Post 42/2023. Hickory dickory dock, / The mouse ran up the clock. / The clock struck one, / The mouse ran down. / Hickory dickory dock. One source says the nursery rhyme was used to teach children how to tell the time. And how to read.
It first appeared in Tommy Thumb’s Pretty Song Book published in London about 1744. It became a Mother Goose’s Melody in 1765. Wikipedia references the astronomical clock at Exeter Cathedral which “has a small hole in the door below the face for the resident cat to hunt mice.”
One version has each stanza end with tick tock, tick tock, tick tock, tick tock. The animals running up the clock include a snake, squirrel, cat, monkey and, oh no, an elephant.
The fifth stanza: An elephant, on no / Hickory dickory dock. The elephant / went up the clock / Oh no / Hickory dickory dock (no period)
Why we keep falling back and springing forward an hour each year baffles me. I don’t know any nursery rhyme that would champion such an annual indulgence. Cell phones change automatically. No sweat. But grandfather, grandmother, mantel and wall clocks need individual attention.
So be it for now. I’ll duly change the hour on our mantel clock. It was stripped of its inner mechanical workings (too far gone to repair). In 2005 Ron of the then Ron’s Clockworks replaced the original workings with a quartz Westminster/Ava Maria movement.
Sometime in the latter part of the last century, a friend had given me the clock case and the disemboweled workings. It lay dormant in our garage for ages. Then, thanks to Ron’s Clockworks and to an acquaintance who refinished the case, we have what could be a reconstituted antique clock. It sits on top of a bookshelf. Runs on batteries. No tick tock tick tock tick tock but it has a chime sequence (quarter hour, half hour, three-quarter hour, each hour), volume control and night chimes shutoff. No mouse.
Ox Bow County Park
Morning sky
Sleep on
Hickory dickory dock / The mouse ran up the clock. / The clock struck two, / And down he flew. / Hickory dickory dock.
Glad there’s no elephant in the room.
Happy extra hour.
-John
It's About Now 
Hi John,
Thanks for the fun, nursery rhyme missive you sent out. I have always been particularly fond of nursery rhymes! Good to see the Fairy Garden is still there. Bah, Humbug on time changes twice a year!
Monty
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Thanks, Monty. Coming through loud and clear.
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Hi John, Here’s an updated version of HDDock, adjusted for inflation: Hickory dickory dock Three mice went up the clock The clock struck one and the others escaped without injury. And speaking of clocks, here (attached photos) are two I built entirely of wood. The one is modelled and named after one my grandparents brought out of Russia in 1926. It still keeps time (as does mine) and is a reminder of my Russian Mennonite heritage. Sergejewka was the name of the village my dad was born in. In the area currently under Russian occupation. The other clock has a face roughly modelled after the Peace Tower clock in Ottawa. I enjoy keeping up with you on the blog! Harold
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Ha ha ha. One mouse got struck, two got away. Glad they did. Let’s hear it for old clocks and game mice.
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