OCR Text |
Show REMARKABLE TIME PIECE.-In an old record is found the following account of a Japanese time-keeper: "This clock, in a frame three feet high and five long, represented a noon landscape of great loveliness. In the foreground were plum and cherry trees and rich plants in full bloom; in the rear a hill, gradual in ascent, from which flowed a cascade admirably imitated in crystal. From this point a thread-like stream glided along, on circling in its windings rocks and tine islands, but presently losing itself in a far off stretch of woodland. In the sky turned a golden sun, indicating as it passed the striking hours, which were all marked upon the frame below, where a slowly creeping tortoise served as a hand. A bird of exquisite plumage, resting upon a plum tree branch, by its wings proclaimed the expiration of each hour. When the song ceased a mouse sprang from a grotto near by, and running over the hill, hastily disappeared." |