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September 20, 1911 ] T H E f
hung up the receiver aud stopped nodding and
smiling at the telephone.
"Is it something about watermelons," he inquired!"
"Yes, dear. If he can get his melons to the
freight house before 6 o'clock this afternoon,
he can sell his entire crop. Mr. Evans, the
commission agent down town has an order for
all the melons he can get, if they are at the station
in time to be delivered in the city tomorrow
morning. There is a sudden demand for
melons."
"Why, mama, Grandpapa Brown can't
take more than seven loads to town in one
day, if he started yesterday and work all tomorrow.
The thing can't be done."
"Possibly it may if you help him."
Little John laughed- He knew that his mother
was poking fun at him because he had so
often tried to help Grandpa Brown.
"What errand do they want me to do?" he
asked.
"You 'are to go to Isaac Underhill and ask
if one of the Underhill boy's can be spared
for the day with the wagon and a pair of horses.
From there they wish you to call at Mr.
Burton's?Mr. Sam Burton's?and ask him if
he can come over with a wagon, too. Grandma
Brown says they will call up as many of their
friends as possible over the telephone."
"Oh, if every one will help a little," exclaimed
the boy, "the thing can be done. Good-bye,
mother."
"Good-bye, my son."
An hour later, little John returned.
' ' XAI b of In nlr ' ' ? 4-V* a
'? nai? iuvnf aoncu HIT UlUtllCI .
"No luck at all," grumbled the child. "Worst
neighbor I ever saw- Every one of 'em too
busy to help Grandpa Brown, every one 'cept
Mr. William White and Mr. Green, and honestly,
mama, they were the really busiest of any.
^ v ; men said they'd let their work go
peace whn aD(j t^e gentleman. So
celled. P 0? meions are on their way to
town, and I came home for my little wagon!"
"Your little wagon, child?"
"Yes, sir, ma'am?yes, mama! Every melon
counts, and I'm going to haul as many loads to
town, as T can. I'll be worth about one cat
was tli< i I'll help!"
his trif I . - .
- ?-?* ?r could hardly keep her face straight,
although she managed not to smile in the face
of such earnestness. Truth is, she didn't feel
like smiling when her small boy went trudging
by in the hot sun with six melons in his express
wagon.
"Poor little fellow," she said, "he'll be so
tired."
Ezra Mason who was working in a field near
the town road, tried to be funny when the boy
passed his farm.
"You're going to help save the nation, hey,
Bub?" he inquired. Afterward Ezra wished
he had kept still; it made him feel uncomfortable
to think that he hadn't given Grandpa
Brown help for at least half a day. "The lit In
follmxr ia nirrVif '' Tin nAmmnn+o/1 wtaM
I'll- JO i igtU) UV> wuiiuuiib^u. 11 *T U VI
all turn in and help much as possible we 'd make
that melon patch look sick. I swanny. I ain't,
going to be beat by no seech little chap! T'm
a-goin' to hitch up my team and join the procession!"
And he did.
"Hey, there; where you going?" inquried
Mr. Underhill of the small boy.
"Taking a load of melons to market for
Grandpa Brown," was the reply.
"Why, can't he get help enough to market
them ?" inqured the man.
"No. every one said, 'Too bad! but they're all
too busy."
"Well, there now, that's a shame! Look
'RE8BYTERIAN OF THE 8 <
here, Johnny, you tell Grandpa that I believe I
can spare one of my boys and a team for a day
after all. I'll send him right over." And he
did.
By the time little John reached town his
dusty face was streaked with wee rivers of perspiration,
but his smile was a joy. He realized,
with triumph in his heart, that example is a
powerful thing. He rode home on Mr. Lane'a
milk wagou
" 'Pears to me, my lad," remarked Grandpa
Brown some time later, "it 'pears to me that
you don't need to make another trip to town,
considering that the neighbors have kept the
telephone busy since they saw you with your
little red wagon. Result is so many teams have
come to our assistance, you better stay here to
superintend the loading!"
"What a joke!" exclaimed the boy who tried
to help.
Grandma Brown invited little John and his
mother over to tea that night, and she would
give the child two pieces of custard pie; hers
were the deep kind.
"I'd like to hire neighbor John by the year,"
remarked Grandpa Brown. "Best man on the
farm today."
"Couldn't spare him," was mother's laughin
nr roonnnon ^ Ha olmotra
<*>h ivwj/vwov. jljl^ axnajg ti ico IU iiCip, anil
yon know such a boy counts in a family."
"If I don't know it, my melon patch does."
acknowledged Grandpa. "Not a ripe melon
under the stars tonight, thanks to our little man
and his small express wagon."?Frances Margaret
Fox, in the Christian Intelligencer.
CURIOUS CLOCKS.
Among the most curious clocks in the world
are two at "Worsley, Lancashire, England, that
never strike one- Instead they strike thirteen
at 1 A. M. and 1.00 P. M. One of them is over
the Earl of Ellesmere's place, called Worsley
Hall, and is the original clock which the Duke
of Bridgewater had placed in the tower. It is
said that the Duke had the clock made to strike
the "unlucky" number so as to warn his
workmen that it was time to return after dinner,
some of them having excused themselves
for being late on the ground that they could
not hear it strike one.
This recalls the incident when the big clock
of the houses of Parliament saved a man's life.
A soldier in the reign of William and Mary was
condemned by the court martial for falling
asleep while on duty on the terrace at Windsor.
He stoutly denied the charge, and by way of
proof declared that he heard Old Tom (the predecessor
of Big Ben) strike thirteen instead of
twelve. The officers laughed at the idea, but
while the man was in prison awaiting execution.
ooT7Pi*a1 norflAno nam n on/1 otttavo +V?q4
the clock actually did strike thirteen, whereupon
the soldier was pardoned and released.
Wells Cu.-Vdnd contains one of the most interesting
clocks in the whole world- It was
constructed by Peter Lightfoot, a monk, in 1U21,
and embraces many devices, which testify to the
ancient horologist's ingenuity. Several celestial
and terrestial bodies are incorporated in
the interesting movement and relationship.
They indicate the hours of the day, the age,
the moon and the position of the planets and the
tides. When the clock strikes the hour, two
companies of horsemen fully armed dash out
of gateways in opposite directions and charge
vigorously. They strike with their lances as
they pass as many t>m-?s as correspond with the
V il.A V A lilil.
nuiniwr ui 111^ nour. s\ iiMir (ii^uiuce ?wafy,
seated on a high perch, is a quaint, flpnre, which
kicks the qnarters on two hells placed heneath
his feet and strikes the honrs on a hell. The
dial of the clock is divided into twenty-fonr
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hours, and shows the phases of the moon and a
map of the universe.
An oddity of clocks is the invention of a
Frenchman, M. Paul Cornu. It consists of a
dial mounted above a reservoir, and having a
sort of see-saw mounted upon its support. The
reservoir holds sufficient alcohol to last for a
n.m.tl. C-- 1 * ? ^
...wiv.il, auu Luis sci vca us mm iur u snia.ii iihiiu;
that burns at one end. The heat from the
feme causes the air to expand in the bulb of the
see-saw directly about it. As a result the seesaw
removes every five seconds. This movement
is the sole motive power that actuates the
hands.
In Switzerland clocks are now being made
that do not require hands and faces. The
timepiece merely stands in the hall, and one
presses a button, which by means of the phonographic
internal arrangements, calls out, "Half
past four," "Five minutes to ten," or whatever
the time may be.
A Munich professer has invented a remarkable
sick-room clock. When a button is
pressed an electric lamp behind the dial throws
the shadows of the hours and hands, magnified,
upon the ceiling so that the invalid can see it
from bed without craning their necks or putting
themselves to any inconvenience.
A German shoemaker spent fifteen years of
his leisure moments in constructing a clock of
the grandfather shape, nearly six feet high,
made entirely of straw. The most remarkable
fact is that it reported to keep perfect time.
The Tsar of Russia is the possessor of a
unique clock that records not merely the passing
seconds, minutes and hours, but the days,
weeks, months, and years. The clock was invented
and manufactured by two peasants,
who presented it to the Emperor as a token of
their loyalty. In St. Petersburg, too is to be
seen a clock having ninety-five faces, indicating
simxilt.aneously the time at thirty different
spots on the earth's surface, besides the movements
of the earth and planets.
The clock of Lyon's Cathedral is a wonderful
piece of mechanism, and the legend describing
it is as follows: The clock crows; the bell
sounds the hours; the little bells the sancta
spiritus; the angel opens the gate to salute the
Virgin Mary. The heads of the two lions
move the eyes and the tongues. The astrolabe
shows the hours in its degrees, and the movement
of the moon. Moreover, the perpetual calendar
shows all the days of the year, the feast
days and the bissextile. The hours at which
the chimes are complete are five and six in the
morning, midday, and one and two o'clock in
the afternoon. The chimes at the other hours
are restricted so as not to interfere with the
cathedral service.
Complicated, indeed, is the clock of the Beauvais
Cathedral. It is said to be composed of
92,000 separate pieces, according to a French
statement. One sees on the fifty-two dial
plates the hour, the day, .the week, and the
month, the rising and the setting of the sun, the
phases of the moon, the tides,, the time in the
principal capitals of the world, together with a
series of terrestrial and astronomical evolutions.
The frame work is of carved oak, eight by five
metres, or twenty-six by sixteen and one quarter
feet. When the clock strikes all the edifice
seems in movement. The designer wished to
depict the Last Judgment. This wonder clock
is the work of a Beauvaisian, M. Verite. He died
in 1887.?Harper's "Weekly.
Tndeed. if there had been any better thinff any
more profitable to man's salvation than suffering.
snrelyTChrist won Id have showed it by word,
and example.?Thomas A. Kempis
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