THE OLD MANTEL CLOCK

After Grandma Ina's passing in 1957, my dad kept the farmhouse much as she had had it, although for the next few years, family members continued to take what they cherished of her possessions from the house. My dad let that happen – until it came to the old mantel clock. The clock came into the family in 1905, just a year after he was born. "That's for Kathy," he asserted. When I married Mike, Daddy reluctantly let me take the clock to my new home. He might not have except that my half-sister convinced him it was better off with me than left in the unoccupied farmhouse.

My dad explained to us that it's an 8-day clock and told us how to wind it. It chimes on the hour and also tells the day of the month. "And for some crazy reason," he added, "you have to keep a little piece of cotton drenched in kerosene under the works. Otherwise it won't run."

"That doesn't do anything," Mike said to me later. "How could it?" But when the cotton dried out and the clock stopped, we decided it was worth a try. We re-moistened the cotton and the clock ran again.

So the clock ran fine there on the mantel in the house on 12^th Avenue – for a couple of years. Then came the day -- oh, let's say it was 1980 – when the clock stopped. We saw the advertisement of someone who claimed to repair old clocks. He lived in a house near the college and was married to the daughter of someone we knew. It seemed fine – and it was. He fixed the clock and also put a new face on it. The old dial was hard to read. Cost: $70.00.

"Oh, you ruined it!" exclaimed my visiting mother-in-law when she saw the new face. The next day she apologized. "You all want to use the clock," she said. And she was right, but the repairman had told me it would not damage the value of the clock to replace the face.

The clock went with us to the Broadview house. By now the children complained about the chiming in the family room while they watched tv. It can be hard to hear over it. But, I refused to silence the clock. When we moved to the farmhouse in 2004, we took the clock with us and put it back on the mantel in the living room. It was wonderful to do so. I might add, though, since this is a history of the clock, that during my lifetime it sat on a shelf in the kitchen approximately where the aprons hang now. Perhaps that's one reason I wanted a shelf there.

The clock ran merrily on under Mike's management until a couple of months ago. It just refused to keep good time. We knew the former repairman, a New Zealander, was not available – (I mean, we're talking 30 years since the last repair), so Mike called a local jewelry store for a recommendation. Archie W. was the name -- a fine clock mechanic. Arrangements were made to deliver the clock to Archie.

Funny thing – Archie, once an employee of the jewelry store, remembered Mike the minute he heard his name. "Did you work for First Security?" he asked. "I remember when you first came to Lewiston. I sold you that Seiko watch with the blue dial." Did Mike remember Archie? No.

Archie told Mike that the clock is actually rare. We know these old mantle clocks are out there. We see them in old movies. But Archie says the 31-day feature makes it rare. Could it be repaired? Absolutely. Archie cleaned it and put in a new bushing. Cost: $150.00.

Oh – and the kerosene thing? That's what you do – keep kerosene or lamp oil inside the clock to lubricate the working parts. He suggested a little container rather than a cotton ball.

We brought the clock to the farm today, set it on the mantel, and were immediately dismayed that it didn't want to run. But it was cold in here and as the house warmed, so did the clock. It's running now – and keeping time. KW

[The old picture is of Grandma Ina and my Aunt Pearl -- Ina's oldest child. I believe the picture was taken about 1918 when the farmhouse was new. When we remodeled the house, the fireplace was rebuilt.]