The Draper Whistle

THE SPEED OF SOUND

by Fred S. Loeper

Who can forget those lovely, lazy, languid summer days growing up in Hopedale in the 60s? No

responsibilities to speak of, school was out of session, and the older you were the wider the horizons.

I remember a curious phenomenon and so will you after I describe it, though you have probably given it

no thought at all. It was something that happened everyday, but was particularly noticeable during the

summer at high noon; and then best heard away from the middle of town. This phenomenon I speak of is

not unique to Hopedale and could probably be heard throughout the country. Whether or not you can hear it

today with the demise of the mill towns I'm not sure.

The town whistle would blow at precisely 12 noon. And if you listened carefully you could hear the

surrounding towns and their whistles as well. Toot, honk, rumph, OOOO, brumph. All within seconds of

each other, each sounding further away than the one preceding it and each sounding just a little different.

You never knew exactly which towns were coming in. Milford was number two like as not followed by ??

Mendon (if they had one), Upton, Bellingham, Franklin, Medway. Do you think we could have heard

Blackstone or maybe even Woonsocket? Hard to tell. But I found it a pleasing thing, a gentle reminder that

Hopedale was not alone in the universe and that we could connected by something as simple as sound

traveling its required 1000 feet per second.