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
Can I have the one on the bottom? It looks like here. ;)
ReplyDeleteI've begun wondering if we should have such a bell here. The town is small and local enough that Spencer would be able to hear it for a few miles. Even with this being the cell phone age, this would bring Spencer home immediately.
ReplyDeleteAlso, speaking of old barns, one of our only two neighbors has a barn that dates back to the 1830s that he's slowly restoring. He's already finished with one part that he uses as his puppet creation workshop. I'll be sure to take plenty of pictures so you will have some painting material - and of the near thousand year old church that I promised, as well.
Thinking about the use of the dinner bell to call the family and other workers to gather for the common meal reminded me of the additional differences in family dining now as well. We used to gather as one where now it seems more often its every one for him-or-herself, grab it and go. No time to care about how one another's day is going or, for that matter, even to really know one another! I know this is not the case in every family but some kids don't even know what one family meal a day means!
ReplyDeleteThanks for this interesting post! M. Sue
R, That was a moving story and it made me think about a farm we visited when I was a child. Sonny and me would go out into the fields and pick corn, tomatoes, salad greens, and any thing else that looked good. I remember the way the food would taste when you ate it fresh out of the field. Sonny and his family still have a small farm here in Connecticut and they have a stand where they sell their produce. I haven't been there in many years, but the memories will live with me always. It was a beautiful time and we understood plants and respected them as a gift from God.
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