The daily morning journal and courier., 1900-12-06
"BIG BEN" AT REST.
The Clock and Bell in the Tower of
 Parliament Buildings.

The Clock and Bell in the Tower of
 Parliament Buildings.
 Suffering from an indispostion which
 experts tell us will continue for some
 weeks the sonorous tones of Big Ben' will be missed by thousands to whom
 they were familiar charm. Like less
 hardy creations lower down in the
 world the great clock of Westminster
 has had to bow it's dignitied head to the
 weather. For some time past 1t has
 been out of sorts, exhibiting striking
 signs of disorder in common with of-
 lenders against parliamentary disci-
 plne down below, but it's utter collapse
 on the last day of the session, as pro-
 test, say the superstitious, against the
 rolllcking dolngs of the Mother of Par 1 liaments, was the result of straining
 its capabilities too far in order to keep
 it up to time while the high court of | the nation lasted. How many would be 1 able to go on like this monstrous clock
 the largest, the most powerful and 1 the most accurate in the world, accord
 ing to experts-year after year, with
 out some decided show of giving out?
 Yet ever since the year 1859, when it
 was constructed and erected by MT Dent, it has hardly ever been out more l than one second of time in it's daily
 course-a fact which affords eloquent
 testimony to the hardihood of it's con- l stitution Messrs. Dent & Go. contract
 with the government to keep it within two seconds of true time When it is
 thoroughly cleaned, and able to pass
 comparatively joyous time in the ab- sence of any parliamentary disturbance at It's base, its solemn note upon the
 midnight air will once more be well
 comed by Londoners as the voice of an old friend.
 Yet it is said that Big Ben" is cracked, and those who look profess sionally upon these things pronounce 1 its tone to be so hoarse and jarring as | to defy a settled description of its note. There are others who condemn the clock tower on architectural grounds, and say all manner of offensive things about the wisdom of our parliamenta- ry wiseacres who were responsible for its erection, but history and tradition largely submerge all these consldera- tions, the average Londoner being quite content to feel proud of the clock which has told him from it's high alti- tude of nearly three hundred and twen- ty feet of the flight of time ever since he was a boy, and also proud of the great bell which, influenced by con- summate device of mechanism, booms out its unerring tale night and day alike over the huge metropolis. Why should it be left for the curious only to know that the present clock tower oc cupies as nearly as possible the site of the similar great structure erected by the first Edward, the cost of which it is said, was defrayed by a fine exacted upon a certain judge for accepting a bribe? This ancient tower contained Great Tom of Westminster bell now only known by repute and super seded by the first Big Ben,' which weighed sixteen tons, but, being found defective, was broken up and was sue ceeded gy the present ca1npanological giant.
 And the size of the present clock and bell are indeed Gargantuan. Take the clock. It measures twenty-two and one-half feet across it's dials, the hour hand is fourteen feet in length, the weight of the hammer is four hundred weight, the winding up of the gong part takes ten minutes, the winding up of the striking parts-the quarter and the hour part-occupies five hours each and it has to be done twice a week. It's pendulum weighs six hundred and eighty pounds and the figures on the enamel transparent dial are two feet in length. Take the bell; it weighs four teen tons or whereabouts, it's circumfer- ence is twenty feet and its night six feet six inches. It is tastefully or namented with Gothic figures and tra- cery in low relief, and is inscribed with the date of it's casting, Keeping it are smaller bells of four tons each which note the four quarters.
 All over the courts of the Westmins- ,, ter Palace the reverberation of the big | bell rolls with recurring solemnity What must it have sounded to those l persons who were incarce- rated in the Clock Tower Tor political i and other irregularities which 1t need | suit nobody now to inquire too closely into? The peoples regard for the clock | and the bell are too reigiously affec- l tionate to be led away by historic tri- | fes which will probably never be again enacted.-London Telegraph.