Although the pipe organ was a
gift to the church from the Carnegie Fund, the church felt it couldn’t
afford an electric pump, so it was powered by bellows in the back
forcing air through it. This chore was performed by boys behind
that little door at the side of the organ. The pay was 50cents a
Sunday- a very good deal then! There was a large wooden lever
that was pumped continually to power the bellows. We know the
first organist was Neetie Drake, not sure of the first pumper, although
Ralston Lindsay was one of the early ones. His mother was a long
time post mistress in Westtown when the post office was in the stores,
Lindsay’s, Whitford’s and Rembes at various times.
Bill Cooper started when he was
about 15 in ‘38, he took over from Pete Metzger. However Aura
Lain wanted Bill to be in the choir for the offertory as he had a very
good voice and male voices were needed as usual! So she would
send one of her boys back to take Bill’s place while he sang, and they
usually stayed back there. That’s how it would happen, and there were
sometimes 2 boys behind the organ. There was a little chain with
a “bopper” on it that made a noise when the organist needed more
air. But Bill and Art were talking and didn’t heed the noise, so
the organ “died” on poor Lena Smith, the organist at the time.
Bill kept pumping until 1942 when
he joined the Army. Here is a list of some of the others who took
their turns at it. Jeanette Laue, David Lain, Lester Lain, Mary
Schmick, Allen Honeywell, William Harler, Clem ?, Art Lain, Richard
Lain.
Another incident while Lester and Allen were pumping
together, the handle broke and the organ started to die down- Lena
Smith pulled frantically on the “bopper”, the boys quickly wrapped
their handkerchieves around the handle and managed to keep it going for
the rest of the service!
A Humorous Incident in the Church
Yard
Meade Case was an elderly gentleman, started late in life driving a
motor car, so generally floored it or stalled it and you could hear him
coming! One Sunday as he started up after church, he floored it as he
backed up and hit Jack Sayers car, causing the bumpers to lock.
Jack was an easy-going young man, so he merely got some help to lift up
on one car to separate the bumpers. Then he said, “Now Mr. Case,
you just pull ahead a little and we’ll both be on our way”! Well,
Meade got in, and floored it again backwards, right into Jack’s car
even harder!
