ats
produced by skilled makers to hold on to them, even if they venerate
neither their history nor their age. They may discard a treasure they
cannot equal or replace. On the face of it, it stands to reason that any
mechanism which will run two centuries or more was turned out by a
workman who knew what he was about."

"That's what Mr. McPhearson thinks," said Christopher, rising. "Clocks
are almost people to him."

"Are you going, sonny?"

"Yes, I guess I'll quit bothering you and bother Mr. McPhearson for a
while. Dad said I mustn't make too long calls on people."

Moving off, the lad called the elevator and ascended to the fourth floor
where he found his friend, the Scotchman, in the lowest of spirits.

"Well, she's gone!" exclaimed he mournfully. "I couldn't in conscience
keep her here any longer when she was running so well."

"The bracket clock, you mean?"

"I do. I sent Hammond with her. He should have brains enough to land her
at home without jouncing the life out of her; and he ought to be able to
put her in place and make sure she is ticking even. If not, I shall have
to go up where she lives and make sure for myself."

"You don't often leave the shop, do you?"

"Oh, sometimes. I haven't lately because it hasn't happened to be
necessary. Moreover, I have had a good deal to do right here. The fall
is my season for trotting about. After houses have been closed all
summer and owners have neglected their clocks, I have to go round and
start them again. What a barbarous custom it is to let clocks run down
and stand idle for months! Why, if asked to do so, we can always send
reliable men into houses to wind the clocks and keep them regulated. It
costs only a trifle and pays in the end, if people were only aware of
it. A clock neither wants nor needs a rest. On the contrary it is never
so happy as when it is ticking. The woman who stopped her clock nights
so it should not be wearing out the works did it no kindness."

A peal of appreciative laughter came from Christopher.

McPhearson reached for a small traveling clock and unscrewed the back of
it.

"Humph!" sniffed he. "Solid with dirt! I'll wager it hasn't been cleaned
for years. Still, it is expected to go all the same. If its owner had
half that amount of dust in his eye he would be off to an oculist as
fast as ever his feet would carry him. Such creatures do not deserve to
have clocks. They should have lived when there weren't any."

"Back in the