An old clock that had stood for fifty years in a farmer's
kitchen without giving its owner any cause of complaint,
early one summer's morning, before the family was
stirring, suddenly stopped. Upon this, the dial plate (if
we may credit the fable) changed countenance with alarm; 5
the hands made a vain effort to continue their course;
the wheels remained motionless with surprise; the weights
hung speechless; and each member felt disposed to lay the
blame on the others. At length the dial instituted a formal
inquiry into the cause of the stoppage; when hands, wheels, 10
weights, with one voice, protested their innocence. But
now a faint tick was heard below from the pendulum, who
thus spoke:
"I confess myself to be the sole cause of the stoppage;
and I am willing, for the general satisfaction, to assign my 15
reasons. The truth is, that I am tired of ticking." Upon
hearing this the old clock became so enraged that it was on
the very point of striking.
"Lazy wire!" exclaimed the dial plate, holding up its
hands. 20
"Very good!" replied the pendulum. "It is vastly
easy for you, Mistress Dial, who have always, as everybody
knows, set yourself up above me--it is vastly easy for
_you_, I say, to accuse other people of laziness! You, who
have had nothing to do all your life but to stare people in 25
the face and to amuse yourself with watching all that goes
on in the kitchen! Think how you would like to be shut
up for life in this dark closet and wag backward and forward,
year after year, as I do."
"As to that," said the dial, "is there not a window in
your house on purpose for you to look through?"
"For all that," resumed the pendulum, "it is very dark 5
here; and although there is a window, I dare not stop, even
for an instant, to look out. Besides I am really tired of my
way of life; and if you wish, I'll tell you how I took this
disgust at my employment. This morning I happened to
be calculating how many times I should have to tick in the 10
course of only the next twenty-four hours; perhaps some
of you, above there, can give me the exact sum."
The minute hand, being quick at figures, instantly replied,
"Eighty-six thousand four hundred times."
"Exactly so," replied the pendulum. "Well, I appeal to 15
you all, if the thought of this was not enough to fatigue
one? And when I began to multiply the strokes of one
day by those of months and years, really it is no wonder if
I felt discouraged at the prospect; so after a great deal of
reasoning and hesitation, thinks I to myself, _I'll stop_!" 20
The dial could scarcely keep its countenance during this
harangue, but resuming its gravity it at last replied:
"Dear Mr. Pendulum, I am really astonished that such a
useful, industrious person as yourself should have been
overcome by this suggestion. It is true you have done a 25
great deal of work in your time; so have we all, and are
likely to do; and though this may fatigue us to _think_ of,
the question is, will it fatigue us to _do_? Would you, now,
give half a dozen strokes to illustrate my argument?"
The pendulum complied, and ticked six times at its 30
usual pace. "Now," resumed the dial, "may I be allowed
to ask, was that exertion at all fatiguing to you?"
"Not in the least," replied the pendulum; "it is not of
six strokes that I complain, nor of sixty, but of _millions_."
"Very good," replied the dial; "but recollect that although
you may _think_ of a million strokes in an instant, you
are required to execute but one, and that however often 5
you may hereafter have to swing, a moment will always
be given you to swing in."
"That consideration staggers me, I confess," said the
pendulum.
"Then I hope," resumed the dial plate, "we shall all 10
immediately return to our duty; for the maids will be in
bed till noon if we stand idling thus."
Upon this the weights, who had never been accused of
light conduct, used all their influence in urging him to
proceed; when, as with one consent, the wheels began to 15
turn, the hands began to move, the pendulum began to
swing, and, to its credit, ticked as loud as ever; while a
beam of the rising sun that streamed through a hole in the
kitchen shutter, shining full upon the dial plate, made it
brighten up as if nothing had been the matter. 20
But when the farmer came down to breakfast that morning,
he looked at the clock and declared that his watch
had gained half an hour in the night!
1. Write a single short sentence expressing the
moral of this story.
2. Why did the minute hand make the calculation
(page 233)? Is its calculation correct?
3. What play on words is made in line 21, page 233.
In line 13-14, page 234?
4. There is an old saying to the effect that we
should let each day's work take care of itself. How
far is this true?