Rensselaer Republican, Volume 15, Number 49, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 16 August 1883 — Clocks of Strange Devicement. [ARTICLE]

Clocks of Strange Devicement.

Among the quaint old treasures of strong and stately Bolton Castle, there ■was “a very fair dock, with the mqtion of. the sun and moon, and other conclusions. ” "What these last may be, is not stated: In the grand old French mansion, “painfully secluded and lonely,” Mary Stuart was for a time “a queenly-pris-oner-guest;” and “it is suggestively considered that many of the long and weary hours .of her exile were counted out” upon the dial of this “odd, yet comely time-piece.” » Account is giveq »• brave a gift,” sent early in the thirteenth century tb Frederick n. by the Sultan of Egypt ; this wonderful “horologium resend jled a celestial globe, in which sun, moon, and planets moved; being impelled by weights and wheels, they pointed out the hour —day and night.” A hundred years later, was a timepiece, ranking, for ounning workmanship, above all otheis then known in Europe, “showing various astronomical phenomena.” —Good Cheer. Brown paper is very useful in household decoration. Pretty screens of coarse grocer’s papers, painted in oils, are often used. An old wooden mantelpiece may be covered with this ooarse paper and painted roughly, but most effectively, with pink and white foxgloves and leaves or with red poppies. Paper can be only a temporary decoration, but in country villages occasions often arrive—such as impromptu festivities, church sociables and weddings —when a speedy decoration is most valuable. Fob ordinary woodwork use whiting ,to rub the dirt and ammonia. 4*- j V{ ,i