Three o’clock
The clock at Trinity struck the hours half a mile away . The clock at Christ 's followed a second or two later , nearer and clearer . Then a mile off , soft and mellow , but unheard unless the ear waited for them , the bells of the Old Church chimed . Three o'clock was sounding , and the summer dark was at its deepest , when Paul secured a first proof of the work on which he had been engaged , and hid away the forme in a hollow beneath the stairs . In this wise he stole two hours from sleep nightly for a month ; and at the end of that time , lo ! a printed poem , molten and cast , and re-molten and re-cast , chiselled and fined and polished , and all in Paul 's brain-factory , without a guiding touch of pen or pencil -- the work of a year . The night after the completion of this task Ralston lectured for the Young Men 's Christian Institute , and Paul was there .