ing a goodly
number of American apprentices, among whom the elder Terry was one. The
career of the latter man reads like a fairy tale. In common with other
early workers he labored at the disadvantage of having few tools. He
may, perhaps, have owned a hand engine of the sort used in England at
the period, but until he bethought him of using water power he had
little else to aid him."

"Did he make the long-case clock, too?" asked Christopher.

"Yes. That style of clock, you see, provided space for a lengthy,
slow-swinging pendulum. Nevertheless although it was a popular variety,
it was anything but a convenient one to handle, being both bulky and
awkward to transport. For this reason many such clocks were sold without
cases--a custom borrowed from England--it being understood that buyers
should furnish cases of their own. Only too often, alas, this part of
the contract was never carried out and the unfortunate _wag-on-the-wall_
(as this sort of timepiece was eventually dubbed) was hung up all
unprotected from dust and dampness."

"Do you mean to say they really christened clocks by that unearthly
name?" asked Christopher incredulously.

"_Wag-on-the-wall?_ Yes, indeed. That was the term they went by. Pedlars
carried them round on horseback, riding from house to house and jolting
them over the bad roads until it is a seven-days' wonder they went at
all," was McPhearson's retort.

"I never saw a clock of the sort," the lad mused.

"They are rare now. I suppose most of them were discarded years ago. You
see, since they had no cases they probably became clogged with dirt and
wore out much sooner than did the protected long-case clocks; moreover,
as they were both cheap and commonplace, nobody thought of keeping them
after something better was procurable. Who would dream of laying them
aside and cherishing them because they might in years to come be
curiosities of historic value? Americans never keep anything, you know.
It is a seven-days' wonder how they ever chanced to possess any
heirlooms at all."

Christopher smiled at the Scotchman's savage grumble.

"Thomas Harland made quite a few of these wags-on-the-wall as well as
some fine long-case clocks with works of brass," added the old man.

"I suppose none of the makers could turn out very many clocks when every
part of them had to be made by hand," was Christopher's thoughtful
comment.

"No, they couldn't. Moreover the demand for clocks was not great.
Usually