Three little clocks sat in a row on the mantelpiece. The servant had put them there to wash their faces, but they made believe they had come to school. The tall grandfather clock from the hall was the teacher. The servant had wheeled him in to sweep behind him, but he too made believe he had come to school.
“Be sure,”said Grandfather Clock to his scholars, “that you tell the right time. Everyone in the house looks to you for the time to get up, the time to eat, the time to work, the time to play, and the time to sleep. Is there any little clock here who cannot tell time? All you have to do is to move your hands around your face. When it is time to strike the hour, be sure your large hand is at twelve, and your small hand at the hour. It is very easy.”
“Is it, indeed!” said the smallest clock; “how about it when people forget to wind us up?”
“Yes, yes,” cried the other two little clocks, “how about that?”
“Silence,” cried Grandfather Clock, sternly; “that is a saucy way for little clocks to talk.”
At this moment the servant began to wheel Grandfather Clock back into the hall.
“School is out,” he said.
So that was the end of it.