Pocket Watches

Sandburg wore a wrist watch, but often carried a pocket watch with him. He wrote:" Time is a changer; Time says hush, Time hushes all; Time was. Time is. Time shall be. Man invented time to be used."

One of the most poignant quotes from Sandburg regarding his thoughts about time comes from a conversation with his friend Ralph McGill, "A man must find time for himself. Time is what we spend our lives with...If we are not careful we find others spending it for us. It is necessary now and then for a man to go away by himself and experience lonliness, to sit on a rock in the forest and ask of himself Who am I? and Where have I been? and Where am I going? If one is not careful, one allows diversions to take up one's time--the stuff of life." (My Connemara, p 49)

Pocket Watch
Made by Elgin
Metal, glass. Dia 4.8 cm
Carl Sandburg Home National Historic Site, CARL 41015

Pocket Watch
Made by Ingraham
Metal, plastic. Dia 4.8 cm
Carl Sandburg Home National Historic Site, CARL 41014