Central Park Zoo Clock (By Angie Yu)
We were at the end of a guided tour at Central Park led by Jim McGuire. We reached our starting point Central Park Zoo and Jim stopped us at the Delacorte music clock. The zoo was full of children running around and adults talking and laughing. He told us the music clock would ring and the animal sculptures around the clock would start dancing around in circles every half hour. We were waiting anxiously but nothing happened when the clock stroke 2:30. The Delacorte music clock was made after the musical clocks George T. Delacorte saw while he was travelling through Europe. The animals beside the clock include: a goat playing the pipes, a kangaroo playing horns, a penguin on drums, a bear with a tambourine, and a hippo with a violin.They were so cute and adorable. The animal sculptures were supposed to dance around in circles but when the chimes rang, they didn’t even move! The music was playing to the tune of “Frère Jacques”. The song was cheery and soothing. We waited, and waited, but still, nothing. They were still as stone. Then, the song stopped. You can guess how disappointed we were that the animals didn’t dance for us. Jim was disappointed as well. He said there must be some kind of mechanical failure. The animal sculptures were supposed to dance! But in my mind, I was imagining the shiny animal sculptures dancing to the music in the blue sky.
