God struck the hour that gave it birth.
Hallelujah! Hallelujah!
The pealing of this hymn held all the dogs entranced, and as the last beautiful note died away, they all wept, and said it was lovely poetry; too lovely for anything; especially where the life-knell of the Bell thrills the hearts of the dead dogs under the sod; and the Bell with its long and facile flaming tongue writes names on the sky.
Then President Dephool Flea, after waiting a few rapturous moments to let the beautiful words soak into their souls, announced that “our” liberties having now been duly established, and acknowledged of Heaven, the Blessed Bell was now open for every one to hammer his gratitude to God on, and that each would take a turn in order.
Which they did. All the fat, eminent and Monstrous Fleas gathered in single file, and passed before the Bell and hammered it, giving one blow for himself, and thirteen times and forty-four times and six times, on behalf of the all-glorious liberties, wealth, prosperity and happiness of the dogs. And everybody was delighted, especially the big fleas, who said it was the very best amusement they had ever had in their lives; and they begged the Bamboozling Committee to keep it up, for, far beyond all considerations of the amusement of it, it was the bulliest piece of dust throwing ever yet devised for blinding those d—— fool dogs.
So the Bamboozling Committee and the Great Many Headed Gee Whizz, put their wits together again; and the ever fertile Daily said that, as he had foretold, the Bell racket and show had pleased the dogs immensely, the Committee should go on giving them emblems to look at and noise to make. “But,” said he, “let us give them a chance to make the noise themselves. Ye and the other fleas have had all the hammering so far; let them do it now. I propose we get them to make an emblematic Rope, a long Rope, a strong Rope, and a Rope they can pull the old Bell clapper all together with.
“Set them to make a Rope that shall be emblematic of their common wealth, their common caninity, their common Liberty, their common dirt, their common itch, their common hunger—their common everything. Let each one strip a few hairs off his hide and his tail, and bring them as an offering to Liberty, and let all those hairy contributions be spun into a great Liberty Rope. Then one end thereof shall be attached to the great clapper, and as many of the dogs as can shall get hold and pull; and it shall be pull and bang, and bang and pull, and pull and bang, until the poor imbeciles will go mad and crazy with the delightful racket; and the noise shall fill their bellies—which, you know, is the cheapest kind of victuals.”
“Hurrah for the Great Gee Whizz!” cried the Bamboozlers, “Liberty Noise and Liberty Ropes are cheaper than Liberty.”
And, as before, The Great Daily Press, with awful solemnity, publicly announced that the dogs were agoing to have more emblems to celebrate their glorious liberties and privileges with.
And when the dogs heard the great emblematic Liberty Rope proposition, they wagged their tails and howled deliriously for joy, and went lachrymoniously drivelling to each other that Canisville was indeed the place where Freedom dwelt, and that no other dogs on the face of the earth had a Liberty Bell, Liberty Poetry and a Liberty Rope; no indeed.