The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1907-02-25
USE OF TIME MEASURES.
Evolution of the Sand, Water and
Weight Clock.
New York Tribune.)


IN do it in two shakes of a Sleeps
tail" remarked the woman of the house
| hold. You mean two shakes OF lamb
tail, my dear" said the head of the
house. Did you ever see lamb getting
sustenance at the maternal tount! he
continued ''for if YOU ever did you have
noticed how the youthful sheep employs
all his activities III the operation, lnclud-
ing the incessant wagging of his tail.
And for rapidity of motion il has deser-
Vediy come to be a synonym. As for any
quick movement OF sheeps TAN IL Is
never apparent. for there is no need for
moving il with any speed And then, too.
most raisers Of sheep cut the tails short,
for the reason that the wool is kept
cleaner when the animal has no tail in
the way. Save for the broad-tailed sheep
of some parts of Asia. where the tail Is
regarded as an especially delicate article
of diet the tail of a sheep is more of
nuisance than anything else
We'll. if sheep have to have their tails
locked. rejoined the feminine half of
the family. that is no reason why horses
should be deprived of their especially or
namental appendages. 1 saw fine horse
this morning in the park with glossy
sides, a curvetted neck. fine action.
flowing name. but no tail to speak of.
The lack of the last-named appendage
almost entirely destroyed his beauty. II
is not only needless cruelty to animals to
dock a horses tail but it takes away so
much from the beauty of the noble
steed.
The Rudder Off.
well. do you recall asked the prac-
tical-minded man. what the man said
when his son wanted to know how they
locked ships? 1 suppose, he said, they
cut off their rudders.
THAT reminds me OF the little boy
answered the mother. who expressed to
his parents his regret for horses which
were unfortunate enough TO be deprived
of their tails. They had begun to think
that he was youthful supporter of the
Society for the Prevention Of Cruelty to
.1e -faar4 IA ahd Cd an <D1a
ton: ! think il is real cruel to take
away a horses tail for then what does
he have to steer himself WITH I"
''ReVerting to the quick lapse of time
represented by two shakes of lambs
tail think shorter period is that ex-
pressed by JlIIy, continued the man
Il don't recall what the accepted defini-
ton of the word is although ii represents
an exceedingly brieI period. but / was
taught when boy to do things in jiffy
and TO impress it on my mind / was told.
Sixty iiffys make a second
Sixty seconds make a minute,
Sixty minutes make an hour
THAT is not in the arithmetic tables
any more than Three barieycOrns make
an inch.' which used in Olden times to
lead the table of long measure, but it
might well be impressed on the rising
generation when the question of quick
ness is at the front
I was always taught to be on the min
Sdlu the Dttf1I nan Oh the nOuSe-
hold. when l was a girl. but We were
not required 10 move as the second hand
does. But | remember how long "A min
ute used to be if / had to keep still that |
long before j could speak or do some |
thing / greatly desired to do.
WELL" replied the masculine speaker, /
time never went so slowly to me as !
when teacher, for punishment. instead l
of using whip or ferrule. required me to 4
hold out a stick of wood at arms length I
for five minutes, any benoing of the
arm being a signal for crack from a /
ruler on the elbow. or made me stand 4
with one finger on the head of a nail I'm |
the floor for three minutes, with blood |
rushing into my head and pounding at l
must burst. But then, all time passed 1
slowly in school in boyhood and that /
spent in play went all too quickly. You /
recall what Whittier wrote of
Feet which loitered into school
Went storming out to playing.
so it was in my time. and is still. and /
ever will be so long as boys are boys and /
girls are girls and the world ways on its
way"
The earliest methods Of measuring time
were the movements of the sun across /
me heavens. and nOOnmafkS were invent
ed many years ago, and the rising and /
the setting of the stars were observed by /
snepherds watching their flOcks on the |
plains for centuries Defore any means
vas devised for keeping an artificial rec
ord. The savage man had little use for /
any .svision of time beyond the coming /
and going of darkness. but as men
emerged from barbarism they set their
wits at work to get details of the lapse /
Of time First the day was divided into Il
horizons of three or four hours each. aud |
then the night. and this led to subdivis-
ion until the twelve hours for daytimer1
and twelve for night came into use To /
mark these divisions the sun dial was de-
vised an extension of the noonmark. so |
that on a horizontal plate the movement
81 The shadow indicated the lapse of time
R,1f this was of use only when the sky
was clear and IN the daytime. Then the
hoursiass was invented. by which the
flowing of. sand for a period maFHed bv
The dial permitted. But this did not
prove of service save when one care
fully attended TO it, to tgru the glass
when the grains had run out King Al
fred IS credited with having twelve can