The following is taken from THE VALLEY VIEW BEACON,
Norman L. Newton
[A picture of the
This school bell served many
generations that came to the
The Song of the Bell
Come to school! Come to school! Were the words the old school bell used to say when interpreted from such sounds as Ding dong! Ding Dong!
The old school bell called many a youngster to school throughout the years that it was permitted to do so, but the moderns said you are old fashioned and we will let you retire and let a more modern signal call the youth of our land to the halls of learning.
The more modern way is doing the job, but it doesn't send its signal far into the countryside and give the farmers; who are busily engaged in the fields, the time of day as they became accustomed when the old bell was supposed to ring. The more modern way doesn't give the youth the inspiration that the old bell gave the youth's grandparents, as with the ringing of the old bell, and the tune it played gave all who heard it an inspiration that the moderns fail to hear, as the new bell is only a signal. It can not be interpreted and its tune cannot be recognized.
Be it far from the Valley View
school of being old fashioned, so to keep up with the times they accepted the
new signal regardless of what the old way meant to those in years past. Time and modernization work hand in hand and
those who heeded the call in past decades, would want the
The old bell sits silently in the halls of the Valley View school building and is gazed upon by the children, grandchildren and great grandchildren of those who used to answer its call. The number, who answered its call, is unknown, but all who did cherish in their memory the song it sung;
Ding Dong! Ding Dong! Come to School! Come to School!
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