The Liberty Bell, Independence Hall, Philadelphia . )y the ruts of the wagon wheels and thelioof prints oi the horses. The stand from which the lJ)ecIaration was to be read was aplatform built out from an old observatory toward the east sideof the _\ard; it was surroimded by a railing and reached bv astairway from the ground; all around it was open to the sunlight. There was a large assemblage of the people there, resolutemen, vvho had, that morning, been sunmioned b\- the ringing ofthe great Ikll. for their Independence, as they had been man\-times bef(jre for the redress of their grievances
The Liberty Bell, Independence Hall, Philadelphia . )y the ruts of the wagon wheels and thelioof prints oi the horses. The stand from which the lJ)ecIaration was to be read was aplatform built out from an old observatory toward the east sideof the _\ard; it was surroimded by a railing and reached bv astairway from the ground; all around it was open to the sunlight. There was a large assemblage of the people there, resolutemen, vvho had, that morning, been sunmioned b\- the ringing ofthe great Ikll. for their Independence, as they had been man\-times bef(jre for the redress of their grievances under the Hrilishcrown. Through the grated windows of the men lookeddown on the crowd with hatred, contempt or indifterence; anumlxr of respectable citizens, in the new nomenclature of thetimes Tories, had been haled there by the Committees of thepeople; their names, titles and lineage ])reserved at the time,have long years ago jiassed intcj oblivion. With these weredebtors, prisoners of war. and felons of all grades. 22 THE LIBERTY Passino^ through the assem-blage, the Committee reached,by the stairway, the platform;the P>cl! ceased ring-ing-. JohnAixon, to whom the Sheriff haddelegated the reading, stood upin the silence; he was a strongvoiced and open featured man;he had been and remained trueto the struggle to his lifes began the reading with thewords In Congress July 4, Declaration of the Represen-tatives of the Linited States ofAmerica. This opening sen-tence was received with applause and throughout the whole read-JOHN NIXON . , . 1 ,., , mg, which was so audible as to be heard distinctly beyond the borders of the yard, there wasrepeated applause. At its close, as was written at the time byone of the members of the Committee of Inspection, Christo-pher Marshall, tlien present, it was accepted with general ap-plause and heartfelt satisfaction. The stalwart old Ringer* rangthe great Bell once more. The audience dispersed to their
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1900, bookidlibertybelli, bookyear1901
