The Bamberg herald. [volume] (Bamberg, S.C.) 1891-1972, 1910-06-09
And that brings it to the point

less aware that ringing the bell q
don't mean just any bell, but the
bell) is Daddy Johns long suit; he
knows the exact stroke which is
needed to sound the time to the con-
gregation IN their homes on the
Sabbath morning. He holds the rec
ord for endurance when you begin
to figure on the number OF strokes
Of a bell. Daddy John has an aver
sion to funerals, unless it is a funeral
of someone of his own race, in which
event he goes to the &c sitting up
which usually lasts far into the night
with shouting and singing. But
when it comes to the time to toll the
bell for some of his white folks, he
has a peculiar antipathy for such oc-
casions; there are number of rea-
sons, chief of which is that the ring
ing of the bell is entirely too slow;
one stroke at time does not appeal
to him; he likes the double stroke
and the resounding tones which echo
and re-echo one after another. Ac-
cording to his way of thinking
there is only one advantage of toll
ing a bell, that is that it lasts a
long time.
About twelve years ago the church
folk bought pipe organ and INSTALL
ed it; that pleased old John tre-
mendously; what with pumping
pipe organ and pulling the church
bell, his JOY seemed complete. But
the old saying that pride comes be-
fore a fall had it's verification in the
case of John. With the pipe organ
to pump and his bell to pull, news
additional that a new church would
be built soon, gave Old John heart
of pride. If he could pump the
organ and pull the bell in a hand
some, new brick church, he would
have the odds on any of his. race.
Work began about seven years ago
on the new church. No member OF
the congregation watched things
with more interest than John. The
pupils of school watched the walls of
the Sunday school room; the congre-
cation watched the auditorium with
pride. But old John was for the
steeple. The steeple gradually took
shape and conforming to modern
style, did not reach high into the
skies; this did not please old John
any of the best; he wanted 1t to be
true to it's name and pierce upward
and be steep in fact. But work pro-
gressed. Another pastor came and
he did not favor bells for churches
and consequently there was no sign
of a bell. Bamberg's city airs en-
titled it to city style of doing without
a bell; this accomplishment was ap-
preciated by many but not by Daddy
John. What is a city without a bell?
AS we'll have no church as have no
bell, was his thought. Poor old
John, weeping for his bell and he
would not be comforted. The call
of the bell never lost it's charm for
John, and the love of pulling the bell
never died down. Hear the bells,
the loud, the small, the sharp, the
silver, the golden, the brass, the
alarum bells, but no Old Johns bell;
not the master stroke of the artist
who has studied just how to give
that right pitch and pull so as to
make the call sound and resound in
the ears of the sleeping sinner or
drowsy church member remaining at
home with his Sunday paper. Old
John knows his bell as he knows
nothing else. Perhaps he did not
learn the trade of cleaning up in the
best of schools, his work perhaps
justifes that conclusion at times,
but no one can tell him how to ring
a bell. At least that was the case
with the old bell in the old church.
Sorrow hath had her inning and
her ending. A few months ago talk
of placing a bell in the new church
was begun. If any one could have
seen behind the pipe organ that Sum
day when Mr.. Herbert called
conference and the matter of the
bell was mentioned, they would have
seen a line of white ivory stretched
across the face of the sexton, as he
smiled so contentedly that it was al
almost audible. Daddy John was
thinking of the old times about to be
renewed and the joy which had been
turned into sorrow some seven years
ago as it was about to be converted
into a present day joy. For seven
long years old John has been without
his bell, and the pipe organ has felt
the effects, for each Sunday as the
hour for preaching rolled around,