Norwich bulletin., 1914-04-16
THE WATCH FEVER.

sACome away" urged the tall man. pulling his companion from the jewell CTS window in which was a display 0i watches. Don't stop to look at those you'll be buying onet"
 Well, I've got to do something pretty soen,' protested the other man ''The old turnip have is worn out."
 Thank heaven l caught you ir timel" breathed the tall man solemnly "When you begin calling a faithful old tinepieee names its a sign that the germ has bitten deep.
 eLaet me tell you my sad experience All my life had gone around carrying dollar watches and watches that came as a prize with a can Of baking powder or were given as a premium win a three years subscription to maSa- zine that nobody wan e6!
 And aoasted. My lips would cGrl with pale scorn when my friends ex- hfblfed the watches they bodgat sn Switzerland for the price of a small farm or the delicate chron aneEers as thin as sheets of paper they earf4en with their dress clothes There Nas only one time of d1y, I said, ana II wasn't made any tnoa oT $ iin,e be- cause a felio +s Wa7cli Cost so iauc1 that he had to go and hide his head whenever the tax collector came around, I caught trains by those dinky
 
 the tiniest one of the lot. l stood Just as high in the community with s5 watch as though it had cHst f.hD.
 Of all ways to waste money. said l the buying of expansiFe watches Is fhe limit In fact, l never had tnGus:i. mueh about it. getting mine as prem iuIaas and such, until the thlr1 time l dropped my watch kersmash on tiled ficor The repair man said 1t wou. cost s1s to fix it. so I dunn ped the re- maine in the waste basket ami when I had fifteen minutes spare dropped In to invest in a dollar @a.z.h.
 Whats that?' I asked the clerk as noted a customer further down the aisle looking at queer object.
 +'sOh, that said the gentiemaniy clerk, s'is a new thing, very clever!' He placed in my hand a thin watch shaped like a square instead of a cir ele. Very nice little watch he mur- mured. Good timekeeper. too, for the price Of course one wouldn't expect it to class with the really expensive timepieees. It's only hundred and fifty
 When I came to they were laying my brow with wet cloths He had me bluffed I said I guessed didn't have time to look at watches that day. kept thinking about the square watch, however, and the next day I siunk in- to the best shop in town. I had a
  ishness they did have in the watch line They showed me watches up to s1 900 and I lived through it. Of course I explained to the clerk that I had no intention whatever of buying
 There was one repeater that was a daisy. It cost $500 and it's bell was fairylike Still, as I said, l never did wake up in the night and want to know the time. and anyhow our grand father clock always strikes the quarter hours. The gentlemaniy clerk pointed out how nice it would be to be able to put my hand in my pocket daytimes and hear the time without even the trouble of pulling out my watch. Still in that case, nobody would see my handsome watch and, anyhow, hadn't reached such decrepit stage that hauling forth watch would put me in a condition to send for a doctor.
 T kept looking the next day and all that week But I will skip the various stages of my decline. Anyhow,