The Alarm
Our 21st Century world is full of the noise of trains, cars, trucks, lawn mowers, radios, televisions, and construction. Even at night, when it is quieter, there are still sounds we have learned to block out of our consciousness. If all this sound were to stop, how far would the ringing of a church bell travel? Imagine if in the stillness of an April night, we could hear the sound of a speeding horse, the distant ringing of bells, drums, trumpets, or musket shots in sets of three. The heart would stir into action. Households would awaken as they did in 1775, recognizing the sounds coming from the east, then from the south or the north. And, years later, old men recorded in their diaries their childhood recollections of that life-changing event now called simply: The Alarm.