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Tales Of Southern Railroading 49-11-26 Ep001 Locomotive Bell That Went To Church
00:14:16
Tales Of Southern Railroading 49-11-26 Ep001 Locomotive Bell That Went To Church
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Transcript19 lines
- [00:00]
A
Sa.
- [01:34]
B
Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. We wonder if you recognize that sound. Perhaps you'd like to hear it again. Yes, of course. You're saying it's a bell. You probably are a jump ahead of us. That's right. It's a locomotive bell. One like we hear every day on Southern Railway steam locomotives. But we wonder if you know that this particular bell has a story. It's a story we believe you'll enjoy, for it happened almost in our backyard. Let's call it the story of the locomotive bell that went to church. On an October night in 1942. Nearly eight years ago, in the small community of Bethania, North Carolina, near Winston Salem, a tiny Moravian church built almost 150 years ago was destroyed by fire. Days later, in the ashes of the church, searchers found a shapeless lump of black, tarnished metal, all that was left of a bell cast in 1830 from coins and treasure trinkets of silver, gold and copper given by the church's founding members. Building a new church was a difficult but not impossible task for the small congregation whose forefathers were among the pioneer settlers of North Carolina. But replacing the old sweet tone bell during the dark days of World War II seemed an almost unsurmountable problem because bell foundries were not in operation. Attending services in the new church one Sunday morning, Frank T. Miller of Greensboro cringed as he listened to the harsh clanging of the cast iron bell that was the best the church had been able to find. There must, he reason, be some way to get a bell with the melodious tone of the old's bell. He'd heard that same sound, the identical full tone, for years. The thought was tantalizing. If he could just remember. On the way home, Mr. Miller stopped by the railway station to pass the time of day with friends. A steam locomotive, one of the few remaining in service on the Southern since the advent of diesel, rose past the station at bell ring. Mr. Miller listened and smiled. Now he had it. The next day, in his office, Mr. Miller wrote a letter to his friend of many years, the Southern Railways president, Ernest E. Norris. It was a letter whose chain reaction was to be heard literally throughout the world. And here today is Mr. Miller of Greensboro to read to you the letter that gave the voices of the romantic steam locomotives an enduring place in the heart of the South.
- [04:55]
A
Dear Mr. Norris, I am going to relate two little stories to you and then ask you to make a search for something. And if you can find one, you guessed it. Give it to me. Back in your and my early days on the railroad, the mechanical department specialized in locomotive builds with pleasant tones. By the advent of World War I, they had reached perfection. Some of them are still in existence. Now, the other story. My old home, Bethany Moravian Church, was built in 1807. Its membership gave copper and silver, gold and coins and trinkets for the bell which they had cast in Philadelphia. And to me and the many others who heard it, its tone was magnificent. One night in October 1942, the old church was discovered to be on fire. The building has been restored. Only the bell is missing. We have hunted the country over for a beautifully toned bell without success. Now the recollection of the beautiful tones of some of the locomotive bells of long ago. I wonder if you could find one in Knoxville or Spencer or Columbia or Birmingham or somewhere else. And if you could, I wonder if you would be kind enough to put presented to the Bethanian Moravian Church a gift of Southern Railway System. If it could be worked, I assure you it would be gratefully appreciated. My kindest regards and best wishes. Sincerely, Frank. I was sort of anxious to learn whether Mr. Norris could help us out. But his letter came right back and it was more than anyone could have asked. Here's what he said.
- [06:52]
C
Dear Frank, I have real pleasure in advising you that an engine bell, which I hope you will find to be.
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The kind you had in mind, has.
- [07:00]
C
Been shipped to you for presentation to your old church. With all fond wishes, believe me. Sincerely, Ernest E. Norris.
- [07:09]
A
The folks at the church were mighty pleased. I'd hardly had time to tell them the bell was coming before it arrived. And it was the prettiest thing I ever saw. The fellows down at Spencer had cleaned, polished and engraved it. And the Southern even gave the church an automatic device with which to ring the bell. It could be heard for miles around, and if anything, its tone was sweeter and clearer than the old bell. The pastor and the congregation were mighty proud of the gift and decided to have a dedication Service. They invited Mr. Norris and others from the Southern to attend. And of course, I was there. I want to tell you it was a beautiful ceremony.
- [08:15]
B
That could have ended the story of the locomotive bell that went to church. But it was only the beginning. The Southern published an advertisement entitled the Bell for Bethania. In homey, everyday language, Mr. Norris told how the bell from an old locomotive had been given to the church. It told the same story. We have related to you a story of a railway that belongs to the communities and to the people it served. Letters poured into Mr. Norris's office. Letters from churches and schools. Throughout the south. Friendly letters of appreciation. Letters asking the railway to find bells for other churches. Letters like this one from the pastor of a small church.
- [08:58]
D
The people of my community are a little stupid on Sunday morning and something is needed to apprise them when it is time to bestir themselves for Sunday school and divine worship.
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B
To which Mr. Norris replied, I hope.
- [09:14]
C
We can locate a bell with tones so dulcetly persuasive that the most hardened non bestirrer will heed its Sunday morning call to worship.
- [09:27]
B
Over the years the Southern has given away more than 200 bells and has many hundreds of requests on file for the bells of the few old iron horses that have not yet reached the end of the these bells have been cleaned, polished and engraved in our Spencer shops. Most of them are in churches in the south, but a few have traveled far. One is in the chapel of a tiny mission high in the Rocky Mountains. Another is in the far off mission village of Bengali in French Cameron, West Africa and closer home in Salisbury in the lady of Victory's Mission in the Baptist Church near Mooresville, North Carolina. Cook's Memorial Presbyterian Church, Charlotte Montview Presbyterian Church, Winston Salem Mount Tabor Methodist Church, Salisbury Randall Methodist Church, Norwood Fairmont Presbyterian Church, Lexington. As you may well imagine, letters of appreciation have been warm and sincere. Few have been more beautifully expressed than a poem entitled Gratitude written by mother Josephine McPhee to Mr. Norris after the Southern center bell to the chapel of the Convent of the Sacred Heart deep in the Rocky Mountains at Bailey, Colorado.
- [11:04]
D
A lovely little chapel stands up among the pines with steeple climbing heavenward and cross that earthward shines. One thing was always wanting in that valley. Pre du cel no sound e' er broke the stillness. There was no chapel bell, no echo coursed the canyon to summon all to prayer. And yet the God of mountains was truly worshipped there. God whispered through the silence to the friend we call E E and lo A shining engine bell was shipped to far Bailey. It used to serve the Southron and now it serves the Lord who in our tiny chapel is reverenced and adored. And now adown the valley it rings out loud and clear at morn and noon and evening through three months of the year. How glad the hand that rings it. How grateful is the song that up to heaven's portals calls Blessings all day long, your kind friend and helper who in so many ways has filled our hearts with gladness these blessed summer days.
- [12:40]
B
Before leaving, we want to bring you a thought expressed by President Dorris.
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We like to think of these belles of ours as still serving the communities, still belonging to the people they served in another way for so many years.
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We like to think the whole, the.
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C
Whole Southern Railway belongs in the same friendly way in all the communities we serve.
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Wherever they are, these sweet, familiar voices of the Southern's old steam locomotives will remain vibrantly alive and unchanging, serving the Lord and His children as they have served so faithfully the Southern and the South.
- [13:28]
A
Sa. Sam.