Sunrise, on time
Agnes Pell, bell ringer of Dunmere
To the guild,
The bell rang at sunrise this morning. Exactly at sunrise. Not before, not during the night and not every time somebody sneezed. I have rung that bell for thirty-one years and I cried, which I will deny if asked.
The stonemason has stopped chewing his hat. The braces went in on Sunday evening and he says the tower is as straight as it was three hundred years ago. Possibly straighter. He counted 14,300 pushes from the wall and said he had never seen so many people squat at a building with such purpose.
The whole town went to bed at seven o'clock. The inn closed early. The pigeons are back on the roof and they are sitting up straight too.
Thank you from everyone in Dunmere who has had a full night's sleep. That is all of us.
With a steady hand on the rope,
Agnes Pell