January 20 Thursday – Clemens wrote from Hartford to an unidentified person:

      I have examined the wonderful watch made by M. Matile, & indeed it comes nearer to being a human being than any piece of mechanism I ever saw before. In fact, it knows considerably more than the average voter. It knows the movements of the moon & keeps exact record of them; it tells the days of the week, the date of the month & month of the year, & will do this perpetually; it tells the hour of the day & the minute & the second, & even splits the seconds into fifths & marks the divisions by “stop” hands; having two stop hands, it can take accurate care of two race horses that start, not together, but one after the other; it is a repeater, wherein the voter is suggested again, & musically chimes the hour, the quarter, the half, the three-quarter, & also the minutes that have passed of an uncompleted quarter-hour—so that a blind man can tell the time of day by it to the exact minute.

      Such is this extraordinary watch. It ciphers to admiration; I should think one could add another wheel & make it read & write; still another & make it talk; & I think one might take out several of the wheels that are already in it & it would still be a more intelligent citizen than some that help to govern the country. On the whole I think it is entitled to vote—that is if its sex is the right kind [MTP]. Note: this had been under 1877 with a ? This ran in the Middletown, Conn. Constitution for Jan. 31, 1877, which likely led the earlier surmise it was 1877.