12/13/51 - Valley Forge - Pearl Harbor Day! BY-WAYS - 12/13/51 - Valley Forge - - December 7, 1951. - Pearl Harbor Day!

On this tenth anniversary of the Day of Infamy we think of the three thousand men who lost their lives in that horrible disaster. We who lived and experienced the shock of that attack can never forget. But let us not forget, either, the prolonged suffering and starvation at Valley Forge that began on this fateful month 174 years ago - that claimed the lives, or health, of nearly four thousand men. As we drove along in a Graylines limousine - in the warm sunshine of a flawless September day - it was hard to imagine the cold, the dreariness, the hopelessness of the Valley Forge of so long ago. The grass grows green in Valley Forge now. It is as if the blood of our patriots has made it so. Valley Forge State Park is truly a lovely spot. But they say that, fifty years ago, it was a desolate place. It required the vision of an Episcopalian minister in Norristown - 'way back in 1903 - to start the metamorphous. On Washington's birthday of that year, Reverend W. Herbert Burk, in his sermon, said that it was his earnest hope and prayer to see a perfect house of worship at Valley Forge. The seed was sown in fertile ground - in the minds of patriotic, religious citizens - and the exquisite memorial Chapel at Valley Forge is the result. Of Gothic design, it is perfect to the last and the least detail. The names of those who hoped and endured, who fought and believed in the new America, are here recorded, revered, and kept in the minds of the new generations. We waited for the ringing of the carillon bells, and had the rare pleasure of seeing the youthful musician in her black robe, at work. Each bell has its own long wire or cable that is attached to a "pump handle." The young lady had to put her full weight on the handle for the bass notes, which have tremendous bells. Her Brahm's Lullaby was a poem of loveliness.

(To be continued next week.)


Sincerely,
Florence B. Taylor
1711 Preyer Rd.,
Cleveland Hts. 18, O.

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