Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1908-03-20
The Town Clock.
tOrlginal.l

ket place OF SchramDerg, In the MACK
forest, looking up at the clock in the
church tower.
ut has stopped" said one.
mo, but the hands move at a snails
pace" said another.
II have been standing here fully ten
minutes" said third, land can't de-
tect the slightest change"
"And have watched it for an hour"
said fourth. "The long hand shows
gain of two and half minutes
when was the change noticedT
AT II o'clock midnight. 1t has not
struck the hour since"
LET me see-two and half minutes
to the hour. At that rate the minute
hand would sweep the dial in twenty
four hours. The clock registers but
an hour day"
From little shop near by old Roth
holz, the matchmaker, glanced out of
his window at the group, shook his
head at them, then turned and resumed
his work. The day before his son had
come to him. wringing his hands.
"Oh. father" he exclaimed, "Cicily
has been condemned. Old Mother
Gault swore that she had seen her
with her own eyes vomiting crooked
pins"
What, That innocent girl con-
demned for witchcraft on the test-
mony of that hagY'
Eyes, and she is to be burned at the
stake in three days. Oh, father, help!
We are betrothed"
The youngster, still in his teens, had
not ceased to rely on his father for
everything The old man scratched
his head and gave himself up to deep
thought Presently he said, II cannot
prevent this tragedy, but | may delay
it."
How" asked the boy eagerly
You know, my son, that the clock
in the church tower, which | made
and about which no one except my
self knows anything, is the legal time
in the village-that l, the town clerk
as we'll as matchmaker, keep the legal
calendar and keep it by the clock. If
l stop the clock l stop the village time,
but in that case they would adopt an
other standard. will make the hands
go very slowly. This will delay the
execution. and something may happen
10 save the girl
In the middle of the night the old
man went up into the tower and chang
ed the clocks rate to one hour in TWEEN
! ty-four CicilY could not be legally
| burned for more than two months.
| boz
place after further discussion moved
together to old Rothholz's shop, told
him that the clock had nearly stopped
and he must fix it. Don't bother your
heads about the clock" he said; sit
will go well enough in time" "When?"
After the girl who was condemned
yesterday has been burned" What
has that to do with it?' Il don't
know. | only know that the clock,
which has kept perfect time ever since
it was set up in the tower has sud
denly gone wrong" NONSENSE ex-
claimed most of the party and they
went away
The old man insisted that he could
not fix the clock. though, TO satisfy the
authorities. he pretended to try In a
few days the burghers, finding a new
subject Of interest, ceased to talk
about the clock. A week later Antoine
Hecker presented note that was due
to Karl Becker for payment Becker
declared that he would pay it when
the town clock should say the time
for payment had expired Hecker
went to Rothholz and asked fora GER
tiicate to that effect. Hecker declared
that by the village time the note was
not due. The result was a quarrel be-
Then came a widow who wished to
marry again. By the terms of her late
husbands will she would lose every
thing he had left her if she married
before a certain date. The date had
expired, but the legal town time said
that it had not. The clerk said it was
his duty to keep the calendar by the
clock. He could do nothing The
judge ordered him before the court
and to fix the clock or keep the calen
der by another timepiece. The town
clerk refused to break the law, and
the judge had no power to compel him
to do so.
AS the days and weeks elapsed the
condition Of the people Of the village
became more irritating. They \quar
relied about the time to go to bed, to
get up, for meals. The children would
not go to school till the clock struck
the hour. Nobody would go to church
because there was no knowing when
they should CO. Those who had
watches tyrranized over those who had
not and quarreled among themselves
as to whose watch was right. At last
the hubbub was so great that it be
came intolerable. A committee wait
ed on the town clerk and begged hin
to fix the clock or break the law, prom