A "SABBATH BREAKER'S" EXPERIENCE.

Daily Telegraph (Napier), Issue 3141, 22 July 1881, Page 4

A "SABBATH BREAKER'S" EXPERIENCE.

A story which points its own moral is being told oF ft wll-lniown eiHzen who came limping into <~>ne of our jewellery stores the other day with a waM* pail in his hand containing the demoralised remains of an •ightday clock. The jeweller had the curiosity to inquire how the thing got so badly mixed, and after a little hesitation the victim told hi- story. ' You see, last Sunday morning this confounded thing stopped, and I wound away at it for some fifteen minutes, thinking it might have run down a lUtle before the usual time ; but 'twould n't <«>, and during the afternoon I got. to thinking it over and quietly made up my miad when wife went to church in the evening that I'd look the thin;,' over and save paying out a do'.l.n- or two for repairs. I got so impatient to begin work that it seamed as though Sarah would never stave for her prayer meetin', but at last she did, and no sooner was she out of the house than I began operations. I got fi small table ; took down the clock, removed the works, and then began taking out the screws that hold it together. As I loosenpd the last ~>ne there wa* n sudden whizz, bnr-r-r, whizz, and for an instsnt I saw wheels and springs flying nil around and felt something •■sharp strike me in the face. Instantly '•Unwed a crash of glass, and then all was I'irkness. Vly fiVsr thoughts were of a •litrn-Kiyeerine exnlo'.-i'on, and that some one mistook me for the >.ar of Russia : n*»xt of in earthquake, nn-1 T tremblingly awaited the crumbling in of the house. *t length T mustered courage to grope about for a match, and while doing it cut my foot on a piece of the lamp and crushed one of the clock wheels out of shape. When at last I got a light and looked round on the havoc caused by that confounded eight-day spring, the room appeared as though a Land League meeting had been held there and some disputed question of Parliamentary law had arisen to be settled after a free fight. All around were scattered pieces of that wretched clock, the oil from the broken lamp was soaking into the carpet, the table was smashed, and T bleeding from face and foot. T grabbed the first thing within reach to wipe the blood from my person, and soak the oil from the carpet, only to discover afterwards in a ongthy curtain lecture on wickedness in general and mine in particular, that the article used for a handkerchief and mop was my wife's most precious " tidy." Then I got a broom, dust pan, and water-pail, and swept up the remains of that clock, and here they are. You can sort 'em out and put 'em together if yon like, it won't c-'t move tiian tne clock aid, and if ever you hear of my fooling round with the spring of an eighfc'day clock again on a Sunday night, or any other time, ymi may book me for an idiot. I'd rather tackle a can of dynamite with a hammer.'—Springfield Republican.