Introspections
In our modern world, we have lost touch with how things work. Our digital devices seem to make life easier, yet when they no longer function, we have a sense of panic and run off to replace them as quickly as possible. The old devices end up in the garbage. We seem to live in a throwaway culture, but in simpler days, we fixed things, patched things, and improvised. Figuring out how things work makes less waste.
100 | JUNE 2018
In 1962, seven-year-old Roger A. Reed went into his family’s attic to explore. In the shadows, there was an old clock. To the boy, the turn-of-the-century mantel clock looked more like a place than a timepiece. Its well-built, carved wooden case and Romanesque pillars on the front seemed magical to the child. He claimed it for his own. At more than a half century old, its age and wear showed, but Reed patiently dusted it off, reassembled its pendulum, and used his father’s oil can to oil the works. The clock was restored to a new life by the boy and stayed ticking away the seconds and minutes for the next three decades. The 1906 Seth Thomas Adamantine mantel clock had been a gift to Reed’s grandmother in the same year. She would have been turning thirteen; it was likely a gift bestowed to her on her Roman Catholic confirmation. According to the clockmaker’s biography, Thomas started as an apprentice in the clock business in 1807 and opened a factory in Connecticut in 1813. He specialized in metal-movement clocks and added shelf and mantel clocks a few years later. When Thomas passed away in 1859, his son Aaron took over the business. The company’s website states, “The name Seth Thomas has symbolized excellence of craft and a great variety of styles since its inception. The tower clock at Grand Central Station in New York was designed and produced by the company, as well as the 1876 Centennial tower clock at Independence Hall in Philadelphia.”
