  Kind friend, you do not know how much I prize this time-ly treasure, So dainty, diligent, and such A constant source of pleasure. The man of brains who could invent So true a chrono-meter Has set a charming precedent, And made a good repeater. It speaks with clear, commanding clicks, Suggestive of the donor; And 'tends to business—never sick A bit more than the owner. It goes when I do; when I stop (As by the dial showing) It never lets a second drop, But simply keeps on going. It tells me when I am to eat, Which isn't necessary; When food with me is obsolete, I'll be a reliquary. And bother with dejeuner; To sally forth and exercise, And fill up my porte-monnaie. I hear it talking in the night, As if it were in clover: You've never lost your appetite, You've never been run over. It makes me wish that I might live More faithful unto duty, And unto others something give Like this bijou of beauty. It holds its hands before its face, So very modest is it; So like the people in the place Where I delight to visit. Sometimes I wonder if it cries The course I am pursuing; Because it has so many I-s And must know what I'm doing. Sometimes I fear it makes me cry— No matter, and no pity— Afraid at last I'll have to die In some far, foreign city. And chirrups like a cricket; As if it said with anxious air, "Don't lose your tick-tick-ticket!" Companion of my loneliness Along my journey westward, It never leaves me comfortless, But has the last and best word. I would not spoil its lovely face, And so I go behind it, And hold it like a china vase, So careful when I wind it. A clock is always excellent That has its label on, And proves a fine advertisement For Waterbury, Conn. Those Yankees—ah! they never shun A chance to make a dime, And counterfeit the very sun In keeping "Standard Time." Ah, well! the little clock has proved The best of all bonanzas; And thus my happy heart is moved To these effusive stanzas. |
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