I remembered this old song this morning, as I glanced one more time at the clock that is not working as it sits on the shelf behind the kitchen table.

My grandfather's clock
Was too large for the shelf,
So it stood ninety years on the floor;
It was taller by half
Than the old man himself,
Though it weighed not a pennyweight more.
It was bought on the morn
Of the day that he was born,
And was always his treasure and pride;

But it stopped short
Never to go again,
When the old man died.
Ninety years without slumbering,
Tick, tock, tick, tock,
His life seconds numbering,
Tick, tock, tick, tock,
It stopped short
Never to go again,
When the old man died.

I bought it 20 or 30 years ago at a swap meet at the Junior high school. It was anniversary present for Mmmm. He had never expressed a desire for a clock and we had never even talked about a clock but I was sure he would love it - - I did. It is a shelf clock and doesn’t have a beautiful case but it has a very pretty sound. It strikes on the hour and half hour. I didn’t notice it when it was running but I miss it now and I find myself looking at it to check the time.

It reminds me of the clock that we had at home. It chimed every 15 minutes and so we heard the Westminster chimes over and over again and we didn’t even notice them until it stopped running. . . which it did when there was a 7.5 earthquake in Yellowstone Park in 1959.

Of course, Mother got it running again and I intend to get ours running again - - maybe for our 52 anniversary.

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