The Clock on Main Street

In the summer of 1895, Thomas Reed was fourteen years old, and he worked for Mr. Weiss, the clockmaker in the small town of Millbrook, Vermont. Every day, Tom swept the shop, cleaned tiny clock parts and watched Mr. Weiss repair watches. More than anything, Tom wanted to be a clockmaker too.

The most important clock in Millbrook was the big clock on the tower of the town hall. Everyone in town set their watches by it. Mr. Weiss took care of it, and once a week he climbed the tower with Tom to wind it with a big iron key.

On the second of July, Mr. Weiss left for Boston. His daughter was having a baby, and he planned to stay a week. "Keep the shop clean," he told Tom, "and don't touch the big clock."

The next morning, the tower clock stopped at seven minutes past nine.

That afternoon, Mayor Hubbard came into the shop. "Young man, tomorrow is the Fourth of July," he said. "At noon, the bells have to ring for the parade. Can you fix the clock?"

Tom looked at the empty chair where Mr. Weiss usually sat. He was scared, but he said, "I'll try, sir."

He took a lamp and Mr. Weiss's tools and climbed the narrow stairs of the tower. Inside, the clock was like a giant metal animal. Tom checked every part, but everything looked fine. Then he heard a small sound: "Cheep."

Behind the biggest wheel, there was a bird's nest with three baby birds in it. Their mother flew in through a broken window with a worm in her beak. Some sticks from the nest were stuck between the teeth of the wheel, and the clock couldn't move.

Tom had to free the clock, but he didn't want to hurt the birds. He found an old wooden box in the corner. Very carefully, he lifted the nest with the three babies and put it in the box. Then he put the box on a shelf near the broken window. The mother bird watched him for a minute and then flew down to her babies.

Next, Tom pulled the last sticks out of the wheel, set the hands to the right time and wound the clock. With a deep "tock," the hands started to move again. That night, Tom stayed in the tower and checked the clock every hour.

On the Fourth of July, at exactly twelve o'clock, the bells rang over Millbrook. The band started to play, and the parade began. Down in the street, the mayor looked up at the tower and raised his hat.

When Mr. Weiss came back from Boston, Tom showed him the birds in their box and told him the whole story. The old man listened in silence.

"You'll need to learn a lot more," Mr. Weiss said. "But a good clockmaker fixes the problem without breaking anything else. And that's exactly what you did." A week later, there was a new sign over the shop door: "Weiss & Reed, Clockmakers."