The Corvallis gazette. [volume] (Corvallis, Or.) 1862-1899, 1893-05-26
MEMORIES.
THE OLD CHAPEL BELL.

In this quiet western village, resting
peacefully along the banks of the beautiful
Willamette. there is an old building known
as the South Methodist Corvallis College.
Over the chapel of this building hangs a
+; bell. Time was when the bell gave forth a
ysweet, melodious chime each Sunday morn :
ing. But one day, beyond the memory of
man, there came discordant sound from
the chapel bell and on examination it was
found to be cracked; and ever since has
spoken in sharp, inharmonious voice, we'll
summoned to attend the duties it an.
nounced. As if to presage the future the
bell proclaimed upon the morning air and
at the noon time for many years that as its
former melody had been supplanted by a
strange and discordant tone, so would the
sphere of usefulness of its surroundings
sink into like scale of insignifcance and
the end verify its doleful forbodings.
Appropos of the notice recently published
in the papers advertising the old college
property for sale, comes memories of the
past crowding one upon another even as in
former times its population were wont to
rush pell-mell FROM its dingy rooms and
discipline into the open airj and freedom.
How anxiously have the young of all ages,
from the youngest child in the preparatory
department to the oldest student just ready
to graduate, listened for the voice of the
bell to call them from study to recitation,
from recitation to recess andyanon to free
dom.
Yes, the old college bell has had its mis-
sion. To it's call have responded young
men and maidens now Occupying many an
important station in life. Some, alas
have joined the majority. For them what
did its summons signify? Lawyers, mer-
chants, doctors, teachers, wives, mothers
aud sweethearts have all joined the pro.
cession and in their lives, brief tho they
were, what of joy, what of sorrow did the
old bell bring to them? Side by side sleep
those whom ambition and melancholy alike
marked for their own. "Within their mar.
row cells forever laid" rest those to whom
the sound of the old bell was fraught with
joyful anticipations of life of usefulness,
or of pleasure. Can we say the narrow
earthly vault contains all that Is left of
those to whom the old bell brought antici-
pations of a bright and happy life? All,
, no! Rather would we hold theirI lives in
momory and as we listen to the clanking of
the old bell, follow the effect of their in.
duence in our own lives. 1t is thus we
live. To die and cease to live can only be
said Of those whose influence, be it what it
may, has passed out of the lives of those
who lived and loved with them. And of
those who live, what memories will come
to them as the old bell ceases its clang?
What of the past will the eventful present
leave room for in the menory?-the am
bilious pollution, the busy lawyer, the
physician with human life resting on his
skill and attention; the merchant, the cap
italist, that independent sovereign, the far
mer, the wife, the mother, the sweet heart,
the bride. What happy recollections,
what doubts, what fears reem to memory as
the old bell lsaves it's place and perchance
carries to some other field of usefulness it's
call to duty or its note of alarm!
Through long series of years has the
old bell called to divine worship its family
on Sunday mornings. Sometimes a small
and consecrated band, again, a large and
fashionable congregation, and of late great
throngs of humanity intent on learning
from the word of God in simplicity and
untrammeled by any restraints Of creed or
sect. What memories cluster around those
olden time services! In those days there
was another "Bell" whose eloquent notes
carried the truth of the gospel home to
many waiting heart. That bell has in
deed long gone from our midst but its mel.
ody still rings in many a sympathetic heart
here. Long may its chimes continue to
awaken the better;emotions slumbering neg
lectea in honest hearts. Long may its in
huence continue to urge men and women on
! to better lives.
In those days there was one, too. VIII ose
life was given to the work announced by the
daily ringing of the old college bell :.
He sleeps by the shore of Crystal leke.
From his life work went the spark of hope
into lives whose usefulness can only be
measured by the length of time they live
and the impulse given by that master band.
He lived to see his work only in part fulfilled.
Often did he tell him, whose hand thus
traces some lines of memory, of the highest
ambition of his life, of the dearest wish of
his heart: That his life and his work might
contribute to those within bis influence an
additional sphere of usefulness, and higher
conception of human life and it's possibilities.
And yet the notes of that voice have scarcely
ceased to be heard, its kindly presence to be
felt, when 10! the discordant tones of cavil
would accredit to that lofty spirit. that no.
BILE mind, sordid motive in all it did. Tc
such as cavil, the old chapel bell gives no re.
lfraln. In its sorrow. for it seems almost hu
man, its voice is hushed, and silence reigns
when mans lnhumanity to the departed
meets not with its just due. When souls