The Mystery of the Bell

We read in our 1868 rules for "Keeping of the House" that the job of the sexton was to ring the bell five minutes before each service. Bethel has never had a belfry. We can only assume it was on a post outside the church. The church has a hand bell which was rung to dismiss Sunday School. Could this have been the bell talked about in 1868?

One of our oldest members, Anna Clark, having joined October 4, 1918 and went to be our Lord May 1988, had said she always could hear Bethel's bell ringing on her way to church at Westfield. Some of our older members remember seeing a rope hanging in the vestibule. Could the bell have been positioned on a post outside the building and the rope coming into the vestibule for ringing?

Other stories were told that a member acquired a bell from an old school house and put it in place to be rung before and after service The bell caused much dissension. Some said it did not have the same tone of a church bell, it sounded like a school house bell. One Sunday morning the bell turned up missing. Many thought the bell was stolen, some felt it was removed by the member causing the most dissent, and others felt it was removed by the person who presented the bell