WATCHES.
Every urchin has had the little gilt toy-watch that is always at half-past seven o’clock. Who should attempt to convince its happy possessor that it did not keep good time, or it was not the exact counterpart “of father’s,†would be trespassing upon the good old proverb, that where ignorance is bliss, ’tis folly to be wise. Next to this comes the silver watch, which “goes;â€reallygoes; and which is susceptible of being wound up by its short-jacketed owner, on his way to school, to drive some non-watch-possessing boy to the verge of distraction. The manner in which this watch is alternately set forward and allowed to run down at the caprice of its owner, is known only to anxious parents, whose entreaties in favor of a more systematic mode of treatment, and whose threats of takingit away, go into one ear only to go out at the other. Then there is the Ladies’ Lilliputian watch; the dear little mite, perhaps set around with diamonds. This dear little mite, so pretty to look at, with its curious chatelaine of little trinkets, dangling at the belt. Time would fail to tell how often it is unnecessarily inspected in omnibuses, cars, and ferry-boats; in shops, and places of amusement, and on the public promenade; and how dainty looks the jeweled forefinger of the owner, as the obedient lid obeys the touch on the spring. All this is interesting till it gets to be an old story; till all its owner’s lady-friends have commented approbatively or despairingly upon it as the case may be. Then, it is occasionally left on the sofa, or piano, or mantel, over night, instead of nestling in its soft-cushioned box in the drawer, as at first; or it is dropped on the hearth, or it is left hanging for days in the watch-pocket of some one of the many dresses in the closet, until a speedy visit to the watchmaker’s seems essential to its restoration to activity.
The watchmaker smiles as he examines it; he has seen “ladies’ watches†many a time, and oft. He understands without explanation why it don’t“keep as good time as my husband’s,†or “my brother Tom’s watch;†he keeps his gravity when he is asked if hanging it up, or wearing it, is most conducive to its health, or if it can possibly be that its galloping one time and standing still at others is owing to a defect in the machinery. He smiles blandly; advises leaving it on a short visit; has the hands pointed right, and the case polished up with chamois-skin and rouge; and restores it to its dainty owner, always with the proper charge for its board and lodging, with a suppressed grin.
Next comes the “presentation watch,†which is often seen on exhibition at the show-windows of Topaz and Brothers; a massive showy affair, bought by some public person,to give to himself, or herself, through this flattering medium. The uninitiated stand gaping, gazing, wondering and coveting, through the glass windows, as they read the laudatory inscription. Bless ’em, they will be wiser, if they live long enough.
Then there is Papa’s watch, which was “never known to go wrong,†no more than its owner; oh no! Other clocks, other watches may point whereand as they like;hisis the only infallible. Biddy, the cook, may quote the kitchen clock till she is black in the face to bear her out in serving the family meals at just such a moment; her retort of, “and sure didn’t the masther set the kitchen clock his own self,†avails her nothing, whilethatoracular watch is five minutes ahead of it.
Then there is grandpa’s lumbering, great, old-fashioned, silver watch; with a great big cornelian seal hanging to the silver chain; grandpa laughs to scorn all the flibbertigibbet inventions of modern days; he tells howthatwatch was worn by his brave grandsire at the battle of Bunker Hill; yes, sir; and shows a place where a bulletshouldhave spoiled it, if it didn’t; so narrow was the escape. Grandpa has left that watch in his will to his favorite grandson; and never dreams, poor old man, that he will very likely use it to pay off some foolish debt, one of these degenerate days.
Lastly, there is the matron’s solid, sensible, gold watch; worn for use, not show, on a simple black cord about the neck; unless when it hangs over the toilet-table while she is changing her dress. Examine it closely, and you will seenumerous little indentations in the case. Not for worlds would she have them removed, by any jeweler who ever polished a diamond. Sometimes she sits in her nursery, with that watch in her hand, passing her finger slowly over those indentations, while warm tears drop over them; for little Johnny—whose little frocks lie folded away, and may never more be worn—little Johnny made those places, with the pained teeth which caused at last the cruel death-spasms. How many times she has sat with him on her knee, holding that watch between his lips, and hearing the grit of those two little front teeth upon it. She remembers the very morning she first discovered that those little pearly treasures had found their way through the swollen flesh; and she remembers how papa was called, and the watch put between the coral lips, that he too might hear the wonderful sound; and she remembers how baby laughed; and how rosy his cheeks were, that morning; and how they both kissed him; and how——but dear, dear! the tick of that watch is the only music in the nursery now.