Adult:
The Old Dinner Bell
Gone
are the days
when the old dinner bell
stood in every country yard,
it’s daily message to tell.
Early
in the morning
Pappy
hitched his mules to the plow.
By
the sweat of his brow
he plowed the long fields.
Some
stories now tell how we waited
for the sound of the Old Dinner Bell.
When
the bell pealed out, this
was a sign the day was half-spent.
He
unhitched the mules and
we hurried back to the house for
our noontime meal.
We
fed and rested the mules and back
to the fields.
We
must hurry and finish and
put seed in the row.
The
leaves are turning out
as the wind begins to blow.
We
knows this is a sign that
rain is on the way.
If
we get the seeds planted
they will sprout right away.
The
day wears on and sun goes down
Pappy
and I and the mules listen for the
familiar sound of the Old Dinner Bell.
Out
in the chimney corner
upon a post so high
stands the Old Dinner Bell
to be heard far and nigh.
When
at last we hear the
ringing of the bell.
It’s
time to quit work,
Thank
the Lord, all is well.
If
you lived in the country
and heard the sound of the bell,
if is wasn’t dinner time or quitting time,
all was not well.
Everyone
would listen to hear from where
the sound came.
They’d
hitch up their horses
and start on the run.
For
they knew someone was bad sick or
someone had died.
Whichever
it may have been neighbors
rushed to their side.
Now
gone are the days when the Old
Dinner
Bell rings out it’s message.
All
is not well.
The
telephone is so handy, we call up
and say, “I’m sorry about your sickness or
death” and never a visit pay.
It
would be so nice to turn back the years,
when we all had time to laugh and shed
tears.
To
love our neighbor as we did long ago,
when the Old Dinner Bell sent out the
message we all learned to know.
By: Audrey G. Capps