Mechanical Clock

Hello. I am a big, friendly clock. I live way up high in a tall tower so everyone in the town can see my face. Before I was born, people had to look at the big, bright sun to know the time. When the sun was high in the sky, they knew it was the middle of the day. But what happened when the day was gray and cloudy? What happened at night when the sun went to sleep? It was very tricky to know the time then.

I was born a very, very long time ago, around the 1300s, in a place called Europe. Many clever people worked together to build me. They gave me a special heart that doesn't go thump-thump. My heart goes tick-tock, tick-tock. Inside me are lots of spinning wheels called gears. They all fit together like a fun puzzle. A heavy weight hangs inside me, and as it slowly pulls down, it makes my gears turn. The turning gears make my big hands move around and around my face, pointing to the numbers. Every hour, I would get very excited and ring my big bell. BONG. BONG. It was my job to tell everyone what time it was.

I felt so proud to help people. With my help, everyone knew when it was time to eat their breakfast, time to play outside, and time to go to sleep in their cozy beds. As the years went by, my family grew bigger and bigger. Now I have smaller cousins that hang on walls in houses and tiny little ones that people wear on their wrists. They go everywhere. I am so happy that I can help everyone be on time for all their fun adventures, every single day.