Jasper County Democrat, Volume 10, Number 16, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 20 July 1907 — A Horological Curiosity. [ARTICLE]

A Horological Curiosity.

Japan possesses a remarkable timepiece. It is contained in a frame three feet wide and five feet long, representing a noonday landscape of great beauty. In the foreground plum and chertrees and rich plants appear in full bloom. In the rear is seen a Hill, gradual In ascent, from which apparently flows a cascade, admirably Imitated in crystal. From this point a threadlike stream meanders, encircling rocks and Islands In Its windings, and finally losing itself in a faroff stretch of woodland. In a miniature sky a golden sun turns on a silver wire, striking the hours on silver gongs as it passes. Each hour is marked on the frame by a creeping tortoise, which serves the place of a hand. A bird of exquisite plumage warbles at tlfe close of each hour, and as the song ceases a mouse sallies forth from a neighboring grotto and, scampering over the hill to the garden, is soon lost to view.