THE OLD DINNER BELL
When I was growing up on the farm way out in the country I remember so well the old dinner bell. We lived in Tennessee and we raised cotton, so in the spring we had to chop the weeds out of it and space the stalks by using our hoe to thin it to the width of our hoe . We were always excited to hear that dinner bell calling us from the field. We knew we would find a good home cooked meal waiting, and a little time to relax before we returned to the field. Picking cotton in the fall was worse, because of the hot sun beating down on us all day. No one farms that way any longer, every thing is harvested with machines today.
That old dinner bell is a thing of our past. But it was used for many other purposes back before rural people had telephones, or even owned cars. Farms were often a mile or more apart, so if Mary Jones went into labor and she needed her husband home quickly, she would ring the dinner bell rapidly several times then repeat. This worked for other reasons as well, such as an accident or fire. Often neighbors would stop their work and rush to farmers home, arriving before the owner could get there . Then someone would keep the bell ringing until there was plenty of help.
Each bell had a different tone, so people learned exactly which farmer needed help. Children were taught at a very young age how to ring the dinner bell, slowly and strong for dinner , but very rapid and constant for a fire or emergency. They were never permitted to play with a bell, so when a bell rang , it was a serious moment.
Now and then you may see an old dinner bell out in the country, but it probably is never used, not with telephones in the home and cell phones on every person. One would more than likely find the old dinner bell rusting away in the loft of a run down barn that no one ever used any longer.
R. Mitchell 2010
