A REMARKABLE CLOCK.

Manawatu Herald, Volume II, Issue 25, 18 November 1879, Page 2

A REMARKABLE CLOCK.

There is now on exit ihi tion in De- * roit, Michigan, a clonk ( he »vo*k of •'r Felix Meier, a mechanic), which will eclipse the famous Sfcrasburg clock in complexity and interest, lfc stands 18ft in height, and is enclosed in a black walnut frame, elaborately carved and ornamented. The crowning figure is thafc of '•' Liberty," ou a canopy over the head of Washington, who is seated on a marble dome, 'lhe canopy is supported bjf columns on either side. . On nitches below, afc the font "corners of the clock, are four human figures representing "Infancy," "Youth" '' Manhood," and " Age " ; each has a bell in otic hand and a hammer in the other. The nitches aro supported . by angels with flaring torches, and over the centre is the'fignre of Father Time. Attjie quarter hour, the figure of the iv fiiht strikes ifcs tiny bell; at Ihi lialf hour, the figure of the youth strikes his bell of louder tone ; at tho third quarter, the man strikes his bell, ami at the full hour the grey beard. Tlien (he figure of Time steps out and tolls to • hour, as two small figures throw open doors in the columns on eitlier side of Washington, aud a procession of the Presidents of fche United States follows. As the procession moves Washington rises <md salutes each figure as it pusses, and it in turn salutes liim. Thoy move tin ough the door oo the oiher side, and it is then closed behind them. "VThe pro^tf cession moves, to the acconipisnvny^P^ of varied music -played by' tlie " •jlock itself. The mechanism -also ■jives the cot reet movements of the planets round the sun, and tliero are dials whicii show the hour, minute, and second in Detroit, Washington, New York, -San Fransisco, Loudon. Paris, Berlin, Vienna, Sfc. Petersburg, Constantinople, Cairo, Pekin, and Meloourne. The clock also shows the. tlay of the week and month in JDetioit, ihe month and season of the year, the changes ot the moon, kc. It is said hafc Mr Meir has' worked on this clock nearly ten years, aod for the last four years has devoted his whole time to ifc.

An editor on b iug asked, " Do liogs pay?"sa}sa great many do uot. Thoy -take tho paper several years and then have lhe postmaster send it back marked " refused." One man ein put on another man's coat and hafc and not detect the change, bu< let. hrn get his fingers # into strange boot-straps und the hair on hia neck rises up like shingle nails. When the girl who has en cou '-aged a young man for abou| two years suddenly turn/? around and tells him that sho can never be more lhan a sister to him, he can for the first time see the freckles on her nose. Have 3'ou ever thought, how kind it is of tho avo.ago murderer to forgive everybody before he is swung off? How rapidly a man loses all interest in politics and national finance when he shuts the door on his thumb. The problem of tho presenfc. says tho New Orleans Pic lynne, is to fiud out how a •<j|YO-hand' , d person can manage a train, a parsol, a fan, cany a book, and le id a child. Carlyle's books briiig him £1000 a year. ' * Tho Marl of Desart's new novel is called " The Honourable Ella." Charles Reade says he will write no more novels. Whon tho crowded omnibus stops bef ire a fine four-story mansion, one uf the young women, getting out, invariably remarks. " Home at last !" The most surprised man in the universe is probably a tramp who, on hearing, as he was travelling through Kentucky, that at a certain house a family resided that had lots of silver waro, medals, cup*, &v, and th it tlie husband was away with a circus, leaving the wife who was'nt stroti"enough to bear fatigue, all alone, made a pilgrimage to the hou&o and found that all that had been told was- . strictly true, and ihat the womatt-vrt*, s Mra Bates, the Kentucky Giautadfc, who stands seven loet two inchea high, and weigh* -MflUis. I'he humility witn which he asks for a drink of water was 'miy equalled by the speed with which he shipped away from the promises, while Mrs H,ute"s resumed her interrupted occupation of tying a doublo bow-knot on tl^e poker.