Independence National Historical Park, Philadelphia, Pa.Riley, Edward M.
History
Independence National Historical Park, Philadelphia, Pa.
Riley, Edward M.
Independence National Historical Park (Philadelphia, Pa.)
Firmly established as history by Lossing and Headley, Lippard’s story
also found poetic expression. The date of the first poem on this theme
has not been established, but, once written, it found its way into
school readers and into collections of patriotic verse. The most widely
read was probably G. S. Hillard’s _Franklin Fifth Reader_, issued in
1871, although the poem had been in popular use for some time before.
Beginning with “There was a tumult in the city, in the quaint old Quaker
town,” the poem became a popular recitation piece which every schoolboy
knew. The best known lines read:
Hushed the people’s swelling murmur,
Whilst the boy cries joyously;
“Ring!” he’s shouting, “ring, grandfather,
Ring! Oh, ring for Liberty!”
Quickly at the given signal
The old bellman lifts his hand.
Forth he sends the good news, making
Iron music through the land.
The growing legend of the Liberty Bell aroused curiosity in the relic
itself, hidden from view in the tower. It was consequently brought down
to the first floor of Independence Hall. In 1852, during a convention of
delegates from the Thirteen Original States in Independence Hall, the
bell was placed on a temporary pedestal in the Assembly Room—the east
room. Two years later the temporary platform was replaced by a massive
pedestal having 13 sides ornamented by Roman fasces, liberty caps, and
festooned flags. The bell was topped by Charles Willson Peale’s mounted
eagle.
In this position the Liberty Bell remained until a more intense
interest, awakened by the approaching celebration of the Centennial
Anniversary, caused it to be moved to the hallway. Here it was mounted
on its old wooden frame which had been found in the tower. A plain iron
railing enclosed the bell and frame.
The bell stayed in this location for only a short time. A few years
later it and the frame were placed in the Supreme Court Chamber—the west
room—near one of the front windows. Displaying it in its heavy wooden
frame evidently proved unsatisfactory, because the bell itself was
practically concealed. The next move, therefore, was to suspend it from
the ceiling of the tower room by a chain of 13 links.
Probably because the inscription was difficult to read while the bell
was suspended from the chain, it was lowered about 1895, placed in a
large, glass-enclosed mahogany case, and again put in the Assembly Room.
For 20 years it remained in this case, located part of the time in the
Assembly Room and part of the time in the tower room. Finally, it was
decided that visitors should be permitted to touch the bell, which was
removed from the glass case in 1915 and exhibited on a frame and
pedestal. With the whole arrangement on wheels, it could be quickly
rolled out of the building in an emergency. This is the manner in which
it is displayed today. Located just inside the south, or tower, door,
the Liberty Bell is illuminated at night so that visitors may see it
from Independence Square.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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