furniture in the year of the first re-
public.
| This ancient clock was replaced IN
1856 by one entirely modern and made
| by Wagner. The stag and the hounds
| in bronze were also carried away.
! Those seen today are in bronzed terra
Gotta and play no other part than to
recall to memory the ancient ones and
to add to the decorative portion Of the
portal of the chateau whose architec-
ture, the work Of Philibert Delorme, is
one of the purest and most delicate
constructions of the renaissance.
! Besides the functions that we have
enumerated, the clock of the chateau
of Anet possessed on the side of the
court of honor magnificent dial,
which indica ted the position of the
signs of the zodiac, the months, the
days Of the mouth and the moons
age.-L' Horlogere.
The Word "Butter."
"Cow juice" is slang term for but
ter In many parts of the United States.