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Tue 27 Oct, 2009 07:34 am
what is the meaning of "well-piece" and "bell-post" as in Eudora Welty's Losing Battles: "then a baby bolted naked out of the house. she monkey-climed down the steps and ran open into the yard, knocking at the walls of fowers still colorless as faces, tagging in trun the four big trees that marked off the corners of the yard, tagging the gatepost, the well-piece, the bird-house, the bell-post..."
You are referencing some really old text here, but I'll take a shot. The person described is "tagging" things in the yard. Tagging refers to "touching" or "marking". The "well-piece" is probably the part of the water well that homes had in their yards in rural areas. The "bell-post" is the post on which a bell is mounted, likely as a decoration in the yard.
that's really helpful, thank you very much!
Quote:The "bell-post" is the post on which a bell is mounted, likely as a decoration in the yard.
True, but the bell probably was not a decoration, back then it may have been used several times a day to call workers in the fields to meals. Bells are still used by the Mennonites of Eastern Oklahoma as signal devices, for example : four long chimes repeated several times means " I have news. Let's meet on the road at the property line".
Joe
Interesting. I bet the Mennonites in Farmington use cell phones. They are very liberal in their use of machinery.
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