The Elk Mountain pilot., 1900-01-02
The Bell.


called Wurtemberg- where, in the au
tumn, the acacias bloom beautifully by
the roadside, and apple and pear trees
are bent to the ground under the
weight of their ripe fruit-there
lies small town called Mar
bach 1t ranks among the small
towns, but it is s.charmingly situated on
the banks of the Neckar. which rushes
by hamlets, villages and towns, by
knights castles and verdant vineyards,
in order to conduct its waters to the
proud Rhine.
1t was late in the year. The reddish
foliage of the vines dropped Showers
of rain fell, and cold winds rose. The
dark days came; but it was darker still
in the little houses of the town of
Marbach. One of these had its gable
turned toward the street; it had needy
looking windows, and its inhabitants
were needy also, but they were honest,
Industrious and God-fearing. The good
Lord would soon bestow another child
upon them; the hour had arrived, and
the mother lay in pain and suffering.
Then the peal of the church bell was
heard, and it filled, with its deep and
serious sound, the praying soul of the
woman with devotion and firm conf
dence in God. Her son was born; she
felt the blessed joy of a happy mother,
and the bell seemed to wish to an
nounce her delight throughout the
town. The child was ushered into the
world with the ringing of the sweet
sounding bell on the dark November
day; the parents kissed it and wrote
in their Bible: "On the 10th day of
November. 1859, God gave us a son.
Afterward they added that he had re-
ceived, in holy baptism, the name of
John Christopher Frederick.
What was to be the future of this
little boy, this poor lad, this native
of insignificant Marbach? No one
could tell-no, not even the old church
bell, although it hung and had first
sung over him-could imagine that he
would write the Song of the Bell"
the most beautiful of all songs.
The child grew, and the world grew
with him. 1t is true that his parents
removed to another town, but they left
dear friends behind them in Marbach,
and therefore mother and son came
there one day on visit. The boy was
then 6 years old; he knew many pas
sages from the Bible and the holy
Psalms; full many an evening, as he
sat upon his little chair made of reeds,
he had heard his father read Gellert's
Fables" and Klopstock's Messiah"
aloud, and he and his little sister
two years older than himself-had shed
bitter tears when they heard of Him
who had suffered death upon the cross
for them.
They found Marbach almost un-
changed: the houses with their
pointed gables, oblique walls and low
windows, looked as they formerly had
done; but new graves had been dug in
in the grass, lay the old church bell
1t had fallen from its height; it was
cracked and could ring no more; a
new bell already replaced it.
Mother and son had gone to the
churchyard. They stood before the old
bell, and the mother told her little boy
how it had done good service for many
hundred years; how it had rung at the
baptism of children and at weddings;
how it had tolled at funerals; how it
had announced festive joy and the ter
rors OF fire, and how it had accom-
panied with its song a human life to
its end. She said that this old bell
had pealed consolation and joy to her
in her hour of suffering, when her little
boy was given to her; and the child
gazed with amazement-yes, almost
with devotion-upon the large, old
bell. He leaned over it and kissed it
old, cracked and neglected-as it lay
there amid grass and nettles. The
young boy never forgot what his
mother related to him in the church.
yard at Marbach. Her words found an
echo in his heart. and, when he became
a man, he repeated them to the world
in song.
The remembrance of the old church
bell did not forsake the little boy, who
grew up in Indulgence; he became tall
and thin, his hair was reddish, his
face was covered with freckles; thus
appeared he; but his eyes, when you
looked into them, reminded you of
dark, deep waters. How went it with
him in the world? Well-amazingly
well! Was he not admitted, as the
greatest favor, to that division of the
military school in which were placed
the sons of the most distinguished
families? This was indeed a great
honor. A great stroke of fortune! He
was attired in high boots, stiff era
vat and powdered wig; he was taught
military science, and obeyed such COM
mands as "March!' Haiti" 'FRONT.'"
Surely. something would be made of
him!
The old church bell which was cast