The Clock That Went Backward
by Edward Page Mitchell
A young man and his cousin inherit a clock that takes them back to the siege of Leyden at
the start of October 1574, where they affect that time as much as it has affected them.
This is travel in a machine (or at least an artifact), but they have no control over the
destination.
— Michael Main
The hands were whirling around the dial from right to left with inconceivable rapidity.
In this whirl we ourselves seemed to be borne along. Eternities seemed to contract into
minutes while lifetimes were thrown off at every tick.
“The Clock That Went Backward” by Edward Page
Mitchell, New York Sun, 18 September 1881.