Remarks (1886)

Remarks

Bill Nye's humor collection gathers comic essays, sketches, and satirical observations from the American lecturer and newspaperman. (Open Library)

Watches

Waterbury watch

In "The Blasé Young Man", Nye's mock inventory includes "1 Waterbury Watch" and seven chains for it, using the inexpensive watch as part of the comic outfit. The watch appears in an inventory of the young man's belongings, alongside different cane heads and an elaborate supply of stationery and shirt studs. Seven chains for a single watch make the accessory excess part of the joke. The narrator is cataloguing a travelling companion's outfit rather than describing the operation of the watch. (Project Gutenberg source text)

Source text: "1 Waterbury Watch. 7 Chains for same." (Project Gutenberg ebook 8220)