114 
hen You Choose a 
CBed Davenport 
Your family will demand and 
your guests appreciate the soft, 
low seat of a Northfield. But 
the authoritative design, style 
and rich coverings Northfield 
offers will appeal to you as 
much as their comfort. 
“The Davenport 
with a Secret” il¬ 
lustrates m any 
Worth field designs. 
A copy will be 
sent on request to¬ 
gether with the 
name of your local 
Northfield dealer. 
Overstuffed designs of several types, 
period patterns with cane or uphol¬ 
stered backs, or the wonderfully chic 
and decorative fibre styles, all with 
low, cushion seats—your choice is 
a matter of what is appropriate. For 
the living room, sun parlor or loung¬ 
ing room you will find a happy 
choice of design and covering among 
Northfield 
Ded Davenports 
Each Northfield design is by a 
Master Designer. And each detail 
of design and upholstery is care¬ 
fully carried out by men trained 
for this work. So, to the Furniture 
Merchant “N o r t h f i e 1 d” means 
quality, while to the user North- 
field means good style, comfort, 
convenience, economy. 
The full size bed in each Northfield 
is cleverly concealed and the deep 
cushioned seat gives no hint of the 
secret it hides. Your dealer will gladly 
show you how easily the bed opens for use. 
THE NORTHFIELD COMPANY 
Makers of Good Furniture 
SHEBOYGAN • ■ WISCONSIN 
18th Street at Martin Ave, 
House & Garden 
An early Dutch 
watch, in ornate 
form of a book, 
made by H an s 
Schnier, about 1580 
COLLECTING OLD WATCHES 
M ADAME DE SEVIGNE once said and not sand, and the progress of the 
that she disliked watches with day was estimated by the quantity of 
second-hands; “they cut up life into water which had run through, 
too small pieces.” Certainly the an- The clepsydra, or water-clock and the 
cients were not pestered with second- sand-clock were in general use through 
hands. Nevertheless, their consciences Greece and Rome and their colonies, 
were of the sort that exercised them- They were considered an enormous im- 
selves under the prod of the substitutes provement on the horoscopus of the 
of their day for the nagging timepieces Egyptians of a still earlier time, an 
of our own. instrument which consisted of a 
Before ever progress had invented palm-branch, broader at one end than 
clock or watch, the ancient Athenians at the other, provided with a handle 
were adept in marking time by the sun. and a plummet. At the broader end 
The few minutes either way of the there was cut a sight-slit which was, 
“hour” did not trouble them and the in some manner, adjusted to the eye 
public sundial served them sufficiently, for the purpose of observing the transit 
In his Life in “Ancient Athens” T. G. of a star over the meridian, by which 
Tucker says that the Athenian public means the hour was fixed, 
sundial consisted in a vertical stall, How strange seem all these cumber- 
“which threw a shadow upon a marked some devices to us who have but to 
floor, and the time was denominated pull out our watches and tell at a 
by the length of the shadow, re¬ 
corded in feet.” Thus a guest was 
invited to come to dinner when 
the shadow was “ten 
feet” or “twelve feet”, 
as the case might be. It 
as recorded of one hungry 
and greedy person that, 
when invited for the 
hour of a twelve-foot 
shadow—which means 
the evening shadow— 
he measured it in the 
early morning and came 
soon after daybreak. In 
the better houses there 
was often a sort of giant 
hour-glass, through which 
however, there ran water 
glance the hour to a second! And 
when we reflect that the first 
watches 
French square 
watch by E. May- 
ben, 1680 
were not in use until 
after Peter Henlein (or 
Hele) of Nuremberg 
(1480-1542) invented 
the first portable time¬ 
keeper. This was prob¬ 
ably in the first decade 
of the 16th Century. 
These first timepieces by 
Meister Henlein were 
portable clocks driven 
by a mainspring with 
balance escapement, 
timepieces too large 
to be carried about the 
person except when sus- 
(Continued on page 116) 
A Dutch painted-enamel watch of 
the 17th Century. Made by Jo¬ 
hannes von Ceulen of the Hague 
An early Dutch watch with dec¬ 
orated dial face, dating from 
1600, and made by Johann 
George Reinhold 
